The old house

Mount Halla

 

They were eating breakfast at Cafe Bene, at Domestic Terminal, Jeju International Airport. Kyuhyun had bought their tickets after he had gotten the confirmed closure schedule for winter, for the hiking trail. 

"Kyu, we go to my late Halmeoni's house first to see the condition?"

"Sure, we have plenty of time to see your halmeoni's house. Anyway I've make reservation to rent a car at Gimpo, so we can leave our luggage in the car and hotel check-in is only at 2pm".

"Thanks Kyu. You always think of everything! I never thought of renting a car!"

Kyuhyun chuckled "Whenever I visited my family, I rented a car too. It's easier to move around"

"We will be visiting them too, right?" 

"Yes, I want to introduce my fiance to my family" Kyuhyun reached across the table and took her hand and kiss it, making Sungmin giggled. He her new ring that he had bought and which he had put it on her ring finger. It was a white gold with a sapphire diamond, and he bought a matching male version silver ring for himself too. 

They queued to onboard the flight to Gimpo. Later after Sungmin sat at her seat, she touched her head as memories flooded back, she remembered that she took a flight to Jeju and she sat alone. Her ex-boyfriend had dump her and she had lost her job too, but she couldn't recall what was her previous job. 

"Bunny, you okay?" Kyuhyun asked her while helping her to buckle up. "You recall some things?" and when she nodded, he said "Just relax and take it easy okay. I'm here with you, and you are not alone anymore" and he intertwined their hands to make her feel better. 

After they had landed at Gimpo airport, Kyuhyun called the car rental company, and one of the staff had picked them up and drove them to the car rental office to make payment. 

Thirty minutes later, they were on their way to Sungmin's late grandmother house. Kyuhyun had brought along the two addresses that Donghae had given him, which one of it was at Gwangneung, and he was driving there now. 

Sungmin was quiet the whole journey, and Kyuhyun became concerned. What was going through her mind? She must have recalled more things and it must be those unhappy things that led to her runaway to Jeju. 

"Kyu... can we stop after the junction in front? There is this shop that I frequented last time, to eat something, though I can't recall what was it. The ahjuma knows me..." 

"Okay... Is it here?" Kyuhyun looked around and when Sungmin nodded, he looked for a parking lot.

There was a few side road booth, and Sungmin automatically walked and pulled Kyuhyun to the 1st booth, covered with plastic shield all around it. 

An elderly lady gestured them to sit and walked towards them to get their orders. When she realised it was Sungmin, she welcomed her happily! "Sungminnie!! Where have you been all these while? You told me that you are taking a break for a few days in Jeju 5 months ago but after that you never visited me anymore!" the Ahjuma gave her a hug and looked appreciatively at her face as she has grown prettier. 

Sungmin remembered her face "I am fine, Ahjuma. It's a long story but I have decided to stay in Jeju" and Sungmin turned to Kyuhyun "Ahjuma, this is my fiance, Cho Kyuhyun. Kyu, this is Song Ahjuma that helps me a lot last time after halmeoni passed away". 

"Annyeong, Ahjuma" Kyuhyun bowed at her. "Nice to meet you!" 

"Good good. You found a good man!! Better than that good for nothing Kangin! I heard he kept beating his wife after she gave birth. Tsk tsk horrible man" she shook her head "Okay, sit down sit down. I get the usual for you, and to your fiancé too okay?!!" she said to Kyuhyun and she quickly walked back to her cooking stove. 

Kyuhyun looked around and looked outside. This was the first time he came to Gwangneung. 

Gwangneung is more well-known for its Gwangneung Forest, and Kyuhyun planned to visit the Korea National Arboretum and Forest Museum, which he saw in an article that it has several beautiful walks, tunnel and parks surrounding the area. Eversince he stayed in Jeju, he loves nature and preferred the outskirt rather than the busy life of city area. 

It turned out that Bunny's favourite dish was none other than chicken soup with fish cake as the side dish. They ate happily and later Kyuhyun paid and after providing Ahjuma Bunny's contact number in Jeju, they waved at Song ahjuma and left. 

It was just a 17 minutes drive to the late Halmeoni's house. It was on a medium-size plot of land, and the house looked old but has beautiful wooden traditional architecture. Bunny brought along the keys from her backpack that the police had found, and tried to unlock the padlock, which became unlocked and then she tried to unlock the main door. It opened to a clean but simple home. Kyuhyun pointed to some letters at the letterbox outside the door, so Bunny retrieved them and brought them inside. 

"Wow, you have a lovely home here" Kyuhyun whistled and walked around. The house has 2 bedrooms a small living area, a common bathroom and a kitchen. Kyuhyun opened a window and he saw a small garden but all the plants had withered. 

Bunny walked into a room, and stood there. It was her late halmeoni's room and though small, it was tidy and clean. She must have cleaned it before she left. Next to this room was her room, and she sat on her bed, looking at everything, and now she could remember most of her things. Kyuhyun joined her and sat next to her, put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. 

"So, this is your room? You really love pink!" Kyuhyun chuckled because her bedspread was pink, her old curtains was pink and her tissue box was pink too. 

Bunny laughed and got up. She opened her small wardrobe and took out a ring notebook. "This is my recipe book, from halmeoni!" she showed Kyuhyun happily. She found a pink duffle bag, and she told Kyuhyun that she would pack some of her stuff to bring back to Jeju. Kyuhyun nodded and kissed her temple and told her that he wanted to look around the house, and walked out. 

Bunny started putting in some of her clothings, undergarments, her personal staff, a picture frame of herself and halmeoni, and some books. She remembered there was a folder, and she found it in the wardrobe drawer! It was a folder which she kept Halmeoni's ID and details, her own birthday certificate, her bank book, the land deeds and the house ownership which halmeoni had transferred to her. 

"Kyu, shall we go?" Bunny called Kyuhyun who was looking around outside. 

Kyuhyun walked back towards her who was standing at the main door "Okay, let's go" he took her bag while she locked the door. 

After they have checked-in to a nearby hotel and Bunny had freshened-up, Kyuhyun drove to his family's home. He had already told them about Bunny and they couldn't wait to meet her. 

Mrs Cho likes Bunny and both herself and Mr Cho gave their blessings for their marriage. They promised to fly to Jeju to attend their wedding. 

Even Kyuhyun's sister was happy that Bunny came into her brother's life, at least he could lead a meaningful life instead of just climbing mountains! Of course she got kicked on the leg by Kyuhyun who clarified that it wasn't 'climbing' mountains but 'hiking', and being a trained doctor has its advantages, he could take care of the injured and prevent further injuries! 

Ahra had said "Yeah yeah, my brother is good! And Bunny, please tame him to practice his doctor job more". Bunny laughed and said that she will try but since Kyuhyun loved nature, she might fail in her attempt! 

They went for dinner together with the Cho's, and they had a great time getting to know more about Bunny and about the fried crispy fish balls that she sold at the trail area. They praised her for being resourceful and business-minded and also for being a good cook. Ahra nudged Kyuhyun and said that he was such a lucky man to find a good wife-to-be. 

Bunny felt so grateful that Kyuhyun's family had accepted her, and now she felt more at ease. She hope that her own family would give their blessings too. 

The hotel that they were staying was a 2 bedroom junior suite and there were a small living room with a sofa set. After shower, both Kyuhyun and Sungmin sat at the sofa set and Sungmin was showing Kyuhyun the house deed and the transfer of ownership to her name. 

"Oh wow, you own the old house! So you own a property!" Kyuhyun . 

"But I'm not sure if Appa is agreeable for me to owned it and to sell it. He probably wanted to take it since halmeoni was his mother. Rightfully halmeoni should have transfered the ownership to him". 

"But you were the one who took care of her. Did your father paid for her expenses or visited her?" 

"No, they don't really care because I was there to look after halmeoni" 

"So I guess that was why halmeoni transferred the ownership to you".

"If I sell it, Appa will probably ask for his share..." 

"Bunny, the property belongs to you, whether he likes it or not. It is up to you to decide. If you ask me, I will advice you to give some of the sales proceed to your father as a sign of respect, but you keep the bigger share". 

"Yes okay" Bunny smile at him.

"If you want, we can drop by your old house again tomorrow morning to take photos, then we drop by a real estate agent after lunch, and show the photos and we can seek advice about a sale prospect. Then at night, we can visit your family home at Ilsan". 

"Sounds good! Thank you for the suggestion!" Bunny smile sweetly at him, and Kyuhyun couldn't resist to kiss her. 

Back to Bunny's old home, they took photos of the surrounding, the land area, the house, the interior, the 2 bedrooms, etc. It was quite a good location and about 15 minutes drive to the National Arboretum and Forest Museum, meaning it might be able to fetch quite a good price, though Bunny doubt it, as the house was old. 

They found a real estate agent office near to where Song Ahjuma booth was. They greeted the agent and introduced themselves, and Kyuhyun told him that they would like to seek his advice about selling a property around this area. 

"Yes, which property sir?" the agent, by the name of Mr Lee Hyukjae, asked politely. 

Kyuhyun told him the address and the exact location, and showed him the photos. He also mentioned that the owner, which was his fiance, Ms Lee Sungmin, was thinking of selling it, because she would be staying with him in a Jeju after their marriage. 

"Ohhh, that property! We were very interested to purchase it, but we could not contact the owner. We did send two letters, but nobody reverted to us" Mr Lee looked at them with surprised. 

"I'm so sorry because I was away in Jeju. I just got back and was thinking of selling it because I won't be coming back here" Bunny said and took out the pile of letters from her bag. She hasn't finished opening all, and those that she has opened, were bills or just advertisements. She sieved through and saw two letters from this agent, and show them to Mr Lee. 

"Yes, those were from us" Mr Lee smile and nodded. 

"What would be the price, if my fiance here wants to sell it?" Kyuhyun asked casually. 

"Mr Cho and Ms Lee, before we quote a price, do you have any documentation proof to state that you are the owner?" 

"Yes, I have. Give me a second" Bunny took out her folder, and showed the land title deed and the transfer of ownership to her name. She showed Mr Lee her ID card as well. 

"Great, thank you. We will provide you with a quote, and you can think about it and come back to us within 2 days" Mr Lee returned back the documentations "You can keep these first, Ms Lee" 

"Thank you" Bunny took them back and kept them in her folder. 

"Give me a moment, I get the quote ready" Mr Lee said, and type something on his laptop, and went into his internal office. 

"Kyu, I don't think it worth a lot. It is old and not on the main road" Bunny said softly to Kyuhyun. 

"Let's just see and decide later. We have 2 days to think about it, and it gives you a chance to really decide whether you want to keep it or sell it..." 

"No point to keep it. I want to stay with you in Jeju..." 

Kyuhyun smile and pinched her nose "Of course! What I mean is, if you decide to keep that house, we can always come back here once a year to stay there for a few days" 

"No, I want to move on. Anyway, yes, we'll decide later. I still don't think it's worth a lot" Bunny said, looking down. Though she treasured halmeoni's house, but she needed to move on, and build a new life with Kyuhyun. 

Mr Lee Hyukjae came out from his office with a few pages of printed papers. He put the papers in a clear folder and passed it to Kyuhyun and Bunny. 

"Here's our quote. You can discuss and decide, and come back here within the next two days. And we do allow negotiation with a variance of 20%" Mr Lee smile, and took a name card. "He is my card. Do take a look at the quote" he gestured at the clear folder. 

Kyuhyun took out the quote and put the papers near to Bunny. But after checking the offered price, both of them looked at each other. 

Bunny thought she saw wrongly. Seriously? Her old house worth this much?!! 

The quote stated that the agent was willing to offer her 1.3 billion Won!!! 

 

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LeeLenaMx #1
Chapter 19: Thanks for another sweet story! Finally read the last chapters and I really enjoyed reading them. Thank you for sharing your stories!
lindatan #2
Chapter 19: A happy ending ~~~ thanks authornim for the story
lavendertwice #3
Chapter 19: Thank u!!!
lindatan #4
Chapter 17: Tats ridiculous . How could Mrs Park request it again ? Don’t u dare take advantage of bunny again
lavendertwice #5
Chapter 17: Yeay bunny is safe! Let kyu handle mrs park!
lavendertwice #6
Chapter 16: Hope minnie is ok!!
lindatan #7
Chapter 16: Hope Min ok & Kyu be able to find her safely
lindatan #8
Chapter 15: A new life chapter wz Kyu for sure lol
lindatan #9
Chapter 14: Glad tat Bunny are recovering well
lindatan #10
Chapter 13: Recover soon Min , poor bunny