62
Their Kingdom Panorama
Was Mi Sun a silent observer? But she hadn’t been around long enough…
Mi Sun smiled in return, “I was the one who told her about you. Before that, she knew nothing about you.”
Could Mi Sun have known that she and Donghae had discovered So Rae’s dead uncle in the courtyard together? Did she know more about her and Donghae than she imagined?
Victoria mentally slapped herself.
“We don’t have a relationship,” Victoria replied, “we don’t mean anything to each other. If you’re wondering why he found me Saturday, it might because he thought I did it because of him. Actually, I was just having a hard time. It becomes really hard when you have no one to talk to and there’s no one willing to listen to you.
“Oh, yu know that Donghae likes So Rae, right?”
“Ah…” Mi Sun smiled. “I heard you took a trip to Kyuhyun’s last night.”
Victoria nodded again with a smile.
“You two are getting along again?”
“He’s not a bad person, so I’d like to get to know him better. I think…I thought of myself too much,” Victoria told.
“That’s good,” Mi Sun commented before placing a manila folder in front of her. “I’m taking So Rae out in a bit, so can you make a couple copies of these papers for me?”
/\_____/\
Disappointed, Donghae tilted his eyes toward the ground.
Laughing to himself he repeated, “We don’t mean anything to each other? Who was it that started calling me friend first?”
Biting his lower lip, he took a deep breath before walking back. When he exited the hallway he stared over at Victoria who was still too immersed in the papers Mi Sun had handed her.
Pressing his lips together determined, he speed walked toward her desk.
“Lets go eat,” he demanded.
Victoria’s head shot up.
“I’m already booked.”
“If I say eat, then you have to eat!”
“Then lets…”
“No! I refuse to have dinner with you! I don’t want to take time out of my private time to meet with you,” Donghae refused then browsed his eyes around before they landed on the papers. Suddenly snatching them he told, “I won’t give these back to you until we have lunch!”
Turning around he dashed down the hallway leaving Victoria to stare at him absurdly.
He’d reached the entrance to the cafeteria within moments. Letting out a sigh of relief he leaned against the wall and watched the hallway for any signs of Victoria. A few seconds later he could see her walking calmly down the hallway. She stopped at the end of the hallway and half glared/stared at him before moving forward.
Donghae smiled cheekily at her stern expression and as she made a grab for the paper he it up into the air.
“Yah, didn’t I say ‘Lets eat’ first?” he asked.
Victoria stared at him and took a step back crossing her arms.
“You didn’t let me finish what I was going to say,” she started.
“You were saying something?”
Victoria half glared, “Lets go out then.”
His heart skipped at her suggestion.
“Cafeteria food isn’t always good,” she pointed out.
“Why are you agreeing so easily?” he suspected, half grinning however.
“Because I’ve the next few days booked, I won’t have free time like someone here,” Victoria eyed him.
“Why?” he stepped away from the wall curious, concerned.
Victoria edged back with a frown, “What’s your problem?”
“What do you mean you’re booked?”
“Yah, if you want to keep wasting time like this we won’t be able to eat,” Victoria pointed out.
Donghae started to retort but Victoria’s phone started ringing. He almost couldn’t believe that she even brought it with her. She fished it out of her pocket and glanced at the caller ID, but before she could answer he snatched the phone from her and started toward the front doors.
“Hey!” she screamed after him at the top of her lungs.
“If you answer your phone you’ll be wasting time!” he shouted racing out of the doors.
Turning around the corner he came to a stop to discover that the caller had stopped calling. Browsing through Victoria’s missed phone calls, he discovered that it was Kyuhyun who had made that call. The phone started ringing again and he could feel his eyes grow big. Quickly ending the call he took out the phone batter just in time to hear Victoria’s loud footsteps near him.
Turning around he stashed the phone into his jacket pocket and told, “You can’t have your phone until we’ve finished lunch.”
Victoria distorted her expression, “What’s gotten into you? Give it to me!”
“Look at this,” Donghae glanced at his watch, which was no where on his wrist. Clearing his throat he turned back to her, “We’re wasting a lot of time.”
She snorted, “What’s with your attitude? You have no reason to be holding onto my phone.”
Donghae opened his mouth to retort, but when no words came out he turned around and started walking. Victoria obviously sighed loudly behind him before she followed. A smirk flashed onto his face.
“Chill! Why are you so angry,” he told half turning around.
“I’m not angry,” Victoria mumbled randomly turning into a restaurant.
Abruptly pausing in his steps he backtracked and followed her. After ordering their food Donghae found himself tapping the tabletop with his fingers in a rhythmically beat. Glancing around the small restaurant his eyes naturally landed upon Victoria whose face was turned elsewhere.
What could he talk to her about?
Then his eyes followed her gaze to the guitar hanging on the wall. The sudden memory of Kyuhyun teaching her how to play on the 5th floor balcony flashed in his mind. He waved it away.
“Do you like the guitar?” he questioned.
Victoria acted as if she hadn’t heard him, which he knew she clearly did.
“Do you just like it or do you like it because of Cho Kyuhyun?”
That caught her attention. She turned to him and sat straight up.
“Why?”
Afraid that she’d get mad and that he might have offended her he cleared his throat, “I was just saying. Don’t take it personally.”
Victoria frowned at him.
“If I learn to play the guitar well, would you be impressed?”
She stared at him blankly.
“Why would you want to learn to play the guitar?”
“Because…I might like it too,” he excused.
Her eyes landed upon him seriously and he wondered if she’d read the intention behind his words.
Clearly she hadn’t when she said, “Nah, I don’t think you know anything about music.”
“What if I learn how to play it?” he questioned. “What if I play a song on it?”
Her gaze on him changed.
“Are you trying to compete with Cho Kyuhyun to see if you can meet up to his standards?”
He gulped half nervous, half anxious that maybe she had read the meaning behind his words.
“So Rae unnie wouldn’t be interested,” Victoria shook her head.
His heart sunk.
“I think her standards have become somewhat high because of Cho Kyuhyun,” Victoria continued, “I mean, look, after all this time she hasn’t even thought of the possibility that her employee has a crush on her.”
Donghae had thought about walking out at that exact moment, but there were only two possibilites available. Either Victoria would chase him out and try to bring him back him after an argument, or Victoria wouldn’t come after him at all.
The last possibility bothered him most.
Instead of risking his chance he screamed, “You’re too noisy!”
Victoria jumped from the scream of his voice staring at him wide eyed.
“What?”
“Stop talking,” he pointed at her, “you’re not the one holding the conversation here, I am.”
“I didn’t know that mattered…”
“SHUSH!”
Victoria stared back at him surprised before their food was set down in front of them. He watched as she reached for her spoon and sipped the soup slightly with a serious expression. Victoria her lips happily before digging in for some more and a smile slowly crawled onto his face.
After their lunch they started down the sidewalk back toward the company. However as slow Donghae walked he always found Victoria walking faster. A surge of annoyance bubbled inside him at why she couldn’t keep her pace the same as his, slow.
“Yah! What are you walking so fast for? We’re not running here!” he shouted never minding the people who turned to stare.
Victoria turned her head back.
“Why are you walking so slow?! That’s how lazy people walk!”
Biting down onto his bottom lip he rushed forward and lightly grabbed her arm. She turned around almost shocked. The way her hair shoved its way past her shoulders and trailed down half her arms remained in his blank memory for a few seconds.
“What are you doing?” she questioned with a bizarre expression.
He couldn’t find the words to come out of his mouth. When he didn’t respond, Victoria tried to pry his grip off her arm with her hand, he only held on tighter.
“Just walk a little slower with me,” he said each word slowly.
“Why?” she asked.
Why would she even ask WHY?
She looked worried, but the feel of her warm fingers made his heart jump some more. He really felt like he was going crazy.
“O…ok,” she told when she realized he wasn’t giving in.
Slowly and uneasily, he let go of her and they made their way back slowly. However, he couldn’t help but feel that Victoria only wanted to avoid him at the moment.
/\_____/\
She’d retrieved the paper and her cell phone, but her mind was sill obviously stuck in that moment just moments ago. She unconsciously reached a hand up to the arm Donghae had just gripped and held it there. The wild beating of her heart had disturbed her and the way he had looked at her was breath taking.
“He must have been thinking of someone else,” Victoria told herself silently.
She glanced down at the phone battery sitting in the middle of her palm next to her dead phone. It was a surprise that he’d actually turned her phone off that way. Perhaps he really did want to discipline her for ruining the engagement and for making So Rae upset.
With a small sigh she replaced the battery and turned her phone on. Still leaning against the wall in the hallway she discovered the few missed calls she had. As she scrolled down the list her phone beeped with a text message then started ringing.
Victoria glanced at the caller ID and answered, putting up a smile, “Hello?”
“I couldn’t get through to you. What happened?” Kyuhyun’s worried voice reached her ears.
“Oh…” was the best she could make of it.
“I was waiting for you at the restaurant, but you didn’t show up. Did something happen?”
The smile she’d put up disappeared.
“I’m sorry, I forgot about the time,” Victoria lied, “are you free for dinner?”
“My father wants me to meet with some businessmen from abroad,” he replied, “then tomorrow it is. Remember not to turn your phone off.”
Victoria uncomfortably chuckled at his remark and hung up. Another sigh left her.
Putting on another smile she rubbed her head and walked back toward her desk.
***And there we have it, Donghae's trying to get Victoria's attention back.
***Plus, Victoria lies to Kyuhyun
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