“Bye, Mikha! Let's chat again next time,” Carter said and waved at her friend. Cheska already turned off her Skype but Carter was still staring at the laptop screen with that smile on his lips. “She looks like fun to talk to, pretty and smart. Does she have any plans to come here to Korea? I can be her tour guide for free.”
Offering a free tour service for Mikha? While I pay for it.
Cheska smiled sweetly so that he wouldn't notice her change of mood. “Yes. She’ll be here, with her boyfriend. So, refrain from flirting with her please.”
“Is it bad to appreciate such a beauty? Who knows? She might change her mind when she sees me and decides to leave her boyfriend.”
"You’re not her type," she countered immediately.
"What's her type then?"
“Middle easterners. Those who had this kind of straight nose,” she said, pointing her finger at June's aristocratic nose.
“As long as Pinnochio's nose? Such people are liars. And also cheaters.”
"Should be at least six feet tall."
"I only need to wear three-inch heels and I’ll be over six feet."
"June passed Mikha's psychological exam before she accepted him as her boyfriend."
“Aish! I just thought your friend is pretty. I don’t really want her to be my girlfriend.”
Cheska giggled. They would jive together because they were both crazy like this. If only he liked her instead, he would never cry ever again.
He took his phone out of his pocket. “Here is my old phone. You can use this while you were waiting for your phone to get fixed or until you can buy a new one.”
"You’re really gonna lend this to me?" It’s a Samsung Note 2. It's a better quality than her old phone. "You're really nice."
"Unli internet data, unli text and unli call on all local networks here in Korea."
"Not bad," she whispered and opened the cellphone.
“Phone rent is only five thousand a day.”
"Huh?" Cheska exclaimed and almost dropped the Note 2. "Five thousand?"
"Won, not peso," he clarified. “It will be difficult for you if you don’t have a phone while you’re in Korea. The rent price was already discounted since we’re both Filipino, it’s better than buying a new one. You can test the camera and internet speed, see if the connection is really fast.”
What a business-minded man. She wanted to get annoyed by his “kindness” but she thought this should not be anything personal. Its just works. She could refuse. She could even buy a new cellphone if she wanted to. But she loved the feel of his old phone in her hand. It was even better than her broken phone. Add to that the sim services that were a bit expensive in Korea.
"You can use that now," he said and turned on the cellphone. “I also found someone who can repair your cellphone. Our neighbor will look for a generic LCD screen for your phone or he would order it in Manila."
“O-okay. If he can really fix it, that would be great.” Her mood dropped when she saw a sexy Korean with red hair biting a lollipop on the screen. She was wearing a corset that emphasized her full chest. The woman was beautiful but her beauty was too much that it didn’t look real anymore. "Who is the girl on your wallpaper?"
“That’s Min Ji, the one I’m teaching English. She's beautiful, isn't she?”
It didn’t surprise her anymore. Min Ji was the type of woman most men go crazy about. Cheska knew her beauty was not on the K-pop idol’s level. “The one who wanted to be a Kpop artist? You’ve been teaching her for a year already and still couldn’t speak English and couldn’t get into any K-pop audition?”
Carter's face darkened. “Why are you talking about her like that? It's like you're underestimating her.”
"Of course not. I just repeated what your mother said,” was her excuse. She has no plans to talk about Min Ji if her picture was not on the wallpaper of the cellphone she was renting. "By the way, since I’m renting this phone now, I’m changing the screen wallpaper, okay?"
She made a peace sign and took a selfie, then immediately changed the phone wallpaper. Success! Now it feels like she owns the cellphone and Carter even for a while.
He took a peek at her phone. "Your wallpaper is boring."
“Excuse me? Are you saying I'm boring?”
"This is better." He took the cellphone from her. She was surprised when he pressed his cheek against hers and took a picture of them together. She was not prepared. And before she could react, he had changed the wallpaper of the cellphone. “There! You’re with a handsome man on your phone so that would be fine now.”
"And you feel like you deserve to be on my wallpaper?"
“It would be easier to find that phone if it went missing since it has our picture there. Just change it once we got to tour around Seoul. It’s free. I won’t charge you for my picture.”
"You're arrogant, you know that?"
The man just laughed. “I understand that you're shy to admit that I'm too handsome. Even if you don't say it, I can feel that you like me. I will cook a snack. Hurry up and take a shower. You’re starting to smell.” And he hurried out of the room.
She looked up at the sky and closed her eyes tightly. My God. What am I doing here anyway? Why does Darryl’s look alike…why is he like that? He’s way too different from the man I knew? Can Carter really help me move on?