Falling From Grace

Chapter 6: Rendezvous

Ri Jeong Hyeok sips his whisky as he sits in his living room, waiting for Yoon Se-ri to arrive.

He drove home like a madman, wanting to make sure that he arrives before she does. He's excited of course, but also oddly nervous.

The anticipation is getting to the point of it being overwhelming. I wonder what's taking her so long, he thinks to himself, impatiently drumming his fingers against his knee. Right, she said she wanted to change into something more appropriate. I wonder what she meant by that.

His doorbell rings, interrupting his thoughts. Jeong Hyeok jumps up from his seat on the couch, but at the last moment, he stops himself from running to the door. It won't do to be too eager. He finishes the rest of his drink before walking to his front door.

He opens the door, and there she is. Yoon Se-ri, in the flesh.

She's wearing an opulent floor-length cream coat with black trim, her hair in a messy bun and her makeup light. She smells of flowers, warmth, and a hint of something he can't quite put his finger on, sensuous yet fresh.

She's smiling up at him, and she looks absolutely radiant in his eyes.

"Nice to see you again, Jeong Hyeok," says Se-ri, looking up at him with a smile. He looks delicious in his simple cream cable knit turtleneck, fitted black jeans, and simple black boots.

Se-ri plants a chaste, lingering kiss on his mouth, tasting whisky from his lips. "You got started without me?" she asks, her tone feigning disappointment.

Jeong Hyeok was confused by her question at first, but then he realised that she must have smelled or tasted the whisky when she kissed him. "Sorry, I was a little impatient," he smirks, remembering her words from last time.

Se-ri laughs, reminded of her words from last time. "It's alright, you can make it up to me later," she says, her smile bright and her words full of promise.

He smiles at that and then takes her by the hand to the living room. "Make yourself at home," says Jeong Hyeok, gesturing to the couch. "What would you like to drink?"

"Whatever you're having," says Se-ri with another one of those smiles that turns her eyes into perfect little crescent moons.

Jeong Hyeok feels himself getting drunk already, intoxicated by Yoon Se-ri.

Jeong Hyeok made his way to the mini bar, taking a whisky tumbler and the bottle of Caol Ila 30, his favourite whisky. "Is whisky on the rocks okay?" he asks, looking up at her.

The sight that greets him when he does knocks the wind right out of him.

Time seems to slow down as he watches Se-ri shrug off her coat with her back to him, slowly revealing an expanse of creamy white skin encased in a shimmering soft gold slip dress that hugs her curves in just the right way.

The light coming from the city below them seemed to make her glow, making her look ethereal, almost too beautiful to look at.

Just when he thinks she's going to disappear into thin air like a mirage, she looks back at him. She laughs, and the sound beckoning to him like a siren call.

Se-ri hears a sharp intake of breath as she takes off her coat, and she could almost feel Jeong Hyeok's burning stare scorching the skin of her back. She looks back at him and sees him dumbstruck and frozen in place, a tumbler in one hand and a bottle of whisky on the other.

"Yes Jeong Hyeok, on the rocks would be lovely," Se-ri says with a laugh, amused by his stunned expression. She decides to tease him further by walking out to the balcony, knowing full well the effect that the Ralph Lauren Marieke Sequinned Evening Dress would make as she did so.