10

Sam Soon smoothed her skirt as she walked to the door. Marriage, she thought. As someone who’d just turned 35 and never been married, shouldn’t she be jumping at the prospect of finally tying the knot? And Tae Young really was a nice man so why was she hesitating?

She was still trying to gather her thoughts when she looked through the open door and saw Jin Hun standing on the other side of it.

She tried her best to not look surprised and plastered a smile on her face. “Hey, Sam – er, I mean, Jin Hun, come on in,” she said, gesturing for him to enter the house. “What are you doing out there? Come and join the party.” She chided herself for sounding unrealistically cheerful.

He frowned. “I didn’t come for a party, I came to see you. Why don’t you come out for a second?”

“Ehm….” Him and her alone? She needed to come up with a good excuse as soon as possible. She pointed at the living room. “I don’t want to leave my guests…”

“They’ll be fine. Please come?” he pleaded.

Sam Soon took a deep breath in and went to him. Other than one or two times after they’d broken up, she’d hardly seen him. Since they lived and worked in the same city, she’d expected to run into him from time to time but he seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. She’d even found excuses to walk by his hotel, telling herself that she wasn’t doing it to catch a glimpse of him and yet she never saw him. It had been difficult, but she fought the urge to call him just to make sure he was alright. But standing there, looking at her, he looked pretty damn good. His hair was a little shorter and his complexion looked healthy. His body even looked more toned. She didn’t know why but she was slightly upset that their break up had done such good things for his looks.

“So what do you want to talk about?” she asked, shutting the door behind her.

“You look good.”

She smiled. “Thanks,” she said, rubbing her hips self consciously. “I think I’ve gained a few kilos.”

“Well, that’s a good thing –you were getting too skinny.”

She looked around. “So what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Oh,” he said, handing an envelope to her, “I got you something for your birthday. Happy Birthday, Sam Soon.”

“You didn’t have to.”

He nodded. “Well, I’m so used to getting you something… it felt weird not to.”

She opened the envelope and pulled some cards out. She looked up to him. “Two tickets to Hong Kong?”

“Yeah, I thought of you while I was there – I think you can finally get to practice your English on real people.”

She didn’t know how to feel. “I really can’t accept this, Jin Hun…”

“What’s this ‘Jin Hun’ business? Just call me Sam Shik.”

“What?”

“It just sounds wrong coming from you.”

She laughed. “But isn’t that your name?”

“Not when I am with you.”

She looked away. Why was her mouth getting dry? He was no longer part of her life so he had no right to affect her in any way. “This is ridiculous. Your name--”

“Please?”

“Okay, SAM SHIK. Happy now?” She held the envelope out to him. “I can’t accept this – it’s too much.”

He didn’t move an inch. “You don’t want all your English classes to go to waste, do you? You can’t truly understand a language if you’re not around it. So just go with your Mom.”

She smiled uncertainly. “I might be going to America to see Tae Young’s parents. I can practice English over there.”

“Oh,” he mouthed.

“Yeah….”

The entire mood had turned awkward with both of them looking at everything but each other.

“So,” she continued. “You were in Hong Kong?”

He looked at her. “Yeah,” he said, nodding. “I kind of went on a tour of Asia.”

“Really? How was it?”

“It was great… good, you know… it was nice.” He shrugged.

“For how long?”

“About five months.”

“Cool. But that’s a long time. Your mother was fine with it?”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know – I just left. I probably don’t have a job anymore.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah,” he said, nodding.

“When did you get back?”

“Yesterday.”

Interesting, she thought. She looked back at her house. “I think they’ll be looking for me now. Do you want to come in? I’m sure my sister and Mom would like to see you.”

“There’s no need -I already spoke to Noonim. So… Lee Tae Young is here?”

She nodded.

“You’re now with him?”

She nodded again. “He’s been there for me, you know?”

“Okay. I better leave now,” he said, slowly turning around.

“Wait.” She held the envelope up. “I really can’t accept this.”

He looked at it. “I can’t take that back,” he said expressionlessly. “It’s yours. Please keep it. Or you can give it to your sister and her husband. Or Lee Tae Young. Do whatever you want with it but I can’t take it back.”

“Ji—Sam Shik….”

“Please?”

She nodded. “Okay. Thank you so much for the gift. Have a nice day and welcome back.”


***

“Want to come out?” Tae Young asked from the other end of the phone line.

Sam Soon repositioned herself on the swing. “My mother wants me to help her with the garden. How about another day?”

“You’re always so busy these days – I never get to see you.”

“I’m sorry,” was all that she muster. Tae Young was really a nice man but lately, it hadn’t been comfortable being with him. She’d told him that she would think about his proposal and he’d promised to give her all the time she needed to answer him but every time they were together, that question seemed to hang over their heads. He wasn’t saying or doing anything but she couldn’t help but feel the pressure. Damn, she thought, why do these things always have to be so difficult?

“You said you are gardening, right?”

“Yes.”

“So you might need a man around. Why don’t I come over and help?”

“Why don’t I ask my Mom first?” She hated lying to him but she knew she’d be calling him back in a few minutes to say her mother refused his help.

“There’s no need to ask her –don’t you know that she loves me?” He chuckled.

That wasn’t exactly true but she didn’t mind playing along. “We--” The doorbell rang, interrupting her. “Hold on – let me see who’s at the door.”

She walked to the gate and looked through the peephole. “Hey, I’ll call you back,” she said, hanging up.

She took a deep breath in and opened the gate. “Good Afternoon, President Na.”