Chapter Eleven #2
Why are they here? Where’s Haneul? Should I ask them? Will it be weird if I do? But he’s the one who brought me here. Why should it be weird? Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. It’ll be VERY weird. Not for them, for me. How am I ever going to show him my face now?
‘Aniyeyo, Seonbae! I should’ve taken better care of you. I am the one who should be apologizing!’
Hanee looks like she’s on the verge of tears, and Timira feels guilty.
‘Now, now, c’mon! Help me up, uri Honey-ya? Let’s get out of here!’
‘The doctors advised you to stay here overnight, just to be safe.’ Mr Choi finally finds his words.
‘Must I?’ Timira groans and pouts a little.
‘Only a few more hours, Timira-ssi. Sleep peacefully. You’ll be discharged first thing in the morning!’
‘Oh, well. If it can’t be helped, I suppose I better not complain. But they’ll let me leave in the morning, right? I can still head back to Seoul with you guys, right?’
‘You sure can!’ an unknown voice chimed in. It belonged to a doctor.
‘Ms Timira Marak, right? You’re Indian? You don’t look it at all!’
Yeah, okay. Are you upset I am not brown and hairy? Racist!
‘Hehehe,’ Timira manages a feeble laugh.
‘Well, we ran a few tests to see what had made you pass out. It was obviously the sleeping pill you had. Did you eat anything before?’
‘Er, no. I was in a bit of an, um, accident earlier in the day—’
‘Yes, we are aware. The gentleman who brought you here shared a very detailed lowdown of your activities. He seems to have kept a close eye on you!’
Timira’s heart sinks a little while Mr Choi shifts a little uncomfortably.
‘So you didn’t eat anything all day. Right. How do you feel now? Think you’d like a bite to eat?’
Even thinking of food was making Timira gag.
‘Doctor, I feel rather nauseous at the very mention of food.’
‘But you need to eat, Miss. You cannot be skipping meals.’
Hanee speaks suddenly on remembering something.
‘Milk, she had milk. I warmed some milk for her in the afternoon along with the sleep medicine.’
The doctor ponders for a few seconds and then speaks. ‘Say, Ms Marak. Are you lactose intolerant?’
Main? Intolerant? Only to morons! Kya baat kar raha hai yeh? Haan, mishti gives me a little heartburn, but that’s acidity. It’s the Bengali genes in me.
‘Not that I’m aware …’ Timira’s voice trails off. She’s scared of all the foods she’ll have to forgo if she does turn out to be intolerant to lactose.
‘You might want to have that checked out? Could explain why you are feeling squeamish.’
‘This isn’t very urgent, is it?’
‘Don’t worry, Miss. You can fly back to Seoul tomorrow. Nothing, not even celiac disease, will stop you!’
With that, the doctor smiles a little and draws the curtains as he steps out of the makeshift cubicle.
‘Seonbae, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have given you milk …’
‘Honey, how were you even supposed to know I might be intolerant? Even I didn’t know! Chill!’
Timira cannot hide the fact that she is disappointed to not see Haneul by her side but tries not to dwell on it.
‘So, how are we doing this? Am I going back to the hotel tomorrow to get ready and go to the airport?’
‘Might be better for you to freshen up and change here. We’ll save time that way,’ Mr Choi quips.
‘They’ll move you into a room in a bit. I’ll come early in the morning with your luggage. You can get ready here.’
Timira nods. She suddenly feels tired and sleepy.
‘Well, it’s super late already. You both should get back and get some sleep. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be looked after here!’
In her VIP private room, Timira pulls the blanket close around her and tucks it under her sock-covered feet.
Still upset at Haneul for his vanishing act, she tries, in her head, to go over the events of the evening.
To see if at any point anything about him had felt amiss.
But her tired and medicine-ravaged body doesn’t keep up, and before long, she drifts off to sleep.
* * *
At the airport, Timira is greeted by concerned colleagues. Everybody wants to know if she’s okay, but no one aside from Mr Choi and Hanee seems to be aware of the fact that she was with Haneul. Even the usually icy Stephanie enquires after her health.
Timira scans the motley crowd made up of the SecondSkin team and fails to spot the face she has been looking for. Sheepishly, she asks Hanee, ‘Is Daepyonim not travelling with us?’
Hanee has been dreading this very moment. Everybody knows why Haneul is not here. Yet, Timira is the one who deserves to know more than anybody else.
Geurae, even if I don’t tell her, someone else will. And anyway, she has every right to know. She should know!
‘Um, Seonbae, Daepyonim is staying back, it seems.’
‘Why? Does the team have more work to do here? Are there more people from the company staying back?’
‘Er, no. He, um, seems to have some, um, um, personal work here.’
‘Oh,’ Timira says in a small voice. A part of her doesn’t wish to know more, but a part significantly larger than that wishes to know everything there is to know.
‘Honey, what are you not telling me?’
‘Well, Seonbae, I’m not sure of the details, and this is stuff I have heard from the pantry party so the source isn’t verified to be honest, but looks like Daepyonim stayed back to scout wedding venues with Mina-ssi.’
Wow, he REALLY is getting married!
* * *
JEJU, KOREA
‘Here, let me walk you through the plan. You will walk from that side, on the ramp that will lead to the stage. The band will be to the left of the stage … don’t worry.
We will have them dressed in accordance with the theme you decide on.
Yes, yes, for the party later, we are speaking with the idol groups on your list. We are waiting on quotes from SNSD and g.o.d still—we’ll get back to you at the soone—’
‘Haneul, come on in!’
Mina has been listening with rapt attention to the wedding planner who is taking her through the ceremony when she spots Haneul lurking at the door that leads into the small but gorgeous chapel inside Jeju’s largest and finest hotel.
She gestures at him to come up to the stage.
He hesitates a little at first, then takes a deep breath in and walks towards her.
‘Aejeong-ssi, please meet my fiancée, Baek Haneul.’
‘Ah, ye . Annyeonghaseyo, Haneul-ssi. It’s an honour to meet you!’
‘Huh? I’m not the daetonglyeong . I’m nobody of importance,’ Haneul scoffs, visibly ill at ease with the flattery.
He forces a smile, but his discomfort is visible to Cha Aejeong from the wedding planning agency that has been hired for his and Mina’s wedding, touted to be the event of the year.
‘Aejeong-ssi, if you’d be so kind as to bring Haneul-ssi up to speed with all that you’ve shared with me so far …’ Mina has to intervene.
‘Geureomyo! It’d be my pleasure. Haneul-ssi, if you’d follow me …
here, yes. This is your position. Your best man will be right next to you.
To your left, yes … I mean, technically, he’ll be behind you as you turn to face Mina-ssi.
Like I was telling her, the band is going to be to the left of the stage, there’ll be flowers and creepers cascading like a waterfall … the band will be in the midst of …’
Haneul has zoned out. The planner drones on but Haneul’s mind is elsewhere. He is mentally replaying the events of the previous night. He had only just carried Timira into the hospital and completed the admission formalities when Mina’s father, Chairman Ri, called him.
‘Haneul! Jigeum eodiya [Where are you right now]?’ his voice had boomed.
‘I’ve just landed in Jeju. I thought Mina had told you about my visit, did she not tell you?
I was hoping to catch up with you over dinner, but Mina said you had vanished and were not taking calls. What’s up? Is everything okay?’
He tried to make it sound like he was concerned, but to Haneul, it sounded like he was ticked off and wanted an explanation for Haneul’s absence.
Crap! I totally forgot that the old geezer was supposed to be here.
The Seoul Stealers FC were in Jeju for a camp, and Chairman Ri was supposed to fly in for a visit.
‘Aniyeyo, Hoejangnim. I had to step out because of an emergency a colleague was in. It’s all under control now. I’m on my way back to the hotel right now. Let’s have dinner together?’
‘ Eo. Geurae haeboja ! Ppalli dorawa [Yes. Fine, let’s do it. Get back quickly]!’
Haneul had then called Mr Choi and asked him to reach the hospital quickly along with Hanee.
Mr Choi had wanted to ask what Haneul was doing with Timira in the first place, but found himself unable to.
Haneul, having sensed Mr Choi’s curiosity, offered up a reason on his own: ‘I accidentally bumped into Timira-ssi as she was passing out. There was no time to lose and since it was close to the hotel parking, I just drove her here.’ Mr Choi did not believe even a word, even though it did seem plausible.
Dinner had been particularly difficult to get through, what with Mr Ri throwing wedding-related questions at Haneul and him fumbling for answers.
Every time Haneul gave a vague answer to one of her father’s questions, Mina sighed deeply and her face lost colour.
This did not go unnoticed by Chairman Ri who tut-tutted silently.
Tsk, this idiot! Babo cheoreom [Like an idiot] running after this boy who is clearly not interested in marrying her. He never has been and never will be. Why does this meonjeongi not get it?!
Chairman Ri was aware of nearly all goings-on at SecondSkin, thanks to a double-agent employee there who was also his eyes and ears at the company he had invested heavily in and that was going to be his beloved daughter’s future.
‘Say, Haneul-a, what are your thoughts on my club’s chances in the league going forward?’ He suddenly changed the subject.
Haneul, taken aback, answered slowly.