Devil on a Harley (2018) - Chapter 1
" Twice "
When she woke up with a start that eventful morning, Jessica Jung realised that she had grossly overslept-yet again, much to her dismay.
Drat. Trust Sooyoung not to wake me up when she should.
Absent-mindedly running fingers through her hair in a frenzied bid to tidy those blonde tresses, she made a beeline for the kitchen.
There, perched on a high stool at the counter, was her best friend and roommate, Sooyoung, blissfully tucking into her breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast.
"Yah, Choi Sooyoung. Why didn't you wake me up?" Jessica groused. Ravenous, she lifted a strip of bacon from her roommate's plate and stuffing it into her mouth, scarfed it down.
"Oh I did." Sooyoung insisted. "Only you were dead to the world."
Seeing her precious rasher being stolen from right under her very eye, Sooyoung lost no time in making a stabbing motion with her fork down towards Jessica's hand which had again reached for yet another sliver of the bacon that she had fried to crispy perfection. She missed, and that second piece again disappeared into the blonde's mouth.
"Hehe...missed." Jessica smirked as she next attempted to hijack Sooyoung's toast.
"I swear that fork's not going to miss the next time," Sooyoung hissed as she wrested the piece of toast out of Jessica's grasp. "Get your own, lazybones."
"Ouch. You would be so petty as to deny your best friend a measly square of burnt bread?"
"I so would." Sooyoung didn't even need to think twice, and tapping her watch, reminded, "I think someone's running late for work?"
"Yikes. That would be me."
Jessica snatched up her bag and was out of the apartment in a flash, slamming the door behind her.
*
8:30 am downtown Seoul, and Jessica was caught in the capital city's peak hour bumper-to-bumper traffic snarl.
Held up inside her black and white Mini Cooper, Jessica switched on the stereo and the weatherman came on:
"Don't leave home without those brollies, folks, as rain is forecast for this morning..."
And large raindrops began to pelt down on the windscreen.
"Great. Just what I need. Stuck in traffic, and now, rain," she muttered, shutting off the stereo.
As her car crawled forward, a cyclist sailed past her, then turned into a side lane.
Ding. ( That would be a 100 watt bulb lighting up in Jessica's head.)
What if I turn into that side lane over there like that cyclist, then turn this way, round that way, up the hill, down the hill, coming out the other way, and TA-DA...easy-breezy bypassing everything?
Congratulating herself on that brainwave, Jessica immediately put her brilliant notion into action, turning her car into that lane.
100m down, she manoeuvred her Mini this way, round that way, up the hill, and down the hill. But just as she had come out the other way, an orange and black Harley Davidson Sportster sped out of nowhere, almost colliding into her car. It most certainly would've hit her had the rider not swerved in the nick of time, hence, narrowly avoiding a fatal collision.
WHAT THE DEVIL?
Shocked out of her wits, Jessica hit on the brakes and the car screeched to a halt. Several meters away, said rider of the Harley had also stopped, got off his bike, and was then striding-more like swaggering-towards her. She was no expert at reading body language but at that very moment, expertise in that field was not needed to sense that the biker was anything but amused.
And the rain was coming down twice as hard.
Oh no...dude looks livid.
If there was one thing Jessica could do without, it would be an ugly confrontation. Besides, whose fault was it? She hated to think that it was due to her errant driving, but had to admit that she was at fault for not stopping to look out for traffic that had the right of way.
Stay calm, girl. Whatever it is, do not, I repeat, do not admit that you're at fault.
Knocking on her car window, the biker signalled for her to roll it down. Apprehensively, Jessica complied. She could hardly make out his face because of his dark helmet visor. He then pushed up the piece of tinted fiberglass contraption, but fat lot of good it did because his face was still not fully visible. Of course, it also didn't help matters that it was pouring.
But Jessica found herself gazing into a pair of intense dark eyes.
And the owner of those eyes spoke:
"Miss, that was some dangerous stunt you pulled there. If I hadn't swerved in the nick of time, bam, I would've hit you and gone flying God- knows-where, and I'll have you know I'm not ready to meet my maker just yet. Damn it. Do you know the traffic regulations at all?" Mr. Intense Dark Eyes sounded muffled, his speech being hindered by the lower half of that full face helmet covering his mouth, but it was a husky voice with a cold tone to it. And he was gazing back at Jessica most...intensely.
"B-but... you came out of nowhere..." Jessica stammered, "a-and you were going way too fast for a narrow side lane."
"That's besides the point. Point is, I had right of way. Shouldn't an apology be in order, you think?" Brushing away raindrops from his eyes and nose, the biker made no attempt at masking his annoyance. Despite the less than pleasant situation she was presently caught in, Jessica couldn't help noticing that he cut quite a dashing figure in his biker's ensemble of black leather jacket, pants and boots, even though they were wet from the rain. She observed that he had rather girlish features and, as much as she hated admitting to it, she was actually ogling.
Those lashes....wouldn't I kill for them?
"Fine, whatever you say 'cause I haven't the time of day to argue with you-I'm SORRY," Jessica spat. Whatever happened to 'don't admit that you're at fault?'
"You could sound a little more sincere. Be more careful next time. Someone could get seriously hurt," the biker articulated.
And you could sound a little less sarcastic, you...you... rider from hell.
"I'll be sure to remember." Jessica had never felt more intimidated or humbled than at that moment where judgemental eyes were glaring back at her at twice the intensity. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm really rushing for time?"
Standing aside, the biker motioned for her to move off.
And as Jessica drove away, she caught sight of the biker in her rearview, mounting his Harley and riding off in the rain.
*
No sooner had Jessica sat down at her desk, images of the biker still looming somewhere darkly in the back of her mind, than her boss and Chief Editor of Trends & Fashion came bursting into her room.
"Ah, Jessica, at long last," Kim Taeyeon said, heaving her petite self onto Jessica's desk with much aplomb. "You know, we were just laying bets on how much later you were going to be?"
"Sorry, Chief. Got caught in traffic and, on top of that, I almost got into an accident." The blonde felt a rush of heat spreading over her face as she recalled her earlier encounter with the biker.
"Accident?" Taeyeon raised an eyebrow. "As in car accident?"
"As in car accident," Jessica echoed her boss. "This devil of a biker on a Harley Davidson sped out from nowhere and we nearly collided."
"Devil?"
"Uh-huh. Aforementioned devil was doing breakneck speed and yet had the flaming audacity to say that I was at fault, can you believe it?"
"Hmm...." Taeyeon was sceptical, having experienced first hand Jessica's erratic driving, thoughts bringing her back to the time she had hitched a ride. She took her glasses off and began cleaning them with the hem of her shirt. "Given your driving skills, I'm quite apt to believing that you were at fault."
"Aw, come on." Jessica protested. "I'm a pretty decent driver."
"I'd be insane to buy that." Taeyeon remained unconvinced. Finished with cleaning her glasses, she put them back on. "Anyway, let's talk shop. I need you to follow up on the photo shoot we did last week on our summer fashion spread."
"But that second-rate dick-ass photographer quit on us and left everything hanging."
"Yes, but only because you picked a fight with the man."
"And was it my bad that the fella's a first-class douche, the way he was carrying on with the models, flirting with them? Besides, didn't I tell you his work was sub-standard?"
Taeyeon flailed both hands in surrender. "All right, I get you. So, I found us another photographer." Then, clasping both hands tightly together, she pleaded, "Please, Jessica, don't pick a fight with this one? Be nice, yes?"
*
Located in a quiet neighbourhood just outside of Gangnam, Fotowerkz operated out of a smallish, double-storey white building with a blue tile roof.
Jessica drove into a gravel driveway with groves of willowy bamboo flanking both sides. Alighting from her Mini, she caught sight of an attractive girl standing in the doorway, waving at her.
"Hi there. You must be Jessica Jung from the magazine." Smiling, the girl took the visitor's hand in a cordial handshake. "Kim Hyoyeon, assistant photographer."
Jessica was then ushered into the building.
"My boss got held up somewhere but will be back real soon," Hyoyeon said.
Just then, a loud rumbling emanating from outside caught Jessica's attention. Through the French window, she saw a familiar looking orange and black motorcycle coming up the driveway, but what was actually more familiar was the person riding it.
Jessica's heart missed a beat.
Please, God, no...
"There's my boss now, " Hyoyeon announced, peering out the window.
As she saw the slim, leather-clad, helmet-bound figure sauntering in through the front door, Jessica's heart sank.
What kind of misfortune...this can't be happening to me. Meeting the Devil TWICE on the same day...really?
"Hey Boss, Jessica Jung from Trends and Fashion to see you," Hyoyeon said, and excusing herself, disappeared into a room.
And what Jessica saw next caused her to draw in her breath sharply. Watching as the biker tugged his helmet off in a rather dramatic manner, she gaped in astonishment, as long, wavy, dark hair came tumbling out in a swirl, cascading over his-correction-HER shoulders.
Holy frijoles...a SHE-DEVIL?
Jessica was momentarily caught off guard.
"I thought I recognised that Mini Cooper in my driveway. Coincidence, isn't it? Meeting like this twice in a day?" the She-Devil said in a low voice that sounded even more husky than when Jessica had initially heard her out there in the rain. "Kwon Yuri, in case you didn't catch it."
Out of courtesy, Jessica did the politically correct of extending her hand, only to have the She-Devil rebuffing it by waving it off. Fuming, humiliated, and with ego deflated somewhat, the blonde dropped it limply by her side.
All manners, aren't we? Well, it's not like I'm that keen on shaking hands with you, either.
Next, Jessica watched, captivated, as the She-Devil purposefully unzipped her jacket, shrugged out of it, and then tossed it aside with panache, revealing a white, figure-hugging racerback tank top that was a stark contrast on tanned shoulders, while showing off curves that screamed for attention.
Moments earlier in that side lane, all Jessica had seen were hypnotic dark eyes, fringed with long, thick lashes, but presently, with her helmet out of the way, Kwon Yuri's face had come into full view.
That face...it's on another level. She's out-of-this-world ravishing.
Completely floored by Kwon Yuri's good looks, eyes scoured for tell-tale signs of plastic surgery.
Negative. She's all natural and guess who's totes jealous?
"So, do I pass? You like?"
And with that, Jessica was pulled back down to where she was-yes, Earth, I'm back-with a jolt.
"I beg your pardon?"
"You were checking me out, and if you're quite done with the scrutinies, why don't I show you around my studio?"
Jessica blushed furiously. To think that she had been caught gawking.
"Apologies. It's just that I thought you were a guy and..." Words trailed off. Ugh. Lame. Lame. Lame.
"You must be disappointed then," Kwon Yuri mocked, alluring lips forming a lopsided smirk. "But if you would be so good as to come with me?"
Following the She-Devil down a narrow hallway towards the back, Jessica couldn't not stare at her back profile in silent appreciation. The white tank top showed off those shoulders to near perfection, torso tapering off in a V towards a trim waist, which in turn adjoined a tight, shapely derrière; down south, were a pair of legs Jessica wished she owned.
The fuck's wrong with you, Jessica? What's with this sudden, inexplicable fixation on this biker-girl creature from hell you hardly know, that you allow her to invade your thoughts like so, that all you can do is gawk at her ass and legs in utter perversion? Friggin' unacceptable. Come on, girl, you're ramrod straight. You like men. You most certainly are not THAT WAY inclined.
But at that very moment, fazed by her deviant behaviour, Jessica felt compelled to seriously question her sexual orientation.
*tbc
.
.
.
.
.