Rose quickly grabbed her dressing gown and gingerly picked up her phone , almost as though defusing a bomb she let her fingers open the message.. it was him ! She thought , ignoring how her tummy fluttered . She put the toilet seat down and sat on it , her legs felt wobbly. After a second she allowed herself to focus on the words and read..
"We need to talk ! " He mentioned a small coffee shop near her workshop , stated 2 pm and nothing more .
Rose stared incredulously .
Who the bloody hell does he think he is , she asked herself .! Angrily she jumped back to her feet and stormed into her bedroom " the nerve of that man !" the absolute gall !
Rose put the phone down , she didn't know how to respond and knew if she replied now she would potentially say something very unlady like , so she ignored her phone and got dressed in her comfy pottery splattered denim dungarees and a white tee shirt with a rainbow on it .
She knew some might think she should dress up if being on tv but these clothes where her armour they suited her more and she wore them more than any other item of clothing. once dressed she went into the kitchen and poured herself some pineapple juice. the coolness of the drink went a little way to calm her anger and she allowed herself to think about a response she knew Rm would be waiting for .
Rose looked at the clock it was now 12.30 , giving her and hour and a half, she picked up her phone and sent one word.. "fine! "
She honestly didnt trust herself to write more than that, she knew this collaboration was an enormous opportunity for her , Before she had met which idol she would be working with she had even thought if she gave one of her tea sets away maybe more and more people would want to buy off her.
Her tummy made a little rumbling sound and Rose remembered she hadn't eaten yet , adrenalin and caffeine had kept her going all morning , but she definitely need food so she ignored her phone , leaving it where it lay and wandered into the kitchen, bringing her juice with her.
One thing she hadn't managed to get used to since living in Korea was that their idea of breakfast was her idea of dinner... she didn't want that sort of breakfast , she liked her bread, fruit, and cereal... and if the weather was particularly bad porridge... but porridge with honey and maybe some berries....not with seafood , or mushrooms, .. .
This morning it was simply toast with honey and she ate a piece of watermelon from the fridge. Feeling full and much calmer Rose sat and contemplated the meeting in .. she looked at her watch .. in about an hour. How on Earth where they both supposed to get through this , the conflicting emotions between the two where obvious, she broke the points down to analyse .. He had a crush on her but didn't plan to do anything about it , and now thought she was a racist , or bigot, or just plain crazy , She got that he kissed her but by any standards could it be called a kiss when their lips had met for a nano second before he'd pulled away and started apologising. He was probably contractually obliged to finish this shoot with her which was why he hadn't cancelled , and in a culture where experience and age played a very important role , she guessed it was expected that she would jump when he says jump ...not his fault , just the way he'd been raised.
Rose stopped abruptly in her musings...did she just make an excuse for him!..she hit her forehead with the palm of her hand and sat down at the kitchen counter... and....her ire starting to rise again, if experience was to be respected surely he was in her wheel house when talking pottery and therefor its her that should get the respect !
But that's the point, Rose thought sadly, He doesn't respect me , and why should he , I got drunk, I was incredibly rude to him, I teased him into doing something he didnt want to do..
This talk with herself was getting her nowhere, time was running out and the truth was no matter how much planning she might have been able to put into this early meeting with RM she wouldn't know how to react or what to say until she met with him.
All she could do, all she had to do was apologise, and make him accept it. Unfortunately for Rose it seemed the next half hour flew by and by the time she had to leave she was still hunting for her purse, her hair was down and she looked like a wild women all curls around her make up less face, but she could put that up once at the studio .. finally locating her purse she grabbed it , hurriedly put her shoes on and ran out the door.
She made it to the cafe with 3 minutes to spare and breathed a sigh of relief that Rm wasn't any where to be seen. She glance at the menu board behind the counter and chose an iced caramel latte and went to sit at a nearby table and waited for her number to be called.
Suddenly some one tapped her on the shoulder and she looked up expectantly, it was a little grandmother type lady and Rose quickly stood and gave a bow in greeting. The grandmother , who barley came up to Roses shoulder was telling Rose to follow her , so she grabbed her purse and went to , then remembered her drink, " excuse me one moment please " she said giving another little bow and she quickly walked over to the counter and grabbed her drink which was ready.
Purse in one hand and coffee in the other Rose walked slowly behind the grandmother and through a little door that said private.. the room had one large window, a low long table and cushions on the floor, the walls where wooden . , the room should have felt comfortable, but there sat on the floor at the end of the table was RM and the air crackled ...Rose let out a little ooomph and stood dumbfounded.
He looked gorgeous !