The perfume of love (rain-bi)

chapter 1

"Aloha! welcome to the pacific"

before embracing the girl she had come to meet at Honolulu airport, kim-hana lifted a lei of carnations and tossed it deftly over her younger sister's fair head.

her own hair was a rich dark chestnut inherited from their mother, she wore flowing down her back with the stem of a crimson hibiscus flower tucked behind her left ear, a clinging white crochet top outlined the full curves of her breasts and very brief white cotton shorts showed of her high, rounded buttocks and a pair of long golden-brown legs poised on high heeled red ankle tie sandals, a small dark red eelskin disco bag dangled from her shoulder,and her toenails and long fingernails were painted to match. she was elaborately made up and, before the arriving passengers had begun to emerge from customs hall,had attracted a great many stares from other people waiting to greet them.

those who saw the person she had been waiting for were surprised when it turned out to be a young woman whose appearance and manner were in marked contrast to hana's.

kim-jenna had been in transet for twenty-four hours. she had been deeply asleep when one of the stewardesses on the penultimate lap of the long flight from korea had roused her because they were coming in to land at Honolulu. there had no time to go to the washroom and freshen up, or to change into lighter clothes as had been her intention.

the beautiful garland of flowers which her sister had draped over her shoulders only served to emphasise the pallor of her thin, tired face and the inappropriate heaviness and drabness of her navy blue pleated wool skirt and cheap, travel crumpled blouse.

she glanced down at the thick rope of petals. then her long lashes lifted and her weary grey eyes met hana's sparkling blue ones with their curled and mascaraed lashes and fashionably shadowed lids.

"It's beautiful... thank you.Oh, hana, it's so good to be here"

her low voice trembled alittle as she held out her arms to hug the much loved older sister whom she had seen only once since the terrible row with their father when hana was eighteen and jenna four years younger.

in the intervening six years professor kim-kangIn had never once mentioned hana. he knew that she and jenna wrote to each other, but he never asked for news, and jenna never dared to volunteer information for fear he might forbid her to continue the correspondence.she had always been afraid of her father, sensing that he blamed her for the loss of his wife who had died when jenna was born prematurely.

"it's great to have you" said hana when they drew apart.

"i was afraid father would be an invalid for years and that you would never get away" she added frankly.

"it must have been awful for you having to nurse him for so long, i couldn't have stood it, but it's over now, let's forget it" she went on hurriedly.

"how was the flight?.... not too good, by the look of you, if you'd travelled first class you would have enjoyed it, flying tourist class is only bearable on short hops"

"i can't afford to travel first class" said jenna

"coming here at all is an extravagance, but i couldn't resist the chance to spend a few weeks with you and meet your fiance, has he come with you?" she added, glancing about, half expecting to see her sister's husband-to-be hovering a few feet away, waiting to be introduced.

"no, he's looking forward to meeting you, but today is a big day for him, there's a championship golf tournament being played and joon is a fanatical golfer" hana explained

"he wouldn't miss it for anything, is that all your luggage?"

she looked at the one small suitcase which the younger girl had put down a few moments earlier.

"i didn't have much to bring, looking after father, i haven't needed many clothes and i couldn't buy summer things in korea in November, it seemed best to wait until i got here, I've a cotton skirt and blouse in my flight bag, is there somewhere i could change? or isn't there time?"

janne knew from her sister's last letter to her that one more short flight remained before she reached her distination, the Hawaiian island of Maui where joon's yacht (Ocean Wanderer) was berthed....[AN: i creat the name xp].

"there's no hurry, you can change in the restroom, you must be boiling in that thick skirt and pantyhose" said hana with a glance at her sister's nylon-clad legs and low heeled serviceable shoes.

it was only the difference in their footwear which made her seem the taller, both girls were above average height, but it was their sole resemblance, in every other respect they could scarcely be more dissimilar.

hana walked with the short steps dictated by her four-inch heels and with a provocative swing of her hips. she didn't offer to carry the suitcase and jenna didn't expect it. two years of caring for her partially paralysed father had given her strong arms and shoulders. she could have handled a much heavier case with ease. taking one pace to three of hana's she walked alongside her through the bustle of the airport, relieved that the long hours of travelling were almost over.

how long Ocean Wanderer would remain at Maui she didn't know yet. hana and her American fiance were in the process of crossing the pacific Ocean to Australia, and jenna had been invited to join them for the passage from Hawaii to Fiji.

in the airport restroom she unzipped her nylon flight bag and took out the top and skirt she had intended to land in. the white cotton top had been made in india. she had bought it from a market stall in the center of seoul, the city were she and her sister had been born and grown up.

the full skirt of pale grey cotton with a spriggy design in white was one she had had several years. it had come from seoul branch of an oldschool store whose inexpensive but stylish clothes were very popular with the female undergraduates and other seoul girls.

However, when hana saw the grey skirt her eyebrows shot up. she said "how long have you had that, for heaven's sake? it looks long overdue for the ragbag. you can't arrive wearing those things!"

jenna was taken aback "Can't I? why not? i thought on about the rule would be cool and casual"

"Casual, yes... not way out of date" hana glanced at her watch, "we'll have to dash into town and buy you a couple of things to wear tonight and tomorrow"

the prospect of a hurried shopping expedition when she was already wilting from the unaccustomed humid heat made jenna's spirits sink. she was longing for a bath and a rest.

"if these things really won't do, couldn't i borrow something of yours for the time being?" she suggested

"my things wouldn't fit you properly" said hana, looking at their reflections in the mirror behind the washbasins and comparing their figures "we may be about the same size but we are different shape anyway, i never lend my clothes come on change into those for now and we'll take a taxi to the Ala Moana mall it isn't far"

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auther note: i hope you like this one more and i will try to make it better and thanks for reading :)