Chapter 30

Final Chapter.


Ji Won’s heart was already beating like crazy when she walked through the door. As soon as the hostess led her to her table, she asked for directions to the restroom.

“Na Ji Won, calm your ass down!” she said to her reflection. “It’s just a restaurant, it’s just a restaurant, it’s just a restaurant!”

And she was a professional who didn’t lose it just because of some stupid memories, damn it! Especially with memories filled with lies and deceit like when she’d met him that first day and he’d pretended to be his agent. Or the day he kissed her without her consent when they ran into Joon Young and his then-girlfriend. Or….

“Na Ji Won, pull yourself together,” she admonished herself through gritted teeth as she cupped her face and stared at the dark circles under her eyes. Wow, did she really look this bad or was it the poor lighting in the restroom? She pulled out her compact and refreshed her make up, applying a little extra foundation under her eyes. After a few minutes, she studied her handiwork with satisfaction. It wasn’t her best look but at least she no longer looked like a panda. Her day would definitely go from worse to hell if she ended up scaring off her client with her looks.

***

Ji Won looked at her watch. Her client was five minutes late, which meant that she’d been sitting at the table sipping water for ten minutes.

How could she use him to forget her worries if he couldn’t even arrive on time?

She looked at her watch again and hissed. Now he was five and a half minutes late. Why was it that time always crawled at the moments you wished it to fly by? At moments when one didn’t want to be sitting in a restaurant, taking a cruise down memory lane?

Okay, all she needed to do was get her mind off he-who-shall-never-be-named-again, right?
So she picked up the envelope her boss had given her and smiled widely at it. She’d never looked forward to reading about the Ozone Layer this much. She reached into it and pulled out the stapled thick document. Then she laid it on the table and read the title:

The Missing Chapter by Yoon Pil Suh

Reading that wiped the smile off her face. “The what?” Her chest suddenly felt heavy and her brain waves were moving in all different directions. “What is this?” she said, rubbing the coversheet.

Instinctively, she looked around the restaurant, checking to see if someone was watching her. Mr. Cho was Shin? What was going on? He wanted her to edit his chapter so he made something up about working on essays? It didn’t even make sense since he said that his memoir was already done. Thoroughly confused, Ji Won turned the page.

It had been a practice of mine since my fourth book to take a vacation right before starting work on my next book. I found that spending lazy days touring strange cities or laying on the beach, helped to clear my mind and bring forth new ideas. It was something I’d done faithfully for over five years and all my trips had proven to be productive, if a little uneventful. I often tried to pick a city I’d never been to with a culture I was unfamiliar with. So when my favorite travel agent suggested a vacation package in Aruba, I didn’t think that it would be the most important trip of my life. You see, I met a woman called Na Ji Won there and my life has not been the same since then.

***

Shin dragged his feet at he approached their reserved table. Just as he’d expected, Ji Won had opened up the envelope and was reading his words. Knowing her personality, he’d known better than to hope to find her reading it with glee or with eyes filled with tears of joy but the expression on her face was just too serious. She looked more like she was reading a suicide note than a confession. And he didn’t know what to make of it. His nerves were all over the place. He’d chosen to write it because she’d once said that he expressed himself best that way so he wanted to put his best foot forward with her. So there it was for her to see – no pretenses, no games and just his true, raw emotions.

His heart probably stopped pumping blood for the few seconds he stood at the table, waiting for her to notice him. But she was so engrossed it in that she didn’t. So he gently pulled out a chair and sat across from her.

The sound of the chair leg scraping the floor alerted her of his presence. She looked up at him, not appearing to be the least bit surprised to see him standing there.

She was dressed professionally in a dress shirt and pants with her swept up in a ponytail. Perhaps she’d look fine to untrained eyes but he immediately noticed how tired she looked. Worried, he desperately wanted to touch her face and ask if everything was okay but even a blind man could tell from the weird expression on her face that it was clearly not the right time for it. He took a deep breath in and said, “Hi.”

She raised her eyebrow and scoffed. “Hi? Of all things to say to me.”

Shin licked his lip and waited for her to continue.

“What is this?” she asked, holding up the letter to him.

“You didn’t read it?”

She looked away in exasperation. Then turned back to him, the irritation clearly written on her face. "Is this a collection of essays?”

Shin broke away from her gaze and tried to come up with a response. He’d gone over the scenario a million times and come up with a response for every single question she could have thrown at him. He’d come up with ways to convince her that he’d spend his life trying to make her happy. He’d even planned to tell her that he’d wait for as long as she wanted, as long as she agreed to think about their future together seriously. But seeing her sitting across from him and not responding in the way he’d imagined she would, even in the worst case scenario, broke his heart a little.

“Are you saying that you’re the person I have an appointment with? Mr. Cho the essayist I’m supposedly working with?”

Shin nodded slowly.

She frowned at him then drummed on the table aggressively. “You do realize that these are my work hours, don’t you? Or you just think my work is a joke? Am I a big joke to you? Is that what this is? You think I exist to amuse you? What kind of stupid game is this?”

Shin grabbed her hand to calm her but she slapped him off her. “What are you touching me for?”

“Ji Won ssi, calm down,” his said, his voice cracking. “Please.”

She responded by glaring at him.

He reached for her hand again but she moved it away.

“You’re taking it the wrong way," he said quietly.

“What’s the right way to take this? You pulled me out of work to give me this bulls.hit?” she yelled, waving the letter at him.

Shin noticed that a few patrons had begun to watch them and that certainly didn’t help put him at ease. “Ji Won ssi, please don’t do this.”

“Do what? Is Ms. Lee in on this? She must be. She was the one who handed this crap to me. Does she know Mr. Cho is you?”

He nodded. “Yes. I asked her for a favor.”

“Alright then,” she said, nodding sarcastically. “Go ahead and clap for yourself. Now I’m going to be the number one topic of gossip in the office. I hope you’re proud of yourself,” she said, getting off from her seat.

Shin grabbed her arm. “Please don’t go. I just wanted you to know my feelings. I didn’t think you’d be this upset.” His eyes pleaded with her while she glared at him in response.
“I thought it would be romantic,” he said in a small voice.

Ji Won pried his fingers off her. “Surely, you have much better things to do with your time, Mr. Writer Sir. And you can take your crap back,” she said, tossing the manuscript back at him. “And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll never pull this kind of stunt with me again.”

***

Shin stared at her slowly disappearing back in stunned silence. Okay, this was getting just way too hard and ridiculous. What was wrong with her? Or maybe something was wrong with him. His heart was telling him that she liked him too yet she acted like she loathed him. His heart was telling him that she was interested in him but she’d looked upset to see him. So had it all been wishful thinking? He’d spent two nights writing about their relationship thus far and everything pointed to their feelings being mutual. From the minute he’d typed that last period till he’d shown up at the restaurant, he’d been waiting in anticipation, feeling that this was going to be the start of something new and wonderful with her. But in a matter of seconds, Ji Won had managed to completely deflate his hope. Maybe it was time to forget her. There was no reason it had to be so hard. There was no reason he had to live with his feelings getting stomped on over and over again. If she wasn’t interested in him, there was nothing he could do to change her mind. Maybe it was time to finally give up.

He looked around the restaurant one last time. Perhaps it was the last time he’d ever come to the place that held fond memories for him. He looked at Ji Won’s half full glass of water and felt bad about leaving without ordering anything so he dropped 20000 Won on the table and walked out.

He wasn’t two steps from the other side of the door when he noticed Ji Won walking not too far ahead. He was a little surprised to see her because she had raced out of the restaurant in such a huff that he thought she’d be half way to the South Pole by then.

He walked closer to her, wondering if he should say something or just completely let it go when he noticed that her shoulders were shaking.

“She’s crying?” he said to himself. “Why in the world would she be crying?” He couldn’t quite understand what was going on. Did he mistakenly give her the wrong letter?

Confused and worried, he caught up to her and twirled her around. “Ji Won ssi, are you okay?” he said. But when he looked at her face, he saw that she was laughing.

“What are you doing?” she said between giggles as she shrugged his arm off her.

“You’re laughing?”

She made a face. “I can’t laugh?”

Shin had stopped her in the middle of one the walking paths between the parked cars so she inched closer to the cars to clear some space. He followed her.

“Aren’t you mad?” he asked, searching her face. But she looked completely fine. In fact, more than fine.

Ji Won smiled to herself secretly and raised her eyebrow. “I wonder,” she said, before turning around to keep walking. But Shin stopped her.

“Ji Won, what’s going on?” He still felt very nervous but now he no longer knew what he was even feeling nervous about.

She made a sharp turn around and began to charge towards him.

He instinctively began to back away. “W-what are you doing?” Or more importantly, was she crazy?

But Ji Won kept moving closer to him. “What? Are you scared?” she asked with a wicked glint in her eye.

Shin kept moving back till they heard a loud honk from behind them.

She burst out laughing. “You’re going to get yourself killed,” she yelled between bursts of laughter as he moved out of the car’s way.

Shin stared at her in silence, wondering if perhaps getting hit by that car would have been safer than standing around, talking to her.

Suddenly, Ji Won doubled over and broke down in hysterics.

Shin stared at her as she laughed and laughed, and with her body still bent, she looked up and pointed at him. “I got you so bad,” she said, holding her tummy.

“What?”

When she got her breath back, she stood up straight and said, “You think you’re the only prankster around here? I bet you thought you were being all cute, luring me over here under false pretenses.” She turned around in a huff and began to walk again.

Shin didn’t move an inch and just stared at her, wondering when it would all begin to make sense. At this point, his mind had gone completely blank. Something was clearly happening but he was just not getting in.

Ji Won turned around when she noticed he wasn’t following her. “Are you coming or not?” she called back to him. But he didn’t move.

Then she walked over and stopped till her face was just inches away from his. “Why do you look so confused?”

He stared back at her in silence.

Then she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

Shin’s eyes grew wider in surprise.

She frowned at him. “That didn’t clear things up for you? Don’t tell me you’re still confused.”

A smile slowly crept on his lips. With all the madness that was going on at that moment, his brain was still able to process what a kiss was. “Yes, I’m still confused. Why don’t you do that again?”


***

“I liked what you wrote.”

“You did?” Shin asked, his mood already a million times better than it was a few minutes earlier.

She nodded. “It was beautiful.”

Ji Won hadn’t heeded his request after the kiss but instead, began to walk again. Shin followed her.

“I’ve always wanted a romantic moment straight out of a movie. Is that what this is?” she wondered aloud. Then she giggled to herself. At first, she’d been annoyed to discover that Shin had tricked her into coming to the restaurant but then he just had to write her that lovely piece, didn’t he? Because as she read it, she’d begun to feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and right around the time he showed up, had declared that it was the best thing he’d ever written.

She’d known for a while that he was interested in her but seeing all that in black and white made it feel so real and kind of wonderful, knowing that someone as great as him adored her so much. It had been a strange journey but it felt so nice to see that her Shinsanity wasn’t in vain after all.

He hadn’t used flowery words to flatter her. Instead, his piece had been very direct and to the point, chronicling their history and describing his feelings.

“Where are you going? Isn’t your car parked back there?” Shin said, interrupting her thoughts. She looked over to find him pointing at the restaurant’s parking lot.

“Yes. But I feel like enjoying this beautiful afternoon air,” she said, waving her arms. “Is that alright with you?”

Her smirk became a smile and he smiled back at her. Okay, her smile was doing something to him, something that he really liked. And that smile came with affection in her eyes. Affection that he was almost certain was directed at him. Just as he was about to say something corny about how pretty she looked, the smile became a frown.

“And since this is mine,” she said, reaching for the envelope she’d unceremoniously dropped at the restaurant, “you should give it back.” Once she got home, she was going to reread it and savor every single word.

He laughed. How did his afternoon take such a turn? “Are we just walking aimlessly or is there somewhere you’re trying to go?”

“You’re talking too much and killing the mood.”

He watched her in amusement and laughed again. He still wasn’t clear on what was happening, but she’d kissed him. It was short and sweet but she’d kissed him. And that had to be a good thing. But what did it mean? He could guess but for his own sanity, he needed to hear it in plain words. After all those months of plotting ways to make her fall for him, he needed to know if he’d finally succeeded. He needed to know if she’d come to care for him as he’d always wished. They walked silently for a few minutes and when they got to a stoplight, Shin took a deep breath in and said, “So does this mean what I think it means?”

She shrugged. “I guess that depends on what you’re thinking.” But damn, how could he be so dense? Didn’t he have eyes? She put her hand on her waist, pursed her lips and said, “And what were you thinking when you didn’t return my calls? What were you so busy doing?”

He chuckled. He couldn't wait to get to know this fun side of her. “I didn’t know you’d been waiting for me to return your call. As you saying that you missed me?”

She looked away and when the walk light came on, said, “Maybe.”

“Huh?” He reached over and grabbed her and pulled her back to the side of the road. Where was she going especially as her unexpected replies were about to shock him to death? “So it DOES mean what I think it means, then.”

She shrugged and laughed. Ji Won felt like a kid. She couldn’t believe how happy she felt. So all this time, he hadn’t been ignoring her and instead, had been hard at work writing up some romantic stuff. She giggled. With all that had happened in her life, she’d never imagined herself as a recipient of such a romantic gesture. And before she knew it, she turned at a ninety-degree angle and began to skip down the sidewalk.

Shin jogged and caught up to her. “Have you lost your mind?”

She shrugged. “Perhaps.”

Then he laughed. “So this is how you act when you’re happy. Spontaneous sprints, random laughs and one word answers. I think I can get used to this. But,” he said, grabbing her arm to keep her from moving again. He was happy too but it had begun to feel a little exhausting. They were getting farther and farther away from their cars and if they kept it up, would need to take a taxi back. Still holding her, he looked directly into her eyes and said, “Ms. Na, I just want to get something straight.”

She looked away and blushed, knowing exactly what he was about to say. “What?”

“You just read about how I feel about you. Are you saying you feel the same way?”

She was quiet for a moment then slowly looked up at him. “The truth?”

His heart sank a little. That didn’t sound very promising. “Y-yes."

“Well,” she said, shyly looking away again. “I don’t know if I feel exactly as you do but I guess that I realized that do like you. Quite a bit.”

He grinned. Was that a full orchestra he could hear from the heavens? And why was his heart beating to the rhythm of frenzied drums? He laughed at his silliness then gently cupped her face.

Ji Won’s heart fluttered as she waited in anticipation. A daylight kiss in the middle of the road. Perhaps it was a good thing that most people were at work so they didn’t have to hear a bunch of snickers. She wasn’t even in the middle of her daydream when in a swift movement, Shin grabbed her and pushed her against a tree.

“OUCH. What are you doing?”

“You said you wanted a romantic scene straight out of a movie.”

“But my back hurts now.” And who told anyone that the bark of a tree was comfortable? But Shin didn’t seem to care about her pain because he went on with his plan and kissed her.

At first, she wanted to resist. Kissing against a rough tree was a huge no-no but with the way he was kissing her, it didn’t take long for her brain to scramble and for instinct to take over. She wrapped her arms around his neck and got lost in the kiss, giving it as good as she was getting. They were beyond teasing each other now, their tongues entangled, as Ji Won’s body melted into his. When they were done, they were both breathless.

Feeling lightheaded, Ji Won slowly opened her eyes and met his. Then she smiled. “Now, that’s what I call a kiss.”

“Our best kiss?”

She shook her head. “No. Let’s call this our first kiss.”


***

THE END.


Epilogue.

“Will this never end?” Shin said, returning to their table. His publishing firm was having a huge book launch for his memoir that also served as his “coming out” party, so to speak. It began with a press conference where he revealed his face to the world, touched briefly on his memoir and spoke of his upcoming projects. Then after wards, it became a cocktail party.

“I thought you said you were looking forward to getting better seats at restaurants now that people would recognize you,” Da Hae, his agent, Jin Mo’s wife, teased from the other side of the table.

“And weren’t you getting a big head over all the people saying that you were unexpectedly good looking since they’d always pictured you as some short, bald, fat and wrinkly recluse?” Ji Won said sarcastically from beside him.

Shin gulped down the rest of his wine and sighed. “Yes, but it’s getting old. I thought the press conference would be enough but all the different media outlets still want to speak to me one-on-one and worse, instead of Ms. Kim getting me out of these damn interviews, she just keeps scheduling more and more! It may take all night at this rate.”

Ji Won gave him a comforting pat on the back then laughed. “Well, you don’t expect them to not take advantage of their golden goose.”

Based on pre-sale orders alone, his memoir was poised to be his biggest seller ever and possibly the number one bestseller of the year in all of Korea.

“I just wanted to tell my story but this thing just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” he grumbled.

“And speaking of monsters,” Jin Mo, said, sitting up straight. “I think you turned my nephew into one.”

“”Meaning??”

“Meaning that he keeps calling us every week asking if I know someone who needs anything else. At this point, I think he’s even ready to donate a kidney if possible.”

Shin laughed. “It’s not my fault. This woman over here,” he said, pointing at Ji Won, “said I should give him a little thank you token.”

“Yes, a thank you token like maybe a gift certificate to his favorite sneaker store - not a paid vacation for four to the Bahamas.”

Shin laughed again then nudged her. “Next time, be more specific.” And he'd been so happy that Jin Mo's nephew had turned out to be a match that he'd have gladly given him the world if he could.

“So Hyun Woo is doing better now?” Jin Mo asked.

“Well, the early results have been positive so far.” He and Hyun Woo had slowly begun to build a relationship. They were not at the stage of being best friends or even brothers but it was more like that of friendly cousins. “We’re just hoping for the best.”

Ji Won reached over and placed her hand on his knee to reassure him. “Don’t worry, he’s going to be okay.”

He smiled at her. “I hope so too,” he said, covering her hand with his.

She smiled back at him but when she looked in his eye, she could tell that he was up to something.

“What?” she inquired in a whisper.

He smiled back. “Nothing,” he replied, right before she felt him slip a ring on her finger.
She froze in shock and before she could say anything, Ms. Kim, his PR agent, pulled him away to give yet another interview.

Ji Won lifted her hand up to see the sparkling princess-cut solitaire diamond ring set in platinum. The first thing she noticed was that the ring was absolutely not her style. She preferred an emerald cut. The next thing was that she always wanted a colored diamond. Things that Shin would have known if he’d taken the time to speak to her about it. But why would he? One thing she’d found out about him was that he loved to give surprises. It had taken a while to get used to it but she’d now begun to enjoy them. Not that she was sure she could enjoy this ring, she thought as she took another look at it. Okay, she said, lifting her hand and squinting as she studied it. If she got rid of all her prior expectations and looked at the ring for what it was, it was quite beautiful.

She could sense someone looking at her so she looked up only to catch Shin’s eye. He was standing quite a few feet from her, supposedly engaged in conversation with two journalists but his eyes were trained entirely on her. When their eyes met, he smiled.

She lifted one eyebrow and gave him a half smile as she tilted her head towards her hand, asking him a question.

On seeing that, he excused himself from his party and pulled out his phone. Less than a minute later, Ji Won received a text message.

Look inside your purse.

Curious, she reached for the purse, which to the best of her knowledge, hadn’t moved an inch from its position on the table since she’d placed it there.

She opened it to find a strange letter envelope in it. She picked it up, pulled a sheet of paper and unfolded it.

WILL YOU MARRY ME? it said in big block letters.

Her eyes widened in shock and when she looked up, could see that Shin was still looking at her while pretending to listen to the journalists.

So this was what a proposal looked like in Shin’s world, huh? And what gave him the right to even propose to her? They hadn’t even been together for up to a year. Hissing, she picked up her phone, frowned at him then typed three letters.

When Shin got her message, he excused himself from the interview yet again, and came over to her table to give her a big kiss.

After the kiss, they both looked at each other and laughed. It was the beginning of something beautiful.