07 - Reunions

I have ten fingers and they all point to Zico being the tiest person I have ever met. 

Here we are, sitting on the bus to my apartment (because apparently Zico's actually serious about coming with me), when some elderly woman turns her head around to smile at us. I don't know why she does, but I smile back anyway. I like her up until she tells Zico and me that we're a lovely couple. I'm really not looking forward to growing old if it means I'll lose this much of my common sense. 

"Oh, we're not a couple," Zico says, sneering. "I actually have standards. She's pregnant with my best friend's kid, though. Well, probably. It's too early to tell."

The elderly woman looks completely horrified. I don't know if she's having a or if she's still reeling from what Zico's said. She finally speaks after what seems like a decade of uncomfortable staring. is dry when she talks, probably from all of the air she in when she gasped.

"Oh, heavens. Well, I'll pray for you. Both of you," she says, clutching the cross pendant hanging around her neck, probably summoning God to banish Zico to hell. I don't blame her. She turns around and holds her purse tight against her chest, as if I'm gonna snatch her crumpled bills and make a run for the nearest abortion clinic. 

I hop off the next stop hoping I'm quick enough to leave Zico in the sea of putrid hobos yanking at his designer clothes. But like most instances with Zico, I learn so much more about the evils of the world than the good. For instance, sometimes Zico actually can pay attention to something long enough to put two and two together. In this case, it's me and my shifty eyes. 

"This is where your apartment is?" Zico asks, looking around once we both land on a random street corner. We're at some weird part of the town with weird shops that look as if they reek of pachouli. I spot a graveyard not to far from where we stand. 

"No, I was trying to ditch you," I say. "Didn't really work out, did it?"

"Oh, you think you're so smart," Zico says, his face squeezed into a really ugly and altogether terrifying expression. He has the kind of face that makes babies cry. "You're as dumb as a brick, aren't you?"

"Yeah, and that's how I graduated top of my class at Seoul National University," I say, rolling my eyes. I don't usually name drop like this, but, well, Zico's getting on my last nerve and if I beat him into a pulp, he'll probably sue me for everything I have, which in this case is nothing. I need to beat him up with my words.

"If you really did, why are you a measly receptionist? I call bull," Zico says, seeming confident in himself. God, I want to punch him in his face. 

"Whatever," I huff, starting off in a random direction. My heels are killing me, but maybe if I find a cab, I can make my way back to where I came from. 

"Where do you think you're going?" Zico says, marching after me. 

"Away from you!" I say. "Stop following me!"

I go in the opposite direction and he follows me. I turn back and he follows me. He follows me and follows me until we're fast walking in a circle  on the street like complete morons. 

"I'm calling my driver to get us," Zico says, finding his phone in his pocket. All the while, he follows me down the street, struggling to keep his signature 'I don't care about anything at all' voice in his phone call. 

I take random turns and cuts until Zico has to put his driver on hold, because he has absolutely no idea where we are. I enter some building that seems like it has air conditioning and Zico follows me in. 

"Hi, welcome to the Children's Hospital of- oh, hello, Ms. Ahn, Mr. Woo."

Zico and I stop in our tracks and stare at the woman at the front desk. She has a kind but robotic smile on her face and as she bows, we both see two large framed pictures on the wall. The first one is Zico huddled with a bunch of children. It reads, "On behalf of The Woo Group, Woo Jiho grants $1,000,000 to the Children's Hospital of Korea."

Below it, the part that makes Zico gasp, is a similar picture, only it has me instead of him. "On behalf of Ahn Corporation, Ahn Dahee grants $1,000,000 to the Children's Hospital of Korea."

What comes out of this woman's mouth is even more surprising. "Congratulations. I heard you two are getting married."

+++

Okay, maybe I haven't been completely honest with you, but I didn't think the fact that I'm an heiress to Ahn Corporations was that big of a deal. At least, not till now.

Zico and I sit at the steps of some crappy ice cream parlor still trying to make sense of everything. As he stares out in the distance, he blindly at his ice cream cone, only he's not paying attention, so his nose knocks the ball of ice cream right onto the pavement. He groans. 

Meanwhile, I'm having a very unpleasant reunion with mother dearest. "Mother, what is this I hear about some engagement? I thought you weren't going to go on with that!"

The moment my mom told me she was planning to arrange a marriage, I booked it and set out on a life of independence. I had seen enough dramas to know where an arranged marriage was heading. 

"Yes, Dahee, but you s