"I don't want to talk about it. Everyone, go back to sleep and forget about that girl. I don't want to hear another word on this topic," commanded Young-Jae and started walking away.
All of a sudden, Bong-Cha shouted, "stop!!" The youngest brought the thunder and lightning. Young-Jae halted in his path. "You cannot put the cat back in the bag, harabuhji. We need answers. We have a sister, and we don't know about her. Why?"
"Sonnyuh!" Young-Jae turned around and shouted, mildly. He was shocked to see his favourite person in the whole world screaming at him.
"Do you really think your anger would work on me?" screamed Bong-Cha. She was the only one who could get angry at her grandfather without any fear or punishment. He loved her too much.
"I am not angry with you. As I said, I just don't want to talk on this topic," he said calmly.
"Fine, that topic is closed. The new year isn't finished yet. I want my gift harabuhji, you promised." Bong-Cha changed tactics.
"If you are going to ask about her, forget about it. Then you are not getting any more gifts." He put his foot down.
"I said the topic is closed. Also, I know everything there is to know about her. I am her biggest fan, remember? All I didn't know was about her father, now I know that too. I even know about her grandfather," taunted Bong-Cha.
"What do you want then?" snapped Young-Jae
"You will give it to me?" clarified Bong-Cha.
"If it is not a question you want to ask about her like, where is she, why didn't we tell you about her? Then, yes, I will grant you your wish."
"You cannot back out, promise?"
"I promise." He said without thinking twice which was a mistake.
Young-Jae was in her trap now. She exhaled and announced, "I want her to attend Oppa's wedding."
"What?" screamed everyone present in the room.
"I want to meet her. I want to know her. I want her to know this family. I want her here for Oppa's and Chinsuna's wedding," explained Bong-Cha.
"You are out of your mind," screamed Young-Jae.
"Be that as it may. You promised."
"That's not fair. You tricked me."
"No, I didn't. You thought all I wanted was answers to a few questions. You just didn't think that I would want to meet her. But you have no idea how many times I dreamt of meeting her and having a sister. Now, I get two things from a single wish." Everyone just kept staring at Bong-Cha and Young-Jae as if they were looking at a tennis match. Their head kept moving in a to and fro motion.
"But dongseng," interrupted Baek-Hyeon, abruptly.
"Don't you want to meet her?" Bong-Cha turned towards Baek-Hyeon.
"Yes, no, I don't know. How could I know if I had no idea that I had an elder sister?" He was confused. He looked angrily at his elders especially his father and his grandfather.
"If it would have been me, would you not want to meet me?" argued Bong-Cha with sad eyes and a sad voice. She was feeling sad for Ashma. Her family abandoned her when she was only a kid. Bong-Cha grew up surrounded by love, care and understanding. She knew no one without a family and was feeling bad for her half-sister. She wanted Ashma to have a family as she had one.
He immediately ran to her and hugged her. "Oh, my sweet dongseng! Of course. But how will you get her here? You cannot tell her that you are her sister over the phone. You need some other excuse. We have been trying to collaborate with her for the past year, but she has no dates. So, collaboration is out. Also, how are you going to convince her that she has a family? She tells everyone in every damn interview that she has no family, only her mother and her grandfather."
"Excuse me!" shouted Young-Jae.
"Not you, her maternal grandfather, she calls him nanaji (maternal grandfather, Hindi) in her every interview," explained Baek-Hyeon.
Young-Jae closely listened to his explanation and then asked to Bong-Cha, "so, you are determined to bring her here?"
"Yes, and you will have no say in it. She will come here, and she will stay here." Bong-Cha stood in front of her grandfather, looked him in his eyes and spoke with authority.
"What now?" Young-Jae asked again as he was not sure he heard right.
"Oh, wasn't I clear? She is family. She will attend the wedding and she will stay here till the wedding," announced Bong-Cha. Everyone saw glimpses of her grandfather in her. This time Bong-Cha put her foot down.
"Dear Bongie," Yong-Sun interjected. "She is a busy personality; you think she will stay here for months." Yong-Sun tried to make her understand the difficulties of getting Ashma to Korea.
"If we get her mother here, she will stay. She can work from here and you will get your wish to collaborate with her," she presented her idea to everyone.
"Now you want her mother to come here too?" screamed Young-Jae.
Right away, Bong-Cha turned towards him and in an eerily, calm tone, she said, "you lost all the privilege to talk on this topic the moment you granted my wish. Now go back to sleep, harabuhji, before you say something you are not meant to, and I stop talking to you forever."
Her warning did wonders. Her grandfather grudgingly, straightaway went upstairs.
"Are you sure, Ddal?" asked Young-Soo.
"Yes. But you have to tell me everything that happened." Bong-Cha replied with determination.
"I have hidden my past for long. I will tell you guys everything, just not today."
"We can wait," said Baek-Hyeon.
"But kids, she might say no," said Eun-Kyung.
"I won't give her a chance to say no," she said with super confidence. "Now. You all go to sleep; I have a sister to call in the morning and I need to formulate a plan to trick her."
Everyone went into their rooms after hugging and patting Bong-Cha on her head with love. All gave a pitiful look to Young-Soo, but he just smiled with sadness in his eyes.
All the doors were shut. Everyone went to sleep. The only people left were Chin-Sun and Bong-Cha. Suddenly, Chin-Sun screamed with happiness and started jumping up and down with excitement, "Oh my god! Oh my god! I am so excited for you. Ashma is your sister. Designer Ashma is your half-sister. She is my future sister-in-law." They both giggled and hugged each other.
For the next few days, Bong-Cha kept calling Ashma's office number but couldn't get a hold of her.
One fine day, at last, a girl picked up her phone, and she got a chance to talk with her idol, her sister, Ashma. Her voice was sweet. She knew how she looked as she had posters of her in her room. She knew how she sounded because she saw multiple interviews of her. But now after hearing her on phone, she started imagining the sweet face that would go with the sweet voice. She kept imagining a sweet, loving sister who would love her to the moon and back.
According to her plan, she immediately blurted out that she wanted her sister. When Ashma was unable to understand she told her that she was her long lost half-sister. The phone slipped away from Ashma's hand. She thought she gave a heart attack to her sister. She killed her before she could meet her. Suddenly, her assistant started talking to Bong-Cha.
Immediately, Ashma regained her senses, she didn't want anyone else to talk to the girl from Korea, she might blurt in front of everyone what she just told her. It was not something anyone would be willing to share with the world. A girl claiming to be one's half-sister was really not a piece of news to be shared with others without any verification. It might be a prank or some crazy fan.
"Please, hand over the phone, Priyanka," Ashma said. Her busy, detached persona was gone. She was back to her polite and happy self. Only when she would be busy with work, in full concentration, she used to put on her aloof and indifferent personality as she hated when someone would disturb her.
"What happened?" asked Priyanka with concern.
She laughed to ease Priyanka's mind. "It slipped from my hand, give it to me." Priyanka handed her the phone and left the room with a smile. Her sweet chief was back. Ashma spoke on the phone, "Listen, you seem like a sweet girl, but I don't appreciate this joke. I am a single child and I do not have a father. To be frank I don't need a father. Please don't call again and waste my time and the time of my people. You may not have enough work to keep you busy but everyone here is very busy. I am disconnecting the call now." Ashma gave her a fair warning.
But before she could disconnect, Bong-Cha's voice emanated from the phone. "Please, don't disconnect. I need you. I need my sister." Her voice was marked with sadness and hopelessness.
She wanted to help the girl but didn't know how to. She exhaled a big puff of air and said, "I think you have the wrong number. I cannot give you anything. I don't even know you."
"I have the right number. If you don't believe me, then go tell your mother about her Young-Soo." Suddenly Bong-Cha's tone changed.
"Excuse me!" Ashma was shocked by the mention of her mother. Why would a stranger ask to say the name of another stranger in front of her mother?
"Just tell her he is on his deathbed and wants to see her one last time. He is waiting for her."
"Okay, that's it, this call was never funny and is getting worse with every passing minute. I am disconnecting the call. Please don't call ever again," said Ashma, frustrated.
"I won't. Just ask your mother about Young-Soo. I guarantee you, you will call me back." The phone disconnected leaving Ashma shocked to her core.