Thirty Six

Ever since Soori arrived, her fingers wouldn’t stop sweating and her knees would constantly buckle up. She now stood in the living room of Kai’s mansion. The only thing that’s different from the last time she came here was that, Kai’s not with her. Earlier in school, she received a letter from his father saying that he wants to meet her alone. She wasn’t really sure how to react and it wasn’t a good idea to tell Kai either. In the end, she decided to take the offer to get this thing over with.

“Miss Park?” 

“Ahh, yes?” A man stood in front of her; maybe this person was Mr. Kim’s assistant or something.

“Follow me to Mr. Kim’s office” Without waiting for her reply; he started walking with large strides. Soori scrambled up after being momentarily caught up with his attitude.  As they were ascending the staircase, Soori felt a little uncomfortable. Is this really a good idea? But it’s too late to back down now.

Mr. Kim’s assistant knocked the door and Soori heard a faint “come in”.

The assistant ushered her in and left immediately. Now, it was only her and Kai’s father who was sitting on his chair back-facing her. She wanted to get this over fast since she was feeling a bit light headed.

An awkward silence took up the whole scene but Mr. Kim finally spoke.

“I have no intentions on meddling with my son’s personal matters, but—“ Mr. Kim faced her. “—desperate times lead me no choice.”

Soori couldn’t quite comprehend what he was talking about but she was sure this would lead to nothing good.

“Miss Park Soori, am I right?” Mr. Kim continued.

Soori looked up and met his eyes which depicted nothing of some sort of emotion. “Ah, yes”

Mr. Kim suddenly stood up. “I would like you to break ties with my son.”

The only reaction Soori made was to widen her eyes. She was confused, angry to such request. No, she wasn’t even sure if that was a request. It was more like an order.

“I have no ill feelings towards you, in fact, my wife is very fond of you but certain reasons pushed me to do this.”

Breathe in. Breathe out. Soori repeatedly chanted herself that until she can have a calm mind.

“Mr. Kim, I’m sorry, but I won’t.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yup, that’s right. And you know what my reason is? It’s because I love him. Surely, you’d know that feeling right? I mean you love your wife and all. But I just couldn’t leave him to the way he was before. He was crippled at the thought of you pushing him down. I…I..just couldn’t.”

Soori was very close to tears but she kept it in. She doesn’t want to break down in front of him; it would only make her statement weak if she does. Mr. Kim’s emotionless face did nothing. He didn’t argue with her. He didn’t even make a smart reply which she had expected.

Soori spoke again. “Mr. Kim, I might not know what those reasons are but it doesn’t make you have the right to do this. Maybe..maybe we can do something about it rather than doing this. What has our relationship got something to do with this? I know we—“

“Kai’s engaged.”

Soori’s sharp intake of breath made her stutter a bit.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have business matters to attend to.”

Soori bowed and walked away dejectedly. The stairs seemed to sway a bit and her vision started clouding up her mind. Her breathing went irregular. All she wanted to do was to get out of here. As soon as she grabbed the railing of the staircase, she carefully willed herself to go down. Second after second, her vision blurred until it finally went black.

****

“Soori-ah” She heard his raspy and husky voice.

“Angel?” Soori opened her eyes slowly in order to adjust it to the brightness of the room.

“Wh-where am I?” She panicked a bit upon seeing an unusual room. It was filled with lots of expensive stuff that surprised her a lot and left her wondering where she could be.

Kai reached out to caress her cheek and told her to calm down. “Relax, you’re in my room.” He couldn’t help but smile at her face which was showing a lot of cuteness.

Soori nodded her head but then Kai’s words sunk in her head.

“I’M IN YOUR ROOM?! Okay I’m going; this is so indecent of me.” Soori panicked as she forced herself to get up even though there was still a bit of dizziness in her head.

Kai immediately caught her arm and stopped her from going. “Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay, alright?”

“What do you mean by okay?” Soori pried his hands off her. But after that she couldn’t properly walk and ended up being caught by Kai.

“Earlier, you fainted from over fatigue and also because of…your..er..”

“What?”

Kai coughed abit. “Period.”

“Wait, how did you even know that?”

“After I saw you on the staircase you immediately fainted. Luckily, I was there to catch you in time.” He made a proud face which more likely resembled a ten year old kid. While answering her, he carefully placed her back on the bed to let her rest for a bit. “We quickly called our family doctor and viola.”

Soori sighed while casting a blank look. “Is that so.” She was staring at her hands while having numerous thoughts on her head. Kai suddenly popped his head on her vision and looked at her. “Are you alright?” Kai twirled a lock of her hair. “What were you doing here anyway?”

“I…uh, left something here..”

Kai chuckled. “I could just get it for you, idiot”

“Yeah… I need to go home now.” She positioned herself in getting up and Kai offered his hand to help her stand.

****

“As much as I want to keep you by my side forever, I know you have to take some rest” Kai playfully told her while his one hand clutched the steering wheel.  Both of them arrived at Soori’s apartment and it was the only thing Kai could said to avoid the awkward situation. Soori’s acting rather strange today. Well, maybe it’s because she wasn’t feeling well. It might be best not to put too much pressure on her by asking more questions.

“Hmmm…Thank you for the ride.” Soori opened the door and went out walking slowly.

“Hey, wait.” Soori was met up by a panting Kai who was holding her arm. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Soori nodded weakly. “Okay, I’m leaving now.”

Soori watched as his car was nowhere out of sight. She sighed for the nth time. Right now, she doesn’t know what to do or say anymore. Maybe, it’d be best to rest for now.