The moment Orion Lee saw the woman, his heart stilled. It really did. His lungs seized, his breath caught and his pulse stuttered in its tracks. The world seemed to slow and fade all around him until she was all he could see. The distance between them narrowed until it felt like she was standing right in front of his table instead of at the entrance of the food-court.
He couldn’t explain what drew him to her because there was nothing outstanding about her. Frankly, her two friends were more likely to draw one’s attention than she was. They were tall, dark-skinned and quite curvy. The woman paled in comparison; she was short and slender. Next to them, she should’ve faded.
And yet she didn’t.
Her almond-shaped eyes and facial features marked her as Asian, like him, but even that shouldn’t have been enough to pull him. He’d been around - and with - enough Asian women yet none of them had held his attention as this one did. He couldn’t even blame it on her clothes. Her t-shirt, jeans and sneakers combo was innocuous enough that she should’ve disappeared into the crowd.
And yet she didn’t.
Maybe it was the way she smiled up at her friends as they made their way past several of the eateries surrounding the food court. Or was it how her eyes lit up as she pointed to one of the restaurants? It could have been the subtle way she pushed her hair behind her ears as she threw her head back to laugh at something one of her friends, the tallest one, said. Or was it the ring in her laughter as it echoed through the court and straight into his heart? He had no idea.
Either way, he was well and truly caught.
His gaze tracked her as she and her friends made their way to the Persian restaurant to place their orders. A moment later, the three headed towards one of the open tables in the court… and, wouldn’t you know it, it was the table right in front of Orion. Just as they reached their table, the woman finally saw him.
For a moment – just a moment – he saw that flicker in her eyes. That flicker that tells a man that a woman he’s attracted to is aware of him too. That flicker that tells a man that he has her attention. But before he could revel in that flicker, her friends yanked her away from him.
“Vina, come on,” her tallest friend wheedled. “I’ll let you have some of my chicken fillet if you let me have you some of your lamb.”
Vina? Was that her name? Vina. Orion silently tested the name on his tongue. Vina. Short and sweet, just like her.
“I don’t want your chicken fillet, April,” Vina said as she settled in her seat. Fortunately, she took the seat right across from him – the perfect vantage point for a direct view of her smile. She continued, “If I did, I would have ordered it. Why didn’t you just order lamb if you wanted it.”
“Because I wanted both.” April pouted. “But if I’d taken both, people would have assumed I was a glutton.”
“You are a glutton,” Vina teased with a laugh. When her eyes wandered away from her friend and towards him, Orion instinctively lowered his gaze to the sandwich he was supposed to be eating. However, he was not quick enough because the next thing Vina said was, “Snow, could we trade seats?”
“Why?” the other friend a.k.a. Snow asked.
“I don’t like people staring at me.” Vina gave Orion a pointed look. “Plus, I want to watch the door.”
“Why?” Snow asked. “Are you waiting for someone?”
“Yes… no.” Vina stood up. “Just change seats with me.”
Disappointment rocketed through Orion when Snow stood up to trade seats, albeit with a lot of grumbles. Now all he had was Vina’s back. He sighed. This is what happened when you stared too hard. Maybe he should apologize – and ask for her number while he was at it. Though he wasn’t really interested in anything serious right now, he’d never been one to let opportunity slip him by. Given his attraction to her, Vina was definitely someone he wanted to know better.
Just then April and Snow decided that they needed to visit the restrooms. Vina stayed behind to wait for their food, giving Orion the perfect opportunity to finally make his move. He pushed his seat back – even started to stand up. But just then, Vina’s phone rang and she picked up.
“Eomma,” she greeted her mother in Korean. “Is something wrong?”
As if she wasn’t attractive enough, she had to be Korean like him. Even better, she could actually speak their language fluently unlike many young Korean-Americans. Orion’s mouth crooked in an unconscious smile.
“I’m at the mall with April,” Vina continued in Korean. After a short pause to let her mother speak, she huffed impatiently. “Yes, I remember. I’ll get to the date on time. Don’t worry.”
Date? Orion frowned. Was she going on some kind of date?
“Yes, I’ll wear the dress you packed for me.” Irritation pulsed in Vina’s voice as she continued, “Yes, I know… No, no, don’t put her on the ph- Eomma.” She paused suddenly and sucked in a deep breath. When she next spoke, her voice was sugary sweet. “Halmeoni, you don’t need to worry. I won’t mess up the date.”
Ah! She was talking to her grandmother now.
There was a long pause as Vina listened to whatever her grandmother was saying, “Yes…. Yes… I got it… Okay.” She sighed. “Yes, I know how hard you worked to get me a date with another doctor. I’ll try very hard to catch this one.”
What? Orion stiffened as his gaze flew to the back of Vina’s head.
“Are you sure he is worth as much as you were told?” she continued. “Not all doctors are rich you know.” She paused to listen to her grandmother then nodded. “Ah! That’s good. Wouldn’t want to end up with a poor man, would we?”
Her words were like a needle pricking a balloon. Orion deflated and any attraction he felt for her disappeared like bubbles in water. So she was that kind of woman. What a pity. Thank God, she’d received that call before he’d made his move, otherwise he would’ve been the poor guy being evaluated for his net worth.
“Fine.” Vina continued, “I’ll try to be as feminine as po-”
Her grandmother must’ve cut her off with a scolding because she sighed then asked, “What do I tell him if he asks how old I am?” She paused to listen to her grandmother. “Fine. I won’t say a word about it. Don’t worry. I can do a good job. I can act cute and girly and humor him, especially when marriage is on the line.”
“Hmph!” Orion snorted. The snort was supposed to be under his breath but it ended up being so loud that Vina turned her head. When her eyes met his, he expected embarrassment to shadow it. Instead, annoyance darkened them – as if she was irritated that he was eavesdropping.
Fine, eavesdropping was ill-mannered, but she was worse than him. Here she was prepping to con some poor schmuck - no, some rich schmuck, and didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed about it.
Orion glared at Vina. He hated people like her – people who judged others by their wallet or what they could gain from them. She returned his glare with a hard one of her own that said it all. Mind your own damn business.
Wow! Talk about bold.
Vina’s eyes swept away from Orion and she stood up. “Grandma, seriously, don’t worry,” she said into the phone as she walked away. “I can do this…”
Orion didn’t hear the rest of the conversation as she was now too far away. But what he’d heard was enough. Whoa! He sucked in a deep breath. That was a close call.
* * * * *
“AND DON’T TELL him that you’re the Executive Chef at Tellers,” Vina’s grandmother, Doo-shim, advised over the phone. “Men don’t like women who are too successful.”
Vina rolled her eyes. “So what am I supposed to tell him if he asks what I do for a living?”
“Tell him...” Doo-shim paused as if thinking. “Tell him you’re just part-timing there. Yes. Tell him you’re helping out there and learning how to cook so you can be a better wife and mother.”
Immediate laughter bubbled inside Vina. It took everything in her to suppress it and keep her tone serious as she nodded. “Okay, I’ll do that.”
“Good.” Doo-shim warned, “Don’t disappoint me.”
“I won’t,” Vina agreed. “Can I-”
Before she could even complete the sentence and ask to speak to her mother, her grandmother ended the call. Vina shook her head as she stared at her phone.
Only Doo-shim.
Anyone eavesdropping on their conversation would’ve thought that the older lady was joking with her advice – but she wasn’t. She really believed all the crap she’d been saying. To Doo-shim, men were a cross between kings and ATMs. Wives were created to worship them – but only if the man had money to their name. If he was a pauper, then he was as good as an old shoe – only worth being thrown away.
These days, Vina didn’t bother challenging her grandmother’s flawed relationship philosophy because, frankly, she didn’t have the time or energy. Furthermore, her grandmother was set in her ways. At seventy-four, Doo-shim had already made up her mind about how the world worked and nothing Vina said was going to convince her otherwise.
“Hey,” April cut into Vina’s thoughts.
Vina looked up to find her friends staring down at her. “You two were gone for a long time.”
“There was a long line.” April settled in the seat opposite Vina.
“Why did you change tables?” Snow asked as she took her own seat.
“Had to get away from that creep!” Vina gestured with her chin towards the guy who’d been eavesdropping on her phone call.
“Creep?” Snow glanced at the man. Her eyebrows arched. “More like hottie.”
“Hottie?” Vina snuck another glance at the man.
His skin was too flawless for her to accurately tell his age but if she had to come up with a number it would be thirty, maybe younger. He had dark, medium-length, ruffled hair that left her itching to run her fingers through it, heavy eyebrows and dark soulful eyes that seemed to pierce whatever he set them on. Even seated it was obvious that the man was tall. His long khaki-clad legs stretched beneath the table while his broad shoulders stretched his plaid shirt.
Tall, fit and handsome.
“I suppose some would say he was hot,” Vina grudgingly agreed. “But you can be hot and a creep.”
April laughed. “What did he do? Ask for your number?”
“I wish,” Vina said. Before she could explain further, a server brought their food over. But even as Vina ate and conversed with her friends, she couldn’t help sneaking glances at the man.
Though he was attractive, he was not her type. Too pretty. Too cocky. When she’d first seen him, she’d noticed how good-looking he was but that wasn’t what had drawn her gaze to him. He’d looked familiar, really familiar, like she knew him for somewhere. But that sense of familiarity had quickly disappeared when she’d noticed how unabashedly he was staring at her. It was as if he was silently saying, “I think you’re hot, I want to sleep with you and I don’t care if you know.”
For a moment, his brazen stare had shaken her. But it was just for a moment because she wasn’t an idiot. One look at him was enough for her to figure out that he was a dangerous man. The kind of man who couldn’t be controlled, the kind who could make a woman lose all common sense and inhibition.
Vina didn’t do men like him. She liked to be the one in control of any relationship she was in. That way she could end it when she wanted without the man kicking up a fuss.
“We need to hurry,” Vina told her friends as they dug into their food. “My date’s in about two hours and I still need to dress up.”
“Who are you going as this time?” April said as she reached across the table with her fork to pick a piece of lamb from Vina’s plate.
“I’m thinking rocker chick gone wild,” Vina said. “I haven’t done that in some time.”
Snow chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t understand why you do this. You could just ask your grandma to stop forcing you to go on these dates.”
“I wish it was that easy.” Vina sighed. “But it’s not. My grandma isn’t the type to quit just because I say I don’t want to be set up. Besides that, if I act up, she and my dad will take it out on my mom and make her life hell.”
Her words were enough to make the mood at the table plummet, and April winced. “That sucks.”
Most women dreamed of getting married, and their families dreamed of watching them walk them down the aisle. Vina was not one of those women – and marriage was not in her life-plan. Unfortunately, her family were like most families. They wanted her to get married.
In her twenties, she’d managed to skate by on the excuse that she was still young. But now that she was thirty, the youth excuse wasn’t cutting it anymore. In the last two years or so, her family had decided that they were going to get her to the altar even if it meant dragging her there, kicking and screaming.
Some would say that she was old enough to say ‘no’ and tell them to get their noses out of her business. But that was because they didn’t know her situation. Her choices in life didn’t just affect her, they affected her mother, Na-ri, as well. Whatever Vina did, Na-ri always ended up paying the price. Vina could be heartless – but not when it came to Na-ri.
Still, as complicated as her life was, Vina hated being pitied because of it. She forced a smile to her lips as she faced her friends. “Besides, I kind of enjoy the dress-up. It makes me feel like an actress.”
“I see.” Snow nodded. But the look in her eyes said she wasn’t fooled by Vina’s fake enthusiasm.
“You could just go as yourself,” April suggested. “Maybe you’ll meet a nice man.”
“And do what with him?”
April shrugged. “Marry him.”
“No thanks.” Vina gave a fake shiver. She’d seen first-hand how messed up that whole institution was and she had no intention of ending up one of its victims. Her plan was to dillydally until the day her family finally gave up on her. Eager to change the subject, she said, “Are you done with your food? We still need to check out the furniture place.”
“I’m done.” April pushed her plate away.
The ladies spent the next hour window-shopping for nursery furniture. Though April had only recently discovered that she was pregnant, she was already in new-mother mode. Vina and Snow found it hilarious but they humored her anyway. To be honest, Vina didn’t mind being dragged along on April’s baby-trips. This was likely the only chance she’d ever get to do this kind of thing.
About an hour and a half later, the three women were ready to leave the mall. Since Snow had come in her own car, she headed out first. Vina and April followed soon after. Vina backed her Mazda out of its parking space and drove out of the mall’s underground parking.
She was just about to get to the gates when April suddenly gasped. “Oh-oh-oh.”
“What? What? What?” Vina glanced at her friend only to find her staring out the windshield in wide-eyed surprise.
“Vina, look.” April pointed towards the sidewalk.
The moment Vina saw what her friend was staring at, shock spiraled through her. She blinked, then blinked again. Her mouth fell open. Was that… was that a man walking down the street, naked as the day he was born, in broad daylight?
Yes! Yes it was.
The man strolled down the sidewalk, dangling bits and all, looking like he had no care in the world. The shocked stares that followed him didn’t seem to have any effect on the wide grin that split his broad face. Vina was shocked enough that she even forgot that she was at the wheel.
And then the inevitable happened.
Crash! The violent bang of her car against the bumper of the vehicle in front of her was almost deafening enough to drown out April’s sudden scream. Vina’s torso and head lurched forward with the force of the hit. Her eyes closed tightly, she let out a sharp breath and clung to the steering wheel.