Seo-Jin:)
I was loitering for Ji-Hoon to appear as soon as possible because he was the one to hold on to this upcoming project so of course, his presence was mandatory while I and those business dealers were continuously looking out for him, and on top of that Jae wasn't here too, their behaviour was testing my patience for good because if they miss out this meet up then my anger wouldn't have mercy on them no matter what excuse they come up with.
One of the business dealers spoke after pausing for long, "Mr Seo, when can we have him here? As well Mrs Jae isn't here too," Now I was out of the explanation to put on act for their absence but I had to answer them.
"Maybe-" I was cut off by someone's voice coming from behind.
"I'm sorry, something personal came up," oh, it was him, Ji-Hoon but wait a moment what did he mean by something personal, "Is everything alright?" Paying more attention to his tone that contained anger, distressed me to the core.
"Yeah! nothing to worry," he added and clenched a seat to renew the conservancy on business.
"Let's talk," I said, and so on the conservation didn't take long for us to wrap it up quickly.
"Waiter?" I called out for the waiter to accept our orders for tonight dinner.
And soon he approached us with the hold of note in his hand.
"Burritos
Fajitas
Burgers or hotdogs
Quesadillas (plain cheese, steak, chicken, or pork) Meatballs and rice, KFC bowls (mashed potatoes on the bottom, hen corn and breaded chicken bites on top) Sloppy Joes.
.... Grilled chicken (season or marinade with whatever, and grill!)
Steak (grilled or broiled)
Kabobs."
That was all we had for dinner, and we continued our dinner silently, I had to say that this restaurant was indeed my favourite.
Time skip to departure -)
"Looking forward to working with you Mr Seo and Mr Ji-Hoon," we bid goodbye with the handshake and returned smiles with respect.
"Same here Mr John," Ji-Hoon whispered while his lips twitched upwards.
And respectfully we bid goodbye to them.
"I asked your mom to come but she didn't, I just don't understand her sometimes, such a greedy woman but failed to stand for money," I said with gritted teeth but when turned my sights towards him, he seemed to get lost in his imaginary world.
Slightly I pushed him by his shoulders to snap him out of his fantasies, "What are you thinking about?" I asked, noticing those wrinkles on his face.
He sighed but didn't utter the reason for his worry, which put me under stress.
"Tell me what's wrong? Is Jin-Ae alright?" I asked because she was the only one for whom he seemed stressed, worried, lost to protect his sister.
"She won't be alright unless mom controls her life," he murmured under his breath, I wasn't able to hold on to his words, which confused me a lot. And now my tolerance had enough of him.
"Will you tell me what happened?"
_______________
Ji-Hoon:)
After departing from the holders, I tuned on the same happening at the police station, not wishing to curse that woman but when came to know that she was there to hurt her own daughter, sexually, boiled my blood. As all my thoughts took a turn for the worse, I needed to see her and ask her the reason why she did that to her.
What made her hate my sister?
Fighting with my questions made me miss out on the presence of Dad by my side, his utterances disturbed my thoughts fights.
When he pushed me a little by the shoulders, I came to face the reality, the cruel reality of a mother who hated her daughter for nothing.
Such a curse at the name of the mother.
"What are you thinking about?" I was stressed because I wanted to protect my only one but failed to, which was enough to hate myself. However, I didn't unearth an answer to his questions, because I didn't wish to let him know about that happening but sough. And started to move further towards the parking lot.
"Tell me what's wrong? Is Jin-Ae alright?" he knew nothing could worry me other than her, her safety concerned me a lot. It was obvious that by this time he would have guessed that something was off at my end nevertheless telling him the truth would most probably lead to their disaffection.
"She won't be alright unless mom powers her life," I muttered under my breath, dissuading him to know that. But when I glanced at his expression, I got intimidated for a moment. As it was quite visible for everyone out here to know that he got furious at some unknowing happening.
"Will you tell me what happened?" he squirted his bitterness into his words.
'Should I tell him?' I thought to myself, as one thought terrified me what if he came to know by other sources, of course, he would have the right to denounce me.
I thought twice as I didn't want any quarrels after letting him know.
"Ji-Hoon, will you or I have to find out by myself?" this time it was a warning which made me gulp down the swelling.
"Dad-" I was cut off by the phone's ringing, which made me roll my eyes back.
"Wait for a minute," I excused and accepted the call.
He nodded and permitted me to talk.
"Hello, what?" I said as the number got my attention because it was from the police station.
"Your mother came here hours ago to meet that man," that's it, now I wouldn't think twice to separate that woman away from her.
"Okay, thanks."
"Dad, I have something to tell you," I said
"That's exactly what I am looking for, tell me," he said while comforting me by caressing my biceps.
I gathered courage and inhaled a down air to let out my rationale for anxiety.
"Do you remember the night when some guy sneaked to harass Jin-Ae?" I was trying to hint at him little by little because he had to get ready to know the cruel reality of a mother, whom he mentioned his wife, his past love.
He nodded, "I do."
"I tried to find out the person who sent him there because he couldn't make it by his choice to sneak at night at such a billionaire mansion," his head nod asked me to resume with my words.
"Who?" I said politely.
"Mom asked him to do that with money," I let out the bitter truth under one breath.
For a minute, he seemed to get lost in his thoughts, might be he would think that I was lying but no I was in the same situation as him now because it appeared impossible to believe.
"Hm? Who?" his body came across to freeze as he swerved his gaze towards me, demonstrating that he was horrified too.
"Mom did that to her when we were enjoying ourselves at the party," I whispered again.
"Are you real?" he spoke out, still under surprise that mom appeared to hurt his daughter.
"Where is she?" he asked but I had no clue about her whereabouts, regardless his polite behaviour amazed me, he didn't show his anger, he didn't curse that lady, he didn't sue her for bad deeds. This was surprising at every passing moment.
"Let's go home," again his polite behaviour didn't sound acceptable to me.
"Dad?" I let out in shock, connected sights when he turned to look at me.
"What?"
"Aren't you angry? What's with your tone?" I asked finally because when I came to know that she pulled her hands behind this, it boiled my blood, but dad was pretty cool, acting like it was just her mistake that could be forgiven, No I wouldn't forgive her this time no matter what I had to do to make her regret her doings.
"Let's go home and talk, and call Jin-Ae," he said.
"She isn't here, but the US," I said while holding the irritated tone towards him.
"Alright, come," he whispered and unfortunately, I followed his orders.
"And ask that guy to show at home," what he was thinking to do. However, I called the police station for the same.
* * *
Home:)
"JAE?" Dad shrieked so boisterously once attained into the living room. Yet no clue of mom because all others gathered at one shout of him but not her which made us grow suspicious.
"Ari, where is Jae?" when he illustrated her, I regretted my stupid act hours ago, I peeked at her yet her sights didn't turn over in my direction which bothered me a lot, however, nothing could be done to make it up to her because all my focus was over mom, her whereabouts. So for some time, I ignored her.
"She isn't home from the morning. Should I call her?" she said so politely with my parents that attracted me to her the most, I got lost in her facial expressions so much, that Dad's shouts didn't catch my attention.
"WHERE IS HE?" I flinched when he slapped me slightly on arm, that's when I snapped out from fantasising about my wife, with whom I was initiating to fall in love.
"Hmm?" I whizzed to make him reiterate himself.
"Here's he," and at the same moment, a sudden voice from behind occurred to our vigilance.
As we turned to face that bastard, whenever he occurs to appear here, anger started to rush through veins but somehow managed to take control over hormones.
Dad sighed, before footing near to him and clenching his jaw tightly that he began to beseech for furlough.
"Did Jae ask you to do that?" Dad was pissed off as every word came out with gritted teeth which proved to everyone out there.
For some moments, he stood silent handcuffed and held by two muscular men behind.
"Speak?"
"Yes!"
"Okay, Did she answer your call, Ari?" Dad asked, eyes fixed on that bastard.
"Out of reach, and the second time I called it was tuning busy," she whispered and strode towards her room, to check if she appeared here in the absence of people.
"Alright, let's wait for her," he said and backed off from him, and adjusted his shirt perfectly.
"Take him away and when I ask you to come, only then you have," he said, and they both moved to someplace, might be Dad was planning to catch her barehanded.
Those two nodded and moved to another space.
"Sit," he said
We three nodded in unison(me, Ari and jee-Ho)
Two hours passed and the clock showed midnight.
"Dad, you sleep. I will inform you about her arrival," I suggested while comforting her with the glass of water.
"No need, I can-" we all were cut off by the clicking sound of heels, turning way to the common space.
"Here she comes," he said and got up from his seating.
"Where were you?" he asked her, who seemed busy on a phone call.
"Okay, bye talk to you later, Mrs Song," she hang up the call and connected sights with his.
"As if you care," she let out only to annoy him more.
"Yes, I care,"
"Alright then I was out to meet some friend," she explained.
"For a whole day?" he questioned.
"Why are you investigating so much about me? Whether I was in hell or heaven, who are you to question me?" now her anger rushed through her words.
"I'm your husband,"
"Stop it and move away from my way," she moved aside to continue with the steps, but soon stopped when Dad let out his words.
"Take him out," he said, and right after minutes, he appeared in front of everyone.
In addition, mom bent to hit upon a similar face to her sights, when his look fell into her sights, her eyes widened, might be her throat tightened when encountered him, I thought because I noticed her expression.
"Do you know him?" Dad asked.
No response
.
.
"Do you know him?" again but with a slight rise in tone.
She flinched and seemed to get lost with an excuse to speak up.
"ANSWER ME?" he yelled, this time everyone flinched including me.
"No, I don't k-n-o-w h-i-m," her ruptured voice at the end demonstrated everything to me very clearly.
"Are you sure? you don't know him?" I asked and put some steps ahead to stand at the same level as her.
"No, I don't know him I said."
"But he said he knows you," I added.
"Of course, I am famous around Korea so he can," she tried to defend herself but not when we were aware of the truth.
"Spill the beans," I instructed that bastard to tell the truth in the presence of everyone.
"She proposed me a huge amount of money to antagonize her daughter."