Femme Fatale

Chapter 13: Girl Who Saved Me

I lied when I told Nene I was out for a drive yesterday; I just wanted to see her and spend a little time together. I know I shouldn’t cross the line but what can I do if I want to see her every day?

She told me that I’m just a friend to her elementary best friend, even though it’s true I want us to be more than that. I thought it was a simple crush at first because she’s definitely my ideal type of girl, but I started to like her more when I saw how determined she is to learn and help her classmates during our study group sessions on Saturdays.

She’s not just a cute face but pretty smart too, I can trade anything if I could switch places with Justin who get to live with her under one roof and eat the food, she prepared every day. Friendship, I should be contented with that relationship for now, but I can’t help myself to fall in love with her.

“What happened??!” Poseidon stand up immediately when he saw me carrying Nene inside the house

“My foot got stepped on at the bus.” Nene replied “I didn’t have any injuries from mountain climbing but who would have known that I’ll be injured on my way home?” chuckles even though she’s in pain

“Here.” put Nene down at the sofa “Let me take off your shoes.” taking off her shoes carefully

“Wait … it might stink because of the long walk I had; I’ll take care of it.” Nene bent down to take her shoes off on her own

“It doesn’t matter, stay still, I’ll do this for you.” successfully took off her shoes “Look how swell this is, how did you managed to walk in this condition?!” worried about how she’s badly hurt

“Put her injured foot here.” Justin placed a bowl of lukewarm water with leaves floating on it beside me “When the pain is gone put your other foot to bathe it too.” he told Nene as he went back to the kitchen again “Oh, there’s ramyun here, can I cook these ramyun, Nene?” said in a loud voice

“Uh … I’ll just stack it again tomorrow.” Nene answered as she soaks her injured foot in the water “Boil the water first before you put the noodles.”

“I can follow instructions, don’t worry.” Justin response “Do you want boiled egg with it??”

“Yes please, how about you two?” Nene looking at me and Poseidon “Boiled eggs are better than mixing the raw egg in the noodles.”

“It’s alright with me, I rarely eat instant foods anyway, so I’ll go with your suggestion.” Poseidon answered right away

“Yeah me too, whatever you want me to eat, I’ll take it.” still worried about her foot instead of my own food

“Alright, four boiled eggs.” Justin responded “If you think your foot’s fine soak the other one too, it’s better to bathe your feet with lukewarm water.”

“Are you sure that foot is fine??” watching Nene soak her other foot too in the water

“It’s her own body Seaof, she knows it better than you do.” Poseidon get the remote control and turn on the TV as he sits comfortably on the couch

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, it’s totally fine, you should do the same as him.” Nene responded “Sit back and relax.”

“Oh, alright.” I maybe exaggerating right now “Ah, Justin, do you need any help in the kitchen?” walk towards the kitchen

“You may prepare the table; the bowls are there.” Justin pointing at the cabinet made of glass where bowls and plates can be seen “There’s the chopsticks and spoons.” pointing at the drawer near the sink “Thanks for carrying Nene home.”

“You don’t have to thank me; I just did what I did as … her friend.” taking out the bowls from the cabinet then chopsticks and spoons from the drawer

“Too bad that Hammond already got the position as her best friend.” Justin giving me a meaningful look

“It’s alright, I also have Don, so it’s mutual.” walk out from the kitchen and arranged the table while glancing at Nene who’s watching TV with Poseidon

After having an instant dinner with everyone, us men had a few drinks before we went to bed. I chose to stay in the sofa at the living room rather than sleep at floor in Justin’s room. I only forced Poseidon to go with me and sleepover at Justin’s residence so I had him take the extra room where he used to sleep when we had our first sleepover at the place.

I woke up the next morning with the noises in the kitchen. The first thing came to my mind is that Nene’s preparing breakfast for everyone. I went first to the bathroom, to wash my face and gargle before I meet Nene. I’m not that good-looking like Poseidon but girls said that I got a great s*x appeal so I’m quite confident around girls, but it’s Nene whom I want to impress that’s why I need to be at my best for her.

“Good morning!” greeting her enthusiastically as I entered the kitchen after grooming myself a bit

“Good morning.” Nene busy preparing breakfast “You slept at the sofa instead in Justin-samchon’s bedroom?”

“Yes, he stepped on me when I slept at his bedroom floor before that’s why I preferred to slept at the sofa in the living room.” watching her cook “Anything I can help you with? I can follow simple instructions, you know.”

“Then can you make fresh orange juice?” Nene pointing at the oranges on the counter “You only need to slice them in half then squeeze them to get their extracts in the pitcher, can you do that?”

“I think so.” get the knife from the drawer “I’ll cut the oranges first.” cutting the oranges in half just as I was told to “Where’s the pitcher in need to fill up with the juice?” look at Nene who’s frying the bacon after the sausages

“Ah right.” Nene lower the fire and trying to reach out the glass pitcher on top of the cabinet “Why is it placed too high? Justin-samchon didn’t …”

“I’ll get it.” get the pitcher with ease as I lean closer to Nene who’s tiptoeing to reach the pitcher “Justin shouldn’t put stuffs on his height level.”

“That’s … that’s what I’ve been telling him on repeat but he never listens.” Nene’s face turns red as she stutters while avoiding my gaze at her “Th-thanks … you only need to fill that up then our breakfast is all set.” walks away to get back at the bacon she’s frying in the pan

“Do you usually have that kind of expression whenever you’re around with your male friends?” squeezing the sliced oranges with my bare hands

“What do you mean? What kind of expression are you talking about??” Nene not even looking back at me while she’s talking

“That adorable expression of yours, you’re so cute that you make my heart flutters.” with the slipped of my tongue I just told her what I truly feels

“Hahaha.” Nene chuckles “I’ve heard that too many times before “Even from our neighbors, they said my cat face is so charming.”

“Ah hahaha.” relieved “You probably have a lot of suitors because you’re pretty.”

“Uhm, I used to be a model so I’m quite famous during my high school years.” Nene replied “What about you, how many girls do you have before?”

“Do I really have to answer that?” taken aback of the sudden question “I’m not quite proud of the number after my third relationship.”

“I told you something about my past, you should tell me something about you too.” Nene done with the bacons and now she’s frying eggs

“Uh-huh, so this is how it goes, fine.” hesitating to tell her the truth “Less than 300.” squeezing the oranges hard

“Bloody hell!” Nene turn around to look at me in disbelief “That many??! How come you’ve got so many?!” go back on cooking the eggs

“I’ve got out of control before but I’m making it right, I never been with a girl for almost five months now.” almost done with the oranges

“Yeah, I get it, you’re rich so you can have anything you want, but 300 … that’s a big number, it’s amazing that you’re counting.” Nene done with cooking

“Hey, it’s only 297 not 300.” covered my mouth immediately after I spilled out the exact number

“Wow!” Nene getting the plates “So, you only need three more to complete your collection.”

“No, of course not!” denying completely “I’m not collecting girls that I had relationship with, it’s just that the numbers piled out.”

“It’s alright, everyone got their own stories, just as you said you’re making it right, I hope you find the one that will be your final number.” Nene walks off from the kitchen to prepare the table in the dining

“I think I found the one, I can’t make her mine yet.” muttering to myself as I tidy up my working area

I don’t know if our conversation went well or she thinks of me as a jerk who play around with girls. After we had breakfast, that went peaceful with Poseidon and Nene, us men went to work at the college while Nene went to another trip with Philip to a park.

“Do you think Nene would come if I invite her for our team’s dinner tomorrow?” back to the dorm after work

“It’ll be awkward for her since we’re all professors, give it a rest Seaof, do you really have to see her every day??!” Poseidon walking towards the bathroom “You’re being too obvious, remember you’re still a professor and she’s a student, be contented with friendship for now or else you may lose not only your job but also your chance to confess your feelings.” closed the door after he make his statement

“I only want to see her every day it’s not like I’m going to cross the line whenever I have the chance.” muttering to myself “Why do I have to fall for someone I can’t??! If only I’m not her professor or she’s not my student.” sighed heavily

The next day, the only task left for us professors are to submit the students’ reports at the admin and have them compute the general weighted average of each students and put it on their records. Thanks to the information technology students the process of generating grades are faster than my time when everything is typewritten and computed manually through the calculator.

“Are these all the grades of students’ in our class?” talking to one student whom I paid to gather the data I needed

“That’s everything, all eight classes.” IT student “Where’s the half of the p*****t?” laying out his hands on me

“Here.” giving him another US$400 “Since you’ve done it perfectly, here’s another US$200, you should treat yourself for doing a great job!”

“It’s nice doing business with you, Prof. Godeth, if you need again my service, I’ll be happy to give you assistance again.” IT student hid the money immediately “I should be working for a people like you to earn easy money.”

“You better master your program in able to do more, you’ve got a great potential kid.” leaving first with the papers in my hand “I can’t wait until Monday to see these kids’ grades.” looking at the class record of NA31OSE1 “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” can’t believe on what I’m seeing

I immediately went to the dorm and saw Poseidon packing his things as he plans to spend summer with his family in Seoul and avoid the complaints of the students he failed. He was calmed and composed when I told him that I got the grades on hand, but I’m too bothered with the reality.

“About the promised we made to our classes, I think we set the bar too high for them, should we adjust from 88 to 85 instead?” handed him the papers “Apparently only 11 people made it to the cut off, too few from what we expected.”

“11, sounds good to me.” Poseidon browsing the papers “Ah! … now, I know where you’re coming from, your girl almost made it but she’s 0.35 short.”

“Well when you round off 87.65, you’ll get 88 right?” trying to make a pass on him “But I don’t want to make it too obvious so let’s adjust it to 85, the more the merrier, right?? Besides it’s no fun if we only have 11 students who get to enjoy a cruise ship vacation.”

“If you say 85, I see many students here got that grade, give me a list summary, if it’s less than 50 then I agree with 85, I guessed this plan of yours is much cheaper than I expected.” Poseidon smiling of the news I brought

“Alright, it doesn’t look like the numbers will exceed in 50 anyways.” marking the grades that are 85 and above until I finally come up with the final number “38! That’s the number though there’s 5 who almost made it to 85 if we rounded it off to whole number.”

“Let’s stick with exact 85, alright?” Poseidon done with packing “We already adjusted once and I think that’s enough, twice is too much.”

“Right, so 38 it is!” stop pushing my luck when he told me it’s enough “You really got a limited consideration, are you?”

“I’m a considerate person but not to the extent of being a fool.” Poseidon took the summary that I made “Good thing that guy also made it to the list, you won’t have a time alone with main reason why we adjusted from 88 to 85.” smiling at me as he sees Hammond’s name on the list

“You’re right, that guy always stick around with Nene every time, but I’ve got nothing to worry about … they’re just friends.” crossing my arms

“Yeah, even though we know that fact you’re still jealous at the boy because he could go closer to your girl crush without any fuss at all.” Poseidon still teasing me “I feel sorry for you buddy, you want to be serious with your relationship now but your supposed to be partner isn’t available yet.”

“I can wait for her because she’s worth waiting for, at least mine is just around the corner, but what about your girl?” getting back at him

“I think I want Curry for tonight’s dinner.” Poseidon changing the topic automatically “Let’s plan for the trip this weekend before I go to Seoul.”

“Hahaha, look how you shift the conversation easily.” stand up and walk through the door “Don’t worry, we’re still looking for her, but in case you change your mind, Meghan is still there for you, mate.” waiting for him to come out from our room

“Meghan is my friend, she’s not like a back up plan in case I failed, so please stop it.” Poseidon locked down our room and turn to me frowning

“Fine!” raising both of my hands “Let’s just have your curry alright, I don’t like to see your upset face, because even though you’re angry you still have that handsome face of yours and it’s very annoying to me, why does every Nevaeh is born good-looking??!”

“I don’t know, ask my father.” Poseidon smirks at me as we go down from the stairs “He’ll just tell you to ask his father too, and Lolo Uranus would tell you that he was born with it too.” walking towards the parking lot “But we never take advantage of our looks to date many girls or boys as we want.”

“I surrender!” going towards my car “Let’s not talk about our past alright, you were born godlike and I messed up with my life, the end.”

“Hahaha.” Poseidon laughing out loud as he opens his car door “Shall we go for an uphill drive after dinner?”

“Instead of a drive, why don’t we go clubbing?” suggesting him a livelier way to spend Friday night “There’s a bar here in Yeongdo-gu though it’s unlike the bars in Seoul, the music their playing is pleasing to the ears, so are you up for it?”

“I told you too many times before I like funk rock music, if you’re bringing me to a place where I could take a nap while listening to the music then I better go back to the dorm and have my good night sleep in bed.” Poseidon gets in to his car

“He really is cheeky sometimes.” gets in to my car and starts the engine then I follow him out to his preferred restaurant

I had chicken curry while he had curry mussels, he really does like seafood more than anything else. We’re both used to people keeping their eyes on us but unlike him I still get conscious of how I look to everyone. The reason I preferred eating in a VIP room for me to be comfortable in dining out.

After having our curry dinner, we went to the bar I mentioned to him. Most of the customers are couples who’s spending a romantic night with the romantic music and definitely not for us two gentlemen. So, we just had a few drinks before we got jealous of everyone around us.

“Next time bring a lady with you here and not me; people might misunderstand us.” Poseidon said calmly as he opens his car door and about to get in

“I just want to know if the rumors are true about this club, now that I see it with my own eyes, I’ll definitely bring her here next time and not you.” I’m about to get in to my car when someone suddenly point a sharp object at my left side

“Give me your wallet!” man behind me said in a low but clear voice as he pushes the sharp object closer to me

“It’s in pocket, you may take it if you want, just don’t hurt me.” trying not to panic

“Hey, what are you doing with my friend?!” Poseidon shouted at the man but another man stands behind him and probably doing the same thing

“Let’s just give them what they want and leave like nothing happened.” convincing Poseidon not to fight

“Why would I? This scum threatened my life first, why would I back down??” Poseidon confidently take on the man on his side

“Tell your friend to stop, or I’m going to kill you!” man behind me yelled as he almost stabs me with his tool when he panics with Poseidon sudden action

“Hey, this man won’t fight you while that man won’t stop until he beat your guy!” a lady with long straight hair appears “Do you even know how to kill?”

“Who the f**k are you b*tch??!” man turned his back against me and face the lady “Get out of here before you I stab you first.”

“Nah, you can’t threaten me with my own specialty.” lady with long hair beat the man in a flash “Call the police … you can do that much, do you?”

“Have I seen you before? Your face looks familiar to me.” recalling where I see her face “Wait! Where are you going??” chasing after the lady but she runs so fast like she’s in a hurry “I didn’t even get your name and say thanks to you.” muttering to myself

“Hey, Seaof are you alright?!” Poseidon run to me after he beat his guy down “Oh, you beat him?” pointing at the guy the lady defeated for me

“No, let’s tie them up before we call the police first and report these thugs.” going back inside the bar as Poseidon guards the two outside

The bar owner lends me a hand as he also stands to witness what happened when the police came. Apparently the two are known for committing the same crime around Yeongdo-gu and they’re wanted for a long time now. Unfortunately for them that it’s us who get captured them, they won’t be able to go out from jail for a long time and lucky for me that I have a wonder woman who saved me from danger.

“Now, I remember her!” I shouted as I lay down in bed after a long night “The lady you’ve been looking for, she saved me earlier!” sits up

“What??! Are you still drunk, Seaof?! What lady are you talking about all of a sudden?” Poseidon sits up too

“You think I can fight that guy on my own? I’m no fighter, Don, I lied to the police because I don’t think she want to reveal her identity, but I’m definitely sure, she’s the girl on your portrait with the same earrings.” recalling every details of the lady that I saw earlier “She’s real, I saw her!”

“Wait, you mean you don’t believe she exist until you saw her tonight?” Poseidon looking at me in disbelief

“Can you blame me?! You’re the only one who saw her that night, and now it happened to me, she came at the right moment and saved me, the man who assaulted also kept quiet because he couldn’t take that he got beaten up by a lady and that easy as if he’s just a feather fell to the ground.” I said

“Let’s go back to that place again tomorrow, she maybe residing around the area.” Poseidon said with determination “I need to find her.”

“Of course, I want to thank her too for saving my life!” I replied to him as I go back to lying down in my bed

At first, I thought that my best friend just made up a lady to be his ideal girl that he wants to marry but now I’m absolutely convinced that she’s real and not just an imagination. Her attire is too sophisticated with that fancy earrings on but who would have known that she could kick some ass.

The next day, Poseidon and I personally searched around the area and asked everyone if they have seen the lady in Poseidon’s portrait but none of them know her. Her looks are definitely noticeable and anyone would have recognized her but they really don’t know anyone like her in the area.

“Did she just showed up to saved you that day?!” Poseidon getting frustrated “What is she, some kind of a superhero or someone who just beat up bad guys when she wanted to??!” brushing his hair until it gets messy

“I don’t know, but one thing is for sure, she’s definitely in Busan, we don’t know exactly where but she’s just around.” reassuring him that we got hope

“I think I should bring my boys here and do the work, we can’t do this by ourselves we need more manpower to look for her.” Poseidon said sternly

“We already used the technology we have in the campus but we failed to locate her exact location, what if she’s really into hiding and doesn’t want to be found, she just come out when needed, like a superhero as you said.” thinking of every possibility

“You mean she’s disguising herself as someone else to hide her real identity?” Poseidon thinking deeply “That’s highly likely probable.”

“But why? Why would should she hide herself if she’s doing a good deed?? I still don’t get it why superheroes disguise themselves to someone else.”

“To have a normal life like other people, but to set things straight, I don’t think she’s a superhero, she must be someone who knows martial arts.”

“Oh, I thought we’re dealing with the real comics character here, I almost believe she’s the real deal because she’s too strong and fast.” I said

“There are women like that, so I think it’s normal nothing out of ordinary.” Poseidon getting in to his car

“Well there are extraordinary creatures in this crazy world Don, you just don’t know it yet because it’s hard to believe they do exist with us.” muttering to myself as I get in to my car too “How would I not believe if my own parents are immortals and they claimed to ate mermaid’s flesh?”

Sunday morning and Poseidon left the dormitory to go to the capital as he planned. He told me he’ll be back next month as he doesn’t intend to spent summer in Busan. As for me, I decided to stay until Tuesday to see the students’ reactions when they found out that they’re going for a cruise.

“I thought you already got your report card yesterday, why are you back here again?” surprise to see Nene Tuesday morning in the campus

“It was Justin-samchon who claimed it yesterday, I’m here to get Hammond’s report card, he gave me an authorization letter and his ID, since he won’t be back to Korea until next semester but when I told him that he made it for the cruise, he’s definitely going back here to claim his prize.”

“Yeah, he got 85.15, so he’s absolutely in.” scratching the back of my head “So I guessed you haven’t left the town yet, huh?”

“We’ll leave later, how about you?” Nene staring at me “Are you going to spend your vacation at your parents’ place in Dongbaekseom?”

“Yeah, I promised to spend vacation with them since I never gone home since March, they even compare me to Don who go to Seoul monthly when their place is nearer to visit with but I never see them when I started working.” staring back at her “Though they’re just exaggerating things because I definitely visit them yearly, especially during Christmas season.”

“Your parents must miss you so much, well you should spend time with them as much as you could because you’ll never know when they’ll be gone.”

“Nah, I probably die first before them.” I had to add a statement after that I can’t reveal that my parents are immortal “I mean they’re having a healthy lifestyle so they probably live longer than me who still have a weak stamina.”

“Ahh … I thought you meant something else.” Nene smiling at me that makes me smile too “Anyway, see you on the trip, Prof. Godeth.”

“Huh?” look around and see other students nearby “I see, have fun with your summer vacation also see you again on the trip.”

“Of course, how could I miss a once in a lifetime opportunity?!” Nene walking backwards “Good bye, Prof. Godeth!” waving her hands good bye

“If you marry me, cruising won’t happen once in your life.” muttering to myself as I watch her walking away from me “Get it together Seaof, what do you mean marry??! You hanged out with Don too much who have marriage in mind!” walking at the opposite direction to have a conversation with others