Chapter 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her striking beauty, her graceful and soft figure made him freeze in his place and his eyes to widen. Matthew, known among his friends for his fluent and tactful capabilities of speech, suddenly became unable to speak.

 

 "I apologize for the delay. You must have waited a lot."

 

 He stares at her while she is talking until she finishes her words. She looks at him with a questioning expression, confused by his silence. Moments of silence pass between them before he takes notice of himself and lets out:

 

 "Oh no..it's nothing."

 

Jisoo smiles and points to sofa in front of her.

 

"Please..have a seat."

 

Matthew sits and then Jisoo sits opposite of him.

 

 "Oh umm, I apologize for the fuss that my men previously caused. I will make sure that they receive the appropriate punishment." Matthew starts with a gentle tone.

 

 - "Punishment? It doesn't require any punishment."

 

He stills for a moment, surprised by Jisoo's comment. That was unexpected.

 

 "Oh no. I meant that they would receive the appropriate reprimand so that the matter won't happen again.  However, this is not why I came here. But first of all, we still didn't introduce ourselves yet."

 

"Right..I apologize, I'm Jisoo Kim." She says extending her hand.

 

"And I am Matthew Park, nice to meet you." He shakes her hand back.

 

"Nice to meet you too."

 

" So, since we like to get to know our new neighbors, what brought you here? For business, perhaps?" 

 

"A vocation actually...although I'm still working, so maybe yeah..for business too."

 

"That's great, what kind of business you run?"

He says taking the cup of coffee to take a sip.

 

"Design & Games development, the K.S. Branch." 

 

He moves the cup away, squinting his eyes.

 

"K.S. Holdings? You mean the businessman Kim Sehun's Holdings?" 

 

"Yes, glad that you know my father." She's says and raises her cup of coffee and drinks.

 

Hearing that, he stills and looks with a straight expressions, feeling shocked.

 

"You're father?" He asks in disbelief. 

 

"Yeah." Jisoo adds a little bit amused at his reaction. 

 

 "Of course I know him! His trademark is very well known here." Matthew exclaimes suddenly, changing his previous expressions. "We were actually hoping that we would cooperate with your company one day, with your father I mean." He finishes with lowering his tone at the end.

 

"Really? My dad was thinking of investing on Jeju Island as well."

 

"What a beautiful coincidence." He adds with a broad smile.

 

Matthew then introduces himself further and talks about their business; his father owns a fishing and shipping company under the name of Park holdings, and he is now its CEO, in other words, his father's representative.

 

Jisoo and Matthew continue with their conversation. Most of it was about work and how profitable it will be to both companies if they cooperate together, Matthew tries to prolong the conversation and gain admiration on the pretext that he introduces her to the different and beautiful areas of Jeju Island since she's still new to them, so he invites her to dinner as an opportunity to discuss business matters as well. Their conversation ends with Jisoo agreeing to the invitation, and the date to be after three days.

 

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 "Jisoo..Kim. Jisoo Kim..even her name is beautiful.." Matthew mumbles to himself, sitting on the sofa opposite his bed, which is a distance away from him.  In the darkness of the room, which includes some dim light from the outside, he dives into his private world thinking what an angel he saw today.

 

 She is like the first of her kind.  Beautiful, educated, charismatic, and above all, her father is Kim Sehun.

 

'Unfortunately.'

 

No wonder her servant didn't welcome his men. 

 

She also told him that she runs one of the departments of their company, what was it? Something related to the games..uh yes..the games development and design department.

 

A sheepish smile forms on his face.

 

Despite his assertive and fearful appearance, Matthew actually has zero resistance to beautiful women. This made him get fooled by many who wanted to use him for his money, and he learned his lesson and didn't get into any relationship for a long time, nor a serious one. Well..at least this's how it was until he met Jisoo.  All his decisions and composure withered without him even realizing it.

 

His track of thoughts gets cut when suddenly the light turns on and finds his father standing at the door, looking displeased.

 

 "What is this? Whoever sees this room thinks he entered a garbage!"

 

 "Dad!" Matthew says as he gets up with a fake smile, ignoring his father's remark.

 

"For whom I owe this beautiful surprise?"

 

"Stop playing and tell me, how is he?"

 

"Oh..the man..yeah. I hate to break it to you, but he's just a wealthy man who wanted to spend his vacation here and will return to his miserable life once it ends, nothing else is interesting about him."

 

 "So in other words, he's not a threat."

 

 Matthew nods and his father stares at him a little and then truns around and goes out.

 

There's no way he's going to tell this fool about anything about her, especially the fact that she's the daughter of Kim Sehun. 

 

'Not this time dad. I cannot allow you to destroy another life.'

 

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 "Any news about that matter?"

 

"Until now there is nothing." Min Yoo answers as he stands beside Jisoo who is sitting behind her desk.

 

 "For the passed three days, we looked at most care homes and foster houses for people with special needs, and we didn't find any match for the specifications of girls in the records. "

 

 "This's strange. Is it possible that they might never entered one?"

 

 "Probably, however, we will continue searching." He pauses for a second and departs. "Umm, can I ask you something?"

 

 "Go ahead." She says, busy turning and checking the papers on her desk.

 

 "Why do you care so much about them? I mean, you look after them very much, isn't this a bit too much for people you just met?"

 

 Jisoo stops what she is doing and wanders off with her eyes as if she's thinking.

 

 "Hmm..I don't know, should there be a strong reason to help someone?"

 

 "Of course not! But.. how do I say it? You literally gave them your house to live in.. this is not-"

 

 "When I was young, my father used to buy me a Barbie doll every time he missed my birthday or a show at school I had a role in." Jisoo interrupts with a calm tone. 

 

"At that time, I had a group of them, they were beautiful and so I loved them and didn't argue with my father about not attending any of the events. I was putting them in front of me and look at them as if they were real, I gave them names too." She chuckles remembering that.

 

"I brush their hair and choose beautiful clothes for them, I used to enjoy doing that." She says with remorseful expression on her face.

" I think this is similar to it in a way..the girls, I mean. Besids, it's quite boring here..don't you think?" She finishes with a wide smile.

 

 Min Yoo nods to her, ignoring the question marks that popped into his head.

 

He knows that what she meant is that she loves to care for others, well..particular others obviously because back in Seoul she doesn't act this way, but whoever hears her now will think that she's some kind of a psycho, treating them like her toys.

 

There's only one thing he's sure of; Jisoo is such a complicated person with a complicated personality.

 

After they finish work, Jisoo walks towards the office door with Min Yoo following her. And once she opens it, she encounters Jennie, coming from the third floor.

 

They seem to be meeting like this a lot.

 

Jisoo stills while she stares at Jennie, who was doing the same.

 

When he sees them like this, Min Yoo tells Jisoo that he would head down first and leaves them alone.

 

 Jisoo begins to approach Jennie, walking towards her with a steady steps with her expressions fixed, and a sharp gaze. Until she gets close to Jennie and stops, leans forward a little as she looks at the sides her of face. Surprisingly, Jisoo holds Jennie's chin and tilts it up a little, her eyes travel from Jennie's forehead down to her jaw, looks like she is searching for something.

 

 "It seems that the scratches have almost disappeared.. good."

 

Jisoo says as she moves her hand away to then she turns around and heads down stairs, leaving Jennie confused, holding her chin as she looks lost.

 

Is this what she wanted? She was about to think that she had discovered something about her!

 

What is wrong with her? She has been like this for the passing three days, When she sees her, she just stares at her with cold gaze and doesn't talk much. Well,  it's not like she were talking a lot, but there is something different about her now. 

 

 Is she mad at her for what happened in the back yard?  Did she across the line with her? She can't think of anything else that she did other than this! Okay..so maybe she did across the line but that was..

 

A bad idea.

 

 Without being aware of herself, she changes her hand placement from her chin to her cheek.

 

Even if it was for a few seconds, she can swear she saw her smiling, she was having fun too. Apparently, she was wrong and that she was the only one who felt like that.

 

 Ah..Why does she busy her mind with it? she can feel whatever the hell she wants. She doesn't care.

 

 .  . . . . . . . 

 

 

Jennie arrives to the living room and finds Jisoo sitting on the sofa, with Chaeyoung in front of her, sitting on the ground. Her back rests on Jisoo's legs while she's doing a braid for Chaeyoung who's holding bag of chips and is watching the movie shown on TV, Frozen.

 

What is that? Since when they become this close?  She noticed this since yesterday, Chaeyoung had just gone out of the shower and was lazy to have her hair done. When Jisoo saw her like that, she just went and did her hair for her!

 

 Like..hello? Chaeyoung has two hands, she can do it for herself!

 And now she's braiding her hair? While she doesn't even smile for Jennie anymore? 

 

She turnes to Lisa, who was sitting on the nearby sofa while she was watching the movie too, and goes and sits next to her while she looks at Jisoo grimly.

 

Jisoo furrows as she feel some kind of bad energy surrounds her as she finishes braiding Chaeyoung's hair.

 

'Why did I just get the chills?'

 

 After finishing her bag of chips, Chaeyoung sneaks towards Lisa who was so immersed in the movie to notice her and takes the bowl of chips in front of her then she returns to her place. And Jennie was watching the whole thing. 

 

'I swear Lisa is on some kind of crack.'

 

 

 

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In her room, Jisoo stands in front of the mirror as she prepares herself and puts the final touches of makeup on her face.

 

Matthew is supposed to come around eight o'clock, which means in less than an hour. Although Jisoo had agreed to his invitation to dinner, she's still not sure of her desire to go, wondering what prompted her to agree in the first place, is it because she feels bored?  Curiosity perhaps?  Or just a way of a get back? 

 

Really, What is she doing? When Matthew invited her , for a moment she thought it was a good opportunity to return the betrayal. Now she realizes that it was a hasty decision from her, and..well, a childish one. It is not as if he would somehow know that She's on a date with another man! He doesn't care at all, and their relationship is over. And it’s not like she cares too anyway.

 

 She can't go back on her words now, enough thinking about useless things. This is just a business dinner.

 

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(In Seoul)

 

 

 "Hey !! Hey !! Here! I'm here !!"

 

"Stop screaming. We are in a fine restaurant, would you calm down?" He says as he drags his friend towards the table.

 

 "Oh, come on, what's wrong with you? We haven't met since high school, of course. I would be eager to meet you!"

 

"Well, I understand. Just lower your voice."

 

They reach the table which his friend previously reserved for them and take their seats. After the dinner plates are laid, his friend turns his attention to him.

 

 "So! What you been up to?"

 

 -"nothing." he answers coldly. 

 

 "How're you doing?"

 

 -" Fine."

 

 "Your business?"

 

 -"Going very well."

 

 "Ladies and gentlemen, we reached the end of tonight's episode , and we will meet you again tomorrow in the next episode!" His friend exclaims raising his arm as if he is talking to an audience. 

 

"Hey! what are you doing?" He says in a whisper feeling the eyes of other costumers on them.

 

 "What am I doing? Ask yourself! Are we in an interview? What's with these short answers? Really, I'm starting to feel like you didn't want to come." His friend replies, kind of looking sad.

 

 - "Oh, don't be like that! I'm just tired of work,  and you know me, if I really don't want to here, I simply won't." He states firmly.

 

 "Anyway, what's the important thing that you asked to meet me for?"

 

- "As expected! That's all you care about!" His friend adds and he just rolls her eyes.

 

"Just talk."

 

 "Umm..you know about the Inkigayo festival that will be held next month?"

 

"You mean the dance event?  What about it?" He says as he start eating his dinner.

 

 "Our family will participate in it."

 

 - "Good for-"

 

 "With Kim Jisoo." 

 

He stops eating as soon as he hears the name.

 

-" What?"

 

 "Kim Jisoo will be my dance partner, I mean, not yet, but-"

 

 "She will participate in the party? Kim Jisoo? No way! She cannot tolerate such gatherings. Who told you this?" He scoffs with a fake smile that indicates sarcasm and disbelief.

 

 - "Oh..nobody,  I found her name among those who were invited to the party and who will also participate. And, well, our company is now in a critical state and being with Kim Jisoo as my partner will help us a lot. So I invited her, my intuition tells me that she will agree." His friend says smiling with contentment.

 

 "And why are you telling me this, Jackson?" He says with a dry tone.

 

 - "Because..hmm, I already knew that you were in a relationship, so I want to make sure-"

 

 "It doesn't matter. You said it. We were in a relationship, meaning there is nothing between us now! You don't have to worry." He says in a stressed tone, irritated.

 

 - "Well, okay, calm down..as you say, JinYoung." Jackson says it with a malicious smile on his face while Jin Young was looking at his plate.

 

 "Oh, then let's finish our dinner!"

 

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 Standing next to the window, looking outward, Jennie keeps taking deep breaths and let it out. Her way of relaxing and clearing her mind.

 

Her eyes wanders away from the sky until she sees a luxury car heading towards the mansion.

 

She heard that Jisoo will go out this evening for a work date, is that it? She can't see him from here, He looks rich too. What is she saying? Of course he will be rich like her too!

 

There's no way a girl like her would want to go out with just anybody.

 

She sighs and moves away from the window, thinking she might go and take a walk around the back garden for some time.

 

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 Matthew enters the main gate of the mansion to the parking lot, gets out of his luxury car and sees Min Yoo standing, waiting for him.

 

 "Welcome, Mr. Matthew. Come this way with me."

 

 - "No..no, I'll wait for her here."

 

 "Are you sure? The maid is on her way to inform her of your arrival, it will only take seconds." 

 

 - "Yes, I'm sure." He says with a gentle smile. "The weather is nice here, a few seconds won't hurt." 

 

 "As you like."

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 "I am glad that you liked it here."

 Matthew turns around once he hears her husky voice and playful tone as she approaches him, and he freezes there for a moment, looking at her with amazed eyes.

 

'Breathtaking.'

 

She walks closer to them and stands next to Min Yoo. In front of her, Matthew stands looking at her with eyes almost glistening at her beauty.

 

 "Kim Jisoo, good evening to you..

 

 You look so beautiful" He says as he takes Jisoo's hand and prints lightly kiss on the back of her hand.

 

 "Good evening, Matthew, thanks for waiting."

 

"My pleasure." He says leaving her hand gently. "So, if we're finished here, would we start going?  I'd like to show you a lot of places while we're going to the restaurant."

 

 "Wait? So we’re not going directly to the restaurant?"

 

 - "Oh, of course if you want-"

 

 "Then I will drive!" Jisoo interrupts him with an enthusiastic tone, trying not to look too excited.

 

" What? No, no ... I'm the one who invited you, I'm the one who should drive." 

 

"Matthew, it's already decided." She states confidently and he tries to talk with her and convince her otherwise but she doesn't seem to be listening anymore. It's no use.

 

Who ho knows her, knows her love for driving and taking the lead, and it's not limited to driving cars, but leading and pioneering in everything. She loves speed and cannot hide her enthusiasm once any subject related to this, is opened.

 

Matthew keeps opposing her to let them go in his car and Jisoo keeps insisting that they would go in her private car, the Porsche, which she had always wanted to drive on an exploratory tour. Leaving Matthew with no choice but to accept. Watching Jisoo's smile, he decides to let her behave as she'd like on that date if she is going to smile like that.

 

Jisoo asks Min Yoo to retrieve the car keys that are in her office's desk drawer.  Min Yoo goes away from them, and Matthew moves to stand next to Jisoo, describing where they will go.

 

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Min Yoo heads to the office, and takes wide steps at the stairs so that he won’t be late. He enters the office and takes the keys and goes out.

 

Closing the door, his phone rings and he raises it to see who's calling.

 

It's Kim Sehun, Jisoo's father.

 

He stills for a second, surprised. It must be important, otherwise why would he call him on his private phone, and not Jisoo?

 

Min Yoo, despite spending half his life with the Kim family and getting used to them and despite his age, he still keeps his manners and the border between the servant and his master.

 

And he can't answer the call without being late for his lady, Jisoo.

 

He pauses momentarily until he sees Jennie coming from downstairs.  He stops her quickly and hands her the keys and tells her to go to the front yard quickly to give them to Jisoo and stresses that she should go and speed up now. As soon as he tells her, he raises the phone and answers the call and heads back to the office.

 

 "Oh yes sir, I'm with you."

 

Jennie stands stunned, trying to understand what just happened, until she does and she rushes downstairs.

 

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 Jisoo and Matthew are waiting for Min Yoo to come with the keys.  After Matthew finishes his talk about the places they're going to visit, silence prevails between them, but it is not an uncomfortable silence.  Jisoo was looking at the sky and sometimes she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, leaving the fresh air entering all the cells of her body. It's same case to Matthew except that he doesn't look at the sky but rather at Jisoo whenever she closes her eyes, and when she opens them, he turns his gaze toward the trees quickly.

 

 Jisoo's phone rings, breaking the silence and she takes it out from her bag.

 

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 Jennie, who was about to get out from the mansion, hears the sound of the phone ringing. Turning her attention to the direction of the sound, she sees Jisoo answering the phone, and next to her, a man with white hair is standing.  Both of them were standing opposite of each other while Jisoo's back is facing her. They are kind of far from her and so she cannot see his face very well. She approaches them, getting more closer and the more she gets closer to them the more she becomes more curious and suspicious about the man.

 

Was he the one who was in the car before?  

 

'seems familiar..'

 

 Why does she feel like She has seen him befo-

 

Jennie freezes in her place when the identity of the man in front of her becomes clear to her as he take notice of her presence too.

 

 

 "Jennie?"

 

 

 

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To be continued 

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