Chapter 12: Red Death
I've always been superstitious about Tuesdays. No real reason. Just everything bad thing that's ever happened to me seems to have happened on a Tuesday. The day my best friend, Kira, called to tell me she was sleeping with my boyfriend, for instance. That was on a Tuesday. The day my Grandma Wilma died of lung cancer - that was a Tuesday. Even the day that Saeran showed up at Rika's apartment to kidnap me and the "secret security system" turned out to be a bomb. Yup, that was a Tuesday, too.
Needless to say I always wake up feeling a little apprehensive on Tuesdays. I go out of my way to make sure I am careful and take every precaution. For instance, creature of habit that I am, I usually eat yogurt for breakfast most days of the week - except on Tuesdays. On Tuesdays, I always eat red bean rice cake instead for good luck.
The first Tuesday Zen noticed I did this, he had made me a special breakfast, waffles with strawberry rhubarb compote.
"What, you're not going to eat my waffles?" he said, in disbelief.
"Oh honey," I said, reaching over to cover his hand. "Of course of I am! I just need to eat this first."
"Red bean rice cake?" he said with a quizzical look in his eye. "No offense, but that's going to wreck your flavor palate."
"Don't worry," I said, taking a sip of water. "I'm cleansing my palate now, see?"
Zen raised one gorgeous eyebrow and crinkled his bottom lip in thought.
"This isn't one of those superstitious luck things, is it?" He asked.
I tried to hide it, but the look on my face gave me away.
"Oh, MC," Zen said, laughing. "You don't really believe in that stuff, do you?"
"Do you?" I countered. "It certainly can't hurt!"
"I don't know," Zen said. "Certainly there are some things out there that we can't explain…"
"Like your psychic dreams," I offered.
"Yeah, like some of my dreams," he said. "But that's very different than eating red beans to ward off evil spirits or chewing yeot before an exam."
"Still…" I said, pointedly taking a bite of red bean rice cake and chewing. Zen laughed.
"Oh well, then," he said. "Suit yourself."
Zen may have been a skeptic, but every Tuesday since, there has been a red bean rice cake waiting for me next to whatever else he had made me for breakfast. He was sweet that way.
So far this Tuesday was off to a good start. I got to work on time, a plus. Then the coffee pot was full, for once, and fresh - double bonus. There was even cream in the creamer. Yes, so far, so good. Today was going to be a good day.
I wasn't even that bothered when Jumin called me into his office on the way to my desk - this was becoming a regular thing, by the way. At least, this time, he didn't ask me to sit down or insist that I stay too long. In fact, it really seemed like maybe he just wanted to compliment me on a job well done.
"Echo Girl isn't what you'd call a typical client," Jumin said. "Her personality, well, it requires some finesse, which you seem to have in spades."
I felt a shiver go down my spine. It wouldn't be a visit to Jumin's office without something creepy happening, so I tolerated his slow moving gaze from my legs to my chest as he talked. I held my breath as his smokey grey eyes lingered at my bra line, before finally making their way up to my face. Here his eyes locked with mine and he held me here with an intense gaze for what seemed like several minutes. I tried to act natural.
"Well, it was really all Assistant Kang's doing," I said, deflecting. "She handled the paperwork in such a way that left Echo Girl no option."
It was true. Without Jaehee's legal prowess, I'd have been hosed. Without the strict legal stipulations outlined in her contract, Echo Girl may have been able to walk out on the cat commercial and I would've been left holding that god ugly yellow gingham dress. Instead, I thought smiling to myself, Echo Girl was forced to wear that dress for a piece that would be aired over and over and over again on TV, maybe if I was lucky, for months.
"Nonetheless," Jumin said, folding his hands and leaning forward to rest his elbows on his desk. "Your hard work and loyalty won't be forgotten."
Loyalty? I kind of wanted to know what Jumin meant by that exactly, but not enough to stick around his office a moment longer. I made a move toward the doorway.
"I've got some work…?" I said, walking backwards, one arm reaching behind me for the door handle. I definitely wanted to get away before he could ogle me any more or get any new weird ideas. Please no Echo Girl or weird cat-related projects, I breathed.
"Thank you, MC," Jumin said, waving me away.
Walking out the door, I almost bumped into Jaehee, who was standing right there, maybe a bit too close.
"Oh, MC," she said. "There you are."
"Here I am," I said. "Can I get you something?"
"Uh,no," she said, stuttering awkwardly. "I was just…"
Listening? I wondered. I waited politely for a moment for her respond before flashing her a tight smile and walking away. Why weren't Jumin and Jaehee dating, anyway? I thought to myself. They're the perfect sort of weird for each other. I made a mental note to talk to Saeyoung about it.
As I approached my desk, I saw something sitting on top of it - a tall slender vessel with a splash color on top. Was it, could it be… a bouquet of flowers? My heart jumped. Oh Zen, I thought, you are really too much. My face broke into a wide grin and I felt my step quicken to a skip as I made a beeline for my desk. In the 2.5 seconds it probably took me to close the space, I'd already imagined and played out a whole scenario in my head: What the card might say, what Zen might've looked like picking out the flowers, how his beautiful slender fingers might've gripped the pen as he was scripting the message, what it all meant, etc. etc. Finally, in grande finale form, I pictured what I was going to do to him later to show my gratitude.
As I got closer, though, time seemed to slow down. My eyes widened as the reality of what was sitting on my desk came into focus. Yes, it was a vase of flowers, but not the flowers anyone would ever want to receive. Not the kind of flowers anyone would ever dare to give as a gift. Sitting on my desk was a stark red bouquet of Red Spider Lily, the flower of poison, the flower of death. This was a flower you typically saw out in the wild, near graveyards. This was not the type of flower than belonged indoors, let alone on someone's desk.
I felt my stomach cave in as I had to back-walk and recalibrate my expectations. Not a display of love from Zen - far from it. Something altogether opposite. Who would send such an ill-wish? When I got closer and saw the card my angst magnified into full-fledged horror. Scrawled out in bold red ink on the envelope was my full name, MC.
"Oh my," I heard a voice cluck from behind me. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear… It is forbidden to write the name of the living in red ink, is it not?"
I turned in the direction of the voice and saw Mrs. C, the C&R greetings receptionist, standing behind me wringing her hands. Mrs. C was somewhere between the age of 80 and 100, no one knew and no one ever dare ask because, frankly, people were afraid of her.
"It is said that she possesses the powers of the fox," Jaehee once whispered to me over the rim of her glasses.
"People think she's a witch?" I said, in disbelief. Jaehee nodded.
"People believe that Jumin is compelled by spirits to keep her employed at the company," she said, frowning a bit. "Why else have such a bitter face at the reception desk?"
I had to admit, Jaehee had a point. Mrs. C tended to keep to herself most of the time, but she was also known to make bold and unsolicited proclamations and disturbing statements from time to time. My real thought was that Mrs. C was less of a witch and more just old and honest, with few fucks left to give. Here she was, giving one now.
"Oh my, dear," she said. "What did you do?"
What did I do? I thought wildly in response. I did nothing!
I didn't even want to pick up the card, didn't even want to touch it, let alone the flowers. The Red Spider Lily, sometimes more universally known as the Higanbana flower, was not only poisonous, it had deep specific meaning. Because the flowers and the leaves bloom at separate times - the leaves have to die before the flowers appear, and so forth - the plant is the ultimate symbol of separation. Poison, death, separation. It goes without saying that this flower always meant bad news for couples. I couldn't be reading things any more loud or clear.
"I… I…" I stuttered. Tears welled up in my eyes and a sob filled my throat as the thought of being physically or emotionally separated from Zen in any way tore at my heart.
Mrs. C shook her head and clicked her tongue. "This is a bad omen," she said, her voice sounding dark and ominous. "For you, but also for the one who gifted it. It is written, 'For the being who dare cast the flower of hell has no passion, nor regard for eternity…'" Mrs. C lowered her head gravely. "The being who has done this has done so at great personal risk."
I looked at Mrs. C in disbelief. I didn't so much care about the being who had done this. I cared about Zen. I cared about me. I felt my sobs explode in earnest and covered my face with my hands. What the fuck was happening right now?
Jaehee appeared at my shoulder and tried to comfort me. "There, there," she said. "We'll get rid of this… these things... immediately. Mrs. C, call security. Tell them to remove the offending items and dispose of them in the company incinerator."
The incinerator? I wiped my tears and stopped to consider.
"Wait," I said, grasping Mrs. C's arm just as the security guards were about to take the gift away. "Shouldn't we…" I paused tentatively, half afraid to say what I was thinking out loud. "Shouldn't we open the card? See what it says?"
Mrs. C looked at me, and I noticed for the first time ever that her eyes were a crystal clear blue. "That depends," she said. "Do you wish to be made aware of its contents? For if so, you acknowledge the power of its messenger."
Mrs. C was right. If I opened the message, it would in some way acknowledge the receipt and the acceptance of this gift. To leave it unopened was in itself an act of defiance. But still, I was curious. I closed my eyes and shook the thought away. No, I thought to myself. No, I do not, I will not, accept this gift.
"No," I said, shaking my head definitively. "I don't need to see it. Take it away."
Jaehee nodded, touched my forearm, and then led the security guards away with the offending items.
"You have chosen wisely," Mrs. C said, placing her crooked fingers on my shoulder. For someone who had chosen wisely, I felt pretty damn awful. Fuck Tuesdays, I thought.
In the end no one could account for the for the gift, how it arrived or who gifted it. There was no signature at the front desk, no recollection of any suspicious visitor. The flowers and the card had just appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
I may not have known how it got there, but I was pretty damn sure who sent it. There was only one person who could have done this to me, done this to us. Just one.
Echo Girl. The only thing that baffled me now is why she would risk the bad omen of picking the flowers in the first place, taking them from the place where they grew and, oh my god, gifting them.
She must've really hated me. She must've really wished me dead.