The perfume of love (rain-bi)

chapter 28

The door opened. instead of the elegant woman jenna had expected to see, Mrs lee's shorter, plumper figure came into view.

the stewardess stopped short, obviously startled at  finding someone in the cabin.

"Oh.... you gave me a start, Miss jenna. I'm just bringing back these two shirts. is the Captain through there".... with a nod towards the inner cabin.

"No, he was called away. I'm just finishing my drink" jenna explained.

she wondered if Mrs lee would show surprise that her beloved Captain jihoon should invite the least important passenger to have a private pre-dinner drink with him.

but the little Korean woman seemed to see nothing odd in it, or was too well trained to reveal her reactions. she said,

"the stewards look after the other gentlemen's laundry, but these good shirts he wears ashore i prefer to wash out by hand. they last twice as long. he can't afford to have his clothes racked and ruined. not while he's saving for his schooner."

"his schooner?" jenna repeated.

"that's what he wants and, knowing him, that's what he'll have. a schooner and a nice wife to make him as happy as Captain jung was with his mother; those are the two things Captain jihoon has set his heart on"

"Really? I had the impression the captain probably preferred to remain a bachelor"

at this Mrs lee did show surprise.

"Oh, no, dear... no, not at all. I won't say he didn't have his fling when he was younger. what good-looking bloke in his twenties doesn't? but the Captain of a ship can't afford to have a bad reputation with women... not like some I could mention" she added, clicking her tongue.

"anyway Captain jihoon isn't a ladies' man by nature. he's been looking for a wife for a long time. but it isn't easy to find someone who'll be right for the life he wants. he could never be happy ashore. a couple of weeks in Sydney and he starts getting restless. a wife with a handkering for terra firma would never make him happy"

by this time she had bustled through to the inner cabin and was putting the shirts in a sliding tray in the closet while jenna stood on the threshold, looking round with even greater curiosity at jihoon's inner sanctum.

"very neat and tidy, the Captain is" said Mrs lee.

"most sea-faring men are, you'll find. that's another thing he couldn't stand... an untidy wife. you're very neat, Miss jenna, and so is Mrs Walters." she closed the door of the closet.

"you and your sister must have had the same upbringing, but you couldn't be more different, could you?"

"No, we aren't much alike" jenna agreed. "i don't remember my mother but hana is said to take after her. I'm more like my father's sister"

"it's funny where likenesses come from" said the stewardess.

"Captain jihoon does resemble his father."

she beckoned jenna to come further inside the cabin. her reason for this was that hanging on the part of the wood-panelled bulkhead hidden by the open door was a framed collage of photographs, some studio portraits, some snapshots.

"that's Captain jung the father and his bride on their wedding day" said Mrs lee.

"when you can't see his features closely, it could be Captain jihoon, couldn't it?"
jenna nodded. it brought a lump to her throat to look at the bridal couple; the tall, deeply tanned man in a white naval-style uniform looking so much like jihoon as he smiled at the slender girl on his arm, her white veil blowing in a breeze.