Chapter 10 - Sequin Rain

In the end, Ye Rim found himself in the car with Dr. Kim and Mr. Go, leaving the cemetery after putting the other two elder men in a taxi.

As they rode through the streets, the driver wanted to keep his composure for a few blocks. His grandfather, sitting in the back seat, tried to soften the mood, with a relieving smile:

"Finally you meet Miss Nam Ye Rim, Jun Hyeon. And Ye Rim, this is my only grandson, Dr. Kim, you must remember how much I speak of him."

"Ah," the man mumbled the answer, trying not to return to the previous subject, nor lose the concentration of the traffic looking at the magnificent legs of Ye Rim, on the passenger's seat by his side.

"You might have been right back there, maybe we were overdoing it, but it's not Miss Nam's fault," Mr. Go admitted after a pause. The old man kept her smile and a calm expression. Ye Rim wasn't able to figure if this was a strategy to appease his grandson, or if he really regretted hiring a singer and buying drinks to his friend's final farewell.

But the doctor remained silent.

Although she had a thing or two to say to this arrogant doctor who acted as if he was better than anyone else, Ye Rim took a deep breath and tried to cooperate to Mr. Go, flashing a friendly smile, even after they had yelled at each other, and she even kicked him, moments before.

"Mr. Go really talks often about his grandson..."

"Besides being adorable, Mrs. Nam is extremely talented. She sings like an angel," Mr. Go added to the conversation.

Of course she'd noticed the discreet glance of Mr. Go's grandson to her legs in the short dress. She liked to be admired for her beauty, but she wasn't okay with admitting to be just a pretty girl for that kind of man.

"You should go and see her singing in the club," the old man was still trying to fill the silence in a pleasant tone.

Seeming finally to understand what his grandfather meant, Dr. Kim looked surprised and regretful.

"Miss Nam is the Pearl Club's female singer ?! I ... I wasn't aware that the Pearl's singer was someone so ..." he seemed to look for the right word, confused and embarrassed, while still trying to concentrate on the traffic.

"Beautiful?" Ye Rim teased.

"Young?" his grandfather suggested with a cheerful smile.

"Yep," the answer came promptly before he could even think which one he was agreeing with. Ye Rim smothered her winning smile, Mr. Go gave a loud laugh. Dr. Kim blushed realizing that he had praised Miss Nam so directly.

"Oh, you two!" he complained.

"Miss Nam sings every Wednesday at the club. On Saturay she shares the stage with Duk Mi. Why don't you come next Wednesday to see her?" the grandfather proposed.

Ye Rim, still resentful of the way she was treated earlier, still wanted a proper apology. Something in Kim Jun Hyeon teased her, well beyond him to be a lousy judge of situations.

"Yes, come on, Dr. Kim. Tell me a song you like, I'll sing it the day you come to see me."

She bent to pick up a business card in her bag that was on the floor of the car, at her feet.She wanted him to see her presentation video. Then he would stop thinking she was just a minx girl with a beautiful body and face who was into old men .

'Daebak, he's really tall. These long legs and all. How tall is he?' she noticed as she bent down. What she did not expect was that her sudden movement had stretching the hem of her dress which she accidentally trapped in the buckle of the seat belt. For now, she could not guess.

Ye Rim showed the visiting card to the doctor , who was busy with the traffic, and placed it on the sunshade in front of him; demonstrating all her self-confidence.

"Watch my presentation video. I also sing at events, weddings, conventions ... I don't sing only at funerals. Haha."

Seeing from the expression on his face that the handsome doctor seemed sorry that he had misjudged her, Ye Rim smiled.

"Looks like it was a big mess set on by these three gentlemen, isn't it?"

"Aish! I'm not admitting that, boy! I might not have included that dance music on the show... and the spicy chicken foot ... I think my stomach is not well ..." Mr. Go protested.

"So is this your field in entertainment industry?"

Ye Rim wasn't expecting that question, which came with a sarcastic tone and a raising of eyebrows. It did not make of her a rising star. Just a desperate person.

"It's not what it looks like ..." she was annoyed at being embarrassed by his comment. "I wouldn't do that for everyone, just for my cherished fans."

Although in an inaudible way, Ye Rim saw him distinctly grumbling the word 'fans' with disbelieving expression. She felt the blood boil under her skin, her cheeks burning.

In the backseat Mr. Go apparently had given up paying attention to them, worrying about some unpleasant situation in his stomach. "Aiiii ...."

"What? Are you well, grandfather?"

"You bothering dear Ye Rim, and this heartburn, together, it stress me out!"

"Okay, from my part, I just believe that Miss Nam is the best in the industry..." in a patronizing tone the doctor conceded, teasing the elder man.

"I don't think I need your approval, Dr. Kim!" Ye Rim retorted. "And we're done, this is my block. Please stop the car right there." Bewildered, she did not even wait for the car to pull over to grab her things and get ready to get off.

Mr. Go was still talking about something she could barely remind in the back of her mind. She was just so annoyed by the whole situation and how this man was able to ridicule her, that she could barely think.

By unfastening the seatbelt and standing up, in a single movement, a distinct sound of tearing cloth was heard, very loudly inside the car. Much for the astonishment of the doctor, who turned to help her without even thinking.

She felt her foot wobble on the heel that had already leaned on the ground, in the middle of her movement to get out, twisting awkwardly and making her lose balance, and pulling her body back... A new roar of clothing ripping was heard; the doctor's body bending and his big hand gripping her waist to prevent her from falling... All amidst a rain of golden sparkling tiny circles from her dress falling apart. His movement was stopped by the belt he was still wearing, but at the end Kim Jun Hyeon managed to put her safely in her seat again. Their gazes locked for a moment, and Ye Rim, even in an odd moment like that, realized that Dr. Kim had an exotic and exciting s.e.xiness.

Then the Doctor's gaze dropped to see what had happened ... just like her.

"Ahhhhhh !!!" half of her mini dress was gone in a matter of seconds, torn by the side.

"He-elp..." she didn't know if she had spoken loudly or just thought it.

Dr. Kim backed back to his seat, flushed, turning his face to the other side, avoiding to see her trying to cover herself with the bits of sequined cloth that did not stretch as before.

"Aigoo, boy, help the girl!" Mr. Go, covering his own eyes, distressed pleaded.

"Oh, well ..." the man looked around, looking for something that might cover her, but there was nothing, no extra clothes on a sunny day. "I left my extra clothes in the clinic, but ..."

"Dr. Kim, anything! I cannot go out like this! My building doesn't even have an elevator!"

In a heroic and desperate act the doctor began unbuttoning his shirt.

"Let's think of it as an emergency."

"Are you going to be half-n.a.k.e.d here, Dr. Kim?!"

He blinked in astonishment as he took off his shirt in a nimble move and covered the lower part of Ye Rim.

"No one wants their nose bleeding, here," he rubbed his own face, wiping out the sequins.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Mr. Go asked from the back seat.

Ye Rim was just absentmindedly staring at Dr. Kim's n.a.k.e.d torso.

'To be a doctor, do you need all this fitness? Wow!!' she thought.

"Eeeeee ... What, what are you looking at?" He covered his chest, folding his arms, suddenly intimidated by her intense staring. Ye Rim looked away, murmuring,

"Thank you Dr. Kim."

Noticing a remnant sequin glued to his cheek, she reached out and removed it with her thumb. Again their gazes met, and Ye Rim saw the mixture of emotions in his eyes: distrust, surprise, and a spark of delighted enjoyment lighting up his eyes, in the end.

She smiled at the corner of her mouth as she improvised a skirt with the pink shirt he had lent her,

"Mr. Go has to decide "Who Wore it Better": Dr. Kim Jun Hyeon or Nam Ye Rim?" she mocked her own pathetic situation, while folding, tucking and knotting here and there.

"I'm still trying to figure out what happened here," the elder man admitted.

"Me too," Kim Jun Hyeon said.

"An artist has to know when to make a good exit, so… See you, gentlemen," Ye Rim gathered her belongings as gracefully as she managed to, hoping to regain her pose after some dramatic speech to fix her exit scene.

Mr Go and his grandson had no opportunity to reply, when the singer triumphantly walked away from the car, elegantly this time, as if she was neither dripping sequins with every step nor wearing a men's shirt as a skirt.

After a few shocked seconds, the older man remarked,

"Miss Ye Rim really is a star, isn't she? What a poise!"

After putting a thought on it, Dr. Kim replied as he started the car,

"Maybe, but it seems she lacks a good fairy godmother ..."