He came back, unfolding a large poster in his hands. When he got to the table he flipped it over and held it in front of him, letting the large piece of paper hang over his body.
“I want to enter this,” he said aloud.
Everyone on the dinner table read the title on the poster, “Art Fest Dubai”. It was advertising an Arts festival in the UAE, as the heading suggested. It offered any artist the chance to participate in a competition. The prizes were expensive promotional services, including exhibitions in famous art galleries around the world and numerous online services as well. Besides that, there were cash prizes and gifts. He put his arm down and looked at everyone.
“I need to submit a piece and a portfolio of work based on their theme. The deadline is in July and the festival is in August,” he explained. “But this thing is crazy, there are going to be so many artists there, with workshops and lectures. I don’t even care if I win the competition, I just really want to be there.” Jiyong was smiling, widely.
Mrs. Siddiqui raised her eyebrows, “you haven’t done any work in a long time.”
“I know,” he answered, looking at everyone else for responses.
“You can go to the festival, but I don’t want you to enter the competition,” Mr. Siddiqui said in a neutral tone, “you need to spend your time studying, I can find you a job in the company.”
“Dad...” Jiyong swallowed the feeling of defeat building up in the back of his throat, “we’ve talked about this before.”
“Jiyong it’s about time you start taking things seriously,” Mr. Siddiqui argued, “I sent you to an art school even though I was against it, all you did was play around and then you dropped out.”
“We are not talking about this here, I wanted to show you something, I didn’t want to argue with you,” Jiyong spoke with a raised voice.
Mr. Siddiqui felt offended, “now you listen to me, I am not going to tolerate this behavior anymore.”

Jiyong stormed out of the room, embarrassed in front of the family. Katrina quickly followed him, politely excusing herself from the table. Her chair moved back abruptly and the table shook as she quickly got up. Hyejung felt scared and Seunghyun whispered to her, telling her to go to her room.
Mrs. Siddiqui sighed and held her forehead with her hand before she spoke, “well, I don’t really know what to say, I’m sorry for this Seunghyun.”
“It’s okay,” the man smiled, “but can I say something?”
Mr. Siddiqui looked at Seunghyun, “about Jiyong?”
“Yes,” he answered, “I think everyone should know that Jiyong has been putting in a lot of effort to change himself recently. I’m not saying that you guys are wrong, I mean, you’re only doing what’s best for him. However...” Seunghyun paused to assess Mr. Siddiqui’s expression, “Jiyong’s incapable of throwing his dreams away. I know I can’t possibly understand how much you must have gone through, as Jiyong’s parents, but Jiyong has been through a lot as well. Yeah, he dropped out of his university, but I can understand why - with his circumstances. I’m sorry if I have stepped out of line, but I feel as if I need to speak for him, since he can’t do it.”
“So what is it you’re trying to say?” Mr. Siddiqui asked.
Seunghyun took a deep breath, “what I’m trying to say is... May be... you should give Jiyong another chance? He hasn’t been very successful so far, but life hasn’t exactly been that nice to him either. I feel like you should take in to account everything before you make a decision.”
Mrs. Siddiqui commented, “I appreciate your concern.”
“I’ll think about it Seunghyun,” Mr. Siddiqui replied, “you made some important points, but from my point of view, I just can’t help but worry about him. I wouldn’t call them disappointments but some events in his life have made me lose confidence in the path he wants to take. May be you’re right though, I don’t think he would listen even if I said no. He’s better off having our support if he’s going to do it anyway.”

Upstairs, there seemed to be a more heated conversation happening between Katrina and Jiyong.
“Why don’t you just listen to your father?” Katrina suggested. She stood with her arms crossed, facing the man in front of her.
Jiyong looked straight in to her eyes as he spoke, “are you taking his side right now?”
She pulled her arm in to a gesture. “I’m not taking anyone’s side.”
“Of course you aren’t,” he said sarcastically, “because you’ll always take the side that goes against mine, is that right?” nodding to himself.
Her hands clenched in to fists at her sides, “you’re father is right, you’re still too immature to handle yourself.”
“Katrina, you’ve always been against me doing what I want.” The words came out of Jiyong’s mouth almost as if he was hissing at her.
“I only want what’s good for you.” The emotions took over her stance and she retreated with a trembling voice. 
“If so, then I can’t believe you still haven’t figured out what’s best for me in the 10 years we’ve known each other.”
Katrina frowned, “how can you be so sure I’m the one who’s wrong.”
“Because I know you, and I know you don’t understand me.”
“Really?” Katrina was bitter, “you don’t know anything about me.”
“Then what makes you so sure about that?”
“Because you still don’t know why we broke up.” There was a long pause, in which her voice echoed in Jiyong’s head, like a moment of remembrance which pulled them back in time.
“We broke up because you couldn’t handle being with me when I was a mess,” Jiyong’s tone was morose, “you’ve always been selfish like that.”
“May be that’s what you thought.”

Seunghyun coughed before he walked upstairs and the two stopped talking. Katrina slowly walked away and waited for Seunghyun to come up before she went down. The man was surprised to find that Jiyong hadn’t moved from his place, he stood still in front of his bedroom door.
“I’m sorry for what happened, it wasn’t supposed to be this way,” Jiyong apologised, with his eyes on the floor. He seemed to have lost confidence in himself.
Seunghyun tried to catch his attention with a quick, “Jiyong, can we talk?” his voice was warm and soothing.
“I don’t really feel like talking right now,” he answered.
“Then let me say something.”
Jiyong noticed the slight desperation in his voice, “okay,” he opened the door to his room, “come in.”

Seunghyun followed his friend in to his room, watching him from behind.
“Honestly, I just feel like crying like a little girl right now,” Jiyong’s voice trembled, but he didn’t cry.
“You’re going to enter that competition,” Seunghyun stated, to which Jiyong turned around, “it’s only been a month since I got here... and I know that’s not really enough time to really build your own place in a-”
“What do you mean?” he interrupted.
The older man gulped, “I want to support you in this and I want you to know that I’m on your side, so don’t feel discouraged by what everyone else says, b-because.... Well, I don’t want to butter you up with compliments, but you’re an amazing person. You have been through so much, yet you make everyone around you smile, even if you aren’t happy.” Seunghyun stopped to breathe and continued to speak at a slower pace, “You gave up so much for your daughter, who has, as a result, become the kind of child all parents dream of having. You’re so real and honest to yourself... and tha