The telephone rings loudly in my tiny London flat. For a moment I think I must be late again and jump out of bed as if I had just awakened from a nightmare, but then a hand grabs me by the waist.
“But today is Saturday…” moans Mark, after pulling me back in beside him.
He returned late last night from the United States and we ended up getting to sleep much later… In short, living a long way from one another is always a pain when you’re young and in love. Even if your boyfriend leaves you for just a couple of days. I never thought I’d say this, but a couple of days is an eternity!
“Yes, it’s Saturday…” I agree, rubbing my eyes.
What if I have done something wrong at work and they’re calling me because they need me to do it all again from scratch? On a Saturday? I reluctantly free myself from his embrace and take the cordless phone from the bedside table. I nearly fall out of bed when I hear the voice coming from the other end.
“Maddison!” thunders my mother’s voice as soon as I put the phone to my poor ear.
Ah, so that’s what I hadn’t been missing in Seoul.
“Maddison, you told me to call you to remind you about your appointment with the estate agent!”
Even though I wish she would learn to communicate without shouting, she’s absolutely right!
“Mark! We have to go to see the house! Thanks Mum!” I say, and hang up before she can carry on, as she usually does.
Mark lifts his beautiful, tousled head from the pillow. I think he’s finally remembered – after all he was the one who noticed the house and made the appointment for ten o’clock this morning. Except for the jet-lag and the fatigue, for once he’s just like me – absolutely comatose.
“You got your mother to give us a wake up call?” he asks in amazement.
I smile angelically.
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“Perfectly,” says the object of my desires, who gets up from the bed and disappears into the bathroom for a very quick shower before hurriedly starting to get dressed.
“Jeans?” I ask, looking surprised. Not that he never wears them, but for him, every excursion that isn’t a trip to the market generally requires exactly the appropriate clothing.
“Of course – and you put yours on as well. We need to look young and penniless so when we make our offer they will think that it is the absolute top end of what we can afford.”
He smiles and mischievously moves towards me to kiss me. That bewildered air of his lasted about a quarter of a second – now he’s back to his usual efficient self.
“Stop it, we’re going to be late,” I remind him, even though I don’t really put up much resistance.
“Hey, it’s not my fault that you’re irresistible.”
I love this side of Mark: since we’ve been officially together he’s become so affectionate and loving. I feel adored – and, believe me, all women should feel that way: we should never settle for anything less.
“I don’t feel particularly irresistible this morning, but I do really appreciate you saying that. Even if you are lying.”
Mark gives me a puzzled look.
“I will never lie to you.”
Really?
“What, never, ever?” I ask him.
“Never, of course. Why, would you lie to me?”
What a question, all women lie!
“Never about anything important,” I reassure him, thoughtfully.
For a moment I see him looking slightly uncomfortable at my answer.
“And what exactly do you consider ‘unimportant’?” he asks, a worried expression on his face.
Is he sure he really wants to know? I burst out laughing at the thought.
“Oh, don’t know – how much money I spend on clothes, shoes, the hairdresser…”
“Ahhh…” he exclaims and kisses me again.
I think that’s taken a huge weight off his mind.
“Oh, ok then – you can carry on lying to me…”
“I knew I’d chosen the best man in the world…”
“And are you lying now?” Mark asks, looking mischievous.
“No, I’m being totally serious,” I reassure him, raising one hand and placing the other on my heart.
At the sound of my answer, his face lights up. I’ve discovered that he has a wonderful smile and that he is a wonderful man, and that making him happy makes me happy. In all honesty I really didn’t think that falling in love with someone would be so… Well, so amazing. I can hardly stop myself from smiling.
Of course, the downside is that since we’ve become a couple we don’t work together any more. Mark went to talk to John right away and I was transferred back to London We could have kept quiet about it and waited for my original transfer to expire, but that’s not Mark’s way. He felt that we ought to put the record straight immediately.
It was only after I’d returned to the motherland that I realized how fond I had become of Korean life. Yes, they might be a bit weird, but I do actually really like them. Apart from the food…
So we suffered at being miles away from one another until they found two other people for the office in Seoul and Mark was transferred to London, although in a different team to mine. He’s often away for work, though, so every now and then we still have to put up with being apart.
Mark says that he really likes it in London but I suspect that in reality he doesn’t care too much for the place. Thanks to him I learned that it isn’t the city that matters, but the person beside you. And wherever in the world we eventually find ourselves living, I will have no objection as long as he’s by my side.
I went back to working with my old team and I am incredibly happy: I have a lot of extra responsibility and after the experience in Seoul I’m finally able to do my job confidently. For the record, I also discovered that I actually like it, too.
I admit that in some ways it has perhaps been a bit of a let-down: I had always dreamt of doing great things with my life, and instead I now deal with mergers and acquisitions. But – brace yourselves – they’ve given me the luxury goods and fashion companies to work with now!
Of course, I’ll never be as passionate about work as Jane – never, ever… but as long as I can feel even half of her dedication, that, for me, will be a real achievement.
It’s also possible that it was Mark who helped convey this love of the job to me. After all he does his own with such passion that it is impossible for some of it not to rub off on those around him. It’s a kind of symbiosis typical of falling in love, I think.
“However, if they don’t accept our offer then it will mean that we will have to continue living here.” I say, resuming our conversation.
Mark stares at me, horrified. “I adore you, but we cannot go on living in thirty square metres or whatever this place is…”
“It’s almost fifty!” I retort.
“Yes, if you count the cellar and that weird little balcony which you’ve never set foot on,” he says seriously. He stops for a moment and then he smiles enigmatically. “I mean, what if there were little feet running around here?”
“Are you thinking of getting a puppy?” I ask doubtfully.
Mark rolls his eyes and goes off to look for his shoes. “Ah yes, your famous female intuition… thank goodness that it’s so accurate. Anyway, let’s deal with one thing at a time. Come on, let’s go and buy this wonderful new house of ours.”
“Which I’ll pay my share of the mortgage for…” I remind him.
“You know that I offered to pay for everything myself.”
“Over my dead body! What do you take me for? One of those girls who dreams of being a kept woman?”
“Excuse me, isn’t that exactly what you’ve been dreaming of all your life?” he laughs.
“Ooh, you awful…” I mutter.
“Listen, I have an excellent memory: not so long ago your aim in life was to marry a rich man and do absolutely nothing for the rest of your days. Am I wrong?”
“You’re wrong, completely and utterly wrong! I’ve never dreamt of doing nothing – I dream of spending my days shopping!” I point out.
“What noble goals you have…” he laughs.
“However, as you can see I’ve changed my mind. Do I look like I want to get married?”
He raises an eyebrow and frowns.
“You don’t want to get married?” he asks, sounding alarmed.
“No, I don’t,” I state – though I’m only really saying it to get my own back.
“Too bad then,” he exclaims, “that means that I’ll have to take it back…”
“Take what back?!” I ask him, unable to contain my excitement.
“Nothing, nothing… something you wouldn’t care about anyway, since you don’t want to get married…”
What a callous bastard – that’s playing dirty!
“It means I’ll just have to wait a bit to see if you change your mind…” Mark teases.
“Wait!?” I wail.
“Of course – I would never dream of tricking you into doing something you didn’t want to do.”
“Mark!!!” I scream.
“Yes, my darling?” he says angelically.
“I hate you!”
“I know, my darling,” he laughs delightedly. “Come on, let’s go. Get a move on! And remember: don’t speak, don’t ask questions, don’t do anything…”
“Yes, master!”
And we dash out of the apartment and walk along London’s almost deserted streets on this beautiful morning.
Wow, I think when Mark takes my hand and kisses it for the umpteenth time – in the end I have actually, finally, really, managed to find my Prince Charming.
We hope you enjoyed this book!
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