Love in All the Right Places (Chick Lit bundle) (9 page)

“Yeah,” he admitted softly.

They just stood there, smiling at each other. Her eyes were on his. They were standing close, so close, near the busy entrance. Gio felt a tug. Min Hee’s eyes dropped then lifted, hesitating. He found himself leaning towards her, but caught himself at the last minute.

“Uhm.” It was too late to pretend that he didn’t mean to be so close, so he settled for a one-sided hug. A shoulder pat, really. Just like that, the moment was over. “Take care. I-I’ll see you back on the island.”

Min Hee’s lips parted slightly and she let out a shaky laugh. “Yeah, you too. See you.”

Gio watched her enter the port. He was stupid for letting things end on that note. Something about this afternoon niggled at him. He thought about calling or texting her, but he squashed the ridiculous notion and turned to go.

Chapter Ten

“HELLO, MIN HEE?” Gio greeted when his phone rang. It was the weekend after their sightseeing trip—and a day after their almost-kiss. She hadn’t contacted him ever since they parted but he had also been too distracted by work to worry. Leaving early the day before meant he had a lot of ground to make up today, so he had already warned his mother that he would be late getting home.

But it wasn’t Min Hee on the other end of the line. “Sorry, sir, do you know the owner of this phone?” the speaker addressed him in Aklanon.

“Yes, is something wrong?” he asked, worried.

“Not really, sir,” the man said. He named a bar near Station 1. “We found this phone here and this was the only local number in it. We wondered if you knew the owner.”

“Yeah, yeah, I do. Uh, I’ll be there soon,” he said.

Well, he was almost done with work anyway. He did a final check, said good night to Yeban on duty, then made his way to the bar. He figured that once he got the phone back, he could return it to her hotel. Thankfully, it was a short tricycle ride away, and the bartender seemed to be eager to hand the phone over to someone else.

Gio half-expected the phone to be the cheap one that Min Hee had been using to text him. To his surprise, she had nearly lost the more expensive one, which probably explained why there were no other local numbers stored there. Except his.

Huh.

That definitely was not how he remembered it.

“Thanks,” he told the bartender and turned to leave. But just as he did, he caught a familiar figure half-draped over one of the low tables.

“Min Hee?”

She looked cheerfully dazed. “Mr. Museum! Come and join us… me… us!”

Gio walked towards her, holding out her phone. “There are better ways to not answer your phone than leaving them for strangers to find.” He sat down beside her. “Are you here by yourself?”

Min Hee waved a lazy hand. “Oh, Da Kyong was with me.”

“Where did she go?” he asked, craning his neck to see if the other girl was around.

“Leave her alone,” Min Hee said loudly. “Wait… do you like her?” She raised her glass to him and pointed accusingly. Vodka spilled all over the table, even splashing on his jeans.

“Wha—no.” He shook his head. “I mean, of course I like her. I was just wondering where she went.”

“You so like her because you think she’s smart!”

“I think you’ve had enough, Min Hee,” Gio told her, putting her drink down.

“But we’re celebrating!” she pouted.

“No, we’re not. Come on, I’m taking you home,” he said firmly. He counted five empty glasses. Things were going downhill fast. He gestured for the check and their waitress sidestepped a fire dancer to hand it to him.

“Why don’t you drink some water?” he asked her as he settled the bill.

Min Hee shook her head. “I can’t pour myself a drink.”

“Don’t be lazy,” he scolded her.

“I’m not!” Min Hee protested. “But if I pour my own drink I’ll be single for three years and I can’t be single for three years. Don’t laugh when you don’t understand!”

Gio tried not to, since she really seemed to believe it. He had to admit that she looked cute when she was drunk. Gone were the pithy comments and the guarded looks. Her candidness was endearing. The sleeve that threatened to slide down one shoulder, however, was distracting. One creamy shoulder. Damn. So instead he just got a nearby pitcher and poured some water into her glass. When she was done, he got up and motioned for her to get on her feet. “Come on, Min Hee.”

“Carry me,” she commanded, raising her arms to rest on his shoulders.

Gio felt his face and neck go warm. He looked around in embarrassment. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea. Besides, I think you can still walk. Come on.”

Min Hee stood up, clutching at his arm to stay upright. He managed to lead her out of the al fresco bar, but after only a couple of steps, she had to lean against him.

In the end, he had no choice but to carry her piggyback-style. She slumped against his back. Gio arranged her arms over his neck and shoulders and then lifted her, hooking his arms beneath her legs so she wouldn’t fall off. He was surprised at how light she was. He tried to ignore the curious looks that he was getting from locals and tourists alike. He looked straight ahead. If he weren’t concerned about Min Hee, he would find it too embarrassing, really. Did they think he was some sicko who needed to get a girl drunk?

“I don’t know why you drank so much tonight,” he pointed out. It was the closest to a complaint that he could get. “It’s still early, too.”

“You care how much I drink, Museum?” she slurred. She stirred long enough to lock her left hand over her right wrist, brushing against Gio’s collarbone, a feather-light tickle.

He nearly stumbled. “Somebody ought to,” he grumbled.

No matter how light his load was, Gio soon found out that carrying, talking, and walking all at the same time could soon tire him. So he decided to keep quiet for the walk back to Min Hee’s resort. But apparently Min Hee didn’t get the memo and kept right on talking. Her lips blew the words into his ear as she pressed against his back.

“Now this feels like a proper romance movie,” she said. “It’s not one until the hero carries the heroine like this. But your shoulder hurts. You’re too bony here.” She emphasized the spot by touching it with her chin, and Gio braced himself for the light tingle where their skins touched.

But Min Hee kept right on. “You don’t know how to carry a girl. If I wasn’t holding on so tightly, I probably would have slipped into the water and drowned. But you’re so sweet. You’re the sweetest, Museum. You know I paid charges for my flight with money I saved for so long?” she rambled on. “In a few weeks my money might be all gone and it would just be some imaginary number that I saw in my head. And the bad news is I can’t call anyone. I don’t want to call everyone. There’s the hotel and my evil sister and the gambling debt and my brain tumor but if you knew my story, I doubt if you’d like me very much. All that, starting tonight, done. Done. Did you know that I had work done? Everyone back home does it. I had my eyelids done. Then my nose. Isn’t my nose perfect now? Every girl wants to be prettier. Should I have my chin done next?”

Despite his resolution, he couldn’t keep quiet after that. “No!” he protested. “You’re fine just the way you are,” he said softly.

“Why are you so nice to me, Mr. Museum?” she murmured. “I don’t deserve someone nice like you. Do you like me now?”

“I’ve always liked you,” he admitted casually. She still sounded drunk, so maybe she wouldn’t notice how perilously close to the truth he was. He paused so that he could hike her up higher on his back and adjust his hold on her. “I liked you the moment I heard you make up that crazy lie about your hotelier family.”

“You knew I was lying? And you still like me? Dear dependable Mr. Museum. Don’t fall in love with me, okay?”

He nearly dropped her. “I—uh, of course not,” he protested. “What makes you think that?” But when she didn’t reply, he gave her a little jolt. “Hey, don’t sleep. We’re nearly there.”

Finally, they arrived at her resort. He was thankful that her room was on the ground floor, one that came with a private porch. At least he didn’t need to climb two flights of stairs with her on his back nor did he have to worry about her rolling out of bed and falling a few storeys down. He crouched down before her door and gently slid her off his back onto a bamboo bench by the porch. Then he fished her keys from her bag.

“You owe me big time, Min Hee,” he said, once he got the door open. He tugged her to a standing position. “Come on.”

It was his first time inside her room. It was dark and empty when they entered. Da Kyong didn’t seem to be in yet. Gio fumbled for the switch and found one for the bulb near the en suite bathroom. It cast a soft yellow glow, nothing too harsh for Min Hee’s eyes but still light enough to see things by. There were two beds inside, and Min Hee tumbled towards the one furthest from the door. She nearly knocked over a propped-up sign that admonished guests over staining the sheets with henna.

“Careful,” Gio said belatedly. She had fallen onto the bed face first, not bothering to change out of her clothes or to remove her sandals. There wasn’t anything he could do about her dress –careful, there—but Gio moved closer so he could slip her sandals off. He placed them carefully near the door, where all their other footwear was stowed. He returned to the bed and very gently rolled her over on her back.

Then she put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

He had to keep one hand on her headboard and the other by the side of her head so he wouldn’t crash into her. But where there lips met, it was electric. He found his arms sliding down to her shoulders, as if on auto-pilot. Not that he had any time to think, not really. This was the kiss he had missed yesterday. Her lips were soft and pliant against his, just as he imagined them to be. But he could taste the strong alcohol on them, bringing him back to reality. He pulled himself free.

She said something to him in Korean. “
Oppa,
” she teased, leaning forward.

He was breathing hard. There were so many reasons to stay and one very important reason to leave. He pushed her down on the bed then placed an extra pillow over her chest. Then he straightened up immediately. “It’s not like I don’t want to—believe me, I want to—but you’re drunk and I’m not and I sure hope you won’t remember any of this tomorrow.”

She had a mouthful to say to him, all in Korean. But she didn’t sound mad, just restless. Eventually, she ran out of steam.

“Min Hee?” he dared to say, very softly.

But there was no reply. Min Hee’s eyes were closed. Her chest rose and fell in heavy breaths.

Her phone rang.

Gio contemplated whether he should answer it or not. The phone’s loud ringing was bound to wake Min Hee up. On one hand, he didn’t want to invade her privacy. But on the other hand, it could be someone important. Da Kyong could be looking for her. They had left the bar without letting her know where they had gone. Or it could be someone looking for Min Hee’s lost phone.

He fished it out of her bag. “Uh, hello?” Gio answered.

A male Korean voice replied. It spoke rapidly, angrily, and Gio realized his mistake. Definitely not Da Kyong. Since he was in no position to answer, he dropped the call.

The phone rang again. The sound was deafening. He hit the cancel button this time. The phone rang again. Gio wanted to put the ringer on silent or else it would keep on ringing for the rest of the night. But he didn’t know how to work her phone so in the end, after rejecting the call about five times, he resorted to placing it inside a desk drawer. It still kept on ringing, making the desk vibrate furiously, but at least it was muffled now.

Gio searched for some pen and paper so he could leave instructions on where he placed the phone. Once the note had been written, Gio placed the room keys over it. He glanced back at the sleeping Min Hee. One arm was thrown over her chest, the other dangled off the bed. Her face lost that cautious look that it always had. He had rarely seen the mask come off, but now in the soft light, she looked very peaceful.

He was about to leave the room when the door opened. Da Kyong walked in and turned on the lights. “Gio?” she exclaimed, sounding surprised.

For a moment he wondered if Da Kyong could tell that he had kissed Min Hee, if she had left some mark on his lips. Then he realized that she was just shocked at seeing him there.

“Shhh,” he said, pointing to Min Hee. Da Kyong just stared at him. “Uh, it’s not like that,” he tried to clarify. “She was drunk and now she’s sleeping—nothing happened, I swear.”

Da Kyong finally understood because she turned off the rest of the lights save for one. “Thank you for bringing her here?”

Gio shook his head. “It was no problem,” he assured her. “Uh, take care of her, will you? She sounded like she was having a bad night.” Then fearing he had revealed too much, he backed out of the door and said good night.

Chapter Eleven

AT THAT time of the night, there was no way that Gio was still going to catch a boat back to the mainland. So he ended up calling his mother and telling her that he was going to stay on the island. She wasn’t happy of course, but she just told him to stay out of trouble. Then he made his way to Aqua. They had staff housing there, and a few rooms were often reserved for employees who had to spend the night unexpectedly.

Gio was in luck. One of Aqua’s staff rooms was unoccupied so front desk let him have it. Then he took a short tricycle ride to buy himself some things. There was little he could do about tomorrow’s uniform, but at least he could take care of the essentials. He still had to work, after all.

Back at his temporary room, Gio tried to put all thoughts of the kiss out of his head, hard as it was. Min Hee was just drunk. He could tell that she had been struggling with something the whole night, though he wondered why she didn’t just tell him what was wrong.

Was he attracted to Min Hee? Of course he was. It wasn’t every day that someone like her looked his way. But it wasn’t just because of her prettiness. When she walked into his museum, she brushed away the cobwebs that kept him anchored to his seat. Gio felt caught up in the stories she would tell precisely because she was everything he wasn’t. She was the center of attention; he preferred staying behind a counter. She shook things up; he liked things exactly the way they were. She was always urging him to look at his job from a different angle, always pushing him to try something new. Sure, she was hard to read at times, but that only made being with her exciting.

But then there was the voice on the other end of the line. Aside from knowing that it was a guy calling her, he couldn’t tell much else. It was hard to tell if he was old or young. And after all the time that Gio had spent with her, he still knew very little about her personal life. That voice on the phone could have been anyone from her father to her doctor.

It could have even been her boyfriend.

That made him sit up on his borrowed bed.

Gio could study history or sociology as much as he wanted, but he doubted that was ever going to understand the workings of the female mind. He thought his relationship with Arianne was predictable enough. He attended her older sister’s wedding as her date and was introduced to all their relatives. Two nights after that, she said she wanted to start seeing other people. A month later, Gio saw her with the best man at the wedding. They eventually got around to being civil again, but things were never the same.

And now here was Min Hee, who was even more confusing than Arianne had been. Just when he thought that he had her figured out, she turned his world upside down. He felt so secure in his theories and analyses that he seemed to forget how quickly things could change.

So that kiss was probably nothing. An impulse from a drunken girl. Maybe it was all alcohol. Maybe it was pity for a life lived in the sidelines. Only an idiot would try to put meaning in that when there clearly was none.

* * * *

In the morning, Gio woke with a clearer head. No assumptions, no confrontations. Uncomplicated. Safe. Pretending that nothing out of the ordinary had happened was his best course of action. He managed to borrow a shirt from one of the other employees who lived in the staff housing. He had a quick breakfast in the kitchen then soon threw himself into his work.

By lunchtime, he was already installing some heavy drapes around one part of the museum, where the Anding Torres exhibit was going to be set up. The drapes would help keep the area private before the big reveal. It was less than two weeks until the exhibit opening and he had no time to slack off or think about female mind games. He just needed to finish installing the collection objects so he could move on to mounting the signage.

He thought things were going smoothly when he heard someone stomping into the museum. He nearly fell off the stepladder when he saw Min Hee. It wasn’t that he was avoiding her; he just didn’t expect to see her so soon.

He decided to play it cool, even though he last time he was ever cool was in the sixth grade when he let his classmates play Pokemon Gold on his Game Boy.
No mention of last night
, he reminded himself
. Everything’s normal.
“Hi, Min—”

“What is your problem?” Min Hee demanded hotly.

Of all the scenarios that had gone through his head last night about how their meeting was going to be like, this was one he hadn’t quite expected. “Excuse me?” he asked.

“You. You had no right to answer my phone! Why the hell did you do that?”

“I-I’m sorry,” he said defensively. “I just thought—”

“Thought? No, Gio, you weren’t thinking,” she snapped. She threw out some words in Korean before switching back to English. “That was my phone. Those were my personal calls. I didn’t ask you to take them. You are not my assistant. I’m not another one of your responsibilities.”

He slowly came down the stepladder, hoping that he could give her time to cool her head. “Min Hee, look, I’m really sorry. I can explain. Or if you want, we can we talk about this later, when you’re calmer—”

“I am not going to let you schedule me as if I were some task on your itinerary,” Min Hee spat out. “You wanted to explain? Explain.”

Gio took a deep breath. It was quite clear in his head and he wanted the chance to explain it properly. “You had too much to drink last night so I brought you back to your room. I didn’t know where Da Kyong was so when your phone rang, I thought it might have been her.” When it looked like she was about to interrupt, he raised a hand. “I swear, when I realized it wasn’t her, I ended the call. I didn’t say anything.”

“Really? Then why would the person on the other end of that line keep on sending me messages asking why a guy was answering my calls?” she insisted. She looked furious. But when Gio met her eyes, he could tell there were other things there, too. Hurt. Disappointment. And that was more unnerving to him than her anger. “Why couldn’t you just let it ring?”

“Because someone might have been worried about you,” he said. “I thought it was the right thing to do.”

“Just because you have an answer for everything, Gio, doesn’t mean that you’re right,” Min Hee said quietly. “You shouldn’t have answered my phone,” she repeated before turning on her heel to go.

Gio listened to her fading footsteps. Last night, she had been kissing him; today, she couldn’t even stomach being in the same room he was. He was damn right about how confusing girls were. Still, she was right, too. He had no business taking that call. What
were
they, after all? He wasn’t sure if they could even be considered friends.

So he did the one thing that he hadn’t done since he started working here: he ran out of the museum.

“Min Hee! Wait!” he called after her. “Min Hee!”

She hadn’t gotten that far. He caught up to her easily, but he could tell that she was going to be hard to talk to. When he reached for her elbow, she jerked it away quickly. “I can’t believe I thought—that we were—argh! I have nothing to say to you.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know how much I’ve messed up, but you can tell me,” he pleaded. “I didn’t mean to get you in any trouble. With anyone.” He tried a conciliatory smile. “Not with the gangsters you’re running away from or from your grandmother’s spies.”

For a few moments she just stared at him blankly before she gave a short laugh. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”

“Try me,” he said seriously. “Last night…”

Min Hee took a sharp breath. “What about last night?” she asked.

“Last night you thought that if I knew the truth I wouldn’t like you very much,” Gio admitted. “And I want to tell you that’s not true. You may not think we’re much of friends at this point, but I hope I’ve proven that I’m here if you need anything.”

He stepped closer. “I know I owe you an apology. Big time. And I really didn’t know what I was doing. But something tells me I’m apologizing for other things and maybe you owe me the truth, too?”

Min Hee grew quiet, studying his face carefully. Then she dropped her eyes. “I am an actress back in Korea,” she told him haltingly. “Or at least I’m trying to be. I’m not very famous yet, even if some people recognize me. Da Kyong is my manager. But things got… complicated. There were certain things that I had to avoid, so I came here. I guess you could say I got known for the wrong reasons. No one else is supposed to know where I am. That’s why I’ve been dodging calls. When we met, I was shooting some publicity materials, to make it look like I’ve turned a new leaf and I’m spending my time reading and going to museums. Being responsible and mature instead of getting into trouble.”

“Oh.” It was the longest explanation he’d gotten from her, but Gio felt disappointed. By the way she had sounded at first, he thought that she was finally going to tell him the truth. He didn’t think that she would come up with just another cover story to keep him occupied.

But if this was the closest that she could come to being honest, then he’ll just have to take it. “And that guy from last night?” he inquired politely. “Did I cause you any trouble?”

Min Hee looked uncomfortable. “No one important.” She paused. “Just one of the reporters who wanted to know where I went.”

“I see.” Gio wished that there was a way to convince her to confide in him, but he didn’t want to pressure her. If she wanted to keep up this new cover story of hers, then he really had little choice.

“I’m sorry that I blew up at you. How could you know, right? You didn’t know any better, so I can’t blame you for what you did,” she said. She paused a bit, before asking, “So… it doesn’t bother you that I’m an actress?”

He told himself that it was just another story in a long line of excuses she had given him. He shrugged, trying to smile. “It’s a job, right? Not what I expected you to say but I can live with it.”

“I can trust you, right?” She looked worried. “To keep this a secret?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, because that seemed like the only thing to say.

Min Hee looked relieved. “You should go back to your museum,” she reminded him, looking over his shoulder. “I didn’t mean to take you from your work.”

“Yeah. Work. Right,” Gio mumbled. “Well, I guess I’ll see you when I see you, huh?”

Min Hee finally smiled. It was slow in coming, like a sunrise over the sea, but when it unfurled it was magnificent. “Yes,” she said, in a tone that made him smile in return. “Thank you, Gio. Y-You don’t know how good it is to be able to admit this to someone. But… I know I can trust you. You’re always so dependable.” She paused. “I’m really glad we had this talk.”

“I’m glad, too,” he lied.