Tiffany was ready. Her excitement had been growing ever since she’d emerged sleepily from under her pastel patchwork duvet, kissed her husband good morning and moved energetically into action with the morning’s jobs.

Soon, an appropriately healthy breakfast was prepared with orange juice, croissants and an immaculately ironed shirt put out for him to wear to work.

She noted with approval the twinkle in Siwon eyes this morning and that he was looking exceptionally dapper in his grey suit and light blue tie. Perhaps she should have stayed in bed longer – but then she dismissed the idea. There were too many things to do.

Siwon looked down at her, as she waited at the front door for him to say his goodbyes and leave for work.

“You just can’t wait to play with your new toy,” he commented, wryly.

Tiffany patted her tightly curled fair hair in front of the hall mirror and gazed back at him, pertly. Her blue eyes were full of anticipation and her voice was determined.

“Last week passed by so quickly with so many things happening that I didn’t get a chance to do much. This week, it’s going to reveal all its secrets.”

Her voice was high pitched, almost like a child’s. In the past, Siwon knew that many people hadn’t taken her seriously – and had lived to rue their mistake.

“And if it doesn’t reveal its secrets, it had better watch out,” said Siwon, smiling. tiffany liked everything to be in its place, tidy and under control. It wasn’t that she was obsessive; it was just that everything, animate and inanimate, seemed to find it easier to go along with what she wanted.

Minutes later, seunghyun was gone and tiffany was showered, made up and dressed in a smart blue pastel skirt with matching blouse and ready for adventure.

Tiffany new computer purred into life. She selected her email client to see if there were any messages. A few of her friends at the rifle club already used email and she’d told them that she would soon be online and given them her address. The screen registered one message, which she double clicked with anticipation.

From: Seunghyun

To: Tiffany

Subject: ‘I bet you’re surprised to hear from me!’

Tiffany brow wrinkled. She didn’t know anybody called Seunghyun. Certainly there were no Seunghyun in her close-knit local circle of friends. She read further.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other but I’ve often thought about you and wondered how you were getting on. If you still don’t know who I am, look a little further down and you’ll see my picture. There’s a photo of how I looked when you knew me before and also a photo of how I look now which will be helpful if you agree for us to meet.

Tiffany scrolled down the page and two photographs came into view. Suddenly, it was as if a whirlwind had entered her life and drawn all the breath from her body. Her heart was pounding and her blue eyes were moist.

She pushed her chair back on its castors away from the machine. She needed breathing space and time to think. She looked cautiously back at the computer as it sat on the specially purchased desk in her tidy spare bedroom and organized life. But the message was still there.

Questions struggled into her mind.

How had he found her?

Was it a coincidence that he’d made contact when she had just got this new machine?

More than anything else, what did he want! Tiffany had no doubt that he wanted something. Seunghyun didn’t do anything without a reason.

She drew her chair up to the screen again. On the left was a young man in his early ’20s, his jet-black wavy hair perfectly combed into place to complement his perfect classical Greek features. His eyes seemed black in the picture but Tiffany knew that they were dreamy, greeny grey and able to melt a girl’s heart at a 1,000 paces.

He was smiling his usual arrogant smile and his arms were looped around the shoulders of two girls also in their early ’20s. On the left, was a much younger version of Tiffany and, on the right, her best friend of the time, Taeyeon.

In the later picture, Seunghyun face had broadened with the passing of the years but maturity only served to enhance the appearance of strength and power. His hair was thinner but his features were no less chiselled and he was standing in a book-lined library looking like an international tycoon.

Tiffany had little doubt that the appearance probably understated reality. In everything, he’d been a natural born winner. His grades were always the highest at university. His car was always the fastest and when vacation jobs had to be found, he’d a talent for finding the one that was not only exciting but also highly remunerative.

They’d met one summer on a Greek island at an extended villa party of a mutual, and undeniably wealthy, friend.

The girls there loved him and were drawn to him like a magnet, which to Tiffany was the very best reason to keep him at arms length.

Tiffany dragged her eyes away from his picture. The effect on her was too powerful and unsettling. She shouldn’t feel like this, after so many years of being happily married to Siwon.

But she knew that the truth was that, despite the passing of the years, her feelings for Seunghyun were so intense that even to look at his photograph made her feel she was being unfaithful – again.