I felt uncomfortable. I felt pressured.

The old geezer kept on watching me… while I ate. He didn’t touch his food. He didn’t even talk even once. He just stared at me, smiling.

Once in a while, I would look up, meeting his gaze. And I never masked the irritation in my eyes. He’s creeping me out, for Pete’s sakes.

“Thank you…” he whispered.

I looked up and dropped my spoon and fork. “Just tell me what you want to talk about.”

He breathed in as he tried to compose himself. “Let me introduce myself to you first. I am Park Jinhwan, your grandfather,” he said, smiling.

I waited for him to continue, rolling my eyes to hint that I never wanted to be in here in the first place.

He cleared his throat and then he continued.

I let him talk as much as he wanted as I propped my head on my palm, sighing every now and then. I wasn’t listening to him. I never intended to from the beginning anyways.

“Sandara…” he started.

I looked up from the spoon that I was unconsciously playing with while he was talking.

“I know you didn’t want to meet me in the first place,” he said.

Ha! You bet I didn’t!

“But please listen to me...” he trailed off. “Okay, I’ll skip the introduction. Instead I will tell you my purpose for calling you here.”

I straightened up, leaning my back on the chair’s backrest. I guess I could listen to this.

“I am sorry,” he said. “I rejected you and your father, I know. And I am deeply and sincerely sorry for that.”

I clenched my fist under the table as I tried my hardest not to break out in front of him. I never wanted to talk about this. I always get emotional, like I did when I told Jiyong about this.

“To make up for that, let me take you with me,” he said, leaning on the table.

I furrowed my brows, not clearly getting what he meant.

“I know how difficult your life was for the past years, even until now. I know how you were drove away from your old apartment. I also know how you were almost kicked out of your high school and almost not graduate.”

I stared hard at him, confused on how he knew all of these.

“You quit school recently, right?” he asked.

I didn’t answer but just looked away.

“I want to make it up to you. Come with me to Tokyo and I’ll give you a comfortable life. I will enroll you to one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. And I will let you take over our business.”

I stared at him. “Why would you do those things?”

“I just want to make it up to you, Sandara. I am really sorry.”

I gritted my teeth. My fists were already clenched. “You think I would accept your apology just by those things?”

“Sandara, I…”

“You think by those petty things I would forget all those hardships I suffered and all those pain I tried to get through because of my parents’ death?!” I said, my voice starting to rise.

“I…I… I don’t know what to do anymore…” he confessed.

I stood up. “You think I would stoop that low?!” I shouted, unable to take it in. “You think all you rich people could get me just by offering me those things?! Do you see me as someone who won’t be able to resist the temptations offered by your money?!”

He stared at me, his whole body trembling.

“Well, I am not like those people, alright?! Don’t you ever think that I would easily be tempted by them, alright?! I won’t! And I would never be! So, stop all your nonsense and stop all your attempts of getting me to you because I won’t!”

I left after I burst out. My vision was blurry and I was already panting real hard. I slammed to someone’s chest but I pushed him away as he tried to help me or something.

I never even noticed that I was already crying, until my eyes already hurt. I didn’t even know why I was crying anyway. I furiously wiped them off my cheeks as I cursed to no one in particular in the street. I stumbled a few times and cursed more. I removed my killer heels and threw it away.

“Stupid heels! Making me cry!” I shouted.

I was already barefooted as I walked towards the heels. I looked down on both of them.

“Yes! My feet are just hurt and you’re making me cry!” I blamed the inanimate objects in front of me. I wiped off the tears that kept on pouring. “Stupid…”

JIYONG’S POV

It was already ten in the evening and Dara wasn’t home yet. I was getting worried so I picked up the keys to my motorbike.

I dashed downstairs to get to my motorbike fast. I was already starting the engine when I saw her familiar figure stumbling on the street.

I quickly ran towards her. I was already a few feet from her when she fell down to the ground. I immediately ran to her side.

“Dara! What’s wrong?” I asked the moment I reached her. I caressed her hair and swept the strands off her face. That was when I noticed that she was crying. “Why are you crying?” I asked my voice soft.

She sobbed more while she buried her face on my chest. I hugged her to me.

“That… that… those… stilettos!” she shouted.

I looked down where she was pointing and saw that she was pointing on the stilettos I made her wear… or rather forced her to wear.

“They killed my toes!” she complained, still crying.

I looked down on her feet and saw a few scratches and bleeding wounds. I carried her on my arms and headed to our apartment.

“Don’t leave them,” she whispered. I stopped on my tracks. “You bought them for me.”

I smiled down at her. “That’s not important. What’s important is to heal the pain your feeling,” I said meaningfully. I knew she wasn’t crying because of those stilettos. I just know her that well.

She stared up at me as the tears kept on flowing down her porcelain cheeks.

Dara was silent throughout the night as I treated the wounds on her feet. She was sitting on the bed while I was on the floor, her feet on my lap. I felt guilty for making her wear them. I was the one who forced her to at least show her grandfather that she prepared for this night, though in truth, she never really wanted to go.

But beneath those refusals, I saw through her. I saw through her eyes how it softened while reading the letter she received. I even saw her one night reading the unopened mails she received before. I didn’t even realize that she kept them from when she was kicked out from her old place.

Beneath those cold treatments she gave her grandfather, I knew a part of her wanted to give him a chance. But a better part of it, which was her stubborn heart, kept on closing it, building a barricade around it, and refusing to let her grandfather enter her life once again.

That was why I made the move of writing back to them, telling them where we lived and that they should make a move already before she truly closes her heart. I knew, I just knew it that this cold-hearted little girl is actually pure-hearted and will eventually forgive her grandfather.

I just knew… that day will come…

I looked up at her as I finished bandaging her wounds. A small smile crept up my lips as I saw her peaceful state as her head bobbed up and down, her eyes closed. Eventually, she fell to the side and fell into a deep asleep. I brushed the strands of her hair off her face and wiped the strain of tears on her cheeks.

“Eventually…” I whispered. “You’ll realize it eventually, Dara,” I said, pecking her lips lightly.

---------

*poster credits to Lucky12