ღ Chapter Seventeen ღ

To say that Kris charmed grandmother over dinner would be an understatement. I swear, by the time we got to the main entrée, she liked him more than she even liked me.

“Jae-in ah, bring this boy over for dinner once in a while, okay? He must be lonely here in Seoul; why don’t you cook for him more often?”

“Yes, halmeoni,” I replied meekly, stopping by the door to put on my shoes.

“And Kris, dear, don’t be afraid to ask if you ever need anything. Take care of my granddaughter. She can be rash and unreasonable, but she’s a sweet girl.”

Rash and unreasonable? Of course, she would.

Kris didn’t bat an eye. “I will take good care of Jae-in, don’t worry. Thank you for your hospitality tonight, Ma’am. I hope we will meet again. Come one, let’s go Jae.”

I was the first person out of the door.

“Rash? Unreasonable?” I muttered, stomping down the lamp-lit street. “What does she have stuck up her - ”

“Jae, calm down,” Kris called, jogging to catch up with me. He pulled the hood of his jacket over his head,  and slouched down as he fell in step with me. “She’s just old…old people are all like that.”

“Easy for you to say,” I retorted. “She already likes you more than she likes me, and she’s my grandmother.”

By then, we had reached the corner of the much busier intersection. I hailed a cab quickly, and shoved Kris inside. Then, I gave the driver the address to a convenience store right across the corner from the EXO dorm.

“Isn’t she just the devil in disguise?” I continued as the cab pulled smoothly away from the curb. “I swear she - ”

Bzzz.

From: Han Seungjo

Mom is not happy; please call soon. I'll take f(x)'s numbers anytime now.

Oh, no.

Immediately, I dialed my mom’s phone number. I knew that having grandmother tell her off must have royally pissed her off, but she would get over it once I told her the whole story…if she lets me live long enough to tell it. She picked up before the second ring, and her shrill voice hit my eardrums at once.

“How could you let her do that to me, Lee Jae-in,” she ranted, not even bothering to say hello. “You know how I feel about that woman, and I had to just stand there dumbly as she told me that apparently, my dear daughter has been dating a guy for 3 whole months without me knowing. And do you know what else she did? She accused me of not being involved in my own daughter’s life. Can you even begin to comprehend how embarrassing it was for me, and how-”

“MOM!”

“What!” she snapped, annoyed. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“It’s not true.”

“What?”

“Grandmother threatened to set me up on an arranged meeting, so I lied to her.”

And so came the whole sad sorry tale. I told my mother everything, and she listened in silence.

“So, let me get this right,” Mom said slowly after I finished. “You just spent the last 3 hours lying to your grandmother’s face?”

“Yes,” I sighed.

“Lee Jae-in, I am so proud of you at this moment,” Mom replied, a small chuckle in her calmed tone. “But wait, does that mean that this Kris Wu character isn’t your boyfriend? Because I had Seungjo show me some pictures and he seems like a great guy, so tall and handsome!”

“He’s…ah…” I glanced sideways for a second at the impassive Kris. “He’s just a friend.”

“Bummer,” Mom giggled.

After I hung up on her, I noticed the awkward atmosphere in the cab.

“My family is crazy,” I muttered, trying to ease the tension.

Kris only nodded in agreement, but stayed silent. He turned away from me, facing the buildings passing by outside. I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what to say. The rest of the ride stayed that way, and Kris seemed to be deep in thought.

The cab dropped us off at the corner of the street, and we watched it pull away from going down the street to the EXO dorm.

We stayed silent until we reached the door of the apartment.