CHAPTER 13. Work and Play, Literally (Part2)

Ommoni was satisfied at Ha Ni’s reaction. “I heard from your mother that you are a fan.”

Ha Ni nodded. “Yes, I loved the drama and now they have SS501 Kim Kyu Jong for the role of the prince. How did you come by the tickets, I heard they sold out fast.”

Ommoni looked at her husband who smiled back at her and said, “Connections, dear.”

Ha Ni bowed continuously to the generous couple. “Thank you.”

“I bought you 2 tickets… so whom are you going to bring to the musical then? It’s for Saturday.” Ommoni asked.

Eun Jo raised his arm and excitedly volunteered himself. “Me, noona. I’ll go with you. I want to watch, too.”

Ommoni pulled Eun Jo’s waving hands down. “Eun Jo, give noona a chance to decide whom to watch it with. I’m sure she has a friend in mind.”

Ha Ni nodded. “Yes. I am planning to watch it with Min Ah. She will surely love it, too.” Then she turned to the disappointed-looking Eun Jo.

“Eun Jo yah..don’t be sad. Next time I will go watch a movie with you. How about Cars 2 on Sunday, then?” Ha Ni’s offer pacified Eun Jo and everything seemed settled.

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Ha Ni was sulking in the living room when Ommoni saw her.

“Dear, is something wrong?” She asked worriedly.

Ha Ni looked up at Ommoni and gave a sad pout. “Ommoni… Min Ah just called and cancelled going with me on Saturday.”

Ommoni mouthed a sympathetic “Oh.”

Then an idea crossed ommoni’s mischievous mind.

“What if I bring Eun Jo instead? He wants to go badly,” Ha Ni suggested.

Ommoni shook her head. “But you already promised him a movie day on Sunday. Think of another person. Surely there is another friend who can go with you, right?” Ommoni wiggled her brows at her, somewhat hopeful.

Ha Ni thought for a while, wracking her brains. I’m not really close to my classmates and I’ve just met them… Hmmm… Aha!

“Ommoni, I already thought of someone.” She smiled brightly, thinking that inviting Jin Woo was a great way to thank him for being so kind and helpful to her.

Ommoni looked at her expectantly. “Who?!”

“Park Jin Woo. I met him in the university.”

Ommoni secretly sighed disappointedly. She was hoping Ha Ni would invite Seung Jo since they seemed to be getting along well. Then the name Park Jin Woo rang a bell.

“Ha Ni yah… did you just say Park Jin Woo?”

Ha Ni said yes.

“Park Jin Woo, the heir of SK Mobile?” Ommoni was referring to the popular mobile phone company.

“Yes, ommoni. Why? Do you know him personally?”

Ommoni nodded. “He was Seung Jo’s classmate in highschool. They were close friends before the boy went to the US… but I haven’t seen him since he came back.”

Ha Ni did not expect what ommoni revealed about the two. What could have happened to them? They don’t look like close friends to me...

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Café.

“So Jin Woo already accepted your invitation?” Min Ah asked.

“Yes. I sent him a message last night.”

“I was sure he’d say yes, that’s why I’m feeling less guilty about backing out.” Min Ah teased.

“Yah!” Ha Ni slapped her friend softly.

Suddenly, Yoon He Ra appeared and sat with them without invitation. “Hi, Ha Ni.”

Ha Ni greeted back politely and introduced Min Ah and He Ra.

“So what’s this I heard about you and Park Jin Woo going out?” He Ra asked nosily.

Ha Ni and Min Ah looked at each other and concluded that He Ra had been eavesdropping on their conversation earlier.

“Hmmm… yes, but we are just going to watch a musical this Saturday,” Ha Ni reluctantly answered. Afterall, there was nothing wrong in watching a musical with a friend.

Min Ah, on the other hand, kicked Ha Ni under the table for revealing too much. She did not trust He Ra the moment she sat, plus she already heard not-so-nice things about her.

He Ra smiled genuinely, happy to know that Ha Ni was becoming closer to Jin Woo and not to Seung Jo. “Oh, really? That’s good. I’m sure you two will enjoy very much. And you two look suited to each other,” she said with a wink.

Ha Ni and Min Ah were speechless.

He Ra then stood up. “Okay, girls. I’m going now. Nice meeting your friend, Ha Ni. Enjoy your date on Saturday.” With that, she went out the café where a bunch of her cronies was waiting for her.

Min Ah groaned in disgust. “That .”

Ha Ni scolded her.

“What? I just don’t have good vibes about that girl. You’d better not get too friendly with her, Ha Ni yah.”

“Of course… I was just being polite.”  And Saturday is not a date.

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Ha Ni woke up early on Saturday morning.

Ommoni insisted that Ha Ni pamper herself the whole day. She booked a reservation in an exclusive spa and salon for her. She said Ha Ni could just relax and be pretty before going to the musical to meet her date.

“It is not a date, ommoni,” Ha Ni said for the 3^rd time. She was wearing her mother’s gift, the bright red coat over a white flowy dress.

Eun Jo was looking rebellious. “You’re going on a date that’s why you didn’t want me to go with you. Hmp.”

Ha Ni patted the boy’s head. “We have a movie date tomorrow too, remember? And besides, noona is not going on a date today. I am just going to watch the musical with a friend, who happens to be a boy.”

Seung Jo just snorted in a corner. Ha Ni looked at him in a flash and knew what his snort meant.

“No dating. You’ve just broken my Rule #4.” Ha Ni received an SMS from Seung Jo as soon as she was in a cab on the way to the spa. Ha Ni did not even bother to reply, she just wanted to enjoy the day.

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Seung Jo was already feeling annoyed the day before because He Ra kept bothering him with unimportant things. He did not exactly listen to all her blabs, he just pretended to. What pricked his ears up was when he heard He Ra mention Ha Ni’s name. So it was actually from He Ra that he first knew about Ha Ni’s 'date', as He Ra termed it, with Jin Woo for Saturday.

So Seung Jo was not surprised when Ha Ni woke up early on Saturday. He did not ask anything, and there was no need to because his mother and brother had been talking about Ha Ni’s ‘date’ over breakfast.

The irritation he felt the day before increased 10-folds at seeing Ha Ni all dressed up for what he considered as a ‘prohibited date’. Isn’t she too much? She’s clearly breaking my Rule #4 about dating, she’s pretending she isn’t and she doesn’t look a bit guilty about it! Oh Ha Ni, you are testing my patience.

Another thing that irritated her was how his mother was fussing over her prettifying spa moments to look great on her ‘date’.  Hmmp. Trust omma to be like this. If she only knew that it is her future daughter-in-law that she is pairing with someone else…

Seung Jo decided to go out of the house to cool down. He was already prepared by noon when Ommoni told him he cannot leave. Ommoni said she Eun Jo's godfather who had been long away in Europe just arrived and called that day to invite them over to his hotel.

“Eun Jo is really excited when I told him. You know how close he is to his godfather. And besides, we have not seen him in a long time.”

He looked disgruntled and said. "But I already called my friends that we are meeting today at the tennis club.”

 “I’m sorry dear, just call your friends and tell them you can’t come today… Just go out with them tomorrow. Please?” Ommoni pacified his son. “And change into something a little formal. We are going to meet your uncle in the hotel.”

Seung Jo treaded heavily back upstairs to his room and changed his clothes.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Ommoni cautiously went to the kitchen and dialed a phone number.

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 The spa and salon staff kept on complimenting Ha Ni for her cute innocent look that was further enhanced by the salon staff to something sophisticated-looking yet still retaining the innocence.

“It was not so hard to decide what to do with you Miss Ha Ni. We did not need to do so many touch-ups, you’re a natural beauty.”

Ha Ni blushed. “Thank you so much. I really like what you did for me. I feel pampered and beautiful today,” she said, making a mental note to thank ommoni for her great idea.

By noon, Ha Ni decided it was time to go to the venue of the musical. Before she left, she called Jin Woo.

“Yoboseyo.” Ha Ni listened to Jin Woo. He said he wanted to pick her up from the salon. Ha Ni declined despite Jin Woo’s persistence.

“Let’s just meet there, okay?” Ha Ni said. “Yes… Okay, Bye!”

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Ommoni and her sons were ready to leave the house when her phone rang.

“Yoboseyo” Ommoni excitedly answered her phone when she saw Ha Ni calling.

Ommoni gave a look of surprise and talked unnecessarily loud. “What?! Your date cannot come? Omo… what do we do now?”

Seung Jo and Eun Jo looked at their mother.

Ommoni nodded. “Oh dear… that’s just so bad. Hmmm… I wish I could go with you.”

Ommoni listened to Ha Ni.

“Oh no. You must watch it.”  Ommoni said and listened some more to a sad Ha Ni from the other line. “Yes. Don’t worry and just enjoy the show. I will ask Eun Jo if he still wants to come. Leave the other ticket at the reception area, just in case.”

Ommoni sighed deeply after she ended the call.

“What happened, omma?” Eun Jo asked worriedly.

Seung Jo seconded, “Is there something wrong?”

“Ha Ni’s date suddenly had an emergency situation and the poor girl is now alone in the theater.” Ommoni sighed again.

Eun Jo sighed, too. “If she just agreed to bring me for today in the first place, there wouldn’t be any problem.”

Ommoni looked at her youngest son hopefully and said, “Do you still want to watch the play? You can still go if you want, I told her to leave the spare ticket at the reception.”

“But what about meeting uncle?”

“Your brother and I will still go visit him after dropping you to the theater. You can meet him on another day then,” Ommoni suggested.

Eun Jo thought for a while.  Noona might feel sad alone, ditched by her date… but I really want to see uncle today.

An idea came to Eun Jo then he looked at his brother. “Hyung, what if you just go watch the musical with Ha Ni noona?”

“What?” Seung Jo jerked his head to Eun Jo's direction.

“I really want to see uncle today. He said he brought something for me and I am excited to go. Omma is just basically dragging you along, so why don’t you just go to the musical? Please!!! I really want to go see uncle.”

“What a good idea!” Ommoni said then looked at her eldest, “You’re not so eager to come with us, right? Then be useful and just go to the musical.”

Before Seung Jo could protest, ommoni already dragged Eun Jo to the family car.

“Sorry, hyung. Just enjoy!”

Ommoni waved, “Enjoy yourselves!”

Seung Jo stood there motionless in disbelief. So I am going to do babysitting again today? Aish, Oh Ha Ni. Despite those thoughts, Seung Jo shook his head and managed to crack a small smile as he got his car into the road.

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A/N: Just as I've thought... this chapter will have a Part 3. OR maybe I will just write the next part under a separate chapter title. Sorry if the story seems dragging on slow. But I still hope you enjoy reading. THANK YOU for the support! :D

This chapter update is dedicated to Kyle_16 who turned 19 today.
Happy birthday, dear!