The Carmichaels

Chapter Six

By the time River and Seo-Jun ended up in the square filled with dancing bodies, it was late. The sun had fallen behind the clouds and stars had begun to make their appearance, winking down at them through the clouds.

River watched the people dancing, swaying in time to the sultry music played by the band on the raised stage. There wasn’t much here when you looked around. A dance floor, the stage where the band was playing, and a table filled with food and drinks. She had no idea how they had ended up at such a place.

Seo-Jun still had a tight grip on her hand. He hadn’t let it go all day. River tried to remind herself that he was probably just holding onto her so she wouldn’t get lost. In these streets, packed with people and tittering with life, it was easy to lose someone.

But even though she was reminding herself that Seo-Jun had a good reason for holding her hand so tightly, it didn’t stop her heart from beating over time in her chest. Seo-Jun squeezed her hand and when she looked over at him, he was smiling down at her.

He said, “We should dance, too.”

River twisted her lips, her expression rueful. "I’ve never danced before."

Seo-Jun’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “Never?”

River shook her head.

“Not even in your room? When you were alone?”

She shook her head again.

“Even when you were a kid?”

“No. Never.”

Seo-Jun looked at her like he was seeing her through new eyes. How she looked at him with those new eyes, she didn’t know, but then he said, "That's okay. I'm pretty okay at it. I'll lead."

She studied all the people dancing. In all of her life, she’d never done anything of the sort. When she wasn’t busy grieving the loss of her parents or running in and out of therapy as a kid, she was busy running her share of the company as an adult. There had never been any time for her to do what came so naturally for others: dancing, singing, dating, laughing…smiling. Watching them dance so naturally made her feel as if she didn’t belong, as if she would make a fool out of herself if she tried.

“I don’t know. I can’t dance, Seo-Jun. I might be terrible at it and the last thing I want to do is embarrass you."

Seo-Jun shrugged and said, “It doesn't matter if we embarrass each other because we're just friends, right?”

Were they friends? River had never had very many friends, but she wasn’t so naive as to believe all that she was feeling for Seo-Jun was just friendship. . He was the first person she’d met in years who had seen her beyond her ice princess persona and didn’t view her as too stuck up or too unapproachable.

She supposed she didn’t mind being friends with him tonight.

"Okay." River said tentatively. "I'll give it a shot."

Seo-Jun smiled brightly and slipped his hand out of River’s only to extend it in a grandiose fashion as if they were old royalty at a ball. "Your hand, please, my lady.”

River hesitated for a second. With a deep breath, she placed her hand in Seo-Jun's. His large warm hand enveloped hers again and he led her to the dance floor. The band was playing a new song now, something just as slow and sultry as the song they had been playing when they first stumbled upon the square.

Seo-Jun pulled River in and they swayed. River was so filled with sensation; being wrapped in Seo-Jun’s arms, his scent, his warmth, the music, the chatter, and focusing on not making an ass of herself, that her head was swimming.

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "I've never been able to dance either, but I'm getting better at it." River felt her face flush, but she couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or pleasure. Seo-Jun pulled back and dimpled at her.

They continued to dance, swaying together, moving in time with the music. Even though Seo-Jun had just said he was never able to dance, either, he led her pretty well. He dipped her and spun her around as if it were easy for him. She could feel the smile stretching across her face, could see it echoed in Seo-Jun's face as he beamed back at her, but she didn't force herself to stop smiling. For the first time since her parents had died, River felt herself smile whole-heartedly.

Seo-Jun stared at her, his swaying coming to a halt. "You're pretty when you smile like that."

River's cheeks heated. She knew she was blushing, but she couldn't help it. It was the first time anyone had ever complimented her. Like, really complimented her. She was always told that she was beautiful by people on the internet or men who were trying to get into the ice princess's pants, but she had never been called pretty like this. By a man she had just met with kind eyes and a beautiful smile with a face so earnest, she knew he wanted nothing from her, he expected nothing.

She had never been complimented by someone without them expecting something in return.

Seo-Jun took her hand again and pulled her into another spin.

The two of them danced together until her lungs burned from all the dancing. They danced to the fast songs with quick drum beats and the slow and sultry ones. They danced together until the band packed up and the last of the couples finally headed off.

They ended up at a nearby pier. It wasn't as busy as the pier the two of them had met, whether because it was getting late in the night or because this area was always this quiet, she didn't know. But she leaned against the railing, her eyes closed, reveling in the scent of the sea, letting the wind run its fingers in her hair.

She heard a click and saw the flash of a camera behind her closed eyelids. When she turned, Seo-Jun had his camera pointed at her, a small smile on his lips.

"Sorry. I couldn't help myself. You were really beautiful just now." As she struggled to regain her composure, he looked down at the picture he'd just taken. "What would they call this one if people could see it? 'Goddess of the Night?'" He looked up and dimpled at her. "I like that one."

River laughed. It was weird and unfamiliar, but she couldn't help it.

"What?" Seo-Jun asked, smiling.

"Nothing. I've just never been compared to a goddess before. I don't know how to take it," River said, shaking her head. "I've been an ice princess, a b***h, difficult, and a number of other things, but this is the first time someone has said that about me."

Seo-Jun laughed, pointed his camera at her, and pressed the shutter button once more. "This isn't the last time someone will say that about you. You're too beautiful to not be noticed, River."

His words warmed her even as they wrought havoc in her. She fiddled with her hands as he looked at the picture he had just taken. He was probably only saying what he was saying to be kind. She didn't know him very well, but Seo-Jun just naturally gave off the impression of kindness. After all, he had helped her, a random woman he had met on the boardwalk. He had bought her shoes and food and helped her get home, all without asking for anything in return. Normal people didn't do things like that.

When Seo-Jun came to stand right next to her, his arm brushing against hers, she asked the first thing that came to mind to distract herself, "When did your mom die?"

She immediately berated herself as soon as the words left her mouth. They had been having such a nice time; a night of dancing and peaceful night air on a pier with a large beautiful moon, stars, and the ocean as their backdrop and she just had to open her big mouth and ask something so sensitive. What was wrong with her? She wasn't like this normally. Usually, she was good with her words, careful with them. But it seemed like she'd been nothing but an i***t since yesterday.

Luckily, though, Seo-Jun didn't seem upset. When River cut a worried look at him to see if she had offended him, she found him looking straight ahead at the moon, his face a mask of serenity.

"Two years ago," he murmured. "My mother and I...we were never close. It wasn't like she didn't love me or I didn't love her, but it was more like we didn't know anything about each other. It was always like she was running from something. Since I was a kid, she'd take me from Seoul to Tokyo, then to Hongdae, and back to Kobe. There was never a time when we ever stayed in one place for longer than a year.

"And then two years ago, while I was away, she said she'd gotten a new job offer in Japan working for this wealthy family. She never made it. Someone found her a week later, dead. Drowned to death."

River's stomach turned. "I'm sorry, Seo-Jun."

He gave her a small smile, one that didn't reach his eyes. "It's okay. I've healed from it." He paused. "That's a lie. I guess I should say I'm healing from it. All I want now is to find the person that killed her."

River hesitated, battling with herself. At this point, she'd already asked more than she should, one more question wouldn't anger him. She hoped.

"You said she was drowned, right? Why do you think it was murder? Couldn't it have been an accident?"

"I thought it was. But someone sent me evidence. It wasn't an accident. Mom didn't make some mistake and she didn't kill herself."

River didn't know what else to say. As someone who had lost both of her parents, she knew how little comfort words provided. Still, she wanted to provide him some sense of comfort. He had given a lot to her in the little time they had known each other.

She put her hand on his. "If you ever get stumped, if you ever need help, ask me. I have a lot of connections."

Seo-Jun grinned. "I might have to take you up on that someday."