“Smells good. What do we have?” His question came from over her shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her from behind.
“We have some dal soup to share as an appetizer,” She tapped the top of a small round container. “I have a serving of palak paneer for myself and lamb vindaloo for you...spicy of course.” The spicy was emphasized with her fanning both of them with her hands. “We have some rice, chapati, and garlic naan, of course. And finally we have some mango lassi to drink or for dessert. Oh right, also,” She pulled out the last cup. “Your favorite, pineapple juice.”
“Mmm, you’re so good to me,” He told her, rocking back and forth as he held her.
“Ready to eat?” She asked over her shoulder, giving his cheek a peck. He nodded and began pulling his chair around to sit closer to her. They made quick work of most of the food, only leaving a little extra rice, bread, and a few dribbles of the sauces they didn’t feel like scooping out.
“Oh, so tomorrow,” She clapped her hands, finally remembering she hadn’t told him yet. “The party at Roz’s, we are expected to come by at about two which means we still have the morning. I was thinking of going to my favorite museum when it opens just to see a little bit. You don’t have to—”
“I’ll come,” He interrupted quickly. “I want to come.”
“You don’t even know what museum it is,” She gave an abrupt, barking laugh at his eagerness.
“I don’t care,” He shrugged. “I want to see it with you.”
“I’ll come knock on your door at about 9:30 then,” She agreed, running her hand along his thigh. “It can be a surprise then.”
“No hints?” He gave her a laugh. “I guess I said yes too fast, didn’t I?”
“Maybe,” Her laugh was musical. “Let’s clean up and then we can relax a bit.” They packed up all the containers and wrappers as compactly as possible and stuffed it into the relatively small trash can next to the TV stand. Cheol grabbed the small brown bag, taking it to the bed with him as they moved onto the bed.
“What’s that?” Claire asked as she leaned back against the pile of pillows on the bed.
“Just a little something I got for you today,” He sat cross-legged beside her on the bed. “I wanted to get you a present, just to say thank you and I love you.”
“That’s sweet,” She gave him a smile. “I’d say you don’t have to do that, but you already know that.”
“You know I love you,” He allowed, pulling the box out of the paper bag. “I know that, but I want to do something nice for you. Give you something to make you smile.”
“You make me smile,” One of her fingers poked gently at his knee.
“Then something I can give you that which will give you that little smile when I’m not there,” He took a deep breath and handed her the box. Taking it from his hands, Claire sat up and turned the box in her hands a couple of times. He laughed at her, “Go ahead and open it, nothing in there will bite you.”
“It would have been an awfully little bite, even if there had been,” She joked, gripping the box and tilting the top back. Catching her first look at the necklace inside, she gave him wide surprised eyes. “Tell me these aren’t real.”
“No no,” Cheol confirmed with a smile which only widened at her look of relief. She ran her fingers over the necklace. It was absolutely gorgeous and sparkled even in the low light of the hotel room. Taking the box from her, he pulled the necklace out of the case and leaned forward to put it on her. The pendant dangled just above her cleavage, glinting up at her when she looked down to see it on herself.
“This is beautiful,” She flattened her palm over it. “I wish I was going to have more reasons to wear it.”
“No need to have a reason,” He assured her. “It isn’t so fancy you can’t just wear it when you feel like it.”
“With the earrings it might be,” She pointed out. “But just the necklace I might be able to get away with wearing.”
“Then the earrings can be for dates,” The compromise suited him well enough. “What about tomorrow?”
“Hmm?” She looked up at him, head quirking to the side with mild confusion.
“Will you wear them tomorrow? For our museum date?” His description of their plans to visit the museum in the morning struck her suddenly and she finally understood why he had so eagerly agreed earlier.
“Yeah, I can wear them tomorrow,” Leaning in like she was letting him in on a secret, she continued in a whisper. “I’ll even keep them on for the party. Good deal?”
“Really?” He gave an excited laugh.
“Mm-hmm,” She pressed her lips to the sharp angle of his cheekbone. “I’ll look pretty for you tomorrow.”
“You’re always pretty,” He scolded gently, reaching out to take her hands.
“Damn straight,” She gave him a confident look. “I’m awesome.”
“You are,” He agreed, some of the joking humor leaving his voice. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too,” Claire took the box and set it on the bedside table before crawling into Cheol’s lap. “I’m so lucky to have you.”
“I’m the lucky one,” He buried his face in her neck. Pulling her tightly against him, he leaned forward to lay them both in the mound of pillows. She stretched out underneath him, hooking her thighs around his hips. In the quiet of the room, she could hear his breath as he sighed against the side of her neck.
“자기야[71] I love you like this,” Her arms wrapped around his ribs and she gave a contented sigh.
“Like this? You mean smothering you with my love?” He couldn’t help but laugh at his description.
“Mm-mmm,” She shook her head. “Clean faced, dressed in your own clothes, and all over me.”
“Really?” He scrunched up his nose as he looked at her from a few inches away. “But I look so much better with my make-up and hair done.”
“You look different,” She parsed. “You look dramatic and handsome and ready to steal hearts. But you like this, you’re still handsome and you look...like my love. You are no less breathtaking like this than you are in any shoot or on any stage.”
“Does that mean you don’t want me wearing make-up when I’m with you?” He suddenly wondered if it had bothered her.
“No!” She was surprised to hear him ask that. “Make-up, no make-up, you look amazing. The you that has the flawless smokey eyes and porcelain skin is my boyfriend that looks perfect on camera and makes everyone do double takes when he walks by. This you, is my love who I want to wake up to every morning. Besides, the better you look, the less anyone looks at me.”
“Who is going to look at me when they could look at your beautiful face,” He scoffed. “You don’t even wear make-up because you know you’re so pretty anyway.”
“Actually, I never really wanted to draw attention to myself,” She looked away. “It never really felt like any good came of that.”
“What do you mean?” Cheol pushed himself up on his elbows to see her better.
“If you’re pretty and especially if you look like you’re trying,” She tried to explain. “People, guys particularly, assume it means you did it for them. To them it’s an invitation to talk to you, to grab you, or whatever. In business it’s even worse. It’s hard enough getting anyone to take you seriously when you are short, but being short and looking like you are trying to be pretty means nobody takes you seriously. You can’t look like you don’t care, but you can’t look like you’re trying to look good.”
“I always thought you just never wanted to bother with it,” He admitted, not that he had put that much thought into it before now.
“My first week in Seoul,” She started to explain after a pause. “I was on the metro on the way to do some shopping to get all those stupid little things you need just for daily life that you don’t pack when you move countries. Pens and notebooks and paper clips and safety pins...you know, the things you don’t think of until you need them. I had only gone a few stops when this guy cam
e up behind me. I didn’t really think much of it at first. The car was crowded and half of us were standing in the aisle since the seats were all taken anyway. When he first bumped into me, I just figured it was crowded but then I felt him slip his hand into my back pocket. He leaned in against my back and said 너는 예쁜 여자 야.[72] I froze for a second before I pushed my way towards the door of the car and got off at the next stop. I just got out and took a taxi the rest of the way. It took me a few weeks to try riding the metro again. The next time I made sure my hair was up and I wore something looser and didn’t wear any make-up.”
“I didn’t know,” Cheol said dumbly.
“Why would you have?” Claire soothed, putting her hands on the side of his face. “It’s just the sort of thing that happens. I probably overreacted but it was the only part I could control, you know.”
“애인[73] I wish I could have protected you from that,” He put his head on her chest, curling himself around her.
“It’s happened here in New York too, probably more times to be honest,” She ran her fingers through his hair as she held him to her. “But here I can yell at them and half the women on the train would volunteer to kick his ass for me. Plus I have a lot of friends I used to go out with and it doesn’t really happen when you’re obviously with a big group.”
“Changho was right,” He sighed. “You needed someone to look out for you like a big brother.”
“When did he say that?” A laugh bubbled up from her chest. “It fits him somehow to have decided that, though.”
“When we were all discussing me dating you,” He confessed. “He said he’d come after me if I hurt you.”
“I can’t say I think you are the thing I need protection from,” She said wryly.
“Me neither,” He slid one hand down her side to caress her hip.
“Cheol?” She said his name softly to get his attention.
“Yeah?” He tilted his head up to look at her.
“I’m glad I can talk to you,” She flashed him a smile.
“I’ll always want to hear about things in your life,” He reassured her.
“I just never want you to have to worry about me,” She admitted. “It’s silly but it makes me worry that I’m being a burden on you.”
“You’re never a burden on me,” He moved up her body and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I hope you will always be a part of my life now. You are important. What happens to you happens to me too, now.”
“If I asked you nicely,” She teased, running a finger down his chest. “Would you think about getting rid of these excessive clothes you have on?” Needing no more invitation than that, Cheol started stripping both of them as they both giggled like idiots.
Chapter 21
Claire set her alarm the next morning a little early, having decided she wanted to make an effort to look nice today. They were going on a date today...sort of...and that sort of thing deserved a little bit of effort. She had brought some make-up with her and had put on a barely noticeable amount on for the first interview and photoshoot to feel a little sharper and more professional. She opened the curtain to let in the early morning light and set the little round mirror she had packed on the table and pulled out what she had brought with her. She had picked out a nice red v-neck shirt she had brought along in case they went somewhere she needed to look a little nicer. It didn’t look too fancy paired with her jeans and little black ballet flats but was still fancier than what she usually wore.
Settling on a light smokey eye shadow in a warm neutral with antique gold highlights and a rose lip stain, she set about making her face into the stunning work of art she knew it could be. When that was done, she started doing her hair in a loose, half up, half down do she usually turned to for all those occasions where you had to look nice but weren’t supposed to be the center of attention.
With everything finished, she stood in front of the full length mirror which hung on the wall between the window on the outer wall and the headboard of the bed. She nervously smoothed down the hem of her shirt and blew out a breath. The jewelry box was still on the bedside table from last night with the earrings inside. The necklace had been worn to bed as she never took it off after Cheol put it on her. Bringing the box over to the mirror, she put the earrings on and gave herself a final once over. It was almost 9:30 already, she noted looking at her watch. She cleaned up and grabbed her coat and purse and headed to Cheol’s room to head out.
She gave the door a gentle knock and was greeted with a very sleepy looking Changho after a few seconds. He poked his head out of the crack in the door giving her a quick glance with his sleepy eyes before doing a double take. Claire had to suppress a laugh at the slightly slack jawed look he gave her.
“Good morning,” She greeted. “Is Cheol in there?”
“Morning,” He managed after snapping his jaw shut again. “He got up a little while ago to get some help from one of the staff. I’m not sure what though. He said he’d be back about now though. Where are you going? You look pretty this morning.”
“To my favorite museum,” She replied. “But we’ll be back to pick up any of the over 21s who want to go to the party at about 1:30. Let the others know when you see them for me, would you?”
“Yeah, no problem,” He nodded, rubbing his eyes again, as if he still wasn’t sure his eyesight was working properly.
“Thanks,” The sound of a door down the hall cracking open drew both of their attention. Cheol padded out of the room in the t-shirt and sweatpants he wore to bed, but from the neck up looked like he was ready to step into a photoshoot. His hair was perfectly styled and his make-up was done, subtle but striking. Claire could see the moment he noticed her as he had a similar reaction to Changho, giving her a second look, sure his eyes were playing tricks on him. He let out a low whistle as he approached.
“애인[74] you look...whoa,” He shook his head and lifted her face so that he could get a better look at her. “You are so good at doing your make-up.”
“Thank you,” A blush spread over her cheeks at his compliment. He didn’t just say she was beautiful but that she had done well and that meant so much more. “You should get dressed so we can go.”
“Yeah, one sec,” He moved into the room, pushing past Changho who was still standing at the door, and started putting on the clothes he had picked out before heading to get some help with his hair and make-up. His outfit was a nice t-shirt, tight black jeans, and a stylish leather jacket, all of which were far more expensive than they looked at first. He put on a small chain with the pendant Claire had given him and the other members as well as his favorite large silver chain. He kept his ever present silver hoop earrings in and slipped his favorite pair of tennis shoes on and was ready to go. To the untrained eye, he looked like any other slightly fashion conscious twenty something but Claire knew well how expensive so much of what he had on was. It was a benefit of his position and career and it looked amazing on him.
“You look great, 자기야,”[75] She told him, appreciating his effort, whatever was behind it.
“Yeah, you think it’s good?” He gave her a spin to let her see all of him.
“Mm-hmm,” She agreed with a smile. “I love it. Can I ask what the look is for?”
“I’m going to meet your friends today and I want to make a good impression,” He admitted, melting her heart.
“Thank you,” She took his hand, starting to lead them down the hall to the elevators. “They are going to love you, I know it.”
They hopped in a cab and arrived at the curbside of a very wooded park on the northside of manhattan. Cheol wondered just where the museum could be as she started leading them into the park.
“Ready?” She asked from beside him, giving his hand a squeeze.
“There’s a museum here?” He looked around, seeing only gardens and tall, old trees surrounding them.
“You’ll see. This way.” She said cryptically. They followed one of the paved paths further in, making their way up som
e stairs and then along some switch backs which suddenly left them feeling like they were in the middle of the forest and not one of the largest cities in the world. The path took them up in elevation through the old trees and alongside an old stone wall.
“Look up over there,” She pointed through the top of the tree line. Cheol turned and looked in the direction she indicated and noticed a square tower rising out of the top of the trees.
“Wow, is that the museum?” He sounded like a kid seeing his first amusement park out the window of the car.
“Yep,” She wrapped an arm around his waist. He let out another excited sound and started to move along the path again, bringing her along with him. At the top was a large medieval looking building with a large square tower that rose into the sky from the highest point in the park. She led him into the entrance where he bought their tickets and grabbed a guide map. The museum wasn’t huge but it was definitely large enough to fill their morning.
They started by heading in through a large stone arch behind the ticket desk and found themselves in a large stone hall filled with romanesque wall paintings and objects. Claire, having been there a dozen times before, took him from object to object, explaining them as they went. They made their way through the romanesque chapel and then into the first of the courtyard-like cloisters which gave the museum its name. This one was indoors with a large skylight, which let natural light in and still protected the old carved pillars.
“See how each pair is different?” She pointed out as they walked along the covered walkway. Cheol nodded, taking a closer look at a pair that, oddly, reminded him of ramen noodles.
On the other side of another romanesque chapel, she led them to the first outdoor area in the museum. They stepped into an area that would have felt like a room except that one wall was made mostly of open arches that looked out on another cloister. The space was oddly dark, with only three small windows in the thick wall opposite the open side.
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