Lisa
"Well..." I begin. "Fancy meeting you here."
She erases the shock from her face in an instant. I'm impressed. "Hello." Her tone is curt and biting, and that one single word says plenty more. As in - hello, we don't know each other. She juts her hand out. "Jennie Kim. Wedding planner. Is Miss Mina Manoban here?"
Mina materialises at the sound of her name. She squeaks and throws her arms around Jennie, squeezing her tight. "Thank God, you're here! I'm drowning. I'm literally drowning. I go to sleep and I have nightmares about my bust size."
Jennie, to her credit, grounds my sister's frenetic energy, a near impossible feat. "Help is here." she says and grips my sister's shoulders. "I'm your girl. Tell me what you need."
"You're an actual saint." Mina says and drags Jennie inside. "This is Bam, my hubby-to-be."
"Howdy, darling." Bambam says and brushes away her extended hand to give Jennie a big hug. "We're a hugging family." he explains.
"I shake hands." I extend my hand once Bambam releases her from his grip. "Lisa Manoban. Mina's sibling and the chief attendant for the wedding ceremony."
I can see the visible relief in her eyes when I play by her rules. She reaches out to take my hand and shakes it politely. "It's a pleasure." she says.
"Pleasure's all mine." I lock eyes with her, and I swear that I can feel her shudder. I can't help it. I want to make her shudder like that again. Jennie pulls away from me and turns her attention quickly to the starry-eyed couple. Good move. My palm is tingling where she touched it. "Okay." she says with enough authority in her voice to get everyone to shut up. "I read through your file, and I've got a lot of ideas that I think we can work with. I'm thinking rustic, for starters. I know that you have a location in Jeju?"
"That's right, my folks have a farm down there." Bambam cuts in.
"Great. I want to blend both of your styles into something that speaks to you as a couple. We're making something exciting together." Jennie squeezes Mina's hand and smiles. "Should we dive in?"
"Yes." Mina flutters excitedly. "Absolutely. I've got... Bam. Where's my little book?"
"Right... uh..." Bambam spins in circles like a large, dumb dog.
"You two find that." Jennie says. "Do you think I could get a glass of water in the meantime?"
She looks at me hopefully. I read her mind.
"I'll show you to the kitchen." I say.
Mina and Bambam hunt the living room for Mina's little book. I wind Jennie through the loft's long living-room-cum-dining-room. There are barely any walls in Mina's apartment, everything knocked down to give it a more open-air feel, so we're only awarded a small amount of privacy as I lead her into the kitchen and pluck a glass from the shelf.
"So..." I say as I pull a pitcher of water from the fridge, "... are we going to talk about last night, or would you prefer we pretend that it never happened?"
"What's there to talk about?" She doesn't mince her words. Her tone drops low and intense, a sharp contrast from her bubbly attitude only seconds earlier.
"When you vanished..."
"Oh. That." Jennie draws her hair behind her ear anxiously. "I saw the wedding invitation with your name on it. I panicked."
"Ah..." I mirror her. "That." At least I can sleep at night knowing that it wasn't anything I did to make her uncomfortable. I fill her glass of water and hand it off to her. "I have something of yours."
"My dignity?"
"Your panties."
She nearly chokes on her water. "Keep them." she says. "As a memory of something that's never ever going to happen again."
"Why stop there?"
"This is my job. I can't complicate work with feelings. It didn't turn out so well for me last time." Her eyes lock on mine. "Can I count on you to be professional?"
I shake my head. "Absolutely not."
Her eyes sharpen. "What do you mean?"
I dip an inch to murmur in her ear, "You're far too sweet to only have a single taste."
She shudders. I can see it. But then she takes a step away, putting distance between us. "If you won't be professional for me, do it for your sister, then."
My jaw tightens at that. "As I explained to you last night..." I remind her, "... right after I licked your brains out against the Han River backdrop, I'm not here to celebrate. Bambam Bhuwakul is not good enough for my sister. So help me God, I'm going to tear this wedding apart before he ever steps foot on that altar."
Her face goes pale white. She turns away and takes a long sip of cool water. I try not to focus on the way her lips curl around the glass or the bob in her throat when she swallows.
"Fine." she says quietly, sternly. "You're on."
I blink. "Excuse me?"
"This wedding is happening." She turns to me. "With or without you. So I suggest you and your perfectly sculpted arms get on this boat before I leave you sans life vest."
Oh. This woman is good. "It's on, honey." I bare my teeth in a smile.
"Well, time for me to get to work building the perfect wedding for your sister." She sighs dramatically and passes the glass back to me. "Try not to stare when I walk away."
Her heels click on the hardwood. I want to retort, but her bottom does look phenomenal. The things I would do to her in that dress. I smooth my palm over my thigh briefly to cool my blood. Her coral lipstick lingers on rim of the glass, and I smudge it off with my thumb.
Two can play. Let the wedding games begin.