Unexpected (10 page)

“Thank you,
Jahgi,
” he said as he
feathered gentle kisses on her parted and panting lips. “Thank you.”

Last night had to be a dream, Noel
thought as she stretched her body like a satisfied kitten. So why did the dream
feel like someone was trailing a hand up and down her spine? She froze and then
rolled over and rose onto her elbow. Kai
was
here. Right next to her,
and the crazy man was smiling up at her.

 “Good morning,
Jahgi
. How
do you feel?”

Her eyes widened in shock. “I really
didn’t dream it. You’re really here?” She almost blushed once her mind replayed
what had happened the night before.

Kai playfully tweaked her nose. “Who
else would be here in bed with you, unless you’ve been seeing someone else who
just so happens to look like me?”

Noel quickly regained her senses. “How
did you get here? Are you guys playing another show?”

Before she could ask another question,
he silenced her with a kiss. After a few moments of dancing and dueling
tongues, he pulled back his eyes full of laughter.

“To answer all your questions, I didn’t
call you yesterday because I was on a direct flight from Seoul. No, T4L isn’t
playing a show. In fact, they’re all back home and probably wondering where
I’ve gone. The
why
is very simple, I wanted to see you.”

 Noel’s initial shock gave way to a
warm sensation that spread from head to toe. “I can’t believe you flew all this
way just to see me.”

“A man does crazy things when he’s in
love. I thought you knew that.”

“How the hell would I know, Kai,” she
retorted with a little heat. “I’ve never been with anyone who’s flown
practically halfway around the world just for me.”

“Well you know one now, and I didn’t
just spend nearly twenty hours on a plane just to
see
you.” Kai’s
fingers began a slow trek down her body. “I came to do…other things.”

Kai smelled breakfast food, real
American
breakfast food, the mouthwatering smell unmistakable to him. It had been one of
the things he’d missed when he left to live in Seoul. Noel’s side of the bed
was empty, which obviously meant that she was being cute and domestic and
wondered if she was cooking his breakfast naked. The thought brought a naughty
smile to his face as he considered interesting uses for scrambled eggs.

His reverie was soon interrupted,
remembering that she insisted upon his calling Korea and telling his band where
he was. The guys might have understood, but his uncle would be furious and
demand that he come home ASAP or sooner.

Kai tried to think of reasons why he
really wasn’t needed there yet. While the group had several television
appearances scheduled for the rest of the week, they could do them without him.
They’d done it in the past with other members being away or even at another
studio. He was determined to have at least one more day with his girlfriend
before real life called him back to T4L.

He rose, grabbed his boxer briefs that
had miraculously escaped being torn into ribbons in their haste to get naked
and padded down the hall to the kitchen.

He stood by the doorjamb as he watched
her by the stove, stirring something that made his stomach stand up and take
notice. His cock, however, noticed his discarded t shirt that looked a hell of
a lot better on her than it ever did on him. Her hair was also somewhat tousled
from the little sleep both did manage to get and Kai thought she looked
adorable. He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he
nuzzled her neck.

“Good morning sleepyhead. I don’t know
about you, but all that sexing has made me hungry.”

“It smells very good.” Kai nipped at her
neck. “I’ve got a really good idea
, Jahgi
. We eat this delicious food of
yours, then I take you back into your bedroom and I eat
you
.”

Noel giggled as she tried to push him
away. “You’ve got a one-track mind Kai.”

“It’s your fault.”

“My fault?”

He licked a swath of softly scented skin
from her chin to her neck. “Well, if you weren’t tempting me by running around
in
my
shirt, I wouldn’t be thinking all kinds of bad things about what I
want to do to you.”

She tried to hit him with a spoon but he
was far too fast.

Breakfast was fluffy and filling and
like a true gentleman, Kai ushered her into a chair and served her. As they ate,
they teased each other with knowing glances, and if doing so wouldn’t make her
look like a pig, Noel would have scarfed down her food in an instant so that
they could get back to her bedroom, but something like reality entered her
thoughts.

“You said last night that no one knows
you’re here.”

Kai shoveled a forkful of scrambled eggs
into his mouth, chewed and swallowed. “They don’t.”

“Maybe you should call G.K. At least let
him know you’re okay.”

He sighed. “I’m a grown man, Noel. I can
ride a plane by myself and like I told you before, people in America don’t
bother me.”

Noel shook her head. “It’s not that.
You’re in a band and I know you’ve got responsibilities. I just don’t want to
be the cause of any friction.”

“You won’t be,” he replied definitively
with a look in his eyes Noel had never seen before. “The truth is, my uncle
made a huge deal out of you and I got angry. He wants me to pretend that you
don’t exist. He talked to me like I was a little boy again, not a man.”

Noel pondered his words. She wasn’t too
surprised by his uncle’s reaction. She’d heard just as much from Kami about the
Korean music industry. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she’d be
living it.

“I’m a man first, an idol second, and I
wanted to be with my girlfriend like every other man.” Kai reached out for her
hand, the look in his eyes uncertain. “Are you upset with me?”

Noel shook her head as she squeezed his
hand. “Are you kidding me? I’m still reeling from the fact that you’re right
here with me, but I don’t want to interfere in your career.”

Bringing their joined hands to his lips,
he said, “Trust me, you’re not. And I’ll call G.K. after breakfast.

“Hyunki, where the hell are you?!”

Kai winced.
Someone is a little
pissed off
, he thought since G.K. seldom used his given name.

“It’s okay, I’m fine.”

But G.K. wasn’t finished. “We’ve been
looking everywhere for you, and I’ve called you a million times! Uncle is
furious at all of us because he believes we know where you are and won’t tell
him.”

Kai swore under his breath at the
unfairness of the accusation. “I’ll deal with him later.”

“No Hyunki, you will deal with me
now
,”
his uncle replied sternly, obviously having snatched the phone from his son’s
hand. “I have never known you to do such a thing as forsake your
responsibilities. Surely you were made aware of your schedule. The group has
three appearances to make later tomorrow and another two the following day.”

“I know that uncle,” Kai said, gritting
his teeth at his uncle’s tendency to talk down to him. “But my downtime is my
own and I do not think I need to account where I spend it to anyone.”

“We will discuss this later. Tell me
where you are and I will send the company car to retrieve you.”

“I doubt the car can make the trip since
there’s an ocean between us,” Kai said, sarcasm in his tone. “I’m with Noel in
Las Vegas. In America.”

 “You’re
where
,” his uncle’s
voice roared into his ear. “Give me the woman’s address this minute. I will
send my liaison to pick you up within the hour.”

“I can take a taxi to the airport,” Kai
protested, but the older man wasn’t hearing a word.

“If you ever want to see this woman
again, you will give me the address and no more excuses, Hyunki! And once you
are back in Korea, whatever freedoms I was willing to allow you are now
forfeit!”

“That’s what
you
think uncle,”
Kai snarled into the phone. “When I get back, we’re going to have a long talk
about what I will allow and will not.”

There was angry silence on the other
end. “Yes, Hyunki, we will indeed. Now, for the address if you please?”

Kai slowly walked back into the kitchen
where Noel was busy loading the last of the dishes in the dishwater. She
glanced up, saw the despondency on his face and went to take him in her arms.

He buried his face in her tousled hair.
“Uncle is sending a car for me in an hour.”

She held him tighter. “Damn the man
works fast.”

“So do I,” Kai growled as his lips
crushed hers.

Forty-five minutes later, Kai hopped
into the shower and emerged five minutes later in the same hoodie and jeans
from last night.

Noel had a robe wrapped around her. She
wouldn’t cry. She was a rock star’s girlfriend now and damn it she’d show Kai
how tough she was.

Taking her in his arms once more, he
said, “We won’t be back in America for at least six months,
Jahgi
. But
I’m not going that long without seeing you, believe it.”

She did. “I miss you so much already,
but I understand. You’ll see, I’m going to be the best K-Pop star girlfriend in
the world.”

“Oh
Jahgi
, you are the best woman
in the world for me,” Kai said, his lips brushing against hers. “Promise me you
won’t meet another musician while I’m gone.”

Noel laughed at the absurdity. “Like
that’s ever going to happen. I can’t even believe I met
you
.”

“Make damn sure you don’t. After all,
I’m the one who loves you.”

Noel’s breathing hitched and warmth
suffused throughout her body. Kai said he loved her and she was sure she would
never get tired of hearing it. “I will as long as you make sure those Korean
girls know that you’re hands-off. I don’t wanna have to jump on a plane to
Korea and lay the smackdown on some girl who’s trying to get in your pants.
You’re mine!”

Kai threw his head back in laughter.
“I’ll be sure to warn them about this
smackdown-
laying you’ll do to them.
I don’t know precisely what it involves, but I do know someone will end up hurt
and it won’t be you.”

Right up to the moment Noel’s front
doorbell rang, they kissed as if their lives depended on it, their lips
conveying all the emotions they felt for each other. They kissed for what felt
like forever and had no intention of stopping until the bell rang for a third
time.

The reluctantly parted, walking slowly
towards the door. Noel opened it and a thin middle aged man greeted her with a
warm smile. It wasn’t the man’s fault that Kai’s uncle was such a hard-ass, so
she smiled back.

“Hello, I’m here to pick up Kai.”

Kai came up behind her, duffle bag in
hand. The driver took it from him and went to put it into the car, leaving Kai
and Noel in the doorway.

Noel ran her hands down the front of his
sweatshirt, her fingers trying to impress the feel of him against her skin. Kai
leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. “I love you, Noel.”

 “I love you too, Kai. When you
come back, you’re going to have to teach me Korean, okay?”

“I’ll start when I get back, so check
your e-mail.” One more kiss and Kai was out the door. He turned back to wave
and she blew him a kiss.

For a few minutes she leaned against the
doorjamb, her mind a whirlwind of emotions. She was flying high from knowing
how much he loved her, and saddened by the uncertainty of knowing when they’d
see each other again.

Oh well, there was little she could do
about it for the moment and she still had a life to lead. Sighing Noel walked
through her house, into her bedroom and spotted a laptop sitting on her bed.
She grinned. Kai must have left it by accident then saw the small post-it on
the outside of it that said “
Open Me
” in Kai’s handwriting.

Curious, she opened the computer and immediately
started laughing when she saw the background. The wallpaper was a stunning
color picture of Kai, grinning broadly and giving her a thumbs-up. She clicked
on a tab and saw that Kai had left open a document.

“This is for you
, Jahgi
.” he
wrote. “Now when I’m away we can still see each other every day with webcam and
video chat. Love you so much, Kai.” Noel’s heart practically leaped out of her
chest. In spite of promising not to cry, tears welled up at the corner of her
eyes.

“Wow,” she shouted to the empty bedroom.
“Did I come up big or
what
,” amazed that such an amazing man was all
hers.

The moment Kai stepped off the plane he
was whisked past Customs and into a waiting limo. Thankfully the driver was brisk
and business-like. Kai was not feeling especially chatty considering.

The ride to the studio was relatively
short, but long enough to think of Noel and wonder what she was doing at that
moment. As soon as he had a minute of free time, he’d give her a call to let
her know he’d arrived safely.

Once the limo was parked in front of the
television studio, he was quickly and efficiently, herded toward the dressing
room. The rest of his bandmates were already done with hair, makeup and
wardrobe.

“Welcome back. I take it you had a good
time?” Boom asked facetiously as he spotted the rather obvious love bite that
decorated his throat. His friend grinned impishly. “I see. A
very
good
time.”

Kai’s thoughts drifted to the moment
Noel had presented him with the little memento, temporarily etched into his
flesh until G.K. vigorously waved a hand in his face.

“Hey lover boy, you’re already behind so
get your clothes on!” There was no malice in his voice and the two men regarded
each other in understanding. Kai gave his cousin a quick hug and sped off to
change his travel-worn clothes.

The very moment they wandered off to the
studio his uncle walked in, a clear look of disgust on his patrician features.
He regarded his wayward nephew coolly.

“We need to talk, Hyunki.”

“I don’t think there’s anything to
discuss
.”
Kai retorted, bored of the conversation and exhausted from the long flight.

The older man glared at him, the angry
gaze slid down to the visible love bite on Kai’s neck and bristled.

“Have makeup cover that blemish up
immediately,” he ordered without raising his voice. “You’ll be on camera and I
don’t want any mention of your ill-timed personal life.”

Kai presented his throat as if showing
off. “You can have them covered up, but you won’t be able to cover up my
feelings for Noel, so I suggest you start making peace with that.”

His uncle swore in Korean, to which Kai
replied, “Then maybe I need a new career, like going solo perhaps?”

The two men faced off for what seemed
like hours. Only when Kai’s uncle’s eyes fell was a stalemate reached in the
battle of wills. Before the older man stalked off, he ordered, “You’ve got
fifteen minutes. Be on time and don’t embarrass your bandmates.”

T4L were filming the first of three
segments of a popular Korean variety show. The first short interview basically
introduced the members of the group; each then would say something cute or
witty for the amusement of the audience.

The second segment consisted of a short
performance and it had been decided a few weeks ago to do a song from the
latest CD. Lastly was what was called the “intimate chat”, where everyone sat
around casually on pillows while answering the host’s more probing and personal
questions.

Everything went off as expected. In
spite of hunger and jet leg, Kai performed like the professional he was. It was
when the band changed clothes after the strenuous performance that the busybody
camera as well as the hosts zeroed in on the deep bruise on his neck.

Jaeseok, the male host pointed with
amusement to the love bite, “I see Kai has added a new accessory.”

Wonhee, his perky female co-host added,
“Interesting tattoo you have there.”

Kai played it cool as he referred to the
object of fascination. “Oh you mean
this
? Actually everyone, it’s kind
of embarrassing but I burnt myself with a flat iron.”

“You bumped your neck on the door,”
Young added with a knowing grin.

“Nope they’re both wrong,” Kwan chimed
in, unable to resist. “He was vacuuming and the hose got stuck on his neck.”

The entire studio erupted into laughter.

Poor Jaeseok struggled to maintain his
composure as he hiccupped, “That is one powerful suction machine,” which sent
everyone into fits of hysterics all over again. It certainly didn’t help that
one of the engineers decided to add sound effects to the segment.

After nearly ten minutes of nonstop
hilarity, everyone collected themselves and the chat began once more, the topic
of Kai’s new ‘decoration’ once more the focal point.

“I assume this vacuum made by a
female
manufacturer,” Jaeseok queried, raising a curious eyebrow.

Kai fixed the camera and the audience a
secretive smile. “Actually yes it was.”

Wonhee giggled mischievously. “So does
this mean there’s a girl in your life now?”

“I am sorry to disappoint but no. I do have
a new vacuum cleaner however,” Kai replied completely deadpan, which caused
everyone to burst out in laughter once more.

Noel nearly fell out of bed as she
watched the link to the television program, subtitled in English. She knew her
boyfriend was cute, but she had no idea Kai was so funny and she told him so
over their video chat.

“Did they air all of this?”

“No, they cut this section out of the
show because it ran too long, but they sent this footage to us.”

“A
vacuum cleaner
,” she asked chuckling.
“I need to set that be-yotch straight about putting marks
my
man.”

“Noel versus a vacuum cleaner,” Kai said
with a grin. “As long as you wrestle with it naked and I can watch.”

“Pervert.”

Kai’s ‘who me’ look was so over-the-top
that it had Noel laughing again. Then he said, “I had to look that word up, you
know and well, when it comes to you I guess I am.” For a moment he went quiet
then asked, “Do you have a passport?”

Noel cocked her head to the side. “I do,
but I’ve only used it the one time when I went to Mexico. Why,” though she had
a funny feeling in her stomach that she already knew his answer.

“There’s a T4L fan conference and a
music festival and I want you to be here.”

She nearly dropped the laptop on the
floor. “Are you kidding me? I can’t afford a trip like that, Kai. In case you
haven’t noticed, I’m not a roller.”

“Who said anything about you paying for
anything,
Jahgi
?”

“Look Kai, I’m not some gold-digger…”

He looked bemused. “A what?”

She tried to figure a way to explain the
term. “A gold-digger is someone who gets into a relationship for the money and
material possessions. I’m not like that.”

She watched his lips form a grim line.
“I know that, Noel. I also know that I want my woman here and I’m going to make
that happen and I don’t want to hear a no.”

Noel’s eyes widened and her nipples
tingled. There was something so sexy about a forceful Kai and for a moment she
wished he were there so she could give him a matching hickey, amongst other
things.

“So, I can purchase your ticket.” It
wasn’t exactly a question.

“Yes, you wonderful, stubborn man,” she
chortled. “I’m so there! For how long?”

“Ten days.”

Noel’s eyes widened again as she tried
to calculate how much vacation time she had left, “That long?”

“Not long enough for me,” he winked.
“But there’s a of couple days between the conference and the festival, and I
wanted to show you around Seoul.”

Noel was practically packing her
suitcase right then and there. “I can’t wait!

 “I’m glad
Jahgi
, because I
already bought your first-class ticket yesterday.” Kai laughed at the surprised
look on her face.

“You know, one day you’re going to be
wrong about me and I’m going to rub your face in it,” she warned but the
twinkle in her eyes belied the words.

He ran a tongue over his lips lasciviously.
“I much rather you would rub your beautiful body over my face.”

She groaned as the image shot straight
from her mind to between her legs. “You so don’t play fair, Kai.”

“
Saranghae
Noel,” he replied, his
lips forming over the words seductively and it felt like a deluge of warm honey
over her skin. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Kai.
Saranghae
and good night sexy.”

The next morning found Noel at two
extremes. On the one hand she was jumping for joy at the prospect of actually
going to Korea to see Kai. It still seemed like a fairytale or the plot of a
romance novel, though most of the books she’d read in the past had never
featured a dark-skinned and thick black woman being swept off her feet by a
gorgeous Korean pop star.

Maybe I should write one, she thought to
herself.

As she drew closer to her boss’ office,
her emotions swung in the other direction. She’d spent the previous night after
talking with Kai calculating how much vacation time she had accrued over time
and while she was sure she had more than enough, she wasn’t sure if Liz would
be receptive to her asking for more time off so soon after her last trip.
Still, she’d been a good employee, often working overtime and double-shifts
when asked and she seldom took time for herself. She deserved this. After all,
when would another opportunity like Korea come around again?

She knocked on Liz’s door and entered
when a voice ushered her inside. Noel entered and was greeted with both Liz and
Rachael who seemed to be giggling over something.

“Oh hey Noel,” Liz said cheerfully.
“Rachael was just telling me about the leisure suit Larry clone who was trying
to hit on her yesterday.”

Rachael laughingly rolled her eyes. “I
swear Noel, the guy smelled like he’d been bathing in Aqua Velva or something
and oh my god, he had
chest hair
!”

Noel’s chuckle was forced. “Hey Liz, can
I talk with you for a minute?”

“Of course,” Liz said as she leaned back
in her chair. Noel looked at her best friend who didn’t seem interested in
leaving.

“Uh Rach, would you mind if I talked to
Liz privately?”

The redhead glanced at Noel suspiciously
before she nodded silently and walked out of the door. Noel breathed a sigh of
relief, but she also knew it would be a matter of time before she had to come
clean with her friend.

“So what’s going on with you, Noel,” Liz
asked with concern. “You’ve been kind of not yourself lately. Is there
something wrong?”

Noel quickly shook her head. “No,
nothing’s wrong. I’m just going to need some more time off. Ten days as a
matter of fact.”

 Liz’s mouth opened and closed, but
she said nothing.

Noel ran nervous fingers through her
hair. “Look, I know it seems like out of the blue that suddenly I’m taking all
these vacations, but I’m just so burnt out and I love this job, but I need to
de-stress like crazy.”

The woman behind the desk nodded slowly
in understanding. “Well Noel, I have to admit that I’ve always depended on both
you as Rachael as my steady employees, but I also realize that I may be putting
a lot on you too.” She typed into the computer and scanned the monitor. “You
know, you’ve got nearly an entire month saved up. So when are you looking to
leave?”

The butterflies had slowly left Noel’s
stomach. “Next Thursday.”

Liz checked the schedule again. “It’s
short notice and I’m going to have to shuffle some people around, but that’s
fine.” She looked fondly at Noel. “You’ve been a great worker Noel. You’re the
kind of employee that we management types like. You work your ass off, the
customers love you, and you take on extra work when I need you to. So yeah,
take your ten days and have a blast!”

Noel circled around the desk and gave
Liz a huge hug. “Thank you so much! I’ll bring you something really nice back!”

The other woman gently extricated herself
from Noel’s hug. “Just have fun and be careful.”

On cloud nine, Noel didn’t notice
Rachael waiting for her in the empty locker room.

“Something’s going on with you, Noel,”
her friend started slowly. “You’ve been acting a little weird. At least, a
little weirder than usual,” she added cheekily.

Noel had dreaded this conversation but
she no longer felt like lying to her best friend. She hoped they would still be
friends after her confession.

“I’m taking some time off, that’s all. I
went to make sure it’s okay with Liz.”

Rachael folded her arms against her
chest. “You seem to be taking a lot of vacations lately. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Rach. Look, I’ve been seeing
someone,” she began haltingly. The red-head let out an excited squeal of
delight.

Clapping her hands in front of her she
chirped, “I just knew it, girl. You’ve been absolutely
glowing
! I’d hate
you except I think it’s about time. So come on, tell me all about him. Is he
gorgeous? Rich? Hung like a horse, and if so does he have a twin who likes
carrot tops?”