Chapter Sixteen

 In the late evening, as he was sitting in his office going over several contracts he glanced over at his phone. He found that his thoughts continued to return to SooYun. He picked it up. It was after 10 pm and he wondered if SooYun was still awake. He texted a single character, a question mark. It popped up in a dialog balloon and chimed.

 When it reached SooYun, she had just slid into bed. The phone vibrated on the charging mat, and she picked it up. She looked at the question mark for a moment. For some reason, she knew he was asking if she was still awake. 

Korean Titan:?

White Lotus: I'm awake.

Korean Titan: Are you still working?

White Lotus: No, I've finished for the evening. You?

Korean Titan: Almost at a stopping point. I wanted to ask you about your drawings.

 SooYun was sitting up with the pillows propped up behind her, feeling a bit like a high school girl getting a text message from the most popular boy in the entire school! She was in fact, getting a text message from the wealthiest, most handsome, most unattainable, unmarried, movie and television director and producer in Eastern Asia! 

White Lotus: Ask me anything!

Korean Titan: How do you recall such detail from sketches? Photographic memory? 

White Lotus: I wouldn't say a photographic memory, but I do tend to associate strong emotions with images, and they become very vivid in my mind. If I don't put something on the page, then that image in my mind's eye fades quickly. 

Korean Titan: But as long as you have drawn something you have attached emotions to, you will be able to return to it and continue to refine your work. 

White Lotus: Yes!

Korean Titan: Have you drawn me yet?

 SooYun gasped in surprise. What should she say? The truth? She decided to show him instead. 

White Lotus: I'll show you. I'll have to go downstairs – don't go away! 

 LiYul sat at his desk, staring at the series of text bubbles alternating between his pale blue and black texts and her dark blue and white texts she had returned in answer. The last one "Don't go away!" made his breath quicken. He continued to look at the screen of his phone. Then an image was sent. It loaded quickly, the quick sketch of him leaning on the hood of his car. Below was his title, 'Korean Titan'. He looked at it again then another image popped up on his screen and this time it took longer to upload. He waited. Then the image was sitting there waiting for him to open it. He thumbed it open and as it filled up his phone screen he felt something inside him grow very warm and his heart began to ache to see her. 

 SooYun waited on her end, wondering what he thought. When several minutes ticked by with no response, she began to worry he was offended. She had drawn him in the way she saw him. With Master Kang, she had done a rendering of the Buddhist Monk in the same way – as she saw him. "Why don't you say something!" she said to the phone. She hurried downstairs and pulled the sketchbook she had secreted away for fear Warren would tease her if he saw it. Now she was embarrassed having shared the drawing with the Director. 

 LiYul had to say something! If he disappeared he would hurt SooYun's feelings and he did not want that! He had asked and she had shared her work with him. 

Korean Titan: Thank you. 

 Lame! LiYul chided himself. He raked his fingers through his hair in exasperation. Then froze when SooYun responded.

White Lotus: Not to worry, Director Jin! I won't show it to anyone else. Goodnight.

 "Dammit!" LiYul swore and pushed himself out from behind his desk. He had hurt her! The idea of her being hurt crawled over him and snagged painfully like a spur in his side! "Dammit!"

 SooYun put her phone on the charging mat at her bedside along with her watch. She lay in her bed staring up at the ceiling listening to the blower in the ductwork moving the warm air around to spill into her bedroom. She looked over at the phone. "What the hell happened?" she asked herself. "What the hell just happened?"

 When she could not figure out what she had done wrong or even why he had texted her and why she had responded was just beyond comprehension! Why had it happened? Why?

 LiYul was asking himself the same thing the next morning. He silently ate breakfast down in the kitchen where Mrs. Hung was bustling about. She was surprised to see him at the kitchen island like when he was a boy. Something was bothering him, and she finally ventured to find out. "You want to tell me?"

 He set his spoon down and nodded. He pulled his phone from his jacket pocket and opened the image of SooYun's portrait of him. He turned the face of his phone toward Mrs. Hung. When she put her reading glasses on and focused on the image she gasped in wonderment. "LiYul! That's you! What an amazing picture! Who is the artist?"

 "SooYun," he responded. "She is very talented – not because of this - all her drawings are extraordinary!"

 Mrs. Hung smiled slowly looking at the drawing on his phone and at his face staring down at the empty teacup in front of him. "What happened?"

 "I have hurt her feelings," LiYul said. He scowled as he took the phone back from Mrs. Hung, "Dammit!" He stormed out of the kitchen and disappeared upstairs. 

 Mrs. Hung chuckled softly to herself. She did not think she had ever seen him so conflicted before.

 He sat in his office staring at his phone. He picked it up and opened the text app. 

Korean Titan:?

White Lotus: Hi.

Korean Titan: I apologize for my response last night. It caught me by surprise.

White Lotus: lol – I guess you're not used to having highly romanticized drawings of yourself sent to you?

Korean Titan: No, but I can get used to it. Mrs. Hung thought it was extraordinary.

White Lotus: I'm wondering if Master Kang will have a similar reaction. It's romanticized too. 

Korean Titan: I'm sure he will like it. You are very talented – do you have a portfolio?

White Lotus: I used to. But not anymore. I put all the paintings in storage. 

Korean Titan: You need a studio.

White Lotus: For now, I will stick with my sketchbooks. 

Korean Titan: What are your plans for the day?

White Lotus: Episode four. The Director will want to see the rewrite on Monday!

Korean Titan: I hear he is a tyrant!

White Lotus: How rude!

Korean Titan: lol! I'll check on you later in the day.

White Lotus: Okay. 

 LiYul felt somewhat better about having redeemed himself with SooYun. She seemed to understand his awkwardness with her. He was feeling better about his day when his phone rang it was a call from Chairman Chu's office. He answered. "Chairman, how may I help you?"

 "Min-Ji tells me you continue to disregard her wishes and brought the American woman into your employ. I thought to protect your precious Aquila Studios, you would have honored the wishes of my daughter at least until you had paid off your debts and turned over the documentation on the Falcon Lens to me. Releasing the design to me will finally satisfy your father's debts."

 "The Falcon lens was the last project my father was working on before he died," LiYul said, he was trying very hard to keep his voice calm. "You already have made billions on the Hawkeye Lens – why take the Falcon lens too?"

 "Because the Falcon lens was my major investment." The Chairman said coolly, "By rights, it belongs to me. When he came to work at Chu Corporation, the Hawkeye Lens was second-rate to the Falcon. Total ownership of the Falcon lens will satisfy the debt Chol Sun owed me." 

 "I will think about it," LiYul said.

 "Do more than think," the Chairman growled. "Elsewise you will have more to worry about than your American woman and a ripped-up sweater."

 "Leave her out of this!" LiYul said, his temper beginning to boil. "She has nothing to do with it!"

 "But she is important to you," the Chairman said, "So, as a bargaining tool, she is very important to me. You turn the Falcon Lens over to me, and I'll release you immediately."

 LiYul hung up the phone and tossed it to his desk. He leaned back in the chair and placed an arm over his eyes. Min-Ji was back at the estate for two more weeks, which meant he had to keep his distance from SooYun. He did not want to stay away from her any longer. He needed her! He wanted her with him!

 Should he turn the Falcon Lens over to Chairman Chu? His mother had told him long ago that his father had been working on a specialized lens that was even more powerful than the Falcon Lens. If she ever knew what happened to this special lens she took that knowledge to the grave with her.