Round Ninety-Eight

Young sat at the table and tapped his fingers nervously. The hands of his watch ticked away nonchalantly, unaffected by the overwhelming dread that was usurping his sanity. Why had he called Krystal’s father? Why? Why did he ask to have a talk with him? Why? Had he lost his mind? Had he?

The answer to all of his questions was ‘I don’t know’ but what he did know was this: he had to do something to win her father’s trust.

When they’d met the next day after they were caught, Krystal had been pretty downcast. It seemed as though the clash with her father had taken a toll on her and even though she didn’t say much, he could sense that it bothered her a lot. And that was when he made the decision to call her father. That was how he ended up arranging to meet him. That was how he ended up sitting here, waiting.

His heart almost leapt out of its confinements when he saw her father entering the restaurant. He inadvertently wiped his hands on his pants nervously as he stood up to greet her father.

“Good day, Mr. Jung. Thank you for agreeing to meet me.”

“Mmm. Hello,” was her father’s rather curt reply.

They took their seats and Young plucked up his courage to flash a bright smile before saying, “Mr. Jung, I’ll not beat around the bush. I know that you don’t trust me. And I understand why, perfectly. Even I wouldn’t trust myself if I were you. But I really love Krystal, Mr. Jung. I really, really love her.”

Young stopped, took a deep breath and knew that he was ready to commit. “I’ll do anything to earn your trust enough to let me be with her. Krystal loves you very much and she’s unhappy because she doesn’t have your blessing. And when she’s unhappy, I’m unhappy too. So, please. State your condition. State your expectations. I’ll try my best to meet all of them.”

Young finished saying his piece and looked at Mr. Jung with fire in his eyes. He was worked up by his speech and more determined than ever to earn Mr. Jung’s approval. Yes. He meant every word he said. He would do whatever it takes to make Krystal happy.

Mr. Jung held his gaze evenly and a corner of his lips curled up slightly a moment later.

“You asked me to state my condition. My expectations.”

“Yes.”

“You will agree to anything?”

“So long as I can earn your approval. Your trust.” Young nodded, even as he felt a sense of uneasiness creeping in. What would Mr. Jung’s condition be?

“Then I will have your word that you will wait until her wedding day.”

Wait until her wedding day?! But. But Krys. She. She won’t be able to hold out till then. Oh no.

“What’s the matter? Can’t do it? You can’t promise?” Mr. Jung smiled knowingly. “As exp—”

“I promise,” Young interrupted. “I…That is what I want for her too.”

Mr. Jung looked surprised. “Is that so?”

Young nodded. “Yes.”

“I find that hard to believe, to be honest.”

“I know. It sounds unbelievable but believe me, I want the best for Krystal too. I’ve been holding back on her but sometimes…she…” Young trailed off, unsure about how he could say the next bit without offending her father.

“She?”

“Well, she…Krystal…she—”

“Never mind. Don’t say it. Don’t.” Mr. Jung looked away and coughed awkwardly before looking back again. “I don’t want Soojung to be like Sooyeon. With Sooyeon,” Mr. Jung paused and sighed, “I was a little too easy. But luckily, she has Yul.” Mr. Jung smiled suddenly. “Yul, I can trust. He’s done a lot of good for Sooyeon. Changed her for the better. But you.”

He paused and shook his head. “I’ll be honest here. Soojung is a good girl. And I’m not a delusional father when I say that Soojung would be good for any man who gets her. And she’s had a hard life. So I’m taking it onto myself to make sure that she’s going to be happy for the rest of it. I know that there’s no guarantee but I’ll do everything I can to increase her chances of happiness.”

“Mr. Jung, with all due respect, I would like to say that I’m the best man for Krystal. Simply because I’m the one whom she loves. I can make her smile. I can cheer her up. And I want to make her smile. I want to be there for her when she’s down.”

Young paused as his determination to gain her father’s trust surged forth.

“So, you have my word. I will wait.”

Mr. Jung looked significantly more assured upon hearing his promise.

“That is all I want to hear.”

~~~~~

“Doctor Han, please tell me what’s wrong with me.”

“What’s the problem, Jessica?”

“I’ve lost it.”

“What did you lose?”

“It.”

“It?”

“It.”

“Could you please elaborate?”

“I don’t feel like it anymore. What’s wrong with me…”

“Oh my goodness. We’re going in circles. Jessica, can you tell me what exactly is it that you’ve lost the feeling for?”

“.”

“Ah. .”

“Ah? Is that all you have to say? Are you a doctor or a duck?”

“A duck?”

“Quack. You’re a quack. I don’t feel like having anymore and all you can say is ‘ah’?!”

Jessica was miffed to see her doctor bursting into laughter.

“I didn’t sue you for getting me pregnant but I’m definitely going to sue you if you can’t help me to get my back!”

“Jessica…hahaha…you’re my favourite patient…hahaha…” Doctor Han could barely speak in complete sentences—she was laughing so hard.

“You’re not my favourite doctor.”

“Jessica, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about? Are you kidding me?! What am I going to do if I lose my feelings for ? What am I supposed to do with Yul every morning and night? And afternoons? And evenings?”

“There are alternatives, Jessica.”

“I don’t want alternatives. I want . Straight up my alley . Doctor, you’d better have a solution for me.”

“I’m sorry but I don’t.”

“But you’re a doctor!”

“It’s natural, Jessica. It’s part of being pregnant.”

“No, it’s not. I read up before coming here. I’m supposed to want more  when I’m in my second trimester, not less.”

“It differs from woman to woman. Every woman’s pregnancy is a little bit different. It can even differ immensely between your first and second pregnancy.”

“If I’m going to lose it like that, you can be sure that I’m not getting pregnant again.”

“It’ll pass eventually, Jessica.”

“You’re kind of useless, aren’t you.”

Doctor Han smiled. “In this case, yes. I’m quite useless.”

Jessica slumped in her chair. “Doctor Han…I want my back…”

“Just wait a bit. It’ll come back.”

Jessica pouted. It looked like there was no other way than to wait it out.

~~~~~

“How was your visit to the doctor’s?” Yul asked her after stepping out of the shower, later that night.

“Bad.”

“Bad?” Yul asked, sounding concerned.

Jessica pouted and nodded. “Doctor Han is useless.”

“Useless? Why? What’s wrong? Why was it bad?” Yul slipped into bed with her and cuddled her in his arms. She pressed her cheek against his bare chest, feeling the residual dampness from his shower and not minding it one bit.

“Yul, I’m sorry for rejecting with you for the past few days but the real bad news is the fact that I don’t know when I will stop rejecting you.”

“Oh…so that’s what this is about. I was wondering why you had to see Doctor Han when it isn’t your scheduled monthly visits.”

“Why are you so calm about it? Do you understand what’s going on here? I don’t feel like having at all. No . No for goodness knows how long.”

Yul simply smiled charmingly and planted his lips on her forehead tenderly. “I’ll deal with it somehow.”

Jessica was upset by his ease in accepting her condition. “Why is it so easy for you? Don’t you care? You’ll deal with it? That’s it? You’re going to get it from somewhere else, aren’t you!”

“Jessica Jung!” Yul’s tone was acrid and Jessica was chastened.

“I’m sorry.”

“You need to watch your words, Jessica.”

“I said I’m sorry.” Jessica hugged Yul tightly and planted kisses all over his chest to sooth his displeasure. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m forgiving you only because you’re pregnant and overrun by hormones.” Yul sounded somewhat appeased.

“You’re forgiving me because you love me.”

Yul chuckled and Jessica smiled because she knew that he was alright again. “You’re getting your way with me much too easily, Jessica Jung.”

Jessica giggled. “That’s how it should be.”

Yul patted her head gently and said, “Well, back to the topic of , I didn’t mean to sound as though I don’t care about it. I do care about it. I want to have with you too. And it doesn’t feel good when you say no to me but if it’s part of you being pregnant then I can be understanding and deal with it. That’s what I was trying to say.”

“Oh.” Jessica finally understood his point. “But what are we going to do when you need it? Doctor Han said that there are alternatives. I suppose I could try some of them for you.”

“I’d like that.”

“Mmm…okay. I’ll do it for you.”

“How about we do it tonight?”

“Maybe tomorrow night.”

Yul chuckled and kissed her lips chastely. “Tomorrow night it is, baby.”

~~~~~

“Hyoyeon’s such a great dancer.”

“I know, right.”

“But that guy with her…”

“I know, right.”

“You should totally be Hyoyeon’s partner. The two of you would kick some serious .”

“I know, right.”

“Too bad she totally rejected you.”

“I know, ri—Hey, hey…what do you mean rejected me. She didn’t reject me.”

“She so did.”

“She did not.”

“She obviously did.”

“She already had him in mind, that’s why.”

“So that’s a rejection.”

“She didn’t reject me. She declined.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“It’s not the same. Declining is when you want to but can’t. Rejecting is not when you don’t want it at all.”

“Eunhyuk, you’re a .”

“I’m not. And I’ll prove it. She’ll accept me as her partner once she sees that I’m more compatible with her than Hyun.”

“You’re delusional.”

“You’re gonna eat your words, Ki.”

“I’ll gladly eat them if you succeed.”

“Well, get ready then. It won’t take long.”

~~~~~

Hyun was not doing well. The moves weren’t easy at all. The closeness and intimacy of the dance made him blush and lose focus. Yet, his determination to do well for Hyoyeon overrode his doubts to push him to work even harder to reach her expectations.

However, so far, he’d dropped her several times while practicing their moves and he was beginning to lose confidence in himself. Perhaps it’d be better if…

“Have you ever considered another student as your partner?” he asked while they took a break from practicing.

“No. Why would I?”

“Well, if you pick a better student partner, you’d have a shot at winning.”

Much to his surprise, Hyoyeon laughed. “Hyunnie, do I look like I care about winning?”

“Yes, you do.”

“Okay. Maybe that didn’t come out right. I should say, do I look like I care to dance with anybody else?”

“But…if you want to win…”

“I want to win. But I want to win with you. It’s pointless if I win with a talented student who already knows all the dance moves. I want to practice with you. I want to spend more time with you. The Rumba is a love dance. So when they invited me, the first person I thought of was you.”

Hyun blushed. He glanced at her and noticed that she was blushing too and smiled. How lucky he was to have such a cute girlfriend!

“So…don’t bring up the subject on partners again, okay?”

“Okay.” Hyun nodded and smiled. “But I should probably tell you that one of your students is really keen on being your partner.”

“Really?”

“Mhmm.”

“Who is it?”

“Eunhuk or hyuk. I didn’t hear it properly. I was on my way in and stopped to tie my shoelaces when I overheard his conversation with another person by accident. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but they were talking rather loudly so I couldn’t help but to hear everything they said and the Eunhyuk guy seems to have a very strong desire to dance with you.”

“And that’s why you started the whole subject about partners?”

Hyun nodded. “Well, that and the fact that I’m really bad at this.”

“You’re not bad. You’re actually doing pretty well considering that we’ve only been practicing for a week.”

“But I keep dropping you.”

“It’s alright. Even if you drop me during the competition, remember. Just keep dancing. They wouldn’t know if you dropped me on purpose or not.”

“Wouldn’t it be obvious?”

“It doesn’t matter. The most important thing in a competition is that you keep on dancing. No matter what.”

“Alright. I understand.” Hyun nodded solemnly.

“Great. Now, let’s practice some more.”

~~~~~

Tiffany smiled when Taeng pulled her chair out for her. He was such a cute little gentleman! She took her seat and he pushed the chair in before getting seated too.

Yes. As promised, they were on their sixteenth month anniversary date. Tiffany had made time and he had planned the date very happily.

They ordered a platter of meat to barbeque and feasted on the side dishes when they arrived. Taeng did most of the barbequing and cut the meat up into neat little pieces before putting them on Tiffany’s plate.

“Thanks, Taetae.” Tiffany smiled warmly at her adorable boyfriend who was focused on barbequing the meat properly.

“Eat well, Fany-ah.”

“I’ll always eat well with you around,” Tiffany laid on the sweetness thick and relished the sight of Taeng blushing. She could never get enough of him blushing. It was just the cutest thing ever.

They ate well and not a morsel of food was left when they were done. They’d also emptied the bottle of rice wine that they ordered and Tiffany was feeling a happy buzz when they left the restaurant.

“Where are we going next?” she asked him with her face dangerously close to his.

He blinked cutely then said, “Let’s stroll along this street.”

“Okay.”

Tiffany slipped her hand into his and they walked hand-in-hand, swinging their arms as they strolled down the street. They looked at the shops and pointed at interesting things that caught their eyes. One particular couple was getting worked up at a corner of the street and Tiffany caught sight of Taeng averting his eyes from them awkwardly. It was cute and she couldn’t resist teasing him.

“How about we give them a run for their money?”

“Huh?” Taeng looked at her, confused.

“We can do the same if you want, Taetae.”

“Do…the same?”

“Like that couple making out over there.” Tiffany nodded her head towards the couple that Taeng tried to avoid looking at and he squeaked.

“Er…no. No…let’s not.”

Tiffany pouted. “But what if I want to?”

“You want us to make out on the street?”

Tiffany grinned and nodded. She could see his adam’s apple moving as he swallowed hard. Hahaha…Taetae…you’re too precious! “I’m just kidding, Taetae. Just kidding.”

“Oh.” Taeng looked immensely relieved and she couldn’t help but giggle again. Oh gosh, it was hard not to giggle when she was with him. And it was great! She’d never felt happier with anyone else. If being with him meant that she’d giggle all the time, then she was perfectly willing to giggle for life, with him.

More sights and sounds passed them by and they came to a stall that had a game going. It was simple to play. All one had to do was to buy some darts and pop as many balloons as possible. The more balloons one popped, the bigger the prize was and in this case, the prize was a choice of plushies displayed.

“Good evening, Miss! You and your boyfriend look so cute together. Would you like him to win you a prize?” said the man who was running the stall.

It certainly looked interesting to Tiffany.

“Taetae, win me a prize! I want that cute Totoro plushie!”

“Er...okay…I’ll do my best.”

Taeng paid the man money for a set of darts and took his aim. He popped a blue balloon on his first try and Tiffany cheered loudly. He missed his second one but Tiffany gave him a peck on the cheek to encourage him and he popped his third, fourth and fifth balloon on the next few tries. There were ten darts and by the time he got to the last one, he was one short of winning the big Totoro plushie.

“Go, Taetae! I know you can do it!”

“Get it man. Get it for your pretty girlfriend,” the man encouraged him and the crowd that had gathered behind them cheered for him as well.

Tiffany could sense that he was tensing up from the pressure and whispered softly in his ear, “Don’t worry Taetae. I’ll love you just as much no matter what. So just throw it. Don’t worry about it.”

Taeng’s smile of bliss was evident on his face as he took his aim. The crowd watched with bated breath and Tiffany found that despite what she said to him, her breath was bated too. And he threw.

“POP!” went the balloon.

And the crowd cheered as the man handed the Totoro plushie to Taeng. He proudly presented it to Tiffany who took it and grabbed Taeng by his neck to give him a full-on kiss on his lips. The crowd cheered even louder than before and his face was incredibly red when she let him go.

“You’re the best, Taetae!” Tiffany was all smiles and so was Taeng.

~~~~~

When they finally got home from their date, Tiffany was feeling frisky. But what surprised her most was when Taeng asked shyly, “Do you want to take a bath with me? I’ll soap you up properly this time.”

Her eyebrows cocked curiously as a couple of things clicked and she sensed that something amiss. Oh gosh. Was that why he had reached for her…valley when she had asked him to wet her? Had he known all along?!

“Soap me up properly this time? So you did know what I was talking about when I asked you to soap me up on the plane? Did you leave my legs out on purpose?”

Taeng looked a little clueless as he said, “I didn’t leave your legs out on purpose. I missed them out because…because…”

“But you insisted on soaping my legs after we did it the first time.”

Taeng blushed. “That’s because I thought maybe we could do it again.”

Hearing that fired up her libido and her voiced turned husky as she said, “So…you wanna soap me up, huh?”

Taeng turned a deep red but he looked hopeful as he nodded. Tiffany flashed her megawatt smile at him and put her new Totoro plushie on the couch as she leaned towards him and whispered, “Well then, Ace of Darts, you can soap me up as much as you want tonight. Let’s go.”

And with that, she pulled him into the bathroom and all that could be heard was Taeng’s squeaky gasp as the door shut behind him.

~~~~~