Love in All the Right Places (Chick Lit bundle) (12 page)

Chapter Fifteen

“EXCUSE ME, Mr. Gio?”

It was Ki Woo the translator/guide who had accompanied Min Hee and Da Kyong on the day they had first visited the museum. Gio had never really talked to the older guy since then, except to say hi when they ran into each other at the beach.

“Are you here for another tour?” Gio asked in a friendly tone. Things were quiet after the exhibit opening and he didn’t have too many things to do on his plate. But there had been renewed interest in the museum, especially among the locals, so it wasn’t as if he was slacking off, either.

“No, actually, I’m here because someone wants to talk to you,” he said. He turned slightly and that’s when Gio saw another guy standing outside the museum door. He had a large DSLR hanging from his neck. “This is Mr. Kim Soo Jin. He wants to talk to you about Miss Jang Min Hee.”

Gio was puzzled. The man handed him a card and he took it politely. Min Hee hadn’t mentioned that someone was coming to talk to him. For a moment, he remembered the guy on the phone, the one that had sounded angry with him. But if that had been Kim Soo Jin, then maybe he wouldn’t be looking so pleased right now.

“Uh, come on in then,” he said. “I’m still on my work hours so I apologize if I can’t chat for long. Are you interested to see what she’s done for our exhibit?”

After Ki Woo had asked the question, Kim Soo Jin shook his head. “No, not really,” the translator replied on behalf of the tourist. “He’s more interested to find out how you and Jang Min Hee met.”

Now he was suspicious. “What is this for?”

But Ki Woo seemed unperturbed. “He’s a reporter for a Korean magazine called Extra Cut. He wants to know if you knew that Jang Min Hee is a Korean actress and a lot of people have been looking for her.”

“You’re here for
what
?” Gio exclaimed.

So she really was an actress? He had assumed it had been another one of her cover stories, the one that stuck because she was too tired to think of something else. Now he was starting to realize how little he truly knew her.

No, he couldn’t blame her. She had told him the truth, and he refused to believe it.

“So you mean you didn’t know that she was an actress?” the translator clarified.

Gio shook his head. “Oh, no, no. She’s told me a little about her profession.” A little. Ha. Now he was racking his brains for all those pieces of information that she had revealed but he just ignored. They weren’t many, but they were there. Random comments about privacy. Not wanting attention. The constant hiding. Had he really refused to believe all that? “Is she in some kind of trouble?”

“Not really,” Ki Woo answered after consulting with the other man. “But a lot of people are interested in her side of the story. Did she tell you why she was here? Then you must know. Meanwhile, Mr. Kim Soo Jin here wants to go a little lighter and just explore what Miss Jang Min Hee has been doing away from the spotlight.”

Gio shook his head now. “I’m sorry, but please tell Mr. Kim Soo Jin that I’ll only talk to him after I’ve spoken to Min Hee.”

Ki Woo relayed the information to the reporter, who frowned. “Is it true that you are in a relationship with Miss Jang Min Hee?” Ki Woo asked. “What do you say to the rumors that Mr. Park Han Kyul is finally divorcing his wife and saying that it’s Min Hee he really wants to be with?”

What? And more importantly… who?
Gio frowned. He had difficulty following the conversation. Who was this Park Han Kyul and what did this guy mean? “I’m sorry, but you must be confused…”

Ki Woo’s translations came rapidly. “You have no idea who Park Han Kyul is, do you? Did your girlfriend tell you of the scandal she had left behind in Seoul? She had an affair with a married studio executive.”

Gio stiffened. Was that true? It was too much to take in. He unconsciously thought back on the man on the phone. If that had been this studio executive, then the call made sense: why he was surprised to hear a foreigner answer, why he seemed to demand the right to know where Min Hee was.

Ignorance seemed much better than the truth.

So she had a boyfriend back home. In the back of his mind, he had begun to suspect it but he just never allowed himself to accept it. Anyone as pretty as Min Hee wasn’t in any lack of admirers. Maybe that’s why she didn’t want to take things to another level. Maybe she had given all these signs that he hadn’t picked up on. If he could blame her for not telling him the truth, then maybe he ought to share in that blame as well. He was the one who had fooled himself into thinking that what they had was more than a holiday hook-up.

He wanted to throw this guy out but he was still at work; he had to maintain his calm. “Sir,” he said, trying to keep his voice even. “I’m afraid that unless you wish to tour the museum, I won’t have time for you.” He nodded to Ki Woo. “Please see your guest out.”

Ki Woo pleaded. “Just one last word. A quote,” he asked on behalf of the reporter.

“Jang Min Hee and I are just friends,” he
spat out. “We’re just casual. She’s not serious about me; I’m not serious about her. What she does and who she sees means nothing to me. Happy?”

Chapter Sixteen

PERHAPS HE had gone catatonic for the rest of the day. He wasn’t really sure. Everything passed by as if in a blur. Thankfully there weren’t any guests after Ki Woo and the reporter so he resolved to head home early. Gio wasn’t sure if he could spend another hour on the island.

But then Min Hee texted, asking to meet up with him at an expensive restaurant just north of the museum. Gio stared at the phone blankly. He wasn’t quite sure how to respond. First, he was angry. How dare she act like everything was normal? Next, he felt guilty. How could he immediately write her off when he wasn’t even sure that she had done something wrong? Then he felt despondent, then back to being angry again.

Thankfully, logic and reason soon kicked in. He didn’t know the whole story. He wasn’t sure who that guy was from earlier and what he meant to accomplish. Once and for all, he could ask Min Hee for the whole truth.

He arrived at the al fresco restaurant first so he asked to be seated at a table that was quite out of the way. Min Hee arrived soon after, in a long deep purple dress that made her color stand out even more. Her eyes lit up when she saw him, but Gio couldn’t help but feel that she looked sadder with every step. When she got to the table, he stood up and she threw her arms around him.

Gio held her instinctively. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Been waiting long?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, just arrived. Are you okay?”

“It’s just…” She took a deep breath as they sat down. Gio could sense a ‘We need to talk’ coming. But a waiter soon came to take their orders, temporarily interrupting them.

When the waiter had left, Min Hee started again but it was all just small talk. Dinner was lobster bisque and risotto with truffle oil and mushrooms for her, mushroom cappuccino and steak for him. It was an elegant meal, and under normal circumstances, Gio would even think it was a romantic date place. The tables rested on powder-soft sand. Above them, tivoli lights were strung from one coconut tree trunk to another. Soft acoustic guitars were playing in the background, punctuated by the gentle lapping of the dark sea.

But just one look at Min Hee’s face kept him tethered to reality.

The waiter cleared their plates and brought Min Hee’s dessert. She didn’t touch it though. Instead, the words that she had been holding back came out in a rush. “Gio, I just got some news. The agency thinks it’s time for me to go back to Korea.”

He blinked. Okay,
that
wasn’t what he was expecting.

“They said the show is doing really well! Plus things have died down a bit, and people are talking about other things now,” she continued. She gave him a weak smile. “I’ve been here for more than two months and the agency thinks I should start taking on small roles back home. They have a bit part in another series for me, nothing major though. Almost a walk-on. But it’s a start. Isn’t that great?”

“Great,” he echoed. “Now you can go back to Seoul and get on with your life, your career, your boyfriend?”

Min Hee looked confused. “But you’re here… What do you mean?”

“So who is Park Han Kyul?” he asked casually.

Maybe he was pronouncing it differently, because Min Hee just stared blankly at him. “Who?”

“Park. Han. Kyul,” Gio said, syllable by syllable. He took out the card from his wallet and laid it before her. “A man came by earlier. A reporter who was asking questions.”

The change in Min Hee’s expression was instantaneous. Her eyes flew wide open and she turned pale. “W-What did he say? What did you say to him?” she asked shakily.

Gio felt his insides grow numb. She recognized the name. That in itself confirmed his worst fears. “So it’s true then?” He tried to keep his voice even.

Min Hee reached for his hand across the table. “Gio… I told you that there was something I was avoiding in Korea. That was Han Kyul. I should have told you before but that was all behind me when I came here.” She tried to squeeze his hand but the truth was there was no sensation left in his fingers. He was completely devoid of emotion. “I don’t know what the reporter said, but we saw each other. He was much older but I didn’t know that he was married until it was too late.”

“So that was the scandal?” he asked dully.

“He had a wife. I pretended there wasn’t until I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I broke up with him then, angry that he lied about her,” she said. “They were about to air a series I was part of. My first major role. My agency thought it was bad publicity that the actress playing the dutiful wife in a melo was involved in a real-life affair. So they shipped me here until things settled down.”

Each word felt like a betrayal. “So things have settled down and you’re flying back, is that it? What, his wife has dropped the charges? He’s divorced her now to be with you?”

“No!” Min Hee protested. “It’s not like that at all! I mean, yes, things have died down a bit and the show is doing well. But I’m not flying back to be with Han Kyul. You have to understand, this was all before you. Things are different now. And like I said, things have been over between us for some time now.”

“How long ago? Weeks? Days? When you first came here, you were still together?” Gio asked.

Min Hee looked away. “I wasn’t talking to him anymore then.”

“But you were still together?” he pressed on, trying very hard not to raise his voice.

“I broke up with him after we got the paintings,” she insisted. “I had been meaning to break up with him but I didn’t think it would matter when I did it. I was having too much fun here. With you. I didn’t want to deal with the mess in Seoul. But I didn’t see you coming, Gio. You made me feel protected. Safe. I liked that you cared about so many things. I liked that you cared about me. With you, I could be myself before I entered the business, be the person I am when the cameras stop rolling. I was wrong not to talk to Han Kyul right away. But I knew things with him had changed…”

Oh, she was good. How could he tell that she wasn’t feeding him a line now, a convenient cover story meant to appease and distract him? He couldn’t. That was why it hurt. If only he hadn’t let her in. If only he had kept his distance. If only he had kept things casual. Uncomplicated.

Safe.

“So what happens when you return to Seoul?” he finally asked.

Min Hee looked sad. “That was what I wanted to talk to you about. I have work and you have things here. But I thought that we could try to keep us—”

Right then, Gio made a decision. He gave a short laugh. “Us? Really, Min Hee, you shouldn’t worry about things like that. We’re just friends having fun, right? We had a good time while it lasted. Now you have to go back, no big deal. No one makes any promises. No one gets disappointed.” He shrugged, trying to be as casual as he could. “That’s just the way things go.”

“How can you say that, after everything?” Min Hee asked quietly.
She picked up the card that he had left earlier, leaving her dessert untouched. He watched her walk on the uneven sand, head raised, never looking back.

* * * *

They stopped seeing each other after that. Now the museum was strangely quiet. He told himself that the silence was the reason that he could feel her absence keenly; there was no one loud and chatty to distract him from work. It wasn’t for any other reason.

Gio also fought the urge to drop by her resort. In the first place, it was out of the way, so he could keep his distance. He stayed away from places she liked: the bar with the fire dancers, the Indian restaurant he had recommended, the small café that served her favorite muffins.

Then a few days later, she was there. She had a huge bag with her. Large sunglasses kept her hair from her face. She smelled of vanilla still, which was why he knew she was there even before he looked up from his logbook.

They stared at each other face to face. “I’m leaving today,” she said. “I didn’t want to go without at least saying goodbye.”

Gio nodded politely. “Have a safe flight. I hope you liked your stay here.”

“You know I did.” Min Hee took a deep breath. “Gio… I’m not looking for anything more than you can give,” she said softly. “But life is too short to be lived so carefully. I had a great time here. I’ll always remember it. Thank you. For everything.”

There was no reply from Gio.

“Maybe next time you’ll be the one to visit me, in Seoul,” she suggested, laughing nervously to fill the awkward silence.

“I don’t think so.”

Her smile drooped a little, but she forged on. “Or I could come back here when my schedule’s a little better. I’ll call you then.” She still sounded hopeful.

“Maybe I won’t have the same number.”

Gio had a brief look of her hurt face before he turned away and busied himself at his desk. “You should go before you miss your flight.”

She held out her hand to him and he couldn’t keep ignoring it. He looked down at her and shook it. Her eyes seemed moist, as if she were about to cry. He tried to steel himself as he let go of her hand. Wow. She was a really good actress.

“Goodbye, Gio,” she said. She paused, as if waiting for him to say something, but when he didn’t, she took her bag. “I guess I’d better get going.”

He didn’t want to look her way, or else every resolve he had would disappear. “Yeah, I guess you should.” He waited for her footsteps to fade before he looked up. But her soft vanilla scent still clung to the air, stubborn and unyielding. He thought it smelled like regret.