My Seoul Man

Chapter 14

I can still see AJ's "happy little boy" eyes as he met me halfway up the jet steps.

The little peck on the lips made me even giddier than I already was from lack of sleep. I'd been too revved up by the new experience to really rest on the way over. So as soon as our lips parted, I started talking. And talking and talking and talking and talking...

And gesturing like mad—I'm not usually like that. But my arms kept flailing around and I started speed rapping like:

"I used to cook for private jets, but that was, like...I mean, there must've been a dozen little bowls and plates and all kinds of lettuce and cabbage. And those big green leaves—what are they called? The ones you wrap things in over there that look like they came from trees? Never mind, it doesn't matter, but there was also all this cucumber and carrots and zucchini, too. Sliced kinda thick on the diagonal so I could pile stuff on top and make tiny little bite-sized salads to shove in my mouth whole, right? And the silver tower with all the different kinds of seafood and ceviche—how do you even do that on a jet? Keep the seafood so fresh? Because it was—oh, wait! I forgot about the attendant guy! He could be an idol or something if—yo, another helicopter?"

AJ just laughed and helped me duck and run to that new heli. Where he got me all strapped in with the headset on like a patient father dealing with an overstimulated toddler.

Which is kind of the state I was in at the time. That "so far past exhausted your mind isn't working" stage. And I tear up sometimes when I remember that big, sparkly-eyed smile that made it look like he was enjoying mind surfing on those waves of words. And trying to stay in the curl as long as he could...

Even when I started making all these weird little noises every time we dipped or leaned or something—I blamed the jet champagne for that.

But he finally took hold of my hand and said, "You're not drunk, you're very, very tired. But we're almost there, okay?"

His calm made me calm. So I sat back and didn't squeal or anything the chopper made this big wide turn out into a whole lotta water and headed for...

...a boat. Okay, a yacht. Yes: a big ass yacht that looked more like a scaled down cruise ship almost. It even had a helipad on top. And as we got out AJ took hold of my arm because it was dark and I was unsteady emotionally, mentally and physically.

And down on the top deck, he winked and said, "Normally there would be about a dozen crew members lined up here. But we've got it all to ourselves tonight."

"Whoa—is this yours?"

He chuckled a little. "Not my style or price range. Belongs to a friend who—do you know the term 'chaebol?'"

I didn't. So, as two big doors opened into a kind of room I didn't even have a name for, he took me to one of several banquettes beneath the windows and said, "Very wealthy woman who wanted to try the idol thing. She'll tell you all that herself, I'm sure. It's quite a story, actually. Her rise and fall."

"Fall?"

He headed for a big white bowl full of expensive-as-hell champagne. Bottles ringed around a mound of ice that looked like Swarovski crystals.

And as he opened one like a man used to popping bottles that cost more than I made in a month, he told me, "Chaebols are almost like royalty in Korea. I mean, the whole crazy rich Asians thing? Hae-won's family's crazier and richer than most—they really were royalty way back in the day. So, because they felt she was dishonoring their ancestry, they pressured the company into letting her debut too quickly. Hoping she'd fail."