Chapter 9. Yuri : Accusation.

“I left for five days and the company already downgrade my driver.” I took the front seat, bumping my fist with my best friend's. “If I leave for two more days, Seunggi might end up on the driver seat and we know he doesn't drive stick well.”

“Eyyyy.” Choi Minho started the car. “If it's not for Jinyoung seonsaeng-nim's order, I won't waste my Saturday to pick you up.”

“He told you to pick me up?”

“Yeah. I'm here to take you celebrating the huge success in Qatar. Jinyoung's order. We're going to eat at the most expensive restaurant in town then spoil our sore eyes and body in his recommended massage parlor.”

I scoffed. “I'm coming home a hero now? After Jinyoung and his fellow gentlemen of the board threatened to take the CEO seat from me barely a week ago?”

“Yep. The beauty of business.” Minho grinned. “Now. Eat first or massage parlor first?”

“Just drive me home.”

“Oh come on. Don't sulk like a baby. Enjoy your victory and all the benefits that come with it, man.”

“I'd rather be home with my wife, Minho-yah. Save you your Saturday too. Areum and Sooyoung need you more than the pretty women of the parlor.”

“Are you sure? Jinyoung might get extremely offended if he knows we trade his generous offer for some family time instead.”

“Like I care. I want to spend more time with Jessica. We should have celebrated our 7th anniversary together two days ago.”

“Really? Happy 7th anniversary to you guys. I'm glad everything seems to be alright again with your wife. Sooyoung said she & Jessica have planned an all-girls trip to LA together.” Minho stopped at the red light. “Straight to your place then?”

I nodded, my focus shifted to my ringing phone. The call was from my mother.

“Hello, Mother?” I answered the call immediately.

“Yuri, where are you?”

“On my way home. I have just arrived from Qatar.”

“Come here instead.”

My heart skipped a beat, afraid that something wrong had happened to my parents. “What's happened? Are you, okay? Is Father well?”

“We're all alright. We just need to talk.”

“But I've just arrived, mother. Let me see Jessica first. We'll come for dinner tomorrow instead, alright?”

“Come here right now, Kwon Yuri.” She ended the call, leaving me staring at my phone.

“Your mother?” Minho asked as he made a left turn. “Is something wrong?”

I shook my head in confusion. “She asked me to meet her right now.”

“Really? Why?”

“Have no idea. She said they are fine though. Drop me here, I'll take a cab.”

“No. I'll drive you there. Should we go extra fast? Is it an emergency?”

“I don't know, Minho-yah. I don't know.”

I saw a familiar car on the driveway of my parents' house, a black Hyundai with plate number that I was sure I had seen before. The house seemed as quiet as usual but when I entered the living area I saw my parents and two other persons.

It was Kangin and his wife.

Kangin was my father's only sibling who could be quite a pain in the sometimes. He was a disastrous combination of womanizer and gambling addict rolled into the mind of an obnoxious alcoholic. For as far as I had known him, he only came to my father when he needed help, money, or most of the time, both.

I greeted my father and kissed my mother on the cheek before taking my spot on one of the leather chairs.

“Here comes your spoiled son, hyung.” Kangin spoke to my father. The corner of his lips tugged into a sly smile. “Teach him a lesson or two before I get my hand on him first.”

“What's happened?” I calmly asked, thinking that this was only one of Kangin's usual plot to milk money from my father. He had been nagging my father for age, claiming that he should be the one who ran the company instead of me. The fact was he had lost all part of his inheritance from my grandparents due to all his problematic behaviour.

“Drop the act of innocence.” Kangin frowned “You're such a disgrace to the Kwons. Don't think you can sit like that like a little prince after getting your hand on someone else's wife. I demand full responsibilities and direct compensation.”

“Get my hand on someone else's wife? What do you mean?”

“Hara here claimed that she's pregnant with your child, Yuri.” My mother stated like it was nothing but a weather report.

“What? That's not even possible.” I stared at Hara then at my mother, hoping for one of them to say that this was nothing but a big cruel joke. “We're not even that close. How could I end up impregnating someone without laying a hand on her first?”

“Are you saying that for the past few months you haven't gotten close to my wife, Yuri? Because that will be a big lie.”

“We're close because I hired her to organize a few parties for the company. The job that I had given to Hara to help your family out of the endless financial problem, Kangin-ssi!”

“And in one of those parties, you hadn't got drunk and hadn't ended up bedding her, is that what you're trying to say?”

It me like a lightning, the reality. I did get drunk in one of those parties, so drunk I could only remember waking up in a hotel room in my underwear the morning after. I hadn't made much of the situation that time, thinking that Minho or Seunggi had helped me to the room and got me off my soiled clothes.

“Is that true, son?” My mother, still as calm as a stone, looking at me now.

“I... I don't.” I gaped, grasping for memory of what actually had happened that night but failed miserably. I could only recall the many shots of Vodka and blaring music. “I think I would have known if I had touched her that way.”

The truth was, I had felt so stressed that day. It was the day when the board members of my company had demanded a quick action regarding the crude oil supply deficit while at home, my wife was knee deep in her own black hole and kept on ignoring me.

“You were hell drunk. You wouldn't have known if you have forced yourself to my wife.” Kangin spat. “Right, Hara?”

“Hara?” My mother now inquired the blonde sitting across my seat. “Only the mother of the child can tell who the father is. Is Yuri your baby's father? Had he done the unspeakable to you?”

“Y... Yes... Omonim.”

“Why come to us now then? Why didn't you tell us before?”

“She was afraid.” Kangin glared at my mother now. “What do you think? If haven't questioned her for behaving so strangely, the truth wouldn't even come out today!”

“Fine.” My mother inhaled deeply, closing her eyes for a moment before speaking again. “We need to sort this out.”

“First.” Kangin stood up. “I want compensation for this humiliation. I want Yuri to pay for my lost.”

“Mother, I think we need to prove-” I tried to interject because this accusation seemed too impossible despite the fact that I had no evidence against Kangin's words.

“What kind of prove do you want, Yuri!” Kangin snarled. “Do you want the baby to be born first to see if it has your ugly face? This humiliation is almost too much to bear for my wife and you still have the guts to doubt her?”

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