10: Seung-hyun's Rival
Winning Bom All Over Again-----
What the heck just happened?
Seung-hyun stared at himself in the mid-length bathroom mirror, raking his already disheveled hair. He bit his lip at the memory of the night before, when his ex-wife had just kissed his cheek all of a sudden. Slowly, he caressed the part of his cheek where Bom’s lips grazed the night before. A smile formed his lips.
“Why did she do that?” Seung-hyun asked himself with an undeniable grin.
He had been getting ready for work the next day ever since four in the morning, unable to sleep any longer at the fact that he was meeting Bom again today for the model fitting of their company fashion show. However, the only readying he had accomplished was messing up his hair and pinching his cheeks.
“Seung-hyun, you pabo. It’s natural in America to kiss someone goodbye.” He argued as he finally decided to start the shower. “Right, that’s right. She must have kissed you because to her it was customary.”
The poor real estate developer tried to calm his mind down, but to no avail: twenty different theories have already made their way to Seung-hyun’s vivid imagination.
“How do I leave her alone when she’s like this?!” he furrowed his brows at himself, closing the shower once more and heading out to his bedroom – still in his pajamas. He walked in a scatter brained direction until he found his way to his cellphone.
After a moment to dial a phone number, Seung-hyun said. “Seung-ri.”
“Hyung… What’s up?” Seung-ri said from the other line, his voice obviously sleepy as the clock read 5:30 am. “It’s early.”
“I need your help.”
-----
As soon as Bom opened her eyes, memories from the night before surged into her mind; making her sit upright immediately. She looked around her room, checking to see if everything was a dream and that she had never kissed Seung-hyun on his cheek the night before. She found no luck upon seeing her bedside digital alarm clock which read 7:30 am of the next day.
Ottoke?! I’m meeting him today! Aigoo, aigoo, what do I do? Bom’s frantic mind continued to panic. I am so impulsive! I shouldn’t have!
In the midst of her thinking, her cell phone began to ring. Bom picked it up from the bedside drawer, reading that the call was from an unknown number. Disregarding this odd situation, the fashion designer answered the phone.
“Yoboseyo?” Bom called. “Who is this?”
“Good morning.” The cheerful yet baritone voice from the other line made Bom’s eyes widen with mixed emotions. “Ready to go?”
“S-seung-hyun-shi?” Bom asked sheepishly, verifying her suspicion.
“Yeah.” Seung-hyun replied. “It’s seven thirty, are you ready to go? I’m outside your house.”
“You’re WHERE?!” Bom asked loudly, her eyes popping out more if that was possible. She stumbled out of her bed to check the window to the street outside her house. True enough, the infamous vehicle was there parked outside. “Why are you outside my house?”
“To fetch you, what else?” Seung-hyun answered calmly, letting out a chuckle as he did. “You have a meeting with my models at 8:30 am right? Come on out.”
“OMO I’m late!” Bom exclaimed, running back to her bedroom to pick out clothes from her closet. “Omo omo, omo, do I even have the time to take a bath?!”
Bom could hear Seung-hyun’s hearty laugh from the other line, a polar opposite from the forced laughter he faked the night before when they had dinner with Ji-yong.
“I’m glad you’re having fun!” Bom screamed sarcastically while throwing clothes to her bed. “I’m hanging up, I don’t need your ride so you can go ahead.”
“You sure you don’t need to ride with me? Your panic-filled voice is contradicting you.” Seung-hyun . “Take a bath and go down as soon as you can. I’ll be waiting here.”
-----
He already foresaw this one.
Seung-hyun had just put the phone down after calling Bom’s phone that morning. He had a feeling Bom wouldn’t be waking up on time. Bom was always late to wake up when something good happened the night before.
At least he now knows that what happened last night was good.
------
Flashback
“I need your help.”
“Sure, hyung, anything.” Seung-ri said hoarsely. “Do you need my help now? Or later when it’s normal for humans to be awake?”
“Yah.” Seung-hyun called from the other line. “Do you have Bom’s number?”
“Yeah, you want it?” Seung-ri asked.
“Yup. Send it to my mobile please.” Seung-hyun asked for a favor. “And…”
“And?” Seung-ri asked impatiently, eager to get back to his beauty sleep.
“I need you to help me break off Bom’s relationship with that blasted John Park.” Seung-hyun finally let out his real intentions. For weeks now, he had been debating in his mind if he should crash into Bom and John’s ‘relationship,’ his good side always getting the best of him, though what he was keen on doing was to break the two up.
“Wait, you mean Bom, Bom noona? And John Park, the gay John Park in the fashion house?” Seung-ri clarified. “Are you drunk?”
“No, not the gay John Park, the manly John Park! Bom’s boyfriend.”
“You ARE drunk, noona doesn’t have a boyfriend.” Seungri said firmly. “I know that for a fact because I’m with her everyday.”
“CHINCHA?!”
“Chincha, hyung. You’re obviously not in the right mind.” Seung-ri confirmed.
“Then, then can you help me with something else?” Seung-hyun asked giddily.
“What else?”
“How do I seduce her?!”
-----
Seung-hyun smiled. What Seung-ri had said that morning was enough to make him happy for the next few days.
“No boyfriend, huh?” he told himself as he gazed at Bom, who was powering her way out of her house with her disheveled wet hair and ruffled clothes which were in no way presentable to the public eye. Seung-hyun got out of his car and walked towards the frenzied woman.
“Give me those.” He said; grabbing the random design sketches which Bom held in a disorganized pile. Bom, who was in no position to think calmly, allowed him to do so. “And button up your clothes properly. You’re meeting a lot of male models today.”
Bom couldn’t do anything but oblige. She did look like she just got , with her shirt’s buttons up in random places. Carefully, she looked at her reflection on the car’s fascade and ed them to place them in their proper position, only to get scolded by Seung-hyun who hurriedly stood in front of her.
“Yah! Not here! It’s broad day light people can see you ing your shirt! Go inside!” Seung-hyun exclaimed in one go, pulling Bom’s hand with his right hand, while opening the passenger door with the other. “Get in.”
“Yah, Seung-hyun! Stop ordering me around!” Bom shouted, though she did as she was told and slid into the car. “And just so we’re clear I’m only riding with you because I’m extremely late.”
“Right.” Seung-hyun grinned as he closed the door and walked towards the driver’s seat. “You didn’t forget anything?”
“Nope, can we just please go to the fashion house?”
“Wallet?”
“I have it!”
“Cellphone?”
“AISH!” Bom exclaimed, realizing that she forgot her phone. She scrambled to the apartment and back to the car in a heartbeat. “Alright let’s go.”
“Bom.”
“What?”
“Calm down.” Seung-hyun advised, looking sideways to see Bom’s worn-down expression. “Already moved the meeting to 9:00 am, so breathe a little will you?”
“Arrasou, arrasou. Just start the car. I still need to be there fast.” Bom demanded. Seung-hyun did as what he was told and revved up the engine.
“Tch, so pushy Park Bom. Yesterday you kiss me, now you’re ordering me around.” Seung-hyun said playfully as he steered the car to the street. “You act like you’re my… wife?”
“MWO?!” Bom shouted. “Yah, yah, yah, let me off at the next corner, I DO NOT want to have this conversation with you!”
Seung-hyun laughed energetically. “My car, my rules. Although yesterday, when you kissed my cheek, I have to say I didn’t expect it. I hadn’t listed that down as ‘Things Bom is allowed to do in my car.’”
“SHUT UP!”
“But I guess you’re allowed to steal kisses from me from time to time.” Seung-hyun continued gleefully while his passenger was fuming with embarrassment. “Especially now that I know you lied to me about having a boy friend.”
“YAH!” Was the only retort Bom could come up with. “Wae? So what if I don’t have a boy friend?”
“’So what?’ Park Bom, that makes all the difference.” Seung-hyun said, bringing out a paper bag from behind his seat. “Eat breakfast. It’s going to be a long day.”
“It makes all the difference? Why are you saying that?” Bom asked as she took the paper bag unsurprisingly and dug out the breakfast meal.
“Nothing.” Seung-hyun snickered, glancing at Bom for a moment as they met a stop light. “Don’t get used to this. I won’t be fetching you every day.”
“Wae? Yah! Who’s bright idea was it to fetch me today? It’s not like I was expecting you to begin with.” Bom ranted as she speared the burger steak with her fork. “Don’t worry, I WON’T get used to this.”
“Good.” Seung-hyun beamed.
------
Flashback
“How can you seduce noona?” Seung-ri repeated, his voice still hoarse and unexcited. “Are you asking how I seduce women on a normal basis?”
“Yeah, you’re good at that.”
“Well…” Seung-ri started. “If it’s noona and you we’re talking about…. You shouldn’t be too caring with her. She likes her independence so don’t smother her with everything you can offer.”
“What do you mean?” Seung-hyun clarified.
“Like… Don’t make her think that you’re her dog on a leash, that you’d do everything for her you know? Play a little hard to get.”
“Hard to get, got it.”
“But you shouldn’t make her feel unwanted either.” The younger man continued. “She should know that you’re a little interested, get it? Play like that hard to get bad boy.”
----
“We’re here.” Seung-hyun said, parking the car in the outdoor parking area. “Go ahead.”
“You’re not going?” Bom asked as she gathered her belongings. “It’s 9 already you dumbo.”
“I know, I just need a light first.” Seung-hyun lied. He hated smoking in the same way that the Smith family hated Miley Cyrus’ twerking, but he had to be act like a bad boy, right?
“So you smoke now?” Bom concluded as they both got out of the car. “You’re going to die early with that you know.”
“Too fast to live, too young to die.” Seung-hyun let out a lopsided smirk, lighting a cigarette as he did. Ji-yong taught him that one liner. “Why? Are you concerned?”
“Whatever.” Bom uttered as she walked to the fashion house.
“Disgusting.” Seung-hyun dropped the cigarette into the nearby trash can. “I wonder if that was bad boy enough.”
------
“Noona!” Seung-ri called as the male models bowed politely at her presence in the meeting room. “Good morning!”
“Save it, you prick.” Bom replied snobbishly, remembering that it was Seung-ri who blew her cover with John Park. “Is this everyone?”
“Yeah, we’re six, excluding hyung.” Seung-ri explained. On cue, Seung-hyun came into the room. “Oh, hyung, glad you could make it today!”
“Yeah, but I can’t stay for long, I have a meeting at 11 am.” Seung-hyun said proudly, wanting Bom to hear every word. He looked at Seung-ri as though looking for a sign if what he said made him appear hard to get. Seung-ri secretly held an ‘ok’ sign with his right hand. “Work has been crazy. Mind if I fit first Bom?”
“Whatever.” Bom repeated the same word she said a while ago when they were at the parking lot. “Your uniform is there. Fitting room’s over there. Come out after you’re done.”
“Bad morning, noona?” Seung-ri asked. The older girl shrugged the answer away.
“Seung-ri! Unnie!” Jin-ri called from outside the meeting room. “There’s one more male model that wasn’t in the original listing. The president wanted to include him.”
“Where is he?” Bom inquired.
“Over here.” An unfamiliar voice called, stepping into the room. He was a tall, well-built man who seemed to be in his thirties. He reached out for Bom’s hand to give her a hand shake. “Good morning, I’m Daniel Henney.”
“A hand shake? You must be of other nationalities?” Bom pried as she gladly shook his hand. “Koreans normally bow for a greeting.”
“You’re right, I’m not. I’m from America.” Daniel mentioned.
“Really? Me too! Where from there?”
“Michigan City.” Daniel continued. “You?”
“I moved around, but basically you can say I’m from California.” Bom said expressively. “I’ve been to Michigan City a couple of times with my aunt. It’s very peaceful there.”
“I know, it’s what I miss most when I’m away.” Daniel said casually. “You know, away from the hustle and bustle of Seoul? Well anyway, I was sent here because the president told me I should join the fashion show. I’m sorry for the short notice.”
“It’s fine, we have extras anyway. Last time I heard from Seung-ri there would be eight models.”
“There really was, but he got injured last week!” Seung-ri defended himself. “Anyway, nice to see you Daniel. You should have told me you were going!”
“Ah, I’m sorry. The president just told me this morning so I was quite surprised myself.” Daniel explained and looked at Bom. “Let’s chat a bit more about America, what do you say? I’ve been dying to talk to a local eversince I arrived in Korea. Dinner on me?”
Seung-ri’s eyes widened. This guy was fast. Where was Seung-hyun to stop all this?!
“Yeah, sure!” Bom exclaimed.
For those of you who are unaware, this is Daniel Henney! :)
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A/N: Hi! How was the chapter? Thanks for subscribing and leaving comments! You make me giddy! Please continue to do so :)
And and and! If you have plot suggestions, please don't hesitate to leave them in my inbox or something. I do like interacting with you.
Special shout out to djjeje who just celebrated her birthday last week! Thank you for the never ending support. :)
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