There are Many Flowers in Seoul

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The only light in the sitting room came from the enormous television screen where two characters in a drama argued outside of a rooftop apartment in the rain. Empty beer cans covered the coffee table, stacked alongside bowls of savoury snacks. Rose had remained at her end of the sofa, curled against the arm with a pillow beside her. Tae-won was watching her from the corner of her eye, her gaze darting to the bottom of the screen to read the subtitles and then back up at the actors. Normally this might not bother him, but in this case it was one of his shows and he wanted Rose to see his acting skills.

'Aish,' he complained, 'how can you tell how they're feeling if you're reading the whole way through?'

'I read quickly,' Rose answered. 'Stop interrupting.'

'Why don't you just learn Korean?' he asked. 'Then it'd be easier for you to watch.'

'I don't watch a lot of dramas,' Rose said.

'Want me to translate it for you?'

Rose pondered this a moment. On the one hand, it could be distracting, and she still wouldn't be paying attention to what the characters were saying, on the other, Tae-won was the main character in the show and he'd know how to say all the lines properly. Even if he didn't, it would probably make it more interesting than the show itself. Rose didn't mind a little sorrow and heartache in the shows she watched – and there was a lot of that in just about every series – but there had to be some light-hearted moments, too. Thus far, it had been very doom-and-gloom and her beer addled brain wasn't enjoying it.

'Fine,' she said. 'You can't be any worse live than you are on screen.'

'I won an award for this.'

'Were the judges crazy?'

Tae-won didn't dignify that with an answer. He turned down the volume, cleared his throat, and squared his shoulders. Rose could see the change on his face and in the way that he held himself as he became the character Park Jung-ho, a man whose mother was murdered in her home, and whose father was charged in a cover-up investigation and was killed in prison. Park Jung-ho then made a vow to become a private investigator and operate outside of the law to find the truth for himself and clear his father's name.

It sounded rather like one of Grace's books; she'd always been a sucker for romances that operated outside of the law or were between two people from opposing families. In this case, the woman he was in love with was a woman whose father covered up the truth and he needed her to admit that on tape. Unfortunately, while trying to earn her trust, he'd fallen in love with her and now wondered if it was worth clearing the name of his late father if it meant losing her.

'Go-eun,' he said, staring at the screen to follow his character, 'would you run away with me if I asked you to? Would you change your name and become a new person, away from all of this death and evil if I promised to protect you?'

Tae-won paused while the female character replied. Rose complained loudly, 'You can't just do your part! How am I supposed to know what she's saying without your translation? What, don't you know her lines?'

'I know them.'

'So, what's the problem?'

A light blush touched Tae-won's cheek that had nothing to do with the copious amounts of alcohol in their systems. 'It means saying embarrassing things.'

'Everything you say is embarrassing,' Rose giggled. 'That's nothing new.'

'Seriously, you –'

'Please?' Rose begged sweetly, batting her lashes. 'I'll sit closer to you if you do.'