Chp.16| The Ugly Stubborn Horse


“Chocolates and roses,”I muttered under my breath as we exited out the front doors of the school.

Jung Sang who strode out beside me, glanced down. “What?”

“A gentleman buys his girlfriend chocolates and roses,” I told him while glowering. “A gentleman is someone you’re not.”

A gentleman is someone I’ll have to turn you into.

His brows drew together. “So?”

“I want to go shopping. Let’s go to Myongdong(Seoul shopping district),” I conceded, hooking an arm through his, dragging him along with me.

---

“That’s a guy’s store. Why would you want to go in there?” Jung Sang asked, looking uninterested.

I tugged at his arm. “Because we’re shopping for you. We need to buy you some nice clothes.”

He jerked his arm away from me. “What the hell for?”

I reached up and poked his forehead with my index finger. “Duh, for your parent’s anniversary. Don’t act like a dumb idiot.”

He turned and started to walk away with his shoulders hunched and hands tucked in his pockets. “I don’t care about that. I’m not going.”

“Yah! Why are you so damn cold? They’re your parents. Your mother gave birth to you. They raised you. Is this how you treat them in return?!”

He turned back to face me. “What the do you know, huh?”

You can drag a horse to the river, but you can’t make him drink.

I was going to change that. I was going to test how much he was going to take in until he would burst. “My gosh. If they knew you were like this, they might as well strangle you when you were a newborn. Save us all from going blind from looking at your face.”

“You---"

“You’re a coward!” I taunted him, spitting near his feet.

“You shouldn’t have to care!”

“I don’t give a damn. But your mother asked me to help you. When she asked me, I was thinking,” I paused, thinking of Soo Jin’s horse analogy. “I was thinking…how could I possibly change an ugly stubborn horse into a handsome man?”

“What?”

“And I think I finally got my answer. You have to feed him salt, make him thirsty and then he’ll have no choice but drink and then jump into the water so that he could clean his dirty face.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

He was falling right into my bait. “How can a horse possibly understand a human?”

He took an angry step toward me. I flinched and took a step backward, covering my mouth. “My gosh, the horse has a heart too?”

Raising his hand in the air, he shouted, “SHUT UP!!”

I pointed at his raised hand. “Yah! You think you could crush me with your one of your hooves?”

He closed his hand and dropped it to his side; looking away when he said, “Don’t push it. You’re lucky you’re a girl. I don’t hit girls.”

“Good. Let’s go inside. Come on horsy!” I pretended to throw an imaginary whip at him.

“Not just yet.”

I looked over my shoulder. “What?”

“Let’s make a deal.”

I couldn’t understand what deal there was besides having to gain control over him and changing him into a gentleman. However, Jung Sang had something else on his mind.

“You have to listen to me too. We have to look like we’re getting along as a…as a couple.”

“What for? Horses and Barbies don’t exactly mix.”

I could tell he wanted to curse, but he forced himself to say something else. “To bring out my stalker.”

“Oh…” I couldn’t figure out if it was a good or bad ‘oh’.

He came closer to me until we stood inches apart. He leaned in closer to whisper softly into my ear. “Do you remember the other night when I hugged you? The next day, the stalker brought you those gifts. It drew the stalker closer to us.”

Aigoo! So the idiot hugged me because he wanted a confrontation with his crazed stalker, not because he felt sorry for me? I should have known Jung Sang was nowhere softhearted. That bastard. “So what then. Does it mean we have to get close? How close?”

He glanced down in disinterest. “I have no choice.” Stretching his hands up in the air, he yawned loudly before throwing an arm around my shoulder. “Let’s do this.”

---

Within the next half-hour so, I waited. It took some time to convince PingPongBoy to get change.

I was growing impatient with him.

And then a miracle happened.

Park Jung Sang’s head poked out from behind the changing room’s door. “Yah! Don’t laugh at me.”

He was so self-conscious of himself that he had to warn me.

The salesperson had chosen him a simple white button down shirt and a nice pair of black slacks. He came out slowly, looking uncomfortable. “Don’t stare,” he told me.

“I’ll stare, alright. Just not at your face.”

The clothes fitted him perfectly. Although the shirt wasn’t tucked, only half of it was. This was how he worn his uniform, with his shirt half tucked and a blazer thrown over it.

“Idiot. Come here. Let me help you with it.”

For some reason he reminded me of a small child, learning to dress for the first time. He looked rather fragile and nervous. He gave me a puzzled expression. “Huh?”

I mumbled while glaring. “Come here.”

He did. I helped him tuck his shirt in. “Don’t---Ji Won—don’t---“ And then he broke into a fit of laughter. “It in’ tickles!!”

I just stared like a dummy, noticing the dimpled cheeks. He laughed. And I made him laugh. But damn, why was I finding myself growing more and more attracted to him?

I grinned as I adjusted the collar of shirt. He offered a smile in return. “You’re a good actor, Jung Sang. Keep pretending to enjoy yourself,” I remarked.

The expression immediately washed away. He cleared his throat. “That wasn’t an act. It tickled. Don’t do that again.”

“There. Now all you need is nice tie,” I said, turning him around to face the mirror.

He stared at his own reflection, and I could tell he didn’t like it. “I don’t like it.”

“That’s because we’re not finished with you yet.”

“We’re not?”

I turned to the salesperson. “Find him a nice tie and we’ll take it.” I spun around to Jung Sang, holding out my hand. “Money please.”

“What?”

“Money. Or card or whatever. Anything you have.”

“You bring me shopping without any cash on you?” he asked incredulously.

“You’re a rich kid. Every rich kid carries a credit card, now pay up.”

“No.”

“Fine. No kiss!”

“What?!”

The salesperson smiled at the both of us. “Should I leave you two alone?”

I mumbled under my breath. “Now, now my loveable boyfriend. If you don’t pay, you won’t get a kiss.”

Finally understanding what I meant, Jung Sang went into the change room and returned with a credit card.

When the salesperson left us alone, Jung Sang grabbed my arm, dragging me towards the display window. “Pay up.”

It was my turn to be surprise. “Pay up for what?”

“The kiss you were talking about.”

“But I was just kidding.”

“I kept my part of deal, now it’s your turn.”

“But why should I have to kiss you?”

He moved away from me. “Fine I’ll go wring that salesperson’s neck for my card back---“

“Fine!”

He came up to me and tapped his right cheek with his finger. “Right here.”

I tiptoed and planted a quick one. With that, he hugged me tightly, keeping his gaze out the window. “I really hope this stalker is watching.”

“Ack! Jung Sang, you’re holding me too tight!!”

He let go and apologized. “Sorry.”

---

After that had to drag him into the barbershop to get his haircut. I was astonished by the outcome.

With the hair no longer covering his eyes, I realized that Park Jung Sang was indeed a handsome prince. He did a good job at hiding his face. But he needn’t hide it no more. He had to show it off instead. You could say that I saw the light surrounding his presence. He was someone special. I knew that then, and I hated myself for not taking notice of it before.

I examined his face, lifting up his smooth chin with my hand. “Hmm…very nice. Good bone structure, nice nose.” My eyes came to rest on his eyes. Those deep dark colored eyes actually twinkled. My gosh, there was life in them.

Once I realized I was staring too much, I quickly looked somewhere else. “Ooh, you have your ears pierced? You need to wear a stud or something.”

He slapped my hand away. “Don’t touch my face.”

“I just did.”

He grabbed my chin, raising my face up. “You like that? You like being touched like that?”

You could say that I was proud at my accomplishment. But you see, I was only half way done. Jung Sang may look like a handsome prince but he still carried the personality of an ugly stubborn horse.

And of course, to end the day off. Something stupid just had to happen.

When we walked out together, a paper plane flew in our direction, striking me in the forehead. I rubbed at my head, bending down to pick up the paper.

Jung Sang snatched it from me first. He unfolded it and then read it aloud, "Park Jung Sang. We'll meet each other real soon. Tell your girlfriend to be prepared."