Prince Caspian -Jung Yoonoh NCT

8. The Charm Bracelet

"Well, well, well," Chloe looked at me, and said softly, "who'd have guessed? You're a dark horse, Yiseul."

She leaned forward, her eyes bright.

"So? Go on..."

"This guy kissed me...it was just this one time..."

"Behind a closed door?"

"Below the cliffs, actually..." I remembered that kiss below the cliffs, the rush of unfamiliar emotions that surged through me at the touch of his lips.

"It didn't mean anything, really," I said, avoiding her eyes.

But in my heart of hearts, I knew that I lied. I had thought about that kiss, dreamt about it...

"All this harping on kisses, and passion and lust - it's just - " I searched for a word.

"Cheap?" Chloe shrugged. "But that's what we live on. Little episides to keep us going."

"I don't think it's right..." My voice trailed off. 

What was I trying to say? What did I want? Words eluded me. I was a novice at this. 

"You are waiting for The Grand Passion?" Chloe said gently. "But it doesn't come to all of us, which is as well. Me, I shall have to settle for some ordinary individual who can give me a comfortable life, my family's not well off." 

"But aren't you Chaebol?"

"So what?" Her voice is bitter. "Being Chaebol doesn't mean anything, if you don't have the money to go with it. I need to marry for money, not love."

"Oh."

I was silent, thinking about my upcoming marriage of convenience. Chloe and I had more in common than she thought.

"But you have your dream man?" I said, impulsively. "How do you imagine your ideal lover?" 

Chloe looked pensive. 

"Tall and fair," she began, "not very young. I would prefer a man of the world, who has had affairs with many women."

I gasped, and she giggled. "So that he would be - you know, experienced," she explained, "but of course he would never have truly loved until he met me." 

Her eyes grew dreamy. 

"He would seem hard and cold outside, perhaps even a little cruel, but underneath would be a hidden fire, which would ignite only for me. He would sweep me off my feet, he would be crazy about me, and I - I would be aloof at first, but in the end..." Her voice trailed off and she sat motionless, absorbed in her dream. 

"Sounds fine," I said, "but are you likely to meet your heartthrob?"

Chloe laughed ruefully. 

"Not a hope. I don't suppose there is such a guy outside the pages of a book, or a drama or a movie." She sighed. "But you, Yiseul, do you have an ideal lover?" 

"Oh yes,"  I was quite ready to play Chloe's game. "Mine would be tall too, but tanned, with lazy brown eyes, almost golden in the sun, and he would have a profile like an eagle, and a funny sort of smile that does things to..." 

I stopped, confused. I was suddenly aware that I was trying to describe the man I had encountered at the foot of the cliff. 

"You're blushing!" Chloe exclaimed. "Don't tell me that you've met him?" 

"Perhaps I have," I said in a low voice.

"And he admired you? He fell at your feet?" 

"He fell at my feet," I said, laughing, "but he didn't admire me, he thought I was a mere child..."