Second Chance (5 page)

“Tell me. What’s
wrong? You were just fine moments ago…”

“Please unhand
her,” Jae said, his voice low but threatening.

Michael felt Sue
stiffen at the sound of Jae’s voice. He turned to look at Jae then back at Sue.
“Did he hurt you?” he asked as he nodded toward Jae.

“No,” she
answered.
Don’t make a scene. Don’t make a scene
.

“Michael, this is
Jae,” Sue said as she turned to look at Jae. “Jae, this is Michael.” She smiled
as if nothing happened.

Michael slowly
released her arm but still stood by her protectively. Sue backed away from
Michael, bumping into the table. Remembering Katie and Patrick, she turned to
them and smiled. “Katie, Patrick, this is Jae. Jae, I would like you to meet my
best friend Katie King and her fiancé Patrick Jacobson.”

Jae nodded to
acknowledge the introduction. He wondered why she chose not to introduce his
relation to her. He acknowledged her friends then turned his full attention to
her. “Will you join me tonight?”

“I’m afraid I
can’t,” she politely replied with a smile. “I was just saying goodnight.” She
turned to her friends. “Goodnight everyone.” She turned to Katie, silently
communicating she needed to leave. Katie nodded in understanding.

She walked out of
the restaurant so quickly she forgot her coat and purse.

“I apologize for
interrupting your evening. Do not fret. I will be taking her home,” Jae said
courteously and gave a slight bow to mark his departure.

Michael was about
to go after them but Katie stopped him. “Let her go. She’ll be fine.”

Michael scowled.
“Do not fret? Who’s the schmuck?” Michael asked Katie. “Now’s the time to talk,
Kate.”

“Calm down, Mike.
There’s no need to use that tone with Katie,” Patrick commanded sternly.

Katie sighed and
told Michael the relationship between Sue and Jae. Katie did not go into
detail, only enough to explain Sue’s reaction to Jae.

“The man could be
a psycho and we just let her go with him?” He ran a hand through his hair.

Katie scoffed.
“I’ll have more fear for him than for Sue. Sue has so much pent up anger toward
the man, she could cause some serious harm.” She hoped she was right. She
wanted to stop Sue but she could see the longing in Sue’s eyes, the pleading.
Sue needed to heal and perhaps Jae could help her. Katie glanced at the exit
and wished her friend well.

CHAPTER
7

Jae caught up
with Sue outside. She had her back leaning against the building and her face
turned toward the dark sky. Her eyes were closed and her breathing heavy. He
wanted to wrap his arms around her and warm her. He wanted to kiss her. He
wanted her to look at him the way she did those many years ago.

Jae wanted to
tell her he was sorry for hurting her. He wanted to kiss her and tell her he
missed her. “Nice to see you, too,” he said instead, rubbing his cheek where
she had slapped him. His cheek still stung.

She took a long,
shaky breath then pushed herself away from the building. Refusing to look at
him, she started walking in the opposite direction. He grabbed her elbow.
“Suzy.”

“Let go, Jae,”
Sue said quietly.

“No.” He could
feel her trembling. Swiftly, he swept her off her feet and carried her toward
his limo.

She gasped and
automatically clung to him for balance. She saw the glimpse of his wily grin
and opened her mouth to scream but before she could bring herself to produce
any noise, he kissed her.

Taken aback by
the kiss she stared at him speechless when their lips parted.

A big, bulky man,
dressed in black, was standing by a black stretch limo. He was several inches
taller than Jae and Sue wanted to call for help but she didn’t. The man in black
opened the door and Jae all but tossed her onto one of the seats. He sat across
from her and stretched his long legs, loosening the top buttons of his shirt.

“Nice legs,” he
commented, eyeing her from head to toe before fixing his eyes on her beautiful
face.

Sue gasped at the
sight of her dress scrunched up her thighs, exposing her bare legs and wished
she had worn pants instead of the flimsy dress. “Let me go,” Sue demanded,
pulling her dress to cover as much of herself as possible.

“Can’t, sweetheart.
Vehicle’s moving,” he answered as he poured himself a drink.

“Then tell the
driver to stop.”

“Can’t.” He took
a sip of his drink.

“Why are you
doing this?”

“I have no bloody
idea,” he said leaning back on the seat, one shoulder higher than the other. Stretching
an arm on the back of the seat, he took another sip of his drink before resting
it on his lap.

He was here. She
had dreamt of this a thousand times before, but in her dreams, she had embraced
him, said she was sorry for whatever she had done wrong and kissed him. In her
dreams, he was smiling that wily smile, jumping off a cliff and laughing as he
kissed her. She wanted to take his face in her hands and run her finger through
that bump on his nose. She wanted to hold him, not slap him. She was still
trembling. She was panicking.

Sue ran her
fingers through her hair then braced her elbows on her knees.

Steady now, my
little fragile heart. You can’t be in any worse shape than you already are
.

He wore a white
tuxedo style dress shirt with jeans and a black belt. God, he was still so
handsome, more so now. In the dim light of the limo, she could make out his
profile. His features were more defined and his black hair was longer now. His
long fingers were neatly manicured. Not the rough looking hands of a laborer
anymore. He wore a watch on his right wrist and a silver ring on his left small
finger. That ring on his masculine hand made him even more handsome and she
cursed herself for noticing such details. Lord, he was beautiful. She groaned
and buried her face in her hands.

“Why did he have
to kiss me,” she silently asked over and over as she tried to calm her rapidly
beating heart.

Jae was assessing
Sue as well. He noticed the simplicity of her dress and jewelry and how they
made her so darn lovely. She was petite but she had long, slim legs. Her slim
feet fitted into those heels like they were specifically made for her. Natural
nails. Sexy. She still wore minimal makeup, he noted when he had seen her at
the restaurant. And she was wearing her hair down. He had expected to find her
with her hair in a ponytail, T-shirt, jeans, tennis shoes, and glasses. Her
hair was layered and wavy, just enough to highlight her fragile features. God,
she was even more beautiful than he remembered. Especially her eyes. She was
not wearing her glasses and even in the dim light, he could see her dark eyes
glittering back at him. Her beautiful dark brown eyes radiated intelligence and
at this moment, fury. He grinned. He had finally found her.

That arrogant
bastard
! He was grinning. He thought all this was amusing. He grinned that
stupid lopsided grin, that grin that made her heart skip beats and flutter like
a butterfly in full flight. That jerk! “Has it never occurred to that
infinitesimal monkey brain of yours that I could be married?” Sue asked.

“Yeh,” he said.

“And yet you’re
taking me from my husband. Have you no shame?”

“None
whatsoever,” Jae answered without a pause.

Sue continued
with as much gusto as she could muster to calmly counter, “Unlike your lack of
regards for social norms, I have a sense of propriety. Let me go, Jae. This is
not amusing.”

“
Au contraire
,
sweetheart. This is quite amusing.”

“I agree,” Sue
heard from the dark end of the limo.

“Oh, God!” Sue
shrieked, bringing her hands to her chest. “Who the hell are you?” Her
attention had been so intently focused on Jae, she never bothered to
investigate her surroundings further than the relaxed arrogant man sitting
across from her.

“My name is
Jackie,” Jackie answered in English, slightly inclining his head in greeting.
He regarded Sue with admiration. Never in the years had he known Khyba had he
met a woman who called Khyba names. He turned to address Jae in Korean,
“Infinitesimal monkey brain? This one is cheeky. Let’s keep her.”

“I’m planning
to,” Jae replied, smiling. His gaze never left her.

“Not your typical
woman,
Hyung
,” Jackie said with laughter.

“I’m not
anybody’s to
keep
!” she retorted crossly in Korean. “Typical woman?” Sue
asked. She stared in puzzlement at the young man with a faux hawk, watching
her. He had diamond studs in both ears and wore a white dress shirt with a
black tie, gray vest and black slacks. He wore the same stupid expression as
Jae.

Temporarily taken
aback, Jackie blushed. Quickly regaining his composure, Jackie charmingly replied,
“No indeed.” Grinning, Jackie switched to English, “You must be Khyba
Hyung
’s
Suzy.”

“No, I’m afraid
I’m not,” Sue replied in kind, shaking her head. She turned to address Jae.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m just Sue. Just plain Sue.”

“You don’t look
so plain, Plain Sue.” Jackie said. Plain Sue was definitely not plain from the
way she was now regarding Khyba. She’s beautiful. He would give Khyba credit on
that. Jackie had met more beautiful women, yes, but this woman, glaring at
Khyba with those dark, piercing eyes of hers as if she meant to strangle him
was quite captivating.

Looking more
closely, Jackie could see Sue was wringing her hands to the point of cutting
circulation, yet she was acting the hellion.

Sue sighed and
gave Jackie a pleading look. “Please, sir, instruct your driver to stop. This
Khyba,” she said waving her hand toward Jae, “has kidnapped me and frankly I’m
not in any mood for this
amusement
tonight.”

“I’m sorry, Plain
Sue,” Jackie said nodding toward Jae. “This is his limo. Besides, we’ll be
stopping soon.”

“Oh, Looord.
You’ve gone insane!” she exclaimed toward Jae. “Look, Jae, Khyba, whatever your
name is now, please let me go,” she pleaded. She needed to come up with a way
to get out of this. If she stayed in his presence, she might not be able to get
her life back together. “I do value my life, you see. I rather enjoy living,
especially when I’ve worked so hard at it.” Sue turned toward Jackie. “Sir,
Jackie, oh-h-h lord, what am I doing?” she grumbled to herself. “I’m mumbling
aren’t I?” she asked, more so to herself than to the two men studying her with
much interest.

Unbeknownst to
Sue, the two men had searched for her and she was here. Jae was searching for
her for selfish reasons. Jackie was searching for her to fulfill a duty. By
some unknown force in the universe, they had found her and Jae had no intention
of letting her go, at least not tonight.

She was leaning
back against the seat, her eyes closed in deep thought. She let her shoulders
sag in defeat. Then as if something had struck her, she jerked her head
forward, turning her attention to Jae. “Khyba?” Sue asked, puzzled.

“Yeh?” Jae
answered.

“He called you
Khyba,” Sue said with such surprise that Jae raised an eye brow in question.

“You don’t know
him?” Jackie asked, bewildered. “Did you mistake her for someone else?” Jackie
asked Jae.

“I know him,” Sue
answered nodding toward Jae. “But I’m afraid I’m not familiar with Khyba.”

“I thought you
gave him the name?” Jackie asked with amusement.

She shook her
head. “I only suggested it—” she muttered. “A very long time ago,” she added as
an afterthought.

She tried to hide
it, but Jae could hear the note of sadness in her voice and it gave him a
glimpse of hope.

“You don’t know
Khyba?” Jackie asked again. His voice still filled with amusement.

Before she could
answer Jackie, the limo stopped. “Where are we?” Sue asked. Neither Jae nor
Jackie answered her. Without a word to her, Jae picked her up and carried her
out of the limo. They were in a parking garage with several expensive cars
parked in numbered spots. She looked around the garage for any signs of
recognition or names that would indicate where they were but she couldn’t see
any. The garage must be underground, she guessed. “Where are we?” she asked
again pushing against Jae as he lowered her to her feet.

“My hotel,” Jae
answered, taking hold of her arm to prevent her from walking away.

“What?” Sue
bellowed, trying to free her arm.

Jae ignored her
and turned to Jackie. “Make something up for me tonight,” Jae instructed in
Korean.

Jackie looked
from Sue to Jae and nodded. “How creative would you like me to be?” Jackie
watched Sue struggle to free her arm from Khyba’s hold. She was scowling so
ferociously at Khyba that Jackie swore he could see her contemplating whether
to kick, claw, or bite.

“Don’t go
overboard,” Jae replied. Noticing the way Jackie was looking at Sue, he added,
“And leave her out of it.”

Jackie nodded and
closed the door.

“Jae, w-where
e-exactly are we?” Sue asked, watching the limo leave. “I d-don’t think t-this
is v-very appropriate,” Sue said, her teeth clattering. She was shivering,
whether from the cold or from his touch on her bare skin, she could no longer
decipher.

Despite her
attempt to hide her fear, Jae could see the panic in her eyes. He covered her
with his blazer and she shrugged it off with a scowl. He held her shoulders and
tried again, this time holding it tightly around her body before leading her toward
the elevator by her elbow.

“L-let go of me!”
She tried to free her arm but the more she pulled, the tighter he held on.
“Jae, you’re hurting me.”

Jae didn’t let
go, but he loosened his grip. He didn’t let go of her arm until they were
inside the elevator. She tried to leave the elevator but Jae took hold of her
again and pulled her against him as the doors closed.