“We should have done it then,” Sang Hee hissed to Kyu Jong as they sat in the back of a large passenger vehicle. Both of them were blind folded.

“The time wasn’t right,” Kyu Jong murmured back.

“When then will it be right?!”

“Watch out there will be a bump!” The two hadn’t heard the warning and banged shoulders as a result of the hole in the road.

“There should be tarmac here,” Sang Hee grumbled.

“Yeah let’s borrow some from Seoul,” her father suggested making the fathers laugh at the corny joke. Sang Hee kept a tight lip for a while. Time passed with the radio and their parents signing along to songs they knew. Even Kyu Jong started to sing when a familiar song came on. The only thing Sang Hee wasn’t confident in was her singing so she just listened.

Eventually the car slowed and came to a stop. The parents got out and helped their son or daughter out and carefully lead them. Sang Hee stumbled in the dirt. Kyu Jong sighed. “Why did you choose wear those shoes?”

“They were the only ones that match with this dress!” Sang Hee spat back in annoyance her ruse starting to be dissolved from his comment at her foot wear.

“Now, now both of you need to calm down,” Kyu Jong’s dad patted him on the back. He was made to stop. Sang Hee and her parents stood alongside too, all four started to count down.

“Three, two one,” they removed the blind folds all at once. Kyu Jong and Sang Hee just blinked. Their parents waited for the response.

“Oh wait a minute,” Kyu Jong’s dad suddenly went towards the building before them. He disappeared for a minute.

Then the place lit up. The young couple were dumbfounded. It was a house, made of brick. It was mainly one floor except for a small area that went up. A tree had fallen down onto the roof and a post used to hold up part of it that went over the edge was leaning dangerously to one side. Windows were smashed and the small chimney appeared to be of no good.

“Well, what do you think?” Kyu Jong and Sang Hee didn’t know what to say.

“Mum dad…” He stopped, “I umm.” Sang Hee shook her head; growing impatient. “I don’t understand, I mean we don’t understand.”

“We bought this place for you two when you come and visit,” Sang Hee’s father began. “We figured that since Sang Hee used to say just how much you missed home we talked with them about buying you both a place where you could stay when visiting them. So here it is.” Kyu Jong glanced at Sang Hee. He considered that desire trivial, for her to consider it with much more thought surprised him. Though this shouldn’t have surprised him, she took everything whether it be small or big into consideration.

“B-but,” Sang Hee pointed to it. “It’s a mess, how can anyone live in it?” She shut , seeing the hurt on the faces of the families.

“Do you know like it?” Her mother’s lips trembled. Sang Hee quickly comforted her shaking her head.
“No, I do mum really, it’s just that this is going to take a lot of work.”

“And time,” Kyu Jong ran a hand through his fringe, time he would have used otherwise for preparing his next tour. How was he going to explain this to his manager or his company? The lights went off leaving them all in the dark again.

“The time and effort is up to you,” Sang Hee’s dad started to speak again as Kyu Jong’s father handed him the key. “We’re just the givers, how you receive depends on the two of you.” The house stayed where it was. The couple didn’t know what to do; they weren’t staying together but their families were expecting them too.

Things had just gotten complicated.

*

Both of them couldn’t sleep that night as they got back. Sang Hee flung her shoes across the far end of the main room. "This is going to be impossible," in her frustration she grabbed her scalp threatening to yank her hair out. Kyu Jong slumped down into the chair, expressing the same thoughts through a heavy exhale, "how are we meant to even split a house?!"

"Wait," Kyu Jong stood up. "Who says we're splitting it?"

"Well it was for both of us," she pointed out and pointing at him with a finger. "Therefore we need to tell the lawyers--"

"--We aren't going to split it because it should belong to me!" He got out of his chair. "It's in my home town."

"Our parents got it for both of us!"

"But soon there will be no us!" Sang Hee opened to yell, but she just gave a small scream, storming off to the kitchen. Kyu Jong followed after her, determined to resolve it.

“We can’t tell them that.” he said calmly, watching her boil water for her comfort ramen. “It will break their hearts.”

“Wrong,” Sang Hee started. “The answer is; yes we could have told them. But we didn’t. They’ll find out sooner or later once they realise they can’t reach one of us through the other.” Kyu Jong leaned back against the bench. Sang Hee concentrated on removing the plastic seal.

Kyu Jong began to think, un-buttoning the collar of his shirt. “But what if the house can be used for something like an orphanage?” Sang Hee gave him a look as if to say ‘don’t be ridiculous.’ “It’s the thought that counts.” She covered to cut off her desire to say something.

“Ok, I guess you could be on to something,” she agreed. “If it can benefit somebody else then… We should try and help them.” Though she didn’t want to express it, Kyu Jong’s philanthropic nature always attracted her in some strange way.

The edges of his mouth started to form a smile. “Good, we have something to agree--“

“—whoever gets to keep it out of the two of us can use it for something good.” With that his face fell. Ah so close. “But the question is,” the kettle finished boiling; Sang Hee poured the water into the ramen cup. “How do we decide who keeps it?” Kyu Jong un-buttoned more of his shirt so he could breathe, Sang Hee caught herself staring.

Kyu Jong hadn’t noticed. “What about this; the person who keeps it in the end is the one who did the most work on it.”

“Ok,” Sang Hee got the idea. “And this has to go in the final agreement for the separation.” Kyu Jong agreed, rolling the sleeves up the shirt.

“But we have to be careful,” Sang Hee suddenly thought. “Our families may not like the way we’re dealing with it if we get caught.”

“So we’ll get it out of the way as fast as possible and then when we’re done we can tell our families about the deal.” Sang Hee listened while scavenging the drawers for a fork or chop sticks to eat with.
“Ok I agree,” she held out her free hand in which they both shook on it.

Let the game begin.

*

After they got home, while preparing for the separation the two also did their research on the property they’d been given. To their surprise it was only worth a couple million won, not as much as they were expecting. So to increase the price a lot of work would have to go into it.

Kyu Jong didn’t have as much time to think about it and neither did Sang Hee. There was a lot of other things such as their changed statuses, work and how their families would react to the news.

A week after they returned Sang Hee moved out and went to stay with a close friend. The apartment felt more empty than normal and Kyu Jong struggled the first two nights. He sunk into a state where he didn’t eat for about three days. For him he assumed Sang Hee would be fine with it more than him, their relationship had always felt one-sided. Most of the giving had been done by him, she had normally taken.

The fourth night by himself his phone rang.
“Hello how are you?” He froze, it was his father.

“Fine dad,” he calmed himself. “What about you?”

“We’re fine, did you two manage to get home alright?”

“Ah y-yeah we did,” Kyu Jong did a long gaze around the bedroom. “Thanks for checking.” He plumped up a pillow in vain; he slept on the other side. He waited for his father to continue.
“Sorry to bother you I know you two must be tired from today but your mother is wondering if Sang Hee would know anything about seasoning pork?”

Uh oh; now he was going to be in trouble. His hand gripped the phone until his knuckle bones started to protrude. “Can I speak to her?” His dad further questioned.

“Umm.” Come on, think fast Kyu Jong, his mind told him. “S-she hasn’t come back from work. Can I find out from her and then let you know?”

“Ah alright then,” it didn’t sound like a problem. “Thank you Kyu Jong, have a good night.” After his father had hung then he breathed out in relief, shortly though it turned to panic at the realisation that he still had to find out from Sang Hee. He hoped that she and her friend hadn’t gone out that night or she would have her phone on loud.

I’m getting a lot of mixed responses from this story. I blame it on my portrayal of Sang Hee. At first she wasn’t meant to actually be as mean as she is, somehow it morphed into her being like this. I’m still unsure if this is a good or bad thing at the moment, so I’ll give it a few more chapters before I decide to do anything else.