Crash Landing on You - Edelweiss Diaries

Part 11 - One step at a time

"To be fair, I texted your Omma before I came to pick you up," he said, placing his hands on his hips, in defiance. However, his voice faltered as he continued. "Last time, I promised her that I won't see you if it meant leaving you with goodbyes."

The mock censure in her eyes softened, as she noticed a distant hurt surface in his gaze.

Though she was unable to grasp the extent of his bond with her Omma, she was glad that he had the one person who's opinion mattered to her, on his side. Before she could offer a quip, the sound of a car pulling into the driveway caught their attention.

"We'll talk." Placing a hand over her cheek, he left the room.

Standing by the bedroom entryway, she watched him usher a tall, steely-eyed man towards a room between the living room sitting area and the dining hall. In contrast to the man's hardened features, he laughed easily at whatever Ri Jyeong Hyuk mentioned in fluent German.

Her mouth fell open. She had known that he'd studied abroad, but hearing him speak an alien language revealed the presence of a Ri Jyeong Hyuk, she wasn't acquainted with.

She continued to observe him open the door to let the Dean in. A gleaming Steinway & Sons piano sat squarely in the center of a room with brown tufted cushion walls which she presumed were soundproofing measures. He stepped away to the bar by the kitchen entry and grabbed two glasses and a bottle of liquor before returning to the piano room.

Aware it would be a while before their session would end, she got back to exploring the bedroom after closing the door behind her.

As she looked around, she realized that the room's layout was a near replica of his bedroom in his parent's house. The wall closest to where she stood, housed an upright piano. On the opposite end, the entire wall was turned into a bookcase that was still bare. A sectional sat in front of the book-case, with the armless end lined against a white curtained wall. She walked towards the curtain separation and pulled back to glean for the landscape that would show from the bed that was behind her. With the room fully lit, she instead saw her own reflection on the dark glass. Though she couldn't tell what awaited her on the other side, she was certain it was picturesque in how it was framed with the floor-to-ceiling glass wall that spanned the full length of the room.

Going past the bed, she opened the door to her left, from where he'd gotten the gift box, to find a walk-in closet that was sparsely filled. Straight ahead, she twisted another door handle that led to a spacious white bathroom that was to her likes. The sight of a luxurious shower awakened the tiredness she'd ignored for long.

Peeling away her suit and the rest of her clothes, she stood under a hot shower that brought a glorious relief to her achy muscles. The lack of an aromatherapy candle or a feminine body wash didn't matter to her and instead, she reached for the blue liquid that was most certainly his soap of choice. Today, she wanted the scent that lingered on his skin to envelop her, as a reminder that she wasn't dreaming for the times he wasn't nearby.

Once she toweled off the moisture, she reached for her clothes on the hook, only to have it slide off the hook and fall onto the wet floor. "No! no, no, no!" she mumbled hunkering down to pick up the damp clothes. She glanced up to check that her inner garments were still safely hanging from the hook. Sighing thankful that all wasn't lost, she donned the dry garments and wrapped a towel to keep her modesty. Hanging up her wet clothes to dry, she reached for a smaller towel to tie off her still wet hair. For the night, she decided she'll make do with something in the closet until they can collect her baggage from the hotel in Bern.

She sneaked her head out to check if he was in the bedroom, her forehead strained with worry. Hearing that the piano was still being played on, she let out the breath she'd been holding and rushed out to lock the door behind, once she got into the closet space.