The Perfect Match Chapter 23

Author

Ga Eul entered the living room as she ended the phone call and surveyed the group of people that was gathered in there, levelling a look at each and every one of them: “Grandma is coming tomorrow.”

A flurry of things happened all at once just then.

Jan Di’s eyes widened in horror, Hani shouted: “What? Why?” and Hee Young literally stopped breathing.

Sighing, Ga Eul walked over to take a seat next to Hee Young, telling her to breathe before turning to answer Ha Ni’s questions: “She heard about Kang San and was really upset that none of us informed her about the situation and it’s been more than a week already. Apparently one of her employees mentioned it to her today. I told her we were so busy that we forgot to call… She still insisted on coming.”

Taking a breath, she steeled herself to say the next few words: “Plus, she wants to meet the F4.”

“Why?!” this time it was Hee Young who whispered the word.

Ga Eul shrugged, understanding her friend’s concern to some extent: “She didn’t really say. But, I think Jun Pyo for obvious reasons; you know, since he is the one that found Kang San. I’m not sure, if she knows anything about him and Jan Di dating or about you and Woo Bin for that matter. If I had to take a guess though, I’d say she knows. As for the other two… Well, they are part of the F4 and we all have grown pretty close to them over the past year. Maybe she just wants to make sure that they aren’t taking advantage of us or anything.”

Jan Di slumped onto the couch across form Ga Eul, defeat etched onto her face: “Jun Pyo can’t hide his pompousness to save his life. She’s going to hate him.”

“Consider yourself lucky.” Hee Young groaned; her face covered under her palms: “Jun Pyo is only pompous. She’ll get over that. Woo Bin on the other hand, she will never accept. His father is just like mine and you know how she gets about people like him.”

Suddenly perking up Jan Di suggested: “What if we tell the guys to stay put tomorrow. I mean, what if we don’t tell them at all? There’s that party at school anyways. They’re surely going there. Just because she wants to meet them doesn’t mean that they want to meet her. If she doesn’t meet them, she can’t judge them and make us feel bad for our poor life decisions. Right?”

Obviously agreeing with Jan Di’s logic, Hee Young nodded frantically: “Right!”

“Wrong!” Ga Eul snapped: “You two are ridiculous. Do you think just because you don’t want them to meet, she actually won’t meet with them? We’re talking about Min Kyung Hye, the woman that saved and now leads a multi-million-dollar company, the woman that managed to get us into the private classroom with the oh-so-famous F4 in the first place. She’s going to meet them, one way or the other.”

Ha Ni chipped in her two cents as well: “She’s right guys. Your logic doesn’t make any sense. If grandma wants to see them, then she will see them. Just- I don’t know- grow a pair and tell her the truth. The guys do have some negative qualities to them, but they are not bad people.”

Hee Young seemed to finally have come to her senses: “I know you are right. It’s just that she’s so bitter about love and life that it’s scary sometimes.”

“Who wouldn’t be, after losing all her loved ones that way?” Ha Ni wanted to know.

Ga Eul knew the answer to that: “You’re not.”

Silence descended upon the room in the following few minutes.

All of them were aware of the fact that Ha Ni’s childhood and parents were taboo topics. She never responded well whenever one of them came up. Actually, she never responded at all.

This time was slightly different: “My life can’t be compared to grandma’s life. There is nothing common between our situations, except for my mother.”

Then, she stood up and left the room.

Yi Jung

Doing pottery, creating things out of clay had always fascinated me. My earliest memories were of my parents screaming at each other in their bedroom, while I was busy making little animals out of playdough, trying to tune them out.

It made me feel like I was in control, which never seemed to apply to anything else in my life.

And wasn’t that just so damn pathetic?

Nevertheless, it was true.

I had a great support-system in my best friends, the rest of the F4 and once upon a time there was also my brother and Eun Jae…

No, I could not and would not go there right now.

The pottery workshop was my happy place and I wouldn’t think about her in there. Not anymore.

I took my foot off of the pedal, effectively stopping the pottery wheel.

My phone started buzzing on the table just as I finished cleaning my hands.

One look at the name flashing across the screen and a small smile spread across my face: “What’s up Ga Eul?”

“Oh !” she muttered through the speaker: “I didn’t look at the time before I called. You’re at the workshop, aren’t you? I’m sorry I disturbed you. I’ll call later if-“

I interrupted her: “Ga Eul, it’s fine. I was just getting ready to leave. You didn’t disturb me.”

“Oh, well, I’m sorry for rambling then.” She said.

“No worries. What’s up?”

She took a few moments to respond to that: “I… wanted to invite you, Seung Jo, Woo Bin and Jun Pyo over for lunch tomorrow. Could you tell the others?”

“Okay, sure.” I agreed: “Why do you sound so dreadful? It’s just lunch, isn’t it?”

“Actually, it’s not just lunch.” She conceded: “It’s lunch with grandma. She wants to meet you guys.”

“Really?” I wondered: “THE famous grandma wants to meet us?”

“Not funny Yi Jung… you know she also referred to you as THE famous F4?”

“That’s good. We’ll get along great then.” I chuckled: “Seriously, don’t worry Ga Eul. Everything is going to be fine. We’ll all be on our best behaviour. I’ll make sure of it.”

The next day, Kang San was the one to open the door for me at their house:
“Yi Jung hyung, you’re here. Thank God!” he looked around for a second before turning back to stare at me: “You’re alone? Where are the others? You can’t calm everyone down, all by yourself!”

I put a hand to his shoulder, squeezing it the tiniest bit: “I think you should calm down first. The guys will be here in a few minutes. No need to get so agitated over that. Now, why don’t you tell me about what’s going on?”

The boy exhaled, a sound so exhausted escaping him, as if the weight of the whole world rested on him: “You’ll see when you come in.”

He turned towards the living room, silently beckoning me to follow him and then I saw why he seemed so out of sorts: “How long has this been going on?”

Kang San twisted his hands in nervousness: “I don’t honestly know. I woke up this morning and they were already going at it, as if the world was about to end.”

“It does seem that way, doesn’t it?” I muttered under my breath: “Let me talk to Ga Eul, maybe she’ll tell me why they are doing all of this.”

“Yeah, good luck with that.” The boy let out a snort and proceeded to walk over to apparently the only sane female in this house, Sang Hee who was busy in her playpen.

Strange…

On my way over to Ga Eul I tried striking up a conversation with the other girls as well, but they were so intrigued with trying to make everything spotless, they didn’t even acknowledge my presence.

My first attempt with Ga Eul didn’t fare any better either. When I greeted her, she completely ignored me.

This wasn’t working.

So as she was scrubbing the coffee table, I sat down on top of it.

That certainly seemed to get her attention: “What are you doing here?”

Blinking a bit confusedly at her, I answered: “You invited me last night. Don’t you remember?”

She huffed, before plopping down on the couch and rolling her eyes:
“Of course I remember that! I meant, what are you doing sitting on the table like that? Do you have any idea how grandma is going to react, once she sees your assprint on top of it?”

“No.” I couldn’t mask the amusement in my voice: “Although, is that why you’re all cleaning as if you’re possessed?”

“Hey!” she snapped: “That is a very scary woman. If you don’t want to believe me then fine, you’ll find out on your own later anyways.”

“Hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned…” I mumbled the words to no one in particular. Ga Eul still heard them.

“What did you say?!” she growled.

I threw my hands up in surrender: “Nothing!”

Truthfully, I was kind of terrified of her whenever she became furious like that and I wasn’t about to risk being at the receiving end of her anger. Not again.

End of Chapter

Author's Note:

Wow, still alive and still writing. 

I am going to finish this story one day, it's on my bucket list...

Thanks for still being here and for still reading :)