Yongguk had offered Sumin that he would drive her to the waterski-event in his car. A grey Porche 011. As handsome as him. The vehicle had no room other than for the two of them. They had to sit together alone in his car for one and a half hour. Sumin was more busy with looking at his profile feautures and the way the his strong thighs made the jean fabric tighten, instead of studying the beautiful landscape that surrounded them. She had spent endless hours thinking about the man and she tried to determine whether he was as interested in her as she was in him.  She had no experience and she didn't have anyone she could  ask for advice. That left her to her own assessment based on.. Well, nothing. OK, there was plenty of gossip from girls in high school, but nothing seems to fit. Yongguk didn't show any signs of if he wanted with her. Furthermore he didn't try anything when they were all alone. She thought it was because he was older and already had a lot of experience.

But she was pretty sure that he desired her. The way he  sometimes looked at her melted her heart. And other bodyparts as well. For help she had tried to read magazines but they all said that open communication was the best in relationships. Did that mean she had to ask him? 

She would rather go for nonverbal clues and she was convinced that there were some. Everytime he was around, his eyes flashed by something who resembled the knot in her stomach. He had never acted by the feeling, and they've seen each other for three weeks now. They had not had any real dates, but they had seen each other a lot. She was convinced that she was the reason why he attended meetings he never had participated in before. Which meant he wanted her right? 

She was really surprised. A man like Bang Yongguk who was interested in Baek Sumin. She was used to that people was attracted to her because of status and family, but just like the other students who had no idea who she really was, he didn't know either. But maybe he liked her. 

He was everything she had ever dreamed of. He was boyfriend material for sure. Even though he wasn't his girlfriend.

She sighed. Yongguk sent her a questioning look. Slightly she smiled and shrugged her shoulders. Fortunately he didn't ask her what she was thinking. She would just blurt it all out and make a fool out of herself. He was so great, he was firm without being dominant. He listened to her, maybe even more than her own brother. He was smart and focused. His MBA-studies showed that too. He was intense in a super hot way. No wonder, Baek Sumin had fallen in love with Bang Yongguk. The problem was that she sometimes was convinced that he only wanted a pure friendship. She was so useless when it came to men and women. The missing experience of hers was really irritating. She didn't even know how to flirt for god sake. Her upbringing had made her insecure with men even though she had had the opportunity to flirt. She probably would have avoided any form of interaction. The anxiety together with the fact that dating would lead to failture and the indignity of being monitored by bodyguard all day long, had kept her distance from men with interest in her.

Until Bang Yongguk entered. The fact that he was willing to spend time with her in the things she was already involved in, helped a lot. But she would do anything to be together with this man. However she wished, she knew what she should do with him. It wasn't because missing experience had kept her away of doing things she wanted to. She wasn't that useless ornament her father thought she was. Yongguk was so different from the men in her family.

Her inteligence didn't surprise him, and he didn't think that her studies were waste of time. He actually didn't know why she had picked such subjects but he behaved like he thought, she would use her studies to something useful. It was her hope. 

Most of the time she had lived apart from her family and had only seen her siblings and parents. one week a year. Then she flew to Korea and lived at their residence for that week. She didn't remembered anything about her parents caressing her and certainly  sheknew that her father never had recognized her as anything other than her useless daughter. Sumin didn't want to to feel useless as an adult. She would make a change and not just be a pretty pendant for some random man. 

"You are really quiet.." 

"I was thinking about how different you are from the men in my family." Sumin said almost whispering. 

"In which way?" 

"You don't look down on me due to my gender." Her honesty surprised him.

"Who does that?" 

"My father and my uncle. Others as well". 

"Your brother?" He said. 

She didn't think she had mentioned her brother to Yongguk, but she guessed so as he asked. She gave him one of those rare smiles, she did when she thought of her family.  

"He is brought up to be just as my father, but he is nothing like that. You can't see on the surface but he shows me by doing special things." 

"Like what?" Apparently Yongguk showed real interes and it emboldened her to be more straight forward and opened about the truth than normal. 

"He spends time with me" 

"Your parents don't?"  

"My mother does.. Sometimes." 

"Your father don't?" Yongguk didn't sound surprised nor disapproving. He only sounded curious. 

"No, he was too busy to spend time with a simple daughter"." 

"Doesn't it bother you?" 

"Would it bother you?" She asked him. 

He shrugged his shoulders. 
"I guess so.. But in my case it was my mother who didn't want to see me. But my father is and has always been in love with his business". 

"And that doesn't make you angry?" She made the "O"-face. 

"Why should it? I'm busy with my own life." 

"So you don't think a family should be together?" She wrinkled her brows at him. 

"You mean the dream of eating dinners together and going on camping trips during summer?" 

"Something like that" She mumbled and looked straight out of the window. 

"It would be lovely, if you were born in a family like that. But if not you have to accept the fact and move on". 

"Or change them" She supplied. Her remark seemed to have surprised him. 

"How would you do that?" 

"Me? Personally? I'm planing to get married to someone who doesn't share the same oppinion as my family.  If that's the case then I don't want to get married at all. In the future if I have children I want to spend as much time with them as I can. Nor my daughter or son shall feel insignificant." 

"So what you're saying is, that you think you're useless and insignificant to your parents?" 

"I know I am." She looked down. 

"Why do you say so?" 

"Because I haven't seen my parents for so long.." Sumin never told personal stuff like that to others but it was different with Yongguk.

She trusted him. 

"And your brother?" When Yongguk mentioned her brother, she smiled again and her mood changed a bit. 

"He always listens when we are together and he supports me and my decisions. Sometimes he also visits me here in the U.S. My father would never do that, even though he travels a lot to the U.S. due to his business." 

"I'm sure that your family here in the U.S. takes  good care of you" Yongguk smiled sincerely while he focused on the traffic. 

"They are. They also support me. They are open towards new ideas opposite my father. It was my uncle in the U.S. who insisted I should study here and my father didn't approve but he let me"  

Even though Sumin father gave her permission she had as precaution applied for U.S. citizenship when she was old enough. It took her two years and was one of the reasons why she had learned to trick her bodyguards  for her to sneak out of the house.  Now she had a legal nationality in the U.S. which meant that her father didn't have the same control over her. Because of her father's status she didn't have much choices in Korea. But now her freedom was unconditional. 

"Your relationship with your parents makes you sad." 

"My missing relationship. As I said, my future children will have a different life." 

"I'm sure that everything you'll reach for will succed." 

She gave him a brilliant smile. She was really in love with this man. 

"Thank you"

___________________________________∞______________________________________