Chapter eleven

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He pulled me into his house, holding my hand, smiling excitedly. “Mom? Dad? You home?” Jiyong shouted, looking into the empty lounge.

I could hear voices in the kitchen. “Yeah, honey. We’re in here,” Sunmin called.

Jiyong smiled happily and dragged me to the kitchen. Sunmin was baking cookies and Hyunsuk was busy trying to eat the cookie mix straight from the bowl, making her laugh and hit his hand with the wooden spoon. I chuckled at the scene. They were always like this, she was the perfect housewife and mother, and he adored her and Jiyong, which was really sweet.

“Hey, Dara. Long time no see,” Hyunsuk said, grabbing me into a hug, which made my heart race.

“Hey, Hyunsuk. Hi, Sunmin. How are you?” I asked cheerfully.

“We’re great! Dee, I would hug you but I’m covered in cookies, honey.” Sunmin frowned, holding up her hands in evidence.

“Yeah, I can see that! They smell so good,” I said, eyeing the already baked ones on the plate on the counter.

She passed the plate to me and I happily took one, smiling. “Thanks.”

“Hey! You said I couldn’t have one because they were cooling,” Hyunsuk whined, pouting, making me laugh; she picked up a cookie and tossed it at him with a wink.

“Um guys, I was wondering if you wanted to meet my girlfriend. Maybe she could have dinner with us tonight?” Jiyong suggested, putting his hand on the small of my back.

A grin spread across Sunmin’s face. She looked so happy that I actually thought she was actually holding back tears. “Oh, Ji! I’d love to meet her! I still can’t believe you have a girlfriend. You spent all this time saying that there was only one girl for you and now you’re finally able to move on and actually date someone!” she cooed, practically bursting with excitement and pride.

“Yeah OK, Mom, tone it down a bit, huh?” Jiyong mumbled, rolling his eyes.

“So, what time is she coming? Have you met her, Dee? Is she nice?” Sunmin asked, beaming at me. I looked at Jiyong, unsure what to say. This whole situation was laughable. And did she say that Jiyong had always said there was only one girl for him?

“Actually, Mom, she’s here right now,” Jiyong said proudly, rubbing my back gently and smiling at me. His eyes bore into mine, making my whole body feel a little hotter. Sunmin jumped and wiped her hands on a cloth, quickly fixing her hair frantically before she practically ran to the hallway. OK, weird! “Mom, what are you doing?” Jiyong asked, laughing; I noticed that Hyunsuk was staring at Jiyong’s hand on my back, a wide grin on his face.

“Well, is she parking the car or something?” Sunmin asked, looking back at Jiyong before glancing at the front door again. He laughed harder and Hyunsuk and I chuckled too.

“Mom, this is my girlfriend. Her name is Sandara Park.” Liam beamed proudly at me as I pressed myself closer to him.

Sunmin’s face snapped to look at me, shocked. Slowly, her face turned to happiness, then complete bliss, as she laughed and ran to me, grabbing both me and Jiyong into a big hug. “Oh my gosh! Finally, you two got together? Finally!” she almost screamed, jumping up and down on the spot.

Jiyong wrapped his arm round my waist and pulled me impossibly closer to him. “Yeah, finally,” he confirmed, rolling his eyes, but looking amused at the same time. Hyunsuk put his hand out to Jiyong. They shook hands in a very grown up gesture, before he pulled him into a bear hug.

After all of the excitement had died down, we had dinner. It was really nice to be sat with Jiyong’s parents like this, they honestly didn’t stop smiling. Every time Liam and I touched each other, Sunmin would sigh happily, beaming at us.

“Right, you boys can clear the table!” Sunmin ordered, grabbing my arm and pulling me to the lounge.

“I am so happy for you two. Ji’s told you he’s been in love with you for years, right?” she beamed. My breath caught in my throat at her choice of words. She thought that Jiyong was in love with me? He wasn’t in love with me, was he? Did he really whisper that he loved me last night before I fell asleep?

“Er, he told me he’s liked me for a long time, yeah,” I mumbled, a little uncomfortably.

She rolled her eyes. “Liked, jeez that boy has been smitten with you from the get go. I mean, he still calls you Angel for goodness sake!” she laughed.

I looked at her, confused. “What does that have to do with anything?” I asked, frowning. I really loved Sunmin, but sometimes she can be a little crazy.

“He’s never told you why he calls you that?” she asked, smirking at me. I shook my head, and she chuckled darkly. “The first time we met you was at Ji’s sixth birthday party. You’d not long moved in and we thought it would be nice, you know, to invite the neighbours to the party,” she started, nodding enthusiastically.

“Yeah, I remember. You had balloons everywhere, and a clown that did magic tricks.” I smiled; the Kwons’ always did throw the best parties, even kids parties.

“That’s right. So anyway, you and your brother came to the party and as soon as you walked through the door, Ji just stared at you. He literally couldn’t take his eyes off of you. You smiled and said happy birthday to him, but he couldn’t even speak to you, so you walked off to go dance. He turned to me, and do you know what he said to me?” she asked, her eyes tearing up. I shook my head. What the heck is she going to say? This is freaking me out a little! “He said in a deadly s