Chapter 2

                It has been a week since she received the engagement ring from Doojoon.  All of Hyosung’s friends were wowed by enormous rock embedded in the ring.  It seems that the other girls are more excited about the engagement than Hyosung is. 

                The only thing that is able to bring up her mood up is seeing Kikwang.  He is the only person capable of placing a smile on her face.  Every day, since the engagement, Hyosung has spent her time at the café. 

                “Hi Hyosung.”  She hears a voice and immediately a smile arises on her face.  Hyosung turns to the direction of the voice to find Kikwang smiling at her.  “There’s a seat over there.”  He points toward an empty table.  Hyosung walks over to the empty seat and sits.

                Kikwang brings the usual, ice tea with lemon.  Next to the tea, he places a plate with a small piece of pie.  “I brought you something else too.”  He says as he places a red rose in front of her.

                “Kikwang…”  Hyosung’s finds this gesture really cute. She grabs the rose and breathes in its rosy fragrance.  “Thank-you Kikwang, its beautiful.”

                “I saw the rose and its beauty reminded me of you.”  He caresses the rose with his finger.  “You’re the most beautiful rose I’ve ever laid my eyes on.”  His hand moves from the rose toward Hyosung’s face.  He slowly and softly touches her cheek, then her lips.  Hyosung blushes and her heart rate races at his touch.

                He leans in close, so close that their lips almost touch.  Hyosung closes her eyes.  She can feel his breath landing on her skin.  The aroma mixture of the young man’s cologne and her sweet perfume is another reminder of the close proximity between the two.

                The young lady is about to lean in to kiss Kikwang’s lips when her phone rings.  Her eyes shoot open and the perfect moment is ruined.  The phone keeps ringing as Kikwang distances himself from her. 

                “Your phone is ringing.”  The waiter states the obvious. 

                “I don’t want to pick it up.”  She says in a disappointed voice.

                The waiter, wanting to give the young lady some privacy, decides to leave. “I have to keep working” he says shyly before taking his leave.

                The phone keeps ringing and Hyosung finally grabs it. 

                ‘Yoon Doojoon’ displays on the screen.  Feeling annoyed, she throws it back into her designer purse. 

                “Jun Hyosung!”  A loud deep voice comes from the café’s front doors.  At the door stands a tall man with short black hair.  He spots Hyosung from across the room and walks to her.  His walk makes noticeable his annoyance.

                “Doojoon, what are you doing here?”

                “Why do you not answer your phone?”  Doojoon’s reprimands his fiancée. “Your parents and my parents are meeting up for lunch and want us both to be there too.”

                “I’m sorry, but I’m busy.”  The young heiress states.  She does not want to have a family meeting at this time, or any time.  She knows it will only lead to wedding plans, and that was the future event she did not want to happen. 

                Yoon Doojoon looks around the small café.  “Why do you like this place so much?  It doesn’t live up to our standards.”  He inspects the floors and the walls while scrunching his nose.  “There might be cockroaches here.  Let’s go.”  He grabs onto Hyosung’s wrist and tries to pull her up but she refuses.

                “I said, I’m not going.”  She tells him with determination, as she yanks her arms from his grasp.

                The only heir to the Yoon family is about to grab his fiancée once again when he is interrupted.  The waiter has appeared beside them.  For this, Hyosung is very thankful. 

                “Can I get you something to drink?”  Lee Kikwang asked Doojoon.

                “No, we were just leaving.”  Doojoon leans back down to grab Hyosung’s upper arm.  With force he pulls the young lady off her seat.  She struggles to remove his hand off her but fails.

                “Doojoon, I’m not going anywhere.”  Her exclaims are not heard.  Doojoon shoves his way past Kikwang and pulls his fiancée toward the exit.  “Oppa, you’re hurting me.  Let go!”  She uses her free hand to grab onto Doojoon’s arm and dig her nails deep into his skin.

                “Ahh, you .”  The heir turns toward the young lady and raises his arm.  With force he swings his arm toward Hyosung’s face.  A hand quickly reaches up and stops Doojoon before Hyosung is hit.

                “I suggest you leave her alone.”  Lee Kikwang warns the taller man.  Doojoon eyes the waiter up and down several times.  To the heir, the waiter seems so low class that the mere fact of a poor man standing up to the Yoon heir makes him laugh.

                “Who are you to stop me?  You are nothing but a low life piece of trash.”  Doojoon smirks.  He’s proud of the insults he has given the poor waiter.

                Yoon Doojoon makes it a habit to make people feel miserable.  He usually insults anybody who does not seem to be at the same class level as himself.  Insults usually include: trash, vermin, scum, or any other synonym in his vast vocabulary.  The head of the Yoon family, Doojoon’s father, has made sure to teach his son the importance of money and power.  Doojoon’s father simply taught his son what was taught to him, by his own father.  This mentality that the Yoon family is superior than the others has been passed down from generation to generation.

                “Oppa, don’t speak to him like that.”  Hyosung defends the waiter.

                “Don’t interrupt Hyosung.  This scum shouldn’t raise his voice at me.”  The Heir continues to insult the young man who is standing between him and his fiancée.  Doojoon steps up to Kikwang and gets really close.  The heir wants to show the height difference between the two.  He believes his height would intimidate the younger man.  “You better get back to cleaning tables boy, before I make you regret interfering.”

                 Kikwang looks at his rival straight in the eyes.  There is no fear on the waiter’s voice as he states, “I warn you.  Remove your hand from Hyosung’s arm or you will be the one to regret ever stepping into this café.”

                Hyosung looks around the establishment.  Both customers and employees are staring at the scene created by the three.  She looks back at Doojoon who is still holding onto her arm.  He and the waiter are still staring at each other straight in the eye as if they were daring one another to abide to the other’s command.

                The Jun heiress feels Doojoon’s grasp loosen before letting her go completely.  Yoon Doojoon gave his fiancée a glance before turning away to face the exit.  Hyosung let out a sigh of relieve.  She turns to face Kikwang and at that moment, he gets punched and knocked over.  Doojoon had turned back around to punch the waiter.  Kikwang’s body falls over some neighboring chairs before falling completely to the ground.  He looks up at Doojoon in shock.  There is blood in his mouth and running down his lip. 

                With his white sleeve he wipes the blood off his face, leaving a dark red spot on it.  In a quick movement,  Kikwang jumps up from the floor and gives the snobby heir a blow to the face.  The hit is not strong enough to knock Doojoon over but it is enough to make him lose his balance. 

                The Yoon Heir turns completely red.  His eyes burn in rage.  This was partly because of his anger, and partly because of the embarrassment that a pathetic waiter was able to place a punch on his face. 

                Lee Kikwang is never the type of person to back down on a fight.  He never starts fights, but he does not cower like a dog with its tail between its legs. 

                “Get out of this café.  You are no longer welcomed here.”  Kikwang strongly states.  He points to the exit.  “Leave this establishment before we call the police.”

                Doojoon fixes his suit, patting it down into place.  He faces Hyosung, “Let’s go, don’t argue with me.”

                The young waiter looks at Hyosung, wondering if she would refuse or abide to the man’s demands.  Hyosung faces Kikwang and apologizes to him.  She wants to stay and help clean Kikwang’s wounds but she can’t.  She does not want to cause more trouble and quietly leaves with Doojoon.

                Hyosung rides away in Doojoon’s car.  With the lack of trust her, he does not want her to drive her own car.  He fears she would not go to the family meeting on her own free will.  The ride to Doojoon’s house is very quiet.  The Heir keeps apologizing to her but she does not answer.

                “How many times do I have to apologize Hyosung?”  His voice is no longer demanding.  It is sweet, and seems to be genuinely apologetic.  “I didn’t want to cause a scene.”

                Once reaching their destination, Doojoon parks his car in its usual spot.  Hyosung opens the door and gets out of the car.  Standing beside the black sports car, she takes a good look at the Yoon estate.  The lavish exterior would amaze any woman.  It is every girl’s dream house.  Its large botanical garden, open lawns, tall beautiful trees, and the architectural work on the building itself would leave anyone awestruck. 

                Hyosung on the other hand, could not see the true beauty of this place.  It is simply another reminder of her future marriage with a man she does not truly love.  This estate will be her future home once she says her bows and is wed to Yoon Doojoon.

                “Hyosung…” Doojoon grabs the girl’s hand.  He holds it very lovingly.  “We can’t go in there and face our parents like this.”  He kneels down and kisses Hyosung’s hand.  “Please don’t be mad at me.  I know I keep messing up over, and over again.  It is my fault and there is no excuse to my rude and inconsiderate behavior.”  He looks at Hyosung’s eyes, she stares back.  His eyes are no longer filled with rage as they were back at the café. 

                This Doojoon reminds Hyosung of the past.  It reminds her of when they were children.  Back then he wasn’t filled with anger.  He didn’t care about other’s economic stature.  He was a fun and playful child, always making new friends. 

                Hyosung used to have a huge crush on him.  That secret crush faded away as Doojoon slowly turned into an extremely unpleasant person.  He slowly turned into the kind of person Hyosung’s own mother was.  Filled with rage and feeling of being superior to everyone else.  Hyosung’s despises the way her mom acts toward the less fortunate, and Doojoon slowly turned into that as well.  But it was expected of him to be that way since his parents are like that as well.

                “Oppa, you always apologize and then do it all over again.”  She’s tired of him always apologizing for his rude behavior.  He is always apologizing and promising to change but all the promises keep breaking.  “I don’t want to hear an apology or another promise from you.”

               She tries to walk away but Doojoon wraps his arms around her legs.  “Please, please forgive me.”  He holds on tight, not letting her walk in any direction.  “I just wish we could go back to the friendship we used to have.  I don’t like how we stopped being friends.  Please forgive me for all the that I have done these past few weeks.  Especially for that night in my room.  I don’t know what got over me.  It might had been the alcohol but I should never act that way toward you.  I hate myself for trying to force myself on you.” 

                Hyosung hears Doojoon cry and inhale deeply.  She looks down to see tears running down his face.  “I’m trying to change, I really am.  I know you sometimes think that I am just putting a ‘nice’ act in front of you and your parents, but I’m not.  I truly respect them and want their approval to marry you.  I’m not sure if I love you yet but I truly cherish the friendship we had as children.  I am trying to become the man you would want to marry and live the rest of your life with.”

                It’s a weird to see Doojoon in such a vulnerable state.  He usually keeps his barriers up and does not let anyone inside.  He keeps his true feelings to himself.  It has been many, many years since Hyosung has seen Doojoon cry in front of her.

                “Oppa, please don’t cry.”  Images of the two children playing together jumps into her head.  The many times the young heir would cry as a child when his parents left him alone at home.  She remembers the times they cried together filled with feelings of abandonment.  “Doojoon, don’t cry.”  She kneels down and gives the man a hug.

                “I don’t know why I’m like this Hyosung.  There’s something wrong with me.  I don’t want to be an like this.  This isn’t me.  I’m not an evil person, I’m not like my parents, I have not became father.  Right?”  His eyes plead.  He wants to hear that he has not become someone so mean and dislikeable.  His goal was to become a good man.  A man everyone would like and respect, unlike his father who demands respect through fear and manipulation.

                “Oppa, you have not like your parents.  You are not like my horrible mom either.”  The realization that the tough, bad-boy exterior hid this soft and vulnerable child inside made Hyosung’s heart break. 

                “Remember the promise we made to each other fifteen years ago?”  Doojoon asked.  “Remember how we promised to become respectable adults?  I still want to be that person.”

                Hyosung remembers.

“Hyosungie!” The little girl turns around to see an eight year old boy running toward her from across the garden. 

“Doojoon oppa!”  A huge smile greets the older boy.  “I’m happy you are here.  I was very lonely.” 

The two children sit on the grass and play with together.  Hyosung hands the boy a doll while she keeps another.  Even though Doojoon was a boy, he didn’t mind playing with girl toys.  He liked playing with Hyosung.

“My parents left on a trip and won’t be back for a whole month.  That’s why I asked my butler to bring me to your house.  I didn’t want to be home alone, It’s cold there.”

“You can stay and sleep in my room.  We can have a sleep over.”  Hyosung says in excitement.  “My parents are gone too.”  The last statement makes Hyosung sad.  “I don’t like them.  They are always mean to me, especially my mom.”

“Don’t be sad.”  Doojoon pats the girl’s head.  “I’m here with you.  I’ll always be nice to you.”

“Really?” 

“Yes.  I promise to always be nice to you.  And when I grow up, I will be a great man.”

“I want to be a nice adult too.  I don’t want to be mean like my mommy.  She always yells at me.”  Hyosung feels a tear building up in her eyes.  “I hate her”

Doojoon hugs the girl and holds her for a long time.  “Let’s promise each other to always be good people.  We won’t become like our parents.”  He wipes her tears.  “Don’t cry Hyosungie.  I’m here to always protect you.  I promise.”

“I’ll protect you too oppa.  I promise.”  She holds onto the only boy she treasures.

                “I remember,” Hyosung whispers.  “I won’t let you become like your father, I’ll be here for you.  I’ll protect you oppa, I promise”  She hugs Doojoon tightly until he stops crying.

note from augthor:

Hello my lovely followers, commenters, and silent readers.

How do you like this chapter? 

I wanted to make it longer but I think ending here was good.

Thank you all for reading and commenting.

I like getting feedback on the stories I write.

It keeps me motivated to write more stories.

Hope you liked it,

update next chapter soon.