I watched Four weddings and a funeral again last night.
I am changing my name.
I love that movie.
To Whorey Mc Slutty Tart.
So much so that I'm going to ask you to prepare a speech for my wedding.
Or Floozelle Von Floozerbach.
Just like Hugh Grant did in the movie.
Hussy Van der Hustler?
So. Start writing that speech. Now.
Scarlet O'Harlot.
What the fuck are you talking about?
Did you say speech?

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Thankfully, breakfast was not as awkward as she envisioned it would be. Not an easy feat, considering. Ga Eul could hardly close her eyes last night, thinking about what had happened between her and Yi Jeong so far. What were the consequences of those kisses, how would they act now going forward? Should she just forget all those feeling of insecurities from so many years ago, when he left her alone again after he came back from Sweden? Should she ask why he did what he had done? And what about those paparazzi pictures of him that had become a common fodder for tabloids? She knew most of those pictures and stories were rubbish, made up, but one or two, or thirty, bound to be real, right?

Hundreds, thousands of questions made their appearance in her head one after another. When at last she fell asleep, her dream was full of him as well. She woke up feeling overwhelmed and rather full of dread.

She spent hours (at least that's how she felt) in the bathroom, washing, scrubbing, exfoliating. She washed her long hair, then blow-dried it to perfection, letting some wavy curls decorated her otherwise straight hair. She massaged her whole body with moisturizer just in case. Just in case of what? Well, just in case, you know. She decided to let her hair down instead of tucking them in a ponytail because Yi Jeong liked to play with them. She paused at that and slapped her own cheek for even thinking of such a thing, grabbed that scrunchie from the top of the bedside table and tied her perfectly blow-dried hair in a tight ponytail. The whole routine was nerve racking until she heard a familiar knock on the door.

Be still my beating heart, she willed herself to calm down before she let him in.

'Hello,' he smiled at her and bent his tall body slightly, giving her a kiss on the cheek. She felt her face warmed, even though she knew it was silly. After all, what base was it they covered last night?

Still, this was only the first day.

He watched her amusedly, then offered her his arm. 'Breakfast?'
Yes, of course, she said, finally found her voice, taking his offer and tucked her hand in his elbow.

'What are we going to do today?' she asked as he read today's newspaper on the breakfast table, spread out on the sports section. She didn't even know that he followed international rugby, judging from the page opened in front of him.
'I'm not sure. What do you want to do?' he raised his head from the paper and looked at her. 'We can walk around the city, drive around, take a boat cruise, explore the lake. Shopping. Eating.'
'You said something about a surprise yesterday.'
'Ah, but that's not for today,' he gave her his best serving dimples. 'Shall we ask the hotel, see what they have to offer?'

'I guess,' she reached for the pile of papers in front of him 'I never pay any attention to international rugby before. Maybe I should start,' she mumbled.
'What did you say?'
'Nothing,' her eyes still glued at the pictures of men in tight black rugby shirts and shorts in front of her. They looked amazing.
'Pervert,' Yi Jeong confiscated the paper from her hand and threw it onto the next table. 'I should have known.'

She glared at him and took a big chunk of her toast, spending the rest of breakfast eating and bombarding him with questions about rugby. She really should have paid more attention to the sport. The men were just too hot for her to pass.

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They agreed to have an easy day today and rent a car from the hotel, have picnic somewhere since the sun had come out to warm the day, or go to a restaurant on the road, have lunch and visit museums and galleries. She assured him that she would enjoy everything, anything of his choosing, considering this was a surprise holiday for her everything else was just bonus.

'I didn't know you're into history,' he commented when they visited a small museum about the history of settlers in New Zealand.

This was after they drove around town, visiting a few look-out places to see the beautiful scenery of the town nestled at the shore of the lake. They bought a picnic basket and filled it with freshly baked bread from a small bakery, completed with jam and fresh strawberries. At the last minute though, they forwent the plan because the wind started to pick up and the chill started to descend from the sky and infiltrate the bones even with their thick coats and scarves.

They found a small boutique café on the hill, with uninterrupted view of the lake and the surrounding mountains, and decided to move their picnic there instead.

'There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Sunbae,' she said dryly, eyes still trained on the old poster of some gold company on the wall.
'Why do you always call me Sunbae?'

She looked at him, rather surprised at his question.

'What do you want me to call you then? You are Jan Di's Sunbae at school.'
'Well, first of all, I was Jan Di's sunbae. Second, school was ten years ago. Third, why am I your sunbae?'
'Well, should I call you sunsengnim then, after all you kind of taught me pottery.' She gave him her most innocent expression, eyes wide with pouty lips, daring him to counter her statement.

He rolled his eyes in mock desperation and grabbed her waist, pulled her close to him and whispered softly in her ear, so close that his lips touched the outer edge of her ear, his breath warm on her skin, making her shiver unwillingly in his arm.

'Try calling me that tonight,' he said quietly so only she could hear, 'see what will happen.'

Then he released her, all nonchalantly, continued looking at the photographs from the early 1900's while she was left clutching her hand over her heart, butterflies on her stomach, blood rushing in her ears. It just wasn't fair that he always had the last word.

They arrived back at the hotel just before sunset. He asked her whether she wanted to have another room service menu for tonight, but she shook her head all too quickly. She just wasn't ready for a repeat of the previous night's dinner. Or what happened after, rather.

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What if there existed a parallel universe, Ga Eul thought, where another version of her lived and breathed and basically tried to exist. Would she be an exact replica of her? It simply useless if it did. Her ideal parallel universe would have a version of her as a superhero heiress. A bit like batman but without the harrowing childhood, a bit like superman but with more interesting personality, a bit like Sherlock Holmes but a woman.

If there existed a parallel world, would she also fall in love with another version of Yi Jeong? Would another personification of Yi jeong even existed? What would they talk about when they had dinner together while on holiday like this? Would they talk about movie? Or books? Or would they exchange gossips about their friends? Like what they were doing now.

Evening came quickly in winter time. They relished the warmth of the decidedly posh restaurant not very far from the hotel. She told herself to stop being silly and blushed every time he pulled her close while they walked from the hotel to the restaurant. He circled her waist, played with her hair, put his arm around her shoulder, it's as if he couldn't help himself from constantly touching her. It was quite frankly distracting and not very helpful in helping her manage her heart beat.

They settled for something light, since they had really done practically nothing the whole day beside restaurant hopping and driving around town. She was tucking into her plate of chicken salad when Yi Jeong asked her whether she remembered the time they went together with the rest of the gang to the ski resort and he had to save her from a stupid boarder who almost crashed into her that day.

'I am a much better skier now,' she said.
'Really?'
'Yes, really. Jae Kyung taught me a lot while you were away in Sweden. I can race you now on the black runs.'
'Really!' he sounded rather doubtful.
'Yes, really!' she narrowed her eyes. 'I bet I can finish first and you can kiss my bum for coming last. And just to make sure, we can do it three rounds.'
'Oh, no doubt about that.' He murmured at her in husky voice, deadpan expression but eyes full of suggestion. It took her seconds to realize the innuendo before she felt her face burn. She heard him chuckled as she glared at him and stabbed her chicken rather forcefully.

'What else did Jae Kyung tell you,' he said after his chuckles died down. 'Nothing too crazy, I hope.'
'Oh, you know,' she grinned, 'as much as you'd expect from her.'
'Tell me about it. When I was in the military three years ago, all Woo Bin talked about whenever he called were her antics. I'm pretty sure he did that just to rile me up.' He went on to tell a story about Woo Bin describing his alcohol and party fueled holidays in the Caribbean with his girlfriend when he told his friend he had just finished doing a week long survival training in the jungle. Just to be extra infuriating.

She laughed before did the double take. 'Wait, when, what? You did the military?'
'Of course I did.' He frowned at her. 'Did you think I managed to skip it or something, or that I pulled out all my teeth just so I could have gotten a military exemption.'
'It's just, well, it's just that Woo Bin Sunbae and Jun Pyo Sunbae were always around. I assumed…' she trailed.
'Yeah, that's because they did their service when I was still in Sweden, remember?'
'Ah, of course…' she nodded. 'So… um, so, you didn't just disappear again somewhere three years ago?'
He frowned at her. 'Is that what you think?'
'Well,' she sheepishly averted her eyes from him.

'I guess I did kind of disappear that first year after I came back. I wanted to do everything all at once for the museum, and the business. I did a lot of travelling that year. Then I thought I'd better get the military thing over with. When I came back from the service, I was really eager to start connecting with you again, you know. But you've moved from your old apartment. The girls wouldn't tell me your address as well. They basically told me not to mess with you again. Were you angry at me?'

Angry was an understatement, she thought. She was furious. Then again, she threatened Jan Di and Jae Kyung not to tell her anything related to Yi Jeong, ever, after the 6 months of no show. And then subsequently told them never to tell Yi Jeong where she lived if he ever asked.

What a stupid cock up. This was like a scene from pride and prejudice.

She was rather silent for the rest of dinner. Even after Yi Jeong told her the surprise. That was a trip to the ski resort, he said, she liked skiing, right? Yeah, she thought, but she was in a contemplative mood after the revelation to be jumping up and down upon hearing that.

They walked back to the hotel hand in hand. Yi Jeong said they better head to the resort early in the morning so they could spend a whole day of sunshine on the snow.

He kissed her in front of her room to say goodnight. She hesitated for a while but at last, after much difficulty swallowing her breath, said in a small stuttering voice, 'Umm, would you, would you like to come in for coffee?'

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They stood in front of the door to her hotel room still, his hand still attached to her arm. She looked at him with those big doe eyes, feverish, fearful, excited, teeth biting her lower lip. Suddenly Yi Jeong felt his throat parched, all around him the temperature felt like it had risen a few notches on the scale. The air seemed to pop and crackle, the electricity running wherever they touched and he was left holding his breath, afraid to ruin the moment.

She opened the door with her key card, almost dropped it to the floor in their haste to get inside. They kissed almost as soon as the door clicked shut behind them, not bothering to put the card in the main power switch. They fumbled in the dark, trying to get to the bed without breaking the furniture, giggling and hushed-swearing like naughty children when his leg knocked one of the dining chairs and he almost toppled over her on the floor.

He paused to remove his coat, desperately trying not to lose contact with her lips at the same time. He felt her laughing against his mouth, and it made him wanting her even more. She let out a shriek when he caught her as she tried to step back away just to tease him. Her shriek turned to giggle as he backed her far enough to push her softly on the bed, and he swiftly followed. He hovered over her, propped himself on his elbows as he continued kissing her, removing layer after layer of thin barriers between them. In a more lucid moment he stopped kissing her and swore, saying that dammit, but he didn't have any condom with him. She giggled and pulled his head back for another kiss saying dammit, just freaking do it already, she's on the pill anyway.

Her giggles disappeared and turned to pants and gasps as she felt his hands, rough from his pottery, exploring her skin. Not feathery soft touches, oh no, this was not some slow burning, romantic love making. They had been engaged in some sort of emotional foreplay from the day she came to see him at the museum. They made love like thirsty travelers in the desert that just found an oasis amidst the burning sand and sun. It was frantic, frenetic, desperate, all life consuming. She moaned his name, when at last he plunged into her in desperate urgency. She called his name in feverish whispers, like prayers in his ear.

'Oh Ga Eul, honey,' he said amidst the gasps, kissing the side of her neck, sucking the tender skin of her jaw as he moved inside her, hitting all the right spots, making her forget what she was about to say.

Later, after the deed was done, after their breathing had slowed down, he enveloped her in his embrace, her head rested in the crook of his arm. And they stayed there in the dark in silence, her hand on his smooth chest, their legs tangled under the sheet. Every now and then he kissed the top of her head, played with her hair, stroke her cheek, until a particular touch made her giggle and they started again from the beginning.

A dance as old as time.

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Note:

1. I'll be away for holidays, guys. next update will be a little late. maybe in a couple of weeks instead of next week.

2. I was reading a book by Chuck Palahniuk while writing this chapter. that's how those Whorey Mc Slutty Tarts come up. I was giggling so much reading sentence like :

Are you there, Satan? it's me, Madison. Please do NOT get the idea that I'm some Miss Trollopy Von Trollop. It's true that I've read Kama Sutra, but why anyone would bother to attempt such revolting gymnastics remains largely a mystery to me.

Anyway, the point is, I'm hopelessly fickle and impressionable... :D