Undoing

Eun Joo almost cursed out loud. She wasn’t a woman given to doing that but hearing what Yang Goon told her - and in a very serious tone he did too – really surprised her. Talk about unexpected.

“Are you serious?” she asked him again as they shared a quiet meal at the Ariake Restaurant in The Shilla. She had come from a modeling gig and he had had her picked up. She had readied her appetite because she loved the Ariake but she hadn’t prepared for anything quite like this.

To tell the truth, she would have never prepared for anything like this at all simpy because such an announcement from Yang Goon was unthinkable.

But the impossible does happen.

“I am very serious Eun” the President answered, most earnestly “and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I have come to the decision that I want to marry you.”

Eun Joo knew she should be happy. She had, deep inside, always hoped to hear those words but… “Oppa… you do not know how long - deep within - I have hoped to hear those words from you but have you thought about what you are asking me? How about your work? How about your projects?”

“Those are all important but Eun, you are more important to me and in this time, when I see you in pain and in sorrow, how could I not want to be beside you to protect you? To make sure you are happy? To make sure that you will not feel alone?”

With tears in her eyes “Are you sacrificing for me because of my lost of Umma and Appa? Are you sacrificing for me because you know that soon… “

YG held her hands and took a very deep breath “I will admit that the things that have happened shook me but do not call this a sacrifice for I have never and will never see this action as that. What I hope for is your happiness Eun. That is all that I have ever wanted.”

Eun Joo, despite all her apprehensions, saw the sincerity with which Yang Goon had said every word. The President, the man with a few words, the man who had once told her that he loved her but have never thought of marriage was asking her the chance to forever be the source of her joy… the one entitled to protect her from all of the pain and harm that might come… the one and only man to… “I have never imagined that you will say all this oppa” she answered as tear after tear fell.

“Eun… don’t cry…” Yang Goon told her and pulled her towards his embrace “I told Mai that I won’t ever make you cry and here you are doing just that.”

“Ow! The two of you!” Eun mumbled against his shirt, smiling despite the tears “I bet you planned all this.”

“I planned it” he admitted unabashedly as he pushed her away from him to look at her face “then I told Mai that she had no choice.”

Eun’s tears were still spilling yet she couldn’t help but smile. She had lost both her parents this year in a sad fashion and she had immensely despaired, most especially because she knew she was also losing Mai soon. However, she had not said a thing to either of them… how could she? She wasn’t a woman who liked being a damsel in distress, it wasn’t her character.

But she couldn’t deny the overwhelming feeling of happiness that the knowledge that there is always someone she can turn to anytime she’d need it.

“From now on… I want you only to be happy, ok?” Yang Goon wiped her tears with a handkerchief and she bobbed her head in agreement… there was nothing else she wanted to be.

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A little sense of normalcy

Ji Yong watched as Teddy carried Mai-noona towards the car. After an action-filled day and being assured that Daesung was now safely resting, the senior had finally succumbed to desperately needed rest.

“Upto now, I still can’t believe that noona ran after Jin-ah in those heels. It suddenly made me very scared of her” Seung-ri whispered to him as they were headed for their own car. Mai had not shared the story about Jin-ah to the girls nor Teddy. She had told them that she had ran towards the location of the accident as soon as she heard the crash, totally forgetting how she looked and what she was wearing because she feared for Daesung.

He smiled at the maknae as he reached for the keys in his pocket “It means we have to make sure that she is never displeased with us then.”

“Unnie, sit at the passenger seat” they both heard CL saying to Dara “Bom-unnie, Minzy and I will be at the back.”

“No” YB answered “you girls will sit in the middle and me, Seung-ri and T.O.P.-hyung will be seating in the back.”

“But Sunbae -“

“No buts” YB told her.

“But it’s cold in the back!” Seung-ri exclaimed.

“And why do I have to sit in front?” Dara asked “It’s ok for me to sit in the back.”

“Unnie, it’s a small reward of comfort for practicing so hard” CL answered, then faced Seung-ri “It’s ok, I’ll sit in the back with YB and T.O.P.-oppa. You can sit with Bom-unnie and Minzy.”

“No!!!” all three seniors answered.

Ji faced Seung-ri “Why are you being fussy? We’re just driving home and they’re ladies so be gentle.”

Teddy had started his car and honked at them “Are you guys alright? My car’s still roomy. I can have some of you over here.”

“Don’t worry about us Manager” Ji replied “Please take care of Mai-noona.”

Teddy looked as though he didn’t believe a word.

“We’ll be alright Hyung” Ji assured him “My car will fit all of us and I will drive cautiously.”

“If you say so” Teddy responded “I’ll see you tomorrow morning here. Rest up once you get home, ok?”

“Yes Manager!” they replied in unison as Teddy pulled up his window and drove out of the parking lot.

“Everyone…” Ji faced them and opened the middle door and the door to the passenger seat “Let’s get going.”

YB and T.O.P. immediately hopped inside to go to the back and Ji saw CL and Seung-ri exchange a look. He wanted to laugh at how they looked at each other. Seung-ri, without taking his eyes off CL, hopped inside too and the girls trooped in afterwards.

“Dara???” he asked when he saw Dara looking unsurely at the others “Come on. Get inside. It’s getting colder by the minute and you could catch a cold.”

She looked at him as though to confirm whether she was really to sit beside him and he gave her a reassuring nod. She sighed to convey that she wasn’t comfortable with the arrangement but had no choice.

Ji knew that she didn’t like being made a fuss of but he agreed with CL, she did deserve not to be cramped in the back with the others. She had been practicing at least four more hours than all of them everyday… it was a small reward.
However, he felt that he too had actually been rewarded. The drive from here to their apartment was almost an hour. He’d have her beside him for that whole time

“Seung-ri, is that your leg sticking up my back???” he heard CL ask and couldn’t hold in the grin he’d been fighting off. It was going to be a fun drive.

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Playing Instruments

Minhwan felt himself crushed as he watched from their car his closest friend being escorted to an ambulance. “Uncle…”

“I do not want to hear your reactions” Song Yu Seuk cut him off “You’re friend almost ruined what I have worked hard for. Consider this already a blessing.”

“But Uncle, she is not crazy” Minhwan still answered.

“If you don’t want her to rot in jail for attempted murder, she BETTER be. If we bail her out, they will connect it to you and then eventually to me but if we declare her crazy, they won’t have anything against it. After all, your friend did very much act like a lunatic according to the men on post tonight.”

“But she’s not! And what care should we have if they connect it to you Uncle? They can’t surely say a thing! You’re the most powerful man in this city! If they just open their mouths, they’ll surely -”

“Enough!” the older man warned him again, then advised his driver to start the engine “You know nothing of what you are saying young man and as I have said, I don’t want to hear anything about this anymore. In time, you’ll understand everything. Your friend has decided on the path she wanted to take. I will not be moved by your pity for her.”

Minhwan looked out again and found that at that exact moment, Jin-ah was looking at their car. She had stopped walking and just looked, as though she sensed that he was there. The guards escorting her had stopped too and followed the direction of her gaze.

“Minhwan!” she shouted, jolting Minhwan from his seat.

“Don’t show yourself to her!” his Uncle told him as he put his hand on the door.

“Let’s go!” he heard one of the guards say to his friend.

“Do not chase Dara anymore” Jin-ah shouted again, not heeding the guard who was now shoving her towards the ambulance “Do not run after her anymore.”

“Is she talking about Teddy’s Dara?” Yu Seuk exclaimed.

“Minhwan are you there?!?”

“Stop screaming you crazy girl!” the guard decided to lift Jin-ah off the ground and carry her towards the ambulance “No one’s in that car! No one can hear you!”