Sungyeol  was shocked; seeing Jaemi and her daughter just standing there at the entrance was surprising. He gave a glance at his dad, who seemed a little worried about his son’s reaction.

“…dad? What’s…?”

“I invited them to dinner; I hope you don’t mind.” His father, Hyunsung, said and walked past him to the kitchen; Jaemi smiled to him but Sunmi didn’t even look at his direction.

Sungyeol felt betrayed. “And thinking I was going to give him a chance… and what was that letter? You say something and then do another thing?” He was starting to get angry and irritated; he didn’t understand the whole situation, and didn’t even want to. He had a wonderful life, and it was going to be ruined now and forever.

Mr. Lee called his son and he responded in a bad manner. He helped setting up the table, but didn’t talk and didn’t look at the women’s direction. Jaemi felt a little uncomfortable; she didn’t want to be a bother or trouble Sungyeol, but his father told her it was okay when he invited them that night. She glanced at her daughter, who was playing with her cellphone and didn’t talk since they arrived.

“Hey, Sunmi-ah… you know, Sungyeol is only three months older than you.” Jaemi said and smiled, but her daughter only nodded without looking at her.

Sungyeol felt a little bad for the woman, but he was so angry at the moment he really didn’t care. Mr. Lee started a trivial conversation so the tension in the room would vanish; but the only ones that kept talking were Jaemi and Hyunsung. The dinner was quiet, and no matter how hard they tried, the kids wouldn’t say more than three words.

“I’ve already talked to the principal at the school; Sunmi won’t have any problem getting in at this time of the semester.”

“Oh, that’s great! Did you hear that, darling?” Jaemi asked, but her daughter didn’t answer and kept on eating her food.

“Great, now I’ll see her at school too.”Sungyeol thought, biting harder to relieve frustration.

“So, Sungyeol, tell me. What do you do on your free time?” Jaemi looked at him with a kind expression. “Do you do any sports?”

“No, not really.” Ms. Song expected a longer reply, so she felt uncomfortable and didn’t ask anymore. Hyunsung glanced at his son, wanting to scold him, but he tried to act cool.

“He likes hanging out with friends and playing videogames.” His father said, but the tension in the room was still there, and it was a pretty horrible feeling.

When they finished eating, Jaemi insisted in leaving on their own means. Mr. Lee accompanied them outside, and when he came back, he looked really irritated.

“Sungyeol! Why are you being like this?” He exclaimed, going to the kitchen where his son was helping cleaning.

“What was that letter? You wrote it and a minute after you thought it was a bad idea?” The boy replied, still angry at the situation.

“I can still cancel the wedding, but I thought that if you met them, maybe you’d like them.”

“I’m sorry, but that doesn’t change anything.” Sungyeol stopped what he was doing and crossed arms facing his dad. He felt like he was going to explode any moment, so he sighed and tried to calm down. Suddenly, he felt he wouldn’t win. It was his father after all, he had more power and he was the one who paid for everything in that house. Sungyeol closed his eyes and tried to wash his feelings away. “You know what? Do what you want, I don’t care anymore.”

He walked away, going upstairs and closing the door of his room; Mr. Lee sighed and rubbed his eyes. The situation was harder than he thought it would be.

*******

After a week, everything was a little calmer. Not a lot though, since his father decided to continue with the wedding, and Jaemi and Sunmi were moving in a couple of days. Sungyeol decided to stop arguing with his dad, and just accept the fact that his life was changing drastically.

He tried not to be home most of the time during those days, so he’d hang out with Myungsoo and they’d play football, go to the arcade or do something else to kill time. His friend thought he was taking the situation a little too harsh, but he didn’t say a lot about it.

Sungyeol didn’t tell anyone about the situation besides his friends Myungsoo and Sungjong; he preferred to deal with it only when necessary. His dad acted kind and noble, always trying to be nice to Sungyeol, but the boy didn’t actually notice; he didn’t talk a lot to him in that week.

*******

Before he noticed and could enjoy their last moments as ‘free men’, the day Jaemi and Sunmi were moving in came. While the big truck arrived and they started to bring furniture and boxes inside, Sungyeol watched the scene from his room’s window. He didn’t want to help, and was decided to not leave his bedroom until it was necessary. His father didn’t call him either, because he knew about it.

“Where’s Sungyeol?” Jaemi asked, leaving a big box on the living room floor.

“Probably upstairs.” Hyunsung replied while giving a glance at the scene. “I don’t want to bother him, he’s still a little upset.”

“Sunmi too.” The woman sighed. “She doesn’t tell me a lot, but I can see it.”

Jaemi’s gaze turned sad, and Hyunsung felt bad. He gave her a little hug and tried to cheer her up; she smiled and thanked the attention. Sunmi saw everything, since she was carrying some things inside, and made a disgusted expression.

*******

At dinner time they could still feel the tension from their first food together. The kids didn’t want to talk, while the parents tried to make everything as comfortable as possible. They told some plans they had, like Sunmi would start school the week after the next one, since classes were off; that Jaemi and Hyunsung would share a room while Sunmi would use the guest’s room; that the wedding would be in two months from that day; that they wasn’t sure about the honeymoon yet.

Neither Sungyeol nor Sunmi spoke a word, and didn’t lift their heads from the plates. Jaemi looked worried, but Hyunsung tried to calm her with glances; the truth was that he was a little worried too.

*******

That same night when Sungyeol got out of the bathroom, he saw Sunmi moving things from the hallway to her new bedroom. She looked concentrated and serious, and he decided to make clear some points. He gained confidence and walked to her, stopping just right in front of Sunmi.

“Look, I just want to…”

“Listen to me, boy.” The girl cut him off before he could say anything significant. “I hate this as much as you do, and I’m not looking to be good to you, nor do I need you to be nice to me.” Sungyeol was surprised of her speech; it was the first time he heard her talking, so he paid attention. “Just… let’s pretend we’re okay with each other; a ‘hello’ and a ‘goodnight’ are okay, don’t expect nothing more from me, so I won’t from you.”

Sungyeol closed his mouth when he realized it was open, and tried to gain confidence again. Sunmi was looking straight at him, with those big brown eyes she had. He felt a little uncomfortable, but did the best he could to hide his surprise.

“I like it.” Sungyeol replied; the both of them nodded at the same time and turned around to keep doing their thing. Sunmi continued to organize her stuff without looking away, and Sungyeol returned to his room, not leaving it for the rest of the night.