‘This is joy.’

That was without fail, the first words out of Jung Yunho’s mouth as soon as he wakes up from his sleep every morning before the break of dawn.

Sarcastic, but it made him feel less depressed about having to wake up to another day operating like an preprogrammed drone.

‘I love my job.’ Is what Yunho insists on making himself believe the second he steps into his office.

When he settles down at his desk, with files stacked sky-high awaiting his approvals and signatures, the inbox filled up with even more emails than the documents on his table and a printed out schedule with seemingly endless tasks to complete taped at the side of his desktop screen staring back at him, Yunho would sigh inwardly and mutter, ‘For Blitz’s sake, I will do my best at work today.’

‘Life is good,’ Yunho tells himself when he somehow manages to survive work and get back home in one piece.

‘Tolerance is key,’ Yunho drills that into his head when he has to clean up after Sumire, who occasionally spills a drink or some snacks in the livingroom while watching her boys (Super Junior) on television.

He doesn’t bother to tell her off, for she is usually already grounded for something worse than not cleaning up after herself. But if he were an annoyingly calculative parent/brother, Sumire would have flung herself out though the window of the 38^th storey apartment a long time ago.

That, my friends, is how Yunho manages to stay sane. 

‘Why?’

She looked up at Yunho with a questioning gaze while sipping on Adams Peak White Tea from the delicate china she held in between her index and thumb.

‘Why what?’ She asked casually after she swallowed the drink and gently placed the cup down on the tea table.

‘Cheat.’

Her face morphed into an unreadable mask before replying though pursed lips, ‘I never loved him.’

‘But you both seemed-’

‘In love?’ She let out a forced laugh, ‘Yunho, it was all for your sake.’

‘Not much of a photo-person?’ Young Mi commented after dinner when she toured around Yunho’s massive apartment.

‘I don’t have any fond memories to capture anyway,’ Yunho sulked inwardly.

‘Oh?’ Young Mi felt sad on behalf of the elder, ‘Not even one?’

‘My childhood was pretty…what’s that word youngsters use nowadays… Ahh, screwed up.’ 

‘How come? You turned out fine though.’ Young Mi chuckled lightly.

Yunho shrugged, ‘Never bonded with my parents. You could say I practically raised myself up.’

‘Is this a sensitive topic? If so, then I’m sorry… Perhaps we can talk about something else?’

‘No, I’m perfectly fine.’ Yunho answered.

‘Then did you ever love me?’

She laughed.

‘Yunho, I’m your mother. Of course I love you, my son.’ She reached out to cup his face lovingly.

‘Is this another act of yours?’

She retracted her hand and frowned, ‘Why would you say that?’

‘You never showered me with any kind of affection.’

‘I just did.’

‘Just, Mother…only just.’

‘Haven’t seen you in a week,’ Jaejoong beamed when he saw Young Mi wheel herself into his office on a bright Monday morning.

‘Hello, Jaejoong,’ the Fashion Assistant greeted the Editor in Chief and thanked Louise when the secretary removed one of the chairs opposite Jaejoong’s table so she could ‘sit’ there.

‘Did Yunnie help you into your clothes?’ Jaejoong gave his department staff a sleazy smile and Louise purposely cleared loudly in disapproval, shaking her head in disbelief.

Young Mi did her best to maintain her composure, ‘I can manage that by myself, that’s why I’ve been wearing one piece outfits these days.’

‘Ahh…’ Jaejoong gave a half hearted nod and slid a print out over to his employee, ‘Since you’re currently disabled-’

‘Injured.’ Louise interjected with a sulk.

‘Same thing,’ Jaejoong gestured dramatically with his right hand, ‘I’ll be changing your job duties for the coming month since you’re on medical leave. I know this is illegal, according to the law, and this is despicable, according to you, so if you’re unhappy, you can just quit now. But seeing your face, I can tell you are willing to be exploited, so, you’ll be editing articles for me. Just clicky here and clicky there. Sounds fabulous?’

‘Seems manageable.’ She gave the beauty a small nod.

‘Fabulous.’ Jaejoong clasped his hands together with a mega watt smile on his flawless face, ‘So, work aside-’

‘I’ll just take my leave,’ Louise bowed, ‘Make sure you don’t harass Miss Han.’

‘I’ll behave.’ Jaejoong flashed his secretary an innocent smile and when she closed the door behind her, ‘Over your dead body, .’

Young Mi giggled.

‘Back to what I was saying- how’s life with Yunnie?’ Jaejoong rolled his swivel chair right beside Young Mi so his face was now unbearably close to hers.

The Fashion Assistant had to slowly inch away from her boss, ‘A little too quiet, but it’s nice.’

‘Is that so?’ Jaejoong pouted while in thought, ‘Have you made a move yet?’

‘What!?’ Young Mi had a scandalised look on her face, ‘Why would I?’

‘Cause he’s a great catch?’ Jaejoong grinned.

‘He’s nice when you get to know him,’ Young Mi replied, ‘But…I’m not ready for another relationship and he just…isn’t interested in anything, except for his Sudoku puzzles.’

Jaejoong laughed, ‘He still does Sudoku? ing nerd.’

Young Mi wheeled herself into the kitchen in the dead of the night, praying that there would be something in the fridge to fill her tummy with.

Sure she was slim so everyone would assume she ate like a bird, but unfortunately, her appetite was as large as Number 4/Kimchi’s.

‘I wonder if I can eat this,’ Young Mi pulled out a chocolate bar before putting it back in, ‘Better not because if this belonged to Yunho, he would kill me...’

‘Can I help you with something?’ Young Mi almost died of fright when Yunho was suddenly standing beside her looking into the fridge as well.

‘I was hu-hungry.’ The younger had a palm over her still racing heart.

‘Oh,’ Yunho replied flatly before pointing at certain things in the refrigerator, ‘You can drink Sumire’s strawberry milk, she’ll fuss but she can’t do anything about it, or you can steal that chocolate bar of hers because it’s illegal in the first place and she can’t tell anyone off as well.’

Young Mi laughed, ‘Do you secretly enjoy making her suffer?’

Yunho nodded, ‘For all the happiness she gives me in life, this is the least I can do for her.’

‘You are terrible.’

‘It’s called karma tough love.’

‘Am I really your son?’

‘Yunho, you are unbelievably bothersome today.’ She sighed while bringing her now empty china into the kitchen.

Yunho followed behind her like a shadow.

With another defeated sigh, ‘Yes, you are my son.’

‘Of course I know you're my birth mother, but what I meant was, do you treat me genuinely as your son?’

The tap water now ceased to flow and the silence in the kitchen was deafening. Yunho waited with bated breath for her answer.

‘Genuinely…’ she muttered before she chuckled and turned to face Yunho, with her hands on both sides of his shoulder, ‘I treated you with your best interests in mind.’

Yunho felt sick.

‘So you never felt anything for me,’ Yunho did his best to suppress the anger in his voice, ‘People always say I’m cold hearted, but now I know from whom I got these terrible genes from.’

‘I’ll whip something up for you,’ Yunho announced when he heard Young Mi’s stomach grumble, ‘I don’t think a chocolate bar nor milk will cut it.’

She gave a sheepish grin, ‘I’m sorry for waking you up and making you cook for me as well.’

‘I’m a terribly light sleeper and once I wake up, I can’t go back to sleep, so don’t blame yourself.’ Yunho wheeled her aside so he could take stuff out of the fridge, ‘I hope you’re fine with going Japanese, because I’m going to make sushi and force it down your throat even if you hate it.’

Young Mi laughed, ‘You are annoyingly cute.’

Yunho’s mouth twitched slightly while staring at her for quite some time before walking away to get the rest of the ingredients from the cabinets above.

‘I envy you, you seem to be able to cook so many things.’ Young Mi bubbled, ‘Your mom taught you kitchen skills?’

‘Stepmother.’ Yunho corrected the Fashion Assistant, ‘The Maternal body was useless.’

‘Maternal b…’ Young Mi gaped slightly, ‘I’m sorry, you both seem to have…’

‘A strained relationship? Very much so.’ Yunho shared with a hauntingly monotonous tone that made the younger cringe at his lack of emotions.

‘You didn’t tell me,’ Yunho knelt down by her grave. ‘Did you even know about your own illness?’

He placed the bouquet of flowers down before straightening back up.

‘Did you suffer during your last days?’ Yunho chuckled to himself, ‘I hope you did, you deserve it, for all the pain you caused Father and I.’

Yunho took one last look at the gravestone before walking out of the cemetery.

‘You even gave me a present, no wait- more of a burden,’ Yunho thought bitterly as he got into the car.

He closed his eyes and took a moment to clear the thoughts in his head.

‘You weren’t even capable of loving your own son and you dare adopt a stranger from a foreign land,’ Yunho couldn’t help but smirk at the crooked sense of humour of his now deceased mother.

‘I never knew the workaholic you could cook so well,’ Young Mi spoke with semi-full.

Yunho simply shrugged.

‘I guess Sumire would be less homesick whenever she eats these,’ Young Mi gestured at the sushi on her plate with her chopsticks.

Yunho made a less than enthusiastic sound to agree with the Fashion Assistant’s statement.

‘I can’t cook...well actually, I was banned from the kitchen since young so I never got the chance to see if I had some hidden skills within me or not.’

‘Why were you banned?’

‘You could say they pampered me too much and treated me like as if I didn’t have a backbone,’ Young Mi couldn’t stop laughing.

‘From the way you usually dress for work, I easily tell that you come from a very well off family.’ Yunho commented.

Young Mi had always dressed in a very elegant, lady-like fashion- her personal style always involved waist-cinching silhouettes, strikingly red lipstick, neatly styled curled hair and clothes that looked expensively romantic-vintage. In short, she always looked glamorously retro chic.

‘I don’t like talking about financial backgrounds because it always creates some sort of a distance between people,’ she replied while eyeing her plate with a huge variety of sushi to decide which one to eat next.

‘True,’ Yunho nodded, ‘So, they were going to make sure you were trained to become somewhat of a trophy wife.’

‘You’re good.’ She began work on chowing down the yellowtail hand roll.

‘Then that brings me to the next question: Why are you even working?’ Yunho wondered, ‘A rich lady like you should already be happily married to a fellow rich gentleman.’

‘As if it were that easy,’ she rolled her eyes.

‘You’re…pretty.’ Yunho looked away when he complimented her, ‘What’s so difficult?’ 

She giggled, ‘Can I pinch your cheeks? Just kidding, don’t glare at me like that. Well, it’s hard when you have a medical condition.’

‘Is it a major illness?’ Yunho couldn’t help but feel for her.

‘Please forgive my bluntness, but there’s only 2 things a trophy wife does- Being a status symbol and popping a son out.’

Yunho nodded slowly.

Just like his birth mother.

‘I cannot give birth. I…don’t have a womb.’

Yunho was stunned (inwardly) for a moment before muttering a soft sounding, ‘I’m sorry.’

‘I had a fiancé even before I graduated from college. It wasn’t an arranged marriage, we were together since middle school. I was so sure he would be the special one for me for l-life…’ Young Mi started to hiccup, ‘Do you have alcohol?’

‘You can’t have any, doctor’s orders.’ Yunho frowned.

‘Yes, Dad,’ she chuckled as she wiped away the lone tear coming down her left cheek with her thumb, ‘He knew about my condition but he was fine with it. But we broke up because his parents weren’t happy about it. The break up didn’t hurt, it was the fact that he didn’t fight for our love that did.’

‘Jerk.’ Yunho sulked and soon after, he realised his slip up, ‘Oh, did my tactlessness hurt you?’

Young Mi laughed till she could safely swear that some of her stitches might have burst open, ‘It’s quite alright.’

Yunho let out a sigh of relief.

‘To be honest, I never knew I could hold a decent conversation with you,’ Young Mi smiled.

Yunho shrugged, ‘And you sure let out really deep stuff even though we’re practically strangers.’

‘I can bet with my life that you’re the most trustworthy person I have ever met.’ 

‘Thank you,’ Yunho gave her a small grin, ‘And you’re the first woman I feel comfortable talking to.’

‘What about Number 4?’ Young Mi asked.

‘I never really viewed her as a woman,’ Yunho answered casually, ‘She’s in a league of her own.’

‘Don’t let Jaejoong hear that, he would kill you.’ Young Mi giggled.

‘He won’t, he loves me too much,’ Yunho gave a light chuckle, ‘I’m think we’ll get along just fine when we start on our Blitz project together.’

She nodded excitedly, ‘You know what…I usually stutter when I talk to you.’

Yunho got worried, ‘Tell me, is it because I’m becoming lenient with age?’

‘You? Lenient? HA!’ Young Mi immediately covered with her left hand (for her right was wrapped up in a cast), ‘Is it too casual, I mean, the way I’m talking to you right now?’

‘It’s fine,’ Yunho waved her off.

‘And you’re not old…’ she muttered.

‘I am.’ Yunho sighed.

‘You’re nottttttt…’ she yawned.

‘Okay, time for bed.’ Yunho got up and pushed her towards the guest room, ‘I’ll put the sushi in the fridge so you can continue with them when you wake up later.’

‘Yes, Dad.’

MY BELOVED READERS AND SUBBIES, I KNOW I DIDN'T UPDATE LAST WEEK.

(I WAS JUST TOO BUSY PREPARING FOR A SUBMISSION AND PRESENTATION THE FOLLOWING WEEK.)

DO COMMENT AND THOSE WHO WANT SOMEONE TO CHAT WITH, JUST SPAM MY WALL OR P.M. ME.