Page 78 of You Had Me At Annyeong!
‘Might be better for you to freshen up and change here. We’ll save time that way,’ Mr Choi quips.
‘They’ll move you into a room in a bit. I’ll come early in the morning with your luggage. You can get ready here.’
Timira nods. She suddenly feels tired and sleepy.
‘Well, it’s super late already. You both should get back and get some sleep. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be looked after here!’
In her VIP private room, Timira pulls the blanket close around her and tucks it under her sock-covered feet. Still upset at Haneul for his vanishing act, she tries, in her head, to go over the events of the evening. To see if at any point anything about him had felt amiss. But her tired and medicine-ravaged body doesn’t keep up, and before long, she drifts off to sleep.
* * *
At the airport, Timira is greeted by concerned colleagues. Everybody wants to know if she’s okay, but no one aside from Mr Choi and Hanee seems to be aware of the fact that she was with Haneul. Even the usually icy Stephanie enquires after her health.
Timira scans the motley crowd made up of the SecondSkin team and fails to spot the face she has been looking for. Sheepishly, she asks Hanee, ‘Is Daepyonim not travelling with us?’
Hanee has been dreading this very moment. Everybody knows why Haneul is not here. Yet, Timira is the one who deserves to know more than anybody else.
Geurae, even if I don’t tell her, someone else will. And anyway, she has every right to know. She should know!
‘Um, Seonbae, Daepyonim is staying back, it seems.’
‘Why? Does the team have more work to do here? Are there more people from the company staying back?’
‘Er, no. He, um, seems to have some, um, um, personal work here.’
‘Oh,’ Timira says in a small voice. A part of her doesn’t wish to know more, but a part significantly larger than that wishes to know everything there is to know.
‘Honey, what are you not telling me?’
‘Well, Seonbae, I’m not sure of the details, and this is stuff I have heard from the pantry party so the source isn’t verified to be honest, but looks like Daepyonim stayed back to scout wedding venues with Mina-ssi.’
Wow, he REALLY is getting married!
* * *
JEJU, KOREA
‘Here, let me walk you through the plan. You will walk from thatside, on the ramp that will lead to the stage. The band will be to the left of the stage … don’t worry. We will have them dressed in accordance with the theme you decide on. Yes, yes, for the party later, we are speaking with the idol groups on your list. We are waiting on quotes from SNSD and g.o.d still—we’ll get back to you at the soone—’
‘Haneul, come on in!’
Mina has been listening with rapt attention to the wedding planner who is taking her through the ceremony when she spots Haneul lurking at the door that leads into the small but gorgeous chapel inside Jeju’s largest and finest hotel. She gestures at him to come up to the stage. He hesitates a little at first, then takes a deep breath in and walks towards her.
‘Aejeong-ssi, please meet my fiancée, Baek Haneul.’
‘Ah,ye. Annyeonghaseyo, Haneul-ssi. It’s an honour to meet you!’
‘Huh? I’m not thedaetonglyeong. I’m nobody of importance,’ Haneul scoffs, visibly ill at ease with the flattery.
He forces a smile, but his discomfort is visible to Cha Aejeong from the wedding planning agency that has been hired for his and Mina’s wedding, touted to be the event of the year.
‘Aejeong-ssi, if you’d be so kind as to bring Haneul-ssi up to speed with all that you’ve shared with me so far …’ Mina has to intervene.
‘Geureomyo! It’d be my pleasure. Haneul-ssi, if you’d follow me … here, yes. This is your position. Your best man will be right next to you. To your left, yes … I mean, technically, he’ll be behind you as you turn to face Mina-ssi. Like I was telling her, the band is going to be to the left of the stage, there’ll be flowers and creepers cascading like a waterfall … the band will be in the midst of …’
Haneul has zoned out. The planner drones on but Haneul’s mind is elsewhere. He is mentally replaying the events of theprevious night. He had only just carried Timira into the hospital and completed the admission formalities when Mina’s father, Chairman Ri, called him.
‘Haneul!Jigeum eodiya[Where are you right now]?’ his voice had boomed. ‘I’ve just landed in Jeju. I thought Mina had told you about my visit, did she not tell you? I was hoping to catch up with you over dinner, but Mina said you had vanished and were not taking calls. What’s up? Is everything okay?’
