Once again, thanks to KoreanLover300 for betareading my story. Thank you so much!
Enjoy!
Everyone stood motionless when the Casanova shouted that answer with great anger. Nobody said a word as he, approached Ga Eul and grabbed her arm to leave that place. For a moment, the country bumpkin seemed terrified for how the face of her boyfriend held an infuriated look on his face, but the angry visage he was showing changed after knowing it was scaring her. It really was a mystery of why she never got to meet his parents before, or even know about them. Now that she thought about it, this case seemed somehow fair for how years back she didn't do that with her own parents. Strangely, he never talks about them, never. The question now remains in her mind and she couldn't take it out even when So Yi Jeong was pulling her to get out of there.
"Yi Jeong Sunbae" she didn't want to get up, pulling back her arm. His name sounded almost like she was scolding him. "We should stay" even when it seems like a suggestion, she really wanted for him to take a seat and enjoy this dinner with his family.
"Ga Eul, we-" the potter was quickly interjected by his mother who seems delighted for the decision of the commoner.
"You heard her, dear. Now, sit" she pointed at the seat between her and Ga Eul; and she waited for him to do so. So Yi Jeong took a glance at the people and stopped to see his brother and Eun Jae. Suddenly, he let out a sarcastic chuckle as for what he was witnessing. He couldn't believe what his eyes were looking.
Long years have passed since the last time he saw his brother, and now that this unfortunate opportunity presented, the potter just wanted to laugh at his face for how dumb they seem as a couple. It was obvious that there was no true love there, they were trying something it was impossible now, and he, more than anyone, knows what they were trying to do.
So Yi Jeong took a deep breath before taking a seat. He looked at the country bumpkin with a glare; she knew they were going to have a long talk after this. Ga Eul tries to ignore him and takes the chance of getting to know his family. She was very curious to know why he wanted to hide something like this.
"Tell me, dear, when did he ask you to marry him?" mother So, pushed away quickly that awkward situation and tried to continue with the conversation she was having before with her. Eyes were still fixed on the ring with such intensity that scared the country bumpkin. She didn't know by the look in her face if she was happy or mad about it. Eun Jae and Il Hyun were still surprise to hear the news about a possible marriage between them, but they just stood quiet, watching what was happening in front of them.
"That doesn't matter" So Yi Jeong immediately responded.
"Four years ago" Ga Eul said at the same time and this earned her a dirty glare from the potter besides her.
Mother So slowly nodded and didn't say a word for a moment. It seems she was thinking a lot by the answer the commoner gave. Everyone else stood silent and watched how she was slowly taking the news. Ga Eul lower her head for how embarrassed she was at the sudden muteness, but a warm touch folded her hand under the table that made her look to the side and see her boyfriend with a small smile on his face. Even when a minute ago he was giving her the dirty look, there was no doubt the Casanova wasn't going to let this situation put them down.
"So Yi Jeong" his mother was still looking into space until the potter glanced at her. "Are you sure about this?" there was something in the tone of her voice and the way she suddenly began to look at him. It was...disgust.
"We are going to marry soon" Ga Eul swiftly turns her head to look at him confused. They never talked about this and she wasn't prepared mentally for a wedding much sooner than expected.
"But-" mother So didn't know what else to say. The news shocks her completely. Il Hyun was sharing the same feeling but in a good way, Ga Eul could see it on his face at least. Eun Jae... she didn't share any kind of emotion and just kept her head down, cleaning the side of her lips with a handkerchief.
Out of nowhere, a laugh filled the room and everyone had to stop to look at the one who was behaving weird. "I'm sorry" she said while trying to calm her-self down.
"I almost believed it. You are a good liar" she placed her hand on top of his and happily smiled.
At this very moment Ga Eul regrets staying and not following what So Yi Jeong said in the beginning. Somehow it was hurtful to hear those words from her thinking that this was just a joke of the Casanova. Am I a joke? She asked to herself while putting down the fork before even taking a simple bite. The appetite was gone now.
"If that's what you want to think, go ahead. I don't care" the careless voice of Yi Jeong suddenly made the woman's face change completely into one, more serious. Words didn't come out again. Picking up a fork and a knife to cut the meat, she begins to eat peacefully but with the most serious expression he has ever seen.
"It is a shame. I was expecting Eun Jae to be your wife and not your brother's girlfriend" she begins to cut another part of the meat and give one innocent look like if she hasn't said something bad.
Ga Eul took a glimpse of the female potter and could see she was impressed for that sudden and unexpected comment. Lowering her head, the country bumpkin started to think of the past. It hurt her. It felt like a knife was stabbed in her heart, not only for the past but for the words of her boyfriend's mother.
The table shakes a bit from the punch of the potter and his mother quickly gave him a how-dare-you glare. Gritting his teeth, he was about to say something when his mother continued.
"What?" she looked at him very mad and with disgust, but speaking very calm.
"You expect me to lie and congratulate her?"
"I thought this was only temporary, So Yi Jeong" she explained herself to him.
"You" she quickly glances to the country bumpkin and waits for her to look back. "Is this true?" she asks, not leaving her sight from her eyes.
"With due respect, whatever decision we made in our relationship should be kept between us. Further to that, we will let everyone else know what's going to happen with us as a couple. I believe we are grown enough to not be easily influenced" Ga Eul said very timid, knowing that even if she tries to say it very politely, the message was clear.
"I see…" raising her head slightly, she tries to act careless. "Can we continue with our dinner?" she asked and looks around to glance at everybody's approval, but everyone stood silent. It was like that for like fifteen minutes until mother So took the initiative to speak again as no one desire to.
"Eun Jae" she calls her out and waits for her to raise her face. "Remember that time when the three of you were much younger and with the desire to learn about pottery?" she asks and Eun Jae replies with a timid nod, not even to dare look at her for more than three seconds.
"You were so in love with So Yi Jeong. It was lovely to watch the two of you spend all day together without my son knowing your feelings" she pauses and waits for the female potter to say something, but nothing comes out of her mouth as she was embarrassed. Mother So didn't have no other choice but to continue. "Then, when he finally found out, you made something together. Do you still have it?" that question shocks Ga Eul and her hand quickly loses the strength to even hold the fork she has, falling to the table, making the only sound in the room. Mother So sees her reaction and smiles to herself.
"Stop" Il Hyun immediately gets in the conversation and looks at her with the most serious expression.
"What, I'm just talking about the past" she tries to play it innocently and Il Hyun had no other choice, but to stay silent. This was a battle he could never win, not with his own mother who he knew perfectly. "Beautiful memories between these two" she points at the Casanova and Eun Jae.
At this point Ga Eul just wanted to leave once and for all, but she didn't know how to excuse herself out. Dumb was all she could think right now. So Yi Jeong was right about this, but the curiosity of getting to know his family of her husband-to-be brought her to a misfortunate event of a mother who disapproves her and instead likes the only one she could feel jealous about. This was the very moment she understood that this family was somehow broken, and this thought couldn't become even more right after what happens next.
A loud clap could be heard in the room as some doors close slowly. Every eye went to see the entrance and the three So members were very shocked to see the presence of an old man there. Il Hyun immediately lowers his head while So Yi Jeong became evidently angrier by his arrival. Mother So was with her mouth opened. The country bumpkin could tell she was the most affected one there after he entered.
"What a way to reunite the family!" he keeps clapping with a smile on his face, a smile that shows happiness, but felt like something else.
"Yi Jeong, glad you came back from Sweden. Congratulations" he starts to greet the family one by one. The Casanova didn't even return a glance to him and just pretended there was no one there, like if he didn't exist.
"Il Hyun, son, I can see life is kind of treating you well" a different tone of voice could be heard when he said those words, but no one paid attention, only the same Il Hyun who lowered his head and seem sad.
"And Mee Yon..." he pauses and looks at her before grabbing a bottle of wine near all of them and opens it. He takes a drink and gulps really hard before cleaning his mouth and looking to her, "...it has been years since we saw each other. How are you?" he asks but seem uninterested whatever answer she could give. Sitting now beside So Yi Jeong, he starts to laugh and look at them again. Ga Eul notices how mother So's mood changed and how she wasn't as confident as before. This only demonstrated to her that they were no longer together, but something in the eyes of their mother told her she was still in love with their father.
"Why have you come here?" Yi Jeong asks very defensive, something that, to the country bumpkin, seemed totally new. He could acted like this, but it was somehow different, hard to describe. It was like he was trying to protect someone.
He quickly points a mother So and smiles sarcastically "she invited me" then he shook his head and heaves a sigh. "Or should I say, she obligated me" he swiftly points at the two well-dressed man that were standing beside the door without looking at them.
So Yi Jeong stood up and went to look at his mother with an offended face. "So this is how you waste your time and cause trouble, just to get something you can't have?" right after that he grabs the arm of Ga Eul and pulls her to get out of there. This time she didn't hesitate to follow him and walk behind him as fast as she could. Passing by the father of the potter, he says "it was nice meeting you" he raises his hand and Ga Eul couldn't do more but to have a glimpse of him before leaving that room full of horrible spectacles between a family all broken and damaged. She could now understand why her boyfriend didn't talk much about them, they all seem to cause more discord than happiness in his life.
Yi Jeong never looked back after that, but kept walking until he was out of the mansion and inside his car. Full of anger he shuts the door as hard as he could and started the engine immediately, leaving there in seconds. Ga Eul didn't dare to talk as she knew he could explode at any time, and she hoped that nothing she could do could make him take it against her. Closing her eyes and leaning against the cold glass, she waited to arrive home. The only sound she could hear was how fast the car was going and the deep breathing of her boyfriend. It totally scared her, but she tried to shake that off.
Finally, in front of the building where she lives, there was a deafening silence inside the car. It scared her to be the one to first talk, but she wasn't.
"Why did you want to stay in the first place? Why? This isn't of your matter!" he begins to scold her, talking loud now. Ga Eul hasn't said a word yet.
"My family, my problem!" he shouts and lets out a big sigh of frustration.
"I'm sorry" she apologizes and lowers her head very sad. Right at that moment he realizes what he did was wrong, and that was almost screaming at her and claim something she was in all her right to know. His face quickly becomes smooth.
"I'm sorry, Ga Eul. It's just- I'm not really fond with them. Each and every one of us has committed errors that have caused this division in the family. We are no longer what you might call a family. It would be fair to say I never had a real family…" he sighs and looks to the side very sad, looking now at two kids with their own parents walking happily. He missed those moments, even if it lasted for a short moment, a very short one. He couldn`t come to recall how it felt to be wrapped in a mother's arms, or to spend time and have manly moments with his father, or even the playful fights with a brother. He grew up alone and without the most important love of them all that could teach him how to be a better man.
Suddenly, he felt a hand touch his right shoulder. "Let's not talk about that now" she says with a small smile on her face, knowing this was no usual subject to talk about in a matter of minutes but one that needed time to explain by itself little by little. So Yi Jeong felt relieve and gave a small and sad smile to her. Then, she swiftly took his hand and pulls it a bit. "가자 (let's go)"
The potter looks at her a bit confused and then glances to the building. "What, you want me to go with you?" he asks unbelievable. Ga Eul only nods and gets out of the car, waiting for him to do so. Yi Jeong slowly gets out of the car and walks slowly to her side, not knowing if this was a good idea for what she told him last time. He looks at her unconvinced of this, but she grabs his arm and pulls him quickly towards the entrance.
"Ga Eul, someone could see us." he says, a bit scared that she could later regret about this, but she just kept walking carelessly and climbed the stairs to her apartment. Now opening the door, he stood outside even if she already got inside. The country bumpkin looked at him and he shook his head frantically, not wanting to take a step more. But she just pulled him hard until he had no other choice but to step in. She closed the door and stood right in front of it so he could not escape at all.
"야! (Yah) Ga Eul, why are you causing this trouble?" the look on his face seems more terrified than a kid doing it for the first time. This only made her smile for how nervous he looked for the first time being around her.
"We don't have to care about what the others say." her voice sounded convinced of what she was saying and this made him more dramatic about the uncomfortable situation they were in.
"야! I'm talking about that!" he almost shouted, afraid.
"And what then?" there was single clue inside her head of what he could be talking about, but the moment his eyes went to see her from up and down with a scary glare, she knew then what he was talking. A loud scream she let out, covering herself with her arms even when she has clothes. Rapidly and without thinking it, she went straight to him and hit him on the chest and arms.
"You pervert! Why do you only think about that?" the punches didn't stop even when he was trying to hold her hands.
"It's not my fault. I have been four years, Ga Eul, four years without... you know…" there was a bit of embarrassment hint with his tone as he tries not to look into her eyes. He was ashamed to even say it like that.
"And I have been like this for 24 years" a last punch connected to his stomach, leading him to gasp for air while she just went to the kitchen.
"아이씨! (Aish!)" Right after that he went to the kitchen. Ga Eul was back facing him, looking inside the fridge. A sexy smile that could melt any girl could be seen now on his face as he slowly went to approach her from behind. Suddenly, his hand swiftly touched her waist and made her turn around quickly but smoothly. At this very moment, she was trapped between the fridge and his body.
What did you thought about this chapter?
What did you thought about So Yi Jeong's family?
Only thing I will say is, things aren't like you see them. Hehehe
Anyway, leave a review here and in my other story Monkeys before Mafia. Are you liking both? Tell me your honest opinion.