Chapter 1
Finally, A Happy Ever After
I felt myself wake up by someone poking on my feet.
“Sa-e! Wake up!” I heard my nephew calling me.
I on the other hand just covered myself even more of my favourite blanket as a silent message to tell him to leave me alone.
I never was in good terms with him – even when he was very young; maybe because of the fact that he was the very first grandson in our family—the very first boy. I wanted to approach him and be an aunt to him ever since he was born, but I was still in high school—and everyone deemed that I should not be carrying him, playing with him because he was too fragile. In the end, I gave up trying to approach my nephew in a good way and ended up wanting to make him cry as he grew up a little, being in my own devil way as an act of a rebel to my family who were so overprotective of him. As time passed by, I gave up on that idea as well and just decided to just mind our own business. I wouldn’t bother him if he won’t bother me. That was our silent deal. Soon, he grew smarter; he knew how to operate things by just watching. He also learned to stay hard as a rock. He tends to find fun in people’s miseries. I call him the little devil. I sometimes see him as I was when I was little. But I have to save myself; I am not that kind of person when I was young. In fact, I was more of a cry baby if people fight back at me.
When I felt him leave, I willed myself to move and reached for my phone to check the time and my eyes widened at how close I was to be late in no time. I hurriedly scrambled out of my bed and headed for the shower as I did my routine. In less than 20 minutes, I was out of the house without eating my breakfast and not speaking to anyone. They are used to it, I am sure. I am known to be the fast doer in our family. I eat fast like a boy, I shower faster than my dad and I talk less as much as possible. I never find pleasure in talking to people. It is too tiring of a work for me.
As I rode my way to my work, a random thought came to my mind that it was all thanks to my nephew that I am not late for work.
“I would have to buy one of those cars for him...” I murmured aloud unconsciously. Yeah, that’s how I thank my nephew. Just buy him something so that he will be happy and just keep my distance from him so that none of us will get hurt. For some reason, as much as I love kids, I hate my nephew enough to not mind talking to him ever. It is an ironic fact that I really love his mom, my first born older sister, and to him on the other hand is full of hate. I guess it’s just some way to keep everything in balance. Like my second oldest sister, I don’t love her as much as I love the other one, but her lovely daughter is the one that I love with all my being. How ironic is that?
My random thought stopped when I got out of the car and headed my way up to my desk. As I passed by, I saw some blank stares as expected of the ones that I barely know, happy ones to those who are friendly enough to greet me in the mornings and I to them; but the weird thing is that, some even clapped their hands or showing me good signs. That is weird... I thought. I just frowned a little at their weirdness but smiled and greeted them nonetheless. After all, they are nice to me. It is rare to have nice co-workers when it comes to work. I first experienced this when I was doing my On-Job Training back in my last year of college. I took up BS Psychology not because I had wanted to take it, but I was just going with the flow. There were no regrets on taking it though, until now. As part of the curriculum, I have to be a trainee in an educational setting and thus applied to a pre-school that is somewhat connected to my family. And there, I met my nemesis. She judged me for being a shame to my Chinese line of a family without even knowing me yet and that she says these jokes that tend to hurt. She bruised my ego so much that it was the first time I cried for a useless, non-relevant person like her. Thinking about her makes my blood boil. Thank God, I never got to see her again after.
I reached my work table and before I could even sit down, I noticed a small green note telling me that I should go to my boss’ office ASAP.
I walk my way to the office as I smirk at how everything is a coincidence. My first ever bias in the Kpop world is Jonghyun from SHINee and ever since I learned that his affiliated colour was green, I became attached to green as well. And everything after that, I keep seeing the green colour more than I ever did in the past and the said colour became my favourite.
I shook my head to get out of that thought, there are more important things that I should think about – like why am I being called to the office? Am I in trouble? Did I do something wrong with what I did? I nervously asked myself these questions as I tried not to lose myself with all the worry that I made myself think.
I came face to face with my boss’ office door, knocked and opened it once he gave me the permission to go in.
“Good morning, sir. You called for me?” I asked cautiously. My boss is like any typical bosses that you could think of, he is tall for a near 6 footer, he has pale skin that are getting wrinkly because of age, his expression most of the time is poker faced if not angry that makes people go silent the moment they sense his presence inside the room.
“Good morning, Ms. Yang. How are you today?” He asked coolly as he played with his chair, swinging it from side to side.
“...fine, sir.” What...? This is... unusual of him...
“That’s good...” He nodded. “But I assure you now; it’s going to get better.”
“... Beg your pardon, sir...?” I asked, not sure if I should be saying this as a professional, but why is everyone at work so weird today?
“Ms. Yang.” My boss let out a big sigh, and a smile formed his lips as he met my questioning eyes. I was dazed a little seeing that smile of his for the first time after all these years of working in this company. “What would you say if I told you right now that you would be soon working at a branch in Seoul, Korea?”
My world stopped at his words. “Wh-what?” I couldn’t help but stammer. “S-sorry? S-seoul Korea, sir?” the said place was very much of music to my ears, but hearing it in front of my boss, in my work place, what is happening?! I freaked out inside my head but I am glad that I seemed to remain calm on the outside.
“Ms. Yang!” His voice boomed and suddenly, I'm back to the real world. “Is that how you speak when you are working?” He nonetheless barked.
“No, sir. I'm sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.” I replied immediately, internally flinching at his voice. I am afraid of my boss. He is always strict and I can see that he makes an effort to be playful to his employees but he is still being labelled as an angry boss by most of his staff, I included.
“Good.” His message was curt. “Now, I can see that you are in a state of shock with my sudden news, I am sorry for that but, it can’t be helped. That branch in Seoul, Korea needs you and you are the only one chosen to be with them because not only I know that you are very interested in Korea, but you have the knowledge about their language.”
I would like to correct him for the part that I know the Korean language, not fully, I only know the basics. But then, he might explode once again and so, I stopped myself.
He pulled something out of his drawer and a brown envelope came out. “Here is all the information that you would need. And I want you to work on all the documents that would get you there to Korea. With that, this will be your last day of work.”
I gawked at his mention that today would be my last day. Couldn’t I have gotten a much earlier notice than this? This reminds me. “Um... sir... if you don’t mind me asking, how about my pay, sir?”
My boss chuckled at the mention of money. “Oh, Ms. Yang. You never change. Of course, I would never forget that – knowing you...”
I blushed at embarrassment. “umm...” He knows me...?
“It is there with the package, Ms. Yang. Anything else?”
“No, sir. Thank you very much, sir.”
My boss smiled warmly this time. “Trust me, you deserve it.”
I smiled back at him and turned to exit his office but was stopped when he told me to wait.
“Ms. Yang... I would hope that you would not be as workaholic there as you are in here...” he murmured those words but it was loud enough for me to hear it clearly. What he meant by those words, I don’t know. I thanked him once again and made my way back to the office. I was grinning madly wide as I passed by my co-workers.
Of course, besides the people who are happy for me, there are people who say bad things like I was just an excess baggage that needed to be taken care of, and even blurted out curse words. But I didn’t care, I was too happy to care.
When I got back to my desk, I fished for my phone because I wanted to tell someone the good news. The first person that came to my mind is my good old friend, Li Chun Hua aka mommy.
As I dialled her number, I busied myself walking everywhere my two feet can walk in with the small space of my workplace, murmuring words that I myself don’t even understand.
“Hello?” The call was finally answered.
“Mommy~!” I squealed at the phone.
“What~?” She followed my tone.
“Mom! Guess what? I am going to be working in Korea soon!”
“What?! Where?”
“Seoul!”
“Oh my God.”
“I know right?! I can’t believe this is happening. Oh my God.”
Chun Hua chuckled. “That’s very good news. Wait, when are you going?”
“I don’t know, as soon as I can?”
“That’s good. You should prepare all the documents that you would need to go there.”
“Yes mom~ oh, which reminds me... since you will be going there in Seoul in a few days from now, can I just go with you? I’ll hurry up with the documents so that we would be on time for your med school to start over there.”
“Yeah, sure~ How about the place to stay?”
“Oh I don’t know about that... can we just share? It’s a lot cheaper that way...”
“Of course~! Let’s go together to Seoul and find a place to stay. I just hope we would be lucky enough to find something that is near to both our everyday destinations.”
“Hahahah. Yeah~. I can’t wait~ I am so excited. Kyaaa~”
“Hahahah Me too. This will be the moment of a lifetime.”
“I know.” I agreed but my excitement temporarily evaporated when I noticed people already staring at me. I blushed in embarrassment and this time, I lowered my voice. “Sigh... back to reality. I should go. Today is my last day of work.”
“Okay~ see you when I see you~”
I smiled a little as I ended the call. My utmost excitement had already calmed down. It was a good thing that I got to talk to Chun Hua. I calmly sat on my chair and reminisced my memories with this place. This is after all, my last day of work.
As my last day of work ended, I became queasy about the fact that I have to tell my family about my situation. Will they be happy? Will they be sad? Angry? With my parents, no one can predict them. Some kids know their parents too well; but not me. In all my life, they are more unpredictable than I am and I don’t really know and am afraid what their reaction will be.
I arrived at home, dropped my things, didn’t even glance at my nephew and just went to my own world, the internet and music.
After a few hours of doing nothing but be in my own world, finally, my parents arrive from work. Only those, my sisters on the other hand went out for work the whole day.
I kissed my parents as to greet them as usual and soon, my sisters arrived home. Yang Mei Mei held her 3 year old baby girl in her arms and I hurriedly dashed my way to greet the little princess. She is just very adorable and very chubby as she was more than 2 years ago. I call her in many ways but she mainly reminds me of a bull dog because of her chubby cheeks.
I am a bit excited of the announcement that I am about to make but I controlled myself and waited for everyone to be present so that I would not have to repeat myself and the only opportunity to have everyone present is when it is dinner time.
During dinner, it was a bit quiet like the usual, my mother had her eyes on the TV, guarding if her favourite show is already on, and the rest of us just concentrated with the food and not to mention, my father’s drowse of alcohol for tonight. Now, I think it is time to break the ice.
“I am going out of the country for work...” I simply announced loud enough that I know everyone of them would hear as I dropped my head down, not looking at anyone at the moment.
Silence enveloped the room and when I was curious enough for their silent reaction, I looked up and I saw their faces that were full of shock.
I smiled a little at their weird faces.
“Wh-what?” My second oldest sister stuttered the question.
“I am going to Seoul, Korea for work.” I specified this time. “I was called by my boss today and got promoted. This is the promotion...”
Suddenly, there were a dash of questions thrown all over me by my family.
“Did you volunteer yourself again to work outside the country?” Came my dad’s question.
“What about your work here?” came my mom’s
“How did you get it?” My second oldest sister asked.
“What will you do there?” My oldest sister questioned.
“Ummm...” I was overwhelmed with these questions. Some irritated me and my excitement dropped to the coldest degree, all thanks to my dad’s question for example and so, I decided to answer him first.
“No, dad. I do not have the power to get myself promoted. Today is my last day of work, said my boss because I need all the time that I would get to prepare all the documents that I need to go there to Korea and I don’t know how I got these promotion but I think among the company staff, I am the only one who knows much of the Korean language and I will be working there to manage a small group and such.”
Silence was enveloped between us again. The only noise that I could hear was the one from the television and my nephew and niece who are busy playing with each other to notice the tension among my family.
“Well...” My eldest sister said but stopped her sentence to find the right words. “I am happy for you.” She finally said with a smile. “Who knew that the little brat like you would end up like this someday?”
I grinned at her. “I am not a little brat anymore. It is time for me to get out of that title you know.”
“You would be always the little brat to me.” She countered.
I just stuck my tongue out at her teasingly and decided to continue eating my dinner, now that the news is out, I felt relieved. Well, at least my sister is happy for me – and that's all what matters.
After dinner, I didn’t hear anything from my parents again. They were lounging on the sofa, watching TV, my sisters went back to their children, spending time with them as much as they can. They didn’t want their kids to feel lonely after all—not like how we felt when we were young. But the good thing is that we had each other back then. Their kids on the other hand, well, they only have their parents and family to contend to.
A couple of days have passed and my life went back to normal as it is. I mostly went out to deal with my requirements for my trip to Seoul. God I hate papers all the more when I do this. But then, if I would laze around the house, I would be expected to watch over our business that had been going on ever since I came about. As much as I am thankful for that, I would prefer to die than to be stuck there.
Today was a drag, I had nothing else to do... the documents are finally done, I am just here, lazing around the house, can’t think of anything good to do. But as far as my parents' know, I am still up and about with the paper requirements... I just have to pack for my things now for the move out but I am too laaaazy~!
RING! The phone rang.
I came to get it before my lazy maid could.
“Hello?”
“Luv?” My mom asked through the phone.
“Yes mom?”
“We won’t be going to eat dinner there. Tell that to our maid. Luhan just arrived and your aunt and uncle want all of us to be there.”
“What? Luhan? Why is he here? And does it have to be like this?”
“He is here to visit, honey—the very first time that he did ever since he debuted. Now, do me a favor and tell the maid that she doesn’t need to cook for all of us. We will go home there later to pick you up, okay?”
My mind raced for the fact that I would have to see Luhan... No I don’t want to... “Umm... mom, I don’t think I would be able to go.” I started to say as I formulate an excuse more appropriate to not go to this event.
“Why?”
“Umm... I haven’t even started packing. I just finished all the documents that I would need and I will be going to leave for Seoul very soon.”
“Oh?” My mom questioned, not believing it. “When? Why haven’t you told me this?”
Because you never asked. I wanted to say to her. “Yeah... sorry about that... but I am going with Chun Hua when she leaves for Seoul as well... she will study there... and the both of us are going to leave in 2 days...” those words blurted out without even thinking about it.
“Oh... is that so... so soon?”
“Yeah...” for a moment, I thought my mom would get all emotional of me leaving...
“Okay... well. I won’t be the one to tell your uncle. Tell him that yourself. You know how much he always treats you like his own little girl.” My mother told me these in a very fast way. I nearly wouldn’t have understood it if not gotten to hear her loud voice. But the last sentence was stuck to me like glue. Again, I felt that her voice for that last sentence held so much of...jealousy? I shook my head from the thought and sighed as I dialled my way to my uncle’s phone number. I waited, but no one picked up. I had no choice but to call him at their home number.
As the phone rang, notifying me that the one I'm calling is not out of service, Luhan popped into my mind and as much as I didn’t want to think about him always, I always end up thinking about him, reminiscing the past that we had together, and what the both of us have grown so much as an individual.
“Hello?” A familiar male voice answered the phone. It couldn’t have been uncle... it is too young.
“Umm... hello... this is Luv. Who is this?” I murmured the words, introduced myself through my nickname that everyone is calling me... hoping that it was one of Luhan’s big brothers. After all, they nearly have identical voices like what most people thought of mine and my sisters', anyone but Luhan please... I prayed.
“Oh... hi luv... it is me... Luhan...”
“Oh... hahaha...” I gulped. Damn. I feel a big lump coming down from my throat. “You are here! Welcome back!”
“Thanks.”
“Yeah... well... can I speak to uncle? Your dad, I mean? I am a little bit in a hurry.”
“Yeah, okay.”
After a few seconds my uncle answered the phone.
“Luv? What’s up? You called me when we would be seeing each other already in a few hours from now?”
“Hi uncle~!” I chimed. “Umm... yeah... about that. Sorry uncle, I can’t go to tonight’s party.”
“What? Why?”
“I need to pack my things... I would leave for Seoul in 2 days.”
“What? Isn’t that all the more you should be present? We should treasure the time that you are here, as well as Luhan. The both of you will be going to Seoul now...” his voice was covered with full of sadness.
I immediately took pity on my uncle and was about to say that I changed my mind but stopped myself in time. “Sorry, uncle... but I haven’t started packing yet. And I need to start as soon as I can since I have a lot of things to pack...”
“Pack, eh? Why don’t you just leave that chore for now and I’ll help you with that later.”
I chuckled at his words. “No, uncle. You can’t help me pack. It will strain you too much.”
“But...” His voice turned into a child’s. I can see him pouting over the phone.
I stopped him by saying. “It’s okay, I’ll find time to go back here or you can visit me there.” I smiled as I said this. “Wouldn't that be more fun?”
“Well...”
“It’s done then.” I concluded. “And anyway, when I am done packing my things, we will see each other again. I’ll come visit you. I promise.”
“Sigh. Okay. You win.”
“Haha. Thank you uncle~ See you soon~!”
“You bet.”
After the conversation, a smile was left plastered on my face. It is a good thing that I got to talk to him. It has been a while since we bonded with each other and I already miss my “daddy” so much. But even though I want to see him, I just can’t bear to see Luhan for now... I can’t bear seeing him as I always remember that gif of him and another girl idol so sweet with each other... and the smile that he gave her, it tore me a million times. Just thinking about it makes me remember the said gif inside my head. So detailed, every move of that gif, I remember all of it. It was like I have seen it a million times. Well, to be honest, I only saw it 734 times in the net. But even though I have seen it so many times already, I could never get over that gif at all. I shook my head very hard for the thought to vanish inside my head and sighed deeply as I get on with my boring life.
I lay on my bed with a laptop on my lap, watching some videos, either old or new but all of it is kpop music videos and live performance, chatting with my “mommy” Chun Hua in Facebook, talking about the usual things like kpop and stories. No one is home, it is already night. The party at my uncle’s house have already started about an hour ago.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
I froze. Why would someone go here when it is already late at night? And no one is home except me. If it is a friend, or a family friend, they wouldn’t have come here. A thought came to my mind. I remembered one of those horror movies that I had watched a very long time ago... is it finally coming true?
The doorbell rang again, as if it was insisting... either the person knows that there is someone in this house or that person is just crazy.
I slowly got out of bed. Looking from my both sides as if expecting to see some ghosts as I glanced my surroundings... nothing. But it didn’t help me be calm. There is a person out there who might want to behead me or something.
I hated myself the minute I stood face to face with the front door of the house. I took a deep breath and reached out for something to smash it with when I could be in trouble. I got a vase. Is a vase good? Whatever.
The doorbell rang again.
Okay, this really creeps me out. Normally, people would just go away when no one answers. But why is this person keep on ringing the doorbell?
I opened the door a little, enough for my right eye to see who my visitor might be...
Agh. This . I left my own party because my parents wanted me to come here and tell my dad’s “daughter” that she would be going with me.
I stood at the house where I had rarely visited now that I got older, come to think of it; it has been more than 7 years since I last visited here. “Mmm...” I nodded. “Not bad.” Everything changed already and the house became more beautiful now than I remembered it. “Ooo... there’s a doorbell too?” I asked myself, seeing the doorbell at the left side of the door.
I pushed the little button and waited as patiently as I can. After 2 minutes, I struck it again.
Why is she not opening the door? My dad told me that she is here.
I struck the button again the third time. Now I feel stupid for standing here alone in a house that no one seemed to be occupying at the moment. I looked down stupidly at my shoes as if it was the most entertaining thing to do right now but diverted my eyes immediately when I saw a small opening from the door. I followed the line until I saw an eye looking at me.
My heart jumped a beat in terror and my hand instinctively moved up to my chest to calm it down. What is this—some kind of joke? Wait... I studied the eye more closely... I know that eye...
“Mei Xin...?”
I studied closer at the figure that I saw from the other side of the door. I can’t quite tell if I really know this person or not. His figure is that of a man and for some reason, I feel that I know him.
“Mei Xin...?”
My heart jumped at the call of my name. Oh no... not him... I know that voice too well.
“Luv is that you?” the man asked again. I had no choice but to answer.
“Yes.” I said as I straightened my posture and opened the door wide for him to see me.
“Thank God.” He sighed in relief.
I chuckled at his reaction, feeling myself relax a little. “Why?”
“I thought you were in some horror movie or something...” He absently stated. “No offense.”
As much as I know what I did earlier, I did act like I was in some horror movie. But when it came out from his mouth, it struck me like a bolt. But nonetheless, I said. “None taken.” I smiled a little.
Awkward silence occurred for a moment. We stood there in the front door and stared at each other awkwardly.
Luhan coughed out his unease. “C-can I come in?”
I broke out of my reverie and couldn’t help but stutter as well. “O-of course.” I stepped out of his way as he came in. “Would you like something to drink? Eat? Anything?”
“No... I am quite full now.”
“That reminds me, why are you here anyway? Your party is at your house and you just left it?”
“Well... I had no choice.”
I frowned at him. “Why not?”
I saw Luhan take a big breath. “Well... my parents and your parents were talking... and they came to a conclusion that you should come with me when you go to Seoul.”
My eyes widened. “What?! No way!”
He was silent for a couple of seconds and then I felt his shoulders move up a little as it dropped less done a second. “Well... that hurts. What’s the big deal?”
I felt guilty immediately when he said it hurts. “Sorry...” I mumbled out.
“It’s fine. Just give me an answer as to why you would not take the offer.”
Well I know for the fact that we would be awkward with each other... I wanted to tell him. But my mind and heart said not to tell him that and so, I formulated another reason. “W-well...” I started. “I know for a fact that you are an idol... A fresh one at that... and when we go together in Seoul, people might speculate something and you’ll get in trouble.”
“How thoughtful.” He said with a slight mock. “But I should know better than you, right? So why am I here asking you again if that were the case?”
Okay... not a good enough reason, I guess. “Because I know that our parents forced you to do so...”
“Okay...” he shrugged. “But...”
Before he could finish his sentence, there were a crowd of people already entering the house.
“What is her answer??”
Akemi 143:
Hey guys~! I revised this chapter XD. I originally intended to reread all the chapter I have posted to get my feels back... knowing that I am currently having a hard time writing the next chapter because of the busy schedules in school... but yeah... I cant really promise that it would come out soon but I will try my best... still busy with school as of the moment. and the next chapter would probably be up as soon as i finish revising these chapters.
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