Mrs. Song took a big pan and added oil in it. Keeping the pan on low flame, she opened the lower cupboard and took out some flour, some rice powder and some small necessary things for preparing dumplings.
"But why??" She asked while taking out new plates from the cupboard which was situated on top. Keeping them aside, she looked at her daughter with her hands rested on her hips.
"What do you mean by why, mom?? We just came to visit. He just got discharged today, I'm sure he wouldn't want to be staying, right??" Rather than answering, she questioned her mother. For sure, a man who was just discharged today would stay in his own house rather than staying at his in-laws house.
"Did he say that he won't be staying??" Mrs. Song asked with an eyebrow raised at Yu Qi.
"He didn't but..."
"That's it!! Stop thinking unnecessarily and just cut the vegetables and go back otherwise he will think that I have snatched his precious wife from him." Mrs. Song interrupted her daughter and started teasing her.
When her son-in-law didn't even say about going back, she felt assured that they would be staying here. "That is not the thing mom!!" Yu Qi tried explaining but to no avail. Her mother pushed her back to cutting and she started to cut the vegetables.
After chopping the vegetables, Yu Qi came out as told by her mother. She was declining to go back, but her mother kicked her out of the kitchen. 'So much for coming home, huh??' Yu Qi came out of the kitchen rubbing the place where her mother had kicked her.
Mr. Song saw Yu Qi coming out of the kitchen, so he called out for her. "Ahh!! Yu Qi!! Come here. Show your husband your room."
He pointed at Min Jae and went inside the kitchen to help Yu Qi's mother in cooking. Now that Yu Qi's dad was also gone, Min Jae and Yu Qi were left alone in the living room. She peeked at him and saw him looking at her.
Awkwardly, she walked over him and said "Let's go. Umm.. I'll show you my room."
"Though there is nothing much to see, you can just see it." She continued with her sentence in a sheepish manner.
Min Jae got up from the sofa and stood behind her. "Let's go!!"
Yu Qi went into her room and Min Jae followed her inside. As his eyes fell on the neatly decorated room, he felt a family kind of feeling emanating from the room.
The room was just plain but it was neat and clean and of course, beautifully decorated. The colors of the wall were well mixed, it felt like as if the colors were meant for one another. Different floral paintings were hung on the wall along with captivating motivational quotes. He was stunned to see a quote which he had always admired beautifully carved on the white wall.
"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop - Confucius." He read it.
Min Jae looked at the quote even more intently. He had always admired it and had always followed it, but there was one question that was stuck up in his mind 'Why does she have this quote on her wall??'
"Do you like this one??" Yu Qi asked when she saw that Min Jae's eyes were specifically fixated on this quote. "Yeah!! I have admired and followed it my whole life." Min Jae said without hesitation.
"Really?? Even I have followed this one since high school. Previously, I never believed in these motivational quotes and stuff but, after some things happened I had to depend on them. And this one helped me a lot. That is why I have carved it in big letters in a beautiful way." Yu Qi explained why she made this quote in such bold writing.
"Mmhmm.. it really is good." Min Jae didn't speak further. He knew that she was hiding something. Not hiding, she still wasn't sure about sharing things with him, and also, he too didn't wanted her to hesitate or say it quickly. He was willing to wait all his life for her to share with him her problems.
Moving on further, he traced his hand on her reading table. Few storybooks were kept, but mostly were science related magazines and some sort of books on medicine.
There weren't much things of interest, but one thing that caught his attention was a photo. He took it in his hand. It was a photo of two girls standing side by side of a boy. They were wearing graduation robes and hats.
Yu Qi looked at the photo and laughed. "This is the photo taken on my graduation day. I think mom left it at the table after receiving it from Eun Jung." She explained and looked at him.
"Eun Jung??" Min Jae asked with a hint of anger in his eyes.
"Eun Jung, the girl with whom I talked on the phone yesterday morning. She is my friend. This is her in the photo." Yu Qi pointed at the girl with brown hair standing at the right of the boy.
"And this guy??" Min Jae asked coldly.
"He.. he is Lee Yo Han. Our class president and also..." She stopped. She didn't wanted to say that she was crushing this guy that is the reason why they took the photo standing side by side with him.
"And also??" Min Jae asked her to continue.
"Also he is a friend of mine. Not friend, just classmates. Since it was the last day. We all took photos with the class president to remember it and all." She gave a smile and looked sideways. With the coldness in his voice, she understood that he was jealous. So, she decided to distract him with something.