Round Thirty-Four

 

“Bottoms up!” yelled Mr. Jung and Young. Yul wasn’t as enthusiastic as them, however, and they turned to look at him disapprovingly.

 

“Buddy, you are a wet blanket, man.” Young nudged him with his elbow, trying to get him to be more boisterous as well.

 

Yul shook his head. “I’ve had enough. It’s getting to my head so I should stop. I don’t want to end up drunk.”

 

Mr. Jung laughed hard. “Yul, it’s alright. I’m not that uptight about my future son-in-law. It’s alright to get drunk once in a while. It’s all about having fun!”

 

“But Mr. Ju—“

 

Yul was silenced by Mr. Jung’s hand in his face.

 

“No, no, no. You’re not supposed to be calling me Mr. Jung anymore. Call me abonim at least. I won’t even mind if you want to call me Daddy like Sooyeon does. HAHAHA!” Mr. Jung guffawed and clapped Yul on his back violently.

 

“OOF!” Yul felt the air in his lungs being knocked out.

 

So that’s where Sica got her violent genes from…

 

“Yul! As your soon to be father-in-law, I command you to drink this with us!”

 

“But abonim, I—“

 

“DRINK!” Mr. Jung pushed a shot glass into Yul’s hand and proceeded to fill it to the brim. “BOTTOMS UP!”

 

Yul sighed deeply. It was going to be a very long night for him.

 

“Tell me, Young, are you interested in my younger daughter?” Mr. Jung turned to Young suddenly, his attention leaving Yul, much to Yul’s relief.

 

“Mr. Jung, I—“

 

Mr. Jung stuck his hand in Young’s face, silencing him midway as well.

 

“I want my son-in-laws to be as good as Yul. Are you as man as Yul is? I expect nothing less than that for Soojung.”

 

Young was surprised to feel disappointment in his heart when he heard that. He was about to say that he only liked her as a little sister. She was a little too young for him, to be honest. But what he didn’t understand was his reaction to Mr. Jung’s expectations of his son-in-laws. What business was it of his anyway?

 

He shook his head to clear it of the pleasant buzz that all the soju had created in his head and gripped Mr. Jung’s shoulder firmly. “Mr. Jung, you have nothing to worry about. I treat Krystal as my dongsaeng and nothing else. She’s my favourite dongsaeng. I respect and admire her very much.”

 

Mr. Jung looked at Young closely; his eyes piercing deep into Young’s. Then he nodded and patted Young on his shoulder. “You’re a very good oppa to her. Thank you for taking care of her when she left home.”

 

“Don’t mention it Mr. Jung.”

 

Mr. Jung flashed a smile of gratification. “You’re a good man too, Young. You’re good.”

 

Young laughed and shook his head. “Not as good as Yul though.”

 

“It’s hard to be as good as Yul,” Mr. Jung agreed.

 

“Yeah, it is.”

 

“Yul! Another shot of soju for my favourite future son-in-law!”

 

“Abonim… Really, we should stop.” Yul was beginning to see double after the many shots of soju they had consumed.

 

“Yul, my son… don’t be a spoilsport tonight. I’m rarely ever this happy. Do you want to be responsible for dampening my good mood?”

 

Yul shook his head.

 

“Then drink with me! I drink when I’m happy! My daughters are growing closer, Sooyeon is getting better thanks to you and my wife may not be divorcing me after all!!! HAHAHA I’m feeling GREAT!”

 

So Yul had no choice but to drink more…and more…and more…and…eventually, puke. They stumbled out of the shop and Young patted Yul’s back as he puked into the drain outside.

 

 “Yul! Buddy! Are you feeling better now?” Young laughed ridiculously at Yul even though there was nothing funny going on. He was more inclined to laugh a lot when he was drunk. Most of his friends labelled him as the fortunate one for he did not end up doing embarrassing things when he was drunk.

 

“I’m okay, thanks Young.” Yul stood unsteadily, stumbling a little as he tried to balance himself.

 

Young managed to load Yul into the taxi that they hailed. None of them were in any shape to drive at that moment. “Where do you live Yul?”

 

Young turned to Yul and realized that he had fallen asleep. “Yul?” He patted Yul’s cheek lightly. “Yul?” Yul did not respond so he turned to Mr. Jung and said, “Mr. Jung, Yul has fallen asleep.”

 

“It’s alright. We can all go to my house. Nobody is there anyway.”

 

And with that, they headed for the Jung’s estate.

 

~~~~~

 

Jessica was awakened by the sound of her phone ringing in her ear. She groaned moodily as she d about for her phone. There was nothing she hated more than being disturbed when she was sleeping. The sight of the name flashing on her phone put a bright smile on her face, however.

 

“Yul, I miss you!” Jessica whined into her phone, wanting him to say sweet nothings to her in return.

 

“SSHIIKKA BABY!”

 

Jessica flinched as Yul’s loud yell pierced her eardrums painfully and pulled her phone away from her ears immediately. “YA! Don’t yell! I almost went deaf!”

 

“HAHAHA Shiiikkaaa baaaybeee… I love you so much –hic–“

 

“Yul? Are you drunk?” Jessica’s eyes were wide open in surprise. He definitely didn’t sound very sober but it wasn’t like him at all to get drunk like that.

 

“Me? No, no, no. I’m not drunk –hic– I’m very sober! In fact, I’m so sober that I’m trying to solve a riddle right now –hic–“

 

Jessica giggled. She was amused by his very cliché denial of being drunk. Oh, her dearest Yul, ever so lovable. “What riddle are you trying to solve Yul?” She leaned against the headboard of her bed, making herself comfortable as she talked to Yul.

 

“That riddle I saw in your journal the other night when I was packing your luggage for you –hic–“

 

“Is there even a riddle in my journal?” Jessica queried, feeling confused.

 

“The one about your seven –hic– wishes—with seven rainbow colours and everything –hic–“

 

‘Oh…that… haha it’s not a riddle Yul. Silly, it’s just my—“ Jessica stopped herself abruptly as realization stuck her. She sat up straight and breathed long and deep before speaking again. “Yul… were you reading my journal?”

 

“Huh? Uh...–hic– yeah, kind –hic– of. HAHA it was just lying there and I sort of –hic– flipped it open.”

 

A scary kind of anger bubbled from the depths of Jessica’s burning core where molten hot lava lurked.

 

“YOU…READ…MY…JOURNAL?!?!” She could have breathed fire through her nostrils as she hollered.

 

“Shiiikka? –hic– what’s wrong baby? –hic–“

 

“YOU DRUNKEN SCUMBAG!!! I’M NOT TALKING TO YOU!!!”

 

And with that, Jessica hung up on him angrily. Seconds later, her phone rang again but she rejected his call with an angry swipe of her finger. When he called her for the third time within that minute, she switched off her phone and went back to sleep.

 

Hmph! Drunken scumbag Yul. RAWR.

 

She tossed and her bed. Darn it Yul! Now I can’t even go back to sleep! ARGH!

 

~~~~~

 

“Funny… Shhiikka hung up on me and now the call won’t get through. Is there something wrong with her phone?” Yul blinked at Young who only laughed at his puzzled expression.

 

He had woken up when Young knocked his head into the door by accident as he tried to haul him into the house. Mr. Jung then excused himself to his room, pleading old age, and fell asleep almost immediately. Young and Yul heaved him from the edge of the bed to the center so that he wouldn’t roll over and fall off the bed. They also loosened and removed his tie and made him comfortable before they slumped to the floor, feeling exhausted.

 

For some reason, Jessica’s seven wishes had popped into his head as he sat next to Young at the bottom of Mr. Jung’s bed. He turned casually to Young and asked him for help in deciphering her wishes. Young was too drunk to crack his brains over a question like that so he suggested asking Jessica directly to find out.

 

“Better to ask Jessica than to guess it wrong, don’t you think?”

 

Yul had thought that Young’s suggestion was a good one so he called her to ask.

 

“Why is Jessica so angry? Why did she hang up?” Yul asked Young who only shrugged in response before bursting into peals of laughter again. And Yul began laughing too; Young’s laugher was so infectious.

~~~~~

Jessica stomped to the kitchen angrily. She couldn’t believe that Yul would do such a thing. It was Yul for goodness sake, not some low-life jerk who went around reading people’s private journals.

 

Argh. If she weren’t so far away from him, she would have snapped his neck for doing such a thing. One thing was for sure, Yul was lucky to still be alive. She noticed a dark figure hovering around the fridge. The light from the fridge shone on the figure, illuminating her as she took out a tub of ice cream from the freezer.

 

“Krystal, is that you?”

 

Krystal jumped in her skin and spun around, frightened by Jessica’s sudden question. “Oh my gosh! You scared me.”

 

Jessica giggled. “Sorry.” She eyed the tub of ice cream that Krystal had in her hands.

 

“Er… do you want to share the ice cream with me?” Krystal offered kindly when she noticed how Jessica’s eyes roved over the ice cream.

 

“I thought you’d never ask.” Jessica grabbed a spoon and the tub of ice cream from Krystal’s hands and proceeded to sit down on a bar stool.

 

Krystal grabbed a spoon as well and sat next to Jessica who had already opened the tub and was now digging her spoon into the smooth, soft, chocolate ice cream.

 

“Why aren’t you sleeping, unnie?”

 

“My drunken scumbag of a fiancé called me and woke me up.”

 

“Your what?”

 

“You heard me.”

 

“Are you talking about Yul oppa?”

 

Jessica rolled her eyes as she her chocolate ice cream coated spoon. “Who else could it be?”

 

“Oh…” Krystal fell silent for a moment before speaking up again.

 

“Er… why… did you call him a drunken scumbag?”

 

“He was drunk when he called me, that idiot, and he had the cheek to ask me what my seven wishes meant!”

 

“Seven wishes?” Krystal was lost.

 

Jessica bristled. “I wrote down seven wishes in my journal after Yul proposed to me. It was supposed to be a secret but that scumbag read my journal! And he has the gall to ask me what they meant?! He must be tired of living!”

 

Krystal couldn’t suppress her curiosity, so at the risk of having Jessica flare up at her, she asked, “Why are your wishes a secret? Wouldn’t you want them to be fulfilled?”

 

Jessica blushed suddenly and Krystal was intrigued.

 

“What are your wishes?” she asked again, despite somewhat fearing an out lash from Jessica.

 

To her surprise, Jessica turned redder than before and laughed in embarrassment instead. She eyed Krystal steadily, toying with the idea of sharing her secret with her; as embarrassing as it was. It would be nice to share her secret with someone, wouldn’t it? Besides, they had chatted quite comfortably during their mani and pedi earlier in the afternoon and she felt a little closer to Krystal after that.

 

She beckoned Krystal to lean closer to her before whispering into the said girl’s ear.

 

“My wishes are a little embarrassing to talk about.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because…” Jessica paused and pointed her index finger at Krystal very suddenly.

 

“Promise you won’t tell a soul after I tell.”

 

“I promise!” Krystal brightened up at once. She loved being let in on secrets, let alone her sister’s secret.

 

Jessica took a deep breath. “The day after Yul proposed, I saw a rainbow and wished on it,” she confessed and  stuffed a huge dollop of ice cream into as her blush spread to the tips of her ears.

 

“And?” Krystal was beyond curious.

 

Jessica giggled shyly and glanced at Krystal. “I made seven fantasy wishes.”

 

“Fantasy wishes?”

 

Jessica giggled and nodded, making Krystal feel even curiouser than before. “Seven romantic places that I fantasized about with Yul...”

 

“Oh…” Krystal giggled in amusement. That sounded interesting.

 

“But that’s not embarrassing unnie.” Jessica bit her lower lip as a shy grin slowly crept onto her face. “ActualIy…I fantasized about me and Yul doing it at those places.”

 

Krystal felt herself turning red. Oh, now that was quite a private thing to share. She hadn’t thought that her half-sister would be the sort who’d fantasize about things like that. “You’re so cool, unnie. I hope your wishes get fulfilled somehow.”

 

Jessica giggled some more. “Thanks Krystal, but don’t tell anyone about it okay?”

 

Krystal nodded vigorously. “Of course, unnie! My lips are sealed!” Then another question popped into her head. “Unnie, what exactly did you write in your journal? Why can’t Yul oppa figure it out?”

 

“Do you really want to know?” Jessica couldn’t help giggling at Krystal’s wide-eyed curiosity. Perhaps having a baby sister was quite fun after all.

 

“Yes! Tell me, tell me. Please unnie…” Krystal unleashed a bit of cuteness that surprised herself. She didn’t usually get all cute like that. Was it because she finally had someone to use it on?

 

“Well let’s see, there’s red rose, yellow sunrise, orange sunset…” Jessica crinkled her nose as she rummaged through her mind to remember what she had written. “…green meadow, blue sea, indigo sky and violet wedding.”

 

Krystal oohed and ahhed as Jessica listed her wishes. “Now I know why Yul oppa can’t figure them out.”

 

“No one is supposed to,” Jessica muttered dryly.

 

“But now I know what they mean too!” Krystal smiled brilliantly, making Jessica laugh at her vibrancy.

 

She patted Krystal’s head and smiled warmly. “That’s because you’re my sister, Soojung ah.”

 

Krystal’s eyes opened wide. Did Jessica just acknowledge her as her sister? Her eyes brimmed with tears instantly and she launched herself at Jessica, engulfing her in a huge hug.

 

“Unnie!”

 

~~~~~

 

“Do you want to go to the 2012 Goguma Expo with me?” Hyun murmured to himself as he sat at his desk, surrounded by stacks of financial graphs and reports for the last quarter of the financial year.

 

Hyun wasn’t sure if he had the guts to say it to Hyoyeon’s face. Upon careful consideration, he decided against it. There was no telling how he might end up messing up and sound stupid. It was definitely safer to text her and ask. He didn’t want her to think too much into it; it might scare her off and end up rejecting him which was the last thing he wanted.

 

He worded his message very carefully.

 

Hyunnie 21:23

Are you interested in going to a Goguma Expo this weekend? I happen to have an extra ticket.

 

Hyun read and reread it several times before sending the message nervously. He had made it sound as casual as possible; that way, she wouldn’t think that he was trying to date her or anything scary like that.

 

Ever since Hyoyeon kissed him at the park, he couldn’t really keep his mind off of her at all. He had been terribly disappointed with her explanation of why she kissed him. Initially, he had harboured hopes that she was at least a little bit into him but that was not the case apparently. Hyoyeon being Hyoyeon was probably being her usual prankish self when she kissed him. Sigh. He realized that he might be in love with her. He began looking forward to her goguma treats not because of the goguma she brought. He actually wanted to see her more than the goguma.

 

This whole thing was tricky though. The only reason why she would see him would be to atone for the pranks that she played on him in the past. Obviously, she must have disliked him back in school to have played that many pranks on him so he was surprised that she even bothered with the goguma treats at all.

 

Well, perhaps she had changed. People did change a lot once they graduate from school. Although she was still extremely playful and naughty, she did seem a lot more mature than before. Just then, his phone buzzed, breaking his train of thought. Feeling a rush of adrenaline coming from nowhere, he tapped his screen to read the message.

 

Kim Hyoyeon 21:31

A Goguma Expo? Does such a thing even exist?!

 

Hyun’s eyebrows furrowed as he tried to figure out if Hyoyeon’s answer was a yes or a no. Try as he might, however, he simply couldn’t tell what her reply meant to say.

 

ARGH. As reluctant as he was to do it, he had to seek help from his hyungs. They would definitely know her cryptic answer to his question.

 

~~~~~

Hyun sighed deeply. Both of his hyungs were unavailable. Young was obviously dead drunk when he answered his call while Yoong… well… let’s just say that all he heard were weird sounds that kind of freaked him out a little. Not to mention, the sounds sounded a little too feminine to belong to Yoong and it painted too clear a picture of the type of activity that Yoong was engaged in when he answered the call to demand that he call the next day instead.

 

Sigh. There were times when you simply had to depend on yourself.

 

Hyunnie 23:44

Was that a yes?

 

Hyun gripped his phone nervously as he waited for a reply. It had been more than two hours since Hyoyeon’s last message and he wondered if she had gone to sleep already.

 

Kim Hyoyeon 23:58

YES. Silly. You will have to pick me up and send me home though. It’s the least you could do since I’m sacrificing my time to accompany you to the Expo.

 

Hyun couldn’t help grinning as he typed his reply hastily.

 

Hyunnie 00:00

OK! Goodnight! I need to sleep now. It’s midnight already. You should go to sleep too Hyoyeon. Our skin cells regenerate around this time of the night. You wouldn’t want to miss your beauty sleep, would you?

 

Hyoyeon laughed out loud as she read his reply. Hyun…you are too cute.

 

~~~~~

DING DONG.

 

Taeng looked up from his peas at the door, wondering who in the world would be looking for him.

 

DING DONG.

 

Is it Tiffany? At that thought, pure joy zipped through his veins and he bounced to the door merrily. However, it was an elderly yet authoritative looking man who stood at the door when he opened it.

 

“Who are you looking for?” he asked tentatively.

 

“You.”

 

“Me?”

 

“May I come in?” He may have asked but his foot had set step in Taeng’s home even before he finished asking. Taeng noticed how rude he was behaving but decided to let it slide. What did this man want?

 

The man roved his eyes across the room, pausing momentarily at the peas that were strewn all over his couch, before completing a full sweep of the premises. “What are those things?”

 

Taeng decided that he didn’t like this man very much. His peas weren’t things! “They are peas-in-a-pod,” he replied sullenly. “And may I know who you are?”

 

The man looked at him sharply. “What do you mean who I am? How can you not know who I am?”

 

“I’m sorry, but I really don’t know who you are.”

 

The man drew up to his full height and out his chest proudly. “I am Lee Jin Suk.”

 

Taeng blinked rapidly, still feeling rather clueless about who the man was. “Oh…er… hi Lee seonsaengnim.” He bowed slightly as a show of respect for the elderly man.

 

Mr. Lee shook his head in disbelief. This must be one ignorant man if he didn’t know who he was. “You have never heard of my name?”

 

“No, I’m afraid not.”

 

“I am the founder of the most successful artiste management company in South Korea and I’ve recently taken over two of my closest competitor’s company in the market, making my newly merged company the largest and richest in the whole of Asia and you are telling me that you don’t know who I am?!”

 

Taeng shook his head apologetically. “I’m sorry, I don’t really follow the entertainment news.”

 

“Young man, I have made history in this country by single-handedly propelled our country’s name to greater heights internationally through my artists. You need to keep up with the news.”

 

Taeng gulped nervously. What was such an important and powerful person doing in his home?

 

“Anyway, you must be wondering why I am here. You have already wasted a lot of my time so I shall get straight to the point. Mr. Kim Taengoo, I want you to date my daughter.”

 

Taeng’s jaw dropped. “WHAT?!?!”

 

~~~~~