The Holiday

Chapter Two

Somewhere in the back of the kitchen, Claire watched Choi as he rolled up his sleeves and gathered two wooden boxes full of wine bottles. Choi's broad shoulders carried the heavy boxes into a room with one long oak table surrounded by shelves of wine.

"There cannot be any errors at this party." He muttered putting some fresh cut roses into a tall vase. Claire sense of curiosity over-whelmed her ,as she took two wine glasses and filled them up.

Choi's eyebrows raised slightly, he looked away  while her eyes met his. She took the glass to her lip and smelled the fruity dark red wine.

"Cheers!" She offered to hand him the other glass. Choi put down the wine glass, as Claire let out a breath disappointed in drinking alone.

As she continued to drink Choi dropped his head deep in thought. He couldn't understand why she was trying to be nice to him without a reason behind it. An older man with a large forehead stomped into the cellar quite displeased.

"Oh my, You still have so much to do before the party." He criticized while reaching out to strike Choi's shoulder. Claire felt a urgency to step back away from Choi's side.

Choi blinked and apologized as Jayden shook his head disappointed with Choi's inability
to achieve his expectation. 

As the evening progressed, Choi remained distance and focused only on customer service. Claire stepped  carefully out of view but close enough to hear any kind of private conversation. At first, the table closest to her seemed cheery, until the atmosphere changed shifted into gossip.

"Jayden is known to be a gambler..." one lady whispered to another patron who carefully took a sip of wine.

"Yes, after all, how could someone like him offer a place like this?" She smirked making my reporters mind go crazy piecing information together.

Nearby the owner Jayden forced a smile as he ordered Choi to pour some more wine. Claire carefully observed Choi's inclination in being compliant to everyone needs.

Choi sweated under everyone's steady glaze as he hoped for the party to end soon. His hands sweated as he struggled to open a wine cork. Choi felt so useless in completing his revenge.

Claire knew she had to complete this story, but there was still so much to reveal. The report about Jayden's larceny made her think her assignment would be easy to complete after all she already had evidence but arriving at the bed and breakfast there is so many more secrets to discover.

Irritated Claire combed back her wavy black hair behind her ear and finished the glass of wine. As she tasted the bitter wine Choi appeared in front of her void of all emotion.

"Your redundant following needs to stop," he ordered Claire forcing a fake smile putting her empty wine glass on the table.

"I don't understand your churlish behavior toward me?" Claire demanded putting her hands on her hip. Since the moment Claire met Choi there was something about his arrogance that seemed so fake.

"Follow me..." he ordered waking straight out the parlor. Claire shoved her hands into her pocket trying to decide if she should follow him or not.

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Author Note:
If your enjoying "The Holiday" please leave a comment or suggestions to improve my story. Thanks for reading