~Chapter nine~

"Hello mother." Jiyong said weakly as he watched his mother move around the room inspecting each and everything. "What brings you here?"

"It's not that bad. Besides I'll be leaving soon mother." he reasoned. "—And mother, this Lee Chaerin." he said gesturing to his side. "Chae, this is my mother."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Kwon." Chaerin inclined her head politely to be returned with a mere nod.

"Miss Lee would you mind if I talk with my son?" Mrs. Kwon asked as she crossed her leg and put her hand on her knee. "Alone?"

"o-of course!" Chaerin replied immediately scrambling off her bed. She was not offended at all, rather she just wanted to get as farthest away as she could from Jiyong's mother, she was scary like no one she'd met before, yet there she was few days ago thinking no other human being could be as intimidating as Jiyong. How wrong was she? It was true what they said… The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

"You can just say what you want to say in front of her mother." Jiyong interrupted and caught Chaerin's wrist pulling her back.

"Why? She doesn't have problem with leaving does she?" Mrs. Kwon said and let her gaze over Chaerin. "Do you, Miss Lee?" Chaerin shook her head and peeled Jiyong's hand away from her wrist, dashing out of the door as soon as she could.

"That was unnecessary mother." Jiyong said as he stood up and pushed his hips. "Couldn’t you at least try not to be so rude? Just for once?”

"Oh!" Mrs. Kwon clapped her hand sarcastically. "So, now you're going to teach me how I should behave myself? The person who couldn't even greet his mother properly without bring prompted to?" she made a disgusted face and sighed. "I'm not here to argue with you son..... I'm sorry couldn't come sooner, I had things I needed to handle."

"I wasn't expecting you to come anyway. So don't apologize." Jiyong snapped as he walked around the room and picked up the roses from the bin and brushed it clean with his hands. "How is work?" he asked just for formality as he slid the roses in between the Hydrangeas.

"You know how things are." Mrs. Kwon answered plainly as she watched her son re-fix the bundle of flowers. "You should come back as soon as you can."

"Why am I not surprised?" Jiyong laughed sarcastically as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. If it was a few days ago, he would’ve agreed in a heartbeat, but now, he wasn’t so sure. "You shouldn't have bothered coming here; a text message would've sufficed."

"Don't be so difficult." The woman said as she stared her son lovingly. "I'd do anything for you, you know that."

Jiyong could only smile a little, although he and his mother weren't as close as they used to be when he was younger, he knew his mother meant well and wouldn't say something she didn't mean.

"Thanks for coming." he said quietly as he walked over to his mother and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You don't need to thank me Jiyonggie" his mother said as she wrapped her hand around his. "Your father wishes you well too."

Jiyong groaned at the thought of his father. "You don't need to lie for him."

Mrs. Kwon smiled a painful smile and gave a squeeze to his hand before standing up and sliding her purse back to her arm. "Why don't we catch up my dear? Lets go for a dinner. Just you and me?"

Jiyong sighed and hesitated for a while before answering a quiet "sure".

Both the mother-son duo spent almost 2 hours just sitting and chatting at the classiest restaurant, which was also, theirs. Glancing at her watch, Mrs. Kwon got up and pecked her son on his cheek before leaving.

Jiyong sat a little longer enjoying a little fresh air while he waited for his new driver to pick him up. Soon enough a black Bentley Continental parked right in front of him and a rather young boy, not physically old enough to be called a man emerged from the driver’s seat to open the back door. Jiyong gave a little pat to the driver's shoulder and opened the passenger seat, confusing the driver  who by now thought he failed at his job.... On the first day. Shaking with nervousness, the boy sat himself on the seat and pressed the start button on the car as the engine purred to life.

"What is your name?" Jiyong asked as he flipped his seat belt and switched the radio channel. "You don't mind, do you?"

The boy shook his head and cleared his throat. "I-I, my name is Tao, Huang Zitao" the boy said with an accent as his grip on the wheel tightened.

"Huang.... Chinese?" Jiyong whipped his head towards the boy who looked even more nervous and flustered. "How old are you?" he asked in Mandarin catching the young boy off-guard.

"Y-You know Mandarin, sir?" he gasped keeping his eyes focused on the road.

".... And Cantonese too." Jiyong smiled. He didn't really know why he was talking to the boy. Never had he made an attempt to start a conversation with his deceased driver, Mr. Moon. But as of now, it didn’t seem like a bad idea, after all.  "When did you come to Seoul?"

"A little over 4 years." Tao said as he switched the gear skillfully and took a sharp right. "To the hospital sir?"

Jiyong nod in acknowledgement. He remembered how he'd stayed alone in a foreign country not knowing the language at all. He wondered if the boy suffered as much as him.

"Do you like it here?"

"I'm starting to." Tao smiled shyly. "You seem like a good person."

The sentence touched Jiyong deeper than it should have. No one had even called him a good person, Yes he'd been called handsome, intelligent and smart but never a good person.

"I wasn't always like this." Jiyong confessed as he stared out of the window. When did I become like this? He thought to himself silently, not noticing the smile that crept up Tao's face.

"It's never too late sir." Tao stated, debating in his mind whether he should say what was in his mind. Screw it! He cursed as the words flew to the tip of his tongue and came out quicker than he'd wanted to.

"Whoever it is.... She's a keeper I say."

Jiyong smiled as he heard his driver's words. The face of Chaerin flashed into his mind immediately. Suddenly feeling sorry for not spending much time with her, he coughed and pressed the off button of the air conditioner.

"Know what? Could you stop by the flower shop on the way?" Jiyong said, suddenly remembering how Chaerin never had visitors and how happy she looked whenever she'd see the bouquets that weren't even for her.

With a grin, Tao nod his head and gave the indicator for the left.

"Will do sir."

"Hello~" Jiyong knocked on the door as he simultaneously turned the knob and entered their room only to find it empty.

Placing the flower bouquet he just picked out on the side table he roamed around the room calling out her name to no avail. Going over to Chaerin's side of the room he noticed Chaerin’s little Mushroom lamp missing. The further he looked; he noticed everything that belonged to Chaerin gone.

She was gone. .

Panic struck him hard as he limped and walked as fast as he could searching for Chaerin, grabbing and asking anyone he bumped with in the corridor.

Cursing between his breaths he rushed to the help desk and demanded for the male warden to tell him about her whereabouts.

"I'm sorry sir, I-I do not have a clue as to what you're asking. M-My shift just started half an hour ago." the boy said shaking as Jiyong held his collar and glared at him.

"Consider your job gone if you don't get me the information I need right now!!" Jiyong snarled, brows furrowed and ears turning hot with anger, desperation. He only hoped nothing was wrong with Chaerin.

Just don't let anything happen to her.

Author’s note:
Kyaaaaaah~
I’m so overwhelmed by the amount of love this story is getting. *Yippe*
(Sorry for the cliffhanger)

Upvote..... (if you want to)

I know you guys are veeeeery curious about Chaerin’s sickness, but I won’t reveal it just yet, although I’ve dropped hints here & there. You can share you guesses on the comment section (though I won’t confirm it. HAHA xD)
YAAS! I'm E V I L ! !
 

I just updated the 1^st chapter of Happily Ever After.  Go check it out if you want.  ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

See you next Saturday!

(PS- I’ve been receiving request for translating my stories, so if any of you want to translate this story, you are free to do so after consulting with me… And don’t be scared… I don’t bite. TeeHee)

With love~
E