Hello, Dear Readers!

I want to thank all those who commented on the previous chapter for all your encouragement. It's nice to know that some of you are enjoying the story.

Well, here's the new update! Enjoy!  (*^_^)

Chapter 19

After the night when he'd returned her kiss, MiRa hoped that she and JinYoung would be closer than ever, spending even more time together than before, but, even though there was no lull in their seeing one another, just as before that one passionate moment, he never, ever attempted to kiss her.

And now, he seemed to avoid any situation in which she might create an opportunity to kiss him.

He was friendly and they continued to spend a lot of time together, but whenever she chanced to look into his eyes he never seemed to have that certain look that told her that he loved her.

Just give it time. It'll come, she encouraged herself.

But after each time she saw him, a bit of that confidence was chipped away.

*                                 *                                 *                                 *                                 *

"JinYoung-ah!" his mother called waving to him.

He came to join her at the table. He hadn't seen his mother in a while and it was nice to see her smiling. But as soon as he sat down, that smile turned into a pout.

"I have to come over here just to be able to see my own son these days," she complained.

"Umma, you know how busy it is now that . . . " he tapered off.

 . . . now that Mark is gone . . .

"I know that, but you could still make time to come and see your mother," she sulked. But then, once she thought she'd got her point across, she perked up and he could see that she'd only been playing with him. "I can forgive you because you're busy with more important things," she smiled. "I've noticed MiRa's been posting pictures of you two quite often and when I last spoke to her, she told me that you see each other every day. Is that right?"

"Yes, that's right."

Mrs Pak clapped her hands.

"You see? I knew everything would work out between you two. It was like you were made for each other!"

JinYoung just smiled uncomfortably and took a rather large gulp of his wine.

"Not too much, darling. You still have to work this afternoon."

But JinYoung was feeling rebellious inside. He thought that it would make him happy to see his mother so pleased, but, in fact it was beginning to make him angry. She was sitting there, telling him 'I told you so' looking so smug. He just wanted to blurt out 'you ruined my life! You made me push the only person I've ever loved out my life, just to make you happy! Are you happy now that I just want to take this bottle and drink it 'til I pass out in the slight hope that I might be able to meet Mark again, if only in my dreams?

He felt pathetic.

"JinYoung, what's wrong?" his mother asked noticing the sudden change in his expression.

"Nothing. I was just thinking of a meeting I have tomorrow morning. I still have to finish preparing for it," he lied.

"I will never forgive that Mark for leaving you in this mess. I mean, it's one thing to move out, but it's another thing to leave you to run everything alone. To think I once thought of him as a son. MiRa and I were talking about it, and . . . "

"Have you decided what you'd like to order?" he interrupted. If he had to hear about how his mother and MiRa were criticizing Mark, he might just blow everything by losing his cool.

You're not allowed to say a word against him . . . he thought heatedly. But he made sure to keep his feelings of anger well away from his countenance.

After they'd ordered, his mother raised the question of his and MiRa's relationship.

"Are you making her happy, JinYoung?"

"I don't know. Only she would know if she's happy."

Mrs Park didn't look very satisfied with that response. Both she and JinYoung knew it was bordering on rude.

He decided to modify it.

"She seems happy when I see her," he amended.

"JinYoung, you know that I've only ever wanted your happiness, don't you?"

"Yes," he answered taking another sip of wine.

"Well then, you need to trust me. A woman like MiRa is very special. I don't need to list all of her good points because I'm sure you know them already. All I'm asking is that you don't take her for granted. Be sure to treat her well. I have spent time with her and I can tell you that if you'll do that, you will be the most loved, most cared for, happiest man on earth. But in order for that to happen, you must also make her happy. Do you understand?"

Just then, their lunch arrived.

"Yes," JinYoung answered as he downed the rest of the wine in his glass before beginning his meal.

*                                 *                                 *                                 *                                 *

As Mrs Pak sat in her kitchen that day with a cup of tea, she felt a warm feeling of contentment. It was the contentment that comes of knowing you were right.

She now knew it was a good thing she'd decided that it would be better to be considered an interfering mother than to let her son waste this chance at gaining a good wife.

JinYoung had been unhappy when Mark had moved out and sold him his half of the business: MiRa had told her all about it. But, in the end, it had all been for the best. How long could JinYoung have continued to live that college-boy lifestyle? He was a businessman with responsibilities, it was time to grow up. And now, because she had stepped in and made sure things went well for him, she could breathe easily. He was obviously happy. He was seeing MiRa every day and she was sure that she would be hearing good news from those two any day now: MiRa would become her beautiful daughter-in-law and they would have ties with MiRa's impressive family. JinYoung would have someone he could lean on in case things changed in the future: no one knew how well or badly things could go. Things could be very unpredictable in the business world. So, having a safety net was no bad thing. MiRa's family was successful and that success being connected with her son would bring him the protection that he would need to have a secure future.

So, she was glad she'd 'interfered'. She would do anything for her son's happiness.

Any mother would.

*                                 *                                 *                                 *                                 *

"You eat so well! It's so good to see a young woman eating well these days; none of that picking at your food and then saying you're full," Mrs Pak remarked.

"Thank you, Eommoni," MiRa answered with a winning, yet shy smile. "But your cooking is so delicious, I can't help but eat a lot."

Mr and Mrs Pak laughed warmly.

This was the first time that JinYoung had ever officially brought a young woman home for a meal with them. Even more wonderful was that it was a woman like MiRa, possessing beauty, social status and a bright, yet respectful personality. They were delighted!

As the three of them talked animatedly together, JinYoung was lost in his thoughts. How many times had they all sat around the table with Mark? They had all spent so many happy times together, but this wasn't the same, was it?

His parents, himself and MiRa: male, female, male, female. Just the way it was supposed to be. Isn't that the way the strong fabric of family is made? Interweaving fibres that run at cross purposes with others? Men ran one way and women another, but when woven together they formed something that was both strong and useful. A structure strong enough to produce and raise a family. A structure strong enough to endure years of challenge and hardship that just being alive threw at you. A construction that offered warmth and protection that was second to none.

He could see it all: his parents smiling as he visited them often in the future: their successful son with his beautiful wife and their wonderful children. Everyone would be happy. So, with such a happy picture to look forward to, how could it be bad?

But then his mind was filled with threads. With strings. With cords. With ropes. With twine. With cables.

Fibres running together in the same direction, wrapping tightly around each other. Flexible, yet strong enough to suspend bridges. Delicate like the threads that held material together.

Dependable, reliable, resilient . . .

 . . . and twisted. That's what most people would have thought about him and Mark and their love for one another. Twisted.

But together they'd created a form that could hold you, rescue you. A form that you could hold on to, to keep from falling when the storms of life raged, threatening to beat, to batter, to drown. A form that could also be supple enough to be crafted together to create a warm garment that could protect you from the bleak moments of life you had to face. It was a form that when pulled taut could produce beautiful, haunting melodies. Even to producing a home that was full of love and warmth.

JinYoung smiled an ironic smile.

But no one accepted that type of home. No matter how strong or warm or useful. If it wasn't woven, it wasn't wanted.

So he reached over and took MiRa's hand. He smiled at her, thinking of their future woven life together. She looked into his eyes. But their eyes met, his smile faltered just a little.

This wasn't the person he wanted. This wasn't the hand he wanted to hold.

But, he forced himself to brighten his smile and squeezed her hand affectionately before continuing with his dinner.

And as he sat around the table with his mother, his father and MiRa, he kept that smile fixed firmly in place.

And his smile said, this is just the way it is supposed to be.

Isn't it?

*                                 *                                 *                                 *                                 *

"So, how are things going between you and that handsome guy you're seeing? I've noticed you've been posting a lot of pictures lately."

MiRa was having a night out with a few of her friends. They'd all already had a couple of drinks and conversation had turned from daily and frivolous occupations to men.

"Yeah, how is it going between you and JinYoung?" SeYeun asked.

"Everything's going fine, " MiRa said smiling.

"I bet it's going better than fine. He impressed me as the type that would be pretty passionate when I saw him," SeYeun added.

"That's right. You met him. Up on Mount Halla," MiRa said.

"Yes, with that hunky friend of his," she answered.

"Yeah, that friend of his that wasn't interested in me," her friend pouted.

"That's right. I remember now. At the time, well, when I first saw them, I thought they only had eyes for each other. Well, the way they seemed to be looking at each other. And how close they were standing. But I knew I had to be wrong once I realised he was your JinYoung."

"Well, to tell you the truth, you were probably only half-wrong," MiRa said as she took another sip of rice wine. "Not about JinYoung I mean, he's a very friendly guy. But Mark. They were friends at university and they opened Escape together, but JinYoung just bought him out." She leaned in as though she had a secret to tell them.

"It seems, Mark moved away with . . . his new boyfriend," she whispered.

"Omo!" exclaimed the friend who had had a crush on him.

"No wonder he wasn't interested in you. I mean, if he had been a normal man . . . " she said to comfort her shocked friend.

"A boyfriend? Are you sure?"

"Yes," said MiRa. "Apparently, they all knew each other at university and this friend moved here when he had some hard times. Anyway, spending all that time together . . . well, long story short, they fell in love and Mark sold JinYoung his half of the business and moved away with him."

"Ugh! How could they do something so disgusting? Don't they care what anybody thinks?"

"Their poor parents. They must be so disappointed."

"It's not that big a deal these days," SeYeun interjected.

"SeYeun-ah!" the disappointed friend chipped in.

"Well, it's not. It's their business if they want to live like that. I mean, if they want to choose a man when they could have a woman and a family, that's their choice," SeYeun remarked ignorantly. "It's just a bit creepy that someone like that was living with JinYoung, though. It's a good thing he didn't go after him," SeYeun added.

"It wouldn't have done him any good even if he had," MiRa bragged. "JinYoung is 100% straight and he only has eyes for me."

"Oooooh! Listen to herrrrrr!" her friends sang.

"And he's quite a catch," SeYeun observed. "He has a successful business, he's handsome and he's fit." She leaned in to ask MiRa the next question.

"So, tell us. How passionate is he?"

"Oh . . ." said a flustered MiRa. "How can you ask something like that?"

"Come on, you can tell us. We're all friends here. I bet he really knows what he's doing, doesn't he?" she asked insinuatingly.

"What are you suggesting? I'm not that type of woman," MiRa replied with false modesty.

"Any woman becomes 'that type of woman' with the right man, and JinYoung looked like the right man to me," the formerly-disappointed friend said.

"Were you looking at my JinYoung?"

"No. I'm just saying . . . "

"Well don't just say."

"Oh, what's this? You don't mean to say that you two haven't . . . " SeYeun intimated.

"I never said that," MiRa replied.

"Well, have you or haven't you?" SeYeun pressed. "We're all friends here. I'd tell you in an instant if I had a man as hot as JinYoung, so spill."

"My JinYoung is a gentleman . . . "

"You mean he hasn't tried . . . ? And you two have been dating for how long?"

"It's not like we haven't done anything. We've kissed a couple of times . . . " MiRa said, beginning to feel embarrassed at the turn the conversation was taking and how it was making her look.

"A couple of times?"

"Well, the last time was very passionate. I thought he was going to ravish me right there," she defended.

"But, he didn't."

"No, but that was just because he respects me. He knows about my family. He probably doesn't want to disrespect my father."

"When a man is alone with you, he shouldn't be thinking about your father. He should be trying to peel your clothes off."

"Unnie!"

"Well, it's true. If he really loves you, he won't be able to help it. He'll want you so much he'll lose his reason. Men get blinded by desire, don't they? They don't waste time thinking about fathers and family reputations when they're excited. They just dive on in and to hell with the consequences!"

"My JinYoung is nothing like that and he's still a real man. Really, if that's the sort of man you've been going out with, no wonder you don't have a boyfriend," MiRa said cattily.

"Say whatever you like, but if you don't get JinYoung passionately attached to you soon, he might go after someone else. If you want to hold on to him, you'd better do something quick," she advised.

After the other friends had gone home, SeYeun and MiRa sat close together. MiRa leaned her head on SeYeun's shoulder as they held hands.

"Unnie . . . I'm afraid. I don't know what to do about JinYoung," MiRa confided.

"What do you mean?"

"He seems to like me a lot. He's happy when he sees me every day and we have so much in common. He's even taken me home to officially meet his parents. But . . . " she paused.

"But, what?" SeYeun urged.

"But he never seems to want to kiss me," she admitted. "We only kissed passionately one time, and I was the one who initiated it."

"I'm surprised. From what I saw of JinYoung, he looked like . . . well . . . could I have got him that wrong?"

"I don't think so. That time we kissed. The way he grabbed me and held me . . . and the way he kissed me. I thought he wouldn't be able to control himself from going further."

"But, he did . . . "

"Yes. And I don't know why. We're both old enough and we were alone that night. It's not as though anyone would have walked in . . . "

"MiRa," SeYeun said solemnly, turning to her. "This is more serious than I thought. If JinYoung is all the things you say he is and if you two get along as well as you say you do, you have to make him yours."

"I know that, Unnie, but . . . "

"Just listen. If you listen to me and do exactly as I tell you, JinYoung will be yours, and completely yours, in no time. Just don't forget to invite me to the wedding."

"Wedding? You're that sure it'll work that well?"

"Absolutely. It's positively guaranteed," SeYeun assured her.

"And when it does, don't forget to thank me," she smiled.

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