As usual, Rhea woke up early. Rhea got up and brushed her teeth, prepared her coffee, and went out to the balcony. That night there was heavy rain. Now, it was drizzly. She kept staring at the street. It was so beautiful out there. The peach tree by the end of the street was full of flowers and looked so fresh since it rained the day before. The water droplets were still oozing from the tree.
Rhea took a sip of her morning coffee. It was refreshing to start a day like that. Thereupon the incidents the day before surfaced in her mind. She was lost in thoughts.
"Rhea, your alarm!", Naomi shouted.
"Just turn it off. Will you? I'm so sleepy" she continued.
"I'm coming!" Rhea hurried. It was obviously not an alarm but a phone call. It was a call from the most unexpected person...
Ryan!
Rhea was still in a daze when she picked up the phone. It was amazing enough that he kissed her the day before. Today, early in the morning, she felt so on edge to receive his call.
Anybody would have felt the same after being kissed like that!
Somehow, she managed to answer the call while holding her breath.
"...…Hello"
There was no sound from the other end! He was silent.
Rhea knew that speech is silver, but silence is golden. However, when Ryan actually did this after calling her, she impulsively lost patience. Not to mention he did the same after kissing her. Of course, she was waiting with bated breath for him to say something!
"Mr. Jin?"
"...…."
Before long Rhea repeated in a calmer tone, "…..Mr. Jin?"
"…..Will you come today?"
Rhea almost shivered by that raspy voice. Still part of her mind was wondering why he would ask this. Could it be he doesn't want her there? She didn't dare to make any positive assumptions.
"I need to see my professor today, but I'll try to come. I'll probably be late!"
The question was about work, so she answered without any hesitation. She paused awaiting his reply. If he didn't want her there, he will say something, right?
".....Then can you bring the printed script?"
The printed script. That is something Rhea brings there every day. So what is special today? May be he is just testing the water after kissing her breathless.
"Ok," she replied.
He neither said anything nor end the call. So again, Rhea had to speak. "Anything else?" 'May be about the kiss?' she didn't dare to say the rest.
He hesitated but spoke after a few seconds. "Are you okay?"
Now she understood where the conversation is going. If he expects her to be composed after sucking her soul out with that kiss, that's impractical. She had been scared, worried, confused, and excited for the last ten hours.
So she bit down on her lip and stayed silent.
She went to bed earlier just because she felt like she doesn't want to face the world that day. She was blushing and blushing the whole day. On her way back to her dorm and on the way to her room, even in her room, her face was hot and red. Also, she was struggling to hide the smile which was ready to bloom anytime. Once she reached the room, she silently crawled to the corner of the bed and turned herself into a ball. She smiled and blushed to her heart's content, reminiscing! She even forgot to change into her nightdress. She didn't know when she fell asleep, but she was sure that she slept with a smile on her face.
But Ryan was not the same as her. He couldn't sleep the whole night. He was indeed blaming himself for such a rash act. Also, he was worried.
What if she stopped coming to the shooting? What if she quits being his assistant? What if she hates him?
He couldn't sleep. He walked his feet off in the room, almost the whole night. He finally made a decision to check on her. But it was already one A.M when he is settled with this decision. So he chose to wait for her to wake up. He waited for the sunrise then called her. Still, he was so worried to say anything. Then somehow, he asked what he wanted to know.
She will come! That was all he wanted.
Since she didn't reply Ryan spoke again. "I was ang… I was rude and impulsive. I'm sorry!"
".....", Rhea couldn't reply to this. Ryan kept waiting for her reply. All he could hear were birds chirping in her end! Other than that, there was nothing!
"Rhea, did you see my iPod? Hyejin shouted from inside.
Rhea who was panicky grabbed this opportunity.
"Mr. Ryan, I'm currently busy. I'll talk to you once I get there. Excuse me" she jabbered and cut the call. Her heart was beating faster now. She held her phone tight and started to think about what to do now.
Ryan apologized!
After kissing her, he apologized!
Should she report him to the police? Of course, she wouldn't do that.
She was the one to kiss him first and the game she started ended up this way.
It was not a loss for her though. She couldn't help but smile faintly then frowned and bit her lips as she was ashamed because of her thoughts. How shameless!
She started to think something else. How can she face him and reply to him? She was already shaking to even answer a call. To meet him, Rhea didn't know if she is capable! She was thinking, thinking, and thinking all day and finally came up with a solution.
Also, there were so many 'whys'.
Why was he angry? Why did he tell her that it's her fault? Also, why did he kiss her?
But her answers almost remained the same as the last time. She can't expect Ryan to love someone like her. She still strongly believed that as long as he didn't say anything like that, she was not going to believe it. She obviously didn't want to be pathetic. For someone who is in one-sided love, she couldn't explain that kiss as a loving kiss. It was better to ignore it.
When Rhea reached Ryan's office the first thing she did was entering his cabin after knocking.
As she entered, Ryan who was sitting there looked at her. He seemed a little tensed and was clearly expecting something.
He must be expecting her to forgive him.
"Mr. Ryan, I'm not angry or anything. Let's forget yesterday!" she hurriedly told him while standing near the door then almost ran back to the printing room.
She forgot to hand over the script. She slapped her forehead once in annoyance and returned back immediately.
Ryan Jin was still sitting there. He was clearly shocked to see her once again.
Seeing him, Rhea faked a smile, then handed him the script.
He kept staring at her without any wavering.
Rhea wondered why are things are this way once again. Clearly, he was the one who said sorry, but it has always been her who is feeling nervous as if she is the criminal.
"Script", she said.
He brought back his eyes to the script in her hands then once again looked at her face!
Rhea sheepishly smiled, then placed it on his table, then almost ran out once again.
She closed the door behind her. Then laid her head on that door for a few seconds. Her heart was still racing and her breathing was heavy.
Thump thump thump…. It was still beating so fast in a never-ending rhythm.
Rhea closed her eyes to calm herself, but unexpectedly, suddenly and awkwardly Ryan had opened the door and she almost started to fall.
To steady herself she grabbed on the wall by one hand. But it was not enough to balance herself so she ended up hitting her head on his chest with a thud.
He too had placed his hand behind her and held her waist to stop her from falling. She felt cold shivers once again all over her body.
She hurriedly steadied herself and stood as far aways she could.
Ryan had already averted his gaze from her and was looking at the door with a frown.
"It was not on purpose!", she hurriedly said. She didn't want to act all good and say thanks. It was really awkward for her to fall like that. It was unintentional and he must know that first.
When she spoke he brought back his face to her. Then just nodded.
"That was really... really not on purpose" she was really worried. She had seen so many movies where these kinds of scenes are in plenty. Usually, in the normal world, this may be considered as an act where the girl trying to seduce the man! She was so worried and didn't want to create such a misunderstanding!
"I know!" he said.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why everything I do turns out like this. I'm really sorry. I'm sorry" she kept on saying this.
"It was never your fault. It was mine", he said. "I should be the one to beg for your forgiveness," he said.
Rhea was really shocked this time.
She looked at him.
"I'm not a good man so stay away from me!", he looked at her straight into her eyes and told her this.
Then started to walk in the opposite direction.
"...…." Rhea was left speechless for some time. Although he apologized, what he said hurt her. He said that he is bad! Who will be able to bear when someone says something very precious to them as bad?
From this conversation onwards, Ryan and Rhea kept away from each other as much as they could. He clearly didn't want to associate with her. She was confused and demotivated. The two stayed like that for a few days.
Since things had already turned this way between her and Ryan, Rhea started to focus more on Ying Yue. She, Liam, and Yuan Yu got plenty of free time to discuss and come up with a master plan to expose the villainess. They even gave their plan a name! Operation Ying Yue!