Ring! Ring!
Haneul's legs were folded comfortably on the floor, with a big bag of potato chips in her arms, iced tea on the table in front of her and a medical show playing on the TV. No way she was going to move an inch to get the phone.
Their housekeeper walked towards the telephone while drying her hands on the apron tied loosely to her waist. She picked up the receiver and spoke through it while Haneul's eyes were glued to the TV.
Weekends were supposed to be spent in front of the TV watching boring medical shows, that was the house rule. Well it wasn't really, she just really liked the show that aired. An hour or two in front of the TV can't possibly harm you.
The housekeeper walked up towards Haneul after putting the receiver down.
"Haneul-ah," The housekeeper called her to divert her attention.
"Hm, Ahjumma?" Haneul said while munching on the potato chips.
"Your father called," The housekeeper said. "You have dinner outside today."
"Outside?" Haneul confusedly looked up at the housekeeper. "Where?"
"At your future in-laws." The housekeeper said. "They are going to ask for a date today."
"A what?!" Haneul stood up, jumping out of her comfort zone and throwing her bag of chips. "Oh shit." She looked down at the bag of chips, suffering its demise.
She threw herself on the couch behind her, not wanting to believe that she was actually getting married.
"No one asked me anything, Ahjumma." Haneul said. "No one asked me if I liked him or not."
The housekeeper sat down beside Haneul on the couch, "Do you like him?" She asked.
Haneul pouted. "I don't know." She murmured. "Even if I do, my parents should ask me first…"
The housekeeper started fondling Haneul's knee, patting it gently to console her. So far, her parents had always asked her thoroughly about her blind dates. If she would reject them, so would her parents. This was how much they loved her. No doubt they still loved her, but no longer respected her opinion in terms of marriage.
"Haneul-ah." The housekeeper called her out. "This marriage is written." She said slowly, her old and wrinkled lips were especially dry today, "Try to like him even if you can't. Changmin-ssi wrote his decision long ago. They only brought it up now."
Haneul pulled herself up to sit to face the housekeeper, narrowing her eyes in confusion and suspicion.
"What does that mean?" Haneul asked in an agitated tone.
She knew it was a business marriage, but she didn't know it had been decided for longer than she was told.
"When Yeom Jae-ssi signed to invest into our hospital, they signed to take you in as their daughter-in-law too." The housekeeper briefly explained.
"Yeom Jae-ssi?" Haneul asked.
"Your father-in-law… future father-in-law." The housekeeper said.
Haneul curled her lips into a sarcastic smile before nodding slowly, accepting her fate. The housekeeper slowly patted her shoulder.
"Get ready on time." She said before standing up to leave to tend to her business.
Haneul quickly reached out for her phone. She needed to rant about this to her friends.
She made a group call, hoping both Haru and Youngsoo would be free to pick her calls up. It was the weekend so she had hopes. Youngsoo kept his clinic open during weekends as well so she wasn't sure if he would be able to pick up the call or not.
Maybe the divine powers were on her side as both her friends picked up the call right away, only after a single bell.
"Look who remembered us today." Youngsoo said through the phone. "I didn't expect you to make a phone call first."
Haneul was one of those people who never initiated conversations but conversed well along the way. Her friends respected that and always started conversations.
"What's up, girl?" Haru asked, as enthusiastically as ever.
Haneul paused for a moment before passing a loud sigh, letting her friends guess the amount of frustration embedded in her voice.
"Do you want us to come to you instead?" Haru asked, judging her friend's frustrated sigh right away.
"Yes. Please." Haneul muttered.
Then the two cut the call right away in order to leave their houses quickly. Within 10 minutes, both of them were outside Haneul's house. The housekeeper let them in and guided them towards Haneul's room where they knocked and entered right away.
Youngsoo quickly walked towards Haneul who was seated on her study chair. He picked her up in his arms while Haru quickly laid her blanket flat on the bed. Youngsoo put Haneul on the blanket and started rolling her into a sushi roll. He made his sushi roll sit. His sushi roll was pouting, near to tears.
The AC was blasting so there wasn't any problem of the sushi roll suffocating to death.
"What's wrong?" Youngsoo asked.
The housekeeper was standing in the doorway, watching Haneul's friends roll the sad soul into a sushi.
"Dinner today at her future in-laws." The housekeeper briefly explained. "They're going to set a date today." With that, the housekeeper left Haneul and her friends alone in the room by closing the door shut so they may console her in their own way.
"Is that true?" Haru asked Haneul for confirmation and received a quick nod. "Mr. Bowel Movements and you are getting a date set for marriage?" She repeated, sighing right after. "Haven't you guys had only one date so far?"
"That's absurd." Youngsoo muttered. "Don't worry about it. Yeom Tae-ssi looks like a smart man. Try contacting him to see if you can call off the dinner."
Haneul shook her head. "That's like rejecting him…" She murmured. "I can't do that."
"You've rejected countless men so far, queen!" Haru tried to encourage her. "Why not another?"
"If you don't want to marry him, don't." Youngsoo said sternly.
"He…" Haneul looked away. "I am not sure about him yet." She murmured.
"Do you mean you like him?" Haru asked, narrowing her eyes.
Haneul pressed her lips together. "I don't know."