Rose's intention had been to stay in the palace grounds for as long as possible just to absorb the atmosphere and to imagine what she might do during the photo shoot. Try as she might to immerse herself in the role of a princess torn between the present and the past, it was impossible with so many tourists milling around trying to get the perfect shot of the banquet hall. Knowing that they'd be alone and left in peace during the night time fashion shoot, Rose resigned herself to the fact that she'd have to improvise on the day and made her way out of the palace.
No one would expect her home for hours and now that she found herself alone, Rose saw no harm in taking the time to wander through Seoul. A girl travelling alone in a city ought to have been far warier than she was about aimlessly strolling through an unfamiliar place, but the sun was still up, and Rose figured that if she walked with some confidence then people would assume she was either a local or someone well versed with the layout of the expansive city. She soon found the streets to be a confusing labyrinth which favoured cars and buses over pedestrians. Seoul had an impressive public transportation network, so this shouldn't have come as a surprise to her, but Rose preferred to travel on foot so that she had more control of the direction she headed in.
Soon realising that the journey would take hours if she continued as she was, Rose boarded the first bus she saw, deciding it might be best to simply trundle through the city and leave the vehicle when other people did. If she followed people her own age, she'd probably find something interesting to look at. Seoul seemed the sort of place that always had something going on or somewhere to be, and as long as she was busy then she'd have little time to ponder on the meaning of Si-woo's words or the kiss he bestowed upon her.
Rose soon forgot all about this plan when she noticed the Han River. The enormous winding river worked its way through the city and beneath bridges which connected the opposing sides of Seoul. Intrigued, she pressed her nose to the window when a wooden footbridge came into view. It led to an island floating alone in the middle of the water. Her interest didn't go unnoticed by an older gentleman sat behind her. Gently, he tapped Rose on the shoulder and said in unsteady English, 'Rainbow bridge.'
'Rainbow?' she asked, delighted by the name. 'Um... public? Tourist?'
The man nodded. 'Everyone can use. Nice place. Popular.'
'Thank you,' she said, her heart now set upon seeing it. 'Bus?'
He nodded again. 'Bus there. Wait.'
Excitement needled at Rose's insides as she stared out of the window throughout their journey. It was a pity that Si-woo hadn't taken her to the island. If it was a pretty place, she thought she might suggest the location to Yuta and see if they could squeeze it into their schedule. Standing atop the Rainbow Bridge with the city in the background would certainly make for a positive advertising campaign. Plus, that way, Hitomi would get to see it with her and that was all she really wanted.
The journey from the palace to the bridge took a little over an hour with all the stops for passengers to alight or depart. Rose's trustworthy bus companion tapped her shoulder again when it was time for her to leave the vehicle and was kind enough to hit the stop bell to alert the driver. Rose thanked him with a bow, wishing she knew more Korean so she could properly express her thanks, and waved to him through the window when the bus continued on its way.
It was a little past three when Rose arrived. Her date had taken no time at all and had been over in the blink of an eye. Try as she might to understand Si-woo's difficult situation – he hadn't looked happy about having to leave so soon – she still felt hurt that he'd put whatever it was before her. If he really liked her the way he then said he did, wouldn't he have made excuses to whoever was on the phone and spent more time with her instead?
Hitomi would be able to tell her what Si-woo was thinking. She knew more about the male mind than most girls their age should or would want to. Given the cold way he'd entered into their date it had been an unexpected change in his behaviour. Rose supposed her despondent attituded might have been a clue to how miserable she was posing as a model. That said, she was surprised that he'd put the camera down while they were at the palace and had focused on her. It was, after all, a working trip to get some idea of lighting and yet he'd not taken a single picture. She hoped Yuta wouldn't blame her sulking for the lack of test shots, even though it was her fault.
With a sigh, Rose took the first step toward the bridge which arched just like a rainbow over the water. It was wooden and pedestrian with no danger of speeding cars or bicycles which might plough into her; in other words, just the sort of place she'd been looking for. From what she could see as she reached the summit of the arch and looked ahead to her destination, the bridge was the only way to reach the island without a boat. It was a curious place with a high tree line blocking out all but the tallest skyscrapers and pylons on the Seoul skyline behind it. Not wanting to hold up the flow of foot-traffic, Rose continued her journey, glad that Si-woo had told her to wear sensible shoes rather than heels which would never have carried her so far on this adventure.
The island had once been home to a water treatment plant which had been left to rot after its abandonment. Reclaimed by the authorities, the site was transformed from a degrading concrete eyesore into a beautiful park which stood as a testament to recycling the old into something beautiful and new. Concrete pillars stood in place but were now wrapped with vines, reclaimed by nature. Bamboo grew tall and proud either side of the entrance pathway and greenhouses filled with plants attracted students and aspiring botanists alike. Rose was too transported by this magical place to bother looking at the signs or to take the time to scan her phone over the informative placards to translate them online. If she had, she might have known that she'd taken herself to the one place she'd declared she'd never go; Seonyudo Park.
Children played in the manmade river beneath wooden footbridges and clambered over the artfully placed smooth boulders at their edge. Families picnicked on wooden gazebo platforms, their shoes in neat lines at the edge so they wouldn't track dirt into the dining area. It was a cool day and clouds lingered overhead, most were white, but some lumbered along swollen and heavy with water and tinged in dusky grey. Rose hadn't seen rain on the forecast when she'd checked it the previous evening and assumed the rain would hold off until it was dark, or until the morning when it would catch morning commuters unaware. Tour boats made their way along the river and Rose could see the tourists – small as ants from such a distance – with their cameras poised and their arms outstretched as they pointed to far-off areas of interest. Rose walked the winding pathways at a leisurely pace, stopping when she found a black wall with square stone ledges which spewed individual cascades of water into a pool below; a leftover piece of concrete from the park's previous life as a water purification plant.
There weren't many cafés in the park, and the one Rose did find charged exorbitant prices for refreshing bottled water. With little option but to splash out twice what it was worth, she paid with a smile and presumed half of that money accounted for the cost of the scenery surrounding her. Carrying her drink, she made her way up onto a long wooden walkway, wide enough to accommodate square benches. It boasted an uninterrupted view of the Han River and the boats which pulled on their horns as they passed by. Content to sit and wait out the day, enjoying the peace and solitude she'd craved since Yuta had dragged her into working for Silver Lilies, Rose settled on a bench and closed her eyes, revelling in the sensation of the cool breeze against her skin. No one approached her and asked if she was the daughter of the famous Japanese designer-actor couple, nor did they come begging for money because they knew she was wealthy. Here, she was a stranger to everyone, and it was heavenly.
Some people couldn't stand the idea of staying still for hours on end. They were always looking for something to do or say so they wouldn't feel that they'd wasted their time. Life was hectic enough without taking on activities simply for the appearance of productivity, and Rose knew some of the greatest pleasures in life were found when a person slowed down and took some time to just stop and breathe in the world around them.
It was some hours later that Rose opened her eyes. The air had grown far colder than she'd supposed it would for the time of year – it wasn't yet summer, she reminded herself – and a spot of rain landed on her cheek. She didn't know when she'd decided to lie down and curl up in a cat-like fashion, napping on the bench and no doubt being a nuisance to anyone who might want to use it. Instinctively, she reached for her bag and checked that everything was accounted for. In her sleep she'd hugged it tightly for her chest and if anyone had tried to rob her, they'd have woken her trying to prise it from her grasp. Relieved to see that she had her money and phone, Rose sat up and looked across the river at the dark sky. Just as she made the decision to head back to the apartment, the heavens opened, and she found herself caught in a deluge of rain. It came down cold and vicious like shards of glass cutting their way through the air and slicing her skin. Without a jacket to hand, there was no way for her to protect herself from the downpour. Rose expected Yuta would be quick to chastise her for not listening to him when he recommended that she take one, and hoped that her bedraggled, sodden appearance would elicit enough pity from the man that he wouldn't lecture her too much when she made it back.
The rain fell quickly; so much so, in fact, that by the time Rose had gathered her wits and began down the stairs, puddles were already forming on the pathways. This wasn't a polite shower which would soon exhaust itself and allow the sun to warm all those it had imposed upon, it was a torrential assault of water determined to swallow up every patch of ground it could find. Rose found herself alone in the park as she hurried through the unfamiliar pathways, struggling to find her way back to the Rainbow Bridge. The rain hampered her ability to see and she had to shield her eyes with her hand and squinted through the murky haze, splashing haphazardly around corners and down staircases, hoping to find a landmark so she'd know she was on the right track. If she wasn't so afraid it would slip through her frozen, soaking fingers, Rose would have found her phone and begged Yuta or Si-woo to pick her up from outside the park and take her home. She didn't trust that it would stay dry long enough to survive making the call and hoped instead to find a bus that wouldn't be averse to allowing her aboard in her miserable state.
Rose's outfit didn't offer any defence from the elements. The tartan mini-skirt was heavy with water and she had to hold the waistband with one hand in case it decided to succumb to gravity with this added weight, her bare legs were so frozen that her muscles threatened to seize, allowing her such reduced movement that she could only shuffle hurriedly along the raised walkway she found herself upon. The white blouse with its short-puffed sleeves was completely transparent and clung to her skin like a sheet of ice, feeling all the colder whenever the wind blasted through the fabric and forced it to her body. Her hair clung to her neck and face in dark, dank tendrils and Rose was glad no one could tell through the rain that pitiful tears were rolling from the corners of her eyes and over her cheeks. What had started out as a promising day had fast become a nightmare, and she was too cold and miserable to hide just how pathetic she felt. If Si-woo hadn't take that stupid phone call – if she hadn't been hurt enough to insist that he let her stay alone at the palace – then she'd have gone home before the weather turned and none of this would have happened.
To her mind, they were both to blame, but Rose couldn't help but be annoyed that her phone hadn't sounded a text alert from Si-woo who might have at least checked in to see if she'd made it back safely before the rain began. It was as though he'd forgotten about her the moment he was out of her company.
Finally, the bridge was in sight. A gust of wind roared through the trees and Rose paused, turning her back to it and lowering her head. It did little to save her from the air pounding against her shivering body, but it was better to have it hit now than while she was trying to make her exit from the park. When the wind settled, Rose hurried onto the wooden bridge and began her nervous ascent to the summit. The only thing on her mind was getting home and dry, which was perhaps why she didn't notice that she was the only person crazy enough to traverse the structure in such weather.
Getting to the top was easy, despite the rain's persistent assault and way her hair whipped around her face, blinding her until she forced it away. It was as she began down toward the exit that she began to see figures – men and women rushing into cars and buses on the street, sheltering under newspapers, umbrellas and briefcases – and was glad to know she wasn't the only person in Seoul to have been caught in the hideous weather. One figure stood alone at the bottom of the bridge, leaning against a rail with an umbrella over his head, the long line of his body oddly familiar to Rose. There was no time to ponder on who the man was or why he might be there, not when she could hear the air whistling around her and see the trees jerking violently as another gust approached. Rose walked quickly down the slope, hoping to be off the bridge before it struck.
Alas, she wasn't faster than the wind.
Rose's squeak of surprise and fear was whisked away as she was sent tottering sideways. The girl clung to the rail for support, forced against them with such power that she felt her skin bruise upon impact. Clutching them as though they might spare her from the plummet into the river below, she didn't notice that the man had allowed the wind to take his umbrella from his hands and had run toward her to offer his assistance.
A hand closed over hers, easing her fingers away from the rail. He pulled her against his chest, becoming an anchor that she clung to until the wind dropped again into a howling but less violent current. Trembling, Rose pulled back and looked up at her saviour, squinting as the water stung her eyes.
That hair.
Those eyes.
That face.
Tae-won.
'You're late,' he said.
'What time is it?' she asked, her voice quivering with cold.
'Six-thirty.'
'You waited?' Rose couldn't quite believe it. After he'd shouted so confidently that he would see her there on time at five, he'd actually stayed for a full hour and a half in the hope that she might show up for their date.
Tae-won looked down at her and clicked his tongue. 'Aish, you're soaked.'
'So are you,' she pointed out, teeth chattering.
Tae-won looked back over his shoulder but there was no sign of the umbrella. It had flown away to find an adventure of its own and would probably be found floating down the river come morning. The man sighed and took Rose's hand, lacing their fingers together without invitation. Hers were so numb that she didn't have the dexterity left to pull them away. Briskly, they marched down from the bridge and onto the street where a large car waited. Tae-won opened the passenger side and Rose didn't hesitate to climb in. It was dry and warm, and she could put up with Tae-won's company if it meant she could get out of the rain. He soon joined her, getting in on the driver's side and slamming his door. They fastened their seatbelts and, as the engine roared to life, so too did the heating inside Rose's seat and from the vents on the dashboard. Rose placed her hands in front of them and rubbed her palms together, sniffling and grateful to have been found by someone, even if it wasn't Yuta or Si-woo.
'Can you take me back to the apartment?' Rose asked.
'Do you know the address?'
Rose paused. She hadn't given her address to Si-woo for their date, but he'd known where to meet her, so he must have asked Eun-young or Yuta for it. The first time they'd met it had been on that street, and it was plausible that he'd just seen which building they'd walked into after they'd made their hasty exit, but Rose was certain that she'd never once given him the information because she wasn't sure of it herself. Whenever she'd been there she'd been driven by other people, and there hadn't been a need for her to write it down.
Her silence told Tae-won everything he needed to know. Holding out a hand he said, 'Give me your phone. We'll call your cousin.'
Rose reached into her bag and found that the contents were as soaked as she was, which went some of the way to explaining why no one had called or texted her. The phone screen was black, and water trickled from the case. If they didn't get it dried out soon, it would never work again.
'Fine,' Tae-won said, getting the car into gear, 'we'll head to my place. It's close, anyway.'
'Your place?' Rose repeated. 'Just take me to the studio!'
'It's late. No one will be there. Are you afraid I'll take advantage of you?' he asked.
'Yes.'
'Relax, Japan,' Tae-won replied. 'I'm not as terrible as you think.'
Yeah, right.