JUN AND JAE
He refused her.
She, Ha JaeKyung, the only child of the most successful enterprising couple in Korea has been turned down.
Warm tears trickled from her eyelids, surprising even her, for if there is one thing that she never does is cry. She will rant and rave, she will kick butt, she will stay silent, but she never, ever cries.
And yet now, for the first time in her twenty years, she has cried not once but twice in a month.
Damn him to hell. Who does he think he is?
Goo Jun Pyoo. Hah! God's gift to women? More likely, a walking idiot. Granted he is handsome as sin, but an idiot nonetheless.
She turned back to look at him, surprised that he is still where she left him to be. Pausing, she looked harder and got the second surprise in her life. He looked shocked. He was staring at the ground on his feet, but she could see his eyes in widened surprise.
Slowly, hesitantly she walked back towards him, recalling what transpired earlier.
" Our parents have already made a deal, we might as well make them happy. Take me out on a date."
"I don't date strangers."
"I'm your fiancée, how can I be a stranger?"
" Get out of my face. I don't want you here."
" No, you listen Jun Pyoo for I won't say this again. What I want, I get, and once I've made up my mind, you better shape up. I'm going to tame you."
" You're delusional. Even if you're the last woman on earth, I'll never consider the likes of you."
"Then why are you blushing just now?"
"Argh! Get away from me!"
"Come now, no need to be shy. We are going to be married after all."
"Listen to me, you crazy girl for I won't say this again. I don't like you, I don't want to see you anywhere near me, I don't want to hear your nonsense voice again. Do I make myself clear?"
She paused to consider that for a minute. Her blood singing in excitement at the way his eyes bulged in anger. Not the ideal reaction she was looking for her, but a reaction nonetheless.
"You want me to go away?" she challenged.
He paused and looked at her. Unsure of her change in tone.
" You really want me to go away?"
Turning away he nodded tersely.
" Fine, then prove it."
His eyes turned to slits.
" What the hell are you talking about?"
" Kiss me."
"K-Kiss you?" he sputtered. " Lady, you are insane. Haven't you been listening to any word I have said?"
" Why are you hesitating? Aren't you the great Goo Jun Pyoo? What? Afraid you might like it?" she taunted, all the while her heart beating like a drum.
He grabbed her shoulders and he wasn't gentle about it. Ever the confident girl, she snaked her arm up his hair and grabbed in return.
His eyes widened at her boldness but he didn't let go.
She smiled as he drew nearer.
He paused and looked at her lips.
She closed her eyes, anticipating the kiss and felt his breath on her face.
Only to be left with the cold wind on her cheeks. Opening her eyes she saw him with hands balled into fists, staring ahead.
" Stay away from me before I forget that you are a girl." He said softly.
Rage filled her vision and she lashed out.
"Stay away from you? Am I a disease? A repugnant creature? I'll stay away from you, WHEN I feel like it, not because you told me to!"
" Fine, then follow me around like a puppy for all I care."
" What exactly is it that you don't like about me?" she shouted.
"Everything!" he shouted back, verbally slapping her and she reeled.
" I hate what you represent! I hate that you go along with your parents' orders. I hate your arrogance and I hate the fact that with you around my life is going to be a mess!"
She couldn't speak. Never had she heard those words spoken in anger and directed towards her. But he wasn't finished.
" I hate that you are just a spoiled rich girl who thinks the world is supposed to fall at her feet, but is completely unaware that nobody, nobody gives a damn how rich your parents are, because you are empty inside."
She slapped him hard and his head snapped back.
" You, of all people, have no right casting stones. We are the same, do you hear me? Everything that you have said about me, says something about you!" tears fell on her cheeks unheeded but she did not care. " You think that I follow my parents' orders? You haven't even been to places I have been to just to defy them! The only reason that I want you to date me is to show them that I can be reasonable, but that if ever it doesn't work out, I'd rather be a nun than get married to an idiot like you!"
"The only reason that I am coming to you is to meet this problem head on because I am not afraid. But you, you haven't even accepted the fact that as hard as we try, our parents' decisions affect our lives. So don't ever tell me that I'm empty inside because I know who I am."
In angry strides she left him, hurt beyond belief at what has been said.
And yet now, she found herself standing before him once more. He looked up when he saw the tip of her boots. His eyebrows drew together as a scowl formed on his face, but when he saw tears staining her cheeks he looked uncertain.
Hastily she brushed the telltale signs away. Damn if she'll ever show him she is weak.
" You hurt me." She began, getting his undivided attention.
" I have never allowed anyone to hurt me since I was eight years old. But you, you hurt me." She repeated as he looked uncomfortable for once.
" I'm sorry." He interjected, manners befitting a chaebol manifesting itself.
" I don't need your sorry." She snapped and he looked surprised once more.
" You think I just accept any decision made by my parents? Shows you don't know me at all. But if there's one thing I learned in dealing with difficult people is to never say no from the start. I don't want this engagement anymore than you do." He looked skeptical at that and she conceded that she couldn't blame him. Her earlier reaction contradicted her words after all.
" But a deal has been made and knowing my parents they will carry it out." He nodded reluctantly, thinking of his own iron-willed mother.
" They cannot make us do anything that we don't want to. We're adults, and I am not scared of anything, not even if they leave me penniless."
He shook his head." My situation is different."
" You're wrong. You're situation is in a more advantageous position." She had his attention now. " Don't you see, your mother needs you to lead the company. Without you, there can be no future for Shinwha Group. She may raise hell and demand that you do as she asks, but in the end, she can only be the figure behind the board. She cannot lead the company, because that position has been yours the moment you were born."
Jun Pyoo looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time.
" Your mother and my parents are cut from the same cloth. They'd rather slash their own wrists than let somebody not of their own blood take over the company's reins, do you hear me?"
She took a deep breath, suddenly exhausted.
" So what do you suggest we do about the arrangement?"
" We make them see why it can't possibly work between us."
" And how exactly do we do that?"
" By leaving them no room but to concede that we will never suit. What does your mom hate the most concerning the public?"
After careful thought he replied:" Scandals, dragging the family name."
She nodded. " Then we give them what they don't want."
" A scandal? Then that would be ruining us as well."
" Not if we do it right so that the scandal ruins their agreement, but not us."
" Proceed." He said coolly, raising her hackles, but she tampered it.
" We date, we cooperate, but we remain who we are. You say I am spoiled, then spoiled I shall be. You are an arrogant fool as well so don't change for my account."
" What's that supposed to mean?"
" It means you act like you normally would when confronted with a bad situation, only we do it publicly."
Realization started dawning in his eyes.
" You mean, if we date, and we argue…"
" We do it for all the world to see."
" Everybody knows this is not a love match. So they cannot blame me if I go out with somebody else.."
" And they cannot blame me if I attack you in public for humiliating me."
Eyes locked, they slowly nodded in unison, imagining possible scenarios.
She struck out her hand. " Do we have a deal?"
He took it and nodded.
Newsflash: Korea's two economic giants, merging soon?
Shinwha and JK Group playing sweet music together.
Goo Jun Pyo and Ha Jae Kyung attend concert, fundraising.
All is not so well for Korea's new power couple.
Goo Jun Pyo's wandering eyes, Ha Jae Kyung's jealous rages.
Fiance drags fiancée away from public wager on bungee jumping.
Ha Jae Kyung goes out with a new guy, Jun Pyo dates a blonde.
Witnesses recount public shouting match between Korea's richest couple.
And so it went on for six months.
"Hey, its me."
" What's up? Do we have a schedule?"
" No, it's nothing like that. I just realized something today."
" What?"
" We have been engaged for half a year."
He chuckled.
"Our parents are tough cookies, huh?"
She laughed at the other line.
" But I can see signs of straining."
" Oh yeah?"
" Just the other day, my father threw down the newspaper as I entered the room after reading our latest escapade. I looked at him but he never said a word."
"The evil witch is threatening cancelling all my credit cards. I told her to go ahead so that I won't have anymore reason to go out with you."
They shared a laugh this time. After a pause, both kept silent.
"What are you…?" "Have you?..."
"You go ahead" they both said at the same time, this time making them laugh harder.
After a beat he said. " Let's go out. I'm in a mood for some fish cakes."
"Now? It's almost twelve midnight."
"What? You scared of the dark?"
"Fine! Pick me up in ten!" she slammed the phone down, but she imagined him laughing at the other end.
"Stop eating already! These are my shares now."
"But I'm still hungry!"
"Don't you have any food at your house?"
"Stupid, not like these we don't" as she swiped another stick of the fish cake.
Fish sticks in hand he turned quickly and strode toward the nearby park. Save for a few streetlamps, the park was bathed in darkness.
She followed him, intent on stealing more of the delicious street food. But the idiot was really tall and she could only jump ineffectually as he raised his sticks up in the air.
When she stopped, he quickly gobbled the food, his eyes mischievously teasing her to madness.
She pushed him hard and he fell to the ground. She wasn't finished for she jumped right in, landing with a thud on his chest, knocking his ribs hard that he grunted.
After swallowing with difficulty, he glared at her. Sputtering, he yelled.
" You crazy girl! I almost died of choking just now!"
She laughed, the sound clear and carefree in the still night as she continued to lie on top of him.
Looking at her merriment, a grin slowly spread on his lips. Quick as a snake, he turned and grabbed her around so that her back was on the ground.
He laughed as her eyes widened in amazement.
She smacked his face, but he continued to grin. Recalling all the things they did in the past six months and realizing that although their "schedules" were tiring as hell, he never felt more alive.
She gazed at him in return, relishing his weight on top of her, until slowly, his grin faded and his brows knitted in a frown.
She raised her fingers and touched them to his lips. The contact surprised both of them, for neither expected the other's action.
She turned her head away, embarrassed.
He drew her face back and before she could utter a protest, he kissed her full in the mouth.
Eyes widening like saucers she looked at him but he met her head on, all the while his lips playing havoc to her senses.
He cradled her head in his hands, angling her face for deeper contact.
She curled her hands around his neck, meeting at his nape where hair is still curled.
They broke apart suddenly, breathing ragged, faces flushed.
For a few heartbeats, neither said a word but continued to look at each other.
Then he spoke: "We have a problem."
Closing her eyes she nodded and turned her head. " Our parents will win."
With gentle fingers he turned her face to him once more, prompting her to open her eyes.
" Will it be really that bad?"
After a pause, she searched his eyes and saw her future there.
She grinned, making his heart jump.
" I guess not." Said she as he shared her smile.
He lowered his head but not before adding:" But we're going to give them hell before conceding. So much hell that they'll never ever think of manipulating us ever again."
Wrapping her arms around his beloved neck, she laughed. "Sounds like a plan."
And they sealed their new deal with a kiss.
THE END