Page 141 of You Had Me At Annyeong!
‘Haneul, what are you hiding?’
‘Hiding? Me? Nothing at all!’
‘Out with it! You said you will answer all my questions honestly. You promised!’
‘Okay, okay, fine. I might’ve looked up your profile on LinkedWin and noticed that Ryan was a common connection. So I took a chance. I didn’t know it was going to pay off!’
‘So Ryan knew about this?’
‘Oh, no, no, no. Poor guy has no idea. He shared your CV with all seriousness. Very professional and thorough, that guy!’ He makes a thumbs-up sign to show his approval of Ryan.
‘So I got hired because you liked me. Nice!’
‘What? No! You got hired because of your insanely good résumé. Why do you doubt yourself? Don’t you know how terrific you are at what you do?’
Timira is enjoying this. Smiling self-indulgently, she cocks an eyebrow and turns towards Haneul with a smirk.
‘If nepo babies can have doors, windows, careers opened for them, then I sure can live with this,’ she winks.
Uff, Haneul was my husn ka deewana! Nepo girlfriend and proud. Ooooh, girlfriend, teehee!
‘I don’t care if nepotism got me in. I kissed my way in, okay. So be it!’
‘You know you are amazing? How do you not fail to surprise me at every turn?’
‘Because I’m your everyday Santa Claus. Here to fill your stockings and life with surprises every day. Ho ho ho!’
Even her jokes are silly and childlike, just like her.
Haneul laughs like an indulgent parent and pulls her in for a hug. He laughs throatily as Timira smiles coyly.
What a nutter. What a cutie. May that smile never dim. May I be the reason for that smile forever and after.
Still engulfed in the hug, safe in Haneul’s arms, Timira sighs.
‘Oh, Haneul. Ours is an entirely impossible story. Who’s going to believe any of this? I can barely believe it myself. It’ll take a while to sink in!’
‘Well, you better believe it, kiddo!’
‘Kiddo? Who? Me? Excuse me, I’m older than you by a whole year and then some. YOU are a kiddo. I’m yourNoona!’
‘Yeah, sure. Have you seen yourself? Have you looked inside your head? Your heart? You aren’t a day older than twenty!’
‘If I’m twenty, that would make you a creepy ahjussi. Ahjussi, are you sure you haven’t made everything up?’ Timira teases.
Haneul replies in a serious voice. ‘Tim, you think I can be that creatively creepy? And why would I? Even without these odd circumstances, I’d still have fallen in love with you!’
He did not just bring out his big boy voice! How sexy!
Feeling giddy, Timira blushes. Her mind has been blown. And, she cannot hide it. Lifting her head, she leans in towards Haneul’s face. But Haneul moves his arms off of her with a slight look of worry on his flawless face.
‘How much PDA is too much in India?’ he asks innocently.
‘Well, you see, it’s tough for me to define how much is too much. I could demonstrate, should you like.’
‘Ah, yes, if you’d be so kind …’
She kisses his left cheek. ‘Not too much.’
