Round Forty-One

 

The sound of the quiet waves rolling back onto shore was like the most soothing lullaby, lulling them to sleep. The gentle breeze kept them cool yet not too cold and ruffled the leaves in the trees. All in all, it was the perfect moment. All was good.

 

“The stars are so pretty.”

 

“You’re prettier.”

 

“Yul!” Jessica smacked his arm and bit her lip. After finally realizing one of her fantasies, Yul had been nothing but full of cheese and mush.

 

His arms around her tightened and pulled her even closer to him, if it were even humanly possible for two bodies to be any closer than they already were. Their legs were happily rubbing against each other under the thick beach towel that they bought earlier that day as they nuzzled each other up above. Yul sincerely thanked his lucky stars for the towels. They really came in handy today.

 

“Sica baby… mmm…” Yul mumbled into her hair, feeling totally sated after their naughty little tryst on the beach.

 

“Yul…”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I love you…”

 

Yul grinned handsomely and tilted her chin up to graze his lips against hers gently.

 

“You’re so y.”

 

“Yul!”

 

He chuckled as his arm stung slightly from yet another Jessica smack.

 

“I’m going to keep telling you that, so that you won’t think funny thoughts again.”

 

“I should never have come clean with you.” Jessica pouted. “Now, you’re just teasing me all the time.”

 

“Baby, if you didn’t tell me the truth, I don’t think we would be here right now.”

 

Jessica ducked her face into the nook of his neck shyly. Yul merely chuckled. He then looked down at her in amusement when she began sniffing him.

 

“What are you sniffing at?”

 

“You.” Jessica looked up and smiled. “You smell so ‘beachy’.” Then she lapsed into an unstoppable series of giggles.

 

Yul began sniffing at her too. He nosed at her neck, down to her collarbone, the valley of her chest and was about to go even lower when she stopped him.

 

“Yul…” she whispered hoarsely.

 

“You’re too y for my pants… too y for my pants...so y, it hurts…” Yul serenaded Jessica with improvised lyrics as he looked straight into her soft, brown eyes, propelling her into another long bout of giggles that rendered her helpless.

 

“Yul…” She couldn’t stop giggling even though her sides were hurting from giggling too much. “You are… ha ha ha ha…”

 

Yul grinned handsomely and pushed himself back up to plant his lips on her nose. Her nose was so irresistible to him; its cute, pointed tip called for his attention ever so often. She seemed to like it too, for she would break out into a cute little smile while scrunching up her nose a little. Oh… it was the cutest thing to see.

 

They then fell into a comfortable silence and cuddled for some time before Jessica spoke up suddenly.

 

“Yul…”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I still don’t feel good about not calling Taeng. Can we at least let him know about what Daddy did? I have this nagging feeling that something isn’t right with Tif.”

 

Yul looked at Jessica and her hair gently as she frowned.

 

“If it will make you feel better, I’ll call him.”

 

~~~~~
 

Taeng got to his feet as Tiffany turned and ran. His hand stretched out to reach her but he was too far and his legs refused to budge. Only one thing stopped him from going after Tiffany—Mr. Lee’s threats. So as his family members urged him to go after her, all he could do was hang his head low and remain silent.

 

“OPPA!!! GO AFTER HER NOW!!!” Hayeon was quite beside herself. She couldn’t stop pushing her brother towards the door although he barely budged from his spot.

 

“Taengoo, what’s wrong with you man? You told me you love her. Is this how you treat someone you love?” Jiwoong ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “Taengoo, you need to stand strong for those you love, you hear me?”

 

Taeng remained silent as tears began to drop from his very sad eyes.

 

Just then, his phone rang. Was it the call he had been waiting for? He answered the call in a hurry.

 

“Yul! Has Mr. Jung spoken to him? Is Fany safe from him?”

 

“Taeng, Taeng… calm down a little… Look, I can’t guarantee that Tiffany is safe from him but from the look of things, I’d say that Mr. Jung has made him back down for now.”

 

“Really?” Taeng perked up immediately upon hearing the moderately good news. “Can I go back to her then?”

 

“Taeng… I’ve never approved of you leaving her in the first place.”

 

“Yul, I love you!!! I’ve got to go after Fany now. BYE!”

 

Taeng hung up before Yul could even say goodbye and dashed out of his house in a hurry, leaving his family members totally mystified.

 

“What’s up with my little brother man?” Jiwoong was mystified as were his parents and Hayeon. “I swear, sometimes, he’s weirder than when he was a kid.”

 

~~~~~
 

Tiffany was nowhere to be found and Taeng was close to losing his mind. He was worried for her safety and had begun blaming himself for putting Tiffany in danger.

 

Fany ah, where are you? Please let me find you. I will never let you go again, I promise!

 

On and on he jogged, looking all around the rather deserted streets for any sign of his beloved girl. He looked into shops, restaurants, dark alleys and the bus stops but there was no sign of her. He didn’t notice the finger-pointing and curious glances of passersby who wondered what he was doing, running around in his pajamas with a weird-looking green plush toy in his hand.

 

After running aimlessly around the streets for the longest time, he was about to drop to his knees in despair when he finally saw her. Unfortunately, she wasn’t alone. She was in a bar, surrounded by three men who were obviously hoping to have a chance to spend the night with her. He entered the bar without any second thoughts and walked towards Tiffany.

 

“Excuse me… I’m here to bring this lady home now.” Taeng squeezed himself in between a rather tall man and Tiffany. The tall man didn’t look pleased to be pushed aside by a significantly shorter man who looked like he just came from a pajamas party.

 

“Fany, Fany… oh no, are you drunk? Stop drinking, Fany ah… come home with me… please…” Taeng grabbed hold of Tiffany’s hand and stopped her from downing another shot of what he recognized as B-52, an alcoholic drink that is drank in shots. “Fany ah… come home with me… please…”

 

Tiffany turned to look at him through glazed eyes. “Taeng?”

 

“Yes! Yes! It’s me, Taeng!” Taeng replied immediately as a sense of relief zipped through his veins.

 

“You…” Tiffany pointed at him and pouted. “You broke up with me… you don’t love me anymore… leave… go away.”

 

The tall man was behind Taeng in a flash. “The lady is asking you to leave little boy. She doesn’t want a boy like you. She wants men like me and my brothers.” The tall man’s friends surrounded Taeng and Tiffany and pulled Taeng away from Tiffany with ease as the tall man draped his arm around Tiffany’s shoulder.

 

“Babe, do you want to go home with me and my friends or this little boy over here?”

 

Tiffany looked up at the tall man and pushed his arm off. “I’m not going home with anybody. I don’t want to go home at all.”

 

The tall man laughed as Taeng struggled against his two friends’ hold on him. “That’s fine with me. I hate going home too. Since we both hate going home, how about chilling in the VIP room instead?”

 

“NO! FANY AH!!! DON’T GO WITH HIM!!!” Taeng yelled at the top of his lungs in desperation.

 

The tall man’s face turned dark and he turned around and punched Taeng in the stomach really hard. “You’re such a pest, little boy.”

 

“URGH!!!” Taeng bent over immediately from the pain of being punched when he least expected it. “FANY… please come home with me…”

 

“She doesn’t want you, little boy. Shut the hell up already.”

 

Tiffany stood rooted to her spot—albeit, rather unbalanced—watching Taeng. She was unresponsive to his cries for her. She simply stared at him as the two men held on to him, stopping him from going to her. She stared and stared until the tall man turned to her suddenly and wrapped his arms around her, holding her against his body. Taeng screamed in horror as he watched the tall man lean down towards her lips. His lips were mere inches away from hers…

 

“NOOO!!!” Taeng wrestled violently against his captors and managed to wrench one arm free from the hands that held on to him. His peas dropped onto the ground but he didn’t even care. He had to stop the tall man from kissing Tiffany who was clearly too drunk to protect herself. With a ferocious growl, he kicked the other man really hard in the shin and wrenched his other hand free as well.

 

He then threw himself onto the tall man, knocking him over as his lips were about to lock onto Tiffany’s. He sat on the tall man and punched him as hard as he could, throwing his fists at him rapidly, blindly, until the tall man begged him to stop.

 

“STOP!!! STOP!!! I’M SORRY!!!”

 

Taeng stopped. He panted from the physical exertion and was about to get off the tall man when the tall man’s friends grabbed hold of him again.

 

“YOU ARE ASKING FOR IT!” One of them raised his fist high in the air and was all ready to throw a punch at Taeng when the tall man stopped him.

 

“NO! Leave him alone. This little guy’s got some balls. Let him go.”

 

The two men looked at the tall man in surprise.

 

“Let him go? Are you sure?”

 

The tall man’s lop-sided grin came and went like a sudden breeze. “I’m sure, let him go. I’ll handle him by myself.”

 

“Whatever you say, bro.”

 

Taeng stood his ground bravely as the tall man got up from the ground slowly. He watched as the tall man felt his lips tenderly and making sure that he wasn’t bleeding. The tall man then walked towards him with a suspicious looking grin on his face. Taeng couldn’t tell whether the grin was friendly or not so he prepared himself for the worst.

 

“You, little guy… my name is Kangin. What’s yours?”

 

“T-Taeng.”

 

“Taeng, huh… good going… you managed to punch me and make me beg for mercy. Well done. You got my respect for that but before I shake your hand and offer you my friendship, I’m going to make you pay for what you did to me.”

 

Taeng could only whimper and tremble as a flying fist came crashing into his face.

 

~~~~~
 

“So, besides the beach and shower, what are your other fantasies?”

 

“Yul…”

 

Yul took his eyes off the road to glance briefly at Jessica and chuckled when he saw how red her face was. “You can tell me. Your fantasies are safe with me, you know that, right?”

 

“I know…”

 

“So, come on… tell me about the rest.”

 

They approached a traffic light and Yul brought the car to a halt before turning to Jessica.

 

“The beach would be ‘blue sea’, am I right?”

 

Jessica nodded shyly.

 

“And the shower? Which colour is it? Indigo?”

 

Jessica nodded again, as her ears turned pink.

 

“But why is it indigo sky? How does ‘sky’ come into the picture?”

 

Jessica squealed and buried her face in her palms.

 

“Come on, tell me… I want to know.” Yul nudged Jessica, urging her to open up to him.

 

Jessica looked at Yul as though she were a little girl looking at a stranger for a little while. Then she leaned towards him and whispered a little something in his ear. He froze upon hearing her answer while her ears turned completely tomato-red.

 

“Baby…” he breathed.

 

And she stared at her lap and fiddled with her fingers whilst he gaped at her until the cars behind him honked impatiently. The traffic light had turned green a long time ago.

 

~~~~~

 

Song Joongki 22:30

I’d like to have a look at your resort in Jeju. Can you give me a tour of the place? I have a new tour package for Jeju and I’m looking for a good resort to work with.

 

“Who’s texting you?”

 

“It’s Joongki.”

 

“Joongki? Why is he texting you at this time? And what happened to you calling him Joongki ssi? Since when did you become so comfortable with him?”

 

“Yoong… Why are you asking me so many questions about him? He’s only texting me about work.”

 

“Oh? And what is it about?”

 

“He wants to have a look at Jeju Joy. He says he has a new tour package for Jeju and he’s looking for a resort to work with. Yoong, I think this is a huge deal for us if he works with us.”

 

“You know, there are times when I’d rather not make the deal than to work with somebody like him.”

 

“Yoong… Please don’t act like that.”

 

“What do you mean? How am I acting? What’s wrong with the way I’m acting?”

 

“This is only business, Yoong.”

 

“I can assure you that this isn’t only about business to him.”

 

“I can assure you that this is only about business to me.”

 

“Bunny, he’s dangerous.”

 

“Don’t be silly. He didn’t do anything to me the last time we met. In fact, he was very much a gentleman, even more so than you were when I first met you.”

 

Yoong released Sunny’s waist and stood up from his couch. “Is that so? You actually thought that badly of me when you first met me? What did I even do to deserve that? I have never taken advantage of you. I’ve always respected you and your choices.”

 

“You’re not respecting my choice to work with Joongki.”

 

“That’s a different matter!”

 

“No, it is not. You don’t trust me enough to work with Joongki. You don’t think I can take care of myself. You keep thinking that I have to be protected from the whole wide world. Why don’t you just lock me up here then?”

 

“Sunny, I’m not trying to protect you from the whole wide world. I’m only trying to protect you from Joongki.”

 

“Oh, really? When was the last time you let me go to Seventh Heaven?”

 

“Why do you still want to go there? That place is crawling with leeches!”

 

“Yeah, leeches like you.”

 

“I’m not a leech!”

 

“And you’re trying to tell me that you’re not a VIP member of Seventh Heaven?”

 

“I am, but I don’t go anymore!”

 

“And because of that, I can’t go either?”

 

“Sunny, Sunny… why are we arguing over this?”

 

“We’re arguing because you won’t let me work with Joongki for reasons that you cannot justify.”

 

“Sunny… I… I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

 

“Then you should know that I can take care of myself very well.”

 

“Sunny… Joong—“

 

“Yes, I know… he’s a bad guy. You’ve said it a million times. But guess what? I’m going to work with him anyway.”

 

Sunny stood up and grabbed her bag from the couch. She then stomped to the door, opened it and let herself out before Yoong could stop her.

 

“YA! DON’T BE MAD AT ME! I’LL SEND YOU HOME!” Yoong yelled as he grabbed his car keys and dashed out after her.

~~~~~

They travelled in the car in silence. The tension was hanging thickly in the air around them. Sunny was tired and unhappy. Yoong was still vehement about disliking Joongki. It was a bad ending to what was supposed to have been a chat and cuddle evening.

 

When the car came to a halt in Sunny’s parking lot, Sunny got out without a word and slammed the door. She then proceeded to the lift without looking back. Yoong could only sigh as he drove himself back home again.

 

~~~~~

 

Sunny refused to speak to Yoong the next day. If she had official matters to discuss with him, she’d speak in her most professional tone and smile and leave the moment the discussion is done. She did not respond to his many calls for her to speak to him which forced him to do something that he did not like to do—using his ‘I am your boss’ card.

 

~~~~~
 

“Sunny, would you mind staying during lunch hour? I have something regarding the resort to discuss with you.”

 

“Is it urgent?”

 

Yoong looked displeased and Sunny’s co-workers gasped. She had never turned him down when it came to work.

 

“Yes, it is. Please have your colleagues bring your lunch back for you. I’ll see you in my office at one sharp.”

 

“Got it,” Sunny replied calmly, infuriating him even more which was evident in the way he closed his door.

 

As soon as Yoong’s door closed, Sunny’s co-workers gathered around her table worriedly.

 

“Sunny? What’s up between the two of you?”

 

Sunny merely shrugged and smiled at her co-workers.

 

“You’re pissing Yoong off on purpose, aren’t you?” Sungmin looked at Sunny pointedly. “Why are you doing this? Is there something between the two of you that we don’t know about?”

 

“There’s nothing between us.”

 

“We don’t think you’re telling us the truth. We all know how much Yoong likes you.”

 

“What about it?”

 

“Are you sure you haven’t accepted his advances?”

 

“Do I look like I have?”

 

“Sunny, you’re kidding right? There have been times when you leave his office looking all… how do I say this...”

 

“Stung.” Leeteuk chipped in all of a sudden.

 

“EH?” Everybody looked at him, wondering what he was talking about.

 

“Bee-stung lips I mean,” Leeteuk explained.

 

“Yeah! Stung is the word,” chorused the four of them.

 

Sunny merely rolled her eyes at them. “Guys, guys… you should be writing scripts for dramas with your amazing imaginative minds.”

 

“Tsk, tsk… I can’t believe that you aren’t coming clean with us. What are we? Five year olds? In fact, even five year olds can figure out that something is up with the two of you.” Sungmin pouted.

 

“There’s nothing between us. Stop imagining things, understand? Now, make yourself useful and bring back some sandwiches for me.” Sunny reached into her bag for her purse but Sungmin stopped her.

 

“I’ll pay for your lunch if you’ll admit that you and Yoong are up to something naughty. Are the two of you playing each other?”

 

Sunny rolled her eyes again and withdrew a dollar note from her purse. She slapped it onto Sungmin’s hand, causing him to wince in pain.

 

“Keep the change.”

 

“Fine, fine… we’ll go. We don’t need your confession anyway. Come on guys, let’s go,” grumbled Sungmin.

 

~~~~~

 

Sunny knocked on Yoong’s door after her four knights left the office.

 

“Come in.”

 

Sunny opened the door and let herself in. She sat down and looked at him expressionlessly.

 

“Bunn—“

 

“We’re in the office, don’t call me that.”

 

“Oh, come on, give me a break!” Yoong looked as though he was ready to pull his hair out. “Will you just talk to me already?”

 

“I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”

 

“If you can even call that talking...”

 

“Fine, since you want to talk about private matters, I’ll just have you know that you should stop using your ‘boss’ card on me. Sungmin and the rest are convinced that we are up to some hanky panky.”

 

“Why don’t we just tell them that we’re together already?”

 

“You know why. And you agreed not to. How many times must we talk about this?”

 

“Well, I’m changing my mind about this. If nobody knows about us, it’s almost like nothing happened.”

 

“Yoong, you’re being very difficult. Just stop it. Stop being jealous, stop trying to own me and stop making decisions for me all the time.”

 

“Am I really that bad?” Yoong’s sad eyes pinched Sunny’s heart.

 

“You’re not bad. You just need to trust me more.”

 

“I do trust you!”

 

Sunny sighed. “This is going nowhere. Don’t you realize that we’re going in circles? We always come back to the same issues. Yoong, something has to change.” Sunny stood up, bringing the discussion to an unsatisfactory end. “And just to let you know, whether as a worker reporting her work to her boss or as a girlfriend updating her boyfriend about where she’s going… I’m going to Jeju tomorrow to show Joongki around Jeju Joy. I’ve got the contract all ready and if he’s happy with the place, we can strike a deal.”

 

“Fine, if working with Joongki is what you want, go ahead. I’m not going to stop you anymore.” Yoong stood up in frustration. “In fact, you can work with any freaking playboy you want. Go… go back to being a player. You seem to be well-suited for that.”

 

Sunny clenched her teeth angrily. His words had hurt her but what really hurt her most was knowing that he was hurting her deliberately with his words.

 

~~~~~