A Touchy Subject
A Cup of Sugar
Chapter 14 - A Touchy Subject
“Are you okay?”
You wrap the bandage around your finger and over the cut that was no longer oozing blood.
“It’s just a cut. Are you okay?” You ask looking over at Nick who had released you and dashed to the bathroom to find a bandage. You had to tell him where to find the bandages.
He chuckled. “You scared me. I thought I had hurt you.”
“Well you didn’t. If you had not grabbed me then it would not have happened,” you say defensively.
“What?! You can’t blame me for your bad nerves!”
“You’ve scared me. I don’t” you pause as if to regain your composure. “I don’t know if I will ever be the same.”
Nick scoffs and walks over to the fridge to get something to drink.
“Good thing I used to date a guy who studied law.”
“Really?” he says in joking disbelief.
“Medical school is expensive,” you joke.
Nick walks to the other side of the table with one of your water bottles. “Glad you’re back to your old self.”
“You’re just mad because I am off the market,” you begin. “Don’t worry. I wont forget about you and Vanilla.”
It is silent. When you look up you see Nick with a slice in hand as he waits for you two to make eye contact.
“You caught me," he said with a Cheshire Cat smile plastered on his face. He laughs and you push him.
"You are such a hypocrite."
Nick looks at you with a puzzled expression on his face. Then, as if a lightbulb goes off, he remembers.
"Are you jealous? We're just having fun. I really want to be with you."
You shake your head in disbelief as you grab some water.
"You shouldn't joke like that."
"Who said I was joking?" Nick replied holding his Cheshire smile. Nicky's comment causes you to choke on your drink.
The next month went by quickly. You continued working out with Nick. You became better at responding to Nick's occasional 'jokes.' You also continued to see Kyung Soo. Things seemed to progress quickly in your relationship. A week after Kyung Soo came to your place you two were eating lunch with both his and your parents. Kyung Soo thought it would be a lot easier to for everyone to meet each other rather than visiting his parents and your parents separately.
Kyung Soo also convinced you that going to a classy restaurant would be better than going to a family restaurant. Being from the country, you had little to no experience dining at the more expensive restaurants of Busan. You had only seen pictures of high class restaurants in magazines and online. Your mouth dropped when you two walked into the restaurant that evening.
The lighting in the restaurant was romantic with extravagant chandeliers hanging over every table. Each mahogany table is adorned with a silver colored table runner. The chairs were covered with deep red and purple fabrics that complimented the silver table runner and the mahogany color of the wood from which both the tables and chairs were made of. Under the table runners were silk off white table cloths.
Kyung Soo laughed at your open mouth and wide eyes as you two scoped out the place.
“Don’t look so surprised! Haven’t you been to a place like this before?” You close your then gaping mouth but your eyes remained the size of saucers.
"Only once. My aunt married a government worker. But the restaurant we went to was half the size of this restaurant.” Kyung Soo chuckled as he wrapped his arms around you.
“Can you afford this?”
You turn around so that you can look into his eyes as he answers. His facial features are soft. His jawline is sharp. His eyes shine clearly without interference from glasses. You could see excitement in his eyes as you stared at a reflection of yourself within the pupils of his eyes.
"I thought you were paying?" You hit him.
"I can't. My parents are can and are paying for dinner. They can't wait to meet you."
"I hope I don't make a fool of myself." He chuckled and kissed your forehead.
"Don't worry. You will but they will still love you. I do."
Kyung Soo’s parents were nice enough. They were familiar with the restaurant and ordered for everyone. You had to do a double take when you looked at the menu. A salad, the cheapest thing on the menu, cost 22,000 won. (Roughly 20 US dollars) Both were wearing what you assumed to be the latest fashion. You could tell that your father and mother were felt out of place but your mother hid her discomfort well enough. You had not mentioned Kyung Soo to your mother before invited her and your father to dinner. You spent an hour describing Kyung Soo’s appearance, work status, hobbies, and favorite foods. Your mother was ecstatic. Your father enjoyed some small talk with Kyung Soo’s father but kept to himself.
Both my parents and his planned our wedding before the main course arrived. Both of the older women were drinking heavily and clearly drunk, tipsy at the very least. Kyung Soo’s mother brought up the topic of the wedding dress.
“If Da Eun could lose a few pounds before the wedding, she would glow during the wedding. Don’t you agree Seo Hyun?”
Your mother looked up at Kyung Soo’s mother as if she did not hear her question. Your father’s facial expressions went from joy to confusion to anger.
“You’re drunk honey,” Kyung Soo’s father said rather roughly.
“Mom,” Kyung Soo warned however she did not seem to hear.
“Seo Hyun?” Kyung Soo’s mother asked again, waiting for your mother to answer.
“You know what-”
“I think I’ll have dessert!” you shouted over your father.
“That sounds great,” Kyung Soo added.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Kyung Soo’s mother asked. Your mother’s face grew red with both embarrassment while your father slammed his napkin on the table and stood up.
“Being happy is more important than having the density of a toothpick so I think I should have dessert,” you answered.
Kyung Soo and his father, who understood the humor of your statement, chuckled under their breath. Your father started to sit back down and your mother hit her forehead with her hand. Kyung Soo’s mother cut her eyes and glanced at your mother, the only person at the table who still cared about her opinion.
“Seo Hyun, I don’t want to offend you but I don’t think I can let my son marry a girl like your daughter if this is how she acts in public.” The smiles on Kyung Soo, his father, and your father’s faces dropped.
“I’m sorry,” you began. Your father put his hand up to stop you but you ignored it.
“It seems that dinner would go better if I weren’t here. Thank you for the meal.” You stood up and stormed out of the restaurant.
“Da Eun-ah!” you heard Kyung Soo and your father call.
You stormed up the stairs of the complex and hurried into the your one room. Your eyes were void of tears but your insides were boiling. ‘How dare that woman insult you?’ you thought as you threw off your shoes and changed out of your strapless black dress and into your pajamas. You were brushing your teeth fifteen minutes later when you heard pounding at your door. A voice called right after. Although you could not clearly hear what the person on the other side of the door was saying, you knew it was your mother. You did not feel like dealing with her tonight. Drunk or sober she was going to give you a mouthful.
“Daaa EEUNN! I know you’re there.” You mother wailed.
You stood silently with your ear pressed to the door. “She has to leave sooner or later,” you whisper.
“I may be drunk but at least I didn’t make a fool of myself tonight! You know Kyung Soo’s mother is right! How could you embarrass me like that!”
‘Was she finished?’
“You should not have heard that,” your mother replied.
‘Maybe she finally understood what had happened at dinner..’
“As your mother, I should be the one telling you that.”
Your heart sank.
“Remember when you insisted on eating crackers for two months? You asked me to not tell your dad because you knew he would say ‘no.’ I bought you that frilly pink dress that was two sizes too small. Remember?”
Your eyes began to water as memories began to resurface. You fell to the floor.
“You went down more than two dress sizes,” your mother said jovially. “You got sick. I let you go too far..”
Tears were rolling down your cheeks uncontrollably as you lost track of yourself and your surroundings.
“I shouldn’t have let you go that far...” she said regretfully.
“Your father threw a fit when we went to the hospital to see you. It took your frail body lying in a hospital bed stuck with an IV to realize how wrong I was.”
You held your hand over your mouth to prevent any sound from escaping.
“I’m sorry. This time, I’ll help you lose weight the right way. Kyung Soo loves you so much. I don’t want you to lose the chance to marry a guy like him.”
You sat frozen on the floor.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk to me now. I love you, “ she said sweetly.
Why did she have to bring up the darkest moment of your childhood? She knew better than anyone about your struggle with anorexia. It took you years to love the size you were. Your father couldn’t look at you for a month after you were admitted to the hospital. Before you collapsed, you hid under big sweaters and hoodies to make prevent anyone from seeing how your ribs were sticking out of from under your shirts. It was the doctor who treated you that made you want to become a pediatrician. He was really cute too. Everyday he would have lunch with you. Even though you knew he did it to make sure you ate, he still became a good friend.
A low knock at the door drew you from your thoughts.
AN/// Okay so here is chapter 14. I don’t know what to say about it but I hope you like it. I wanted to move things up a bit. I am ‘going rogue’ since my original summary includes none of this. There isn’t a lot of Nick in this chapter. I would like to make this more of a human piece so this is my attempt at getting the ball rolling. I apologize for the long wait. I’m still growing as a writer so please let me know about grammar, spelling, and other errors. I’m sure you’ve noticed that there is not a teaser posted. When I was cured of my writer’s block, I could not help but write and write. I also changed the format of this chapter as opposed to others in that I am spacing more. I broke up this chapter and the next so I’m halfway through with the fifteenth chapter and hope to get it up by Christmas. It’s my gift to you. Love you all for sticking around. Please comment, share, and subscribe. There’s also that ‘vote up’ option that’s new. I don’t understand it but I think its a good thing so ‘vote up’ this story. Also, I heard through gossip (I know. I’m bad.) that SNSD’s Tiffany and Nichkhun are dating. (I’m also late.) Super happy for them. I might work in a character named Tiffany in the story. Probably going to happen. Anyway, thanks again! Love you all!
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