Round Ninety-Five

“Do you need help in the kitchen, Mr. Hwang?” Taeng asked the next morning.

“According to Miyoung, you’re a good cook. So why don’t you help me with the vegetables.”

“Okay.”

“So, Miyoung told me you work very hard and you’re very useful to the company.”

Taeng blushed as he diced the tomatoes. “I just do my best for Fany.”

“What do you mean by your best? What’s your best?”

Taeng blinked. What was his best? He wasn’t sure. “I try to be there when she needs me. If she needs documents to be printed, I’ll get it done. If she needs a cup of coffee, I’ll make it. I’ll do everything I can to help her get her job done.”

“Sounds like you’re a really good PA, Taeng.”

Taeng smiled shyly. “I may not be the best but I’m trying my best.”

“That’s you as her PA. What about you as her boyfriend? What’s your best?”

Taeng blinked again. Mr. Hwang’s questions were so hard to answer! “I try to be there when she needs me. If she needs a massage, I’ll—” he choked on his answer as he suddenly recalled their latest massage session. Just the mere thought of it triggered feelings in him that weren’t appropriate and he swallowed hard. It definitely wouldn’t do to think of Tiffany’s…y moan…no, no, no!

“Are you alright?” Mr. Hwang looked alarmed.

“I-I’m al-alright,” Taeng spluttered.

“So, you were saying?”

“When she’s tired, I try to make her feel better. When she’s feeling stressed, I try to listen to her problems. When she’s happy, I’m happy for her. When she’s—”

“Okay. Okay. You can stop. I get it.” Mr. Hwang shook his head. “You’re certainly an interesting choice that Miyoung has made. You’re the last person she would’ve picked.”

Taeng pouted sadly. “I know that I have many flaws, Mr. Hwang. I have many inadequacies. I…” Much to his surprise, Mr. Hwang smiled and placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Taeng, we all have our flaws. But it’s the choices we make that make us who we are. Miyoung chose you. You are her choice. You must have something that she needs and wants. As her father, I’m happy to hear that you’re so dedicated and loyal to her. I think there is nothing more a father can ask for than a man who will take good care of his daughter.”

Taeng perked up instantly. “Does that mean you think I’m good enough for Fany?”

“We’ll see. For now, you can prove yourself by chopping up the vegetables properly. Miyoung can’t chop vegetables to save her life. She needs a man who can do it for her.”

“Yes, sir!” chirped Taeng. So, the test was chopping vegetables! He was confident of his vegetable chopping skills. If there was anything he was good at, it was chopping vegetables! His eyebrows furrowed as he focused all his efforts on chopping the vegetables that Mr. Hwang wanted him to. He was determined to prove his worth in any way possible.

~~~~~

“Leo!”

“Miyoungie!”

Taeng watched, wide-eyed as Tiffany shrieked and threw her arms around another man. He wasn’t jealous however. Instead, he smiled. It was nice to see how happy Tiffany was to see her brother again.

“So. Where is this guy that you say you’re going to marry?”

“Leo, this is Taeng.”

Leo gave him the once over and remarked, “My. You’re smaller than I thought. You’re puny.”

“I’m sorry. I always wish that I could be taller but my wish hasn’t come true yet.”

Leo’s eyes bulged. He then turned to Tiffany and jerked his head at Taeng. “Is he for real?”

Tiffany simply giggled.

“Dude. Which planet do you come from?”

“E-Earth?”

“No way. You can’t be from Earth. You must be from Pluto. A dwarf planet.” Leo cracked up at his own joke. “Get it? Dwarf planet?”

“Leo!” Tiffany frowned. “You’re being mean to Taeng.”

But Taeng was unaffected. He’d been subjected to such jokes all his life so he was used to it by now. “It’s alright, Fany ah. It’s okay. I’m not hurt.”

Tiffany glared at her brother who was still shaking with laughter and said, “Leo, quit it.”

“Aww, my ‘lil sis is so protective of her ‘lil boy. That’s so sweet.”

“Leo! I’m so going to break your wrist.”

“Never did get over that, did you. Don’t forget, thanks to me, you can now write with both hands.”

“Taeng, ignore him. My brother has suddenly decided to be an .”

Leo cleared his throat and grew solemn. “Okay, okay. I’ll stop. Taeng! Come with me. Let’s have a chat.”

So Taeng followed.

~~~~~

Never in his life did he ever think that he’d ever wish for a work day to go on forever. They’d barely gotten any alone time together today. They’d gone for lunch with their co-workers and they weren’t going to have dinner together because Sunny was meeting her friends. So the only way for him to see more of her was to be at work with her.

Yoong looked at his reflection in the door of the elevator as it headed down. And suddenly, Young and Hyun’s words hit him hard. What had become of him?! His friends were right. He needed to learn how to let Sunny go.

~~~~~

He tried not to hang his head when he opened his door to his dark apartment. He was used to seeing it brightly lit and walking in with the knowledge that his cute girlfriend was in it. He dropped his satchel on his couch and walked into the kitchen. There, he sighed again. Where was his bunny? He enjoyed whipping up a delicious dinner with her. She was a pretty good cook and he enjoyed messing around in the kitchen with her.

He pouted. There was no Sunny. He just had to deal. He opened the refrigerator and tried to decide what he wanted to cook. He couldn’t decide and ended up closing it and walking to the phone. It was much easier to get food delivered. A pizza would be good.

~~~~~

The TV was on the baseball channel and he was lying on the couch after polishing off his pizza and a bottle of beer. He was stuffed but he wasn’t feeling lousy. Perhaps. Perhaps, he’d make it out of this week alive. Yeah. He was a big boy. He could handle this. Yes, he could.

Suddenly, his phone rang and he sat up instantly. Was it Sunny? He sure hoped it was. He reached for his phone and looked. It was!

“Bunny! Are you calling to tell me that you’re coming over?” he asked hopefully, despite knowing that the answer would most likely disappoint him.

“The deal is still on, Yoongie.”

He sighed. “I know…I just had to ask, you know. I miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.”

“But you’re out with your friends. Why are you calling me?”

“Can’t I miss you while I’m out with my friends?”

“Yes! Of course you can. It’s just that…I thought you’d have so much fun with your friends that you’d forget about me.”

“Oh, Yoongie…that’s not going to happen. I think of you when I see something I think you’ll like. And right now, I’m thinking about how much you’ll love the food here. We should come here together.”

“It’s a date! Pick a day.”

“We could come here after work next week.”

Yoong pouted. “I was hoping you’d say tomorrow.”

“We won’t have time for a dinner like this tomorrow. Have you forgotten about the meeting with the agencies?”

“Oh. You’re right. Bunny, aren’t you still with your friends?”

“I am.”

“Go back to your friends. We can talk later tonight.”

“Okay. Bye Yoongie!”

“Enjoy yourself!”

He could hear Sunny’s giggled. “I will!”

The call ended and Yoong looked at his phone for a bit. That wasn’t so bad. He was proud of himself for asking her to return to her friends. He could wait a while to talk to her again. Yes, he could.

~~~~~

Krystal was discussing details of a project with Taemin and two other people when she heard her phone ring. A dopey smile broke across her face in that instant and she picked it up immediately. She knew, without even looking, that it was Young. She had a special ringtone for him and him only.

“Hi.”

“Hello beautiful. Are you still at your project meeting?”

Krystal looked at her friends apologetically and turned away from them. “Mhm.”

“Oh no.”

“What oh no.”

“Oh no I have a huge problem,” Young groaned.

“What problem?” Krystal was concerned.

“My problem is you are the only solution.”

Krystal blushed and giggled softly. “Young! Cut it out!” she spoke in a hushed voice.

“So when can I get my hands on my solution?”

“Your solution is about to be done. In about half an hour’s time.”

“Right. I’ll be there to pick my solution up.”

“Bye.”

“Muah,” Young kissed her goodbye over the phone and she couldn’t help but giggle. And when she turned back to her friends, they were all looking at her with naughty grins on their faces.

“Don’t!” She stuck her finger in Taemin’s face as he was about to open his mouth. “Just don’t.” Then she turned to another friend who was chuckling away. “Jonghyun, stop.”

“Let me guess. That was your boyfriend and he’s going to come here and sweep you into his arms?” the other friend teased.

“Key!”

The three guys looked at each other and burst into laughter and all she could do was glare at them fiercely but her glare had lost its effect on them. She knew that they knew her well enough to know that her bark was way worse than her bite.

“Stop it guys. He’s coming in thirty. Let’s get this done.”

“Aww, Little Miss Madly-in-love is eager to see her boy,” Key continued to .

Krystal knew that it wasn’t going to stop once they got into this nonsensical mood of theirs so she kicked Key’s shin under the table.

“OWW! KRYS! OKAY! I’ll stop!”

“Great. Now, can we agree on the areas of research that we want to take on?”

“I’ll look into outdoor advertising,” Jonghyun volunteered.

“Print advertising.” Key raised his hand up high.

“That leaves me with online advertising.” Krystal nodded.

“I’ll do online advertising with you,” said Taemin. “It’s huge. There’ll be a lot to cover.”

“Alright. Now to set up the next meeting.”

~~~~~

Krystal waved goodbye to her snickering friends and got into Young’s car. He shut the door carefully before making his way around to his driver’s seat. And before he drove off, he leaned towards her and pointed at his cheek. Her innards were turned into mush by what he did but she leaned in and planted a kiss on his cheek nonetheless.

They were headed to the cinema to watch the latest movie, Despicable Me 2. Young was very eager to see it and she had agreed to watch it with him even though wacky animations weren’t really her thing.

~~~~~

Young headed to the box office to get tickets for the both of them while she stood in line to buy drinks and popcorn. She got the extra-large tub of popcorn especially for Young and a giant cup of Coke.

Young appeared beside her. “Krys, I need the washroom. Be right back real quick.” And with that, he disappeared into the crowd.

Krystal stood around the entrance with the extra-large tub of popcorn in one arm and the giant cup of Coke in the other. And she was just staring into open space when a woman she didn’t recognize stepped up to her.

“You ,” said the woman.

Krystal blinked. She was too stunned to respond.

“Young is going to get tired of you and we’ll see who gets the last laugh.”

Krystal could only blink some more.

“Cat got your tongue? All I did was send one picture of you to him. Did you have to get me fired over that?”

“W-What picture?”

“Oh, so this is the game you’re playing huh. You just wait. I’ll be the first to laugh in your face when Young dumps you for another , you piece of .” The woman threw daggers at her through her eyes before stalking away, leaving Krystal rooted to the ground.

A million questions ran through her mind as her eyes followed the woman. Who was that woman? What picture was she talking about? Young was going to dump her for another woman? And how did she get that woman fired?

If it weren’t for the woman mentioning Young’s name, she’d have thought that it was a case of mistaken identity. But no. That woman knew who she was. And yet another question popped up. How did the woman know who she was? The woman walked to a tall man and linked her arm with his before turning her way again to shoot a murderous look at her. What in the world was that about!

Moments later, Young reappeared in front of her without her realizing and it was only when he touched her shoulder that she snapped out of her thoughts.

“A kiss for your thoughts, pretty girl.”

Krystal forced a smile onto her face immediately. She didn’t want to spoil his mood so she said, “I wasn’t thinking,” and laughed, “Let’s go in. The movie’s about to start.”

~~~~~

Krystal couldn’t keep her mind on the movie. Instead, she felt like melting into liquid and evaporating into nothingness. She couldn’t even remember clearly what the woman looked like—she had been so stunned by the suddenness of it all. But there was one nagging question in her mind that she didn’t want to address. In fact, she chided herself for even thinking it. Yet, was she wrong to think that way? Was she wrong to have thoughts like that?

I should trust Young. I shouldn’t doubt him. Easier said than done, she thought to herself. Did Young have something going on with that woman? Why else would she be so angry with her? The woman mentioned being fired because of her. How was that possible? She didn’t do anything! She wasn’t even working in Young’s company anymore! Nothing made sense. Until it hit her.

The photo. The photo! Young showed me a photo of me in the club. It couldn’t have been taken by him. Why didn’t it occur to me earlier? That woman must have been the one. Oh gawd. What does this mean? Is she a girl he used to know? And why was she fired? Did Young do something to get rid of her?

She decided that she would have to find out more about this before confronting Young about it. She wanted to get her facts from a third party source and she had already thought of one good person to ask.

~~~~~

That night, Taeng sat on the bed with his peas lined up in front of him. He was in the middle of a serious discussion with them about the things that he’d been told by Mr. Hwang and Leo.

“Mr. Hwang wants me to treat Fany best. But Leo just told me not to treat her too well. Who am I supposed to listen to?”

He looked desperately from Happy to Happier to Happiest. For once, they didn’t have an answer for him. They appeared to be just as confused as he was. And the words that Leo had just said to him continued to echo in his mind…

“Miyoung likes men who can take charge. She likes the strong, confident type. Don’t let her get her way all the time. Learn how to put your foot down.”

“I…I’m not good at that…”

“It’s simple. Don’t be so nice to her.”

Taeng couldn’t understand why not being nice to Tiffany would make her love him more. It seemed to defy all his reason and logic. And Mr. Hwang’s words too. Yet, he knew that Tiffany spoke to her brother regularly and he supposed that there were probably things that she told her brother but didn’t tell her father. So Leo would know. Right?

He pouted. It wasn’t going to be easy but he would try. Leo ought to be worth listening to.

~~~~~

Venice beach was a nice place, to say the least. With the comfortable breeze and the warm sun on their skin, it was a great place to be for a fun day out so they headed there the next day.

“Taetae, could you get me a coffee?” Tiffany smiled at Taeng who was lying on a deck chair next to hers. She thought he looked especially cute in his surfer shorts and one equal ab.

She certainly wasn’t expecting it so she was momentarily stunned when he said, “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

“You can’t?”

“I can’t.”

“Why can’t you?”

“I…I’m…I’m sun tanning.”

“You’re sun tanning.”

“Yes.”

“Taeng…what’s going on?”

“N-Nothing.”

“I know there’s something. You can’t hide it from me.”

“I just don’t want to get the coffee for you.”

Tiffany blinked. What in the world had gotten into Taeng?

~~~~~

Jessica was in her chauffeured car. It stopped at Yul’s workplace and she smiled at her husband who was getting in.

“How was your day at work, baby?” Yul asked after they shared a brief kiss.

“It wasn’t so bad. I only scolded two people today.”

“Two? You scolded two people? Why did you scold them?”

“Tsk. I scolded a caterer for using the wrong flavour in their cupcakes and a decorator for using the wrong colour for the stage.”

“I hope you weren’t too harsh on them.”

“Does it matter if I was? They certainly got things in order after I scolded them. It’s effective.”

“But they won’t like you very much.”

Jessica shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t need them to like me.”

Yul sighed and shook his head. “Sica baby, isn’t it better to maintain good relations with people you work with? Especially people with long term working relationships with you.”

Jessica didn’t agree. “People will think that you’re a pushover if you’re too nice.”

“Okay, I’ll leave it to you to decide the best way to deal with people you work with.”

Jessica pouted. “Are you scolding me for scolding them?”

“Of course not, baby. I’m not scolding you. I’m just telling you what I think.”

“Mmm, I’m more interested in what you think of my new lipstick colour.”

Yul raised a brow. “It’s new?”

Jessica pouted again. “Of course it is. I wore peachy pink yesterday.”

“And what’s today’s colour?”

“Strawberry pink.”

Yul blinked. “Baby, it’s hard to tell the difference.”

“Even after kissing me?”

Yul blinked even more. “What’s got kissing you got to do with this?”

“It should taste different.”

“Should it?”

“Strawberries don’t taste the same as peaches!”

Yul grinned. “I’ll have to kiss you again to remember what you taste like.”

“Go away.” Jessica pushed him away and sulked.

But Yul didn’t. He continued to move towards her and she ended up backed up against the corner of the backseat. Seeing no other way out, she clapped her hands over her lips to protect them from him.

“My chauffeur can see us!” Jessica spoke in a hush toned, muffled by her hands.

“There’s nothing to hide. I’m your husband. Why can’t I kiss you?”

And Jessica’s eyes opened wider than ever when he pried her hands away and pressed his lips on hers.

“Mmm,” said Yul. He smacked his lips. “That does taste like strawberries. A little bit. Can you put on the peachy lipstick tomorrow? I want to know what it tastes like. Then I’ll be able to tell the difference.”

Jessica flushed bright red. “You’re an evil prick.”

“Too late, you’re mine now.” Yul chuckled.

~~~~~

Krystal stepped into Cloud Nine with the determination of a sledgehammer itching to knock down walls that withheld the truth from her. She headed to the bartender that she knew and asked to see the owner. The bartender brought her round to the back where the owner’s office was and knocked on the door.

“Come on in,” a gruffy voice answered.

Krystal thanked the bartender and opened the door.

“Hi, it’s me.”

“Young’s girl. What’s up?”

“I need to find out about a woman.”

“A woman? No way. Don’t tell me Young did something wrong.”

“Maybe…maybe not.”

“The suspense is killing me.”

“I just need a few questions answered if you can.”

“Sure, I’ll help in any way possible.”

“Did you fire anyone recently?”

“Yes, in fact, I did.”

“A woman?”

“Er…yes…”

“Does Young know her?”

“He does.”

“Okay, this is a longshot but a woman came up to me randomly yesterday and was really nasty to me. She mentioned a picture she took of me so I put two and two together and figured out that it might have something to do with my sister’s bachelorette night. I was wondering if you know anything about this.”

“Oh, I see. It’s about that picture.”

“You saw it too?”

“Young showed it to me.”

“He showed it to you?! Why?!”

“Calm down, calm down. He was only trying to find your whereabouts. He and the other guys came over here, asking where you and your group were. He also wanted to know who the guy you were dancing with was. Naturally, he had to show me the picture to ask.”

“Oh. That makes sense. So the picture must have been sent to him by that woman I met yesterday.”

“Mhm. I fired her for doing that.”

“You fired her for doing that? Why?”

“I don’t want to have girls like her working for me. These girls are always looking to stir up trouble. They’re greedy and want the rich men for themselves. Not good for my business.”

It all made sense to her now. The things that the woman said to her finally made sense. And she felt immensely guilty for harbouring suspicions about this. How could she have doubted Young for even a second? He was innocent. And the way he forgave her for dancing with another man in that way was something else. How could she have thought so badly of him? What kind of a girlfriend was she? She was a terrible person!

“Young was so ready to beat up GD that night,” the owner added with a laugh. “I’d never seen Young so riled up over anything before.” He sat up straight suddenly and looked straight at her. “He really loves you. I hope you know that.”

Krystal blushed and nodded and felt even worse about herself.

“I’m rooting for the two of you. You’re both made for each other.”

“Thank you.”

“And don’t worry your pretty head over trash like her. It’s not worth it. I’ll handle her for you.”

“I won’t. Thanks again.”

Krystal left the club with mixed feelings. On one hand, she was feeling terrible for doubting Young. On the other hand, she was all ready to jump on Young and profess her love for him. In the end, she decided that she had to make amends so she whipped out her phone to call him.

“Where are you?” she asked as soon as he answered.

She could hear his heavy sigh. “Still at the office, babe. Where are you? Are you still in school?”

“I’m coming right now.”

“You’re what?”

“Sit still, don’t move.”

Krystal ended the call without waiting for him to answer and hailed the first cab she saw. “To Hyundai Motor at Yangjae-dong, thank you.”