FALLING SLOWLY ||Complete||

Tempting storm

Being woken up from her stupor in front of the still blabbering TV, does not make Chae Ryung the most gracious of hosts. She stares at So with her mouth agape until Soo finds the good sense to pull her away under the pretence of making arrangements.

Returning with an armful of freshly laundered blankets, Soo finds him examining her mini herb garden. She dumps them in the sofa and slides the glass doors to join him outside. The cool night air rushes in scented waves and Soo inhales gratefully before catching So’s eye.

“Excuse her strange behavior,” she tells him, referring to Chae Ryung. “She is awkward around strangers.” So shrugs dismissing her vicarious excuse. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you cold?” She adds the last in an afterthought repressing a shiver that runs down her spine.

“Have you ever been in a pool in the fall?” He gives her an amused glance and chuckles at her look. “There are only a handful around here that has proper temperature control.”

“You have a bad habit of filtering questions Mr. Hwang,” she replies as she kneels to pick a fallen yellowed leaf from the grove of flowering chrysanthemums. Absentmindedly she runs her finger tips over the nodding blossoms and looks up to find him watching. “To choose the part you want to answer and ignore the rest.”

“I don’t know about bad habits, my PR manager was rather impressed.” He tells her offering a hand to pull her back to her feet. For a moment So indulges himself in holding her hand, her skin soft and supple under his hardened fingers. Would she be as soft all over? A stray thought frightens him and he lets his fingers slip gliding over the back of her palm down to the tips of her fingers. “I’m trying to figure you out Miss Hae Soo tell me, do you tend to this garden yourself?”

He replies to her question with a question of his own and her laughter patters through the scented air.

“And what have you figured out?”

So shrugs and looks around himself. “You are not what you appear to be.”

Her smile dims and she shifts uncomfortably. His gaze rakes over her as if peeling off that ill - fitting skin layer by layer.

“I’m not sure what gives you the impression…” she lets her words trail off.

“Well - for one, this is not what I’d imagine as a lady’s garden.”

“What would you imagine then?” Her pulse hums strangely against her skin and her breath comes out in smokey puffs in the chilly night.

“Orchids, roses, of exotic varieties.”

“Oh but I do have them -” she grins despite herself. “I have orchids you won’t see anywhere else.” She thinks of Meyung Hee’s green house and its imported flowers only for a moment.

“You might,” So concedes easily. “But you don’t adore them as much.”
“You have a terrifying insight Mr. Hwang. They belonged to my cousin. This house used to be hers, we lived together then.” She confesses on a whim and feels the weight lifting off her shoulders and giggles. “You should have been a detective.”

“Do you have secrets Hae Soo?” There is a tint of laughter in his tone and she thinks offhandedly that it’s a tone that matches moonless nights and whispering woods. His voice gives her name an intoxicating quality of old dark charms that leaves her heart thundering in her ears.

Why don’t you find out for yourself?” She tells him with a feigned bravery and walks back inside, before her own heartbeat drowns away her voice of rationality. There is something wickedly tempting about Hwang So, she thinks helplessly. A dangerous man who has no idea of the power at his fingertips.