Chapter X (1/2)

CHAPTER X Shin Hye walked into the kitchen where she was told that the team was waiting for her with the body. The dead woman’s body.

Lee Min Ho was talking quietly to Sister Mi-Kyung, both of them with their backs toward her. Something about the funding behind the center and cost of operations. He stood a full head taller than Sister Mi-Kyung. He wore a white shirt with sleeves rolled up. Black slacks and shoes. A belt. Very neat, very ordered. And handsome.

Shin Hye stood still, aware that they hadn’t expected her to come through the back. She could turn and sneak out, avoiding the embarrassment of talking to him again after running away. Did he think she was crazy? Surely, he did. She’d lectured him and then fled at his mere mention of her stepping outside of the building.

Maybe she really was crazy. But she wasn’t, she knew that. However, she was intimidated by the man who stood across the room. He completely outclassed her. He, the specimen of perfection, standing head and shoulders above her.

He had watched her with sincere interest. And honestly, that was the real irony, wasn’t it? He had no business looking at her with any kind of interest, because she neither deserved nor wanted it. She was dirt in his world.

She had no adult experience in that world, and looking at him now, it occurred to her that the only way to cope with him was to bring him down to her level, even if just a little. Not by being mean to him, but by pretending to be his equal, maybe even his superior in some respects.

Wasn’t that what she’d done during most of their first meeting? She’d protected herself by coming off distant and in command of the situation. She had to do that again or risk falling apart in front of him.

I can’t let him know how much I like him.

Shin Hye gasped and jerked back into the hall. How could she think such a thing? It wasn’t true, of course, not in the faintest. She liked him, but not in that way.

Sister Mi-Kyung called out. “Shin Hye-ah?”

The thought that she might actually be attracted to this man terrified her. It made her feel like a worm, knowing that he couldn’t ever bring himself to return any affection for a piece of waste like her.

“Are you there?”

She had to control herself!

She took a deep, calming breath, absently smoothed her hair, and stepped out. They were both looking in her direction. She thought she should say something that demonstrated anything but the fear she felt, but instead she stopped and stared at them.

Min Ho-ssi (she couldn’t call him Min Ho oppa any longer) smiled. “Hello, Shin Hye.”

“Hello.”

“Thank you for coming.”

The way he was looking at her… She knew it was just normal and friendly. After all, he needed her help, so he was being nice. But it was so easy to misinterpret his look as something more. As interest. She had to gain control!

“Well, I doubt I can be of any help,” she said walking forward, hoping that he didn’t see the slight shake in her hands. “But so that you can get this off your mind and move on, I’ll do my trick for you.”

“Trick?”

“Trick, show, whatever. I’ll be your monkey in this little zoo you’ve set up so you can get down to real work.”

“Shin Hye-ah…” Allison warned her.

“Biane, but it’s true, isn’t it?”

Min Ho looked tongue-tied, and that gave her a moment’s encouragement. She might be nothing in his world, but here she could still be somebody.

“So where’s the body?”

The walk-in refrigeration unit was around the wall to the right, and Min Ho called to someone. A few moments later, a paramedic wheeled a gurney around the corner. The body was covered in a white sheet, but the woman’s form was unmistakable.

Shin Hye stared at the body and let her mind go where it wanted to go, into the hidden folds of story behind what her eyes saw.

“Paradise?”

She looked at Sister Mi-Kyung, she normaly doesn’t use her nickname unless Shin Hye is in a state of breaking down. “Wae?” Shin Hye asked annoyed. I’m in control.

They just looked at her. She had to get back on track. She felt panic crowding her mind, but managed to push it back.

“There’s too many people here.”

The paramedic glanced at Min Ho, who nodded. “I’ll just step outside,” the medic said, then left the three of them with the body.

“Is that better?” Sister Mi-Kyung asked.

Min Ho was watching her. She had to stay strong.

“De, that’s better,” she said, moving forward. “So what exactly do you want me to do, Min Ho-ssi? Fondle a dead body in front of you?”

“Paradise!”

“I’m so-sorry,” she said, horrified at her choice of words. “That’s not what I meant.”

“No need to apologize,” Min Ho said. “Trust me, I’m grateful that you’ve agreed to try to help us out. I realize that this is unprecedented. I feel a bit awkward myself.”

“Why, because you’re not used to working with monkeys?”