Page 140 of You Had Me At Annyeong!
No way I’d forget your beautiful face if I bumped into you!
‘No, you silly goose. You did not. I said nearly bumped. You would most definitely have had I not dodged you in the nick of time. You were rushing, like I said, carrying a big bag that was swinging wildly …’
Haneul and Timira are both quiet for a few seconds before Timira goes back to her questionnaire.
‘So you kept the card just like that?’
‘I guess I liked what I saw …’
‘What is that supposed to mean, mister?’
‘I mean, I liked your name and the font it was written in, I guess.’
Fond of the font, Timira giggles in her mind.
‘You looked familiar the minute you fell into my arms at the beach. Of course, I couldn’t be a hundred per cent certain because I had only caught a glimpse of you back at the hotel. But my heart knew it was you. And then when you told me your name, I thought a thousand stars had suddenly lit up the sky. Like the ground beneath my feet had shifted. It was like gravity, but it wasn’t pulling me down. Instead, I was floating. Flying …’
And they say I have a way with words, but bhaisahab is giving me kadi takkar!Timira is marvelling at Haneul’s knack for storytelling and blushing hard at the same time.
Timira clears her throat and resumes her interrogation.
‘You weren’t at the hospital when I came to. Why didn’t I see you at the hotel either after I was discharged? You could’ve met me. You just vanished …’
‘You saw in Seoul what I was up against. You think I didn’t want to? Every inch of me wished to see you. But that wouldn’t have been fair to any of us. And, hey, you didn’t even remember me for the longest time!’
‘Blame my brain. It malfunctioned. I had nothing to do with it. I eat walnuts religiously!’
How could I forget this beautiful face? Tch, shame on me!
‘Anyway, I had to fly back to Seoul that afternoon so even if we had met, it would’ve been brief. Not to mention awkward, don’t you think?’
Timira nods in agreement.
But still, would’ve been nice to know such a handsome man was my saviour. I kept thinking I had spent the evening with some creep. Khair, koi nahin. The handsome man is mine now, yay!
‘And the note. Why did you even save the note from Bombay? Are you some sort of a freak?’
‘I didn’t even know I still had it on me until very recently. I saw it only when one of our housekeepers found a bunch of stuff inside a satchel that he intended to send to the cleaners. I hadn’t used it since my trip to Mumbai and it had just been lying around.’
‘Why did you even take it back with you? I mean, who does that?!’
‘Wouldn’t you have? It was my first time receiving a thank-you note on a napkin. Previously, I’d only been sent phone numbers!’
Timira rolls her eyes.
‘Yeah, whatever, Mr Casanova!’
Haneul laughs and touches Timira’s hair again.
Timira pushes his hand away in mock annoyance.
‘Don’t try to pet me! I’m not a pup. Anyway, now tell me how I got hired. How did you get Ryan in on it?’
‘Okay, I’ll tell you exactly as it was and you are going to have to take my word for it. At SecondSkin, we were looking for someone great at communication with international-level proficiency in English. So hiring a foreigner was the most obvious choice. And Ryan being one of our foreign vendors, I naturally spoke with him about it. He shared your résumé with us, and everybody loved it!’
‘That’s it? That’s the story?’
‘Yeah. Yup. Yes.’ Haneul looks away as if reluctant to let Timira look into his eyes.
