Tae’s attention was suddenly drawn to a movement out of the corner of his eye. He glanced to his right and saw an extremely tall, very thin man dressed all in black. He was wearing a long, black trench coat, a hat pulled down over his forehead, and a pair of sunglasses. Tae turned to face Anna.
“Anna, there’s a suspicious man standing to my right. When you get a chance, scan the crowd here and tell me if you recognize him.”
A few moments later, she looked around the room.
“Do you see him? Extremely tall and thin, black trench coat, hat, sunglasses?”
“Yes. I saw him, but I don’t recognize him.”
“Hmm. OK. Because I’m positive he’s watching us.”
“Let’s see if he follows us when we leave.”
A few moments later, they descended the elevator and made their way out to the street. They had walked an entire block when Tae glanced back to discover the man in black following them at a discreet distance. Instinctively, Tae reached out and took Anna’s hand in his own as he drew her closer to him. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to her!
Anna looked down at their linked hands and smiled. Tae was so sweet. Glancing up at his face intently searching for an escape from the mysterious man, she realized that Tae really cared about her. It seemed that he had even set aside whatever plans he’d had for today to help her. He pulled her closer to him and walked briskly down the sidewalk, abruptly turning to enter a shop. He hurried her through the crowd towards the back of the store, hiding behind a shelving unit as he drew her close to him. From his vantage point, he could see the front of the store, but he was out of sight of anyone stepping through the doorway. As expected, the man in black entered the shop a few moments after Tae and Anna.
Anna was finding it difficult to breathe. Tae had released her hand and pulled her up against him, sliding his arm around her waist, drawing her into a protective embrace. Her nose was pressed up against his chest. Her heart was galloping away. Though for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why it would be trying to escape from him. She concentrated on drawing breath. But it was a futile effort, for at that precise moment Tae bent his head and whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her skin as he spoke, “The man in the trench coat just turned into this shop. Come on, I know a way out the back.”
His arm still around her, he drew her through a doorway, down a hallway, and out another door into an alleyway. Tae released Anna, grabbed her hand, and began to run. She followed him as he ran nearly a whole block before stopping to hail a taxi. He opened the door, ushered her inside, and jumped in behind her, giving the driver strict instructions to take them to Buckingham Fountain.
Anna turned towards Tae. “Buckingham Fountain? That’s not one of the places pictured in my sketchbook.”
“I know. That’s why I picked it.” He bent close to her again, whispering in her ear. All her hair seemed to be standing at attention as his breath floated over her skin. She shivered as his words found their way down into her ear. He was so close that he was nearly kissing her. “If someone is following you to places you visited yesterday, they won’t be looking for you at the fountain. Besides, it’s beautiful, and I think we should enjoy your birthday. Don’t you?”
As she turned her head to look at him, she realized that she was enjoying being with Tae. They were suddenly nose-to-nose. So close she went cross-eyed for a moment as she faced him. But then she focused on his exotic, dark eyes as she pulled away from him slightly. Her heart sighed. He was so gorgeous. As her eyes found his lips, she imagined herself being kissed by him. Then she remembered her determination to be brave today. Dared she kiss him?
As she pondered this, a sudden long blast of the taxi’s horn startled her out of her contemplation. She glanced towards the front of the vehicle in time to see the man in the trench coat standing directly in front of the taxi. He was waving his arms around trying to get her attention. Her heart had flown into her throat as she spied him. “Tae?” she croaked.