THIRTIETH CHAPTER
Wicked Fate by Kenzo
An eye for an eye
Teddy laughed out loud the moment Dara’s door closed on both their faces.
“What the hell are you laughing about hyung?” Ji asked in irritation.
“That was a classic I tell you” Teddy told him, wiping at his eyes that were tearing up in laughter “Good Lord! That exchange will become legend. Did you see the way you looked?”
Ji wanted to punch his older cousin at his amusement with the situation. Wasn’t it normal to react the way he did? If it was any other guy who would have come in during that moment, Dara could have been taken down without a fight. “Stop laughing, will you?”
“Ahhhh” Teddy exclaimed and shook his head, trying to contain himself “You’re face was a winner man. She really got you on that one.”
“What do you mean she got me?” Ji asked defensively as they both began to walk downstairs.
“You couldn’t even say a word.”
“The door closed in on the both of us, what was I supposed to do? Force it open and make her understand a piece of my mind until she cries?!?”
Teddy looked at him smugly and if it wasn’t for the fact that his noona was around, he would have relished taking a jab at the older guy.
“What was that about?” Mai asked them, coming out of the kitchen.
“The Dragon here got doused by the Mother Hen” Teddy answered merrily, increasing Ji’s annoyance.
“I wasn’t!” he cleared “And she’s as stubborn as a bull.”
“What happened?” Mai asked curiously.
“I was about to take her down here for breakfast but she wasn’t in bed” Ji explained “and there were no noises around the room so I looked for her. I opened the bathroom and there she was just finishing up from the shower.”
“And he was nagging her about it” Teddy added.
“I wasn’t nagging her” Ji denied “I was just telling her that she shouldn’t leave her doors open like that, especially when there are men in the house.”
“Well… people do knock you know…” his noona pointed out.
Ji let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head “I am going to stop talking about this” he declared and headed for the dining table.
“You should have seen his face, it was epic when Dara closed the door on the both of us” Teddy continued and Ji decided that as soon as his noona left, he was going to put one in on Teddy.
“Daddy, you do the same” Mai answered him.
“But you’re my wife” Teddy leveled, making Ji’s ears turn red at the implication.
Mai laughed aloud “Oh well… oh well… since I’m your WIFE – the wife will now be picking up Dara so she’ll eat breakfast with us. Seat over there and as far away from Ji as possible coz he might want to give you a punch or two.”
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What could be
Dara was seating right next to Ji Yong, feeling as awkward as her teen-ager self at the set-up. The couple was seated beside each other and was talking to one another about what had happened to them since the yesterday and were having fun. While she and Ji were eating silently, their elbows bumping into one another by accident and she was sure they were both feeling overwhelming tension.
Hadn’t she just shouted at him after a night of looking after her? She admitted to herself that she was feeling guilty about it now and that she might have over-reacted but he was the one who did it first.
And add to that that any other day and any other person beside her, she wouldn’t have cared at the loving exchange between Teddy and Mai who looked so good having breakfast, they should have been chosen for a coffee commercial.
“Taisho keeps talking about this little girl from camp” Mai was telling them now – a topic, which by the tone of her voice, really bothered her “and I told him that he has to love Mommy first before any other girl.”
“Mommy, Taisho is nine now. He’ll start noticing other girls” Teddy answered, bemused.
“No… he’s not allowed to” Mai told him and Dara understood her, Taisho’s still a boy for Pete’s sake.
Teddy laughed. “You can’t tell a boy that. And high time he had crushes too. If not, I would think he’s a girl.”
“Ow for Christ’s sake, he’s still a kid and he’s too young for girls.”
“Men in our family are never too young for girls” Teddy told her smugly and high-fived Ji Yong, who was agreeing wholeheartedly with the statement.
“Well he’s my son!” Mai defended “And he should not be thinking about girls yet.”
She, this time, high-fived with Dara – who for the first time felt that she was not just looking into the couple’s conversation.
“I started giving girls flowers when I was seven” Teddy told the both of them “And Ji Yong here began at 5, I think.”
“Nah hyung – that was six” Ji corrected.
“Why am I not surprised?” Dara reacted, earning a raised brow from Ji.
“Girls certainly enjoyed it” Ji replied, smugly.
“The girls you know” she got back at him.
Mai high-fived with her again as both men look disgruntled.
“We got some competition here with us I see” Teddy commented.
“Well… it is true” Mai expounded and looked challengingly at Teddy and Ji Yong “Did you propose to any of those women who you say enjoyed IT?”
“Yeah I did!” Teddy answered.Mai punched his arm “I most certainly did not even notice you the first time I saw you!”
Dara laughed aloud and Teddy and Ji immediately looked at her with fire in their eyes.“You know what Mommy” Teddy launched back “I don’t believe you didn’t like me even back then… I mean… you kept looking at me and you always noticed whatever it was I was doing.”
“Hey! I know someone like that too” Ji piped up and Dara looked at him – her eyes widening.
“Oh! I didn’t do that!” both women answered as both men busted out laughing.
Dara fumed inside her and suddenly caught herself.She was actually enjoying this – bantering with Ji and being seated beside him. She missed him.
After a week of silence and avoiding him and not even really seeing him, she was happy to find herself beside him now because against her own self, the truth cannot be avoided that she missed him.
And it wasn’t a good place to be in.
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