CHAPTER 14

KWON YURI.

The person I treasure the most before and until now.

Yuri and I became close back in our University days. She was taking up Business too and at the same time competes internationally as an Equestrienne who brings honour to our country. The two of us started off as rivals but ended up as best of friends after our Freshman year.

Her family belongs to the upper class and owns vast land in Gangwon and Jangsu at North Jeolla where they have a breeding farm that raises horses being sold internationally. The Kwons are considered royalty in Gangwon because one of her descendants was married to the King back in the Joseon era.

While we, the Jungs, like what Dad always say are descendants of a regular man who worked hard to feed his family. Dad said his Father and Mother owns a shoe repair shop back in the days and it was the main source of income for our family. He said at early age he already was an expert in cleaning shoes that when the Korean War happened at the 1950s (he was 10 that time) he was cleaning the shoes of those U.S. military men and the Allied Forces in exchange of food and other things to keep on living.

Anyway, I fell in love with Yuri. Hard. She is kind, smart, funny, and caring. Confident and has a long list of goals in life that she wants to achieve before she turns 30. I developed feelings for her that I tried so hard to hide but in the end she found out. We became awkward for a while because both of us doesn’t know how to accept what is happening. In the end, we agreed to have a relationship hiding it to our family.

But it seems my brother really hates me. He found out about my relationship with Yuri and threaten me that he will tell it to our Father. I begged him not to do it… but he did.

My Father tried to break us up and immediately arranged my marriage with Donghae. We were supposed to run away but was also busted because of my devil incarnate brother. Yuri’s family found out about it too and she was sent abroad to lay low and also to focus on her upcoming competitions.

In the end, she broke up with me. That it wasn’t worth it if we will fight for something that in the end both of us will end up hurting... not just us but also our family.  

The day Yuri left the country was the day of my wedding. She sent a letter for me on that day congratulating my marriage and telling me to be happy. That if I am happy, she will be happy too. After she left, she cut off all her communications with me and completely acted like I don’t exist.     

That was the day Jessica Jung’s heart died.   

“Until now you haven’t let go of that Jessica?” 

Let go?...

How can I let go when the moment I see you or her I am always reminded of what you did.

The air inside the unit became thick, too much emotions are brewing inside me that I should restrain. Because if I don’t... it will be a big fight again between us two.

“Look...” I took a deep breath turning my gaze away. “If you think what you are doing for Krystal is for her own best then I’m telling you, I won’t let you do what you want.”

“I’m the head of this family!”

“You WERE SUPPOSED to be the HEAD of this FAMILY. But have you forgotten my dear brother...? When you left us that day to enter the seminary, its decided. You devoted your life to your ‘clergy’ and forfeited any rights whatsoever in being the eldest.” he snorted at what i said shaking his head in disapproval. I’m just telling him the truth because its true.

Dad stripped him off of his material things that time. When Dad died, he basically didn’t have anything and was only left with his shares in the company that was already under his name when he turned 18 years old.

He’s a Priest. He doesn’t need riches and power... right?

He has to live following the path of the Lord and that is to live a simple life.

“I am still the eldest of us four!” his voice boomed in the four corners of the unit startling Yoona who was sitting near him. I kept my cool and took a sip of my tea again just looking at him, reading his expression. Tssss.

I know you too well Jung Hae In.

Don’t use that loud voice mechanism on me because I will not be afraid of it.

“O-oppa... please calm down.”

“Calm down?! Yoona how can I calm down if this sister of yours speaks like this to me! Dad will not be happy on his grave knowing how much you disrespect me Jessica!”

“Dad will be happy on what I am doing, believe me Hae In. Because i’m saving her precious youngest daughter from living a life she doesn’t deserve. I will not let you make Krystal’s life miserable like our lives.”

He reached for the tea cup on the table and threw it on the wall behind me surprising me and Yoona. His eyes bulging in anger while looking at me like anytime he cannot control it anymore that he will punch me. Tsss.

“OPPA!”

“WHY DO YOU ALWAYS MAKE ME LOOK LIKE A MONSTER TO OUR SISTERS!? I JUST WANT WHAT’S BEST FOR ALL OF YOU! A NORMAL HAPPY LIFE!”

“Normal? Are you sure its normal? Look at us! Look at Yoona! Married to a man she doesn’t love without any chance of getting out of her doomed marriage. And that fool still has the guts to have a mistress!”

“Look at me...” control your temper Jessica... control... “You ruined my life!”

“I admit I was a jerk back then!” 

“Until now you are!”

“What I did was for your own good! I was saving your soul! It is a SIN!”

“Don’t act like you are a Divine Being tasked to save everyone in this country! You stripped me off of my right to be with the person I love! I wish you just stayed inside the Seminary and never showed your face to us again. Nah, you joined the wrong house. You should have been a monk and live on the mountains.”

“Jess! Don’t say that! Oppa maybe you should just go back some other time.” I snickered at what Yoona said and stood up from the couch taking a few strides near the sliding door before turning to him. I have to distance myself on him or else i will lose it and maybe punch him again like when we were still kids.

Well... Mom isn’t here anymore to make me face the wall. Maybe I can lose control again just for once...

“I will not agree on that arrange marriage you are brewing for Krystal. Never. I don’t care if whoever chaebol son or Prince from a faraway country you want our sister to marry. She will make her own decision when it comes to this part of her life. Stamp that in your wide forehead Hae In.” 

“WHY YOU!...” 

“JESS! OPPA! STOP!”

“Why are you like that?! Can’t you just accept that whatever happened before was because of my own brotherly love for you?!”

“Brotherly love?! No. It was because you like controlling everything, you want everything to be polish after your own plan. You like seeing me fall down, you like the advantage you have. And you are a scheming scumbag until now.”

Yoona went to my side and took my arm. She was looking at me with her pleading eyes hoping we stop this fight. Sigh... always like this. She always try to stop us fighting asking us to calm down and talk about everything in a more acceptable manner even when we were still kids.

“Jess... please.” I bit my lips controlling my emotions. I took a glance at Krystal’s door and saw that it moved. They are listening... tsk tsk tsk. I told them to busy theirselves!

Sigh.

“Like I said, I don’t agree on what you want to happen. If you want to ask Krystal then ask her in front of us and not in private. But please be known that i will not support it Hae In...” I raised my left hand showing him the ring our Father left for me when he died. I have the power he doesn’t have. “Reality bites Hae In.”

“You don’t deserve that Jessica...” he sneered with envy looking at it. I gave him a smirk blowing air on the family ring Dad transferred to me. He can never have it. I won’t let him.

“I deserve this. You don’t. I’m not the one who left and ruined his sisters’ lives and still act like an innocent lamb in front of our Father. Krystal holds the Seal, I hold the ring, Yoona has the management of all properties.” 

“I’m not asking for material things--”

“Oh really? I wonder how much you will get from that family you want Krystal to marry into? Maybe enough dowry to keep you alive and have riches even if it isn’t allowed in your profession? I don’t understand you, really. If you need money, you could have ask me and I will give you. No need to sell our sister.”

He stood up from his seat, his eyes so sharp and jaws clenching in anger. Guilty as charge.

“I’m not going to waste my time on you. You can think any stupid thing you want! You are one vengeful woman… your soul is going to burn in Hell tsk tsk tsk.”

“Same as your soul Father Jung.” I answered him back with conviction. His face darkened that he has to take a deep breath and control his emotions in front of me. “Hae In… you haven’t change. You should improve that part of you, you know. Did you forgot to tell them there at the Seminary that you have Anger Management issues?”

“Shut up Jessica. I don’t want to hear your voice again. I suggest you pray the rosary and ask for forgiveness of your sins.” Sigh. Why do you always end our argument with a prayer advice?…

I shook my head not accepting his blabber. Sorry my Lord in Heaven if I will say this to my brother. “Did you forgot? I’m not in the same order of religion like you. We don’t do rosary but I do pray every day and night thanking the Lord that you are away from us.”  

“Yoona! Call Krystal!”

“YAH! WHAT AM I?! AMAZON’S NEW A.I. ROBOT!? DO YOU ALSO WANT ME TO CALL FRIED CHICKEN DELIVERY?!”

“Please just call Krystal so this will be over.”

“But Oppa...uhhh...she’s inside her room having a rest. She wasn’t feeling well since y-yesterday...” I gave Yoona a snicker then turned to our brother who looks so red in annoyance. He was pulling the collar of his shirt tugging it for air. “She’s resting. And besides... she has a visitor since last night so don’t dare disturb them.”

Yoona’s eyes went wide when I said it. I have too!

His eyes went all narrow, his nostrils flaring like a bull. I want to slap this in your face Hae In... you deserve to be slapped like this in the face with the truth.

“Visitor?! Since last night?! Who is it?”

“Her ‘friend’.” Ohhhhhhh~~~~ i love that look in his eyes! He looks like his little Princess and saviour will be taken away from him. This brother of mine is so protective of Krystal he won’t let anyone be close to his little Princess.

He even beat up to pulp that ex-boyfriend of Krystal back then who tricked her. Hae In was so mad he almost killed him if not for Dad stepping in and paying the family to be quiet. Well that shorty deserves it but still, Hae In was again saved by Dad from being a disgrace.

I wonder how would he react if he finds out his little Princess likes a Princess too.

He stared at me his eyes full of questions. I gave him a smirk and shook my head “Don’t even think about entering that door Hae In. Respect their privacy. That’s why Yoona and I are here in the living area, we are giving them the privacy their intimacy needs.” I turned to Yoona giving her a wink that she immediately got the meaning.

“OH. Ohhhh yes! Krystal and her friend is probably taking an afternoon nap Oppa, we just finished eating and Krystal said she wants to rest so her friend accompanied her to sleep. Yeah... don’t disturb them...they might be sleeping on the bed.” Hahahaha!!! She’s really a good actress! She should have followed Mom’s footsteps and became an actress too.

I saw how he clenched his fist on his side then turned around to approach Krystal’s room. If those two lovebirds followed what I said then everything will be going well based on my plan. Well those two... looks like we disturbed a very meaningful Sunday based on what Lt. Liu said, she just got back yesterday from her mission after 8 weeks.

He pushed the slightly opened door and stood there looking inside. Yoona and I trailed behind him and took a peek inside Krystal’s room seeing what this jerk of a brother we have is seeing.

A triumphant smile and smirk formed on the side of my lips seeing the two people by the wall having their moment of cheesiness. Tsssss... good kids.

“KRYSTAL!?!”

AMBER’S POV

She was listening intently on what her siblings are discussing outside when I called her in a whisper. “Sajang-nim...”

“Hmmm…?”

“Sajang-nim….” Look at me…come on…

She turned to me with a face I can’t help but smile. Why is she pouting like that?

I reached for her face cupping it, squishing her cheeks to pucker her lips. She snorted at what I did but obviously liking it. “Whut?!…”

“Can I ask for your permission?”

“Whut?”

I contemplated a little if I should say it or not. Well… its still her call.

“Amber?”

“Ummm… Can I… like… stay here… with you…”

“For a few days?” she asked.

I shook my head and leaned forward to whisper at her ears that made her chuckle.

“It depends on you…”

“If I ask you to stay here with me for the rest of your life… will you?”

We stared at each other reading what our eyes are saying.

Such a hard demand from her… but…

“Define ‘rest of your life’.” She burst out in a laugh, grabbing the back of my head for a kiss that made me smile.

I broke the kiss and stared at her lovely face, my thumb brushing on her cheeks. She was staring at me too with a smile on her face raising her brows playfully then crinkled her nose cutely. I let out a quiet  laugh because I can’t deny the fact that this woman really got me.

Should I consider a Honourable Discharge now? Or wait until my last mission before finally leaving the forces?

Surely… 11 years is already too long.

I already fulfilled all my duties to the Army and to my Delta Force team. My contract with Delta will end soon and when it ends, I can choose not to renew.

At 30, maybe its time I start living my life… 

The life that for 11 years I prayed so hard to end by a single bullet or explosion. But like what Krystal said last night...

Its not yet my time.

I snickered at the thought and smiled at Krystal who gave me a playful snort. She wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her head on my chest giving me a warm and tight hug that made me smile again like a fool. That feels good… I could get use to this.

We stayed like that just holding each other while listening to the faint voices outside. It sounds like they are having a word fight and no one intends to back down. This family surely is weird like what I thought of.

“Are they always like that?”

“Yeah, even when we were still kids. Sometimes they are okay, a lot of times they are not. Jess and Hae In oppa only reconciles when Yoona unnie forces them to reconcile or when its me asking them to do for the sake of being siblings.”

“They sure have a lot of reason to hate each other.”

“Tsss… Jessica unnie only has one person as the reason.”

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