Winter Camp (4)
Winter Camp (4)
......
Gayoon was gaping at the 'lodge' in front of her while Minho took out their bags from the car. He noticed that Gayoon's mouth was wide open in shock upon seeing the place they were about to stay for the night.
"This is a 'lodge'?" she questioned. "From which angle?"
"Why?" Minho frowned. "What's wrong with it?"
Gayoon was still staring at the so-called lodge. She had imagined it to be a small wooden shelter with a cozy setting inside. What she did not expect was a frigging palace!
Calling it a palace was an exaggeration but there was no other word coming to her mind. The front part of the house was made of glass while the roof was slanted like a cottage and made of white thatch. It probably scrawled over 10 acres and Gayoon could see the different rooms of the house from outside. Snow had fallen on the roof and all around the place, making it look like a small winter wonderland.
They were on one of Minho's private lands which was protected by high voltage electric gates and the place was devoid of any people except for a few guards who were guarding the place. But there was a difference of at least a mile between the gates and the house so it was just the two of them in the core part of the property.
"Let's go in?" Minho asked.
Inside? Gayoon gulped. They were going to be completely alone in there and she was suddenly nervous. What if nothing happened? Or what if something did happen? She clutched her handbag which carried the magazine. Even though she had memorized everything in the article, she was still feeling giddy. She had never tried to be intimate with a guy before and seducing someone was not her cup of tea.
"Jeon Gayoon?" Minho poked her head, bringing her out of her reverie. "What are you thinking about?"
"I…I was just thinking if Jina is alright in the camp," she lied.
"She'll be fine," Minho assured her. "Let's go inside now. It'll snow any moment and we have to go back home early tomorrow morning."
"O-Okay!" she squeaked. Minho unlocked the door with the passcode and before he could lead her in, she scurried inside and ran towards the staircase leading to the bedroom upstairs. Something fell out of her bag but was too nervous to notice. Minho picked it up and was about to tell her to take it but she had already locked herself inside the bedroom.
"What is going on in her head?" he frowned. He looked at the magazine she had dropped and was about to put it aside when he noticed the name of the magazine.
"Love Column," he muttered. There was only one person in the entire country who would subscribe to this. He also noticed that a page was bookmarked. Flipping it, he came across an article.
"How to seduce a guy for beginners," he read. His eyebrows raised higher and higher with every word. After he was done reading, he quietly put it inside a drawer and took out his cell phone to type a text.
Meanwhile in the city, Jongin was in a café, wearing a formal suit. His friend had set him up on a blind date with a pretty model and he was looking forward to meeting her. Hwang Minho was out of town and he could finally secure another date.
The model was named Eunjoo and she had arrived, wearing a pretty floral dress with her hair tied up into a neat bun.
"Hello," she greeted with a smile. "I'm Eunjoo. Your friend, Heo Taemin, told me a lot about you."
She sat across him. Jongin was too stunned by her beauty to talk. He merely nodded, feeling shy.
"I've never been on a blind date before," she confessed. "But when Taemin told me about you, I had to come."
"Same here," Jongin said quickly. "I've never been on a blind date either. I'm usually too busy to date but I'm glad we're here."
"You know, this place is kinda stuffy," Eunjoo commented. "Why don't we take a walk in the park while having some coffee?"
Jongin was about to say 'Yes' when his phone beeped. No, he told himself. Don't pick it up.
But the phone kept on beeping, making Eunjoo say, "I think someone is testing you on an urgent basis. Why don't you attend them?"
Jongin merely whimpered. He took out his phone and cursed his luck. It was the Vesudas.
"Look up on all the tenders Kanji's company is trying to acquire and make sure we get them," Minho wrote. "If he wins even a single tender, I'll book your trip to River Styx."
"What is it?" Eunjoo asked.
"I…I have to finish some office work," Jongin said in a sad tone.
"I can wait," Eunjoo offered. Would you? Jongin wondered.
Taking out his laptop, he began to sniff out all the information on Jang Kanji's latest tenders. There were over a hundred tenders and he had to painfully make proposals for each tender, while cursing the money lover in his head. The guy was miles away and still managed to ruin Jongin's date. It was as if the gods were playing some kind of joke on him. Every time he was on a date, Minho inadvertently drove away his potential girlfriends.
The work took him over six hours to complete and by the time he was done, Eunjoo had left. She also left behind a note saying, "Spotted my ex sipping coffee right across us. He came over and talked to me while you were working. He wants to try again and I agreed. Bye!"
Jongin crumpled up the note and banged his head against the table in dismay.
"Curse that money lover!" he moaned.
….
Minho had changed into a bottle green sweater and grey pants. He came out of the spare bedroom and frowned. Gayoon was still locked in the bedroom upstairs. He knocked on the door.
"Gayoon, what's going on?" he asked, feigning ignorance. He did not mention the magazine but was curious to see what she going to do, planning to tease her while she tried out Kanji's silly antics.
"I'm freshening up!" she claimed. Gayoon stood in front of the mirror. She had secretly packed one of Minho's shirts just like the magazine had instructed and also wore a very short pant which barely covered her butt, exposing her smooth legs. She did not put on any make up but instead sprayed a little bit of fruity fragrance on herself while her hair was dripping wet.
"Ugh," she scowled. "I look too skinny!"
Remembering that damn sexy camp counselor, she felt very inadequate. Why couldn't I have that figure? She moaned.
"Gayoon, why're you taking so long?" Minho asked from outside. "We'll have to head out early tomorrow morning. You need to eat dinner and then rest!"
"I'll take a while to go down!" her shrill voice came through the door. "You can finish your pending work in the meantime!"
"What pending work?"
"I don't know!" she exclaimed. "Go earn money or look for treasure! I'll take a while!"
"Earn money," he muttered. "That sounds about right."
"Fine," he added to Gayoon. "The guards had brought us takeaway food so it's downstairs. I'll wait for you and we can have dinner together."
"Okay!"
Minho shook his head and let her have her way. Two can play at this game, he smirked.
Whistling to himself, he headed downstairs. Picking up his laptop, he put on his reading glasses to go through the files Jongin had sent him. There were many tenders and he could have put them off for next week but he decided to finish some of it. He quickly typed in the numbers on the proposals and calculated the estimated income he would be making from the projects.
"Umm…"
Gayoon's soft voice made him look up and he nearly fell off the couch in shock. She was wearing a shirt shirt which was too big for her and her thighs were completely exposed. Gayoon bit her lip and deliberately rubbed her foot over her right thigh like the magazine had said.
"I'm hungry," she said, trying to imitate a suggestive tone. "Let's go and eat."
Minho stared at her for a while before putting away his laptop. Gayoon's heart thumped when he stood up and approached her. He was getting closer and closer. She closed her eyes anticipated him to kiss her…
"Aren't you feeling cold?" he asked. "I know there's a heater in the house but the night can get quite chilly. You sure you wanna stay in that? Maybe get some pants…"
Eh?
"I'm fine like this," she gritted. The damn money lover didn't get the clue! She yelled in her head.
"Okay," Minho shrugged. "The table is already set. Let's go and eat."
He turned away, hiding his smirk. Gayoon's first attack had nearly worked and it took him a great deal of willpower to stop himself but the game was fun. Seeing his little pet wag around him was amusing him.
Gayoon fumed. The first attack may have failed but she was prepared for more attacks. The money lover is going down! She swore.