Soonkyu’s

       The talk didn’t stop. Whenever I walked passed them, even in class, they would still talk nonsense about my relationship with Hyomin. Seniors hated me because apparently, Hyomin’s ex was seriously the guy you didn’t want to mess around with. Everybody looked up to him and now I was on his bad side.

         Thankfully my friends were by my side. Hyoyeon’s friends tried their best to act like nothing happened, but they got curious and finally asked me why I dated older woman. I answered them simply with ‘love’ and they swooned. They became my spoke person after that.

         The morning class had just finished when someone announced that our afternoon class was cancelled because the lecturer was sick.    

         “Woohoo! Awesome! So what do we do? Want to play billiard or something?” Joowon asked excitedly.

         “Let’s! I’ll make Hyoyeon ditch her class.” Minjun said and started typing on his cell phone.

         I scoffed, “Yea right, she won’t ever skip a class, Minjun-ah.”

         Minjun smirked, “We’ll see.”

         “Come on then!” Joowon stood up from his chair.

         “Sorry, but I don’t think I’m going with you guys.”

         “Why???” Joowon whined and Minjun looked up from his cell phone.

         When the announcement of the cancellation of our afternoon class was made, the only thing that came to my mind was my girlfriend. She became very busy and the only times I get to meet her was on the weekend. “I haven’t seen my girlfriend in days and I think I want to surprise her in her office.” I smiled. 

         “Being romantic, are we?” Minjun teased.

         “Better than being alone.” I back and he stuck his tongue childishly at me. 

         “See you kids tomorrow then.” I got up from my seat and thought what lunch I should bring to her.

         Hyomin told me where she worked and it was easy to find. It was almost lunchtime when I arrived at her office. I couldn’t barge into her office room though, her secretary’s desk was right in front of her door.

         She was immersed on her laptop.         

         “Hi there.”

         She was startled and looked up instantly, “H-Hi. Can I help you?”

         “Yes. I’m here to meet Park Hyomin?”

         “Oh? I’m sorry, Sir, but I don’t think you have an appointment with her.” She looked at her laptop again, checking if indeed her boss didn't have an appointment.

         “Mmm... actually I’m her boyfriend and I want to surprise her.” 

         The secretary widened her eyes, “Ah, I see.”

         “So is she busy right now? I don’t want to disturb her if she is.”

         “No, she has a meeting at 1, but for right now, she’s just reviewing the material for the meeting I suppose.” The secretary answered and gave me a smile.

         “Okay. Thank you.” I smiled back at her and went to knock on her office door.

         I waited until I heard a ‘yes’ before I opened the door.

         “Lunch for Ms. Park~”

         She looked up from stack of papers on her desk and instantly smiled, “Sunny!” she excitedly got up from her chair, “Oh my God, what are you doing here?”

         I closed the door and held up a plastic bag, “Bringing lunch to my hard-working girlfriend.”

         She engulfed me in a tight hug and whispered in my ear, “I miss you.”

         I chuckled and hugged her back, “We’ve seen each other just last Saturday though.” 

         She pulled away and looked at me with accusing eyes, “You don’t miss me?”

         I laughed and pecked her lips, “I miss you” another peck, “so much. That’s why I’m here.”

         To my surprise, she pulled my collar and started kissing me. I smiled to the kiss. 

         We pulled away after awhile and she asked me breathlessly, “So... what did you bring for lunch?”

         She pulled me to sit on the couch and we ate gleefully. It was really nice to spend time with her like this. To see her smile and to watch her laugh.        

         Not long after we finished our lunch, her secretary knocked and reminded her that it’s time for the meeting. Hyomin told her to prepare some stuff in the meeting room.

         “Sunny-ah, thank you very much for bringing me lunch.” She smiled widely at me.         

         “It’s my pleasure, Noona.” I smiled back teasingly at her. She pinched my arm, disliking the term I used. I laughed and leaned in.

         We shared another kiss before I had to leave.  

         She went to the meeting room and I wanted to pee, so I went to the restroom before I left.

         I was washing my hands when suddenly Mr. Park entered the restroom. I froze in my spot and I guessed he was surprised to see me there also. He walked towards the sink and started to wash his hands. We had eye contact through the mirror and I bowed while turning the tap off.

         “Good afternoon, Sir.”

         He just nodded at me, no smile. I didn’t care about my wet hands, I was about to grab the doorknob to exit the restroom when he called my name.

         “Soonkyu-ssi.”

         I turned my body to expect whatever it is he would throw me.   

         “Yes, sir?”

         He was still washing his hands, “I need to be honest with you.” He looked at me through the mirror, “I don’t like you. I don’t think you’re good enough for my daughter.”

         It’s like a slap on my face. This was Hyomin’s father talking. Not some random people from campus.

         He turned off the tap and still had his eyes on me. I couldn’t really tell his expression because his words were ringing in my ears.

         “I’m sorry. You’re a nice kid. But that’s the problem. You’re still a kid.” He started to wipe his hands with tissue.        

         “I know my daughter very well. She might look happy in front of you, but she wants to get married, she wants to have her own family.”        

         He threw the tissue to the trashcan and finally stood in front of me.

         “Can you give her that?”   

         I really didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t even look at the man in the eyes.

         “If you can’t, then you better rethink about your priority. Again, I’m sorry to say this to you. But I only want what’s best for my daughter.”

         With that, he walked pass me and left me in deep thoughts. I was rooted on where I stand for God knows how long, still thinking about what he said. I got back to my senses when I felt my cell phone buzzing. I took it out and saw a message from my mom, asking my where about. I answered her and put the cell phone back to my pocket.        

         I looked at myself in the mirror and washed my face, trying to get my mind to work properly. After calming myself for a couple of minutes, I finally left the restroom.

         I got inside the elevator along with two other women. They were gossiping about something which I didn’t really pay attention to until a name caught my ears.

         “So Ms. Park and Mr. Jang is not a couple?”                 

         “Nope. Her secretary told me that her boyfriend drop by to surprise her.”

         “That’s too bad. They look good together.”

         “I know, right? But she said her boyfriend is not that bad looking, although he looked a little bit younger than Ms. Park.”

         “Oh well, the good thing is, Mr. Jang’s available! He’s such a perfect guy, don’t you think?”

         “Yeah, every woman who end up with him is a lucky one. I don’t think it will be you, though.” She laughed.

         The other woman hit her playfully and they went out from the elevator.

         I didn’t even realize that I reached the lobby. My mind was in a haze and I didn’t know what to think of the situation.

Hyomin’s

       I still couldn’t believe Sunny came to surprise me! It was such a pleasant surprise. I couldn’t stop smiling for the whole meeting.

         “Well I guess that’s it for today. We’ll meet again in 2 days, people.” I dismissed the meeting for today with a smile. Not that I didn’t do it before, I always smile, but this time, it was happy and joyful smile. Not just a formal smile I usually put up for work.

         I walked back to my room and of course, Wooyoung was beside me.

         “You seem very jovial today, Ms. Park.”

         I chuckled, “Jovial? Someone is being smart with words.”

         He grinned, “Jovial means cheerful. I looked up ‘happy’ on online thesaurus.”

         “Was that what you’ve been doing for the whole meeting, Mr. Jang? Looking up words on your cellphone? Ckckck. Such an irresponsible business partner.”

         He grinned even wider, “Such a strict business partner.”

         I grinned back at him, “So I’ve heard.”

         I put my stuff on my desk and sat on my chair. He took a seat in front of my desk.

         “Really, what’s gotten into you? I’ve never seen you this happy before.”

         I smiled, “Just the perks of having a boyfriend.”

         “Ah, you were like this because the surprise visit from your boyfriend?”   

         “How did you know that?”

         “Hyomin-ah, everybody in this office is talking about it.”

         Before I could say anything, my dad had walked through the open door of my room.

         “Dad.”

         Wooyoung turned around to see my dad and stood up instantly to give the man a bow.

         My dad gave him a warm smile, “Hello, Wooyoung-ah.”   

         “Hello, Mr. Park.”

         “How many times I told you just call me ‘Uncle’? We’re not in a meeting, are we?”

         “Yes, Uncle.” Wooyoung beamed his charming smile.

         “So, how’s business?” he looked at me with still a smile on his face.

         “It’s going really well, dad.”

         He sat in the seat that Wooyoung previously sat on and Wooyoung took it as a sign that my dad wanted to talk to me in private.

         “I better get back to my office before my strict business partner here scold me again.” He smirked at me, “Nice to see you, Uncle.”

         “Nice to see you too, Wooyoung-ah.”

         With that he left and once the door closed entirely, my dad focused on me.

         “Strict business partner?” he asked me with raised eyebrows.

         “Just a little joke between me and him, dad. Nothing serious.”

         He had a small smile and a twinkle in his eyes, “I see.”

         “What brings you here, dad? Is there something you want to talk to me about?”

         “Just want to know how the future CEO of this company holds up. So, how is everything?”

         We talked about my project for a while. He seemed to be impressed at my progress managing this project.

         “You’re doing great, dear.” He smiled his fatherly smile at me. 

         “Thanks, dad.” I leaned back on my chair, feeling happier that so far I did good –well in his word, I did great- and my relationship with my dad was back to normal.  

         We got into a comfortable silence before he spoke again, “I notice you & Wooyoung are getting close.”

         I tensed a little bit, “He’s a good friend.”

         “That’s good.”

         I just nodded at his comment. He wouldn’t bring up my boyfriend in this conversation, would he?

         “How are you and that boy doing?”

         Ugh, yes he would.

         “He has a name, dad. His name is Soonkyu. And we’re doing just fine. Great even.”

         He looked straight into my eyes, his smile gone. I stared back at him. We’re doing this stare down for a whole minute until he let out a loud sigh.

         “You know I just want what’s best for you, right?”

         My heart warmed, “I know, dad.”

         He let out another sigh and stood up, “Just don’t get yourself hurt, okay?”

         Was this a truce? He finally relented? I didn’t say anything, instead I stood up and hugged him.

         He hugged me back and after that, he left my room, saying ‘don’t be late for dinner at home’.

         I sank back in my chair and couldn’t help to replay everything that’s been happening today.

         I couldn’t be happier than this.