The first reminder that everything was back to normal was when Daehyun’s phone exploded with texts. Each one of them was from Hyosung. Luckily he had kept everything on silent so she wouldn’t hear the crazy ringing when he turned the phone on.

            Junhong yawned as he turned the car onto the highway. “So did you two have fun?” The younger man had a knowing smile on his face.

            Daehyun’s thumbs fired off a quick reply, “Be back at office today,” before he smiled.

            “Looks like you had more fun,” Jinli cut in. But anyone could tell that she was happy. Daehyun placed his phone in his lap and leaned his head back against the headrest to look at her. Even though he only saw her profile, he could see that she already looked more relaxed.

            A few minutes later, she turned and it was too late for him to pretend he hadn’t been staring. Her lips parted into a smile. “Caught you,” she mouthed. He rolled his eyes, letting them hang for a good few seconds, before wrinkling his nose at her.

            “You were looking too,” he whispered. She scoffed and raised her finger at him. “So annoying,” she muttered.

            “I heard that.” He reached over and gently pinched her arm.

            “Hey!” she slapped at his hand. “Keep your hands to yourself.”

            There was the sound of throat clearing. Junhong glanced at them from the mirror. “Alright, lovebirds. Keep the flirting at a minimum. Not only do I feel like your personal driver, I’m also blatantly a third wheel, and this car is supposed to be a four wheel drive.” But the wide grin that followed his words showed how happy he was that the two were getting along.

***

            His mom was against the idea of his going into the office but he convinced her on the grounds that he would be home in time for dinner. Daehyun had a meeting with a new client in the afternoon so even if he had wanted to stay at home, he couldn’t.

            “I’m moving out today. You won’t stay with your mother for a little bit?”

            He had kissed his mother on the cheek. “You should wait so I can get you and dad together.”

            But his mother waved her hand in the air. “Go. You have clients so you have no choice. Your father already has a fancy limousine ready to pick him up. He’ll be home by six and I must be back by then.” Right before Daehyun stepped out of the house, she whispered into his ear, “Be nice to Jinli.”

            Daehyun went to have his meeting with his client. It was a long meeting and he was tired when they finally ended. Stumbling to his office, he sat down and grabbed his phone. His purpose was to text Jinli, asking her if she wanted him to bring something back for dinner. He smiled, imagining her responses.

            “Hyunnie!” He looked up and saw Hyosung walking towards him. She had a large smile on her face and he quickly placed his phone down.  “You’re back!”

            “Yes, I am.” He gave her a small grin. Seeing her made him feel oddly uneasy. That was weird. But in the next second, when she bent over his desk invitingly, he felt things return to normal. The loving look in her eyes was there and the smile on his face grew wider. “Missed me?”

            softened and he wanted to kiss her. “So much. Where did you go?” Her hands were creeping towards his and that was when the door to his office opened.

            It was the worst possible scenario. “Daehyun?”

            He stood up swiftly and shoved a stack of papers into Hyosung’s hands. “Take these to the central office please.” Then he turned towards his mother.

            “Mother, why would you be here?” He gave her the most charming smile he could. 

            She stepped further into the room and shot Hyosung a disdainful look. The recognition was obvious. “And why is she back in the office?”

            “She returned as part of a deal with Chairman Im and Chairman Cho. He sent Ms. Jeon as well as an intern to delegate for his company.”

            His mother turned with a sneer. “And can Ms. Jeon kindly leave this office as I talk to my son?”

            Daehyun saw the hurt on Hyosung’s face before she left. “Is she the reason why you and Jinli aren’t talking?” His mother cut straight to the chase.

            “No,” he responded, completely deadpan. “We just don’t know each other very well but the weekend holiday really helped a lot, thank you, Mother.”

            The elder Mrs. Jung gave her son an appraising look. “If I ever get another whiff that things aren’t going well between the two of you, I will personally walk into this office and fire her even if it means breaking all deals.”

            “You’re overreacting.” There was a jumping pulse in his jaw and he needed her to leave before she made things worse.

            Instead, his mother scoffed and shook her head. “Jinli is waiting at home. My car is waiting downstairs. There is no need to come see us. Your father is doing well.” And with those cold words, she finally left.

            Daehyun walked out into the hallway and saw that it was empty. He grabbed his phone. Just minutes before he had wanted to message Jinli about dinner. What was he thinking? He called Hyosung instead and his call went straight to voicemail.

            Ten calls later, nothing went through. Twenty texts and still nothing. He contemplated driving to her home and demand that she opened the door. But then he stopped himself. Hadn’t his mother just issued a threat against his doing this? And so he took a deep breath. He’ll just have a meeting with her tomorrow. She was Jeon Hyosung. She was strong.

            Driving back to Jinli no longer had the elation that he had previously felt. Now it was only a wooden duty. His mind was on other things. When he turned into the driveway, Daehyun had to pause. He reasoned with himself. It wasn’t her fault. She was innocent. She was a good person. They could, and should, be friends. He had to control himself and not take his frustration out on her.

            Jinli was setting the table when he walked in. “Welcome back,” she chirped. “Eunah made your favorite dishes and I added some of my own. Come eat.”

            He gave her a strained smile. Do not reject dinner. “I’m not that hungry,” he started. “But I’ll definitely try some of your cooking. It’s rare to see you in the kitchen.”

            She rolled her eyes. “Oh please. Don’t deny it. The sandwiches I made were pretty damn gourmet. Speaking of which, you should sleep early today. You’ve had a long day. How was your meeting?”

            It was too much too fast. She was being too domestic. It was suffocating. “The meeting was typical. We went over potential goals and loopholes in the contract. Nothing new.”

            “Good,” she smiled. “Do you like it?” She pointed at the food. Jinli was too close. He could smell the citrus scent on her hair. He pulled away a little and on his chopsticks.

            “Excellent. Thank you. I’m going to head in for a little bit. I need to take a nap, you’re right. Kind of beat from the long ride back.” She deserved a smile but he could only give her a grin. He could see the light dim slightly in her eyes but she didn’t show anything.

            “Of course. I’ll clean up and finish some work. Good night.” And because she was Jinli, and he hated her for it, she took the plates from the table and turned her back on him without a nasty word. She probably expected it; he scoffed and shook his head. He screws everything up.

            In the privacy of the bathroom, he checked his phone again. There was one missed call. With his heart in his mouth, he called her back.

            “Are you okay?” he asked her.

            Her voice was husky and he could hear the slightly nasally tone after she has cried. “Your mother hates me.”

            “No she doesn’t. She doesn’t understand what is going on, that’s all. Please, Noona, please don’t cry.” He called her by the endearment that she always thought cute and prayed she would feel better.

            Daehyun was awarded with a giggle. “You didn’t have to spam my phone you know. I just needed time to feel better.”

            “I was worried,” he said simply. “Don’t cry, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow. We can go to dinner if you like.” 

            “Come over?”

            “Tonight?”

            “Only if you can.” He was torn. And she could hear the hesitation. “No, forget it. Stay in with your wife.”

            “Hyosung, please. Don’t be like this. I’ll come. Let’s meet at the river? By the beer stand?”

            He was desperate for her to be okay. She took a deep breath. “It’s fine. Stay in. Your mother is right anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

            He couldn’t decide if she was punishing him or not. “Baby.”

            “Daehyun, listen to me. I’m okay. You called and you care. That is enough. We don’t need your mother causing a scene. I love you.”

            Her words placated him and he smiled. “I love you too.”

            Outside, he heard a crash and opened the bathroom door. Jinli was on the ground, on her thumb and picking up the pieces of broken glass with the other hand.

            She looked up when she heard the door. “Sorry. Clumsy. Tripped.” And she smiled at him. But it didn’t reach her eyes and when she got up to grab a broom, she left Daehyun feeling more confused than ever. 

I want to thank everyone who is still here supporting me. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a long time.

This summer has been one of extreme change for me and I haven't had the time to update.

But now that I'm writing this again, I realize that this story has a lot of similarities with what has been going on with me and it's sort of freaky. It's scary and it makes me sad and almost hesitant to write this but I think it also helps me to write this better because now I really can know, can feel a certain type of emotion.

This doesn't change the plot, and naturally it's not 100% parallel but there are a lot of elements and I hope that I can continue to bring you a better story.

Thank you guys.