Part 2 of 4

Thanks for the comments, ellasam and bunnykaye. ellasam, I certainly wasn't trying to imply that Jin Hun didn't like kids but that Sam Soon had baby fever... I'll attribute that to bad writing on my part.

Now on to Part 2...

After having breakfast in Koreatown with Henry and Hee Jin, Jin Hun and Sam Soon decided to take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

“What?” Jin Hun asked as he noticed a somewhat pleased expression on her face. Even though they were in a large crowd of fellow tourists, they’d managed to find a nice spot overlooking the water. Sam Soon was leaning against the barrier while Jin Hun was behind her with his arms placed protectively around her.

“I thought I was going to be sick but I’m feeling pretty okay,” she said more to herself than him.

His brows furrowed in worry. “Why would you be sick?” He placed his hand on her forehead to feel her temperature.

She slapped it off her face and said, “That’s not it.”

“Then what?”

She glanced at him and said, “Oh, you know… sea sickness and all that. But,” she continued, inhaling the sea air, “I’m pretty okay.” She nodded satisfactorily, “I kinda like this.”

He looked down at the water. “Yeah, it’s pretty great. We should go sailing sometime.”

Sam Soon laughed. “Sailing? Or you mean you want to go on a cruise?”

“No. I mean, sailing,” he said, holding her tighter as he put his chin on her shoulder.

She turned to look at him. “Like you’ll get a boat and sail it yourself?”

“Yes.”

“And do you know how to sail?”

“I can learn… or better still, we can learn together.”

She laughed. “I probably won’t have time for that.”

“Why not? Every weekend, we can take classes together.”

She chuckled sarcastically. “Yeah, right. If you want to learn to sail, do it by yourself.”

“Alright. Whenever I suggest something you don’t want to do it then later on you’ll be complaining that I spend too much time at the hotel.”

She laughed and patted his face apologetically. “Okay, Honey. You learn to sail and I’ll come with you… but you’ll be bringing a sailor or someone like that along, right?”

He shook his head. “Why would I do that?"

She shrugged exaggeratedly.

"What are you saying? You don’t trust me?”

“I trust you, but just you and me sailing together? That’s how we’d get lost and it’ll be the Island of Dr. Moreau all over again.”


***

When they got to the bottom level of the Statue of Liberty, Sam Soon noticed some people getting turned away. Jin Hun asked some people around them if they knew what was going on and was told that those tourists didn’t have their Time Passes.

Sam Soon tapped his hand. “Time Pass? Do you have one?”

“Yep,” he said, confidently.

“What are they?”

“Basically, you have to sign up ahead of time so they can do a background check and all other stuff.”

“Wow… how did you know to do that?” She pointed at some of the tourists that had been turned away. “Those people didn’t even know and I think they live here.”

“Exactly,” he said, nudging her to move along with the line. “Which is why you should always trust me.”

***


“Okay…" she started, shortly after admiring the view from the top of the Statue. "So this is what we have to do. Everywhere we go, since you decided you’re a photographer…”

Jin Hun groaned. “Gosh. Yes, at a point in my life, I was interested in photography. But do you have to keep talking about this all the time?”

Sam Soon giggled and then in mock seriousness, said, “Well, you’re pretty good. So don’t you think our holiday photos will benefit from your expertise?”

He rolled his eyes. “So you want me to take all the photographs?” She always tried to flatter him whenever she wanted him to do all the work.

“Well, here’s my idea,” she said excitedly. “We have to take a picture of us kissing at every major tourist spot we visit.”

“What?”

She smiled to herself. “When we are old, we can show the pictures to our grandkids and say, ‘Hey look! Grandpa and Grandma have fun before our teeth fell out and our hair went grey.'”

“And they need to see us kissing to know this? In fact, I don’t even want to show them pictures of us doing that,” he said, shuddering as he imagined looking at photographs of his grandparents kissing.

“Well I do. And I think it will make this trip special.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. “So the fact that we’re here together doesn’t make it special enough?” He studied her intently to gauge her reaction to the question.

She rolled her eyes. “Why are you trying to take it the wrong way? Let’s just do it, okay?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. When we get home, Mi Joo and Mom would want to look at the photographs and I really don’t want them seeing that.”

“We can always hide these ones.”

Jin Hun still wasn’t convinced. What was up with Sam Soon and wanting to do embarrassing things in public? “What about all the other people here,” he said, looking around them. “I really doubt that they want to see that.”

Sam Soon glared at him for a few moments before shrugging her shoulders then walking over to the only free binoculars on the deck. She put some coins in then bent over and looked through them.

Sensing that she was a little annoyed, Jin Hun walked over and stood beside her. “Wow, look at the view! What do you think? Doesn’t it look pretty great from over here? The water looks so fresh and clean.” He turned to her and waited for a response. When no sound came from her end, he continued. “Isn’t it funny how when we were over there,” he said, pointing afar, “we were looking up here. But now that we’re here, we’re looking back there. It’s funny how we keep looking everywhere but where we are. I’m sure there’s a psychological explanation for this. Something about the grass always greener and all that.”

When she still didn’t respond, he nudged her and said, “Hey, I want to take a look too. Move over.”

Sam Soon stepped aside without saying a word. Then without looking at him, she walked over to another side of the deck.

About a minute later, while Sam Soon was wondering if her ploy was working, she felt him slide his arms around her from behind. She hid a smile but didn't move a muscle.

“Do you plan to be in this mood all day?” he whispered into her ear.

She showed her camera to him. “You know how to fix it.”

“So if I don’t agree to this you’re not going to stop?”

She sent him a pleading look. “Our grandchildren’s happiness is at stake here.”

Jin Hun shook his head. “Okay, how about this? I can kiss you on the cheek, that way I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable showing the pictures to the whole world.”

Sam Soon sighed. She could work with that. So it wasn’t going to be a scene out a romantic movie but it’ll work for the real world. “Okay. Here,” she said, handing him the camera, “put your skills to good use.”

Jin Hun disentangled from her so that they could find a good spot with Manhattan and the ocean behind them. Then when they were ready, similar to how they were earlier, he put one arm around her from behind so that her back was resting on his chest then he put his head right over her right shoulder so that their cheeks were almost touching. When he was satisfied with their pose, he stretched his other arm around them and took some test shots. After a few moments, he found a good angle and told her to get ready.

“Yes, I am ready. Goodness, this is taking forever… take the picture.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Just take it, okay? Remember we still have to go to the Empire State Building today.”

“So are you ready?”

“Ya!” she growled as she turned her face to him. Before she could notice the smile on his face, he quickly kissed her on the lips as he snapped their photo.