Round Eighty-Four

Yul didn’t know what to do. The face that he was staring at seemed to be both familiar and strange at the same time. His mind was working overtime as things seemed to fall into place quickly. Hyegyo. That uncanny attraction. He was drawn to her. Why? This man. Looked so similar to him. Why? Who could answer all these questions? Did he want these questions to be answered? He had a feeling that the answer would be overwhelming. It would be too much for him to take.

He took one step backwards. That seemed to bring the man back to his senses. The man opened his mouth to speak but Yul heard nothing. He wasn’t sure if it was a problem with his ears or the man. Neither did he want to find out. So he turned and got out of the shop as quickly as he could.

He bolted for his car. “Wait! Stop!” He heard the shouted words but ignored them completely. He didn’t want to wait. Neither did he want to stop. This was like some kind of bad nightmare. The kind where your legs felt like lead and refused to run when there was a ferocious monster right behind you, snapping its jaws. He slammed his car door shut, started the car and drove off. He kept his eyes focused on the road ahead. He refused to look in the rearview mirror. For some reason, he was afraid to.

~~~~~

“Yul…”

Jessica snuggled up to Yul and put her arm over his waist. She ran her fingertips over his chiselled abs and planted a kiss on his bare shoulder. He’d gradually grown more accustomed to staying in her house and began to sleep topless like he usually did in his own home. She was delighted when he did. She liked his bare skin better than his t-shirt.

She littered feathery kisses across his back, down his spine and back up. Then she popped her head over his shoulder, expecting him to turn back to kiss her. But he didn’t. His eyes were closed. He wasn’t sleeping. She knew that. He had reacted to her kisses and touch. Only, he wasn’t returning her advances in kind. He was simply ignoring her.

“Yul…”

She pressed herself against the length of his back and blew on his ear, hoping for something, anything. But she got nothing. She pouted. What was wrong with Yul tonight? It was as though he had put up a wall around himself. She didn’t like it when he did that. He had the tendency to retreat into himself whenever problems arose. He’d bottle it up inside him and build that wall around himself. That impenetrable wall. And in an instant, they were so near, yet so far. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like that wall. It made her feel afraid.

She didn’t want to push him any further, however. Pushing him wouldn’t yield good results. She had learnt that the hard way. She sighed. At least he wasn’t pushing her away. So she hugged him tight, rubbed her cheek against his back and tried to fall asleep.

~~~~~

Sometime in the night, she woke up to take a leak—something that started ever since she got pregnant—and on her return from the bathroom, became aware of the sounds of Yul whimpering. It was an unusual sound to hear from him and she was concerned. She got back into bed and sidled to his side. That’s when she realized that he was trembling slightly as well.

“Yul…?”

He was still asleep. He must be having a bad dream, she thought. But was it a coincidence that he’d been in that mood of his earlier? She wasn’t sure if he was the type who had nightmares often. She’d always be sound asleep by the time he slept and he’d always wake up before her. So coincidence or not, she couldn’t be sure. What she did know was that she didn’t like it one bit. She didn’t like seeing Yul in this state. So, she took her mist spray from her bedside table and sprayed some on his face. His eyes opened immediately, wide in shock.

“What? What was that?”

“I sprayed you with my mist spray.”

Yul looked at her blankly. “Why”

“You were having a bad dream.”

“I was?”

Jessica nodded her head. “Is something troubling you?”

Yul pressed his lips tightly together momentarily before answering, “Baby, don’t worry.”

She wasn’t happy with his answer at all. How could she not worry? How could he say that? “I’m worried.”

Yul sighed. “Don’t. It’s not good for the baby.”

“Well, if you don’t want me to worry, tell me what’s bothering you.”

“There’s no need for you to know.”

That made her angry.

“What do you mean by that? How can you say that!”

“Sica, I don’t mean it in a bad way. I just don’t want to worry you for nothing.”

“Are you hiding something from me?”

Yul remained silent. His breathing, heavy. With a sigh, he hoisted himself up and got off the bed.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my place.”

“But this is your home.”

“No. This isn’t.”

Jessica was shocked by what he said. “Yul…” she called, her voice small and hurt.

He turned around and looked at her, his eyes dark and cloudy.

“This isn’t your home…?”

“No. I have no home.”

Jessica couldn’t understand what he was saying. No home? What did he mean, no home. He’d been staying here with her without considering it as his home? He was about to marry her and he didn’t consider her home to be his? And what about his own apartment. Wasn’t that his home?

She got off the bed and covered the distance between them. “Yul…what do you mean?” She looked deep into his eyes as they blinked in the darkness.

Yul looked defeated. He sighed, closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Then he opened his eyes again. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be saying all this.” He gave Jessica a gentle push. “Go back to bed. I’ll just take a shower and go back to sleep.”

“I’ll shower with you.” Jessica wrapped her arms around his waist and refused to let go.

“Sica, this isn’t the best time to be thinking about that kind of thing.”

“I’m not thinking about that kind of thing. Is that how you think of me?”

“No. I’m sorry. That came out wrong. Please, just go back to bed and I’ll just take a quick shower.”

“I said I’ll shower with you.”

“It’s too late at night. It’s not good for the baby.”

“The doctor didn’t say anything bad about late night showers.”

“Sica, stop being so stubborn.”

“You are the stubborn one. Not me.”

“Sica,” he warned. His voice was low and threatening but she refused to back down. Ordinarily, she would have back down after hearing that tone in his voice. That was him at his limit. But not tonight. For some reason, tonight was different. She was on a mission.

“You’re hiding something from me. You won’t let me shower with you. Are you having an affair?” she asked suddenly. The glare that he shot her froze all of her insides instantly. But she held her ground. She was going to force it out of him if that was the last thing she did. Besides, he would never hurt her. She was confident of that. “I’m pregnant with our child but you won’t tell me what’s bothering you. Of course it’s only natural for me to think that you’re guilty of something,” she defended herself defiantly.

His eyes narrowed into slits and he growled, “You know that I’ll never do that to you. Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not being ridiculous. I’m your wife! I mean, we haven’t signed on the dotted line but we’re as good as married. But you’re not telling me anything. Do you know how y that feels?” By this time, tears were b in her eyes.

“I just don’t want to worry you, okay!”

“But I’m more worried because you won’t tell me anything!”

Yul groaned and squatted down with his face buried in his palms. He rubbed his palms all over his face and his hair—a sign of frustration. She’d seen him doing that while working on a case before. She squatted down with him and tried to grab hold of his hands.

“Please tell me,” she whispered.

“I don’t know,” he murmured. “I don’t know what to say.”

She cupped his face in her hands and lifted it to press her lips on his. He lost his balance and sat down on his but their lips never parted. She threw her arms around his neck and pressed in harder as he grabbed her waist to pull her closer to him. Their lips worked it out gently, nuzzling each other tenderly. Just their lips. Nothing but lips. They parted after a while with her straddling him, breathing heavily.

“Tell me,” she urged as she rained light kisses all over his face.

He pressed his lips into a thin line but after a while, he opened his mouth and said, “I’m not sure but I think I saw my brother.”

She gasped. “Your brother? Kwon Hyukjun?”

He nodded, his eyes downcast. “But I’m not sure. I don’t know if I really did.”

“Where…?”

“The flower shop.”

“The carnations…”

Yul nodded.

“Did you talk to him?”

Yul shook his head.

“Why not.”

“I was scared. I ran away.”

Jessica didn’t know what to think. Yul. Scared. These two words did not go well together. The words ‘ran away’ definitely did not make any sense either.

“What if it’s him? What if it’s really him? What should I do?” he asked bewilderedly.

“Say hi? Smile? Give him a hug?” Jessica suggested. She too, wasn’t sure. When she first met Krystal, they’d been too preoccupied with their father’s condition to feel the awkwardness of meeting each other for the first time. Perhaps, that had been a blessing in disguise.

“I don’t even know if it’s him. What if he’s just a guy who happens to look like me? What if Hyegyo is not his daughter?”

“Hyegyo?”

“The daughter of the florist.”

“Oh.”

“I have this strange affinity with her. She reminded me of someone when I first saw her. Now I know who.”

“Oh, Yul…” Jessica hugged him tight. “It’s going to be alright. Look at Krystal and I. We’re happy to have each other now.”

“Krystal is different. She’s innocent. She didn’t have a choice. My brother had a choice. He chose to leave. He chose to abandon us when we needed him most.” His steely voice pierced her and she knew that he was hurting badly. So she his back and caressed his cheek.

“No matter what happens, I’ll stay with you till the end,” she promised softly and they hugged for the longest time before he stood up and brought her back to bed with him.

“Let’s go back to sleep. I’ll deal with this tomorrow,” he said.

“We’ll deal with it tomorrow,” she corrected him.

He smiled and nodded. “We’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

~~~~~

Yoong was more than excited as he set up his laptop for the video call.

“Sunny!” he shrieked when he saw that she was already logged on. He was eager to tell her about how he had impressed one of the senior staff today by handling a crisis at one of the resorts that he was visiting. An error in the system had led to a massive over-booking of rooms but he had managed to appease all the disgruntled customers quickly and efficiently.

Her face came on and the first thing he noticed was that she had on a pair of black kitty ears. His eyes bulged as his jaw dropped. She was in a black cat suit! Smoking hot!

He couldn’t quite breathe as he took in the visual of her enticing cleavage oozing over the top of her revealing corset. And as she moved to get herself comfortable, he caught sight of something that made him groan. . She had on a pair of y black !

Was she trying to seduce him to death?!

“Sunny…” His eyes were fixated to her y outfit. Oh dear Pikachu. His new favourite creature was definitely the cat. Pikachu could stand to the side for the moment. Kitty cat. Oh yeah. Kitty cat.

“Yoongieee,” Sunny put on her cutest voice and asked, “…have you been a good boy today?”

“Yes! I swear I have! I was a fantastic boy today! I resolved a crisis!”

“Well done,” Sunny purred and Yoong went a little crazy inside.

His heart was bouncing of the walls of his ribcage and his lungs were fighting for air as he had forgotten to breathe.

“As your reward, I’ll welcome you with in this cat suit when you get home.”

Yoong could feel his blood rushing in a particular direction as she said that. Oh, the things he wanted to do to her in that suit!

“Do you like this treat?”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

Sunny giggled. “So, tell me about the crisis that you resolved.”

Yoong told her all about it and she nodded her approval.

“Great job, Yoongie. I’m sure the Japanese heads will think better of you after this.”

“I sure hope so.”

Sunny smiled. “I know they’ll see that you’re a good leader. And now, for the real treat.”

Yoong’s eyes opened a fraction wider. “The real treat? You in a cat suit aren’t the real treat?”

Sunny’s smile was sly as she shook her head slowly. “Hold on. Let me get it.”

Yoong could barely wait. His tongue was practically hanging out of his mouth in his excitement to find out what the real treat was. He groaned when he saw her returning to the screen with a tub of chocolate ice cream and a spoon in her hands.

“The real treat. You get to watch me eating ice cream in a cat suit.”

Yoong couldn’t handle it. He adjusted his shorts uncomfortably with his eyes glued to the screen. Watching her eat ice cream was one of his favourite past times. There was something so sensual about her tongue lapping up that ice cream from the spoon, the way the spoon disappeared into , the way her tongue her luscious lips afterwards…

Just then, the bell rang. He ignored it. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Sunny but she heard the doorbell.

“Yoongie…you have to answer the door.”

With another long groan, he acquiesced. He threw on a t-shirt before walking to the door. He hoped to send the person away as quickly as possible. He didn’t want to lose a single minute with Sunny. Time with her was precious.

“Konbanwa, Yoong san!” Miho greeted him cheerfully and stepped into his room as soon as he opened the door.

Yoong was flustered. “Miho? Why are you here?”

“You asked for the documents. So here I am.”

“I asked you to send me an email with an attachment. I didn’t ask you to come personally.”

“This is secret and confidential. Company policy states that such files cannot be sent over unsecured email accounts.”

“Oh. I see. Well, in that case, thank you.”

Miho put the folder down on his desk. Then she turned to look at him. Her eyes trailed down his body to the slight bulge that he tried to cover with his t-shirt and hands to no avail. She giggled. And stepped closer to him.

“Yoong san,” she called him in a saccharine voice that made him squirm. “You’re so manly,” she whispered.

Yoong blinked. Why was Miho saying things like that out of the blue? “Er…thanks. I’ve got the folder now. You can go home and rest now. Thank you.” He gestured towards the door, hoping that she’d take his hint that he wasn’t interested in her.

“What are you watching, Yoong san?” she asked suddenly, pointing towards his laptop that was on his bed where he left it. Thank goodness he had muted it before opening the door, he thought.

“Something…naughty…?” she continued asking.

“No. I was talking to my girlfriend.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I must have interrupted a nice moment.”

And before he realized what she was up to, she reached out and hugged him tight. “Your girlfriend is a lucky girl.”

He could feel her pressing herself against him. It was similar to what Sunny would do to him but nowhere as desirable as Sunny was. On top of that, it was highly inappropriate. What in the world—

“It’s late. I think you’d better go home now.” Yoong was determined to make her leave as he extracted himself from her arms.

The unwavering smile on her face was highly disturbing to Yoong. “Alright. I’ll get going now. Goodnight.”

“G-Goodnight.”

Yoong kept his distance as Miho left the room and shut the door as soon as she stepped out. He then bolted and locked the door quickly. Had he imagined it? No. He hadn’t. He certainly wished he had. He couldn’t understand what Miho was up to. Neither did he like it. But Sunny was still waiting for him so he hurried back to his laptop and unmuted it.

“Sunny, I’m sorry. My PA brought me some work documents.”

“It’s pretty late. She’s very dedicated, isn’t she.”

“Please don’t be angry. I swear, I didn’t ask her to do it.”

“I’m not angry. I mean it sincerely when I say that she’s dedicated. You need someone like that to help you.”

Right now, Miho was the last person he wanted near him—given what she just did to him. He was extremely confused and needed time to think.

“Anyway, it’s getting late, Sunny. I’ve got an early day tomorrow and I have documents to read. I’ll see you tomorrow night, okay? Same time, same place.”

Sunny smiled although she seemed a little disappointed. “Same time, same place. Goodnight, Yoongie.”

She kissed him goodnight and he kissed her back through the webcam. Then he logged off and shut down his laptop before heading into the bathroom to take a shower and figure things out.

~~~~~

Taeng and Tiffany were at the breakfast table having breakfast when Tiffany spoke suddenly.

“We have a meeting with Dennis today. Tony texted me about it a while ago. The official opening is this weekend. It’s our final meeting before the actual thing.”

Taeng nodded. “Okay.”

Tiffany was surprised. Taeng was calm. Surprisingly calm.

“Are you really alright with it?”

Taeng smiled. “Yes.”

“Really? You can join the meeting with me if you want.”

Taeng shook his head. “No. I trust you. You’re a professional.”

Tiffany liked the newfound confidence that Taeng seemed to have.

“You seem more confident, Taetae. I like it.”

Taeng smiled shyly and her heart was reduced to a gooey mess, thumping away in her ribcage. Oh, Taeng. How precious.

~~~~~

“Tiffany! You’re back!” exclaimed Nana.

“Oh thank heavens.” Jenny had both hands in the air.

Top, Magdalena, Rey and the rest of the people in the office gathered around Tiffany to welcome her back.

“We’re so glad that you’re back now,” they all said. “And Taeng too. Great to have you back man!”

Tiffany was most amused. What had Jessica been like while she was gone? She was curious.

“How do you all like Jessica? She’s capable, isn’t she?”

“She’s too capable.” Chermaines had a petrified look. “She spotted a mistake I made and I swear she was going to chew me to bits over it.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Zas agreed wholeheartedly. “Jessica is so scary!”

“And she’d snap at us if we made too much noise. She’d step out of your office and scream ‘Quiet!’ and our ears would hurt afterwards,” added S.U.

“Please don’t put her in-charge ever again,” Dic begged earnestly. “I don’t think we’ll survive her the next time.”

Tiffany was on the verge of laughing uncontrollably but she held it in and said, “Sounds like she did an excellent job managing you guys. You can count on her taking charge more often from now on.”

And with that, she pulled Taeng into her office with her before slamming the door shut and bursting into peals of laughter as she heard the howls of dismay from her staff outside.

~~~~~

Taeng greeted Dennis as the taller man stepped into the office with that same air about him. He never did like Dennis very much. The guy always acted as though he owned the place. It was irritating.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Oh.” Taeng kept a friendly smile on his face. He’d told Tiffany that he trusted her and he did. So he would be professional too. “This way please.”

Dennis appeared to be stunned by his appearance and tone and followed him rather meekly into the meeting room reserved for the meeting.

“Tiffany and Tony will be here shortly. Please have a seat.” Taeng kept on smiling until he shut the door behind him. Only then did he drop his smile. He still didn’t like Dennis. But he’d be civil to Mr. Oh. He’d promised himself to be more professional so he would.

~~~~~

“Tiffany! It’s so great to see you again. I’ve missed you.”

Tiffany smiled at Dennis. “Well, I certainly miss working. I’m glad to be back.”

“I didn’t bring sandwiches this time but I can take you out to dinner to thank you for all the work you put into this.”

“Sure.” Tiffany turned to Tony. “You’re invited too. You’ve played an important role in this.” Turning back to Dennis, she smiled. “I’m sure you won’t mind Taeng joining us either, will you?”

Dennis’ smiled looked strained as he nodded his consent but Tiffany made no indication that she noticed his displeasure.

~~~~~

Dinner was at an expensive restaurant. They had not made reservations but Dennis knew the owner of the place and managed to get them into the VIP area where it was nice and quiet. Tiffany looked at Taeng worriedly. He smiled at her, reassuring her with his eyes that he was alright. She wanted to hold his hand very badly but it would not have been appropriate to do so at a dinner with a business associate so she resisted. Once they were seated, a waiter approached them and asked if they would like any wine.

“Do any of you have any preference?” Dennis looked especially hard at Taeng who looked right back and smiled.

“I have no preference.”

Dennis laughed. “Is it no preference or no knowledge.”

“I have no preference. Whether it’s a Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot from 1982, 1985 or 1989 makes no difference to me because I’m not that picky. But if you’re into Tuscan wines like Chianti or Brunello, I’d recommend anything from 1988 or 1990. I can also suggest a few good years for Italian wines.”

Tiffany tried her darnedest not to look surprised by his apparent knowledge of red wine but she was suitably impressed. Tony who was seated to her left looked as though he’d seen a ghost while Dennis looked as though he’d just seen a pig fly. Taeng caught her gaze and smiled shyly and she had the greatest urge to smother him in kisses but she knew that she had to wait till they were alone to do that. Instead, she said, “I have no preference either. Tony?”

Tony recovered and managed to nod his agreement. At which, Dennis blinked before finally telling the waiter that they’d have a Merlot from 1989. “Taeng, you have an impressive knowledge of red wine. Where’d you learn all that from? You certainly don’t look like the type who drinks,” Tony asked curiously.

Taeng answered him with a shrug and a brief explanation, “I drink it from time to time.”

Tiffany looked at him with b pride. She was reminded of the time when he surprised them and took charge of Yoong’s injury at the Jeju resort. It was then that she had been more attracted to him. To think that they’ve come so far…it was nothing short of amazing. And indeed, some things remained the same. Taeng and his ability to surprise her—just when she thought she knew him better.

“My Taetae has many hidden talents. He’s a wonderful man,” blurted Tiffany and she blushed madly at once when all three men looked at her, each with a vastly different expression. Taeng looked like he was about to burst with happiness, Tony looked like he couldn’t wait to get on Twitter to tell everyone what she just said and Dennis looked like he’d just swallowed a bottle of bitter medicine.

It couldn’t get any better when Tony laughed and said, “You two ought to get married already.”

Because that meant that Tiffany could cast a loving look at Taeng and say, “I can’t wait to make this man mine forever.”

And it was just like Taeng to have the most innocent look upon his face as he said, “But I’m already yours. Forever.”

~~~~~