Chapter thirty
"We aren't that late." Yi Jeong leaned back on his seat, taking the turn to the main street. "Five minutes perhaps? It'd be max." He said, sparing a glance at his wrist watch and another at his unsettled wife.
Ga Eul squirmed, and shifted on her seat for the uncountable time. "That's enough for them," She said, "to think otherwise." and murmured more to herself, turning to face the window.
Ga Eul was blushing—Yi Jeong knew.
He supposed that should have made him smile, but unlikely of his usual self, it made him annoyed.
"Say them we had no time for otherwise because of that superintendent." He answered flatly.
A silence grew in their confined space, as the orange lotus rocked back and forth at the sudden pushes of breaks.
They had over-slept, and at the moment, were paying off for the 'luxury' they've taken, stuck in the morning traffic.
Cars honked from behind, and pedestrians drifted faster than the moving traffic. Their faces told their minds raced faster than their feet, making plans for the upcoming events. And there was no difference inside as well.
Will the superintendent visit them today? Or has he(or she) already arrived? How should she excuse herself then? What would her colleagues say? They were always looking out for a way to make her feel uncomfortable... — thought Ga Eul.
On the other hand,
What happened to those cheques? Had they lost them? Misplaced? Hurabeujji would kill him if he had. (He was sure it was a scam, but after talking with hurabeujji, it all felt as if... Aish! ) Before all of that, will they reach the kindergarten in time? Yi Jeong clutched to the wheel even tighter, as he impatiently waited for the lights to turn green. They were running late.
This was it—the life he had hated—a little interval called a weekend and they'd be washed back into the breathless rush. She–at the kindergarten and he–at the museum, dealing with a hurabeujji even more childish than the actual kids.
Yi Jeong dug his nails into the leather cover of his steering wheel.
He needed to find an escape—a retreat from that never-ending cycle. So Yi Jeong, was never good at routine work. Clubbing and sex(though he gravely regretted that life) was what kept him recharged, before he met Ga Eul. Back when they were dating, though there was the museum and his mother, he was down a job, which swallowed him up in whole!
Was it what hurabeujji wanted?
To stress him out until his breaking point, so he'd let go of everything himself?
No. He wouldn't let that happen. Yi Jeong collected himself.
Until the Baek Pa Sun event...
This storm will settle down to some level after that...
He told himself.
Reserved in his own mind, Yi Jeong pulled over to the almost deserted parking lot of the kindergarten, before he even knew. (Almost—as for the very few vehicles of the teachers and a newly added unfamiliar one.) He unbuckled his seat belt and turned to Ga Eul, who had grown more restrained during the last part of their ride. Then, that he noticed, she had even gone pale.
Yi Jeong sighed.
His reply might have been a bit too harsh on her, and was her to do anything about the superintendent? She was also helpless like him. Yi Jeong mentally slapped himself for his ignorance.
"Gaja?" He forced a smile.
Ga Eul nodded and got out of the car after him. The car trunk was already opened and Yi Jeong helped her unload her things. She collected her files and cuddled up the little box of ornaments.
"Anyeong Sunbae!"
She pulled out the Ga Eulyang smile.
How forgiving?
Yi Jeong felt a code twisting in his belly—an old feeling stirred up.
Yet something else, like a poorly held giggle, coming approximately from above them, caught his ears. Round the orange lotus only a very few steps towards the entrance, Yi Jeong awaked his voice again.
"Jagi..." He called out. For a second there Ga Eul might have thought she had left something behind. And did her startled mind pay any notice to that mischievous grin playing on his lips?
Well, no.
At least not before they crashed onto hers.
Ga Eul had her eyes popped out as the poor little box of ornaments sandwiched between their torsos. (The files as well, didn't feel any better.)
As the first reaction, she tried to break free, but found a powerful arm clasped around her waist.
In contrast to her stunned expression, Yi Jeong, in all his natural calmness—eyes closed, head tilted in the perfect angle—kissed her back. His luscious lips slowly and lovingly moved on hers. Perhaps as for the lack of intimacy they recently had, Ga Eul found herself easily falling for his charms, her eyes drew downward sealing her sight and her lips moved with his, returning the kiss.
All until, she heard a loud (and somewhat cheerful?) "Saseongnim!"from above.
Her eyes snapped open, and their lips broke the spell. Ga Eul looked up, just as she recognized the voice.
Cheering out from the window, two floors up and to their left was her class. An over-excited Seong Mi stood at the front of the crowd waving them back, as the rest of her class including her co-worker Han Jae were all in giggles.
Ga Eul turned back to her husband in flaming cheeks, who was grinning himself.
"Sunbae?! You?" She spared a glance back at the excited crowd. "Aish, you little _" And pushed her self out of the by-then-loosened embrace. She shot him a final glare before turning around in beet red cheeks.
Yi Jeong laughed at his startled wife, who ran inside without sparing another glance at him. He leaned on his car and watched with somewhat contentment as she disappeared up on the stairs. He then— casually as ever—wiped out a non-existent layer of Ga Eul's lipstick from his thumb. (A 'Casanova' gesture after a mouth devouring kiss. Grown out to be more of a habit) He then looked up at their little audience.
"So Yi Jeongnim!" A gleeful Seong Mi waved at him, and another little army of fan girls(and boys) waved after her. Yi Jeong chuckled, exposing his dimples, and waved back at them in his iconic one-hand-raise.
Wonder what Ga Eul-'yang' would do?
He couldn't help grinning like an idiot even when stuck in the traffic. Yi Jeong very well knew that he would have to face a very very angry Ga Eul-'yang' back when he'd get home.
Yet her beet red cheeks and clueless eyes?
It sure was one of the best ways to start a busy day—nevertheless the consequences.
Yi Jeong was still grinning to himself when his phone ran loud. He pulled the car to a halt, and picked up the call.
"Duraenim." It was his grandfather's secretary.
"Grand Master So is expecting you at his residence. An urgent matter is needed to be discussed." He said.
The dimpled smile froze on its place, as the toneless voice dragged him back to the present.
...
...
...
Ga Eul paused at the landing and stared at the next flight of steps. She squeezed her eyes and poked her head with her bundle of files.
"Yi Jeong _ you little_ Agh! What were you thinking?!"
She shook her head and looked forward. Gladly for her, the corridors were soul less. No one would have heard her. She then peeked over her shoulder. Outside the glass double doors, there was no orange racing car. (Nor a terribly spoilt, dimple-cheeked, cheesy-smiled, pearly-teethed chaebol, grinning back at her.)
Thank goodness!
He had left.
"Tsk, What was he thinking?!" Ga Eul made a face. She took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes and shook her head again, before gathering up her courage to head towards her class.
...
"Saseongnim!"
A swarm of kindergarteners charged towards her just as she stepped in.
"Saseongnim, saseongnim!" An excited Seong Mi jumped up and down. "Uri Saseongnim looked like a reeeal princess when prince So was kissing you!" She twirled around, dragging the word 'real'.
Ga Eul chuckled, more for the girl's cuteness than the reminding of the incident.
She placed the bundles and the box of assignments on the table. "Ahrasso! Back to your places! Now, hurry up!" She clapped her hands.
"Neh, neh! Back to your drawings! Hurry up! Mr. Gwong will visit us anytime now! He's already in Miss Jung's !" Han Jae cried out.
The kindergarteners, though somewhat reluctantly, twirled and danced their way back to their seats.
Ga Eul smiled to their reaction and went to unpack the assignments. Yet she had thought it was all over.
"Mhm." The curly haired teacher patted on her shoulder. "Ga Eulah... I think you two should spend more time with each other..."
Ga Eul inwardly rolled her eyes.
Oh, please, don't begin.
She smiled. "We do spend enough time with each other." She said, more to shoo her away.
"Gurae, gurae..." Han Jae giggled even more. "The heat of the newlyweds... neh neh, I know..." she grinned. "It never seems to run out, does it?" and pouted fanning herself with her palm.
"What the heck_" Ga Eul straightened up, but Han Jae had left her for the class already.
Ga Eul pursed her lips, dropped down the empty box and kicked it under the locker.
So Yi Jeong...You. Are. Dead.
...
...
...
Yi Jeong half expected the discussion to be about the Baek Pa Sun budget. Or at the least about the missing cheques—the twenty million won. In a tiny corner of his head, he thought perhaps his grandfather had come to believe him. But it could very well be to give him a piece of his mind. (Which he did not want, but had to accept.)
Yet it turned out to be worse.
The tiny hope that was lit behind his head fully went out once he slid the doors open to So Yoon Hee's lobby. His grandfather was trimming one of his bonsai plants, and seated at his right, was none other than Kim Dong Hwan himself.
"Come in." Said So Yoon Hee, peeping out at him through the leaves of a Japanese maple.
Dong Hwan glanced at the young man standing at the door way.
"I shall take my leave then." He bowed.
"Mm." So Yoon Hee gave an approving nod.
Yi Jeong held his gaze straight as he was spared a little nod by the middle aged man.
So Yoon Hee watched as Dong Hwan left, and returned to his plant.
"You are not planning to stand there all day, do you?" He asked in a casual manner, trimming the branches with his little scissors.
Yi Jeong entered the room with concealed lips, and took a seat.
"You should have at least bowed back to him." Hurabeujji spoke up. " People might think I've raised you without any sense of manners."
Yi Jeong kept his silence.
"Mr. Kim has done many things to this family than some of you ever had." The old man continued. "I suppose you very well know about that?" He looked straight into his grandson's down held eyes.
Some of you ever had...
Passiveaggressivecomments—he had grown used to them.
Yi Jeong smirked. "I will, keep that in mind, hurabeujji." He said with the slightest bow.
"Good." Yoon Hee smiled and placed back his scissors. "What I've called you for, is to remind you that the auctions start next week. And I want you to be there." He said.
"To Japan? Next week?" Yi Jeong raised an eyebrow. "But I thought hurabeujji had wanted me to take care of the budget first?" Yi Jeong smiled. " Just as hurabeujji had asked me to do so, in the previous visit." He emphasized on the word 'asked' as to remind him his tone back when he had reported about the missing cheques.
"Well, I could approve your leaves, if that's what you ask." Yoon Hee stood up with a grunt and gathered his tools.
"Besides, Mr. Kim's niece is now engaged to the second grandson of the Kageyama family. They have promised a few pieces from their collection, and it's better if you'd be there, personally, to collect them." He went on, placing the tools back in their respective drawers. Two servants came in and placed the bonsai tray back on the cabinets.
"Mr. Kim's niece?" Yi Jeong's throat went dry. "Jung Yoo Ri?"
"Neh,neh." The old man nodded shuffling through his drawers, perfectly avoiding eye contact. "Mr. Kim told you two were friends back in Shinhwa, and yes it'll be nice to meet her again. "
"But, hurabeujji_"
"_Do I seem to be asking for your approval?" Yoon Hee raised his voice, cutting Yi Jeong off, midsentence. "You'll collect their gifts, attend the auctions and return back home." He said, still with his back turned towards Yi Jeong. "It won't be a big deal, unless, you make it one." He turned around to face his grandson. "It's all up to you to decide, whether you'll make it a mess or not. Understood?"
Yi Jeong fell dead silent for a minute, as the elderly eyes stared at his pale face.
"Hurabeujji," Yi Jeong spoke up at the end. " I want to take Ga Eul with me, if then." He said.
...
...
...
It didn't help that Yi Jeong was entirely unapologetic when Ga Eul finally managed to corner him at his studio. Well, it was an unusual thing for him to power up the potter's wheel when the museum was running over him, but, that was some other question for later.
"Sunbae, What the hell do you think you did?" Ga Eul stormed in.
"What did I do?" The potter straightened up, and switched off the wheel.
Anniyo Sunbae. That puppy eyes won't save you this time!
She crossed her arms and stared back at him with infuriating eyes.
"Oh, perhaps..." Yi Jeong gasped. "Did something happen at work?" He pursed his lips, barely containing a smirk.
"You did plan everything, didn't you?" Ga Eul narrowed her eyes. "It was no coincidence." She said.
Yi Jeong sighed. (For Ga Eul, that exhaustion was more of a pretence.) "Jagi..."He said, cringing back to the potter's wheel. "You better tell it straight, we do have other (an uncontrollable smirk blurted out) things to do, don't we?"
Ga Eul bit her lower lip, turning pink. Of course Yi Jeong never missed a chance to tease her. She remained still on her spot.
"But if in any case, you need something to calm down..." He stretched out his hand, in a welcoming gesture. "I'll give you a chance."
Ga Eul stared at his outstretched arm as he looked up at her.
"Ga Eul-Yang?"
She took off her coat and placed her handbag on the table, before hesitantly accepting the offer. And again, without any warning, was pulled onto his lap.
Yi Jeong placed his chin on her shoulder and took her hands driving them on the wet clay, widening it on its belly and then narrowing it at its neck. Then removing the unnecessary curves. Ga Eul kept silent as his breath tickled the hairs on the back of her neck.
...
Slowly, as if liquefying a bead of wax, the warmness melted her down. Like the fluidly clay, she felt herself. It seemed as if the coldness leaked out from her fingertips, where some of the clay had already dried, and left her face in burning red.
Well, her whole body was.
"This really doesn't calm me down." She said.
"Doesn't it?" Yi Jeong whispered back to her ear. He shifted her hip, pulling herself closer to him, as if to show that he wasn't in his most comfortable position either.
At least, not every part of his body was... comfortable.
Ga Eul swallowed turning even redder. "I only asked for a simple apology." She muttered.
Yi Jeong kept silent, and went on moulding the vase.
"Sunbae..." Ga Eul managed to spell out. "Did something happen at work?" She asked in a barely kept calmness.
"We are going to Japan tomorrow." Yi Jeong blurted out.
"We? Tomorrow?" Ga Eul turned around abruptly. The sudden movement somehow splashed a drizzle of mud on their faces.
"Mm." Yi Jeong nodded, and wiped out a droplet of mud staining her lips. "Leave your questions for later." He ordered in a husky tone.
"Mustn't I apologise first?"
–to be continued.
A/N:
This story is on hiatus until further notice.