Chapter twelve.
Yi Jeong- if you would look up at his face by then, wasn't in a quite 'happy' mood, when he was taking long steps towards his hurabeujji's place. Not much like the So Manor of course, the place where Head Master So chose to stay, was more... authentic , as for being one of the freedom fighters of Korea, his tastes were much closer to the dynastic era than to the modern times. Wooden flooring, sliding doors, walls decorated from ancient paintings- probably belonging to the Joseon era or even far before, and as for his occasional visits to Japan and for his long lasted liking, few bonsai plants here and there on the shelves along with the traditional pottery. That was all; which head Master So called a residence. Though there was a parking lot and a vast garden around it.
Yi Jeong slid the door slowly, allowing himself to enter the poorly illuminated room with yellowish lightings. His hurabeujji was seated at the low rectangular table, elegantly polishing his samgakdo which shined even in the weariest of light. Yi Jeong's eyes widened, seeing his hurabeujji with the traditional Korean sword, as not even Yi Jeong himself who had stayed almost his whole life time with his grandfather had much seeing him, that much concentrated in anything else other than pottery. He had seen the sword before though, but was never allowed to touch it , not once in his twenty five years of a lifetime.
The old man cleared his throat,
"If you have any subjects for discussion, " he looked up at his grandson, " you may come in.."
Yi Jeong came and took a seat on the cushion laid across the table, opposite to his grandfather, while the old man continued in his task. Yet he could not sat more straighter than the hurabeujji who was at least sixty years approximately older than himself.
"This sword..." the old man traced his two fingers along the metallic line of the samgakdo ; gracefully as much as a descendant from a former warrior clan could be. " It belonged to my abeoujji, passed down to him by my hurabeujji, passed down to him by his... abeoujji..." he looked up at Yi Jeong, " it was a gift... from the emperor himself to our family..." and his lips twisted into the slightest of smiles.
"But for me... it wasn't that which made this important..." he let out a sigh and stared at the sword with an empty eye, " it was her who made this special for me..."
Yi Jeong kept blankly staring at his lap, allowing the old man to continue,
" I... though owned the sword, knew nothing about it and she... though knew the sword didn't own it..." a little silence followed in which at the end the older So let out a sigh and with a cling, inserted the samgakdo back in to its sheath. He stood up and placed the sword back in its place before returning to his seat in front of Yi Jeong.
" But of course..." he sat with a grunt, " love always... comes with lost..."
A servant came and served them with tea, letting the little clashing sound of the tea cups to fill the long silence.
Head Master So took the little cup and spared a moment to inspect it before having a sip.
"As I have told you and Il Hyun before... pottery.. could make a nice cure for that loneliness..."
"Hurabeujji..." after the long silence , Yi Jeong finally managed to spell out a word.
"I... don't understand.. the meaning of this..." he looked straight into that old man's eyes, " if hurabeujji..." he lost his words again as since a younger age he knew it wasn't a good thing to start discussing about his huramoni.
"Is this... about your engagement?" hurabeujji smiled, pulling the tea cup near his lips.
Yi Jeong pursed his lips and closed his eyes tight. After few long inhales he managed to pick up from where he stopped.
" Why..." he exhaled and opened his eyes, still unable to look straight into the older one's."...why...couldn't hurabeujji accept Ga Eul...?"
"Ah... Chu Ga Eul ...is it again?" he let out another sigh before having another sip from his tea. " why should I accept a pathetic Gold digger like her?"
Yi Jeong's eyes darted towards hurabeujji, " Ga Eulyang, isn't that type of a person _"
"_ I've seen many of that kind... those type of women who introduce themselves to be nice and naive ...but at the end..." he let out a smirk, " they all.. turn out to be the same... the deceitful and manipulative... once in a new moon one would find a different... but certainly not in that low society. ..."
Yi Jeong's fists tightened and his lips pursed in silencing his tongue.
" The people from those classes... are too busy finding a way to climb up the social ladder... that they do not find any interest in love nor devotion..."
another sip from his tea,
" after all... I haven't spent these past years in a monastery... why exactly do you think I had to raise your 'abeoujji ' all alone?.."
and another sigh,
" though it all turned out to be a waste at the end..."
and another sigh and another... long ... silence...
" If ... " Yi Jeong again gathered up his courage, " if.. hurabeujji can't accept her... then at least leave her alone..."
"well, I have left her alone.."
" Oh.. have you?" Yi Jeong's eyes shone with a glare while the ends of his lips slightly twisted into a dark smile. " Then... why have you made them lose their shop? Why have you made them_"
"_I haven't done anything of that kind."
"Hurabeujji!!_"
"_ lower your voice boy!..." though in an aged voice, the commands were as always stern and firm.
" Turned upside down, stepped on, cut over and over again and at the end baked in the kiln in thirteen hundred degrees Celsius... do you know why... even after that , a tea cup would be destroyed? Why would it become ineligible to be served?" he stated as calmly as possible.
"... it is for preserving the honour ... of the potter... that the tea cup should be destroyed..."
" Boh?" it was almost a squeak escaped from the younger So.
" I can not let you... sacrifice all of our family's dignity for a mere deceit..."
" a deceit?..." Yi Jeong scoffed. " What if she is that one person.. that hurabeujji told ... the rarest of women?"
"Then... prove me... that she is..."
Another long silence followed and another few sips from the elder's tea.
" Arasso then..." Yi Jeong kept the tea cup on the table which had been nursed in his palms all this time but not once met his lips. " I will... but till then... leave her alone..."
"it's a deal... then " the old man smiled and stated while Yi Jeong stood up to leave.
" ye.. may it be... but if hurabeujji would do any harm for her or for her family... remember that I... will.. destroy.. everything..." he bowed and turned to leave.
"As if I would care..." the old man chuckled, " boy... my time has already come to an end... and there's only few things I regret about my life..." he kept the empty tea cup on the table..
"... one... is surely not dying from that stroke seven years ago... so that I am still hearing you and your abeoujj's whimpering..."
Yi Jeong was annoyed enough from the news of himself been proposed to one of the granddaughters of his hurabeujji's late friends. After all he knew that would happen sooner or later, but it was the news that Ga Eul's grocery store was sealed by the bank, due to not paying the bills for the last month, that angered him the most.
He knew that his hurabeujji had many connections in every kind of business including the banking sector, and he knew alright that it was one that old man's tricks that was behind the reasons of not any type of loan been approved for any of the members of Ga Eul's family. After all, it doesn't take much force for the Head Master to financially crush the Chu family, unless they give up. Or at least until, he gives up.
In second thoughts, it could have been better if the Mister Chu wasn't one of the people with the highest amount of 'commoner pride', that if he could have let one of the F4 to settle their loans or at least take back the job Junpyo had offered him. But ani... his words were that -' the family issues should be settled within the family, and for no outsider, they would hold any debts...' . And they would hold their pride even if that meant being thrown into the streets which was something, added by Ga Eul- of course from other words yet with the same meaning.
Yi Jeong let out a sigh. He was so tired of arguing about everything, going on and on around the same circles with Ga Eul on that matter. It wasn't that the thought to make her a call didn't hit his mind, but he knew that it would only distract her from any of the work that she was having to do in one of her many part time jobs. With all those chores, even dating was hard for her.
Yi Jeong tossed himself to the couch with another sigh. The had not been the way he wanted it to be. He must have felt completely left out as not even his friends seemed to much care about his mood.
At the moment he had a smile plastered on his face as Junpyo announced the date for his wedding. He was given one of the invitations and of course was happy for his friend, at last being able to be with the one he loved. Though it made himself feel even more pathetic and broken, as it seemed that there was no end for his troubles and a happy ending was far away for him to reach. It made him sigh again and made Jihoo notice his disturbed thoughts.
Amidst Junpyo's nonstop bragging Jihoo stared for a moment at Yi Jeong who had clearly drifted away in his own thoughts, still with his innocent smile but in an unusual silent nature. Jihoo patted Woo Bin and eyed at Yi Jeong who was silently staring at the ground.
" Yoh.. what's up bro?" Woo Bin gave a friendly slap on Yi Jeong's back dragging him back to the present.
"Ani.." he flinched and smiled wearily and kept the card back on the coffee table. Junpyo paused for a minute and joined with the other two to stare at Yi Jeong.
"Boh?" Yi Jeong smirked.
"Were you listening?" Junpyo asked, bit heart broken.
"Did I missed anything?" Yi Jeong smirked again, " its next month isn't it?" he smiled sincerely.
"Ah... seriously." Junpyo scoffed far more than annoyed to be neglected.
"Yi Jeong ah... " Woo Bin grabbed his shoulder with a squeeze while the other two stared at them. " is it something about about Ga Eulyang?"
Yi Jeong sighed in response. After that another smirk followed, " I used to think... Junpyo was over acting.. back then when he was engaged to monkey..." and he leaned back on the couch.
"Over acting?" Junpyo blinked in disbelief.
"Yi Jeong ah... are you?" Woo Bin's eyes widened.
And Yi Jeong again smiled to himself, " but Junpyo... was right..." and sighed, " this... is torture itself..." and laid back his head shutting his eyes tight.
"Yi Jeong ah..." it was again Woo Bin and the rest chose to remain silent.
After a considerable silence, Jihoo spoke out, " is it Hurabeujji?"
"Hmm..." Yi Jeong rubbed his temples and sighed again.
" what's the big deal... after all... the museum is yours..." Junpyo blurted out. " at least you won't be thrown to the streets.. " he completed in a tiny voice and received a noticeable glare from Jihoo and Woo Bin.
"Ye.." Yi Jeong scoffed, " I wouldn't be thrown in to the streets... but maybe .." he shot a look at Junpyo, " exiled?" and returned his head back to its previous position.
" B.. but at least you'll have_"
"_ it's not the properties that matters..." it was now Jihoo who shot a look at Junpyo , annoyed for his numbness.
"His omma... and hurabeujji..." Woo Bin uttered thoughtfully, " the family you grew up... and then... Ga Eulyang ..." he sighed.
Yi Jeong remained silent for a while letting the chance for Junpyo to process everything. But when he stood up, back again plastering that grin on his face the other three again went silent.
" Its not that hard though... even if I had to choose..." he looked back at his confused friends, " and... if he would exile me..." and smirked, " I won't be lingering into any of hurabeujji's riches..." and he turned to leave, but returned back with some envelopes.
He flashed a final smile at the very much confused F3 when placing the envelopes, " hope you all would be there..." and left the lounge.
Woo Bin, Jihoo and Junpyo, stared with one another for a moment before opening the envelopes,
" An exhibition?" Junpyo raised his eyebrows.
"Next week?" Woo Bin gave quizzical look at Jihoo.
As for Yi Jeong, his car's engine roared in to the night. On the passenger seat, sat more tickets for his exhibition with a small velvet black box.
A/N:
Okay.. I'll be straight.. I really don't want any of the characters to be extremely good or extremely bad.. unless for YJ, GE F4 Jandi , Jaegyeong and Hani... well all of the characters that I introduced and the ones who were barely introduced in the original drama like Eun Jae and Il Hyun and Yi Jeong's father.
In the first part of this chapter I tried to depict more of the So Yoon Hee's character, after all he could not be a bad person as he was the one who raised Yi Jeong and his brother.
As in my other story- since the wailing past, where I focused on imagining about Hyun sub 's past
I thought his mother(Yi Jeong's grandmother) would have been diseased when Hyun sub was only a little bit older than a toddler. So it is slightly connected to this one as Yi Jeong 's grandfather reminisce about his late wife – the girl who knew all about the sword. All I was trying to say was that he was from a noble family ever since the dynastic era and was cheated by a commoner which made him not to take a second wife as a punishment for himself and which resulted him in losing the trust about the commoners.
Yeah I know.. I may be horrible when depicting characters... but I am still learning.. hope you won't mind that... :)
And about the Woo Bin and Jihoo stories, I'll try to connect them to the main SoEul story as much as I can, but the chapter fourteen would focus mainly on Jihoo and Oh Hani... as it is Jandi's wedding that's coming ... :)