013 - unravelling secrets
Compelling Affection
Jisoo woke up with the smell of fresh coffee on the round small table by the window. She looked around to see if anyone was in the room, but a second later she thought the maid must have left it there for her morning treat. She sat up and stretched her arms, it felt like she had just awaken from deep slumber for days. It had been a good sleep for her, seemed like the trip from Seoul and the overwhelming surprises that Yixing had showered her for the whole evening had really wasted so much of her energy. And the bed was supposedly, Yixing informed her, equipped with the e-Ion Crystal thingy that reduced fatigue and everything, so yeah, she indeed had a sound better sleep overall.
She slid off from the bed to have a sip on the coffee, which tasted so good too. She had no idea why everything seemed to feel and taste much better here than ones she had back home, but if these were the things that she could enjoy for being Yixing's fiancée, it's not actually that bad. It wasn't until last night that she found out that he was some kind of a royalty heir of China, and even though she was used of the luxury that her family had afforded for her life, she had to say that Yixing's family was still in another level, way above them. And suddenly it came to her mind whether her parents knew about all this, or why they never told her about his ostentatiously fortune.
The sun had risen high enough to show that the snow was falling quite heavily out there. While enjoying her coffee, Jisoo stood behind the balcony door to enjoy the view that was now clearly visible before her eyes. She was amazed to see how big the green field that stretched behind the palace, then she saw a tangerine orchard with their riped fruits hanging in a deep yellow color and also pine forest with their high trees; this was the most solemn and soothing sight she had ever witnessed in her entire life, besides the backyard in her grandparents house.
After finishing her coffee, she took a quick warm shower seeing that it's probably about the time for her to officialy greet Yixing's parents. He told her to be ready around nine, and she just finished drying her hair and came out from the ensuite bathroom when she saw Yixing's mother was in the room.
"Good morning!" she chirped in her morning excitement. Jisoo was slightly agaped to find her there instead of his son, that she was so awkwardly freezing on her feet.
"Oh, Ayí, good morning."
"Did you sleep well? The bed's good?" she asked her in her accented broken Korean. She really wanted to tell her that she didn't have to speak to her formally, but Jisoo held herself because she wanted to respect Yixing's mother effort. She probably rehearsed it before, just like how she did the same with her short speech about her that evening after the Chuseok dinner (Yixing happened to tell her about that just to laugh on it).
"Yes, it's very comfortable, I had a very good sleep." she replied her with a wide smile on her face.
"Good, good. So Yixing wanted me to send you his apology, he had this, you know, um," she tilted her head to stare at the ceiling as seemingly trying to remember the word she was about to say, but when she failed to recall it, she held up her hand instead.
"Wait," she fished out her phone from her blazer, and Jisoo couldn't help to chuckle. She walked out to her and hold her hands in hers.
"Ayí, you can speak comfortably. I can understand you very well." she spoke in her fluent Mandarin, which taken her aback by her sudden change of language.
"Ey? You speak Mandarin too? But Yixing said..."
"Yixing has been under impression that I don't speak Mandarin. And he was enjoying himself being an accurate translator for me, I didn't want to ruin his fun. Let it be our little secret." she put her fore finger on , and then they laughed on it.
"You, little Meimei is so mischievous, but since it's very cute of you to think of him that way, then I should play along, shouldn't I?" she let out a a knowing smile, which Jisoo replied with a double nod and laughed again.
"Okay then," Yixing's mother started to change her language, "What I was about to tell you is, Yixing is having a doctor appointment in Beijing since the early morning, so he won't be around until lunch. It's a last minute schedule so he couldn't change that. I'll keep you company until then, I hope you'll be okay with that."
"That would be fine, Ayí. But why is he having a doctor's appointment? Is he sick?" she couldn't help to ask and feeling a bit worried. He had been overworked himself these past four months, who knew maybe even much longer before that and she was wondering if it'd been taking a toll on him.
"Oh, so Yixing hasn't told you about his injury yet?" she shook her head, she followed Yixing's mother to get out of her room as they walked to the diningroom to have breakfast together. "Yixing was a basketball athlete on high school. He took his responsibility very seriously as a team captain and practiced everyday when the national championship coming near. All I knew, he injured himself while the team was having their practice play or something, but he let it untreated properly until the championship was over. His team won, but then he just collapsed. It's supposed to be a light injury, but since he held it in, it became a long-term damage on his lumbar spine. And he has been having a therapy with his doctor for about ten years, but since he moved to Seoul, he didn't really have time to treat it properly again, hence the appointment."
Jisoo hissed as if she could feel the pain Yixing was feeling right now. Her heart broke for him, and at the same time she also felt sad because Yixing never told her about this. Jisoo did catch his expression several times as if he was holding back pain when stretching his muscles, but Yixing always reasoned that it because he got a frostbite for sitting too long or he just felt tired.
Yixing's mother looked like she could see what happened seeing her reaction, she gave her a reassuring pat on her arm for that. "He certainly doesn't want to worry you, it's just like him. Even I just found out what happened after we did an in-depth check of the injury. He didn't tell anyone about this, that crazy kid." she shook her head for her own exasperation.
"He even still overworks himself knowing he has this injury," she commented in concerned.
"It's just in his blood, Meimei, we can't change that. Yixing, his father, his grandfather and all the men in the family are those typical workaholics. That, plus he's also the only grandson from his father's side of the family, so he feels that he has this high responsibilty to uphold the legacy that has been passed on him." she then glanced sideways, "Please bear with him, Meimei. He told me how supportive you are with his work, and I can't feel more than grateful for that. But please bear with him, and just, take care of him. He even forgets to eat if he's too focused on his work, it really breaks my heart. I can't be always be around to check on him, and he's always busy when I call."
His mother sighed and Jisoo couldn't stop herself to brush her arms to console her. It was funny how they do that to each other while tal
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