(Continued)

—Ryeowook’s POV—

After cuddling with Sungie for an hour or so – we had nothing better to do – both of us began to get ready for dinner. It wasn’t like it would be the first time that Sungie’s met my parents. We are neighbours after all. He was still horribly nervous though. It was the first time that he was meeting my parents as my boyfriend, since they were always overseas.

I was nervous too, of course. Why shouldn’t I be? I’m going to have dinner with Youngwoon hyung and I’d thank the heavens if he doesn’t have my head when he sees me. I don’t even know how umma managed to convince hyung to have dinner with me. On the slightly brighter side, Teukie umma will be there to keep hyung in check.

Sungie changed for the sixth time, this time into a simple white tee with a grey vest and jeans. Before this, he had been wearing a black jacket, a purple shirt and skinnies. He turned to me, clearly showing his nervousness by chewing on his lower lip. “Is this alright?”

I rolled my eyes at him, crossing my arms as I did so. “I’ve said yes for the past five times but you don’t seem to listen. At the rate you’re preparing, I’m ready to bet that we’ll never leave the house,” I pointed out. Sungie threw his hands up in frustration and flopped onto his bed.

“But I don’t want to look shabby!” Sungie whined. Wait – he WHINED. Kim Jongwoon, Yesung, Sungie, aka my boyfriend, whined. He never ever whines. That’s just unheard of. I gaped at my boyfriend in disbelief and he stared right back at me, raising his brow after a minute or two. “What?”

“Y-you,” I pointed at him, “You whined.”

Sungie sat up and tilted his head to the side in confusion, making my fanboy inside about how adorable my boyfriend was. And he only showed this adorable side to me. How lucky can I be?

“And?”

“You’ve never whined before. We’ve been together for two months, and I kind of stalked you before that. You have never once whined before,” I said in amazement. Sungie laughed then, so I went over and hit him multiple times. “Yah!”

“It’s just… I knew you liked me before I actually knew you, but stalking me? I briefly remember you mentioning that, but really now?” Sungie chuckled, pulling me down onto the bed, rolling so that he was on top of me. I blushed when I realised the positions that we were in yet Sungie seemed perfectly comfortable with it.

He leaned down to peck me on the lips and got off, checking his clothes once more before sighing. “I guess you’re right about the clothes. I’m just freaking out,” Sungie admitted, turning to me with a smile. “It’s a big boost to my ego to know that you stalked me though.”

I pouted and threw a pillow at Sungie, managing to hit him in the face. I grabbed my bag walked past Sungie, plopping down onto the couch and texting Teukie umma. He said that he would fetch us in about five minutes since he has a chauffeur and all. I’m only afraid that maybe, just maybe, we might run into hyung while going down. He is just next door, after all.

Sungie emerged from his room a few moments after I sent the text, sitting beside me and wrapping his arms around me. I huffed and turned away from him. It wasn’t easy; his arms were a pretty good cage and I couldn’t quite move properly.

“I’m sorry, ok? It was just that you were so cute, admitting that you stalked me. I couldn’t resist teasing you,” Sungie apologised, kissing me on the cheek. I shrugged. I wasn’t really angry anyway. It was just that I didn’t particularly like people to tease me. Sungie’s one of the only exceptions.

“Let’s go?” I said unsurely. Sungie nodded, letting me stand before grabbing onto my hand. We headed downstairs together and I heaved a sigh of relief when we didn’t come across hyung at all. Teukie umma was already there and we slid into his car.

Teukie umma smiled at us. “You guys ready to go?” he asked.

I looked at Sungie and we faced Teukie umma, nodding in unison.

“Then let’s get this over with.”

--------------------

My parents were pretty rich since they owned their own business which did well. The thing with my parents wasn’t that they were snobby or anything. No, that wasn’t the problem at all. The problem lay with the fact that my umma loves spending on unnecessary things. I like it when she buys stuff for me, don’t get me wrong.

What was wrong was the fact that the chauffeur pulled up in front of a five-star hotel and I recognise it. All the restaurants in there were either fine dining restaurants or buffet restaurants.

Sungie stepped out of the car and stared at the hotel blankly. It took him some time to actually register that we were in front of one of the best hotels in Korea and he looked at me. “Are your parents crazy?” Sungie questioned.

Hmm, I do question that too. It’s not my appa that I doubt though. It’s umma. Why in the love of everything good would she even arrange for us to come to a high class hotel with high class restaurants? Not only is the food hard to appreciate, even by a culinary student like myself, but it is never enough and it’s a little on the expensive side.

Besides that, hyung is most likely going to start shouting when we bring up the kidnap incident. It’s inevitable. Not that umma knows that, but still.

I sighed and nodded in response, dragging Sungie into the hotel. Teukie umma fell into step beside me, seeming comfortable in the hotel. It kind of figures, though. His parents probably brought him to some functions before.

I found the restaurant that umma made reservations at. The three of us sat at the table first, waiting patiently for my parents to arrive. I don’t doubt that they have a partnership with the owner of this fine dining restaurant; that’s why they arranged to eat here. But the problem is that Sungie wouldn’t really enjoy the Western food here.

“Do you think Youngwoon will flare up?” Teukie umma asked. I raised a brow.

“Is that a rhetorical question?”

Teukie umma shrugged. “I just wanted your input. It’s not like I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off when I saw my parents enter the restaurant. Behind them was Youngwoon hyung and he looked like he was in a terrible mood. I bit my lower lip and automatically reached for Sungie’s hand. He gave me a worried glance and squeezed my hand.

“It’s going to be fine,” he told me. I believed him.

The rest of my family walked over to us and sat down. As it seemed, umma had already ordered the food beforehand. Once the waiter served our drinks, we sat without speaking a word. Usually, we were all pretty talkative so I guess my parents had sensed that something was off. Appa was the first to break the silence.

“Why did Youngwoon change the lock?” appa asked. I wanted to lie about it, say that I lost my keys and someone managed to get into the house, but Teukie umma was quicker to answer – and Teukie umma didn’t lie.

“Youngwoon didn’t want Ryeowook to be able to go home,” Teukie umma replied. My parents gasped and turned to hyung for an explanation. He stared at Teukie umma, seething with anger. He was probably angry that Teukie umma was still siding with me.

“You want to know why? It’s because he doesn’t deserve to be a part of this family,” he spat the words. I felt Sungie wrap an arm around me and pull me closer to him, trying to reassure me that he would be there for me.

“Why?” umma questioned. I decided that it would be best if I answer her this time. It would be better if she heard the truth coming from me. Hopefully umma can find it in herself to forgive this son of hers.

“Remember when you guys were kidnapped five years ago?” I asked. Appa and umma nodded. I took a deep breath before continuing. “It was my fault. My girlfriend at the time, her dad opposed very strongly to our relationship. He’s a mafia leader. He felt that her daughter deserved so much better than a weakling like me. I broke up with her when he said that he kidnapped you guys. I haven’t seen her till less than two months ago,” I admitted.

If silence could kill, I would be dead by now. Or if stares could kill, I would also be dead. Appa and umma didn’t speak, didn’t make a sound. They merely stared at me as if I were crazy. But then I saw how hyung smirked and I paled.

“That’s not all. After they met each other again, this girl made me misunderstand Teukie. She sent a friend of hers to cause a rift in our relationship,” hyung added. My parents looked to me in a mixture of shock, surprise, and maybe a hint of anger.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” appa demanded. I felt tears well up in my eyes and whimpered softly, trying to lean into Sungie and just hide there so that I wouldn’t have to face my parents; so that I wouldn’t have to face their disappointment.

Sungie cleared his throat. “Wookie was scared, Mr. Kim. Maybe you feel that he wasn’t a good son for causing you and your wife to be kidnapped, but at least you had each other to lean against for support. Can you imagine how it feels like to have to choose between the people you love?”

I imagined that it would hurt Sungie to say those words. The last part of it, about choosing between the people I love. But I don’t love Sooyoung anymore, not even as a friend. It stopped the moment she started to target Sungie.

Appa’s expression hardened. “I don’t need outsiders lecturing me, Jongwoon.”

Teukie umma jumped to my defence. “With all due respect, Mr. Kim, Ryeowook didn’t want that to happen. He did his best to resolve the matter; if he had chosen his relationship you would be dead. I think everyone needs a breather,” Teukie umma stated, mostly referring to me.

Without saying another word, Sungie stood up and brought me out of the hotel with him.

--------------------

I spent a good fifteen minutes or more crying. We were in some alley and I swear to God there were some rats running around me. I couldn’t bring myself to care though. All I could think about was how my parents would hate me, how they would never forgive me, and how I would be wiped out of their lives like an unwanted stain.

I cried until Sungie’s shirt was stained with my tears and I felt like I ran out of tears. Sungie continued to hold me and my hair back, pressing his lips to my forehead. I didn’t know what to say to him. It seemed that I was always breaking down at the most crucial times and he was always the one pulling me back up.

“We don’t have to go back if you don’t want to,” Sungie told me softly.

I looked up at him and saw that he was smiling gently. “I want to know how my parents feel,” I confessed. Sungie nodded and held onto my hand.

“Then what are we waiting for?”

We headed back into the restaurant and I could feel my umma’s worried gaze on me. Didn’t she hate me? I don’t feel like she should forgive me for this matter, but deep inside I just want her to hold me like she did when I was young, comfort me like she used to.

“Wookie,” umma started. I didn’t look up at her – I couldn’t. “I don’t blame you. It was wrong of you not to have told us about your relationship, but that’s all in the past.”

Appa grunted disapprovingly. “I still feel that we had a right to know. But Youngwoon shouldn’t have thrown you out of the house,” appa stated. I raised my head to see hyung sitting rigidly, probably clenching his fists under the table.

“I won’t live with him,” he clarified, standing up and walking out of the restaurant. Teukie umma looked between the rest of us and I nodded at him. He ran out after hyung, and then it was only the four of us left.

Umma started to talk about how she and appa discussed the matter while I was outside crying. She said that I was still her son and that I didn’t ask for them to be kidnapped. She forgave me easily while appa reluctantly admitted that I wasn’t in the wrong either.

It had been tense at first, with Sungie still being a little overprotective of me. Eventually, when we started eating, everything was fine. My parents were making small talk with Sungie and he replied easily although I could tell that he was on the defensive side.

After dinner, appa and umma told me that I could go home with them. I declined, because I didn’t want to make hyung any angrier. It wasn’t as if staying with Sungie was horrible. In fact, I liked to use him as my human bolster.

All of us took a cab back and took the lift up together. Umma hugged me, saying that she was sorry for not finding out about things earlier. She had never been mad at me since knowing the truth, unlike appa. He merely told me to take care of myself, and umma promised to talk to hyung.

Sungie and I entered his house and Kkoming came running to us. We threw ourselves onto the couch and I sighed. It wasn’t a sigh of relief, but it wasn’t a sigh of frustration either. It was kind of a mixture of both, really.

Sungie looked at me and flashed a smile.

“Hey, at least your parents forgave you,” he pointed out.

I forced a smile and nodded.

“Let’s hope that all goes well with hyung.”

And I didn’t know who I was trying to convince anymore. Would hyung honestly forgive me?

Ugh Kangin is such a bish in here :/ I don't even know why I made him like that but he's gonna accept Wookie again in a chapter or two, so don't worry! X)

Anyways, I'm glad I actually managed to finish this chapter and obviously I'll end this conflict before moving on to the next :D

Well, there isn't all that much from me today but I guess I'll try my best to update on time again next week and I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter :)

That's all from me! Annyeong~! ^-^