Page 97 of You Had Me At Annyeong!
It belongs to Rodrigo. Drenched in sweat, breathing heavy and cheeks flushed red, Mina debates if she should ignore him and get on with the cardio or acknowledge him. She recalls their time together in Jeju and feels unusually good.
No, no, I shall not encourage him. After all, his reputation does precede him.
‘I didn’t know you worked out here,’ Rodrigo says with a smile, as though he is happy to bump into Mina.
Mina usually doesn’t. The boxing gym she frequents is undergoing renovation, which is why she’s at the gym of the Shilla Hotel, where her father is a member of the board. Which is why they let her use it this late in the evening.
Why is he here? The team is staying at the Conrad! And at this hour? God, he really must be the kind of player they say he is!
She smiles and says nothing. Rodrigo is feeling chatty.
‘Why, you’re in great shape, I must admit! That’s some crazy good muscle definition, unusual for women!’
Unusual for women? What sort of an athlete is he? Has he not seen enough women athletes to know what women and their bodies are capable of? Oh, wait. Does he mean it’s unusual for women like me, a model? Or is it because I’m Korean? Argh. Typical Asian man with his typical toxic standards of beauty. I’m not surprised Timira dumped him!
‘What brings you here, Rodrigo-ssi? Don’t tell me the gym here is so good that you’ve come all the way from Jung-gu just to work out! And at this ungodly hour. Shouldn’t you be in bed by now?’
Does Coachnim know he’s here?
‘I should be in bed, you’re right. But it sucks having to sleep alone!’ he pouts.
Groan. Mina keeps wiping off beads of sweat from her temples.
Unable to elicit a response from Mina, Rodrigo switches to polite conversation.
‘The gym really is quite great, to be fair. But you’re right, I didn’t come here to work out. I had the day off, so I thought I’d meet a friend from back home who now lives here. Slept all day and by the time I woke up, my body was craving some movement. I still had time until my “friend date”.’
Friend, my arse! Meeting one of his thousand girlfriends, I’m sure!
‘So I decided to run here from our hotel …’
He ran eight kilometres and nobody recognized him???Mina can barely hide her surprise.
‘… which explains how I look.’
He is dressed low-key in running shorts that put his muscly quads in full display and an oversized training hoodie from under which a vest with the Aston Villa logo peeks. He has a skull cap on, the rim of which kisses his eyebrows and he has to keep adjusting it every few seconds.
Probably makes him ticklish,Mina smiles in her head. How did he brave the icy winds and all the people on the roads? That jersey is a dead giveaway! Not to mention the footballer’s calves. Is this guy reckless, foolish, or both?
‘I came into the gym at the request of the hotel CEO who wanted to show me around! He said it’s usually cleaning hour, but they’d kept it open for a VVIP guest. Honestly, I was quite surprised it was you!’
‘Why? I don’t seem like a VVIP?’ Mina is mildly offended and unable to hide it.
Rodrigo laughs out loud and waves his hands. ‘No, no, that’s not what I meant at all!’
‘Well, whatdidyou mean then?’ Mina is still upset.
‘I thought it’ll be some old, wrinkly business tycoon who goes to the gym just to keep up with his twenty-year-old girlfriend. Who else could possibly need to work out so urgently as to have a five-star hotel reschedule their, well, schedule?!’
Not entirely satisfied with Rodrigo’s answer, Mina makes a feeble attempt at brushing him aside. ‘I see. Well, I’m sorry I’m not a wrinkly old man. Anyway, I’d love to chat with you, but I’m yet to finish my workout.’
Mina remembers feeling quite safe and good in Rodrigo’s company back in Jeju, but now that they are alone, she feels a little uncomfortable. In a strangely thrilling way. She feels her heart race a little.
‘Of course, of course. Please carry on! You really have a great body!’
What an incorrigible flirt!
Mina presses the start button without checking the settings. She doesn’t realize that the speed is set at sixteen kilometres an hour. She misses a step, then another and then another. She loses her balance and falls over. Only to be caught in the arms of Rodrigo, just in the nick of time.
