Second Chance (30 page)

Sue came upon a
discussion forum. She read through the most current postings and she laughed.
She scanned through the rest and went onto the next website. More articles. On
several Web sites, she saw photographs of herself and wondered how her pictures
were obtained.

“How did they get
my college graduation picture? Even I don’t have that one,” Sue said, turning
to Jae.

“The leeches will
get hold of things you don’t even know existed.”

“I can believe
that,” she said, browsing through more articles. Then something caught her eye.
How is Cherry Yuki Sanada, longtime girlfriend of Khyba
… Sue immediately
turned to Jae. He was looking through one of her photo albums. “If you are here
with me, what happened to Cherry? It says here—I’m taking everything with a
grain of salt here —” she explained, raising her hand to stop him from talking.
“—but according to this article, she’s your longtime girlfriend, what five
years?”

“She’s not my
girlfriend.”

“Then where did
the speculations come from? Am I the mistress?” she asked, appalled.

“Let’s not talk
about this.”

“After this week
is over, we still need to continue with our lives. If Cherry is part of that
life, don’t you think she deserves to know? At least an explanation? And why
didn’t you tell me? Are you married? Divorced? Separated?”

He calmly
replied, “You are the only one I’ve ever proposed to, the only woman I married.
Cherry is not my girlfriend, never was. She believes there’s more to our
relationship than there is.”

“Then you must
have done something, said something, to make her think there’s more. It’s hard
to believe you didn’t sleep with her in five years!”

“That’s what is
bothering you?”

“Yes! If the
situation was reversed, can you honestly tell me it wouldn’t bother you?”

Taking a deep
breath to calm his own nerves, Jae replied, “Suzy, why are you doing this? Why
are talking about this subject? Let’s just enjoy our time together.”

“Oh, trust me,
this is the last thing I want to discuss. I want you all to myself, trust me on
that, I do. But there’s an elephant in the room that grows bigger every minute.
I feel like a harlot, having an affair with someone else’s man.”

“I’m not her man,
Suzy. We work together. As you can see, often times intimately together. I do
not sleep with women I work with. It is strictly professional. Nothing more.
Does that answer your question and any thereof? And since you insist on talking
about this subject, tell me about you and this Michael and what elephant are
you talking about?”

“There’s nothing
more to tell. I’ve already told you nothing happened that night I spent with
Michael.” Sue explained about the elephant in the room and whether he fully
understood her or not, she was not in the mood to play social teacher.

“So the kissing,
the intimate get-together—nothing more?”

“What are you
insinuating? If anything, our relationship was friendship! Thanks to you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You! Thanks
to you and your sweet words, I haven’t let any man touch me!” she replied,
angry.

Jae raised an
eyebrow. “Just how many have there been?”

“Forget I said
anything,” Sue answered, getting up to leave.

“Oh no you don’t,
sweetheart!” Jae pulled her back down. “Answer my question.” He still held onto
her arm.

“Let go, Jae.”

“I don’t think
so. Answer me.” Calming his voice, he asked, “How many?”

“I don’t know what
you are talking about!”

“Don’t evade the
question, Suzy. Answer me.”

Sue sighed.
“Just…just you all right! Content now?”

Jae let go of her
arm and she made an attempt to get up. He took hold of her waist and settled
her on his lap. He kissed her and she stopped struggling. When their lips
parted, he tenderly asked, “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why haven’t you
been intimate with anyone else?”

Sue sighed again,
letting her shoulders sag. It was pointless to evade his question. It was not
from lack of trying. Lord knows she tried. In medical school, there was a
handsome, smart guy who liked her. His name was Kongmeng. He was an all
American Hmong boy: spoke Hmonglish, wore Hmong clothes for New Year’s, took
his high school senior pictures in Hmong clothes, was in Asian club, and
believed in Hmong pride, all that jazz. He was so Hmong, he almost seemed fake.
But he was Hmong. He was there. He liked her.

One night, after
a long night of studying, he asked her out. They had a late night dinner at
Village Wok, a popular Chinese restaurant on the east bank. After dinner, he
asked her to return to his apartment with him. She accepted.

She knew exactly
what awaited her. She knew exactly what she had accepted. While her shirt
slipped off her arms, while her pants slipped down her legs, and while her
breast was being caressed, her mind strayed to Jae.

Being a stickler
for scientific research, she allowed Kongmeng to touch her. Perhaps all that
had been said was true. Lust. What she felt for Jae was nothing more than lust.
Was that what she was feeling at the moment? Being in another man’s arms,
letting him caress her, letting him kiss her…lust? Yes, nothing more. Then why
was her heart not pounding out of her chest? Why was her mind wandering? Why
was there no sparks, no aching anywhere in her body? And those darn vows,
replaying in her mind.

Kongmeng’s
fingers slipped between her legs and she gasped in surprise.

“What the…?”
Kongmeng exclaimed in shock as Sue suddenly and forcefully closed her legs,
jerking up her knees. One knee knocked Kongmeng in the stomach.

“I’m sorry,” Sue
apologized earnestly, already getting up. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry.” She ran
from his apartment.

Sue walked home
fighting back tears. The only thought that kept her from crying was anger,
anger at herself, anger at Jae. Stupid, stupid girl. She hadn’t experimented
with anyone else since that night.

Sue looked Jae in
the eye as she answered him. “Because it felt like I was cheating. I took vows
and when I told you I meant them, I still do. Don’t pity me Jae, so don’t look
at me like that.” She tried to free herself to no avail. “Now your turn. How
many?”

Knowing what she
was asking, Jae leaned toward her and said, “None before you and none after.
Only you.”

She stared into
his eyes. “Liar.”

“You deflowered
me and ruined me for all other women,” Jae said, giving her a lopsided smile.

Contrary to what
she said, she believed him. “Why do you have to do that? Every time you look at
me like that… I feel as if...”

“As if what?”

“As if… I’m
loved,” she said quietly.

Heart aching a
little more, Jae kissed her lips. She would just have to believe him eventually
that he loves her. For now…“Let’s just take it day to day. Today, you are mine
and I am yours. Truce?”

“Truce,” she
conceded.

He kissed her
again and she kissed back.

“So what’s there
to eat?” he asked, breaking the kiss.

Sue smiled. “How
do you stay so fit always eating?”

“I spent six
months training for
Empire
and the last year touring. This is the result
of dancing and weapons training and hours in the gym. Frankly, me hungy—want
food,” Jae said.

Sue laughed and
looked up at him, resting her chin on his chest. “Say it again. I want to hear
that sexy British accent of yours saying, ‘me hungy.’”

Raising a brow
and giving her a lopsided grin, he drawled, “Sexy, eh?”

“Very.”

He nuzzled her
neck and seductively said, “Me hungy but not for food.”

She swallowed
audibly. “And, what are you hungy for?”

“You,” he whispered
in her ear.

“What am I going
to do after our week is over?” she asked, tracing the bump on his nose and
kissing his chin.

Jae closed his
eyes when she traced his nose. At first it tickled and he smiled. No one traced
that bump on his nose besides Sue and he found himself missing that show of
affection. He kissed her temple. “We don’t have to part.”

CHAPTER
38

In Mankato,
Minnesota, Mai Yia Thao gaped at the television in the student lounge of
Minnesota State University, Mankato. As the baby of the family, she was often
over shadowed by the doings of her older siblings and tonight, as she stared at
the television, she wondered how her father was reacting to the news.

She had been
chatting with her friends Jessica Capone and Gaotah Vang, updating each other
on the latest gossip on campus while making some kind of effort to study on
this Sunday evening. Jess had been accounting a story from her biology course
regarding placenta and birthing.

“Can you imagine
eating placenta?” Jess made a disgusted face, shuddered then continued, “I
mean, how do you eat placenta anyway? Chop it up and grill it, or do you think
it’s eaten raw? What do they do, push, squeeze and plop the placenta onto a
plate?”

“Uh, Jess, I
think it’s dried and used more for medicinal purposes,” Gaotah said, fluffing
her long, layered hair. She was a cute little thing, petite, oval face, with
almond shaped eyes. She was the same height as Mai with similar build. They
were often mistaken for sisters, which Mai didn’t mind. They were practically
like sisters, growing up together in families so close, they knew each other
before birth.

“Still, gross!”
Jess said in disgust, sticking out her tongue to emphasize the distaste. She
gave a slight shudder.

Jess had midnight
black hair in a pixie cut and sky blue eyes. Her hair and eyes were more
emphasized by her porcelain skin. She was a lover of tattoos and piercings and
wore them proudly on her body. Between the three friends, she was the one with
the mouth, the raise-your-hand-in-class, what-the-fuck-is-this-shit type of gal
who enjoyed her cuss words and used them freely.

“Okay, both of
you are just disgusting,” Mai Yia interjected. “Jess, stop sweating your ass on
that yoga ball and help me with this bio question.”

“Uh, okaaay,” she
drawled out in her Jess tone kind of way. Mai and Gaotah laughed. Only Jess
could talk about placenta eating in such a way that was not bizarre to her
friends. Jess could talk about the most private part of a woman’s body as meat
curtains and the most intimate act between a man and a woman as joyful huffing
and panting without her friends looking at her with blank stares.

“Uh, Mai? Isn’t
that your sister on TV?” Gaotah asked, gesturing toward the television.

“What?” Mai
asked.

“You’re sister.
On TV!” Gaotah said pointing to the flat-screen television mounted on the wall
of the student lounge.

“Are you
hallucinating again Go dah?” Mai asked.

Jess was already
looking at the television while Gaotah grabbed onto Mai’s head and turned it
toward the television.

“Blonde dude,
could you, uh turn that up a little?” Jess hollered at a fellow student who was
sitting closer to the TV.

Mai kept her gaze
on the television for low and behold, there was an image of her sister. The
reporter was talking about something to do with marriage to some Korean pop
star. “Oh…my…God!” Mai shouted causing Jess and Gaotah to jump.

Jess yelled,
“Fuck!” while Gaotah yelled, “Shit!” The blonde dude turned to look at the
three crazy girls.

“Oh, my God! Oh,
my God!” Mai said as she turned her full body to look at the screen.

“Okay, we get the
point Mai,” Jess said. “Perhaps you could tell us what’s going on?”

“My sister, my
sister…”

“And?” Gaotah and
Jess prodded.

“Turn it up
more!” Mai instructed to the blonde dude. He shrugged and turned up the volume.
Jess was about to say something but Mai sneered, “Shut it!”

The three friends
listened to the rest of the news report regarding the marriage of Khyba to Sue
Thao. After the report ended, Mai stared at the screen, her eyes fixed at the
television and her mouth wide open. Jess reached over and shut her mouth for
her. She opened them again then closed it, opened her mouth then turned to look
at her friends. “Oh, my God! That’s Khyba.”

“How about you
tell us something we don’t know,” Gaotah suggested.

“My sister…she, I
mean, my sister…”

“Need a bag? You
look pale,” Jess said to Mai then she turned to the blonde dude and asked him
in her most polite way to turn the volume back down.

“No, I just need
to sit down,” Mai said. She went to sit on the couch with her friends
following. Jess kicked the giant yoga ball over to the couch and bounced on it
while Gaotah sat on the other end of the couch, legs crossed beneath her. “My
sister never said much about what happened to her in Korea but I knew something
went wrong. My sister had always been happy and honest. Anyways, after she
returned from South Korea, she was never the same again. My parents don’t talk
much about her and she was never home except for major holidays or if someone
was dying or dead. Anyways, I think Khyba was the guy who got my sister
pregnant.”

“Pregnant? I
never saw her with a kid,” Jess said.

“Maybe we just
haven’t met the kid,” Gaotah commented.

“No, you wouldn’t
have. My sister lost the baby when she was seven months pregnant. I was at the
funeral.”

“Khyba? Isn’t he
that Korean singer who stars in the new movie
Empire
?” Gaotah asked.
“Oh, my God! Khyba! Him, that cute guy with the dragon tattoo. Mai, we were
watching his music video. What was the song?”

“
Vows
,”
Mai answered.

“How come I
haven’t seen this video? And who is Khyba? Dragon tattoo? That’s hot,” Jess
said.

“You were
flirting with tattoo god,” Gaotah said.