The perfume of love (rain-bi)

chapter 19

they had reached the launch. on the short trip out to the yacht, jenna held the book on her lap and wondered how she could have thought him an unpleasant man.

it showed how mistaken first impressions could be. clearly he had received a bad first impression of her but had now revised it. having got off on the wrong foot with each other, they were now on the right one and with luck, would stay there.

young ji, who served there supper, had a white plumeria flower stuck in his frizzy black hair. according to jenna's book on leis, everywhere else the flower was called frangipani, but in hawaii it was known as plumeria and was used for both single and double leis.

"Mr lee yong fishes. you surf, read and listen to music. what does young ji do with his spare time?" she asked.

"he takes very little time off. he's always working" said jihoon "he and i have been friends since we were children. there's no one I'd rather have with me in a tricky situation. if we ever run into trouble, stick by young ji. he'll take care of you."

"are you likely to run into trouble?"

"it's not likely on a vessel of this size, but the pacific isn't always as friendly as it looks at the moment" he answered, with a glance at the calm moon-silvered ocean between Maui and Molokai.

"i remember in 1988 an American girl and her fiance met an English couple in Tahiti who were tired of cruising and wanted their boat Hazana taken to San Diego. the Americans agreed to do it, but they ran into Hurricane Raymond. the strapped herself under a table while the man stayed on deck, on a safety line. the boat, a forty-three-footer, rolled completely at least once, knocking her unconscious. when she recovered, she was injured, the boat was badly damaged with both masts broken and the man had been washed overboard. his line was intact, but the harness had snapped."

jenna was listening intently, her food forgotten. as she visualised the grief and terror which the girl must have experienced, a low murmur of pity escaped her.

jihoon nodded. "a terrible situation for anyone, and particularly a girl of twenty-three. but she had a lot of guts and she survived. she rigged up a makeshift sail and used a sextant and her digital watch to navigate. she was alone on Hazana for forty-one days before she finally reached Hawaii, the big island."

"six weeks is a long time to be entirely alone anywhere" she said. "but out in the middle of the pacific...." she shook her head in wonder at the courage which had got the girl through her ordeal. "i thought hana and joon were crossing the pacific on a boat that size. i was stunned when i saw Ocean Wanderer."

as soon as she had said it, she regretted reminding him of something which might blight their new rapport.

"i can't see your sister undertaking a long voyage on a small boat" he said sardonically.

"we both learned to sail a dinghy when we were children. our aunt had cottage on the west coast, but the nearest beach was quiet a long walk from the village. we used to sail up the estuary when we wanted to picnic on the beach. i loved our holidays there. when the tide was right i spent most of my time in the dinghy."

"ever tried windsurfing?"

she shook her head, relieved that they seemed to have skirted the dangerous subject of her sister's relationship with joon.

"the thing I'd most like to learn is snorkelling" she told him.

for the rest of the meal the conversation stayed on safe topics and jenna was careful to avoid any more unguarded remarks.

when young ji served coffee, jihoon invited him to join them. she had the feeling that he was alert to her reaction to this and perhaps, if she hadn't already known they were lifelong friends, she might have been surprised by the Captain inviting the Chief steward to sit down and chat.

"has your soul cought up with your body now, miss jenna?" asked young ji, when he was seated opposite her.

as her eyebrows contracted in puzzlement, he gave her his wide warm smile, and said "there's a story about a party of Dutchmen who were exploring West New Guinea long ago. they hired some bearers and set out to climb the Wilhelmina Mountains. the journey wasn't as difficult as they expected and after four days they had travelled a distance they thought would have taken six days. on the fifth morning, coming out of their tents they were surprised to find the bearers still asleep. when they woke them up, the men said,'we can't travel today. we've gone so fast that our souls haven't caught up with our bodies.' i think that's what happens to people who fly to the pacific from America and Europe. but now they call it jet-lag."

she laughed. "i know what the bearers meant. I've never felt as peculiar as i did when i landed at Honolulu. i think my soul was still somewhere in the middle of Korea. but it didn't take long to catch up. i felt better the following day."

"what's the situation with regard to finding someone to help Mrs lee?" jihoon asked young ji.

as jenna now knew, the ship's second stewardess had been taken ill a few days before her own arrival and was now in hospital on the island of Oahu recovering from a hysterectomy. her convalescence would prevent her from rejoining Ocean Wanderer during the present voyage and so far no one had been found to replace her.

"no luck,i'm afraid" young ji answered. "Mrs lee and I have interviewed several women today, but nobody suitable. i think we shall have to manage until we reach Fiji. there i can easily find someone."

"couldn't i help Mrs lee?" jenna suggested. when they both looked at her in surprise, she went on, "i'm an experienced housewife. i must have most of the skills a stewards need. I'd be glad to give her a hand."

young ji shook his head. " No, no.... it's kind of you to offer miss jenna, but you're here to enjoy yourself, not to work."

"i can do both," she persisted. "a few hours work in the morning will still leave me lots of time for relaxing."

"Definitely not." it was jihoon who answered her this time and his tone was adamant. "as young ji says, we appreciate the suggestion, but it wouldn't do. you're Mr Dennison's guest. he wouldn't like it. you're already doing more than most passengers. Mrs lee tells me you keep your cabin immaculate."

"i won't dare not to after the wigging i had on my first night on board!" she answered, daring to tease him.

then, seeing young ji looking as baffled as she had when he asked her about her soul, she said, "haven't you heard about the stupid thing i did that night?" when he shook his head, she continued, "i went for a swim on my own in the middle of the night. luckily jihoon was about and got me out of the water before anything nasty happened. telling me to keep my cabin tidy was part of the well-deserved riot act he read me"

as she spoke, she was slightly nervous that this lighthearted account of the events of that night might strain his friendlier attitude.

but he seemed not to mind it, saying, "what do you mean about being experienced housewife?"

"I've spent the past two years keeping house for my father."

she could see that his next question would be to ask why that had been necessary. to avoid going into details, she said quickly, "if you'll excuse me, i think I'll go to bed now. thank you again for taking me to the lecture... and for the book. good night. good night young ji."