Page 51 of You Had Me At Annyeong!
Sure you did, you gorgeous chudail!Timira rolls her eyes inside her mind.
Mina walks towards the door and then turns around, ‘Haneul, are you planning to stand here all day long?’
Haneul hasn’t taken his pleading eyes off Timira even for once.
‘Mr Baek, Daepyonim, do you have anything to say to me?’ Timira’s tone is almost mocking but her eyes are red and full of sadness.
Why am I feeling this sad? I barely even know this dude! This is not heartbreak, but why does it feel like it?
Timira isn’t sure why but every inch of her body hurts to see Haneul’s beautiful face look ashen and his confident gait seems unsure as he bows lightly, mutters his apologies and hurriedly walks out, ignoring Mina, who has been standing at the door. She feels her knees wobble and stomach twist to see him go.
Wearing a look of exasperation, he turns around to walk away.
With one last glance at Timira, who has promptly switched on her laptop and buried her face inside the screen, Mina follows Haneul out, her steps small, her heart heavy and her suspicion confirmed.
Something is indeed brewing between Haneul and Timira. Eottohkaji?
* * *
It hadn’t taken long for the SecondSkin employees to turn what had gone down inside Timira’s cabin into fodder to keep the gossip mills churning. First, the stand-off between Haneul and Rodrigo. It had been obvious to everyone present that Timira was caught between the two of them. Barely two days had passed since the incident, and a fresh new episode was now out for all to see.
Even a whole week after the cabin fiasco, people were still talking about it. After all, they had never before seen their squeaky clean and seemingly saintly CEO get embroiled in anything even remotely resembling a scandal. And then, BOOM! A possible scandal even more engrossing than the latest season of Pachinko. Theories ranged from a one-night stand to love at first sight.
This morning too, like the previous six, the excitement across the pantry is palpable.
‘What did Hanee say? What, what? C’mon, tell us!’ ‘Nothing! She said nothing.’
‘What do you mean ‘nothing’? She’s joined at the hip with Timira-ssi …’
‘No, she isn’t,’ Hanee’s voice booms, dry and flat but making itself heard over the cafeteria chatter, as she walks in briskly and immediately busies herself with the espresso machine. ‘Bbuttakhanda, jaebal geumanassipseo[I beg you. Please put a stop to this]! Stop making up stories. Please!’
‘Uwa!Look at you, such a loyalhoobae. Don’t forget that she’ll leave and you’ll stay. With us.’
‘Is that ahyeobbag?!’ Hanee is now fuming. ‘Yaaaa!’ She turns the machine off and flicks her bangs so they don’t hide the rage she is sure her eyes are filled with.
‘Yaa? Did you just say “ya”to us? Your seniors?’
‘Are you even behaving like seniors? Gossiping, spreading rumours when in fact you know nothing!’
She quickly gulps the words that are at the tip of her tongue and threatening to spill out.
‘Well, then, tell us what you know! Daepyonim has been MIA since that day, Timira-ssi has been avoiding us, I just saw Ms Jung and Choi Bujangnim locked in a heated conversation …’
‘I did, too.’ ‘Me too.’ ‘Nado!’ More voices join in.
‘How is any of this proof of the scandal you all have made up and fermented like kimchi?!’
‘Honey!’ Timira’s high-octave voice trills from across the doorway. The soft sound of muffled footsteps follows. After the many accidents involving the floor, her lack of balance and her questionable choice of footwear, she has resorted to wearing furry slides around the office.
Keep your standards high, not your heels, she has reasoned yet again and managed to convince herself.
‘Here you are, I’ve been looking everywhere!’
‘Oh, wow. The entire office is here. Geurae, coffee first. Everything else can wait, right?’
There’s pin-drop silence around her, the kind that greets every topic of gossip when they walk in on the gossipers. Timira isn’t new to this. Her time with Rodrigo had been nothing short of a lesson in how to navigate the world of celebrity and associated paraphernalia, aka oily agents, calculating brands, opportunistic family, paparazzi and swirling rumours. Sure, theirs had been a clandestine affair and her identity had remained a secret, but she had been privy to the pitfalls of being talked about.
‘Honey, looks like there’s a package for me from the courier waiting downstairs. Will you be a doll and fetch it, please? Don’t worry about the coffee, I’m on it!’
