Wonyoung lay in the bathtub Monday after dinner, luxuriating in a foam bath. She was trying to relax before the evening extravaganza.
This is really our final chance, Wonyoung thought. She felt anxious about the night to come. Wooyoung was fed up with her, particularly after the tape incident, and San had lost all faith in her. This was her last opportunity to prove to them that she really could get San's parents back together. Well, she thought with determination, there's no way tonight's plan can fail. She would show them that she was still the queen of scheming.
Wonyoung turned her thoughts to happier matters, envisioning her date with Yunho on Tuesday. She could just imagine the night: a romantic candlelight dinner at the Beach Café, a moonlight walk on the beach afterward, their first kiss.
Wonyoung imagined the moment as if she were looking at a movie screen. She pictured Yunho standing coolly against the crashing waves, a dark, silent James Dean with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. No, she thought, scratch the cigarette. Bad breath. Anyway, he watched as she drove up in her Jeep, her long black hair flying. They embraced, silhouetted against the moonlight. Wonyoung settled dreamily in the bubbles, her feet playing lazily with the bathtub faucet.
Wonyoung leaned back comfortably and felt a pull at her toe. She pulled again gently, then harder. As she realized what was happening, her eyes opened in horror. Her toe was stuck in the faucet!
"Wolyoung!" Wonyoung screamed. "Wolyoung!"
"What is it?" Wolyoung said, flying into the bathroom. It was like walking into a sauna. The room was steamy from the hot water in the tub and the mirrors were fogged over. "Wonyoung! At a time like this, you're taking a fucking sauna?!"
"Wolyoung, my toe is stuck!" Wonyoung cried. Wolyoung leaned down to inspect the situation. "You're letting cold air in!" She complained, shivering in the tub.
Wolyoung slammed the bathroom door shut and examined Wonyoung's toe. It was stuck, all right. She took Wonyoung's foot in her hand and tugged gently, but couldn't ease it out.
"It hurts," Wonyoung wailed. Her toe was beginning to swell and turn purple. "Oh my God," she said, looking down at her toe in horror. "What if it cuts off the circulation? I could get gangrene. They might have to cut it off." Her eyes welling with hysterical tears, she leaned back and tugged furiously at the faucet, slipping down in the tub and disappearing under the bubbles.
"Wonyoung!" Wolyoung screamed. Wonyoung came up spluttering and coughing, her face covered in soapy bubbles. "Okay, Wony, calm down now," she said, kneeling by her. "I'll hold on to your shoulders, and we'll both pull. Ready? One, two, three!"
On the count of three, both girls pulled back, yanking Wonyoung's toe out of the faucet. Wonyoung flew back against the tile wall, spraying the room with bubbles and covering Wolyoung in water.
"Oh, thank heavens," Wonyoung moaned. "But my poor toe feels broken." She examined it closely. "You scratched it," she accused her twin.
"Sorry, Ms. Ingratitude. Put a Band-Aid on it," Wolyoung said sarcastically. "You're the one who put your toe in the faucet."
Wonyoung primly clambered out of the tub and grabbed a white terry-cloth robe. "Well, thank you anyway," she said coolly.
"Now, come on," said Wolyoung, grabbing a towel for herself. "We haven't got any time to waste." She turned the knob to her bedroom and pulled. The door didn't budge. She pulled harder. Trying to remain calm, she tried the door leading to Wonyoung's bedroom. It was sealed tight.
Wolyoung stared at Wonyoung with a look of horror on her face. The bathroom doors must have gotten steamed shut while Wonyoung was in her bath, Wolyoung realized. That had happened sometimes when the weather was particularly humid. And nobody was home. Their parents had gone out to dinner, leaving them a casserole they had heated up. They wouldn't be back for at least another hour.
Wolyoung began pounding on the door in vain. "Help, Wooyoung Oppa, help! Help!" Wonyoung sighed and fell back into the tub, robe and all.
San stood at the side of his Porsche, kicking the fender repeatedly while waiting for the motor club to arrive. He stared at the car resentfully. How could his baby fail him at a time like this? He was on his way back from Bridgewater, where he had rented a projector from Bridgewater Camera and Classics. He just volunteered to rent a projector, letting Wolyoung help her siblings.
Everything had been going perfectly until he realized he had a flat tire. No problem, he'd thought, jacking up the car on the shoulder of the road, cars whizzing by him on the crowded freeway. I can handle this. Then he discovered his spare had a flat too. Just my luck, he had thought despairingly. I need a spare tire for my spare tire!
San leaned back against the jacked-up car and exhaled deeply, looking around for the familiar motor-club tow truck to arrive. He glanced at his watch. Six thirty. Then he looked up at the sky. A few early stars twinkled at him knowingly. Maybe Wonyoung's right, he thought. Maybe the movement of the planets really was affecting his destiny. He sighed. He'd lost his girlfriend, his mother had moved out, and now his parents were getting a divorce. I guess it's fate, he thought. My life is going downhill.
At a little before seven o'clock, Jessie Chiang walked into the Choi mansion and stood for a moment in the enormous high-ceilinged foyer. She looked up at the crystal chandelier glittering brilliantly above her, feeling like a stranger in the imposing mansion.
"Sanie?" she called, walking down the long hall to the kitchen. The sound of her voice reverberated in the silent house. Mrs. Jessie made her way into the kitchen, wondering where San and Seungyoun were. Her husband's Burberry raincoat was flung carelessly over a kitchen chair. Mrs. Jessie instinctively picked it up and headed to the hall closet to put it away. As she walked to the closet, a key ring fell out of the pocket and clanged to the floor. She leaned over to pick it up. It was a small gold key ring with a rectangular plastic disk that had Wonyoung written on it in bright pink cursive letters. Mrs. Jessie reached into the pocket of the jacket to see if anything else was there and pulled out Park Shinhye's pink chiffon scarf. She stared baffled at the two items in her hand, then checked the tag on the label. CHOI SAN.
It was San's coat! Mrs. Jessie walked back into the kitchen and fell hard into a chair, struck with the enormity of her realization.
Just then the front door opened and she heard footsteps coming down the hall. "San?" Mrs. Jessie asked. Choi Siwon appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. "Siwon!" Jessie gasped, shocked to see her husband. "What are you doing here?"
"I might ask you the same thing," Mr. Siwon replied coldly.
"Uh, San called me yesterday," Mrs. Jessie explained, feeling like an intruder once again. "He said he wanted to meet me alone in the screening room to talk."
"Well, he told me the same thing," said Mr. Siwon in an icy tone. "So I guess he'll know where to find me." He turned and walked out of the kitchen. Mrs. Jessie sat for a few minutes, her heart pounding in her chest. How had it all come to this? she wondered. Was it too late to save their marriage? Well, she thought with determination, there's only one way to find out. She patted her shining black hair and straightened her Chanel suit. Then she stood up and took a deep breath, holding her head high and walking out of the room.
"Siwon?" Mrs. Jessie said hesitatingly as she walked into the screening room. Her husband was seated on the plush sofa, drumming his fingers on the arm. Mrs. Jessie sat down carefully on the opposite side of the couch.
"What?" said Mr. Siwon gruffly, looking straight ahead.
Mrs. Siwon searched for a way to explain the situation, but she found herself at a loss for words. "Why do you think San called us here tonight?" she asked instead.
"I have no idea, but this stuff sure looks suspicious," said Mr. Siwon, fingering the wedding album and scrapbooks displayed on the coffee table.
"He's gathered together all our wedding memories and laid them out in front of us," said Mrs. Jessie, touched at the gesture.
"Well, I think I'd rather repress those memories at the moment," said Mr. Siwon brusquely. He stood up abruptly and walked across the room to the stereo on the shelf. He picked up the needle distractedly and set it on the record. Early Beatles music began coming out of the speakers.
Mrs. Jessie winced at her husband's words. "Siwon, about that scarf-" she began.
Mr. Siwon waved her words away with a sweep of his arm. "Forget it Jessie. If you don't believe me, you don't believe me, and there's nothing I can do about it."
"But, Siwon, I do believe you," Mrs. Jessie cried, the words rushing out. "You see, I just found the coat with the scarf in it. It was San's coat. You had taken San's coat by mistake."
But Mr. Siwon wasn't listening. He walked back and forth across the room, pacing in time to the music. "There's nothing more to talk about," he said, his jaw set in a hard line. "A marriage without trust is no marriage at all."
Mrs. Jessie jumped up to stand next to him. "Siwon, I do trust you," she said, tears streaming down her face. "I trust you and I love you. I love you with all my heart."
Suddenly Mr. Siwon stopped pacing, stunned by his wife's words. "What did you just say?" he asked, turning to look at her. "I said that I love you and—" Mrs. Jessie stuttered.
"Did you say that you trust me?" Mr. Siwon asked.
"I did," she said, a glimmer of hope appearing in her eyes.
"Jessie," he said softly, his eyes moist, "that means more to me than anything in the world." He went up to his wife and folded her in his arms. He drew her face toward his and kissed her tenderly.
"Siwon," said Mrs. Jessie after they'd pulled apart. "Do you hear what's playing on the stereo?"
Choi Siwon listened for a moment, then smiled. "It's not true that all you need is love." Jessie said. "You need trust, too. Oh, Siwon, I'm so sorry about all this. I never should have doubted you."
"Well, now I see that you had every reason to doubt me," said Mr. Siwon reassuringly. "But never again. That's all in the past now, right?"
Mrs. Jessie nodded, smiling happily.
"We'll have to move to bigger and better things. Like a movie, perhaps?" asked Mr. Siwon.
"That's a great idea," agreed Mrs. Jessie.
"How about Breakfast at Tiffany's, Wife?" Mr. Siwon suggested. It was one of their all-time favorites. They had watched it together on their first date, at an old drive-in theater at college.
"Sounds perfect, Hubby," she said, her eyes shining with happiness.