Ten

"You are the risk I'll always take,
The only branch I'll never break..."
-I'll Hold My Breath, Ellie Goulding

“So tell me about this dog lover,” Mr. Kwon probed, before tossing a dollop of Pit Viper ice cream into his mouth.

An explosion of different emotions—fear, disgust, alarm—instantly burst within me from the spectacle. Immobilized on my seat across Mr. Kwon, I waited if he would suddenly fold up. And then die. Because for the love of Johnny Depp, it was a Pit Viper ice cream!

Then I casted my gaze down to my own bowl. The Squid Ink ice cream and all its shady—literally and figuratively—properties were staring back at me.

I wasn’t aware of the real challenge I got into 15 minutes ago, but now I do. Why in the world of gnomes did I agree to doing this? Oh, right. Because the two favors I owed Mr. Kwon just a little earlier was at stake here. If I finish off my ice cream ahead of him, those two favors would be totally wiped out. If not, they remain.

In reviewing Mr. Kwon’s bowl, I needed to speed up. Let alone, start eating!

So with all the audacity I have inside of me, I dumped a spoonful into my mouth. Although the taste was not as horrible as I imagined it would be, my face still couldn’t help but crease itself in disgust.

After swallowing hard, I got back to Mr. Kwon’s inquiry. “Dog lover has a name and it’s Taewon. So let us call him that.” I reluctantly took another portion of my ice cream before I went on. “Apart from the fact that he’s got a gorgeous face and a gorgeous smile, and owns a pug named Skip… I know nothing about him.”

Mr. Kwon almost choked. And then guffawed wholeheartedly. Which earned us startled looks from the measly number of customers of Strong Belly.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

In the course of his mirth, he answered, “It’s just that…it’s just that you regard him as the love of your life, yet…yet you have no idea as to what he’s really like.” He wiped the tears that trickled at the crook of his eyes. “Oh, my god, that is freaking hilarious!”

“He seems to be a good guy,” I backed up, disregarding his insult. In any case, Mr. Kwon had a point. I totally get it and therefore couldn’t argue with it. “Besides, statistics had it that if a person is gorgeous, he’s nice as well.”

“Edward Cullen is gorgeous, but he’s a vampire.”

Huh?

“Have you actually read the book? Or watched the movie? He’s not exactly the bad guy there.”

“Well, he’s not exactly a good guy either. He’s a goddamn vampire. He feeds off human blood.” Then he muttered to himself, “Stupid mythical creatures.”

I stared at him with a hung jaw for a second, before I shook my head, dismissing the subject of vampires. “Well, the date will give me the chance to get to know Taewon more.”

“Well, what if the date wouldn’t work out?”

My shoulders slumped as I reflected on this for a while. But I can’t have room for cynicism, so I straightened my back up and held my head high. “It will work out. The summer rain gods are with me on this one. Besides, you’re going to help me.”

Mr. Kwon raised an eyebrow. “Really? How so?”

“By giving me pointers as to how I should act on a date.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Oh, you will, Mr. Kwon,” I boldly reinforced, nodding my head calculatingly. “Because not only am I allowing myself to lose in this challenge,” I slid my bowl of Squid Ink ice cream aside, “I’m also adding one more favor to the two I already owe you.”

I didn’t know what Mr. Kwon would want me to do in the near future, or what on Earth those three favors will be for. Heck, I wonder if they’d even be any good. But I couldn’t let the thought of those consume me. Not now that Mr. Kwon had agreed and is actually starting to give me lessons.

I have to focus.

Ahh, the things I’d do for—what’s the term? Surely, it’s not yet love…right?

“Are even you listening?”

“Yes!” I answered way too fast, my widened and startled eyes darted at an unconvinced Mr. Kwon.

“Really? What did I say?” He dared, crossing his arms on his chest.

“Uh, you said that...,” I wasn’t sure but I may have an idea, “that conversation is…is the most important thing on a…a date…”

“Correct.”

Oh, thank God.

“And since it’s called conversation, it has to be two-sided,” he followed up. “If he asks you something, you answer, and then you ask him something back. Don’t leave any room for silent moments because it paves the way for boredom. And don’t forget to humor him. Unfortunately, you at being witty so you need to do a lot of work on it.”

I gasped in outrage. “On the contrary, Mr. Kwon, I’m a witty person.”

He only threw me a straight face.

“I can prove it, you know!” Without any speck of desire to lose in my own challenge, I immediately hollowed out some jokes buried in the depths of my brain. “Okay, listen to this: why did the ants dance on the jam jar?”

Mr. Kwon didn’t say anything, but his impassive stare entailed he was nowhere near interested in answering.

I went on nonetheless. “Because the lid said, ‘twist to open’. Get it? Twist? The dance? Hahaha!”

But there was no reaction from the man across of me. Not even a tiny quirk of one corner of his mouth to indicate a smile.

I didn’t give up though. “Okay, how about this…why did the skeleton go to the party alone?”

Silence.

“Because he had no body to go with!” I roared in laughter, even hitting my knee with my palm. Damn, I was on a roll. “I have another one, and oh I swear this is hilarious. Who does a pharaoh talk to when he’s sad?”

Silence still.

“His mummy! Hahaha! Get it? Mummy?” I hooted like a maniac, totally discounting Mr. Kwon’s void-of-humor face at that moment. “I have one more, and I promise this will be the last. What is Bruce Lee’s favorite drink?”

Silence all the way.

“WATAAAARRR!!!” And I even turned up a karate fighting stance. If I wasn’t funny enough for him, then I don’t know what I was.

“Are you done?” Mr. Kwon, in all his seriousness, asked.

I rolled my eyes at that. “You’re just built with chunky walls of grouchiness no measure of wit could ever topple.”

“Or your jokes are excruciatingly corny I wouldn’t laugh at them even if you pay me a million dollars.”

“Whatever. So what’s next?”

Mr. Kwon assumed a contemplative mode for a few minutes, his fingers the stubbles on his chin. For a strange moment, I was hit by this crazy imagination of me shaving those stubbles off. In his bathroom. With nothing but a t-shirt on…

Holy mac and cheese! Where did that thought come from?!

Delete it! Delete it now!

“I don’t know,” Mr. Kwon finally answered, his voice completely stirring the imagination away from my head. Whew. “That’s pretty much what I have in mind,” he added.

My eyes blinked rapidly in shock. “I’m paying you another favor and that’s all the pointers you could give me?”

“It all depends on what the guy is like, okay? Because if you’d ask me, I’m happy with someone I can have a conversation with and is funny enough to put a smile on my face.”

I found his words highly speculative. “So none of the whole gorgeous and killer body is what you’re looking for?”

“I am not as narrow-minded as what you take me for, Lea.”

“I am not saying you’re narrow-minded, Mr. Kwon. I guess…” I chewed on my lower lip, ruminating for a while. “Never mind, I’m just a little surprised, that’s all.”

“And why is that?”

I swallowed the cobwebs that suddenly formed in my throat. “Nothing… But…but you deserve a girl like that though. Gorgeous and a killer body. Someone exactly like Sunmi?”

As if the name was a curse to his existence, Mr. Kwon’s expression had swiftly transformed. To something horrid. To something like he was about to stand up, turn tables upside down, and fling chairs out of the window.

It was an understandable transformation. Sunmi, after all, was the source of all the things that he had lost. His career, his money, his life, his relationships with his parents and friends. His happiness. In other words, she was the infamous ex-girlfriend who stepped on his heart and crushed it to a pulp, leaving nothing in it but bitterness and animosity.

Surprisingly, even though the air on Mr. Kwon’s face had changed, he didn’t walk away like what he usually does when a particular subject throws him off. He stayed.

“I loved Sunmi, Lea,” he said, his voice hard but somber. “But I don’t think I’ll ever fall in love with someone like her again.”

I wondered if it would hurt to press for more. Because that’s exactly what I did. “And why is that?”

He breathed deep, gearing up. “Because I know, in the end, a girl like her will only break my heart again.”

I don’t exactly know why, but Mr. Kwon’s words had me a bit smiling. Maybe because his statement was some sort of an indication. To leaving the past behind…to moving forward.

You can only stay depressed, hurting and angry for too long, and it has reached its end for Mr. Kwon.

Has it really? I did hope so.

I know I didn’t have the right to feel this way—for goodness’ sake, we’re not even friends—but I was sincerely happy for him.

“Mr. Kwon?”

“Yeah?”

“What did the elder chimney say to the younger chimney?”

He narrowed his eyes at first, thinking. But realizing soon that my question was just a joke, much like the ones I threw a little earlier, he coughed up, “Oh, .”

“You’re too young to smoke!”

While I laughed like I’ve never laughed in my life before, Mr. Kwon took on a crabby attitude.

Yeah, his grumpiness still needed a lot of working on.

---

I started the following day by meeting with Haekyun and Minjee first. I planned on gathering their ideas as to the benefit event I have thought of setting up in the near future. But with the impending date beleaguering my mind, it’s rather difficult to come up with something on my own.

I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t pulled out the tag of the dress when I removed it from the plastic bag and hung it up on a hanger last night. I made a strict mental note to myself to get rid of it the minute I come home later. Because, really, how embarrassing would it be to get caught with a price tag dangling on the neckline of your dress? Unless it’s the new trend, I wouldn’t be able to get away with it the way Jennifer Lopez did in The Back-Up Plan.

“Ms. Han?” I heard Minjee called and that broke me out of my reverie.

“Yes?”

“Uh, so what do you think?”

I placed my hands on top of my table and clasped them together, swinging my eyes between her and Haekyun. “What do I think about what?”

The two exchanged confused glances with each other, before the girl went on and said, “About our idea of having G-Dragon hold a benefit concert?”

Concert? Of course! Now, why didn’t I think of that?

I beamed radiantly. “I think that’s a great idea. Good job, Minjee!” But then the worries immediately came pouring in; the smile on my face was annihilated right away by a frown. “But where do we hold it? And who will play the music? How about the lights, the stage? I don’t have that much funds left to orchestrate a concert like that!”

I stood up from my chair and walked anxiously back and forth at a limited space.

“My uncle owns a bar,” Haekyun suddenly spurted out. I stopped to look at him as he went on. “It has everything a performer needs—stage, lights, speakers. Everything. It’s just a bit of a run-down though, Ms. Han, but I am sure my uncle would agree that we’d hold the concert there for free.”

“Yeah,” Minjee chimed in. “It doesn’t have to be necessarily grand, Ms. Han.”

Doesn’t necessarily have to be grand, I sardonically snorted the words in my head, wondering all too sudden what Mr. Kwon’s reaction would be if he had heard that. I haven’t been to any of his concerts, but I’ve come to learn that they had always been grand. Luxurious. Phenomenal.

“And I play with a band, too,” Haekyun added. “I could talk my bandmates into playing for G-Dragon. I am most certain that they would agree.” Then to himself, he added rather excitedly, “Oh, my god, this is the gig we’ve been waiting for!”

In spite of a pessimistic, snarling Mr. Kwon running in my imagination, the anxiousness was beginning to lift, slightly relieved by my two volunteers’ suggestions. I could just worry about Mr. Kwon later. “Thank you, guys. Haekyun, I’m going to talk to G-Dragon and see if we could arrange for your band to rehearse with him, okay?”

“Sure thing. Uh, Ms. Han…when you are planning to hold this concert?”

“In a week.”

Haekyun’s eyes flared wide, utterly surprised. “I-in a…in a we-week?”

Did I speak another language I wasn’t aware of? I nodded at him. “Yes, the sooner the better.”

“But a week is not enough to—”

I patted his back, throwing an encouraging smile. “Of course you can. I believe in you. And your bandmates.”

Haekyun was about to say something more but I beat him to it. “Meeting adjourned!”

I quickly grabbed my phone then from the table and checked for any new messages. Finding out that my inbox was still empty of them, the worry crept back in.

Leaving Minjee in charge with the headquarters, I drove back to my apartment. While at it, my mind floated back to my dress, to the date…but most of all to Taewon, who hasn’t replied yet to my text since this morning. I mean I basically just told him of the arrangement I made at the Emerald Garden. What could be so hard in, at least, confirming? A simple, ‘yes, I’d meet you there’ would do.

When the traffic light beamed red, I took that chance to grab my phone from my bag that was sitting on the front passenger seat. I decided I’d send him a message again. But I stopped to stare blankly at the white Hyundai in front of me first and thought through of what to say. I didn’t want to appear like I was impatient or way too excited about our date, even if honestly I was. But then that might transcend in my text and scare him off.

I didn’t want to scare him off.

I deliberated instead on calling him. Then again, doing that might just bring a much worse result. Him skipping out of the date.

I didn’t want him to skip out the date.

So I tossed my phone back in my bag, choosing the option of texting him later. Maybe he’s just busy. With whatever on this planet his work was.

Hours later, after dollying up, I studied my reflection at my life-size mirror. I know I initially had qualms about the little black dress that Mr. Kwon had selected out for me, but now that I see the entirety of my look—with a light make-up on, a simple hairstyle and black velvet pumps—I began to see how nice I looked.

I stared at my reflection one more time before turning up a satisfied smile. Then I picked up my purse from the bed, hauled out my cell phone and texted Mr. Kwon.

Just wanted to thank you for the last time. I’m off to my date now.

I headed outside and as I was locking my door, I heard my phone beep.

I read the message as I walked the hallway.

Where?

Mr. Kwon sure answered fast. Ah, if only Taewon was like this.

Speaking of the guy, he still hasn’t replied to my text this morning. Even to the ‘I’ll see you later’ message I sent just a few minutes ago. I worried about him ditching me, but then again I tried to take a positive outlook. There’s no point in making myself more anxious by way of pessimistic thoughts.

Made reservation at Emerald Garden, I replied.

Okay, he replied back.

I scowled at that. Okay? Just okay? Not even a ‘Hey, good luck because you need that!’ Even if it would totally sound sarcastic if he said it, I would take it.

Electing not to respond, I shoved my phone back to my purse and began climbing down the stairs. When I made it outside the apartment building, I decided I’d take the cab on my way to the restaurant instead of my car. Who knows we’d come up with other plans after the date, and bringing my second-hand Toyota would get in the way.

Anyhow, with or without unexpected arrangements, I was pretty sure Taewon would bring me home. Because that’s what gentlemen do. And ‘gentleman’ was what I have established him to be.

Ugh, I groaned instantly. What in the world was I thinking? It’s wrong to assume someone’s character by the way he looks. Although statistics are often reliable, I couldn’t place Taewon yet in the gentleman category just because he’s gorgeous.

Before my mind drifted to anything else—anything crazy—I finally hailed a taxi.

---

“Mademoiselle, are you ready to order now?”

Ryan—according to the barpin, where his name was embossed—had come to my table and asked that question. For the fifth time.

I gazed down to the black bow under the collar of his crisp dress shirt and started to wonder if I already looked hungry.

Uneasy. And a little impatient—that’s for sure. Who wouldn’t be? A little more than 25 minutes had passed and my supposed date hasn’t arrived yet.

I managed to manufacture a little smile as I spoke of my response. “Uh, not yet. I’m still waiting for someone.”

Ryan said nothing but bowed his head courteously before walking away to find another customer who needed his service.

Full of anticipation, I darted my sight, for the umpteenth time, to Emerald Garden’s open entryway. A few people, mostly couples clad in their best dresses, had flocked by the front desk, waiting for their turns to be seated by the female receptionist. Unfortunately, none of those heads belonged to Taewon.

I sighed, mostly in despair. Something at the back of my mind was telling me that my supposed date wouldn’t be coming at all. Try as I might to ignore it, it was proving to be a useless feat. For starters, the fact that I was largely surrounded by couples in the middle of their romantic dates wasn’t helping in any way. Then again, this was reasonable given that Emerald Garden was a restaurant that catered to these people—these people who are obviously and joyously celebrating love.

I bowed my head and fiddled with the hem of the off-white tablecloth, still trying not to entertain the inevitable—the realization that Taewon wouldn’t be coming at all.

Oh, but who was I fooling?

“Mademoiselle?” came Ryan’s voice again. His face twisted in discomfort and I could tell that he was about to tell me was not good. “Uhm, it’s the restaurant’s policy that if you don’t order in 30 minutes, I…I may have to ask you to, uhm…leave?”

Disappointment, misery and shame lodged on my shoulders. Not only did my date ditch me, the joint is kicking me out as well. Well, not literally…

But this is embarrassing!

And so tragic I just want to curl in a corner and bawl my eyes out.

But whatever amount of tears that were threatening to spill out of my sockets, I held them back tight. I have to decide first:  should I leave or should I just order?

If I choose the latter, that would mean I’d be eating alone. Not that that prospect worried me so much; angels knew how many times I’ve eaten out by myself and survived. But to be surrounded by a bunch of couples in the middle of their romantic dates?

No.

It will just be awkward, and painful, and sad, and…

I sighed deeply, before tossing a rueful smile at Ryan. “I—I’d just leave.”

But just as I was about to stand up, a familiar voice emerged, and my remained planted on my seat.

“I’m sorry. Traffic was really heavy on the way here.”

~*~

(10/3) One day short of a month after I updated. I'm so sorry.
First of all, I got caught up with work. And then there's the fact that I haven't finished
writing the chapter next to this.

But thank you for waiting patiently. And thank you for reading. And the comments.

I will try to update as soon as I can!=)

Shout-out to madzri who's celebrating her birthday tomorrow!
And really, the one who gave me that push to update. Hehe. 
Have a glorious birthday!