I'll Be Good For You, Ch. 10
Previously:
Chapter 1: Here's to the Night
Chapter 2: Maneater
Chapter 3: Know Your Enemy
Chapter 4: I Just Wanna Live
Chapter 5: Shark in the Water
Chapter 6: Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk
Chapter 7: Smooth Operator
Chapter 8: Gives You Hell
Chapter 9: Won't Get Fooled Again
Disclaimer: The A.N.JELL-verse belongs to the Hong sisters, creators of You're Beautiful.
Author's Notes: Thanks, as always, to akaironoyoru and lilivanilla1 for reviewing! :)
Chapter Ten - Science Fiction Double Feature (from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show")
That Sunday was Halloween. Since A.N.JELL had the next day off, they could have taken the opportunity to go out in public totally incognito, because on this night, chances were everyone would be in costume, but the boys were tired of going out and decided to celebrate with a small party, just them and the girls, at their house.
At least, that was what they were going to do once their guests actually arrived. "Where in the world are they?" Tae-kyung wondered. His satin-lined cape, the crowning touch of his vampire costume, swung dramatically from his shoulders as he paced. "They should be here by now."
"Ha-neul said it took them a little longer to get ready than they thought," Shin-woo reminded him. He was dressed as a punk rocker in shredded jeans, chains and leather.
"I don't see why the girls had to get Mi-nyeo from the convent and then go back to her place to dress up. They could have done it here."
"What, they're not here yet?" Jeremy demanded as he and Mi-nam entered the living room. Perhaps in a nod to his British ancestry, the drummer was wearing Hogwarts school robes, while Mi-nam was dressed as Superman (complete with, as Jeremy pointed out with relish, fake muscles).
"No," Tae-kyung grumbled. "If they're not here in half an hour, I'm changing out of this getup."
Mi-nam laughed briefly. "You think your costume is bad, brother-in-law? Try wearing your underpants on top of your clothes."
Just then, there was a knock on the door. The boys hastened to answer it, and opened the door to a trio of female voices shouting, "Trick or treat!"
The original three members of A.N.JELL blinked. It was almost like looking into a mirror.
It took them a while to realize that Mi-nyeo, Ha-neul and Su-jin had arrived, and that each girl was dressed up as her boyfriend (or, in Su-jin's case, semi-boyfriend). Mi-nyeo, with her hair slicked down over one eye, wore a dark tailored suit and a scowl. Su-jin wore an orange wig, shorts and what seemed to be one of Ha-neul's more colorful hoodies, because she was swimming in it, and carried a stuffed toy dog. Ha-neul had put up her long hair, donned jeans and a sweater in imitation of Shin-woo's more casual outfits, and slung a guitar-shaped bag over one shoulder.
"We're not coming in until you give us candy," Su-jin announced, and her partners in crime giggled.
"There's plenty in the kitchen," Mi-nam replied, grinning. "You'll have to come in and get it."
The temporarily redheaded girl arched an eyebrow, which disappeared under her fake bangs. "That's not how trick-or-treating is supposed to work."
"Well, we weren't expecting any trick-or-treaters tonight, especially ones as cute as the three of you."
Jeremy scowled. "Stop flirting with my girlfriend, Mi-nam, or I'll make you disappear!" He threateningly brandished the wand that had come with his costume. "Or at least poke you with this thing."
"Superman won't feel a thing if you did," Mi-nam boasted, striking a heroic pose.
"Oh, right," the drummer snickered, prodding Mi-nam's fake abs. "You have lots of padding."
Tae-kyung rolled his eyes. "I'd threaten to bite the two of you if it wasn't so unsanitary."
Only Shin-woo remembered his manners enough to play host. "Why don't you girls come in?" he invited. It was cold that night and the girls, who were carrying their coats instead of wearing them, were probably starting to feel it.
"Thanks," Ha-neul replied as they trooped inside.
The guitarist grinned at his girlfriend as he looked over her costume. "I make a good-looking girl," he chuckled.
"You would if you had my face," she bantered back.
Mi-nam went around collecting coats while the girls changed their shoes. His sister gave him an impish grin as he took hers. "Since we look alike," Mi-nyeo said, "we decided that I'm dressed up as you dressed up as Tae-kyung oppa."
He grinned. "That works."
For some reason, he found himself thinking about Oh-lan. He couldn't imagine the writer agreeing to dress up as him for Halloween, but she might have come in costume anyway. Since she was so small, perhaps she would have come dressed as a fairy. A fairy all in black, with bulky combat boots, raggedy bat's wings and maybe - since it was Halloween - red, red lipstick.
A sabertooth fairy.
Mi-nam chuckled and wondered what she was doing at that very moment.
The answer, of course, was writing. While most of the young people of Seoul were disporting themselves in colorful costumes at clubs and parties, Oh-lan was in her apartment, working on her book. At least, she was trying to work on it, but there were just too many distractions.
First of all, it was cold. She hadn't yet turned on the heat to save money, and even though Genghis sometimes served as a furry portable heater, he was in a prowly mood that night and refused to stay still long enough to help keep his mistress warm.
Second, Oh-lan was hungry. Except for a hurried breakfast and lunch, she had tried to work for most of the day until the rumbling in her stomach became too loud to ignore. Naturally, when he saw her throwing together a hasty bowl of bibimbap, Genghis decided that he had to eat, too.
Finally, her mind just kept wandering. Despite her best efforts to clear her mind, all she could think about was the foundation event earlier that week and the dinner that followed. It had been pleasant meeting Go Mi-nyeo and the other A.N.JELL girlfriends. She wasn't sure whether Su-jin had truly meant it when she said that Oh-lan was their friend, but it had been nice to hear it and feel accepted by them, even for just a while.
A.N.JELL seemed to have more or less fully accepted her, too, Oh-lan thought as she and Genghis silently ate their dinner. There had still been some awkwardness during dinner, but at least they seemed comfortable enough to trust her with more of their secrets. She hoped that the cover story she had fed Soon-ok showed them that she was worthy of that trust.
Thinking about Soon-ok led her to think about Mi-nam and the things he had said. She tried to remind herself that he was a rat, but couldn't help smiling at how he had spoken so highly of her to Soon-ok, and at his unrepentant grin when he found out about the reporters' professional rivalry.
Oh-lan laughed briefly. All right, Mi-nam was still a lying, irresponsible rat, but that night, he had definitely been useful.
After a pleasant dinner, A.N.JELL announced that dessert would be served in the living room during the next part of the evening's program, a horror movie. "I heard it was the scariest one ever made," Jeremy told the girls as he loaded a tray with drinks, "like, there's an official record and everything. But don't worry!" he assured them cheerfully. "We'll be there to protect you!"
"Something's up," Su-jin muttered when he was gone, leaving the girls alone in the kitchen to put the candy that was their dessert into bowls.
"What do you mean, unni?" Mi-nyeo asked her.
"I mean, the guys are planning something. That's the third time Jeremy's told us that the movie is really scary."
"Even Shin-woo said, during dinner, that it was a good horror movie," Ha-neul observed as she emptied a bag of butterscotch candies in a bowl. "I think they're trying to make us nervous. But why?"
"They're probably expecting us to hold on to them during the scary parts," Su-jin said. "Isn't that why guys take girls to scary movies?"
"I don't know," Ha-neul replied as Mi-nyeo giggled. "I always said no when they invited me to watch horror movies."
"Well, trust me, that's most probably what they have in mind." She arched an eyebrow at her friends and ripped open another bag of candy. "The question is, are we going to let them get away with it?"
Ha-neul blushed and, for a while, Su-jin was afraid that she would just say yes. Her friend was crazy about Shin-woo, after all. However, to her relief, she grinned mischievously. "Maybe not right away?"
"Right," Su-jin agreed. "So here's what we'll do...."
Noisily opening bags and rattling candies into bowls to drown out their whispers, the girls quickly worked out a game plan. They were just finishing up when Tae-kyung called out to them from the living room. "Hey! The movie's starting!"
"What was taking you girls so long?" Mi-nam laughed as Su-jin and the others joined A.N.JELL in the living room.
"We were just making sure that everyone got enough candy," his sister told him as she handed him a bowl.
He looked at it and at the others that the girls carried. "This is a lot more than you guys have."
"That means you're going to be the most popular guy in the room later," Su-jin teased.
Naturally, that made Jeremy scowl and grab a handful of candy from Mi-nam's bowl. "Then I'm taking this right now."
Su-jin hid a smile as she dumped her stuffed dog and the bowl of candy in the redheaded boy's lap and sat down on the floor beside him. Jeremy refused to listen to her repeated explanations that Mi-nam was just a friend. It had aggravated her at first, but then she eventually decided to give up and enjoy having a guy act jealous over her. It was actually kind of sweet how he bit into the fake every time.
"Is everyone comfortable?" Shin-woo asked. When everyone assured him that they were, he shut off the lights and made his way to Ha-neul's side by the light of the wide-screen TV.
Su-jin felt Jeremy move closer to her not long after the movie began, making her even more confident that she was right about the boys' motives for showing a horror movie. (Having him so close also made it a little more difficult to concentrate on what they were watching, but of course she wasn't going to say so.)
To be fair, Jeremy and Shin-woo had been right when they said the movie was very scary. It wasn't just the realistic special effects, but also the chilling storyline and the way the suspense built up. Su-jin was very tempted to scream in several instances, but held herself back, knowing she had to choose just the right moment.
It came when everyone clearly thought the ghost was about to show herself. All around her, everyone, including Jeremy, was clasping their hands, breathing shallowly and trying not to be the first to scream in fright.
When the ghost appeared on-screen, Su-jin squealed and, right on cue, all the girls grabbed on to Mi-nam.
"That was a dirty trick," Shin-woo told Ha-neul later that evening.
"Whose idea was it to watch a scary movie in the first place?" she countered.
"Mi-nam's, actually."
She laughed, her breath forming puffs of mist that hung in the cold night air. "Then it worked out just fine... for him, anyway."
They were sitting, bundled in their coats, on the front deck of the A.N.JELL mansion. Jolie was with them, her head currently on Shin-woo's knee. After the movie, some of the boys had suggested a game of basketball to work off the sugar from the candy, but Mi-nyeo and Tae-kyung chose to watch another (non-scary) movie and Ha-neul wasn't wearing athletic shoes, so Jeremy and Su-jin ended up playing one-on-one with Mi-nam serving as referee.
From the back of the house, they heard a whistle blow and the sound of Jeremy's voice. "Sounds like the referee is showing his bias again," Shin-woo observed.
"Su-jin probably elbowed Jeremy for getting too close but Mi-nam gave him the foul," Ha-neul chuckled. "It's cruel how those two are ganging up on poor Jeremy."
"Speaking of cruel," he teased, remembering the first time they had played basketball against each other, "I thought you were the only person who elbowed guys who got too close."
"Of course not!" she scoffed. "I learned it all from her."
Jolie whined, begging for someone to pat her, and they reached down at the same time to oblige her. Shin-woo caught Ha-neul's hand when their fingers brushed; she blushed, but made no move to withdraw. It was nice to hold hands with her boyfriend when they were normally so cautious about showing affection in public. Besides, her fingers were getting rather cold.
"It was... very nice of you to introduce me to Reporter Park as your girlfriend," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. "You didn't have to do that, but I really appreciate it."
"She knew I had a girlfriend already, anyway."
"You didn't have to tell her it was me."
"She probably would have guessed, since you were there, so I supposed that I might as well tell her the truth." Shin-woo ran his thumb over the silver ring that said "Love" on her finger. The matching one hung from a chain around his neck. "Besides, it was nice to actually tell someone."
"It was, but really, don't feel pressured to do that. You know I don't mind keeping our relationship a secret." She smiled up at him as Jolie moved her head to her knee in search of more pats. "The important thing is that it's our secret."
From the living room, they heard Mi-nyeo and Tae-kyung laughing. "I guess they're watching a funny movie," Shin-woo remarked.
"Mmm." Ha-neul raised her head off his shoulder, leaving him feeling oddly bereft. "You used to like Mi-nyeo, didn't you?" she asked him then.
He considered saying no and sparing his girlfriend's feelings, but since she didn't sound angry, jealous or even worried - not that she had a reason to be any of those things - he supposed that he could afford to be honest. "I did, once," he admitted. "But I let her go when it was obvious that Tae-kyung was the one she loved."
"I see," she said quietly. "I kind of got a feeling that you liked her when she first came back from Africa." She traced a heart on Jolie's head with her finger, then scratched the dog's ears. "Do you... do you still care about her?"
"Purely as a friend," he assured her. "I got over it even before she returned. You see, this crazy person elbowed me in the stomach and knocked all those old feelings clean out of my body."
She made a face. "Did you have to bring that up?"
"Of course. It's true, after all." Shin-woo grinned and, to ease the brunt of his teasing, leaned over and kissed her. "Does that make you feel better?"
"I don't know...." Ha-neul looked thoughtfully up at the velvety black sky, and then giggled. "I think you need to kiss me again so I can make sure."
It wasn't a wild party by any standard, and it didn't even end too late because Su-jin and Mi-nyeo had to work the next day, but the boys of A.N.JELL wound up sleeping well into the morning, unanimously deciding to use their rare day off to get some well-deserved rest.
They were all sleeping so soundly that no one heard the doorbell ringing. It was only when Jolie began to bark that Jeremy, whose room was situated near the front of the house, was finally roused.
Grumbling, he dragged himself out of bed and, not even bothering to smooth his sleep-rumpled hair or throw on a bathrobe over his dinosaur pajamas, stumbled down the stairs and to the front door. He yanked it open and looked, bleary-eyed, at the people standing on the doorstep.
His jaw dropped when the guests gradually came into focus. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, but they didn't go away.
Finally, Jeremy croaked, "Dad?"
James Maitland, Lord Thirlestane and Boulton, stood at the door, with his hand-tailored coat on his arm and his wife, the former fashion model Ryu Hea-jung, at his side.
"Hello, Jeremy," Lord Maitland replied.
Chapter 1: Here's to the Night
Chapter 2: Maneater
Chapter 3: Know Your Enemy
Chapter 4: I Just Wanna Live
Chapter 5: Shark in the Water
Chapter 6: Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk
Chapter 7: Smooth Operator
Chapter 8: Gives You Hell
Chapter 9: Won't Get Fooled Again
Disclaimer: The A.N.JELL-verse belongs to the Hong sisters, creators of You're Beautiful.
Author's Notes: Thanks, as always, to akaironoyoru and lilivanilla1 for reviewing! :)
Chapter Ten - Science Fiction Double Feature (from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show")
That Sunday was Halloween. Since A.N.JELL had the next day off, they could have taken the opportunity to go out in public totally incognito, because on this night, chances were everyone would be in costume, but the boys were tired of going out and decided to celebrate with a small party, just them and the girls, at their house.
At least, that was what they were going to do once their guests actually arrived. "Where in the world are they?" Tae-kyung wondered. His satin-lined cape, the crowning touch of his vampire costume, swung dramatically from his shoulders as he paced. "They should be here by now."
"Ha-neul said it took them a little longer to get ready than they thought," Shin-woo reminded him. He was dressed as a punk rocker in shredded jeans, chains and leather.
"I don't see why the girls had to get Mi-nyeo from the convent and then go back to her place to dress up. They could have done it here."
"What, they're not here yet?" Jeremy demanded as he and Mi-nam entered the living room. Perhaps in a nod to his British ancestry, the drummer was wearing Hogwarts school robes, while Mi-nam was dressed as Superman (complete with, as Jeremy pointed out with relish, fake muscles).
"No," Tae-kyung grumbled. "If they're not here in half an hour, I'm changing out of this getup."
Mi-nam laughed briefly. "You think your costume is bad, brother-in-law? Try wearing your underpants on top of your clothes."
Just then, there was a knock on the door. The boys hastened to answer it, and opened the door to a trio of female voices shouting, "Trick or treat!"
The original three members of A.N.JELL blinked. It was almost like looking into a mirror.
It took them a while to realize that Mi-nyeo, Ha-neul and Su-jin had arrived, and that each girl was dressed up as her boyfriend (or, in Su-jin's case, semi-boyfriend). Mi-nyeo, with her hair slicked down over one eye, wore a dark tailored suit and a scowl. Su-jin wore an orange wig, shorts and what seemed to be one of Ha-neul's more colorful hoodies, because she was swimming in it, and carried a stuffed toy dog. Ha-neul had put up her long hair, donned jeans and a sweater in imitation of Shin-woo's more casual outfits, and slung a guitar-shaped bag over one shoulder.
"We're not coming in until you give us candy," Su-jin announced, and her partners in crime giggled.
"There's plenty in the kitchen," Mi-nam replied, grinning. "You'll have to come in and get it."
The temporarily redheaded girl arched an eyebrow, which disappeared under her fake bangs. "That's not how trick-or-treating is supposed to work."
"Well, we weren't expecting any trick-or-treaters tonight, especially ones as cute as the three of you."
Jeremy scowled. "Stop flirting with my girlfriend, Mi-nam, or I'll make you disappear!" He threateningly brandished the wand that had come with his costume. "Or at least poke you with this thing."
"Superman won't feel a thing if you did," Mi-nam boasted, striking a heroic pose.
"Oh, right," the drummer snickered, prodding Mi-nam's fake abs. "You have lots of padding."
Tae-kyung rolled his eyes. "I'd threaten to bite the two of you if it wasn't so unsanitary."
Only Shin-woo remembered his manners enough to play host. "Why don't you girls come in?" he invited. It was cold that night and the girls, who were carrying their coats instead of wearing them, were probably starting to feel it.
"Thanks," Ha-neul replied as they trooped inside.
The guitarist grinned at his girlfriend as he looked over her costume. "I make a good-looking girl," he chuckled.
"You would if you had my face," she bantered back.
Mi-nam went around collecting coats while the girls changed their shoes. His sister gave him an impish grin as he took hers. "Since we look alike," Mi-nyeo said, "we decided that I'm dressed up as you dressed up as Tae-kyung oppa."
He grinned. "That works."
For some reason, he found himself thinking about Oh-lan. He couldn't imagine the writer agreeing to dress up as him for Halloween, but she might have come in costume anyway. Since she was so small, perhaps she would have come dressed as a fairy. A fairy all in black, with bulky combat boots, raggedy bat's wings and maybe - since it was Halloween - red, red lipstick.
A sabertooth fairy.
Mi-nam chuckled and wondered what she was doing at that very moment.
The answer, of course, was writing. While most of the young people of Seoul were disporting themselves in colorful costumes at clubs and parties, Oh-lan was in her apartment, working on her book. At least, she was trying to work on it, but there were just too many distractions.
First of all, it was cold. She hadn't yet turned on the heat to save money, and even though Genghis sometimes served as a furry portable heater, he was in a prowly mood that night and refused to stay still long enough to help keep his mistress warm.
Second, Oh-lan was hungry. Except for a hurried breakfast and lunch, she had tried to work for most of the day until the rumbling in her stomach became too loud to ignore. Naturally, when he saw her throwing together a hasty bowl of bibimbap, Genghis decided that he had to eat, too.
Finally, her mind just kept wandering. Despite her best efforts to clear her mind, all she could think about was the foundation event earlier that week and the dinner that followed. It had been pleasant meeting Go Mi-nyeo and the other A.N.JELL girlfriends. She wasn't sure whether Su-jin had truly meant it when she said that Oh-lan was their friend, but it had been nice to hear it and feel accepted by them, even for just a while.
A.N.JELL seemed to have more or less fully accepted her, too, Oh-lan thought as she and Genghis silently ate their dinner. There had still been some awkwardness during dinner, but at least they seemed comfortable enough to trust her with more of their secrets. She hoped that the cover story she had fed Soon-ok showed them that she was worthy of that trust.
Thinking about Soon-ok led her to think about Mi-nam and the things he had said. She tried to remind herself that he was a rat, but couldn't help smiling at how he had spoken so highly of her to Soon-ok, and at his unrepentant grin when he found out about the reporters' professional rivalry.
Oh-lan laughed briefly. All right, Mi-nam was still a lying, irresponsible rat, but that night, he had definitely been useful.
After a pleasant dinner, A.N.JELL announced that dessert would be served in the living room during the next part of the evening's program, a horror movie. "I heard it was the scariest one ever made," Jeremy told the girls as he loaded a tray with drinks, "like, there's an official record and everything. But don't worry!" he assured them cheerfully. "We'll be there to protect you!"
"Something's up," Su-jin muttered when he was gone, leaving the girls alone in the kitchen to put the candy that was their dessert into bowls.
"What do you mean, unni?" Mi-nyeo asked her.
"I mean, the guys are planning something. That's the third time Jeremy's told us that the movie is really scary."
"Even Shin-woo said, during dinner, that it was a good horror movie," Ha-neul observed as she emptied a bag of butterscotch candies in a bowl. "I think they're trying to make us nervous. But why?"
"They're probably expecting us to hold on to them during the scary parts," Su-jin said. "Isn't that why guys take girls to scary movies?"
"I don't know," Ha-neul replied as Mi-nyeo giggled. "I always said no when they invited me to watch horror movies."
"Well, trust me, that's most probably what they have in mind." She arched an eyebrow at her friends and ripped open another bag of candy. "The question is, are we going to let them get away with it?"
Ha-neul blushed and, for a while, Su-jin was afraid that she would just say yes. Her friend was crazy about Shin-woo, after all. However, to her relief, she grinned mischievously. "Maybe not right away?"
"Right," Su-jin agreed. "So here's what we'll do...."
Noisily opening bags and rattling candies into bowls to drown out their whispers, the girls quickly worked out a game plan. They were just finishing up when Tae-kyung called out to them from the living room. "Hey! The movie's starting!"
"What was taking you girls so long?" Mi-nam laughed as Su-jin and the others joined A.N.JELL in the living room.
"We were just making sure that everyone got enough candy," his sister told him as she handed him a bowl.
He looked at it and at the others that the girls carried. "This is a lot more than you guys have."
"That means you're going to be the most popular guy in the room later," Su-jin teased.
Naturally, that made Jeremy scowl and grab a handful of candy from Mi-nam's bowl. "Then I'm taking this right now."
Su-jin hid a smile as she dumped her stuffed dog and the bowl of candy in the redheaded boy's lap and sat down on the floor beside him. Jeremy refused to listen to her repeated explanations that Mi-nam was just a friend. It had aggravated her at first, but then she eventually decided to give up and enjoy having a guy act jealous over her. It was actually kind of sweet how he bit into the fake every time.
"Is everyone comfortable?" Shin-woo asked. When everyone assured him that they were, he shut off the lights and made his way to Ha-neul's side by the light of the wide-screen TV.
Su-jin felt Jeremy move closer to her not long after the movie began, making her even more confident that she was right about the boys' motives for showing a horror movie. (Having him so close also made it a little more difficult to concentrate on what they were watching, but of course she wasn't going to say so.)
To be fair, Jeremy and Shin-woo had been right when they said the movie was very scary. It wasn't just the realistic special effects, but also the chilling storyline and the way the suspense built up. Su-jin was very tempted to scream in several instances, but held herself back, knowing she had to choose just the right moment.
It came when everyone clearly thought the ghost was about to show herself. All around her, everyone, including Jeremy, was clasping their hands, breathing shallowly and trying not to be the first to scream in fright.
When the ghost appeared on-screen, Su-jin squealed and, right on cue, all the girls grabbed on to Mi-nam.
"That was a dirty trick," Shin-woo told Ha-neul later that evening.
"Whose idea was it to watch a scary movie in the first place?" she countered.
"Mi-nam's, actually."
She laughed, her breath forming puffs of mist that hung in the cold night air. "Then it worked out just fine... for him, anyway."
They were sitting, bundled in their coats, on the front deck of the A.N.JELL mansion. Jolie was with them, her head currently on Shin-woo's knee. After the movie, some of the boys had suggested a game of basketball to work off the sugar from the candy, but Mi-nyeo and Tae-kyung chose to watch another (non-scary) movie and Ha-neul wasn't wearing athletic shoes, so Jeremy and Su-jin ended up playing one-on-one with Mi-nam serving as referee.
From the back of the house, they heard a whistle blow and the sound of Jeremy's voice. "Sounds like the referee is showing his bias again," Shin-woo observed.
"Su-jin probably elbowed Jeremy for getting too close but Mi-nam gave him the foul," Ha-neul chuckled. "It's cruel how those two are ganging up on poor Jeremy."
"Speaking of cruel," he teased, remembering the first time they had played basketball against each other, "I thought you were the only person who elbowed guys who got too close."
"Of course not!" she scoffed. "I learned it all from her."
Jolie whined, begging for someone to pat her, and they reached down at the same time to oblige her. Shin-woo caught Ha-neul's hand when their fingers brushed; she blushed, but made no move to withdraw. It was nice to hold hands with her boyfriend when they were normally so cautious about showing affection in public. Besides, her fingers were getting rather cold.
"It was... very nice of you to introduce me to Reporter Park as your girlfriend," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. "You didn't have to do that, but I really appreciate it."
"She knew I had a girlfriend already, anyway."
"You didn't have to tell her it was me."
"She probably would have guessed, since you were there, so I supposed that I might as well tell her the truth." Shin-woo ran his thumb over the silver ring that said "Love" on her finger. The matching one hung from a chain around his neck. "Besides, it was nice to actually tell someone."
"It was, but really, don't feel pressured to do that. You know I don't mind keeping our relationship a secret." She smiled up at him as Jolie moved her head to her knee in search of more pats. "The important thing is that it's our secret."
From the living room, they heard Mi-nyeo and Tae-kyung laughing. "I guess they're watching a funny movie," Shin-woo remarked.
"Mmm." Ha-neul raised her head off his shoulder, leaving him feeling oddly bereft. "You used to like Mi-nyeo, didn't you?" she asked him then.
He considered saying no and sparing his girlfriend's feelings, but since she didn't sound angry, jealous or even worried - not that she had a reason to be any of those things - he supposed that he could afford to be honest. "I did, once," he admitted. "But I let her go when it was obvious that Tae-kyung was the one she loved."
"I see," she said quietly. "I kind of got a feeling that you liked her when she first came back from Africa." She traced a heart on Jolie's head with her finger, then scratched the dog's ears. "Do you... do you still care about her?"
"Purely as a friend," he assured her. "I got over it even before she returned. You see, this crazy person elbowed me in the stomach and knocked all those old feelings clean out of my body."
She made a face. "Did you have to bring that up?"
"Of course. It's true, after all." Shin-woo grinned and, to ease the brunt of his teasing, leaned over and kissed her. "Does that make you feel better?"
"I don't know...." Ha-neul looked thoughtfully up at the velvety black sky, and then giggled. "I think you need to kiss me again so I can make sure."
It wasn't a wild party by any standard, and it didn't even end too late because Su-jin and Mi-nyeo had to work the next day, but the boys of A.N.JELL wound up sleeping well into the morning, unanimously deciding to use their rare day off to get some well-deserved rest.
They were all sleeping so soundly that no one heard the doorbell ringing. It was only when Jolie began to bark that Jeremy, whose room was situated near the front of the house, was finally roused.
Grumbling, he dragged himself out of bed and, not even bothering to smooth his sleep-rumpled hair or throw on a bathrobe over his dinosaur pajamas, stumbled down the stairs and to the front door. He yanked it open and looked, bleary-eyed, at the people standing on the doorstep.
His jaw dropped when the guests gradually came into focus. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, but they didn't go away.
Finally, Jeremy croaked, "Dad?"
James Maitland, Lord Thirlestane and Boulton, stood at the door, with his hand-tailored coat on his arm and his wife, the former fashion model Ryu Hea-jung, at his side.
"Hello, Jeremy," Lord Maitland replied.