Chapitre Sept

>Wanna stay in this moment forever. I'm gonna give you all the love that I've got.<

MyungSoo

I wonder if she’s okay. I haven’t received a text or anything. MyungSoo thought to himself as he ate his breakfast the next morning. His mind was occupied by wondering how MinNeul was doing, whether she’d woken up and had a headache or if she was still sleeping. What happened the other night was still on his mind, in fact, he had been thinking about it the entire night, causing him not to get any sleep at all. Maybe it’s still too early in the morning.

WooJin glanced at his son who was acting weirdly that morning, who also took such a long time to finish his breakfast when usually he would just shove it down his throat without even chewing. He had a feeling that it had something to do with why MyungSoo came home late last night.

Spreading some butter onto his toast, WooJin asked, “You were back quite late last night, son.” He looked at the said boy, who now after MyungHee nudged him by the elbow, began to pay attention to his surroundings.

He looked at his sister then back at his father, and cleared his throat as he answered, “There was a tiny hiccup with MinNeul last night, that friend I told you, so I was late because I was helping her out.” He sounded so casual as he said those sentences, and WooJin saw his mouth twitched, as if he was fighting a smile.

“Is she okay? What happened?” HyunJoo asked, concern coated her words and MyungHee looked at MyungSoo with a frown, wanting to know what happened too. They seemed to be genuinely worried that MyungSoo decided to just fill them in briefly, about what happened, instead of going into details. He assured them mostly that she was fine and he would check on her soon.

HyunJoo and MyungHee knew better than to pry, though they knew that there was more to it that MyungSoo didn’t say. He only told them that she had a rough evening the previous day and he was there to help her and sent her home. They both wanted to know what happened actually, but decided not to ask.

WooJin, who kept on eating while MyungSoo was explaining, paid no attention to his son, and once MyungSoo was done giving them the reason as to why he was late yesterday, he only said, “I don’t want you to see her anymore.”

The whole table went silent with the sudden statement by WooJin, and MyungHee exchanged confused glances with HyunJoo. It was weird for their father to say something like that on the spur of the moment.  MyungSoo, who was dumbstruck, laughed humorlessly at his father’s declaration. “You don’t want me to see her anymore? Why? Just because I came back late last night? Dad, yesterday wasn’t the first time I was home late. In fact, I was helping her-”

“This isn’t about you helping her.” WooJin interjected. “It’s because I say so. I just don’t want you to be anywhere near that girl. I know she isn’t right for you.”

MyungSoo certainly didn’t hide his shock and disappointment, and he simply let his emotions show when he heard how ridiculous his father sounded. Nothing WooJin said made any sense whatsoever.

“What are you talking about, dad?” MyungSoo asked back, and it was evident in his voice that he didn’t like what his father said one bit. In fact, none of them did, because they couldn’t comprehend the reason behind as to why WooJin wanted MyungSoo to stop seeing MinNeul all of a sudden. “You can’t just tell me not to see her anymore without any valid reason!”

He felt extremely angry now. To be told not to see MinNeul again, he just couldn’t imagine what would happen to him. It was as if he closed his eyes, and saw nothing. He would become nothing. She had become a part of his daily routine, and a day would feel so incomplete if he didn’t talk to her or see her. This whole situation, this discussion, was beginning to take on an air of absurdity.

Feeling like an argument was going to happen, HyunJoo interrupted, “They’re friends, dear. And why do you want MyungSoo to stop seeing her so badly? She is a very pleasant girl, WooJin. I don’t think she’ll be a bad influence on MyungSoo. They’re both adults anyway. I thought you liked her when we talked about her, and personally I don’t think she’s that bad anyway.”

WooJin looked at his wife angrily. “How can you be so sure? Do you know the girl? How do you know she is pleasant? Have you met her? And can you assure me that those two are just friends?”

MyungSoo felt something inside him snapped. He wasn’t one, who would always talk back at his parents, but his father was talking nonsense about someone he knew well, and he despised every question WooJin asked. It was as if his dad was judging her.

“Dad, if you want to say something about MinNeul, tell them to me, not mom. I am the one who knows her very well, and while mom doesn’t know much about her, neither do you! I don’t get what your problem is in the first place. What do you have against her all of a sudden?”

WooJin glowered at his son, noting that he was almost close to raising his voice. What they were fighting about must’ve been getting on his nerves, and he found it amusing as to how he would finally figure out something he’d been wondering about for so long.

MyungHee sighed. “Guys, why do we-”

“You’re foaming at the mouth, MyungSoo. You’re normally not like this. So you hate it when I judge her that way, don’t you?” WooJin butted in, pushing MyungSoo’s buttons.

“You bet I am.” MyungSoo said with gritted teeth. “I will not have anyone assume as they like about her like that.”

“Why? Because you love her?” His question had HyunJoo and MyungHee both looked at MyungSoo, wondering how he would answer this. They thought he would’ve needed to try thinking of something, or even denying it, but much to their surprise, he answered in a heartbeat.

“So what if I do? Is there a problem?”

WooJin smirked, while HyunJoo’s eyes widened slightly at MyungSoo’s answer. She didn’t expect him to be honest with it, when all he’d been trying to do before was saying that he didn’t see her as more than that of a friend. She wondered then what had really happened the day before.

“Yes, in fact, there is a problem.” WooJin said. The dining table now was getting heated with this argument, and neither wanted to back down. “I don’t like that girl, and I am ordering you to cease all your contacts with her. If you respect me as your father, as you have done throughout your life, you will do as I say without having to ask why. And I have already agreed with a friend of mine that you would marry his daughter instead.”

“WooJin!” HyunJoo exclaimed, clearly shocked by this. She felt her heart almost stopped when she heard what WooJin just said, and she sighed in exasperation. MyungHee’s hand went to as she looked at her brother’s reaction, and she felt extremely nervous when she saw how angry MyungSoo was.

His fists were clenched under the table and his face turned blood-shot red. MyungHee had never seen him this angry before, and for him to be this livid simply meant that what they were debating about was really bothering him.

“So that is what this is all about.” He simply said, with a forced calmness in his voice. “You want me to marry your friend’s daughter, and to do that you’re ordering me to stop meeting MinNeul without giving me any reason why you dislike her so much now.”

He laughed a cold, humorless laugh as he shook his head. “You know what, dad, you’re really funny. I’ve told you about this girl years ago, and you didn’t mind a thing at all. It was after I showed you a picture of her that you changed your perception of her. I can’t say I’m not curious, to be honest.”

He waited for WooJin to say anything back, but no answer was forthcoming from the elder. That simply indicated that his father won’t back down with what he said, and MyungSoo would do just that too.

He stood up from the table, looked at his father squarely in the face, though his father avoided his eyes, and said, “Seems like the both of us are in an awful war.” With that, he walked up the stairs towards his room, and MyungHee quickly followed him.

Sensing that HyunJoo would start asking him questions next, WooJin stood up, grabbing his coat and started to walk away just as HyunJoo opened , but didn’t get the chance to say anything since her husband left her like that. He knew what she was going to say or ask, but he wasn’t ready to talk about it. No, not yet.

Meanwhile, back in MyungSoo’s room, he was sitting on the edge of his bed, taking in deep breaths to calm his pounding heart as he recalled what just happened downstairs. It terrified him, to be very honest. He had never lost control like that to anyone before, about anything.

He rubbed his face with his hands, though feeling a bit bad for getting into an argument with his dad; MyungSoo didn’t regret saying what he did. His dad was not making any sense, and there was this strong desire of fighting him back.

“Oppa.” His sister called, and he lifted his head to meet her eyes. MyungHee was looking at him worriedly and he knew that she was troubled by the row they just had. You could say that their house was one of the peaceful house in the universe. They rarely fought, and even if there was conflict, they never had to raise their voices at each other.

Well, it seemed like there was always a first for everything.

MyungHee entered his room and sat next to him on the bed. Neither said a word at the beginning, until MyungHee broke the silence. “No matter what, you can’t let her go.” MyungSoo’s head turned to her with a slight frown, and MyungHee continued. “I’ve never seen you so happy when talking about someone, or get so defensive when something ill is spoken about her. She matters to you.”

“She does.” MyungSoo agreed without hesitation. “More than I expected, honestly.”