Jaewook was the kind of ex who couldn’t accept being history. He’d lied, cheated, and manipulated until Karina was nothing but a shadow of herself. Yet the moment she walked away and rebuilt her life—with Hyejin—he started circling back like a vulture over something he’d already destroyed. Nobody understood why. He didn’t love her. Maybe he just hated the idea that someone else did.
It started like any other quiet afternoon. Karina was at the mall, indulging in the kind of aimless shopping she hadn’t done in months. But halfway through browsing a rack of clothes, she felt it—that heavy, unsettling sensation of being watched. She turned, and there he was. Jaewook.
At first, she told herself it was coincidence. But he was there in every store she went into. On every escalator ride. A shadow that refused to disappear. The unease grew into certainty by the time she reached her car, and that certainty turned into alarm when she saw his vehicle pull out and follow hers into traffic.
She could’ve called the police. She didn’t. The only person she wanted to see right now was Hyejin. If there was anyone who would stand between her and danger without hesitation, it was her.
The closer she got to Hyejin’s neighborhood, the more reckless Jaewook became. He crowded her bumper, jolting her forward with sharp taps of his car. One swerve nearly put her into the curb. She drove like she was clinging to the last thread of control, every turn sharper, every acceleration harder.
By the time she had Hyejin on the phone, her breathing was uneven. On the other end, Hyejin’s voice was calm—cold, even. The kind of calm that promised something dangerous. Jaewook had no idea what was waiting for him. Hyejin might not have been the type to pick a fight without reason, but the second her girlfriend was threatened, reason stopped mattering.
My knuckles were white on the steering wheel as I made the final turn. His headlights flashed in my mirror again, way too close, and I felt my stomach knot tighter.
“I’m on your street,” I said quickly into the phone, glancing at the dark silhouette of his car behind me.
”Don’t get out until I tell you to.” Hyejin’s voice was low, controlled, but I could hear the tension thrumming beneath it. ”Just keep the engine running.”
“He’s been hitting my car, Hyejin, I—” I got cut off by Hyejin.
”Karina.” Her voice sharpened like a blade. ”Do exactly what I’m telling you.”
I swallowed hard. “Okay.”
I’d heard her speak like that before—once. It was the tone she used when she was already past angry, when her patience had snapped clean in half.
Jaewook thought he was chasing me to the end of my road. He didn’t realize he was driving straight into Hyejin’s.