Full Circle Chp 4
The next day Isabelle was laying on the floor in Mr. Park's office in a pair of beat-up capris and a loose t-shirt, surrounded by mountains of paperwork. Mr. Park had kindly offered to help her with any contract papers for Jun Ki's work, making her task a bit less intimidating. After a while Isabelle stretched and looked at the clock. It was almost noon. She'd been working for hours, and she was getting hungry.
"I'm feelin' lunch. How about you?" She asked. Mr. Park looked up from one of his contracts, glanced at the clock, then nodded. They picked up most of their mess and were about to leave the someone knocked on the door, and Kim Jaejoong poked his head inside the door.
"Oh, are you leaving?" he asked. He really needed to talk to Mr. Park about an upcoming drama he was supposed to be starring in.
Mr. Park glanced at Isabelle. It would be rude not to invite Jaejoong to go to lunch with them, but he didn't know if Isabelle would want to be in such a social setting with a man she didn't know so soon after losing her husband. Luckily for him he didn't have to worry about it much before a solution came.
"I can't stand being stuck with all these papers any longer, so we're heading out to get lunch. You wanna come with?" She asked. He nodded. Lunch sounded really good right about then. Ten minutes later they were at a nice little restaurant just a few blocks away from the offices. If it weren't for the two men she was conversing with, Isabelle would have felt very out of place due to what she was wearing. Ordinarily she wouldn't have even been noticed, but today her comfort clothes were a stark contrast to the business suits and nice skirts that filled the restaurant. Her bright rainbow-striped knee-socks were especially noticable. Her dining companions both laughed when she pointed this fact out. Eventually, the conversation turned from small talk to business. Jaejoong needed to learn some english for a new drama, and his band was going to need a translator for a few talk shows they were going to be on in different countries. TVXQ was one of the most popular bands on the continent, and now they were going to start promoting in Europe and America.
"Have you found anyone who could do it?" he asked. Mr. Park shook his head. He'd been so busy the last few days that he hadn't had time to even begin looking for someone. Beside him, Isabelle looked up from her lunch.
"Which languages would you need? She asked. She hadn't really worked much after Chin Ho was born. Jun Ki made plenty of money on his own, and she decided would much rather be at home with her son than out working when she didn't need to. But now she was on her own, and she'd need a job eventually. Now a perfect opportunity had presented itself; she'd be a fool to let it pass without any questions.
"Well, we'll need someone who can translate between Korean and English, and we'll be going between America, Great Britain, Germany, France, and a few other countries as well. Why? Do you know someone?" Jaejoong inquired. Isabelle laughed.
"In this case, I am someone." she told him in perfect English. Reverting back to Korean, she continued, "I was pretty much raised in America, so I speak fluent English, and my brother has lived in Germany since he was seventeen, so we speak a lot of German as well. And if you're going to be in France, my brother knows a guy there who speaks German, so he and I can translate together." She finished. Jaejoong blinked at her a few times before he turned and directed a grin at Mr. Park.
"Well, sounds like you're hired Stair Girl. Two problems solved, what are you going to fix now?" he said, referring to their encounter from a few days before. Mr. Park gave them both a confused look, so Isabelle and Jaejoong filled him in on the joke. They chatted for a little while longer before Mr. Park glanced at his watch and announced that he had to leave for a meeting. He asked Isabelle if she would need a ride back to the office, but she declined, telling him to go ahead and leave. It was only a few blocks away, and it was nice enough outside for a walk, so Mr. Park reluctantly left while the other two stayed behind. Turning her attention back to her salad, Isabelle almost didn't hear Jaejoong when he spoke.
"So, Stair Girl, you got a name?" he asked.She looked up from her lunch again with her eyebrows raised as if to say 'what?'. "Well, I guess I could just keep calling you Stair Girl, but that doesn't sound very professional, does it?" he said with a grin. Isabelle threw a crouton at him in retaliation.
"No, it really doesn't. You, Kim Jaejoong, will just have to call me Isabelle instead." She told him through a mouthfull of lettuce. Jaejoong chuckled at her lack of proper table manners, causing Isabelle to glare at him.
"How about a last name?" he pressed.
"Lee."
Jaejoong turned the name over in his mind. He knew he had heard the name Lee Isabelle before, he just couldn't remember where. She wasn't a singer, he knew that. If she were, he'd have met her before now. Maybe she was an actress or something.....
"Hey, didn't you say you were married?" he asked. Isabelle froze at his question. She'd been trying so hard not to think about the fact that she was now a 24 year old widow, and up till now she'd been doing a pretty good job focusing on other things.
"Yes, I was....not like it matters though." She said quietly. Jaejoong mentally kicked himself at he remembered what she had told him when they first ran into each other. Her husband was dead. Reaching across the table, Jaejoong took Isabelle's hand in a comforting gesture. She looked up at him, surprised.
"I'm sorry," he started, "I shouldn't have brought that up. It was very stupid of me."
Isabelle sighed. "No, it's alright. I'm not going to be able to avoid this forever. People are going to ask questions, and I have to give them answers eventually. I know Jun Ki would say the same thing if something had happened to me."
Jaejoong's head snapped up. Now he remembered how he knew that name! Seeing the shocked look on his face, Isabelle waved her hand in front of his eyes. 'What is wrong with this guy today?' she thought to herself.
"I know you!" he exclaimed, startling her. "Well, I mean, I didn't really know you, but I knew your husband! That's why your name seemed so familiar to me. I worked on a commercial with Jun Ki about three years ago, right?" Isabelle nodded. "If I remember right, it was about the same time your boy started talking. He was so excited, he just couldn't stop talking about it. Drove the producers and the camera guys up the wall. It was like every time he opened his mouth he was talking about the two of you. I've never seen a guy so head-over-heels in love; especially not at his age." Jaejoong laughed at the memory.
"I remember that! Chin Ho said his first word that week! Jun Ki had just walked out the door maybe 20 minutes before it happened. I was in the kitchen making him breakfast, then I hear this sound coming from the other room. I walked in and he was sitting on the floor holding a picture of him with my brother in his hands, saying 'Freude' over and over." Isabelle laughed. Jaejoong chuckled at the mental images the story produced. Having several older sisters, Jaejoong had an impressive collection of nieces and nephews that he loved to death, and he genuinely loved children, so the story made as much sense to him as it did to Isabelle.
"I remember Jun Ki running all over the place yelling 'Freude' too." he told her, "I couldn't stop laughing the whole time! What does 'Freude' mean anyway?"
The question brought memories of their time with her brother to Isabelle's mind, sending her into a fresh wave of giggles.
"Freude means Sunshine, It's a german word. It's also the name of my brother's pet boa constrictor!" She told him between her laughter, "We went to visit my brother earlier that year, and for Freude and Chin Ho, it was love at first sight. The whole two weeks we were there you wouldn't find one without the other. Ever since we came back, Chin Ho has just LOVED snakes." The pair laughed. Feeling happier than she had in days, Isabelle finished her lunch with her new friend, then accepted his offer to give her a ride back to the office. This day was turning out to be much better than she expected.
blah, this chapter did NOT want to be written.