For the Love of Kimchee (Book 1)

12

Chloe

Chloe internally cringed as soon as the words left her mouth.

'she wanted to get to know him better,' Who was she right now?! And to make it worse, all he had to say in response was 'Oh.'

She was definitely coming on too strong. She mentally slapped herself. What was she doing? This was supposed to be a language exchange not a date. She couldn't even look at him she was so embarrassed.

" I would like to get to know you too." Chloe eyes shot up to his. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. He looked away as he took a swig of his coffee as his face gained a bit of color. Maybe, he was feeling the same way as her?

Unable to help herself, Chloe felt her face broke out into a smile. It wasn't a pretty smile either. It was the cheek hurting, face-splitting, teeth-showing kind of smile. It seemed to be infectious too, because soon Daniel was soon sporting his own smile. His looked as if he was sculpted from white marble. With his angled jaw and white teeth. His eyes even held their own allure. Almond brown, with hints of dark chocolate bits thrown in. His thick black eyebrows perfectly trimmed and his jet black hair, combed back from his face. This man was beautiful.

His smile reached his eyes and then something happened. It was almost too fast for her to catch, but she did. It looked like shame or guilt? He cleared his throat.

"Uhermm, I mean since I'm already conversational. I would like to befriend more foreigners. I don't have many friends here." His tone grew more serious, the smile was still on his face, but it didn't reach his eyes anymore.

Chloe felt like someone had slapped her. Friends? 'Of course he wanted to be friends silly, did you really think a man like him would want something more than friendship from you?' her nasty inner voice started to trample on her feelings.

"Ermm. I mean I would like to form deeper connections with foreigners. Form a close relationship." The disappointment must've been clear on her face by the way Daniel was stammering for a correct answer.

She smiled politely. "No. No I get it. Totally let's be friends!" Her voice softened by the blow of rejection.

She tried to muster up some fake enthusiasm at the prospect of just being friends. Maybe it was for the best? It's not like she wanted anything serious anyway. She sighed. Why would he want to be with her anyway? He was rich and could have anyone he wanted.

"Okay, so how do you want to do this? My Korean is pretty bad." She lightly laughed at her own joke, attempting to change the subject. Maybe being friends was for the best? The more she thought about it, the better being friends sounded to her. Soon, her nervousness about the evening slowly began to fall off of her. It wasn't like he saw her that way anyway, no need to be self-conscious. She shook the nerves off. Yeah, this was for the best. Even as she said the words to herself, she still couldn't shake a heavy weight that settled on her chest. She took a small bite of her lemon tart, trying to shake off the feeling. Get with the program, Chloe. He just wants to be friends.

"I guess, we can go over basic phrases and sentences first." He suggested. He looked cool as a cucumber, like he didn't just deliver a painful blow to her ego. He took the last bite of his scone and brushed the crumbs off his hand. "Do you know how to say 'hello,'? What about saying your name and your job?"

Chloe nodded her head in response and opened up her notebook.

"Onion- haseyo. Chloe, em-nida. Cho-nun seong-sang-nim em-nida" Chloe looked at Daniel for confirmation and saw him covering his mouth with his hand, looking like he was going to burst at the seams.