CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

"Is your mother already here?" Dara whispered as they entered the hall. They were clinging into each other's arms as they searched for Jiyong's mother. 

Jiyong shrugged and said, "I don't know. Let's just stay here and let them come. I could careless." 

Dara rolled her eyes and pinched Jiyong's side, making him wince in pain. He frowned and whined, "What? I had no intention in seeing her here anyway. If it's possible to avoid her all night, I would." Dara glared at Jiyong and Jiyong slumped his shoulders. 

"You shouldn't be like that to your mother, Jiyong. As far as I can remember, auntie is a really nice person." Dara stated ever so confidently. 

Jiyong rolled his eyes and said, "That was a long time ago, people change noona. Even you did too, it's just unfortunate that she changed in a bad way." As if on cue, someone called Jiyong's name. He froze and immediately knew whose voice it belonged to. Dara turned around and saw Jiyong's mother. 

In all honesty, Mrs. Kwon looked really stressed even if all the make up was covering it. She nudged Jiyong who wouldn't turn around and hissed, "Ya, greet your mother. Be polite." Jiyong sighed heavily and had no choice but to turn around and looked at his mother. He bowed slightly, but not fully, avoiding his mother's stare. 

"Mrs. Kwon." He greeted, shocking Dara and his mother's colleagues. They started to whisper amongst each other and it was obvious that Mrs. Kwon was flustered. Dara glared at Jiyong and decided to introduce herself, not wanting to be rude. "Ahh, Sandara Park imnida." She bowed while Jiyong looked at her, dumbfounded. 

"She doesn't need your courtesy, Dara." Jiyong hissed. 

Dara rolled her eyes and nudged him one more time as a warning. However, hearing such a familiar name, Mrs. Kwon furrowed her eyebrows, but before she could respond, another familiar yet lively voice came upon. 

"Omo! My Jiyongie!" 

Everyone turned and saw the late Mrs. Kwon running towards her grandson. Jiyong's frown turned upside down to a big smile as soon as he saw the sight of his grandmother. "Halmeoni!" He exclaimed as he broke free from Dara's grasp and ran to his grandomther. Nana Kwon and Jiyong hugged and when Nana Kwon's gaze turned to Dara, she gasped. 

"Omo! Is this who I think it is?" 

Jiyong pulled away from their hug and nodded, "Neh, Nana, it's Dara." 

Nana Kwon blinked in surprised, "Dara? Dara as in your childhood girlfriend? She's the one who treated me at the hospital?! Omo!" Jiyong laughed and nodded, while Dara blushed at hearing Nana Kwon's old endearment. Girlfriend. She smiled and welcomed Nana Kwon in her arms as Nana Kwon rocked her back and forth. 

"Aigoo! I can't believe you are really Dr. Park! I can't believe I doubted that you're Dara! Aigooo!" Nana Kwon held her arms and looked at her from head to toe. Dara blushed and kept her head down as she tried her hardest to hide her crimson red cheeks. Jiyong, on the other hand, couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the two most important people in his life. 

To interrupt his cheerful side, someone tapped him on his shoulder. He looked at the person and the smile immediately turned into a frown as he saw his mother. He clenched his fists inside his dress pants' pocket and bit his tongue, not wanting to say something that could cause a ruckus. 

"Can we talk?" Mrs. Kwon stated quite calmly. 

Jiyong just blinked and bluntly said, "I don't see any reason to." 

Although Mrs. Kwon was hurt, she maintained her facial expression and let out a long heavy sigh. "Just for a minute, Jiyong. It won't hurt to talk with you mother just for a minute, wouldn't it?" Jiyong clenched his jaws and sighed, finally giving in. He loves his mother, yes he does, but what's making him hate her is her greed. 

Her excemptional greed got the best of her. 

Jiyong looked at Dara and walked towards her, leaning down to her ear and whispered, "I'll be back." Dara looked at him and saw Mrs. Kwon looking at her with curiosity. She shifted her gaze at Jiyong and let out a smile, "Go." Jiyong nodded with a stiff expression and tuned his back on Dara, hesitantly walking towards his mother. 

Mrs. Kwon walked away, while Jiyong followed her out to the garden of the hall. 

When they arrived, Mrs. Kwon walked to where the mini pond was and crossed her arms, immediately falling into deep thought. Asking herself what went wrong with her relationship with her son? What happened? But most of all, who was the beautiful young lady that Jiyong was with? 

Was it who she was thinking of? 

When Jiyong finally stood beside her, a couple of meters away from her, Mrs. Kwon spoke up, "How have you been, Jiyong?" Jiyong looked at his mother and scoffed, "Don't ask me that. You're really trying hard, aren't you? Stop making a fool out of yourself, Mrs. Kwon." 

Mrs. Kwon flinched. Her heart was aching, not even knowing the reason why her son started to treat her like . 

"Jiyong. I didn't raise you to be disrespectful to me!" Mrs. Kwon spat. 

Jiyong smirked and shifted his whole body towards Mrs. Kwon, "That's right. I was born to be a perfect son. I was raised to be the heir of your company. I was that typical chaebol son. I was to follow all your orders like a robot. I didn't know that until I became old enough to realize how pathetic you were. How pathetic of a mother you are, and how pathetic of a father Mr. Kwon is. Do you think I'm a robot you could just order around?!" 

And this earned Jiyong a hard slap on his cheeks, shocking Jiyong and Mrs. Kwon herself. 

She never intended to hurt Jiyong physically, let alone to turn out like a ho