A SNEAK PEEK AT THE PAST:

A little girl in her navy-blue frock turned to the sound of elevator door opening at the end of the hallway. A little boy in a grey shirt and dark shorts stepped out of the elevator into the hallway which had a row of gigantic wooden doors basking under the sunlight showered by the glass windows opposite to it.

The little boy saw the girl at the far end of the hallway smiling at him. Rather than the fear of unknown, she was delighted to have someone to accompany her in the lonely hallway. He returned her warm smile with a wide smile and started running towards her.

Before he could reach her, he was stopped by the sound of the wooden doors opening. They saw the adults dressed in suits walking out of the room into the hallway. Unable to reach each other, they stood astonished at the sight of the walking adults whose legs seemed like moving pillars. They turned their heads and moved through the spaces to track each other in their line of sight.

The kids exclaimed, “APPA!”, when they saw Mr. Kim and Mr. Yoo coming out of the room. “Sohyun-ah, let’s go”, said Mr. Kim while picking her up in his arms. “Seungho-ya, here”, said Mr. Yoo as he let him hold his hand.

Kim Sohyun and Yoo Seungho smiled at each other when their fathers closed in for a talk, but it soon vanished when Mr. Yoo said, “I hope this will be our last meeting” with a straight face and parted ways. Those words echoed as ‘we are not on good terms’, in the kids’.

On the way home, Seungho witnessed his dad restless and frustrated. “Sir, please calm down for your health. To begin with, Mr. Kim was never on the side of industrialists like us. What can we expect from him?”, the driver said. At the same time, Sohyun heard her dad who was in deep thoughts muttering, “I really hope we never meet each other!”. Its then, the thought, ‘It's not that we are not on good terms but that WE SHOULD’T BE ON GOOD TERMS’ aroused in Kim Sohyun and Yoo Seungho.

PRESENT:

Mrs. Kim who saw Kim Sohyun running down the stairs; wearing a bag on her shoulders; trying to collect her hair to make a pony while holding hairband in , commented in disbelief, “Our house will collapse, with you running around like this!”. “Are you stating we are too poor to maintain our house? I thought we are living well!” Mr. Kim sided with his daughter Sohyun and received a sweet smile as a bribe. “Exactly!”, Sohyun continued, “Dad and Oppa are lawyers, my friend who became my sister-in-law is an interior designer and above all we have our mom, Mrs. Kim who is a domestic engineer! How can our…”. Mrs. Kim cut her short saying, “Because of you taking her side, she is acting all spoilt” while glaring at Mr. Kim and continued to arrange the table for the breakfast. After gobbling up the food, Sohyun kissed them goodbye and left for college.

Sohyun boarded the train which is her daily commute to college. She is usually accompanied by her sister-in-law, Ji woo whose office is near her college. Though Sohyun and Ji woo are 5 years apart, since they grew up in the same neighbourhood, their bond grew stronger. They bid their good bye at the station and headed to their respective destinations.

When Sohyun entered the class, she saw her classmates gathered near the window looking at the commotion outside. Her classmates was so engrossed that they didn’t even bother to look at anyone entering the class which piqued her interest to take a glimpse at the commotion. She could apprehend that a senior in her department was picking an argument with a sophomore.

When the senior grabbed the collar of the sophomore, the other students started betting on a fist fight. When they are at the verge of breaking out into a fight, Yoo Seungho who intervened, directed a cold stare at the senior, said with a rigid tone, “I bid on ‘NO FIST FIGHT’”. His cold stare sent chills down their spine and the senior loosened his grip on the collar. Seungho placed his hand on their shoulders and said with a soft voice, “I think the classes might start anytime soon”, which made everyone retreat to their classes. When Seungho heard Sohyun’s classmates commenting, “Who doesn’t fear Seungho in our college?”, he turned to look at Sohyun who was already looking at him. They locked their gaze at each other before Sohyun directed her attention to the class.

After the morning classes ended, Sohyun headed to canteen where she used to have her lunch with Hong Yoonhwa, her close friend in college. They first met each other during college entrance ceremony and soon became friends though Yoonhwa is from computer science discipline. Sohyun found Yoonhwa running towards her and upon catching her breath, she asked anxiously, “Sohyun-ah, did your father file another PIL^* against Yoo Industries?”. Her question left Sohyun clueless and bewildered.

“Thanks to your dad, Yoo Industries is in one of the most searched topic on the internet.” said one of the Yoonhwa senior who is in the same class as Yoo Seungho. “I’ll convey your thanks to my dad”, Sohyun replied nonchalantly as she continued with choosing the dishes for lunch ignoring Seungho who was standing beside the senior. Seungho probed her with the question, “It’s my thanks that you should convey, isn’t it? Since you've helped us with free promotion”. When Sohyun turned towards him, Seungho tilted his head slightly and looked at her with raised eyebrows expecting a reply. “Then, should my dad file another petition asking for royalty since we helped you with free promotion?”, Sohyun said arching a brow while looking into his eyes. They stood in the middle of the canteen without another word, with their gazes locked, until Yoonhwa who felt the attention of everyone on them, dragged Sohyun away. Yoonhwa unable to contain her thoughts blurted out, “Dramas told me, you two are gonna fall in love but my eyes are telling me, one of you is gonna get killed!”. Sohyun chuckled.

After the classes for the day ended, Seungho headed towards the seminar hall where he asked some students to gather. Seungho stood on the dais and asked, “Did you all wait for a long time?”. “Yes!”, Yoonpark said teasingly. “Then I hope I can skip the introduction, assuming you might have already introduced yourself to each other since you have already waited for a long time”, Seungho remarked in a sarcastic way and continued, “I have worked with every one of you here in one project or the other, and, for the new project I’m gonna propose I need the cooperation and support of everyone. Rather than a new project I would say it’s a new venture”. “Cooperation of all? venture? Don’t tell me you are gonna do your own start-up?”, Yoonpark asked with a suspicion. “EXACTLY!”, Seungho exclaimed. “I saw the credibility and teamplay in every one of you which is ideal for our own start-up, just us! I’ve mailed the proposal for the start-up, if you are interested, ping me”. Seungho’s speech rendered everyone speechless. Yoonpark and 5 others expressed their interest in the start-up, while the remaining students needed time for the decision.

When everyone left the hall Yoonpark asked, “Did your father know about your start-up?”. “He knows nothing will stop me from my decision”, Seungho replied.

When Seungho left the college campus and saw his uncle Yooram waiting for him, standing beside a brand-new car. He greeted Yooram while having his eyes laid on the car. On noticing that,“Here!” Yooram said while throwing the car keys to him.

“You are letting me drive?!”

“Don’t you have your license?”

“Of course, I do!”, Seungho replied smiling.

Yooram who was surprised at the smooth ride exclaimed, “Just a while ago, when I was driving the car, I heard weird noise from the engine, but now, it’s perfect!”. Seungho after a few moments of silence, said smiling, “She must have been pissed off. What should I Do?” and drove off. Yooram was left puzzled by his question.

On reaching home, Seungho found his sister, Lee Chaeyoung searching for something in the living room. Seungho’s sister Chaeyoung is a civil servant who knows about everything except the whereabouts of her glasses. Seungho picked up her glasses on the couch and handed it over to her. Chaeyoung looked up to find Seungho; smiled and put the glasses on. “Am I visible to you now?”, Seungho continued with hard voice, “It’s been two years since you’ve been married, and it’s been the same two years since you’ve visited us. And, now that your husband is overseas, are we visible to you only now?”. Before Chaeyoung could say anything, Seungho, on noticing the tears welling up in her eyes, hugged her. After their tearful reunion, they had their dinner with Yooram and Mrs. Yoo and then everyone retired to their rooms while Yooram left for home.

Seungho who was on the phone talking to someone, quickly hung up when he heard his father complaining about Mr. Kim. He left his door half open to hear their conversation. Mr. Yoo is going on nonstop about the PIL that was filed by Mr. Kim against the industries whom they recently partnered with. Seungho with a worried look on his face closed his door and threw himself on the bed. He turned to lay on his back and placed his hands behind his head. He recollected his encounter with Sohyun in the morning and smiled. His smiled soon disappeared when he remembered Yoonhwa dragging Sohyun away in the canteen and murmured to himself, “Is it all right to continue like this?”

*PIL: Public Interest Litigation. It’s a suit filed by a person or a group through which the court can initiate law or enforce action to secure interest of the public. Usually PIL is filed to express the concern over the pollution by industries or government ignoring the needs of certain community.