Postcards From Africa

*11*

The city was beautiful, even at night. People walking the streets stared at the Korean man and the black woman beside him, laughing like nobody's business as they walked near the water, some street food in their hands.

Tae was having a blast, exploring the night life of the city and Choi seemed to be enjoying himself too because he was laughing at her funny stories while they teased and taunted each other. One could swear that they were a couple, the way the kept bumping each other or kicking each other on the butts as they walked.

Choi was indeed having a good time with Tae and he could not pretend otherwise. This was what he wanted but he couldn't have it and sombre thoughts dampened his mood slightly.

"Are you alright?" Tae asked.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm good." Choi looked at her, keeping his sad thoughts on the back burner. "I'm having a really good time with you and it's been a while since I've been out. Alone or with anyone. Thanks."

She bumped his shoulder, gazing up at him. "You're welcome. I am having a good time too."

They walked in comfortable silence, finishing up their street food before sitting down on a bench, the night air getting a little colder.

"You're supposed to take off your jacket for me," Tae teased, looking at him, dressed in only a t-shirt and jeans. "That's how Kim Dong-Joo did it in Boys Over Flowers."

Choi laughed. "I'm no Kim Dong-Joo. Do you want me to take my shirt off for you? Because that is the only thing I have on."

"Yes, please," Tae said without batting an eyelash.

Choi stood before her and began singing "Pony" as he slowly lifted his shirt up. Tae cheered him on, grabbing some coins from her fanny pack and throwing them at him.

He flinched, ducking to avoid the pain the coins caused as they got him. He playfully glared at her. "You are a very abusive woman."

She pouted her cherry lips, winked her left eye and held up a peace sign beside her cheek. "This is how Korean women on TV try to be cute. Am I cute?"

"Very," Choi chuckled. "But then you are always cute."

"Choi," she warned him. "No flirting."

He shrugged non-commitally. It just happened, honestly. He wasn't even trying to flirt. With him,when he liked someone, the compliments would just start rolling off his tongue and he could be cute when he wanted to be.

And he wanted to be cute for Taera Lobane. Whether she would have him or not.

"We should head back and get a cab, yeah?" Tae said, rubbing her arms. It was starting to get cold and Choi noticed it too.

He stopped a cab which took them to Tae's house. Before she could get out however, she turned to Choi who was about to give the driver directions to his house.

"Goodnight," she said with a smile.

Choi smiled. "Goodnight, Tae. I had a wonderful time."

She nodded and then walked to her door. Choi waited until she was inside and the light was on before the driver drove off.

.

The following day, the two had their first presentation capacitation and Choi was an average presenter. He did not motivate Tae to want to buy his product in any way, with his monotonous tone.

"Give it life!" she kept repeating over and over. "Right now your are making me want to sleep."

"Tae, we have been doing this-"

"From the start!" she barked at him.

She was exhausted and grumpy because the food place was taking its time to deliver to Choi's apartment. She was hangry at this point. She kept showing Choi how to make himself less monotonous but he just didn't get it and it made her angry. To top it off, she was having very horrible period pains but she sucked it up and was trying to give Choi as much of her time and attention as possible to get him ready. It wasn't going as planned.

Choi put his phone down and stared at her. "What is going on?"

She glared at him but her expression softened when she saw the concern on his face. She put the printouts in her hand on the couch and sat down.

"I'm sorry," she apologised. "I'm stressed and very hungry. I'm leaving in a few days and your presentation skills are really horrible and no matter what I do, I know this is only day one but you're not going to get better."

Choi paused at the brutal honesty. "I'm really trying-"

"It's not going to get better, Choi."

She had her head in her hands, tapping her foot. Oh, the damned cramps! It felt like her tubes were twisting and knotting, tearing away inside of her. She didn't want to just sit and do nothing because the pain could become unbearable. And she had made the terrible decision to have a session with Choi whom she was not being nice to.

Choi, who had been excited to present his own product was torn. He knew that he was not cut for marketing but he was going to try his best and now Tae was telling him that he was hopeless.

He sat down beside her and placed his hand on her back to calm the monster she was turning into. She looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"I'm being very rude to you and it's gonna get bad," she whispered. "I get really moody on my periods and I know that it's not an excuse but I'm really horrible on my days."

Choi sighed. "That's what it is? I know you're a horrible person but today you are on your worst." He smiled and she laughed lightly, her tears falling.

Then she keeled over, groaning and clutching below her belly. She went down on her knees because the pain was intense! If this was what giving birth came close to, she was not having a kid anytime soon. It felt like someone had a pair of scissors and was cutting away inside her! And she cried, because nothing except meds that made her not to go to her periods, helped.

A concerned Choi squatted beside her. "Tae-"

She just knelt, crying and clutching below her belly. "Period Pains," she managed to choke out.

Panicking because he'd heard that they could be really terrible to some women, Choi quickly got up, grabbed a trash bag and lay it on his bed with a towel on top. He picked Tae up and lay her down on the towel because despite the intensity of the situation, he did not want blood on his white sheets and mattress in case she blotted on herself. Yes, Suzy had taught him about girls and periods when he started having girlfriends.

Then he went to the kitchenette and warmed up a heating pouch for her which he took to the bedroom where he found her sweating but asleep and currently peaceful.

He stared at her, the heating pouch in his hands. Today's mood had gone from sunny to dreary to worried and now it was at peaceful. He walked over, pulled up her shirt slightly and placed the heated pouch below her belly to give her some relief.

She smiled in her sleep at the contact and Choi couldn't help the light chuckle that escaped. He pulled her shirt down over the pouch, covered her with a warm fleece and then left the room to go and practice his presentation.

If he turned out to really be hopeless, he would ask Tae to do the presentation herself because she had it on lock earlier. She was really good at making Choi want to buy his own product.

He wanted to at least try even harder to surprise her when she woke up and thus he paced in the lounge with the printouts in his hand, mumbling the writings so as not to wake Take up.