When They Fall in Love
by Mi Oak (Chris) Kim
Eileen is lying on the couch in the sunshine near a beautiful beach. The sun is very strong, but she looks very comfortable. She also feels sleepy but she tries to finish reading a book. She really wanted to enjoy her own free time away from her work in the busy city. She is a famous interpreter and a translator so everyone wants to work with her. She gets lots of money and has a good reputation from her job. Even though she has a hard time at her job she likes it. She never has a break while she is working, so when Mrs. Allison, who lives in a remote and beautiful county, invited her, she nearly wept for joy. She made a big decision to go there for a rest.
As she returned to Mrs. Allison’s house, Jake and Jonathan, who are Mrs. Allison’s grandsons, ran and threw themselves in her arms. They are five-year-old twins and always want to stick with Eileen, even when it is time to go to sleep. Eileen also loves them very much, and while staying here, she feels real love from their family. Mrs. Allison, drinking tea from the armchair, is looking at them happily. Mrs. Allison lost her eldest son, Jeremy, and his wife a few years before when their children, Jake and Jonathan, were only babies. When she heard the tragic news she couldn’t believe it. Jeremy and his wife had just said good-bye to her that morning before they got on the airplane to celebrate their 3rd anniversary. When the airplane crashed, there were not any survivors. She could only overcome her grief because of her adorable grandsons. She has two daughters who are already married and have happy families and one more son, Richard, who lives in a big city and doesn’t want to get married. She is always worrying about Richard, the youngest son.
Richard is looking at the busy street from his office. As he looks at the clock on the wall, it is 6:00PM. He realizes it’s already time to go home. In the morning his colleagues suggested he go out that evening for a beer. ‘Thank God, it’s Friday!’ Richard muses. However, tonight he doesn’t want to join them. He wants to take it easy because he suddenly feels wiped. Many women want to date Richard, who is tall, handsome and has good manners. He has fallen in love several times, but he has never thought about marriage. He is still looking for a real love. But ‘No way!!’ he counters. He doesn’t believe in real love although he is always wondering what real love is. Suddenly it comes back to him that he got a letter from his mom a few days earlier. It was strange. She had never written him a letter before. If she wants to talk with him, she usually calls him or visits him so she can come by with her sweet grandsons. In the letter, she suggested he spend his holidays in her house. He wants to see his cute nephews who lost their parents. The last time he saw them was about six months before. However, he doesn’t want to listen to his mom talk about his single life. He really loves his mom and family, but their opinions about marriage are totally different, so sometimes they argue about it. In two weeks, he will be free from his busy job for 2 months. He has had no time to make any definite plans for his holidays.
When Richard reaches his mom’s house, he realizes how much he misses it even though there is nothing special about it. He lives in a big city, but he loves this magnificent house, with a beautiful garden and cobalt colored sea around the house and evergreen hill. Whenever he comes to his hometown he feels comfortable, and he wonders how he can work and live in the city. He didn’t let them know about his plan to spend his vacation with his family. He opens the door and goes into the house quietly. He wants to surprise them, but nobody is there: no lovely nephews, cheerful mom, not even the butler. Arnold, who is old and very faithful, and has lived with his family since Richard was born. His wife, Nancy is the best cook. She is very kind and took care of Richard as a nurse when he was a baby. First, he goes to his room to leave his suitcase and to take a shower. He thinks that he has to wait for them until they appear. When he opens his bedroom door, he is very shocked.
Eileen got up late this morning because she stayed up late last night making some presents for the twins. Their birthdays are coming up so she wants to give them special gifts. When she woke up, she realized that all of them had already gone to the Flower Exhibition. Yesterday they suggested she go with them but she had already been there a few days before with some friends who she had met at church. After taking a walk in the morning, she ate toast and milk for breakfast. She reads a newspaper for a while and then goes to find some books to read in Mrs. Allison’s son’s bedroom. There are lots of books in his room. It’s just like a library and Mrs. Allison always allows her to get some books whenever Eileen wants to read. She was still looking for some books this morning. When she found a novel by her favorite English author, it was on the top of the bookcase. She brought a ladder to get it. When she was reaching for it the door suddenly opened and a stranger looked at her angrily.
Suddenly Eileen loses her balance on the ladder because of the unexpected appearance of Richard and she falls. At that moment, Richard jumps towards her and catches her. Fortunately she is safe thanks to the stranger. She tries to stand up and say thank you to him but he is angry at her. “What are you doing in my room? Who are you? Get out of my room, right now!!!” When she tries to say something to him, they hear some sounds from downstairs. The family who went to the Flower exhibition has come back home. She is shocked by his impolite manner but she can’t do anything because Mrs. Allison is calling her from downstairs. “Eileen. Where are you? What a wonderful day!! We saw lots of gorgeous flowers and we had a great time. Though there was such a crowd, we couldn’t miss the beautiful flowers. Even if you had gone there again with us, you would still enjoy it.” Jake and Jonathan are running around looking for Eileen and they are surprised when they see their uncle, Richard. They run to throw themselves in his arms.
They start chattering to Richard, “Uncle, when did you come here? Why didn’t you let us know? Do you know our birthday is only two days away? Did you come here for our birthday? We went to the…” All of them come upstairs to see Richard, and they look surprised about Richard’s unexpected visit, but they welcome him happily. Nancy smiles at him and says “Long time no see Richard. Why don’t you come here more often? We have missed you a lot, especially Mrs. Allison. How have you been?”
Mrs. Nancy asks him lots of questions before Arnold makes her stop. “I am glad to have come back home, Mrs. Nancy. I also have really missed all of you. I will spend my vacation here for two months” Richard answers cheerfully. Mrs. Allison says to her son.
“Did you get my letter a month ago? I thought you didn’t want to come home because you didn’t answer my letter. Ah, did you say hello to each other? Eileen, this is my son. Richard. Richard, this is Eileen. She has been staying with us for a rest from work since last month. First, take a rest for a while. We know you had a hard trip from your house to here. Let’s talk later.” Eileen shakes hands with Richard to say hello but she is still angry at him because Richard hasn’t apologized. She says to the twins “Jake and Jonathan, Let’s go downstairs. Your uncle has to take a rest now, and after that you can talk with him” Jake and Jonathan want to play with him but they follow Eileen.
After taking a shower and changing his clothes, Richard opens the window to smell the fresh air from outside. He sees that Eileen and the twins are playing in the garden. They look very happy, and suddenly he wants to join them. He hasn’t seen Jake and Jonathan’s faces filled with such happiness since their parents’ death. Richard thinks that even when they were only babies they felt grief. He goes downstairs to talk with his mom. She is watering the plant.
“Mom, I finally realized why you sent the letter to me. Even if you try to match me with Eileen, I will not get married to anybody. She is not my type. You can’t change my mind. So don’t try to pressure me, okay?”
Mrs. Allison pretends not to know about that. “I can’t understand what you are talking about. I just suggested you spend your vacation with family. Jake and Jonathan really want to see you and on the twins’ birthday your older sisters will come, so I hope all my family will gather together because it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other.” Although Richard doubts it, he doesn’t press his mom hard. He hears cheerful and loud laughter from outside.
Two days later, it’s the twins’ birthday. The day before Mrs. Allison’s daughters’ family arrived to celebrate the twins’ birthday, so the house was full of her family. From the morning, everybody is very busy preparing lots of food and decorations for the twins. The twins are especially enthusiastic so they move around continuously and make noises, but nobody warns them to stop. It’s a special day for them. When all of the food is prepared, they gather to sing happy birthday to them and give them their presents. Jake and Jonathan are wearing nice suits and birthday caps that they got from their aunts. However, the family looks curiously at Eileen, and they ask her lots of questions. Sometimes she smiles at them when she gets an awkward question from them. Eileen thinks they look very happy and close to each other and she feels envious of them. She goes outside after a long time talking with them. She thinks that this house is full of love all the time, and she wants to be part of their family. She is lost in thought, so she doesn’t realize that somebody is beside her until he talks.
“Why did you come out? Aren’t you cold? Are you okay? Jake and Jonathan were impressed with your presents. Thank you so much.” Richard says to her kindly. “It’s my pleasure. I wanted to give them a special present. That’s why I made the presents for them.” she replied unintentionally. She is still upset that Richard was angry at her the first day. Anyways, she doesn’t want to worry about him anymore, and she wants to enjoy this happiness during her stay in this house. When the twins were very delighted with her presents, she was very impressed.
A couple of years before, Eileen met an ideal man who was very kind and loved Eileen very much. At that time, she thought he would be the last love she would ever meet, and she was sure that their love would continue forever. She had never thought of her life without him, and she wanted to be with him forever. At that time, the reason that she lived was only for him. However, their love had to stop because of his family. He couldn’t leave his lovely kids, even if he didn’t love his wife anymore. He couldn’t give up his responsibility to them. Even if he and Eileen loved each other so much, they couldn’t be with each other. She wanted to hold him, but she couldn’t do it and she had no choice but to say goodbye to him. Sometimes she still wants to call or meet him but she knows she must not. She still can’t forget him, and it is impossible to forget him so she is not ready to start loving other guys. She’ll probably wait for him. She knows it is stupid, but she can’t do anything to forget him. She thinks if time passes, she will eventually forget their love someday.
When Mrs. Allison sees Eileen and Richard talking on the veranda, she smiles quietly because she has a secret plan for them. When she visited her friend’s house in Paris during her last summer vacation, she met Eileen for the first time through her friend. While they were eating dinner and talking with each other, she thought Eileen was very smart and a warm-hearted person. After that day, she kept in touch with Eileen and she decided to be a matchmaker between Richard and Eileen. That’s why she suggested they take their vacation at her house. She is sure that they will be an attractive couple but when Richard asked her about that she was slightly surprised. Because Richard still seems suspicious, she thinks that she has to be careful, so that they don’t discover her plan.
When Richard and Eileen come back to the living room, the twins are looking very sleepy, so Eileen takes them to bed. She reads them books and tells them a story until they go to sleep, but she doesn’t know Richard is happily looking in through a crack in the door. While they spend their vacations in her house they become close friends. However, what Mrs. Allison hopes has not happened yet. And sometimes they go to the beach and go on a picnic with the twins. Eileen always takes care of Jake and Jonathan like a mom and sometimes Richard is impressed with her. Whenever Eileen talks with Richard, her first impression of Richard starts to change. She realizes he is very nice and humorous.
One day when Richard and Eileen are cheerfully talking about their jobs in the garden, a fabulous red sports car comes to the house with a noisy sound. When the door opens, a sexy woman who is tall and fit gets out of the car. As soon as she sees Richard, she runs and throws herself in Richard’s arms.
“Darling, I miss you a lot. Could you forgive me? I couldn’t wait until you came back to work so I came here.” Richard is surprised and says to her “Sophia, What’s up? Why did you come here?” “ I am so sorry. After saying goodbye to you, I have been thinking about our relationship again for a long time, and finally I realize that I still love you. Please let’s start again. I need you.”
Richard sighs and tells her “Sophia, we’re finished. You dumped me because of your new rich boy-friend and I think it’s not a good time to talk about that. Let’s talk later. First. .” He tries to say more, but then Mrs. Allison comes to them “Hello, Sophia. Long time no see. How have you been?” She smiles at Sophia politely and greets her. “First, how about drinking some tea in the living room?” Mrs. Allison takes Sophia in a hurry. When Eileen sees Sophia, she thought that Sophia looked a little arrogant but she is very beautiful. She has long blond hair and big pretty eyes. Eileen feels like a fish out of water because nobody introduced Sophia to her. She goes to the beach because she doesn’t want to interrupt them. When she comes back home, she doesn’t see Sophia again and while they are eating dinner, nobody mentions Sophia’s visit.
A few days later, somebody honks the horn from outside. The twins run to the door and check it out. “Grandma, a woman is coming with a big suitcase.” At that time, Sophia comes into the house. “Good afternoon. I am so sorry, but can I stay here for a while, Mrs. Allison?” As soon as she came to the house, she asked Mrs. Allison, but she didn’t care about Mrs. Allison’s reply. Mrs. Allison is at a loss what to do for a while but she agrees. If Richard were here, he would take her from the house. However, Mrs. Allison thought it might be good chance for Eileen and Richard, and they will develop an affection for each othermore quickly than before.
At midnight, when Eileen goes downstairs to drink a cup of tea, she overhears an argument from Richard’s room. She can see Richard and Sophia through a crack in the door “Richard, I know that you still love me too. Don’t deny your feelings for me. I’ve already apologized to you several times about my leaving. Please forgive me.” Sophia is wearing sexy pyjamas and trying to persuade Richard. You can see her white skin and she looks like she is wearing only underwear. “Come here Darling. Let’s talk later. Everything will be fine. Tonight I want to sleep with you.” She goes to the bed to lie down and then she starts to tempt Richard. “Sophia. Don’t be silly, it’s over. I loved you very much but now I don’t love you anymore. Please get out of here. It’s better for us.” As soon as Richard says this to her, her face gets red and angry. “I promise you will love me again. While I am staying here with you, I will make you love me again. You will regret not staying with me tonight.” She goes out and slams the door. Just before Sophia came out of Richard’s room, Eileen hides behind the corner. When she goes back to bed, she can’t fall asleep, and she thinks and thinks about their conversation all night.