Page 101 of A Dark Fall
It sounds like another excuse. Another delay. But I only smile. This is Nick’s decision, and whatever he decides is right is, well, right.
“Of course.”
He takes another sip of his wine, and I follow him back into the living room.
The wine is doing its job, the tension starting to lighten in my shoulders and neck and my body relaxing. I find wine has the most calming effect on me. Not the best direction of thought for a GP, most likely, but it doesn’t make it any less true. I still have the strange vacuum of loss in my stomach though, the horrible knot of emptiness, but perhaps once I’ve eaten ...
Nick chats enthusiastically about a new Netflix show he’s obsessed with for a bit before my phone starts to ring loudly from my handbag. I startle, putting my wine down to reach in and get it. If it’s him, I’m not answering. It’ll only ruin my mood. Plus, I don’t want a shouting match with him in front of my brother.
It’s not Jake though—it’s a number I don’t recognize, so I make a puzzled face and shrug at Nick as I press to answer the call. I’ve not even managed to get the word “hello” out before he’s bellowing down the phone.
“Alex, where the fuck are you?”
As I stand up and walk away from Nick toward the balcony, I wonder briefly where he’s calling from to make it an unknown number. Whether it’s Vicky’s number.
“Oh, so now I’m one of the people you bark at down the phone?” I ask, proud of how calm my voice sounds.
“Alex, tell me where you are right now,” he says again, a little calmer, but not much.
“I told you last night, I’m seeing my brother. Now, I’m going. Goodbye, Jake,” I say, proud when I manage to maintain the calm despite the whirlwind inside.
“Alex, don’t you dare hang up on me!” he shouts. “Look, I need to see you, speak to you. Vic told me you came here. Fuck, baby, why did you have to do that?” His voice sounds a little desperate now, but my mind is stuck on one thing: he called her “Vic.” He has a nickname for her. Like people have nicknames for people who mean something to them.
I’m going to throw up. Oh, no wonder she looked so smug. I thought the fact I’d never heard her name before meant she was unimportant, but no, she has a nickname. She’s important all right.
“I didthatbecause I was worried sick about you. Because you left me like that last night and never called. Though it seems it isn’t my place to worry about you, is it?”
“The fuck did she say to you?” he growls.
I want to laugh. He’s trying to blame her. First me for going there in the first place, and now her. Unbelievable.
“Who, Vic? Oh, we never got to chat much. After she called me your ‘doctor bitch,’ the conversation sort of dried up.”
I hear him mutter a curse. When I look over at Nick, he looks concerned and a little angry, ready to jump in if need be. I give him the signal that I’m okay.
“Alex, please tell me where you are. I’ll come to you. I’ll come now.”
He’s pleading. I don’t like how it makes me feel, Jake pleading.
“I need to see you, talk to you. Explain.” I wonder if he wants to tell me how her being half-naked in his apartment wasn’t what it looked like. “Please, baby.”
I straighten my spine at the same moment I hear the doorbell ring. Nick hesitates for a second before going off to answer it. I wait until he’s out of the room before speaking.
“Oh, don’t you bloody dare. That ‘baby’ crap is finished,” I hiss. “Oh, and explain?Please.When have you everexplainedanything to me? I had to get you to converse with me under duress, for god’s sake. Don’t let desperation change the habit of a lifetime. Begging doesn’t suit you, Jake. I’m going now. This is over.” My voice sounds so unbelievably controlled I’m almost proud of myself. If I weren’t on the verge of tears again, I might even gloat.
“Alex, I mean it, don’t ha—” I hear him shout, but my hand closes over the disconnect button.
As I turn around, Nick enters with a tall, extremely beautiful man by his side. Nick still looks worried, but I fix on my most genuine smile and walk toward them.
“You must be Jin.” I smile.
“Babe, this is my little sister, Alexandra, but we call her Alex. Or Al, or Doc,” Nick says.
I can only blink at his use of the word “babe” for a moment before bringing my gaze back to the tall, handsome man beaming back at me.I’ve never imagined what Nick’s type might be because I’ve never seen him with a guy before, and so I had no idea what to expect. Jin is stunning. A little taller than Nick, with the most flawless skin I’ve ever seen on a man.
“Alex!” he says. “You’re exactly like in your pictures—gorgeous.” His accent has a strong American inflection, but with a current of Korean woven through it. Large brown eyes and a big smile only enhance his elegant features as he lowers into a small bow before rising to pull me into a gentle hug. “He’s been hiding you all for so long I was starting to think he was an orphan. Or an alien. Or something else altogether ...” He flicks his eyes back to Nick and winks as Nick hits him playfully on the arm.
“Drink?” Nick asks, hand resting on his forearm.