Chapter 24
Seoul, Korea
Convenience Store
Rain returned with a tray in hand and set it on the table. “You don’t look like the spicy type. But if you are, I can grab you some gochujang sauce.” She chopped up some peel sausage then dumped it into the bowls, and followed with a couple of baked eggs before pushing bowls over to him.
He pushed them away from him.
“Oh come on. I can add white rice and kimchi to fancy it up if needed. The joys of having everything at your fingertips and just an aisle away!” She pushed a bowl over to him and offered him a pair of chopsticks. “Just try it.”
Kita sighed and took the bowl and chopsticks. “If I get indigestion from this, I’ll let someone kidnap you,” he warned.
She giggled before taking a bowl herself and started shoving big bites of noodles, rice, and kimchi in her mouth. “I told you it was good,” she said, talking with her mouth full.
“Your kidnapping will not be my fault,” he informed her, taking another bite. “In fact, I might even facilitate it.”
Rain smiled as she chewed.
The strange, low budget noodle concoction was okay, but not so good that it warranted the moaning that Rain was doing while eating. It would hold him over until breakfast though.
“You do this often?” Kita asked when he finished the first bowl and started on a second.
Rain nodded. “I like to spend time by myself where I can think. Dae-Ho has to fill the silence because it scares him. His mother was loud, always had to fill their home with noise, and he got accustomed to it. When she left, that silence was maddening to him so I filled it as much as possible. That’s how I learned to read a script.”
“What do you mean?” he asked before he could stop himself.
She got up and went over to the magazine rack and grabbed one then brought it back to the table. “Mom taught me to read when I was really young. I was really good at it,” she absently said as she found an article to read.
Kita watched her, not sure what she was doing, and ate in silence.
There was something strangely calming about the silence between them. Lula had to fill the silence because she wasn’t comfortable in it, and never had been. Lucien, because of his disability, was used to silence so he hated it. Kita, on the other hand, enjoyed the silence because it was such a rare thing in his family home and life; Father was quiet and Mother talked and sang. Kita’s last assignment was constantly surrounded by noise, and they made sure there was never silence.
Seon Rain though, she seemingly enjoyed the silence even if she inadvertently ended it when she’d talk to herself.
“Here,” Rain said, handing him the magazine and pointed to the article she just read.
Kita took it. “Okay? What am I looking at?”
Rain smiled before reciting the article to him, verbatim, without missing a single word. She was overly animated, practically glowing, and spoke with passion even though the article was about a recall for a pharmaceutical drug that was causing fatal repertory distress in their patients.
“Impressive,” Kita said, putting the magazine down. “You have an eidetic memory.”
She shrugged and started eating the rest of her noodles.
“It means a photographic memory,” he explained.
“I know what it means,” Rain said, talking with her mouth full. “I’m not as stupid as you think I am.”
“I meant no disrespect intended,” Kita assured her. “Not many know what that means.”
“True,” she admitted. “That isn’t how I’ve been successful though. You can’t just memorize a script, you have to be able to act and give life to it at the same time. It came naturally to me, Uncle said. And that natural gift caused others in the industry hate me.”
“You don’t have friends?” he pressed.
Rain shook her head. “Only Dae-Ho. Him and Uncle are the only people that have never turned their backs on me regardless of how much drama I cause. I’m okay with that though. It’s safer for my heart that way.”
Kita understood better then she knew, and didn’t press it. “Did you want the rest of mine?” he asked when Rain finished her noodles.
She shook her head. “I can’t. There’s sesame oil in the sauce that one has.”
“And you do not like sesame oil?” he surmised.
Rain leaned into him and looked around to make sure no one was around. “It isn’t that,” she whispered. “I’m highly allergic to sesame in all forms.”
“Why did you get it then?” he demanded, causing her to lean back.
“Because it’s a popular one flavor of noodle and I was hoping you’d like it. I was careful not to get it on me.”
Now he understood why Rain read the labels on everything before selecting it and why it took so long for her to pick what she was going to eat.
She should have told him!
Kita picked everything up then put it in the trash so Rain didn’t touch it any more than she already had. “Go clean up, wash your hands to make sure no exposure comes in contact with your mouth,” he instructed.
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “It isn’t easy to have a food allergy, but they are common anymore. Did you get enough to eat?”
He wasn’t amused; nowhere in the dossier did it state that Seou Rain had a food allergy. “How severe is the allergic reaction if you have one?”
Rain sheepishly blushed, biting her bottom lip.
“Tell me the truth,” Kita warned, well aware she was going to play down the severity of her allergy.
“Anaphylaxis shock?” she offered.
And the stick that had been temporarily removed from Kita’s butt was back tenfold.
“Do as I instruct,” he barked out, pointing towards the restroom sign on the opposite side of the store. “Now.”
Rain stubbornly shook her head. “I’ll be fine.”
Kita grabbed her by the arm and pulled her across the store. “Get cleaned up then wait for me right here,” he instructed.
“Ugh! You are so bossy!” she complained.
“It is my job to keep you alive, and if a stupid sesame seed is the reason for your death it will ruin my reputation,” he snapped at her.
“Yes, that would be your only concern and complaint,” she grumbled, pulling away from him.
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