Chapter Nine #5
‘At this hour of the day? Shouldn’t you be at work? You’re far from Cheongdam! Why didn’t you call?’
‘Only I did.’
‘Oh, massda . It’s in my purse. Obviously. How did you know I was here then?’
‘Are you questioning my stalking skills?’
Mina bursts out laughing.
‘So what came up in this part of town?’
‘Running errands for our film shoot. Came here to visit the film-maker we have hired.’
‘Oh, geurae, geurae! The shoot in Jeju, right? It had totally slipped my mind!’
‘The girls in the office are fighting to be on the crew. It’s crazy to see the effect Rodrigo has on ladies. I mean, to be honest, he really is rather dishy …’
She trails off on noticing that she has lost Mina who has, in the meantime, stepped out of the boxing ring and is grabbing her kitbag.
‘When did you say it was scheduled for? The shoot, I mean. This weekend, right?’ Mina asks without looking up as she rummages through her bag for her purse.
An image of Timira looking hurt and confused inside her cabin flashes inside Mina’s mind for a brief second but she dismisses it and starts to dial a number. The person on the other end answers just as Mina is about to hang up after what feels like a million rings.
‘Hello! Yeobusaeyo!’ the voice on the other end answers.
‘Hi, Timira!’
She doesn’t have a plan and hasn’t really thought of a strategy. Having called Timira on a whim, she is now feeling unsure of how to take the conversation further.
‘This is Mina. I got your number from Haneul.’
Lie. She had demanded it from Stephanie right after the showcase game.
‘I’m really sorry about what happened last week. I was thinking we could perhaps let bygones be bygones and start afresh. I might be in Cheongdam-dong tomorrow around lunchtime. Would you like to get some lunch together?’
Another lie. She has no work in Cheongdam. She is supposed to be in Incheon for meetings.
‘I’d have taken you up on the offer, but I honestly have my hands full. We have a shoot coming up and we’re all going a little nuts here.’
‘Oh, massda! You’ll be at the shoot—silly me. Rodrigo is our talent, how could I not remember? I guess I’ll just see you there! May the force be with you, Timira, or should I say Leia!’, she speaks in a voice that sounds like candied venom with a smile that looks more sinister than sweet.
The lies are now coming in fast and furious. She is not supposed to be at the shoot. She has no business there. But now she must attend it.
Appa won’t like it, sure. But I couldn’t care less. There’s no way I’m sitting this out! Geurae, to compete with Leia-ssi I’m even willing to turn into Liar-ssi.
Turning to Stephanie, she says sweetly, ‘Steph, what’s the weather going to be like in Jeju this weekend? Guess what, I’m coming! Things are going to heat up!’
* * *
Holding the package that has come in for Timira, Hanee observes the two figures at a little distance.
The package looks and feels like it has shoes.
While it doesn’t have a sender’s name, it has a note with a pig’s face drawn on it and a message written in a rather childish scrawl: Wear these coz I won’t always be there to catch you when you trip over your laces.
Hanee swears under her breath and turns her gaze to Haneul, whose mesmerized eyes are dancing to the beat of Timira’s every expression.
Her heart sinks a little but then she notices her silly Seonbae’s face light up like the sky on a moonlit night, and she sighs deeply.
Clutching the box, she starts walking towards her workstation, having decided to not tell Timira about it.
She has almost caught up with Timira and Haneul on the way to her cabin when words start floating into her ears. Random fragments at first, they soon start to make sense as Hanee inches closer.
Timira is on a phone call, only a couple of steps away from Haneul. Hanee stops and soundlessly eavesdrops.
Timira is looking tense and turning the caller’s request down. She is doing it hurriedly and her face is starting to lose colour. She hangs up quickly and turns towards Haneul, who is now wearing a quizzical expression on his face.
‘That was your fian … I mean, that was Mina-ssi. She wishes to meet—’
Before she can finish the sentence, and before Haneul can react, Hanee has swooped in, having decided she cannot hold back any longer.
Seonbae doesn’t deserve this. Daepyonim doesn’t deserve her!
Like the rest of the SecondSkin office, she couldn’t deny that something was definitely happening between Haneul and Timira.
Her initial instinct was to protect the object of her affection from a man who was taken, but perceptive as she is, it didn’t take her long to figure out that Timira reciprocates his feelings.
Love is complicated; it isn’t all black and white , she had reasoned with herself.
She had decided to not judge Haneul for sweeping Timira up in his feelings while still with Mina, but had promised herself that she would not let him treat her seonbae badly.
If he doesn’t do right by her, I swear I’ll jinjja kill him , she had muttered under her breath the first time she saw Timira’s face light up at the very mention of his name. That was when she knew.
She has ripped off the packaging of the box for Timira has come in, and now holding the contents behind her back, she cuts in breathlessly.
‘Seonbae, you’re late for your lunch meeting!’
Timira has no idea what she’s talking about.
‘Don’t tell me that it’s slipped your mind—remember, you had to meet that editor and discuss the interview in Jeju?’
Timira is nonplussed.
That editor? Which editor? What is she talking about?
Hanee is not doing a good job of cooking up a ruse.
‘Yes, yes. That man, that foreign editor of that big magazine. You have forgotten again, Seonbaenim!’ Hanee is pleading.
Timira can tell from the earnestness in her voice that Hanee is serious. She wouldn’t just drag her away from a conversation with the CEO.
Maybe I have forgotten. Must be budhapa!
‘Ppalli gapshida! Sigan eopseo [Let’s go quickly! We haven’t much time].’ Hanee is in a hurry. She doesn’t wish for Timira to get caught between Haneul and Mina.
‘Oh, okay, okay. Let me go change my shoes, at least.’
‘No time! Here, I got you a pair from the lost and found.’ Hanee holds up a pair of slip-on sneakers in bubblegum pink with laces in red drawn on them.
‘You found a pair of new sneakers in the lost and found?!’
‘New? What new? They don’t look new to me!’ Hanee is cursing herself for being so terrible at lying.
‘What is this?’ Timira holds the price tag up. ‘Is the lost and found some kind of Secret Santa?’ Timira jokes.
Hanee knows how preposterous she sounds but battles on.
‘ Meollayo . Maybe a wrong package got delivered and nobody claimed it. Maybe the design team got too many free pairs and decided to be charitable. Well, who cares? Just wear them!’
Timira tries them on.
‘Oh, wow. They seem to magically fit me, too.’
‘Yeah, maybe the Prince left it for his Cinderella.’ Hanee throws a withering sideways glance at Haneul, who can only gape in bewilderment. He has no idea what has come over the usually polite and soft-spoken Hanee.
‘Honey, did you get me a gift and not wish to make a production of it? Aww! Oh, by the way, did you receive the package that came in for me earlier?’
Hanee is panicking now.
‘That, um, um, the receptionist called you by mistake. When I went, there was nothing for you.’
Even in Seoul’s nippy autumn, little beads of perspiration are starting to form on Hanee’s smooth forehead.
Timira can sense that Hanee is hiding something, something that she suspects might affect Timira. She smiles adoringly and pats Hanee on her head.
‘So on your way back, you found these spanking new shoes in the lost and found? Hmm, okay!’ Timira is trying to look and sound serious and failing miserably.
‘Fiiiine. I got them for you. Okay? Can we go now?’ Hanee sounds desperate.
Why is Hanee-ssi so eager to drag Timira away?
What is going on? Is she seriously competing with me?
Do I have to battle it out with her? Haneul was having a great time catching up with Timira until that blasted phone call from Mina.
Oh, is that why Hanee intervened? To protect her from me?
Hah! Cute! But, how dare she? Does she think I’m just stringing Timira along?
‘Thanks, my darling. I love them! Neomu yeppeo ! [Very pretty],’ says Timira, oblivious to the mental crisis Haneul is grappling with. She coos sweetly in Hanee’s ears and hugs her warmly.
Turning towards Haneul, she opens her mouth to say something elaborate but decides against it and keeps it terse instead.
‘I’m sorry, Baek Daepyo. Let’s talk later?’ She bites her lip and lets Hanee lead her away.
Thank God, Honey helped me escape! What was I going to tell Haneul anyway?
That his fiancée wants to meet me? Me, who has a crush on him and is shamelessly flirting with a taken man?
Shame on me! And to hell with this triangle, of which I’m not even an angle.
What the F am I even? A dot? Waise, triangle reminds me …
haven’t had samosa in ages. Uff, what would I not give for a plump, hot one from Punjab Sweet House!
Out of Haneul’s earshot, Hanee stops.
‘Seonbae, I’ve forgotten my phone. Hang on, I won’t be a sec!’
Grabbing her phone from her desk, she’s dashing back to Timira when she spots Haneul, still looking bewildered, loitering in the vicinity of Timira’s cabin.
An evil thought pops into her usually innocent mind, giving her eyes a naughty glint.
She quickens her step, and as she passes him by, gleefully informs him, ‘The shoes are a gift from Rodrigo. But it’s a surprise, so don’t tell her, okay, Boss?
’ A big grin plastered across her face and her heart beating wildly, she waves Haneul goodbye and runs off towards Timira.
* * *
JEJU, KOREA
‘Honey, let’s never leave from here, okay?’