4: Give Me Love
Winning Bom All Over Again
Perhaps I just never admitted that she would change because I knew she would.
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Flashback
“Who… is that child?!” Seung-hyun exclaimed, dumbfounded as a little girl greeted him at the doorway. He knew he was forgetful, but was it possible that he had forgotten he had a child? No. That was a silly thought. The tall guy tiptoed his way around the girl weirdly, as if she had the Midas touch. “Bommie! Is she ours?!”
The little girl crossed her arms, upset at the remark Seung-hyun gave her. Bom quickly ran to her aid.
“Yeobo! You’re scaring her!” Bom shouted furiously as she hugged the doll-eyed child who was clearly not Korean.
“D-d-d-did you adopt a child?!” Seung-hyun’s eyes widened suspiciously. “Yeobo if you wanted one we could’ve made one right away! You know how much I love making children with you, right? You don’t just order children like they’re McDonalds takeout, or—“
“SEUNG-HYUN STOP!” Bom raised her voice even more, covering the little girl’s ears with her husband’s rated ramblings. “She’s my boss’ daughter!”
“O…oh.” Seung-hyun replied, his heart rate finally driving down.
Bom shook her head, a smile forming on her lips at the way her husband was acting. “Lauren, this is uncle Seung-hyun, aunt Bom’s husband. Yeobo, this is Lauren, my boss, Gummy’s child. She had a sudden meeting with an important client so Lauren will be staying with us until they’re done with the meeting.”
“H-hi Lauren….” Seung-hyun crouched and waved at her; but he had made a lasting impression that made Lauren hide behind Bom’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for comparing you to a McDonalds take---“
Bom shot him a look which meant that he had to stop his random speech. She then faced Lauren, who seemed skeptical at Seung-hyun’s presence. “Sweetie, what would you like for dinner? I’ll make you your favorite dish!”
This made Seung-hyun’s eyes widen. The only food Bom could produce properly was peanut butter and jelly; and that didn’t even need a stove.
Lauren continued to look apprehensive at Seung-hyun’s presence. “I want my mommy.”
“Mommy will be here soon, Lauren!” Bom said encouragingly. “But until then, what would you like to do?”
The little girl pouted, tears welling in her eyes. She looked down on the floor, crumpling the hem of her shirt. “I want to go hoooome.”
Bom heaved a sigh. Lauren was starting to cry, and she didn’t have the maternal instincts to know how to make the girl feel better. “Lauren, please don’t cry…” She looked at her husband for support, to which the tall guy responded by walking towards Lauren and wiping her tears with his large thumbs.
“Lauren-ah, are you hungry?” Seung-hyun asked, his voice gentle enough to earn a nod from Lauren. “Would you like to eat out with uncle and auntie?”
“I want pizza.” Lauren finally uttered.
“Our little Lauren wants pizza, yeobo. I think I know a good pizza place around the area. Should we go there, Lauren?” Seung-hyun carried Lauren into his arms, to this he earned a smirk from the girl. “Aigoo, yeobo. Look at Lauren’s smile! Adorable Lauren.”
Bom beamed at the sight of Seung-hyun and Lauren. Seung-hyun was a natural at caring for kids, making her wonder how good he’d be when they had children of their own.
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Bom was up early in the morning, eager to work on the designs inspired by her year long vacation in America. She had various ideas which were making their way from Bom’s mind to the sketch pad.
“You’re early today.” Dara sheepishly remarked as she entered the room where she and Bom worked in. The girl still hasn’t gotten over yesterday’s incident when she tried to pry about Bom’s personal life. Since then she was careful with her words. “Busy schedule?”
“Y-yeah.” Bom replied uncomfortably. She was also sorry for her sudden outburst. Her friends didn’t know better. “I wanted to sketch the new designs I had in mind, since I’ll be busy meeting with some clients this afternoon.”
“Which clients?” Dara asked, the mood of the conversation starting to lighten.
“Well I don’t know yet, they were just recommended by Minzy.” Bom answered. "Something about a company changing their uniforms because they're rebranding."
Minzy was a contractual hire by the YG fashion house. Her main task was to be Bom’s acting personnel for as long as the latter was still in America. Luckily, her performance has been stellar enough for the fashion house to keep her after as Bom’s personal assistant. “She said some company wanted to have a rebranding of their image so they’re starting with the corporate attire.”
“Ahh yeah I did hear about that one.” Dara nodded knowingly. “I heard this was the biggest deal our fashion house has ever gotten. Imagine a thousand employees wearing your design!”
“Minzy’s” Bom acknowledged. “I’ll have to do some cuts though. The female uniforms are fine, but the male uniforms need to be improved on.”
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“You big baby! Where the heck are you?” asked a tall slender woman who wore a perfectly fit black dress with golden embellishment. She was at the phone that morning as she stood in front of the YG Fashion House. “Seung-hyun! You volunteered for this project and now you’re chickening out because your ex-girlfriend’s back and you have to work with her? “
“Jin-ri, Do I really have to be there?” Seung-hyun said from the other line. His voice was nervous, and she could tell. “And no, she’s not my ex-girlfriend. She’s my ex-wife.”
“Po-tay-to, po-tah-to, Seung-hyun! Just get your a$$ over here now.” Choi Jin-ri, his partner for the project, commanded. "I still have a meeting in two hours!"
It’s true that Seung-hyun volunteered himself to be part of the rebranding committee of their real estate company. The job, which Seung-ri had recommended to him, came in handy while he was still recovering from his separation with Bom; but he wasn’t aware that part of this job was to help out in picking designs for their company uniform. Moreover, their sponsored designers were from YG Fashion House, the place where Bom worked in.
“Jin-ri, I don’t think she’ll want me there now.” He warned, still advocating the ‘taking it slow’ strategy he got from his ajumma friend. “Come on, you can do that by yourself. Fighting!”
“Yah. How do you expect me to try on the men’s uniform?!” Jin-ri yelled furiously.
“Okay fine, I’ll be there!” Seung-hyun answered defeatedly as he saw the point in her argument.
“Good, hurry up.”
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“Unnie, In-na unnie wanted me to take care of the ladies’ uniform, while you take care of the men’s uniform.” Minzy informed Bom who was zoned out as she drew new designs for her collection. “Unnie?”
“Arrassou, arrasou. Where do I meet you?” Bom said mechanically.
“Ah, well the designs for the ladies’ uniform are ready so I’ll take care of the female representative in the dressing room. But In-na unnie wanted you to improve on the designs for the men’s uniform so you’ll still have to talk about the concept with the male representative in Conference C.” Minzy replied.
“Conference C. Got it, I’ll be there in a bit.”
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Flashback
The three ended up eating at McDonald’s, much to Bom and Seung-hyun’s humor. It was past bed time when they got back to their house, but Gummy hadn’t called yet so they decided it was best to let Lauren stay the night.
“Yeobo…” Seung-hyun called Bom, who laid at the living room couch as she embraced Lauren. He quietly walked his way towards the two sleeping figures, conflicted on whether he should wake them up and move them to the bed, or let them sleep uncomfortably on the couch. The latter seemed more appealing given the situation.
“Mm…” Bom mumbled groggily at the sound of Seung-hyun’s voice. She lazily opened her eyes to look at her husband. “Seung-hyun…”
“Never mind, go to sleep.” Seung-hyun said softly so he wouldn’t wake the sleeping little girl. “I’ll get you a blanket.”
“Komawo….” She replied groggily.
Seung-hyun returned with a blanket, draping it carefully around Bom and Lauren. He beheld the view in front of him. The thought of having a family like felt exciting. “Good night, yeobo.”
“Tabi…” Bom uttered.
“Hmm?”
“You’ll make a great dad.” Bom stated drowsily, barely keeping her eyes open.
He grinned at her comment. Slowly, Seung-hyun leaned towards Bom and softly kissed her forehead. “Rest well, jagi; and tomorrow let’s make our own Lauren.”
This made Bom shoot up from her sleep. “Yah!”
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“You.” Bom looked resentful at their situation. “You’re telling me you’re the male representative?”
“Y-yeah, me.” Seung-hyun replied reluctantly, his stare on the wooden table.
“Is this serious?” Bom glared at him.
“I thought you knew. Didn’t Minzy tell you your fashion house will be designing the uniforms for our real estate company?” Seung-hyun swallowed his saliva. Bominator is bominator. You do not mess with her when she starts to glare.
“I see you’ve met our most expensive client.” A slender brown haired woman came into the room. “I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting, though. Hi, I’m Yoo In Na, the current artistic director of the YG fashion house. I believe you’re Choi Seung-hyun.”
Seung-hyun stood up from his seat to bow politely to Hye-Jung. “Thank you for your hard work on our uniforms. Our company is confident that your designs will influence our plan to rebrand.”
“Oh yes, your company’s image is safe with our designs, especially now that our senior designer, Park Bom, will take on your project.” In-na replied smoothly. “Is your partner, Choi Jin-ri, here as well?”
Choi… Jin-ri? Bom thought. Is she the baby Seung-hyun was talking to yesterday?
“Yeah she’s with Minzy having their fitting.” Seung-hyun answered.
“Great! I guess that’s one down, one to go right?” In-na continued to make small talks. “It would be nice to see how all the uniforms fit you two. You both have model potential, no wonder the company chose you for the uniform project.”
“Ah, no, they just couldn’t send anyone else…”
“Oh well anyway, I’m going to a meeting so I’ll leave you with Bom here to fix the designs.” In-na concluded cheerfully; turning to Bom. “Bommie-ah, take care of Seung-hyun, okay?”
“Ah, yes.” Bom responded forcefully. After In-na left, it took a while for her to be able to look at Seung-hyun again. “Guess I’m stuck with you.”
“Y-yeah.”
Bom sat in front of the conference table. Seung-hyun followed, sitting at the chair opposite to her. “But let’s try to avoid meeting each other as much as possible.”
“Okay.” Seung-hyun agreed. He couldn’t say otherwise in front of the Bominator.
“Have you gained weight?”
“What?”
“I asked if you’ve gained weight.” Bom repeated herself.
“I-I don’t think so.” Seung-hyun replied, awkwardly, not knowing where this question was coming from. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m asking for the measurements. If you haven’t changed your sizes there’s no point in doing unnecessary skinship.” Bom said. “Taking your measurements is such a toll.”
“Oh.” Seung-hyun uttered; slightly uncomfortable at Bom’s tone. Unlike the day before when she tried to hide her feelings but failed, today she was just cold. Devoid of any emotion for him. “Just tell me what I need to do.”
“Don’t get in my way.” Bom replied briefly, bringing out the past designs that Minzy sketched for the male uniforms for them to discuss.
Unnoticeably, Seung-hyun looked at her with melancholy in his eyes.
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“I told you, I’m not the Bom that you knew before.” Bom’s tone was ice cold, but Seung-hyun could only find himself melting. “So stop comparing me to that pitiful girl who couldn’t live a day without you.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Seung-hyun finally admitted, avoiding her stare. He was feeling it again. It was the hopelessness he once felt when Bom had first handed him the divorce papers. His chest was constricted, and his vision became blurry. “The Bom I knew before… Well I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t know her that much.”
Seung-hyun blinked twice, looking at the gloomy sky from inside the room.
“You… You really want me gone?” he asked, his voice choked.
“I do.” Bom said firmly. How she said it so firmly only haunted Seung-hyun more. What she once said in front of the altar, when she and Seung-hyun promised forever, were the same words she used to drive him away from her life.
He tried to laugh his way out of the situation, but tears were inevitably falling from his eyes. “I can only take so much rejection, Bommie.”
“I told you not to call me that way.” Bom continued to speak casually.
“I know.” Seung-hyun wiped away his tears. “I just figured, I should call you that way one last time… If it’s really the last time.”
Bom nodded. “It is.”
“How does it feel?” Seung-hyun was still looking at the sky.
“What does?”
“To be in the shoes of your ex-boyfriends?” Seung-hyun asked, bitterness evident in his voice. “To destroy someone who felt genuinely in love with you?”
“That’s not fair, Seung-hyun.”
“I know. Love was never fair.” Seung-hyun shook his head, heading for the door.
Because you just keep on hurting me, yet I still want to be with you. He said in the midst of his thoughts.
Seung-hyun awoke with a startle; beads of sweat had already formed on his head, some trickling down to his strained neck. With wide eyes he stared at the ceiling of his dark room. Whether he was dreaming or not, it was impossible to tell. The nightmare was too vivid to be true, as though his subconscious, his fears, his real thoughts surfaced to tell him the grim reality between him and Bom.
No, he would fight to death for this nightmare to be over with.
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A/N: Hi! So what do you think of this chapter? Thank you for subscribing and leaving comments! Please continue to interact with me! I enjoy reading your comments. :) Happy reading!
P.S. The last part was meant to be a premonition for the next chapter... Dun dun dun. I wonder what it'll be about?
she starred in Hello Baby for MBLAQ! :)
And I introduced two new characters in this chapter by the way: Yoo In-na is actually one of YG's actresses, if you haven't heard of her she's the lead actress In-Hyun's man. While Choi Jin-ri is actually Sulli from f(x) (for those of you who are not aware of her real name :)
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