Page 126 of You Had Me At Annyeong!
‘Uh, fitting for what? For your dress, girl. Your wedding dress!’
Mina gulps.
‘Oh, um.’
‘Don’t tell me you forgot about it. Or are you trying to avoid me? Have you still not forgiven me?’ Stephanie asks in a small voice.
Truth be told, Mina hadn’t even been that upset with her. Yes, she had felt a little cheated, but she knew why Stephanie must’vedone what she did. She had known all along that her father had promised to invest in Stephanie’s modelling agency which had been her dream. He had also got lawyers from Haneul’s father’s firm to take up her divorce and child custody case after her in-laws threatened to take her child away if she kept insisting on getting divorced.
If I were in her place, I’d have done the same. Appa has indeed looked after her like she were his own daughter. She was only paying my father back, in her own way, for the generosity and kindness she has shown her. For all his faults, Appa can really be a sweetheart!
‘Forgiven you for what? Nothing happened!’ Mina now speaks warmly.
Relieved, Stephanie can barely hold back her tears. Between sobs, she speaks, ‘Gomabta, uri chinguya.I promise to never let you down again!’
Mina smiles.
‘Now, about the fitting, do you want to go together or shall we meet directly at the atelier?’ Stephanie asks excitedly.
‘Er, Steph, can we meet and talk? I’ve been thinking …’
‘Yeah, let’s meet at the studio. We can talk there! You must be relieved now that Ms Marak is no longer a threat …’
No longer a threat?
‘Eh? What do you mean?’
‘Didn’t you see on the news? Rodrigo has proposed to her. Like, wow. Dude must be seriously into her!’
‘You can say that again.’
Mina’s words are laced with sadness. Sadness that Stephanie misses entirely.
‘Such a grand, romantic gesture, you’ve got to admit! How can any woman not fall for it? I’m sure Ms Marak and he would be back together by now!’
Back with Rodrigo? Timira? No way! What is she even talking about? Not the Timira that I know. Fat chance!
‘Babe, I think by now you and I both know she’s not the type to go crawling back to an ex who cheated on her just because he made a grand gesture. She has far too much pride to do such a thing. As do you. Did you forgive your husband for cheating on you?’
Stephanie, smarting from Mina’s words, speaks in a small voice. ‘He never apologized …’
‘Would you have taken him back had he apologized? No matter how grand the gesture, would you have given him a second chance?’
‘Hell, no. Never! Not in a million years.’ Stephanie does not even have to think before answering.
‘Well, there you go. Rodrigo can do what he wants; he’ll never win Timira back. And this speaks volumes about who she really is.’
Her words are meant as a compliment for Timira, but she can feel the jealousy start to rise like bile.
What is this odd feeling? I clearly admire her but why am I so envious of her? It’s as if I wished I were a little like her, argh!
Stephanie can now sense the sadness in her friend’s voice and attempts to cheer her up.
‘To hell with cheaters. Never mind them. Let’s focus on good news … speaking of which, when were you going to tell me? I was going to ask at the studio, but I can barely contain my excitement! You must be absolutely thrilled!’
‘Huh? Tell you what? Thrilled about what?’
Mina has no idea what news Stephanie is referring to.
