The perfume of love (rain-bi)

chapter 6

maybe it wasn't the americans being a bore for me which hana was afraid of; but of me being a bore for the americans, jenna thought as she finished her supper with pineapple mousse served in a long stemmed glass goblet, with a crunchy topping of chopped nuts with a flavour she didn't recognise.

"they were macadamia nuts" Mrs lee enlightened her when she returned.

"you'll have to ask Captain jihoon about them, he'll know, he know most of the answers to the things passengers ask. you'll meet him at breakfast tomorrow, unless you sleep late. he's an early riser, like his father"

"I've already met the Captain, he brought us over in the launch"

"and what did you think of him?" Mrs lee enquired, very much in the tone of a fond parent inviting praise of her favourite son.

the truthful answer was: i thought, for the Captain of a cruise ship, he was amazingly dour and disagreeable... but she couldn't say that to a woman who had been a second mother to him.

"he's very much younger than I'd expected" she answered. "i thought he'd be at least middle aged"

"he'll be thirty in june. that is young to be in his position. he's been at sea all his life, except for the few years when he had to go to school"

"you were going to tell me what he did to try to avoid that" jenna reminded her.

"yes, but it'll keep for another time. i should let you catch up your beauty sleep. it's a long, long way from Korea to Maui and you must be exhausted"

perhaps regretting that her ready tongue had led her to the edge of an indiscretion, Mrs lee finished loading her tray and bade jenna good night.

when she had gone, jenna went into the adjoining bathroom to brush her teeth. lingering traces of eye-liner on her lids reminded her that earlier, before having a shower, she had been dismayed to discover that the make-up put on by the demonstrator had done nothing to enhance her looks. applied to her tired pale face it had served to make her look rather tarty and hard.

perhaps, what with the make-up and the sexy red dress, plus what he had overheard hana saying as he came up behind them, it wasn't surprising that Captain jung had formed an unfavourable impression of her. presently, lying in bed with the lights out, she thought about her sister's fiance now entertaining his guests on the deck above. would he like her? would she like him? was hana sharing a cabin with him?

the thought made her move uneasily. when she had imagined they were crossing the pacific on a sailing boat,she had taken for granted that even though turns on watch might make it difficult for them to sleep togother in the literal sense, they would be lovers. how could an engaged couple alone on board a small boat on the world's largest ocean not be on terms of the closest intimacy?

but that was a different matter frim sharing a cabin on a yacht as large as Ocean Wanderer where the nature of their relationship was not a private matter but would be known to everyone, including the Captain.

for the first time it occurred to her to wonder if Captain jung had a wife. not many heterosexual men were unmarried at thirty. but if he had a wife, surely she would live on board with him as his mother had lived with his father? Mrs lee would have mentioned her.

she yawned and turned on her side, enjoying the comfort of the firm mattress and the soft down pillow and the feel of the fine percale sheets. it was bliss to be able to stretch out and to know that tomorrow morning, and every day thereafter until she had to go back to Korea, the sun would be shining.

the cabin was still in darkness when she woke. the fluorescent numbers of the digital clock showed 2:17. as hana had forecast, jenna's body-clock had awake, in the middle of the night. having made herself a pot of tea, she drank two cups and looked through a magazine. what she wanted, she realised was some exercise.

next to walking, her favourite exercise was swimming. suddenly it struck her that, as long as she was very quiet, she could have a swim now. it was a bright moonlight night. the sea was calm. provided the boarding ladder was still in place she could slip into the water without making a noise which would disturb people sleeping on that side of the yacht.

A few minutes later, wearing the black one-piece which had been the regulation bathing suit at her boarding school and with a bath towel over her arm, she left the cabin and crept along the central passageway which led to the deck where she had come aboard.

the ladder was still there, the platform at its foot suspended a couple of feet above the shining surface of the sea. leaving her towel on the deck, jenna made her way down the ladder. on reaching the platform she sat down and dangled her legs in the water. which felt wonderfully warm and silky.

after sitting there for a few minutes, looking towards Lahaina where a few lights showed that she wasn't the only person awake,she lowered herself into the sea and began to swim slowly away from the yacht's hull. seen from this perspective, the vessel looked huge, her decks far above jenna. the round portholes close to the water-line were presumably those of the crew's quarters.

about fifty yards of breast stroke followed by the same distance of back stroke toned up all her muscles and made her feel back to normal after the long hours of being airborne or confined to airport lounges.

she was lying on her back, floating and studying the stars, when a sudden strong swirl in the water made her gasp with fear.

"Oh,God, you gave me a scare" she exclaimed, when she recognised Captain jung treading water beside her.

"get back in board immediately" he said, his voice quiet but furious.

jenna didn't argue. het heart still pumping wildly from the fright he had given her, she made for the boarding ladder.

it was only when she had felt the movement in the water that she had suddenly realised that at this latitude, in deep water, there might be sharks. even now, with him swimming behind her, the possibility that their movements might have caught the cruel little eye of a cruising predator sent a sharp thrust of terror through her.

fighting down panic, she forgot about being quiet and swam as fast as she could for the safety of the ladder. normally she could have hauled herself on to it with ease. but tonight her arms felt like jelly and she couldn't heave herself out. as her first attempt failed and she slumped back into the water, the man beside her pulled himself on the platform in one fluid movement. then he reached down and grabbed hold of her. an instant later she was on the platform beside him.

"bloody stupid girl!" he snapped harshly. " don't you have any sense? people don't go swimming alone at night in the pacific. even inside the reef it can be dangerous"

as she stood there, trembling and speechless, he pushed her roughly aside and went up the steps to the deck, two at a time. it was only after he had disappeared from view that she realised he had been naked.

jenna waited until her heart had stopped pounding. she took some deep calming breaths. then still shivering, as if the balmy night had turned cold, she climbed the ladder.

she had thought that by now he would have gone back to his quarters and any further reprimand would be delivered tomorrow. it was disconcerting to find him near the top of the ladder, drying himself on her towel.

"Oh... I'm sorry" she muttered, instinctively turning away from the unfamiliar sight of a nude male.

but as she started to hurry away, he said curtly "wait"

jenna halted, but she didn't turn around. she had neglected to squeeze the water out of her hair and it was streaming down her back.

"you can have your towel now"

when she didn't react immediately, he added, "I'm decent"

she turned. the towel was spread over the varnished wood rail at the top of the white-painted guard rails.

Captain jung was in the act of fastening a piece of coloured cloth which covered him from waist to knee.

"you'd better come up to the bridge. we can't talk here. get dry first" he ordered.

what jenna would have liked to do was to wrap the towel round her dripping head, tell him their talk would have to be postponed until tomorrow, and walk away to her cabin. but the upsetting events of the last few minutes had shattered her normal self-possession. intimidated both by the man and his manner, she did as she was told.