“Jinyoung-sii? Right this way” A household maid said, leading him to the living room.

Jinyoung was extremely nervous, not only because he was meeting Sori’s parents, but also because he wasn’t quite sure why Mrs. Kim had called him over in the first place. It all seemed sketchy to him.

“I’m sure she’s going to ask Sori and I to break up, why else would she ask me to come here alone?” Jinyoung thought, making himself even more nervous. 

“Jinyoung-ssi, you’ve arrived,” Mrs. Kim greeted, giving Jinyoung a short smile.

“Hello” Jinyoung awkwardly said as he gave them a 90 degree bow.

“This is him?”  Mr. Kim asked as he inspected the boy in front of him. Mr. Kim didn’t bother getting up and stayed in his seat.

“Sit down, Jinyoung” Mrs. Kim said. Jinyoung immediately sat across from the two.

“How old are you?” Mr. Kim asked.

“21” Jinyoung hesitantly answered.

“Sori is older than you?! Kids these days…” Mr. Kim commented, shaking his head. 

“You must be wondering why I called you here” Mrs. Kim began, Jinyoung nodded in response. “After discovering you and Sori’s relationship, I felt the need to call you over here. There are a few things that you need to know” Mrs. Kim explained.

“You’re going to tell me to break up with her, aren’t you?” Jinyoung blurted out. Mrs. Kim let out a short laugh “Why would we do that? We don’t even know you well enough yet. You see, that’s why we called you over here, we need to see if you’re capable enough to be with my daughter” Mrs. Kim explained.

Jinyoung was a little shocked “Get to know me? Capable? I should have never came here…” Jinyoung sighed. “Look, I’m not rich nor do I come from a wealthy family. My job is music, and although I don’t make much, I don’t plan on changing it to suit your standards. I can’t promise you that I can give Sori a glamorous life, but I can promise you that I can make her happy. That’s all I have to say” Jinyoung let out. He was no longer afraid of sounding rude, he couldn’t stand the cold atmosphere in the room. He felt suffocated. “How did Sori even live here…” he thought.

“Jinyoung-ah, I don’t care about your wealth nor do I care about your status. I can change that all, so it’s not a problem. The problem is if you are willing to meet us half way“ Jinyoung was beginning to feel confused.

“Half way..? what do you mean?” Jinyoung asked. Mr. Kim suddenly cleared his throat to speak.

“There is only one thing you need to do” Mr. Kim began, looking straight into Jinyoung eyes. His serious expression scared Jinyoung, making him anxious. “At first, I wanted a man for Sori who was capable in taking care of my business when I’m gone, but if you can’t do that, it’s fine. But there’s a condition. If you can’t do this, then stop wasting our time and leave Sori alone. If you don’t leave her, there will be consequences” Mr. Kim explained.

Although Jinyoung was afraid of what the condition may be, the question still slipped out of his mouth “W-what’s the condition?” he asked.

“You need to get her pregnant.”

Mr. Kim’s words rang though Jinyoung’s ears. “Did I hear him correctly?” He sat there speechless.  

“W-what...? You want me to, what...?” Jinyoung prayed that he heard him wrong.

“You have to have a child with her, and soon. I’m not that old but I’m not that young either” Mr. Kim informed.

“But- Sori doesn’t want to have children…she doesn’t even want to get married. Even if she did want either, she’s only 23. She has so many goals and dreams that she still wants to accomplish. How can you expect that from her now? We both aren't ready for that. I can barely even publicly date, I can’t-"

“Oh, I forgot to mention, you’ll be giving the child to my wife. She’ll raise him, nobody even has to know that it’s yours”  Jinyoung’s eyes widened in disbelief “what is wrong with her parents! People like this should be locked behind bars.”

“Him?” Jinyoung asked, confused. “Well, the baby must be male. I don’t want a female heir” Sori's father plainly replied.

“So, you’re doing all of this for your company? Is everything a business to you?!” Jinyoung shot up in frustration. “Lower your voice!” Mrs. Kim yelled.

“If you have a problem with this, then leave! Break up with Sori and stop distracting her” Mr. Kim shouted.

“Leave? How can I leave when Sori has crazy parents like you? You think I can just leave her now? If I leave, then what happens after that? Will you leave Sori alone? If that’s the case, then I’ll leave right away. I’d do anything to free her from nut jobs like you and allow her to live comfortably!” Jinyoung shouted back.

“Well, that’s too bad because i’m never going to leave that little brat alone to live her life uselessly like she is right now. We’ll just find someone else to do it for us” Mr. Kim responded.

“Someone else? Ha! You won’t be able to find any man on this planet that Sori will be willing to have a child with. She’s a strong person, she’s not going to let any man take advantage of her!” Jinyoung was disgusted by everything that was coming out of Mr. Kim’s mouth. He was about to leave until he saw Mrs. Kim’s expression; She looked distressed, almost on the verge of tears. She didn’t look like she was upset at Jinyoung, but more at her husband.

“Willing? She doesn’t have to be willing, she’ll be forced” Both Mrs. Kim and Jinyoung’s eyes widened in shock. “f-forced?” Mrs. Kim repeated, looking at her husband in fear and disbelief at what just left his mouth.

“You don’t mean...you’d find someone else to…to your own daughter?-" Jinyoung couldn’t finish his sentences, he felt something churn in his stomach. “I think I’m going to throw up" he thought, covering his mouth with his arm.

 He forced himself to hold it in. “I can’t be in the same room as you anymore.” Jinyoung ran outside of the house, his breath heavy. Sweat covered him from the frustration he was feeling. He couldn’t get rid of the anger that was choked up inside him. He wanted to go back inside and punch Sori’s father in the face, but he knew that nothing good would come out of it. “Her father won’t change…he must have some sort of mental illness to be this sick. Either way, I have to protect Sori, there is no way in hell I’m leaving her side.”

“What do you mean you’ll find someone else to do it? Honey, what are you saying?! Just give her and Jinyoung time. I’m sure they’ll have a child together eventually. Do you know when the last time our 23-year-old daughter was in a serious relationship? The answer is never! If we separate them, then there may never be another guy she’ll like!” Mrs. Kim yelled, clinging onto her husbands sleeve in desperation.

“Why do you care so much about her feelings? After everything she’s said to you? She doesn’t need to love him, that little brat doesn’t deserve love in her life, after what she’s done to us? After she has a child, then we can cleanly cut her out of this family!”

“What? Cut her out of this family? She’s my only daughter! If all you want is a son to brain wash and run your company, then why don’t you go adopt? Why do you have to make us go through this? You’re…you’re insane!” Mrs. Kim yelled, shaking her head. She couldn’t understand how she could marry someone so selfish. She realized how blind “love” could make a person.

“I want someone who has my blood. Stop arguing with me, and start cooperating. This wouldn’t be a problem if you gave birth to a son. Not only did you have a daughter, but you failed to teach her the role she must play in this family.”

 Mrs. Kim could no longer stand listening to her husband anymore. All the anger she had bottled up inside was beginning to come out. 

“Bull . You even brain washed me, it won’t be hard for you to brain wash someone that isn’t your own blood. But wait, then there’s Sori. You keep saying I did a horrible job with her, but I must have done something right for her to not have ended up as stupid as I was when I married you”

“excuse me?” Mr. Kim said, clenching his fist. “You say you want a male to inherit your company, but who exactly made you get this far? It was me! A woman. It’s funny how much of misogynist bastard you are when I’m the hand that fed you!” Mrs. Kim spat.

Suddenly, Mr. Kim threw his hand at Mrs. Kim’s face.  “Not another word!” He yelled. Mrs. Kim held her hand against her cheek. Although it stung, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“What are you laughing at?” He said through clenched teeth. “I’m laughing at you. You’re pathetic. You act so high and mighty, but really, dirt is worth more than you. Dirt has more use than you. You’re just dust, you clog up peoples air. You get into peoples eyes, making them not see clearly. But now, I’ve wiped the dust out of my eyes, and I’m leaving” Mrs. Kim declared confidently.

“Leave? You haven’t got anywhere to go” Mr. Kim laughed.

“That’s what I thought too, but now I’ve realized, there’s a lot of places I can go. The one place I’ve been staying all this time is the one place where I don’t belong” Mrs. Kim turned around and walked away from her husband of 25 years. Without looking back once, she left.

Sori had just gotten back home from the hospital. It was getting dark and she realized that she hadn’t eaten anything all day. Her joy after seeing Dongin made her forget her empty stomach, a rare thing to happen. She was too lazy to cook any “real” food so she boiled some water to put into an instant noodle cup.

Right when she was getting ready to dig into her food, she heard a banging on the door. “Sori-ah, it’s me” She heard Jinyoung say. “Why is he coming at this late hour?” she mumbled as she ran to open the door.

“Jinyoung-ah..”

“Sori-ah...are you busy right now?” he panted.

“Why are you out of breath? Did you run here?” Sori asked, confused.  “Yeah...I’m trying to exercise so…” Jinyoung lied. The moment he left her house his mind was stuck on her. He was worried that something bad would happen to her; as if her father had already acted upon the “consequences” he had mentioned if Jinyoung didn’t leave her.

“Did you eat yet?” Jinyoung asked, walking inside “are those instant noodles? I told you not to eat that anymore!” Jinyoung scolded.

“I was too lazy to make anything else. I just got-" Jinyoung picked up the bowl of noodles and seemed to be headed to the sink “Hey! Don’t throw them out!” Sori yelled, running after Jinyoung.

“Too late” Jinyoung said, quickly dumping the soup in the sink. He tossed the noodles in the garbage and smiled at Sori.

“What did you do that for? I’m so hungry, people in Busan can probably hear my stomach grumbling!” Sori whined. “Then eat something that’s good for you. You won’t gain anything from eating that. Do you know how much sodium is in that?” Jinyoung shook his head.

“Where do you keep your instant noodles? I want to throw them all out” Sori shot Jinyoung a dirty look, “I’m not telling you. Once in a while is fine” Sori reasoned.

“I spoke with your doctor about your health, he says you’re really low on iron. Let’s go out and eat some steak” Jinyoung suggested, taking Sori’s hand. “Eh? You asked my doctor? How did you even get him to tell you? That’s confidential information!” Sori asked suspiciously.

“Oh, I told him that I was your fiancé”  Sori choked at his response.

“F-fiancé? Do you want to die? How could you lie to my doctor like that? You’re not suppose to lie about stuff like that, I could get in trouble!” Sori complained.

“Don’t worry, it could be true one day, we don’t know...” Jinyoung teased. “Jinyoung-ah…You’re not really marriage material, I think I’ll marry Shinwoo instead…” Sori joked, making Jinyoung frustrated. “You’re just trying to annoy me now.”

Sori smiled “Glad it worked, I’m still mourning the loss of my instant noodles” Sori pouted.

“You’ll forget about those noodles once we go to a restaurant” Jinyoung asuured, leading her outside of her apartment and closing the door behind them.