Psychedelic

[5] The Birdcage

Pairing             : Siwon x Seohyun

Genre/Theme   : Drama, slice of life, married life

Pinboo’s spazzing on Siwon/Seohyun:

I have never really thought about the two of them together, really. There are hardly any moments or anything to associate Siwon with Seohyun and vice versa. Then again, there’s something rather similar about them, and I will always have a thing about a pairing which resemble each other. I think with both of them being rather reserved and polite (I know Siwon is a dork, but even with his derp side, I always think of him as a perfect example of a gentleman), instead of being a boring couple, I actually found their personalities to be compatible. I would love to add some spice to this supposedly calm people and see how that goes. In addition, personalities aside, I do think they look kind of cute together, hehe.

Seo Joo Hyun looked exactly like the way he had expected her to be.

Siwon cast one polite smile to the lady dressed in traditional Korean hanbok, and across the wooden table, the lady returned the smile –again, in the way that he expected it to be: modest, delicate, well-trained.

Unlike the common belief, Siwon did not see the matchmaking as a burden. It was not that he was ecstatic about it, but it was not as if he had any complaint about it either. Being part of the honored Choi meant that the legacy of a nearly 100-years old of blue-blood lineage shall be continued on. As the sole heir of the Choi main family, he had to have the best education, the best environment, the best service, the best job, the best wife…

The meeting was dominated by their parents’ conversation –each side of the parents proudly boasted their children. Joo Hyun herself had looked like a quiet woman, but her parents’ chatter made Siwon learn a quite some things about her: that she went to Cheonan Girl’s High School, that she practiced gayageum (and seemed to excel about it), that she was currently taking a Spain cuisine course, that she won the speech contest in her university, and some others.

To his parents, Joo Hyun’s quality was enough to make them choose her as the best candidate for their daughter-in-law.

But to Siwon, he needed more than that.

Or less than that.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked slowly once their parents left them to get better acquainted with each other. “I mean… I know our parents can be really forceful, but if you have anything against it, I can talk it to my parents. And I –”

Joo Hyun offered him another smile, and for the first time to him, instead of her parents, she spoke her words herself.

“I am sure.”

Her determination and acceptance were conveyed through her words. Siwon learned more about Joo Hyun with only three words and one certain smile.

Seohyun was a beautiful woman, and he did not find it surprising to learn that she actually already had a boyfriend. A woman as pretty, as smart, and as delicate as her must have gathered a lot of suitors. Bees among the flower. But Siwon knew that there was actually only one man whom Seohyun could actually refer as her first love.

His name was Cho Kyuhyun –and Siwon knew him too. He was his junior in the archery club and the guy was a nice one. He was kind of quirky and weird in his own way, but Siwon knew that Kyuhyun was the first man that could make Seohyun actually smiled for herself, and not for her parents, not for the image the society wished she had. Kyuhyun was perfect for Seohyun. But like any other typical parents too engrossed in public image, Kyuhyun was not even near Seohyun’s parents standard of perfection.

So when Siwon’s engagement to Seohyun was going to be finalized, and her parents finally learned about Seohyun’s secret boyfriend, it was no wonder that her parents forced their daughter to break Kyuhyun up.

Siwon was forced by his parents to accompany Seohyun to meet Kyuhyun. Siwon found it troublesome –and foremost, very intruding for him to be involved in Seohyun’s private matter with Kyuhyun. Siwon’s parents thought it would be a great idea for Siwon to introduce himself as Seohyun’s fiancee to Kyuhyun –so that Kyuhyun would “learn to know his place” –if Siwon borrowed his parents’ term.

Siwon was their parents’ son, but he was not (completely) their puppet. Ignoring part of the deal with his parents, Siwon decided to only drop Seohyun at that café where she would meet Kyuhyun, instead of joining her into it.

Seohyun told Siwon her gratitude for taking her there, but before Seohyun could open his car’s door, he questioned her again.

“Are you sure about this? I know Kyuhyun. He’s a nice hoobae of mine. Even if we have to get married one day, I won’t mind if you still want to see him or even continue your relationship with him and –“

“It’s alright,” Seohyun interrupted him again. There was a flicker of hesitation in her eyes (because, goodness, she thought she would have a happy life with Kyu, and they would live in this small house with a nice garden, and then Kyu can play games all he wants and she will continue to laugh by his side and other things that her younger self had dared to dream). Taking a deep breath, Seohyun nodded politely to Siwon. “I am sure. This will be the best end for both me and Kyuhyun-sshi.”

And she walked out of Siwon’s door to end her probably only chance escaping her own birdcage.

It happened only a couple of months after their engagement was officially announced to the media.

Seohyun’s parents died in a terrible car accident.

To Siwon, Seohyun had always been an amazing woman. Most people thought of her as a fragile girl who needed protection 24/7. Even her own friends had called her weak –for always being that obedient linnet bird in the golden cage that her parents set up for her (no more). But Siwon had learned otherwise. In all honesty, through the 26 years of his life, he had never seen a woman as strong as Seohyun. He had never known a woman as persistent and as determined as she was, as courageous as she was, as admirable as she was.

But the society’s perception on her remained the same. They thought of her as the gullible, naïve heiress who knew nothing about the world’s cruelty. Further granted with wealth beyond wonder that her parents left her, it was no wonder that her suddenly-gathering “relatives” came from here and there –wanting to console her (“and give us that money for being nice to you, little princess”).

Being an heir himself, Siwon had understood these types of people the most. He had ignored them most of the time, but for the first time he felt like these types of peoples irked him a lot. Their fake consoles to Seohyun, their impolite mention of the inheritance money, their improper pity towards her…

They irked Siwon.

He was about to stand up for her, but Seohyun beat him to it.

Ah, aren’t you on the same side with them, Choi Siwon? Did you, even for the slightest moment, consider Seohyun as a weak girl?

“I thank you very much to come to my parents’ funeral and the offer you have for taking care of the Seo business. But with all due respect, my parents raised me well and I can handle the Seo business fine myself,” she said daintily –much to the shock of some people who did not think the little bird was capable of defending herself. Bowing her head, “Please excuse me. Enjoy the meal, my guests,” she finished her line and turned around.

Siwon stood still on the spot –glancing at the lean, but dependable back of a little girl who knew better to protect herself.

In the midst of peoples’ stare towards that back, Seohyun stopped her steps and glanced momentarily around. With a soft voice, she called out.

She called for him.

“Siwon-sshi, do you mind accompanying me for a while?” she requested.

Siwon was passive for a second, before he shook himself off his trance, and approached the girl. She nodded briefly to him and he followed her outside of the room, to the garden of the Seo estate.

They walked in silence towards the garden, but Siwon decided to break it a moment later. “I understand if you want a time alone. Are you sure it’s alright for me to accompany you here?”

Seohyun slowly looked to his direction and gave him a small smile. For the first time since they started their official relationship, she took the initiative of holding his hand first.

“I am sure. After all, you are the only person in that room that I can trust.”

Siwon thought that he began to love her.

He would not classify it as a romantic love. He treasured Seohyun; he carefully protected her (without making it seemed as if he protected her –he was careful in that); he was always there for her. If there was anything, he thought he loved her as a sister.

Seohyun did not seem to mind this. After all, what would one expect from an arranged marriage? She had given her heart once to a boy she could never have (and he could never be), but Siwon knew that Seohyun respected himself enough, maybe cared about himself enough, and maybe loved him enough as her brother.

He did not mind. She did not mind. They did not mind.

But still, marriage was a big step.

That summer when they stood together in the church before the Priest, and eyes were looking expectantly at them, and she looked very graceful in her own mother’s wedding dress, and he looked as perfect as the usual Choi standard, and everything that looked perfect (meant to be, shall be), he asked her again.

“Are you really sure about this?” he asked, almost pleading. Siwon did not care much about himself, but he cared enough for her. He learned to like Seohyun’s (rare) smile a lot, and he did not want her leading a life where she would never be able to fully smile.

The priest was asking the crowd for any objection of the wedding.

She nodded once and that strong determination never left her eyes.

“I am sure.”

The priest announced them as man and wife.

And there, in the church, was the first kiss they shared: awkward and clumsy, but quite fitting at that.

“I am sure,” she stated even before he asked her the question.

He was nearly baffled at her certainty. A part of him felt rather insecure (Did his consideration to her begin to annoy her? It was not that he wanted to always ask her whether she was sure about something, but he felt like it had kind of been an obligatory query), but he just had to ask that one more time.

It was the third month of their married life, and the couple had never even begun the consummation. But a visit to Siwon’s grandparents earlier that afternoon seemed to be the trigger. Had Siwon not loved his chatty grandmother so much and had his grandmother not been an old woman, Siwon would probably have yelled at his grandmother for requesting Seohyun for a great grandchild for her.

And his grandmother’s outburst had trapped him in this awkward situation –on the bed that they had shared for the past three months without much of things happening. Siwon was a man, a normal one. Thoughts of naturally came to him, but to imagine doing it with Seohyun was just… beyond imagination sometimes.

Siwon groaned and slapped his palm to his forehead. “Don’t listen to what my grandmother said. She’s old, and she just has a lot of unlikely request sometimes. You don’t have to listen to her, Seohyun, really, you don’t.”

 “I don’t see anything wrong with fulfilling your grandmother’s wish,” she stated.

Panic and discomfort grew more in him. “But you’re different,” he stated. “I don’t want to hurt you, and I know you hate to be considered weak and naïve, but really, Seohyun. You don’t say that to a man, and you don’t know what they might do to you and –“

“But you’re not just any other man,” she reminded. “You’re my husband.”

He groaned. Siwon really groaned because as much as he cared for Seohyun and as much as he considered Seohyun as his little sister, he knew that as a man, he might not be able to stop himself when it came to leashing out his carnal desire. Because he wanted to guard her more, he just had to –

“I want to be a mother, Siwon-sshi,” Seohyun said with a small, but honest smile. “And I know there won’t be any other men who can be a better father for my child other than you.”

He let out a hopeless sigh. Ah, shouldn’t you have learned better, Siwon?

For the umpteenth time since he met Seohyun, Choi Siwon had to admit defeat.

Words could not even describe how proud Choi Siwon was of his own wife.

Seohyun had always been an amazing woman to him, but he knew that people were bound to underestimate her due to some insignificant reasons (because she was a girl, because the main education that her parents prepared for her was the lessons to become a good wife only, because she had a weak body, and because of other judgmental reasons that did not seem to be relevant). He knew however, that Seohyun was slowly proving her worth.