"What took you so long?" Quinta asked when I finally joined our table again.

"Nothing."

Another lie. Far too much had happened in the course of a few minutes.

One of those was that I now wanted to puke.

"You took a long time in there," Dawn said, narrowing her eyes at me. "Is everything okay?"

At my non-answer, Mom turned to a waiter and asked for a glass of water for me. That was a blessing, because now I was too sober to keep drinking and too scared of losing control again, I needed all the help I could get to perk back up.

I tried texting Tae Yang that I was back with the people I'd come with, but no matter how long I waited there was no response back from him. Based on what I knew from him, he would follow in his word to a T and would probably be here in a few minutes.

And then what?

The ladies would find out what had just happened. They'd meet Tae Yang in the flesh.

Shit, I needed a drink to cope with all that. Instead, I gulped down the glass of water and chomped on the ice.

"I don't know about y'all but I'm hungry," Quinta announced. "And it looks like Cecilia used up our table's luck for the night."

Ya don't say, I thought.

"I support the motion." Dawn grabbed her purse and stood up. "I feel like I could eat a whole pizza by myself. With some wings. And fries."

"Ooh, definitely fries," Quinta said.

"I want pasta," Mom declared, lacing an arm with me. "With meatballs."

I gave a watery smile. "Whatever you want, ladies. It's on me."

They cheered, and for a moment I was glad I could pretend nothing was amiss for a little longer.

When we were settled in the restaurant, waiting for our orders, I texted Tae Yang again to call off the cavalry—but before I sent the text message, someone showed up at our table and made me look up.

I thought it would be Tae Yang. Instead, it was the same asshole as before.

He leaned on our table, laughing. "Where's your hotshot boyfriend then?"

Quinta frowned. "Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?"

"Stay out of this grandma, this is between her and I."

Quinta spluttered. "Grandma?"

"Y a éste qué le pasa?" Mom shouted.

Through gritted teeth, I said, "There is no you and I, pal."

Dawn snapped her fingers. "Security! Security!"

"There's no need," a new voice said. Every cell in my body vibrated as I turned around and saw Tae Yang striding across the restaurant towards us. His eyes shot lasers at the bully. "Hey buddy, I thought we had an agreement."

The asshole left our table while cracking his knuckles. He was so much burlier than Tae Yang and could probably flatten the younger guy. Yet, nowhere in Tae Yang's expression was the fear I felt.

Everyone in the restaurant tensed up as the two men faced each other.

Quinta broke the quiet by asking, very loudly, "What the hell is going on?"

The middle-aged guy started laughing. "So, instead of having a good time with me, you want me to believe that this scrawny kid is your boyfriend?"

My last braincell finally snapped and I said, "I don't have to prove shit to you!"

In the middle of that mess, Tae Yang offered me a brilliant smile. It made my heart beat harder.

"You heard the lady," he said to the asshole. "Now scram."

"Make me," the other guy had the nerve to say. When Tae Yang scoffed, the asshole threw out a fist.

My table and I, and a few other bystanders shouted out a warning that would come too late—because in one smooth move, Tae Yang evaded the blow and grabbed the guy's arm, twisting it so the guy had no choice but to get on his knees if he didn't want his shoulder to be dislocated, or worse.

"Are you ladies okay?" Tae Yang asked us, even as the other guy writhed in pain.

Quinta started clapping, as though this were a theater show or something. I hadn't noticed I'd been standing up, as if ready to spring to action, until my legs failed me and I collapsed back on my chair.

"Ah, Security's finally here," Dawn said and indeed, three big dudes in black came over.

"We got it from here," one of them said, and it was only then when Tae Yang let the bully go.

He stood by, watching as the three guys took care of the tormentor and pulled him away from the place amidst cheering, our own and everyone else's.

"Okay, but for real are you okay?" Tae Yang asked me once the coast was clear. "I tried to make it as quick as possible. Was I too late?"

Quinta answered, "I don't know who you are but you were just in time."

In the entire exchange, Mom had stayed uncharacteristically mum. She squinted up at Tae Yang and even as he introduced himself, she still said nothing.

Dawn pulled up a chair from a nearby table and had him sit down beside her and Quinta. "What's this about you being our girl's boyfriend?"

"No!" I yelled. All four pairs of eyes turned to me. "Tae Yang's my friend, I was just trying to shake that asshole off and..."

Finally, Mom opened her mouth. "Say to us what happened."

My shoulders sagged but I fessed up to the events. Retelling them made me even angrier, and that feeling infected everyone in our table.

Dawn smacked the table. "If I had known, I'd have grabbed that guy's neck and-"

"Knee him in the balls," finished Quinta. "Do you think we're too late?"

I rubbed my temple. "Let's not go to jail tonight, guys."

Dawn seized Tae Yang up and down. "Well, this cutie here handled him anyway. Thank you for coming to help our girlie."

Quinta covered the side of her mouth, hiding it from his view, and very loudly said, "So this is airplane cutie, huh?"

As Tae Yang laughed, I wanted to cry and hide under the table.

"Ven conmigo al baño," Mom said, pulling me by my hand and giving me no choice.

I felt five years old as she dragged me to a secluded location, no doubt to blow my eardrums out.

Instead, once we were inside the ladies' room she said, "Me hubiera gustado que me dijeras lo que estaba pasando, pero hiciste bien en llamar a ese muchacho."

"I did?"

Mom added, "Y te doy permiso para que salgas con él."

I choked in my own saliva. She thumped my back as I hacked up a lung.

"Qué?"

That went against everything she'd told me for months after breaking up with Bryce. It was the same as someone with a deathly allergy to seafood eating a shrimp cocktail all of a sudden. It made no sense.

I shook my head. "No entiendo."

"A ver si en inglés lo entiendes," she said. "You can date him."

At that moment, Quinta rushed in. "Whew, all this excitement loosened up my bladder. Excuse me, ladies."

Outside, Dawn and Tae Yang hung out together, all our purses in their hands. He said something that made her burst out laughing and it was clear her loyalty was already his.

That charmer...

"I think it's best we call it a night," Dawn said once we joined her. "I'm pretty tired after all of these events."

"Me too," Mom agreed.

Quinta joined us and after we caught her up, she said, "Sounds like a plan. Why don't I drive us back home and we let the younguns enjoy the rest of their evening?"

"Sounds like a great plan," Dawn said, handing me my purse back.

"I drive," Mom said, turning around and herding the other two with her.

"Wait," I called out, but none of them heard me. Or pretended to.

Blinking, Tae Yang asked, "What just happened?"

"Welcome to my life." I sighed and turned to face him properly. "Anyway, thank you. For all of this."

Tae Yang rubbed the back of his head. "I'm just glad I was in town already. Otherwise, it'd have taken me much longer and who knows what could've happened."

"You would've come? All the way from Orlando?"

He said nothing. His dark eyes didn't waver from mine, so intense I was hypnotized. Our surroundings faded away and for a long moment it was just the two of us.

And it felt right. Even though it shouldn't.

I cleared my throat. I had to nip this feeling in the bud.

Before I was able to say something I was sure to regret, Tae Yang spoke. "All this action's made me hungry and there's a really good restaurant nearby, let's go."

I used the commuting time to think about how best to tell him we had to stay friends, in a way that glossed over the magnetic pull I felt toward him. Picturing him as a snotty toddler while I was already in elementary school somewhat helped.

He took me to a pasta restaurant that made me think of Mom. She must have been impressed by Tae Yang's moves and forgot how young he was. In her sane mind she wouldn't agree to me dating him.

"So, what were you doing here in Tampa?" I asked as we checked out the menu, if only so I could stall the inevitable.

"A business trip, actually." He paused, saw something in the menu that made him lick his lips, and closed it. "I was just pulling up into my hotel when I got your call."

What kind of business trips did music teachers have to do?

Well, maybe he just had students all over the place.

"Lucky me," I said.

A waiter came over and asked for our orders. Again, Tae Yang ordered enough food to feed an entire army.

When plate after plate started to arrive and our table was fully loaded, I said, "Who's going to eat all this?"

Grinning, he said, "Watch me."

After a few minutes, it was clear he'd been starving.

"Sheesh," I said, barely halfway through my salad as he started on his second dish. "Did you forget to eat since yesterday?"

"Let's just say I've been busy," he said between bites.

A horrible mental image came to my head. In it, he marched back into last night's restaurant after I'd left, and continued on with his date. One thing leading to another, and the reason for his appetite was because he'd been busy getting busy.

Not only did that possibility clamp my stomach up, it also gave me the perfect out I'd been looking for on the way here.

Setting my fork down, and taking a bracing gulp of water, I asked, "How did it end up going last night with your blind date?"

Tae Yang chewed at leisure and shrugged. "It was okay, Ga In is actually a pretty normal girl."

A lump formed in my throat. I swallowed it down with more water.

"You guys seemed to be having fun," I said.

Tae Yang cringed. "And meanwhile, you looked like you were in physical pain."

Ah, so that was what had triggered him to save me from spending more time listening to Bryce's bullshit. Odd that Tae Yang had realized that from twenty feet away, but Bryce could still sit in front of me thinking what was spilling out of his mouth was what I'd wanted to hear.

I didn't want to think about him or other such assholes any longer, so I said, "And are you thinking of seeing her again?"

"Probably not," Tae Yang said as he speared a roasted tomato.

This was it. My chance.

Taking a deep breath, I said, "Why not? You guys looked cute together."

He froze in the motion of bringing the fork to his mouth. "What?"

I chewed on kale leaves with more strength than necessary. "I'm just saying, maybe your parents are onto something this time."

A crease formed between his eyebrows. "You think?"

"Totally." I smiled my Miss Venezuela smile, the one that looked beautiful but was in no way genuine. "You should have some fun with her, dongsaeng."

And not with me. I wasn't suited for him. I was too old, too tall and too tired to open up my heart. If trying to barr it altogether and he'd already made his way into it, I dreaded what could happen if I let him in all the way.

I couldn't put myself through that again. I was done with men. All men. Even the ones who wore no capes but blinding smiles instead.

SONG OF THE DAY: BLACKPINK - Kill This Love

i hope you didn't forget how Tae Yang (aka Link), saved the day a few times on WTY. and now for Cee to realize he's a keeper ✨

also don't forget writersconnx is happening today and tomorrow and it's now totally free!!

come hear me talk about diversity in books at 1pm EST today. then tomorrow join my meet & greet at 12:30pm EST, and for you writer types out there join me for the YA panel at 3pm EST and the writing craft panel at 5pm EST 💕