Roseanne's eyelids fluttered before she quickly lowered her head to hide her sadness from Park Jimin. "It doesn't matter to me. I will still marry you. Getting married is not all about having children anyway," Park Jimin gently said in all seriousness. With her head still lowered, she had missed seeing the gentleness in his eyes which conveyed so much love for this woman.
The duo then continued eating their sandwiches in silence.
When they were done with their snack, Park Jimin told her that they were heading towards a temple. Then, they continued their journey on the bicycle. Another thirty minutes passed before he pulled over at a large Japanese style gate made of wood.
"From here onwards we can only reach the temple by taking the stairs," he said.
"How many steps are there?" Roseanne asked as she stared at the tall gate with tiled roof.
"About 300."
Roseanne instantly narrowed her eyes at him. Even though Roseanne was fit and physically active, the thought of climbing up such a long flight of steps was a turnoff. Just like how she had felt lazy to ride a bicycle before, she was also feeling lazy about climbing up 300 steps to get to the temple. "You better carry me when I get too tired to continue climbing later." It was a demand. She wanted to know if this man had indeed set this day up like a typical date in Korean dramas.
"Of course!" Park Jimin agreed without hesitation, just as she had expected. This man must have planned everything in a way that would give him the opportunity to get close to her. Roseanne sighed inwardly before giving him a wry smile. She began to wonder if this special treatment would continue if they were to get married. He wouldn't change after marriage right?
Roseanne quickly shook off those thoughts. What was she thinking? "Okay, shall we go?" she asked while eyeing her watch. "Hey, it's almost five... I don't think we would have enough time to get back to the resort to watch the Firefly Festival from there."
"Let's watch it from the temple then," Park Jimin said. "That is actually the best spot in town to watch it. I have also arranged for us to have dinner at the temple while we admire the view from there."
"Oh," Roseanne said as she took her first step towards the temple with Park Jimin by her side. The duo silently climbed up the steps, each lost in their own thoughts. After taking more than a hundred steps, Roseanne suddenly stopped climbing. Her face was a little red from all the physical exertion. "Carry me," she said, looking expectantly at him.
Park Jimin gave her a coy smile before he lowered himself and gestured for her to climb on his back. "Hop on," he said.
Roseanne immediately hoisted herself on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. Since this man already set this up then why not let him have a taste of what it feels like to climb more than a hundred steps while carrying someone on his back? A small smile escaped her lips when Park Jimin began to take a step forward. She would love to see how long this man would last. Would he be too prideful to admit that he was exhausted?
With this in mind, Roseanne rested her chin on his shoulders. A mischievous glint flashed in her eyes.
Roseanne then started counting the steps that he took. 1... 2... 3... 10... 20... 50... 75... 100...
Roseanne raised an eyebrow when she noticed that his breathing was still steady. A hundred steps should have been more than enough to make him lose his cool right? "Hey, how often do you exercise?" Roseanne already assumed that he must have exercised or worked out a lot. His sculpted biceps and abs could attest to that. But after climbing more than a hundred steps with a load on his back, he should at least show some signs of exhaustion right?
"Everyday," Park Jimin answered. How could he have missed the mirth in Roseanne's eyes when she climbed onto his back? He knew that she was up to something but he was not here to disappoint Roseanne. He was here to impress her.
Roseanne did not answer him. Instead she roamed her eyes to take in the view before her. They were already halfway towards the temple and already she could catch a beautiful view of the lake. Now Roseanne understood why Park Jimin chose to come to the temple. As the temple was located on an elevated ground, it gave a clearer view of the lake compared to the resort.
"Are you tired?" she asked.
"No, I'm not."
"Then... do you think I'm heavy?"
"Yes, you are," he answered honestly.
"Are you saying that I'm fat?"
"No, you are too skinny. You need to eat more. I will make sure to cook a bigger portion of food each time so that you can eat more and gain some weight." Roseanne didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his honesty. Didn't he know that weight is a very sensitive topic for women like her? This man... was it really true that he never had a girlfriend before?
Silence ensued.
After a few more minutes, Park Jimin finally reached the top of the stairs. Roseanne instantly got down from his back and looked at the view in front of her.
Before them was a huge gate, with columns and lintels supporting a large curved roof. Ahead, there was a long stone footpath, it was so long that Roseanne could not even see the end of the pathway.
"This is an abandoned temple. Besides this huge gate, there's only a bamboo forest, some benches made of stones and a lake with some fish," Park Jimin said before he held his hand out towards Roseanne. "Let's go inside?"
To his surprise, Roseanne accepted his hand. This time, he was able to control his nerves. 'This is not the time to be nervous.'
He gently held Roseanne's hand as he guided her onto the pathway surrounded by a bamboo forest.
YOU ARE READING
The Vicious Wife
Romance[Mature alert] Like almost every dramatic romance novel, Roseanne Anne Lilian's story began with an evil stepmother, a scheming stepsister, and a dumb ex-fiance. At twenty, she fell prey to their grand scheme and became the laughingstock of the cou...