Linger - Part 3
A/N 1: I'm foraying into unfamiliar territory, but how about some TaengSic? And just so you know, the text in blue italics are flashbacks.
Part 3
"OWWW!"
OH MY GOD....
Hearing Yuri howl out in pain, Jessica looked down in dismay to find the girl's right hand caught in between screen and keyboard; her own two hands were on top of the laptop, clamping down hard on Yuri's hand. So horrified was she, the instant she saw that wallpaper stretched out vibrantly across the screen, that she had, out of reflex, hastily slammed down the cover, and in her mad rush to conceal her embarrassment, had failed to notice Yuri's hand hovering about the touch pad.
Needless to say, it wasn't the usual insipid, generic picture provided by Microsoft for use as wallpaper, but that particularly saucy one where they were in bed, milky shoulders bared, with Taeyeon's lips on her neck, both of them looking into the camera with that glazed look of lust....
Damn! When....?
"Unnieee! My haaand!"
Another urgent yowl from Yuri didn't leave Jessica very much time to further question the when's, where's, why's and how's. As if she had just touched a hot stove, she immediately lifted her hands off of the laptop, allowing the poor girl to free her hand.
"Urgh...my hand." Feeling sorry for herself, Yuri winced, blowing at her hand as she held it at eye level.
Despite the fact that her face was flushed with embarrassment, Jessica tried to cling on to whatever dignity she had left. The thought of apologising for her rash act not even once crossing her mind, she made a grab for Yuri's hand and held it firmly. "Don't be a baby. Here, let's have a look."
Still trying to connect what she had just seen with the calamity that her hand had suffered, Yuri could only stand there, dumbly, letting the seemingly unrepentant woman manhandle her throbbing hand, pressing and poking, as she turned it this way and that, examining it for injuries.
"Nothing broken," Dr. Jessica Jung finally declared, feeling relieved as she let drop Yuri's hand. "I noticed your nails were already chipped long before I brought my laptop down on you, so, don't you hold that against me."
Curling her fingers into her palms in a bid to hide her nails, Yuri was flabbergasted as to how Jessica, besides not offering an apology, could so tactlessly rub it in on the state of her nails.
NOTHING BROKEN? All I've been is helpful and all you can say is NOTHING BROKEN? Well, F.M.L. But dang...you do have the softest hands.
As for Jessica Jung, the million won question looming in the forefront of her befuddled mind was:
Did she or did she not see that naughty picture on the desktop?
Jessica was almost sure Yuri had at least caught a glimpse, and lest anyone should accuse her of corrupting a minor, she decided it was time the girl left.
Thrusting the metal food carrier at a bewildered Yuri and hastening her to put on her helmet, Jessica hustled her to the front door, mumbling, "Uhm, kid, you really should get going. There, put on your helmet, and here's something for your trouble." She again stuffed some money into Yuri's hip pocket before shoving her out the door with, "Byeee."
*
She had only just finished replying to several urgent emails on her laptop when she heard her hotel room's doorbell buzzing. Peeking through the peephole, she jerked her head back in shock when she saw an eye peering right back at her. Then, she heard a familiar voice from the other side of the door, urging in a sing-song voice, "Open up, Jessicaaa. It's meeee."
Her face lighting up with the biggest smile, Jessica opened the door to Taeyeon's slight frame standing in the corridor, winking at her, holding her arms wide open for a hug, grinning that devious little grin of hers that was only reserved for her.
"How did you even know?" Jessica asked, pulling Taeyeon in for a hug and kiss. "Let me guess...Tiffany?"
"Who else but Manager Hwang would know your schedules down pat?" Taeyeon lifted her foot, deftly kick-shutting the door; her lips left Jessica's, making a beeline for her throat instead, arms snaking around her waist. "God, Jessica...I've missed you so much."
"But is it my fault that you're always so busy, traipsing around the world on those business trips of yours?" Jessica grumbled, pushing away Taeyeon's face as she allowed herself to be guided towards the bed.
"Well, I guess I'll just have to make it up to you then, don't I?"
"Oooh, are you taking me out to dinner?"
"Is sex on a restaurant dining table the IN thing these days?"
"You have a dirty mind, Miss Kim."
"Don't act coy with me, Miss Jung. I'm sure you know what I mean..."
Of course. 3 months back. Singapore. That hotel.
Everything was coming together now.
She had been in Singapore, attending the Asian Writers' Convention when Taeyeon had showed up unexpectedly, having taken a detour from her business trip to Jakarta. Taeyeon, displaying one of her rarely seen, mischievous moods, totally unlike her usual solemn, businesslike disposition, had taken that picture with her cell phone, right after their little tryst.
"Shall I upload this to your lappie's desktop to remind you of how we....uh....made up for lost time in Singapore?" Taeyeon said, wriggling her eyebrows while showing Jessica the picture on her phone.
"You will do no such thing, Kim Taeyeon!" Shrieking, Jessica threw a pillow at Taeyeon just to wipe that grin off her face. "I'll have you know that I use that laptop for serious stuff when I travel!"
"Pppffftt...Which is like how often?"
Not having the slightest inkling until Kwon Yuri had unknowingly unleashed it, it had irked her immensely that Taeyeon had actually defied her and had gone ahead with transferring the picture onto her laptop, on the stealth, setting it as wallpaper. That laptop was almost a white elephant, something she brought along only when she travelled, and Singapore was the last place she had travelled to. That evening at the hotel, when she had been busy replying to her emails, before Taeyeon showed up at her door, was also absolutely the last time it had been utilised - until earlier, that is, when Kwon Yuri had kindly helped to hook up the cables, setting it up for her to use again.
Damn you, Kim Taeyeon. The idiotic things you do, time and again. How ever did you come to be the bane of my existence when not too long ago, there was a time my whole world was centered around you and nothing else but you?
Jessica stared nonchalantly at the picture that she once thought of as romantic and sexy, although it now seemed to glare back lewdly at her, like a scene out of some lesbian porn video. She smiled bitterly when she noticed the tiny square of the picture on the bottom left corner of the desktop-Taeyeon had simply dumped it there and had not even bothered to save it into a folder. Which, of course, turned out to be a boon, considering she wouldn't have to search for it. Without second thoughts or allowing herself to hesitate, she changed the offensive wallpaper to something else before resolutely right clicking on the picture to delete it. And being the determined person she had always been, she just couldn't miss emptying the recycle bin after that, too.
*
"Did this lazy girl here bully you into doing the deliveries for her again?" Sooyoung's mother asked, smacking her daughter's head when she saw Yuri returning to the restaurant with the food carrier.
"If you dare answer 'Yes' to that question, we're so not friends anymore." Sooyoung pointed a warning finger at Yuri.
"No, Auntie. This lazy girl didn't bully me. I did it on my own accord..." Yuri replied, throwing an arm around Sooyoung, gripping her in a neck lock, "...Because we're frrrriendsss." The last word was uttered between clenched teeth.
"Well, thank you for helping out, Yuri. Let me pack you some food to take home." Mrs.Choi was all smiles as she went back into the kitchen, happily announcing, "We made a fresh batch of kimchi today."
"Thank you, Auntie!" Yuri called out after her.
"Wow, Yul. You sure took a long time with that delivery," Sooyoung remarked as soon as her mother was out of earshot. "I was about to summon the police."
"Whatever for? I'm back in one piece, aren't I?"
"Why do you look so....strange? Did something happen? Or maybe the lady of the house invited you to stay for dinner?" Sooyoung guffawed at her own joke.
"You can laugh but that's precisely what happened."
"Noooo."
"Seriously. The woman made me stay and help her eat because she'd ordered too freaking much."
"She didn't."
"She did. And then I helped her hook up her laptop to the Internet."
"You didn't."
"I did."
"That's our Yuri, always the knight in shining armour. If she's not helping old folks jumpstart their cars or helping reunite lost kids with their parents at the mall, she's helping distressed damsels with their food and Internet."
"Shut up."
"I'm thinking there must be a catch somewhere."
"What catch?"
"I'm thinking the lady must be pretty."
"She is. Very. Extremely."
"See? That's the catch. Because she's pretty that you stayed to help."
"That's as good as saying I'm shallow."
"Not the exact word I'm thinking of but close."
"Why am I even having this conversation with you?"
"You're so gay, Kwon Yul."
"And you're a pain."
*
On her way home, Sooyoung's words rang incessantly in Yuri's head, like a bad headache that wouldn't go away:
"You're so gay...."
Sooyoung had always said things without thinking, so, she tried not to let that bother her too much. Quickening her footsteps, she hurried along. It had been a long day and she was tired.
But tired as she was, sleep eluded her, causing her to toss and turn in bed, as she mulled over the rather raunchy wallpaper she'd seen on Jessica Jung's laptop, her curiosity about the woman full-blown by then. She held up her right hand, gazing at it in the dark, thinking of how it had been manhandled by Jessica Jung's marshmallow-soft hands. Remembering the cash the woman had given her, she scrambled out of bed, snatching up the coveralls she had left draping carelessly over a chair, digging the cash out of the hip pocket- 4 crumpled W5000 bills. She held the notes against the dim light pouring in through her window that originated from the street lamp outside, scrutinising them as if they would offer her an insight into what Jessica Jung was all about.
She straightened out the notes before carefully placing them in separate leaves of the Korean translation of a novel she had been reading, Rubyfruit Jungle.
*tbc
A/N 2: There probably isn't a Korean translation of Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown, but can we just pretend there is?
Part 3
"OWWW!"
OH MY GOD....
Hearing Yuri howl out in pain, Jessica looked down in dismay to find the girl's right hand caught in between screen and keyboard; her own two hands were on top of the laptop, clamping down hard on Yuri's hand. So horrified was she, the instant she saw that wallpaper stretched out vibrantly across the screen, that she had, out of reflex, hastily slammed down the cover, and in her mad rush to conceal her embarrassment, had failed to notice Yuri's hand hovering about the touch pad.
Needless to say, it wasn't the usual insipid, generic picture provided by Microsoft for use as wallpaper, but that particularly saucy one where they were in bed, milky shoulders bared, with Taeyeon's lips on her neck, both of them looking into the camera with that glazed look of lust....
Damn! When....?
"Unnieee! My haaand!"
Another urgent yowl from Yuri didn't leave Jessica very much time to further question the when's, where's, why's and how's. As if she had just touched a hot stove, she immediately lifted her hands off of the laptop, allowing the poor girl to free her hand.
"Urgh...my hand." Feeling sorry for herself, Yuri winced, blowing at her hand as she held it at eye level.
Despite the fact that her face was flushed with embarrassment, Jessica tried to cling on to whatever dignity she had left. The thought of apologising for her rash act not even once crossing her mind, she made a grab for Yuri's hand and held it firmly. "Don't be a baby. Here, let's have a look."
Still trying to connect what she had just seen with the calamity that her hand had suffered, Yuri could only stand there, dumbly, letting the seemingly unrepentant woman manhandle her throbbing hand, pressing and poking, as she turned it this way and that, examining it for injuries.
"Nothing broken," Dr. Jessica Jung finally declared, feeling relieved as she let drop Yuri's hand. "I noticed your nails were already chipped long before I brought my laptop down on you, so, don't you hold that against me."
Curling her fingers into her palms in a bid to hide her nails, Yuri was flabbergasted as to how Jessica, besides not offering an apology, could so tactlessly rub it in on the state of her nails.
NOTHING BROKEN? All I've been is helpful and all you can say is NOTHING BROKEN? Well, F.M.L. But dang...you do have the softest hands.
As for Jessica Jung, the million won question looming in the forefront of her befuddled mind was:
Did she or did she not see that naughty picture on the desktop?
Jessica was almost sure Yuri had at least caught a glimpse, and lest anyone should accuse her of corrupting a minor, she decided it was time the girl left.
Thrusting the metal food carrier at a bewildered Yuri and hastening her to put on her helmet, Jessica hustled her to the front door, mumbling, "Uhm, kid, you really should get going. There, put on your helmet, and here's something for your trouble." She again stuffed some money into Yuri's hip pocket before shoving her out the door with, "Byeee."
*
She had only just finished replying to several urgent emails on her laptop when she heard her hotel room's doorbell buzzing. Peeking through the peephole, she jerked her head back in shock when she saw an eye peering right back at her. Then, she heard a familiar voice from the other side of the door, urging in a sing-song voice, "Open up, Jessicaaa. It's meeee."
Her face lighting up with the biggest smile, Jessica opened the door to Taeyeon's slight frame standing in the corridor, winking at her, holding her arms wide open for a hug, grinning that devious little grin of hers that was only reserved for her.
"How did you even know?" Jessica asked, pulling Taeyeon in for a hug and kiss. "Let me guess...Tiffany?"
"Who else but Manager Hwang would know your schedules down pat?" Taeyeon lifted her foot, deftly kick-shutting the door; her lips left Jessica's, making a beeline for her throat instead, arms snaking around her waist. "God, Jessica...I've missed you so much."
"But is it my fault that you're always so busy, traipsing around the world on those business trips of yours?" Jessica grumbled, pushing away Taeyeon's face as she allowed herself to be guided towards the bed.
"Well, I guess I'll just have to make it up to you then, don't I?"
"Oooh, are you taking me out to dinner?"
"Is sex on a restaurant dining table the IN thing these days?"
"You have a dirty mind, Miss Kim."
"Don't act coy with me, Miss Jung. I'm sure you know what I mean..."
Of course. 3 months back. Singapore. That hotel.
Everything was coming together now.
She had been in Singapore, attending the Asian Writers' Convention when Taeyeon had showed up unexpectedly, having taken a detour from her business trip to Jakarta. Taeyeon, displaying one of her rarely seen, mischievous moods, totally unlike her usual solemn, businesslike disposition, had taken that picture with her cell phone, right after their little tryst.
"Shall I upload this to your lappie's desktop to remind you of how we....uh....made up for lost time in Singapore?" Taeyeon said, wriggling her eyebrows while showing Jessica the picture on her phone.
"You will do no such thing, Kim Taeyeon!" Shrieking, Jessica threw a pillow at Taeyeon just to wipe that grin off her face. "I'll have you know that I use that laptop for serious stuff when I travel!"
"Pppffftt...Which is like how often?"
Not having the slightest inkling until Kwon Yuri had unknowingly unleashed it, it had irked her immensely that Taeyeon had actually defied her and had gone ahead with transferring the picture onto her laptop, on the stealth, setting it as wallpaper. That laptop was almost a white elephant, something she brought along only when she travelled, and Singapore was the last place she had travelled to. That evening at the hotel, when she had been busy replying to her emails, before Taeyeon showed up at her door, was also absolutely the last time it had been utilised - until earlier, that is, when Kwon Yuri had kindly helped to hook up the cables, setting it up for her to use again.
Damn you, Kim Taeyeon. The idiotic things you do, time and again. How ever did you come to be the bane of my existence when not too long ago, there was a time my whole world was centered around you and nothing else but you?
Jessica stared nonchalantly at the picture that she once thought of as romantic and sexy, although it now seemed to glare back lewdly at her, like a scene out of some lesbian porn video. She smiled bitterly when she noticed the tiny square of the picture on the bottom left corner of the desktop-Taeyeon had simply dumped it there and had not even bothered to save it into a folder. Which, of course, turned out to be a boon, considering she wouldn't have to search for it. Without second thoughts or allowing herself to hesitate, she changed the offensive wallpaper to something else before resolutely right clicking on the picture to delete it. And being the determined person she had always been, she just couldn't miss emptying the recycle bin after that, too.
*
"Did this lazy girl here bully you into doing the deliveries for her again?" Sooyoung's mother asked, smacking her daughter's head when she saw Yuri returning to the restaurant with the food carrier.
"If you dare answer 'Yes' to that question, we're so not friends anymore." Sooyoung pointed a warning finger at Yuri.
"No, Auntie. This lazy girl didn't bully me. I did it on my own accord..." Yuri replied, throwing an arm around Sooyoung, gripping her in a neck lock, "...Because we're frrrriendsss." The last word was uttered between clenched teeth.
"Well, thank you for helping out, Yuri. Let me pack you some food to take home." Mrs.Choi was all smiles as she went back into the kitchen, happily announcing, "We made a fresh batch of kimchi today."
"Thank you, Auntie!" Yuri called out after her.
"Wow, Yul. You sure took a long time with that delivery," Sooyoung remarked as soon as her mother was out of earshot. "I was about to summon the police."
"Whatever for? I'm back in one piece, aren't I?"
"Why do you look so....strange? Did something happen? Or maybe the lady of the house invited you to stay for dinner?" Sooyoung guffawed at her own joke.
"You can laugh but that's precisely what happened."
"Noooo."
"Seriously. The woman made me stay and help her eat because she'd ordered too freaking much."
"She didn't."
"She did. And then I helped her hook up her laptop to the Internet."
"You didn't."
"I did."
"That's our Yuri, always the knight in shining armour. If she's not helping old folks jumpstart their cars or helping reunite lost kids with their parents at the mall, she's helping distressed damsels with their food and Internet."
"Shut up."
"I'm thinking there must be a catch somewhere."
"What catch?"
"I'm thinking the lady must be pretty."
"She is. Very. Extremely."
"See? That's the catch. Because she's pretty that you stayed to help."
"That's as good as saying I'm shallow."
"Not the exact word I'm thinking of but close."
"Why am I even having this conversation with you?"
"You're so gay, Kwon Yul."
"And you're a pain."
*
On her way home, Sooyoung's words rang incessantly in Yuri's head, like a bad headache that wouldn't go away:
"You're so gay...."
Sooyoung had always said things without thinking, so, she tried not to let that bother her too much. Quickening her footsteps, she hurried along. It had been a long day and she was tired.
But tired as she was, sleep eluded her, causing her to toss and turn in bed, as she mulled over the rather raunchy wallpaper she'd seen on Jessica Jung's laptop, her curiosity about the woman full-blown by then. She held up her right hand, gazing at it in the dark, thinking of how it had been manhandled by Jessica Jung's marshmallow-soft hands. Remembering the cash the woman had given her, she scrambled out of bed, snatching up the coveralls she had left draping carelessly over a chair, digging the cash out of the hip pocket- 4 crumpled W5000 bills. She held the notes against the dim light pouring in through her window that originated from the street lamp outside, scrutinising them as if they would offer her an insight into what Jessica Jung was all about.
She straightened out the notes before carefully placing them in separate leaves of the Korean translation of a novel she had been reading, Rubyfruit Jungle.
*tbc
A/N 2: There probably isn't a Korean translation of Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown, but can we just pretend there is?