A/N: I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt that way about the ending scene haha! Thanks, y'all, for the reviews! I'm glad you're excited ; it makes me excited to write the next chapter...and everything that's going to happen after that ^^ :)

This is going to be a two-chapter sequence of events, just to let you know. Don't worry. Our couple will be left alone eventually, but right now it's time to meet the parents…

Ga Eul had thought when she announced that she was supposed to have dinner with her parents that night, Yi Jeong would head over to Woo Bin's, where he had sent all of his luggage except for his carry-on, or to the new penthouse apartment he had leased while still in Sweden. Surely he would rather rest from such a long day of traveling or hang out with his friends he hadn't seen in so long than spend his first night back in Korea wooing her parents. However, to her surprise, he simply smiled at her announcement and said calmly that he had wanted to meet them and had already bought gifts for the occasion.

For her mother, he had brought handmade Swedish soaps and chocolates, and for her father, he had brought a few rare book editions. His final gift was an original vase that he had made in his last few months in Sweden. He stopped off and bought flowers on the way to the house and presented these along with the vase to her mother.

Her mother, of course, had been beyond shocked to learn that her daughter was dating the So Yi Jeong. Not nearly as hysterical as Jan Di's parents were upon meeting Jun Pyo, but still she'd been going out of her way all evening to make sure Yi Jeong was comfortable and had everything he wanted or needed.

Her father, meanwhile, greeted him stoically, the revelation of Yi Jeong's celebrity status bouncing off his over-protective fatherly instincts like a ping-pong ball off of a concrete wall.

Ga Eul had expected that. She knew her father would eye him with suspicion given his reputation, or probably just given that he was a guy who wanted to date his little girl.

Yi Jeong, for his part, kept insisting that it was an honor to meet them and even offered to help her mother carry all of the various dishes to the dinner table.

Even though Ga Eul knew Yi Jeong would have a ways to go where her father was concerned, she couldn't help but feel happy that he was trying so hard to make a good impression on them.

At this point, they were finishing up their food, and her mother, upon learning they had met in the porridge shop where Ga Eul worked, had launched into the story of how she and Ga Eul's father met.

"Food always brings people together. He used to deliver chicken to my parents," Ga Eul's mother said, gesturing to Ga Eul's father, who had been rather quiet most of the evening.

"They were high school sweethearts," Ga Eul informed Yi Jeong.

"Yes, except you never talked to me at school." She directed this comment at Ga Eul's father, who appeared unperturbed over a bite of noodles.

"That's because when you talk, no one can get in a word edgewise," Ga Eul's father commented, and Ga Eul's mother swatted at him with her hand before turning back to Yi Jeong with a bright smile.

"Anyway, I'm so glad you're here. Have you seen your parents yet?"

Ga Eul almost choked on her bite of noodles. She hadn't told them about Yi Jeong's strained relationship with his own family, and now probably wasn't a good time to bring it up.

Yi Jeong, however, smiled pleasantly at her mother and answered, "No, they're not expecting me until next weekend, so I'm going to surprise them by returning early. I was hoping I would get to meet Ga Eul's parents before things get too busy, as I know they probably will be once I'm officially back in the country."

"Ah, yes, of course, of course. Have some more. Eat. Eat." Ga Eul's mother deposited more food on Yi Jeong's plate.

"Yes, Eomoni. Thank you. Everything is delicious." Yi Jeong picked up another piece of pork and shoveled it in his mouth along with some rice.

"So, Yi Jeong, what do you plan to do now that you are back in Korea?"

Yi Jeong finished chewing and took a swallow of water.

"Well, I'm going to be taking over management of the Woo Sung Museum. My grandfather is about ready to retire. Probably this year I'll be taking over most of the responsibilities, but he'll still be the head of the museum until the following year."

"Ah, I see." Ga Eul's mother looked impressed. "That's a lot of responsibility for such a young person."

"Well, we're sort of raised into it, I guess. To take on a lot of responsibility, I mean."

Yi Jeong glanced over at Ga Eul, and she smiled at him while her mother nodded.

Turning back to her parents, Yi Jeong continued, "Ah, speaking of responsibilities, may I say something?"

The two parents exchanged a glance, and Ga Eul looked over at Yi Jeong in wonderment.

"Go on," her father prompted. It was the first sentence he'd spoken to Yi Jeong directly since they'd sat down to dinner.

"Go on."

In front of Ga Eul's father's piercing gaze, Yi Jeong could feel the mask of calm he had perfected over the years crumble away. To the rest of the country, he was So Yi Jeong, multi-talented child prodigy and the suave and sophisticated heir to a billion dollar art empire. To Ga Eul's father, he was only So Yi Jeong, a reprobate, irresponsible playboy who must have a lot of nerve messing around with his sweet, innocent daughter. Though he doubted the older gentleman read tabloids, he couldn't have helped but heard about Yi Jeong's alcohol-induced injury and his general reputation for 'loving' and leaving women, both of which had been scattered all over the news pending his imminent return to Korea.

Was So Yi Jeong here to take back Korea's high society girls by storm? Did the potter prodigy secretly party hard in Sweden?

Hell, this was almost as bad as having to explain himself to Madam Kang when he and Jun Pyo got into mischief as kids. He needed to say this, though, and there was no better time than the present, before the media twisted any honorable intentions he might have into fodder for the next scandalous headline. In any case, he wanted to know where he stood with Ga Eul's parents, and for them to know where Ga Eul stood with him, since he had every intention of keeping her by his side now that he was back in the country.

Shoving his chair away from the table, he stood up and bowed as though he had just come in.

"To start out I would just like to apologize."

"Apologize?" Ga Eul's mother burst out as though it were the most absurd thing she'd ever heard. "Oh, come now. Don't be silly. Sit—"

Ga Eul's father hushed her with a signal of his hand.

"Go on," he repeated.

"Yes." Yi Jeong wished he had left his suit jacket on, as he could feel himself sweating. Taking a deep breath, he began again, looking mainly at Ga Eul's father, "If this were a normal situation, I would have come to you four years earlier and asked…begged…you to accept me as your daughter's boyfriend, although I'm probably not what you had in mind for her…and I'm certainly not worthy of her." Yi Jeong glanced down. "Things being as they are, I would just like to tell you this. When I was young I did a lot of…well…questionable things…and made a lot of poor decisions. One of those decisions resulted in my hand getting injured. I'm sure you might have seen that on the news. But I would like to assure you that I don't intend to repeat those same mistakes again. You have a very special daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Chu, and I fully intend to respect her in every way. She always makes me want to be a better person, and I hope I never fail her—or you—in that respect."

An intense silence followed this announcement, punctuated only by the drip, drip, drip of the kitchen faucet, a leak he hadn't noticed before. Ga Eul's mother seemed to be waiting on her father to react.

Abruptly, Ga Eul's father shoved his own chair away from the table and disappeared into a back room. A moment later, he returned with a bottle of soju and poured some for himself and for Yi Jeong.

"I'll hold you to that," the older man announced. He motioned for Yi Jeong to take a drink, and the two of them did.

"Yeobo, where have you been hiding that all this time?" Ga Eul's mother asked when the two of them had sat back down.

"If I tell you that, I'll lose the only hiding place I've got in this house," Ga Eul's father commented. "And then you'll sift everything around, and I won't know where it is."

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yi Jeong, let me tell you something about women."

"Yi Jeong, don't listen to a word he says."

"They like to arrange things. And then they like to rearrange and rearrange things. If you're not careful, you won't know where anything is before long."

"Well, someone has to keep this house organized."

"That's right. That's why we still have all those boxes we have to clear out. Boxes from fourteen...fifteen years ago down—"

"Some of those things are yours, you know. Remember when you wanted to take up golf?"

"Cookbooks. That's what's down there. It's your cookbooks. Five whole boxes."

"Oh, hush."

"Why don't you open up a restaurant?"

"Oh? Is that a compliment? Well, you didn't have to say all that just to tell me you liked dinner, but thank you, Yeobo." Ga Eul's mother stood up and started clearing the dishes away, waving away Ga Eul when she tried to stand up and help her. "Sit down. I'll wash these later," she said, piling the dishes next to the sink.

"Cookbooks," Ga Eul's father continued, pouring more soju for himself and for Yi Jeong, "and ten million baby pictures of that one"—he nodded in Ga Eul's direction—"that have yet to be put into albums."

"Oh?" Yi Jeong asked. "I think I'd like to see those."

"Thanks, Appa," Ga Eul deadpanned.

"Ah, Ga Eul-yang's always taking pictures, too," Yi Jeong added.

"She gets it from that one right there." He gestured to his wife who was in the process of sitting down again.

"You bought me that camera. You have no one to blame but yourself."

Yi Jeong smiled over his drink as they continued bickering. He had never seen his own parents argue about anything unless it was a full-on fight, their words filled with cruelty and their eyes with rage. Ga Eul's parents had a quiet ease with one another, though, that only gave way to fond amusement as they quarreled about the petty little things he supposed married couples would quarrel about after being together for so many years. They teased each other mercilessly, but their gaze spoke more of love than annoyance. There was no real malice here. It kind of reminded him of himself and Ga Eul when they fought over small things like what to eat for dinner. Maybe, in twenty years…

For once, the thought of being with one person for the rest of his life didn't scare him. But it had to be her. Only her. It had to be.

Dinner had ended, and Ga Eul's mother had sent Yi Jeong away with more extra food than he knew what to do with. Now it was just the two of them walking back to Yi Jeong's car so that Ga Eul could see him off before he headed to Woo Bin's. They stopped right as they reached the passenger side of the car, and Ga Eul reached over and opened the door to the backseat. Before he could ask what she was doing, she had climbed into the car and pulled him in with her, the containers of food in his hand tumbling onto the floorboard.

No sooner had he been pulled inside the car than did Ga Eul pull him into a searing kiss that seemed to last longer than any kiss Yi Jeong had ever had before. When they finally broke apart, Yi Jeong's brain caught up with the fact that he was lying completely on top of Ga Eul in the back seat. He mumbled an apology for smothering her and started to sit up, but she clutched the back of his neck when he tried to move away from her.

"I-I…" she stammered. "I—"

"I love you," he finished for her. Though he couldn't see her expression very clearly since the car light had gone off, he knew her eyes had widened, and a faint blush had crept into her cheeks. He knew she loved him. She'd said it before in her sleep once, and besides that he could read it in her every glance, even though he had very little experience with love. Probably she had never said it directly, out loud, to him because she was scared he wouldn't say it back.

"You…"

He put a finger up to her lips.

"I love you, Ga Eul-yang. I get to say that first since I liked you first." He leaned in and pecked her on the nose and the lips. Then he moved away and allowed them both to sit up on the backseat. The light from the street lamp revealed what a tangled mess Ga Eul's hair had become in just a few short minutes, and he reached over and smoothed her hair out with his hand. He'd seemed to have passed the first parental interview. No need to sink a ship that had much too recently set sail.

Ga Eul gazed at him with a puzzled expression as his fingers swept through her hair.

"What do you mean…you liked me first?"

"Why do you think I liked annoying you so much?" He brushed a few strands behind her ear and readjusted the light pink headband she'd been wearing. "Why do you think…I picked you up that day you were crying?"

"You mean you liked me way back then?"

"I think so. I didn't want to. You weren't a very...easy…person for me to take, but even when you annoyed the hell out of me, I still wanted to see you again." Yi Jeong chuckled. "What will come out of that country bumpkin's mouth today, I wonder?" He finished messing with her hair and sat back against the car door. "She's pretty cute, too, even when she dresses like a nun."

"You told me you like the way I dress."

"I do. But sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who gets to see the real Chu Ga Eul."

"Except when you buy me extremely short dresses for extremely public events."

"Define 'short,' Ga Eul-yang."

"You know, I love you too, but I have to get out of this car soon, or my parents will probably assume I'm not dressed like a nun anymore."

Yi Jeong's face fell.

"I wish you didn't have to stay here tonight. I was hoping I could stay with you for a few days."

"You can always help us paint the guest bedroom tomorrow. You will have ample opportunities to see me then…in shorts," she added with a mischevious grin and raised eyebrows.

"Hmm…what time?"

"10:00 AM." A coy look came over her face. "Then maybe afterwards you could drive me back to my apartment, since I…you know…have so much grading to do. I left all my stuff over there anyway, and I'm sure my parents will want to rest tomorrow night…Plus, the next day we have to get stuff for your apartment, and then we have dinner with Jun Pyo and Jan Di and everyone. So it'd probably be best if we both…you know…went back."

"Chu Ga Eul, are you propositioning me?"

Still grinning, she drew her foot up the side of his leg.

"It can be whatever you think it is, Yi Jeong Sunbae."