Chapter Text
*
Mock exams done, scores to die for and her birthday in less than three months, nine days after the college entrance exam in late November.
Jae Yi could taste that celebratory trip to Japan and the sweet freedom that would have come after the CSAT. She wouldn’t have had to brush up her resume. Let alone come up with lame presentations to be referred like other kids her age.
Everything was rolling out smoothly.
Or, rather… almost everything was.
“Pity Seul Gi got first in math this time,” was Kyeong’s sarcastic rebuttal, which was familiar in its own very despondent way, Jae Yi guessed. “Wonder what your father will say to that.”
“You think he’ll let us bring her too, though? To Japan?”
“Ye Ri-yah, how come you like Seul Gi now?”
“I want to see if I can convince her to be my tutor before it’s too late.”
“And you plan on convincing her to do that how, exactly?”
“I’ll buy her all the pastries she wants during our trip in December.”
Normally, Jae Yi would have been pissed at her best friends even talking about her next pet project, but she also liked the idea of Seul Gi being admired and sought after.
In fact, she had bullied her friends to stand in line with her at the cafeteria earlier than usual just to get some of the school’s best sponge cakes from the first batch of the day. All to bring them as a gift to coax Seul Gi at coming with them to Japan for her late birthday trip.
“Convincing her step-mother won’t be easy,” Kyeong kept nagging as they moved alongside the rest of the queue, arms crossed over her dark teal uniform. “We’re still minors and Seul Gi doesn’t strike me as the type to have very understanding parents.”
“Her mother’s ex-husband is a perv, that woman should be grateful her daughter still has friends to hang out with.”
Ye Ri wasn’t completely wrong, but it irked Jae Yi that everyone in town was still talking of the scandal so carelessly. Jae Yi glared at Ye Ri for that one, but the other girl was too busy fixing her tie while they progressed in line for the sponge cakes.
“Hey, you sure your father will be alright with Seul Gi coming with us?”
“Why wouldn’t he, Kyeong-ah?”
Diplomacy was her best weapon, Jae Yi knew that well. But it was becoming harder and harder to stand that little spoiled kid and her pessimistic remarks.
“Wasn’t he the defence attorney at her dad’s trial?” Kyeong continued, hushed tones unable to compete with all the eavesdropping staffers over the counter. “It got him so much bad rep. You really think he’ll want his precious Jae Yi to be associated with the daughter of an alleged pedo?”
Jae Yi widened her smile as she looked back to fix her nosy friend with one of her chilling smiles, cutting Kyeong’s breath short.
“And your mother was the prosecutor. Life is too short to hold grudges like that.”
Everyone knew Seul Gi’s dad was guilty. They all remembered the pictures, the video, evidence too indisputable to question the poor girls involved in the despicable act. Yet, Jae Yi’s father had done his absolute best to leave nothing for the prosecution to hold onto.
Han Jae Yi was under no delusion.
Bad rep was still rep.
The best defence attorney in Seoul wouldn’t have minded a little more scandal to work with.
“Five sponge cakes please!”
*
Seul Gi was eating so well these days. It made Jae Yi’s heart melt just thinking about it as she checked all the pictures she had snapped of her new friend while she was eating her sponge cake.
Jae Yi had gotten two for her specifically.
Because Seul Gi had worked so hard for that position in the maths mock test and Jae Yi was pretty sure her horrible step-mother hadn’t gotten her anything yet. Not that Seul Gi had eaten both of them, the silly girl.
She had insisted on taking one of them to her guardian after all.
Ever so considerate, her Seul Gi…
“New pet?”
Jae Yi closed her eyes and flicked her phone shut in the same breath, doing her best to keep her cool as she tried to ignore her baby brother sitting next to her.
“Cute. Country Mouse, I bet.”
“Would you please go back to your homework?”
“Look who’s sounding more and more like our Father,” Seong Je had the galls to spat out as he went back to doodle over his practice sheet instead of actually resolving the problem at hand. “I would call for an objection, but there’s no judge here.”
“On what grounds?”
Seong Je, curved over the textbooks and tutoring materials as if he cared very little whether they got crumpled under his weight or not, widened his smile with that fake warmth he always flaunted around like a prize.
“Relevance.”
“Big word coming from you, I’m impressed Seong Je-yah.”
“Tell me about it when Father will find out you don’t want to become a lawyer like him.”
This got Jae Yi’s tongue, making her realise her brother had gotten what he wanted in the end. But she didn’t have time to snap back at him that their third tutor for the day was coming in through the door of their private study room at the library for their last stretch.
As they worked, Jae Yi took some time to herself as she glared at her brother to her left. She noted he was in a good mood, which from her personal experience could only mean he was going to do something brash and unnecessary to ride the high of his most recent success.
Sending him to that dumpster school might have helped, just a tad, she guessed. Among trash he fit right in. Ganghak High was all the way to Yeongdeung-po, though, which made it hard for him to commute back home.
And most of the time he didn’t want to.
But ever since this new kid was involved, Seong Je seemed more engaged, more open to talk to her too.
In fact, that idiot had this little smile about him and he wasn’t even arguing back with the tutor when asked to solve this or that problem. His ADHD had gotten much better recently too and he was less prone to skip steps and make a scene when he accidentally switched digits on the board in front of others.
Something good must have happened, which meant…
“Don’t tell me you’re messing with the new transfer kid from Byuksan I saw you with last time?,” was what Jae Yi came up with as they were waiting for their driver to come pick them up by the side of the road. “You don’t even go to his school, why take the bus to Eunjang High just to pick him up and nag him all the way to cram school? Isn’t it creepy? Didn’t you have some feud with kids from that school last year?”
This, apparently, was the wrong thing to say, because Seong Je used all the inches he had on Jae Yi to tower over her and try to look intimidating while he was at it. It didn’t matter that she was a senior in high school and he was not. He still had that advantage over her at the very least.
“Who’s being creepy?”
“I mean, isn’t he younger than you?”
“And I am myself a minor who still respects the age of consent dutifully.”
“You’re pathetic.”
Ah. Jae Yi regretted using that word the instant it left her mouth. Seong Je’s eyes turning dark as soon as he realised where this was going.
Until they didn’t.
“You know what? I’m too happy to take the bait,” he said next, walking backwards with his hands raised to signify he was giving up that day, neon lights around them bouncing off menacingly on his glasses. “I’m going by foot, I have a study session planned. You mind your fucking business, Nuna.”
“Seong Je-yah don’t be stupid, it’s late.”
“It’s Saturday.”
“I don’t care! You didn’t even take a proper jacket with you.”
“Not your business!”
Jae Yi had to watch him go while his orange windbreaker disappeared among the mob. It did so in a glimmer of regrets, because she kept looking at him until she couldn’t find him anymore in the crowd.
When the Mercedes pulled up, however, Jae Yi realised the mistake she had made by letting her baby brother go.
It wasn’t their driver the one who had come to pick them up that day.
It was Father instead.
*
When it came to their Father, Jae Yi knew how to behave.
The man only ever asked one thing in her life: “What place?”
Everything was a race and Jae Yi was supposed to come on top each and every time. Her whole existence had been made possible thanks to their Father’s obsession with one-upping others, so it would have been pointless to argue against that.
This time, however, her getting second place in maths was going to be a problem.
“I still ranked first on the national rankings for all subjects, having gotten over ninety-nine percent in three subjects out of four,” she did try to defend her case as she sat there, mildly tense, on the passenger’s seat. “And I only got second place in the math test because I used a formula our teacher hadn’t taught us yet.”
“We’ll get your teacher to court.”
Jae Yi knew he didn’t meant actual court. He was surely referring to the board and such, internal audit, that sort of thing. But something in his stance told Jae Yi their Father wasn’t going to let it slide so easily either.
“I’m sure that won’t be necessary, Abeo-nim…”
“Then you’re not cut for this business.”
It stung when he said it like that.
Even if it was true that Jae Yi had no intention of going to Law School anytime soon.
“CSAT may be over but if you start slacking off now, there’s no telling who’ll get your place in Yonsei. You ought to remember that.”
Yonsei, as if.
Jae Yi didn’t even dare letting their Father see her key-charm from SNU, the one Seul Gi had gifted her just a few weeks back. Not when Han Dong Soo, the best defence attorney in town, was so set on getting his only daughter through the trenches of the university he hadn’t managed to study in.
As she looked outside to her right, Jae Yi ransacked her brain to find something to pacify the older man with. They were stuck in traffic, which she knew he abhorred despite that being probably the only break he was allowing himself to have during the day. Her eyes eventually fell on a large billboard depicting one of their Father’s clients and she started commenting how everyone had seen his charges being dropped a mile away.
Father let her talk, which was a good sign, but it didn’t last long.
Chills running down Jae Yi’s spine when Father spoke next.
“Where’s your brother?”
Seong Je’s little self-confident “Relevance” comment was still at the back of Jae Yi’s mind when she had to find an excuse to save her ungrateful brother’s face.
The only reason why Seong Je hadn’t been sent to juvie after that video of him slapping a kid back and blue got viral online was sitting right next to her and Jae Yi knew Father had made a deal of some kind with him to get him out of trouble.
One more issue and our Abeo-nim will send him away, Jae Yi reminded herself, knowing she had to do something to pick up the slack.
“He said he had study group with some friends,” she said then, half-truths better than none. “Said he had promised to get some help from…”
“Why don’t I believe you, Jae Yi-ya?”
Father’s exhausted tone caught Jae Yi off guard and she turned around to gauge his reaction… only to find him with his head leaning back on the headrest of the seat, eyes closed.
Surprisingly, what made Jae Yi worry the most was not the knowledge that she might have gotten grounded for saving Seong Je’s ass. No, it was not recalling if she had fixed Father’s meds that morning at the kitchen table.
She wasn’t sure if he had taken them and…
Father was going to be seventy in a couple of years.
They didn’t have that much time to spend together anymore.
“Bad day?”
The earnestness in her tone must have startled him, because Father blinked a few times before fixing her with a reproachful, but otherwise unthreatening glare.
“Your friend Kyung’s mother got really on my nerves today in court,” he admitted, taking his time as he revived the car when the light turned green. “Smart, but nagging. If I didn’t despise her guts so much, I should have married her instead. I need a new prosecution expert after Gong backstabbed me last year, but I doubt your friend’s mother will give up on her hard-earned position like that anyway to come work for a private firm.”
Jae Yi did her best. She really did. But it was difficult to admit how cruel their Father could be at times.
It wasn’t like Auntie Gong had wanted to leave Han Legal: Father had put her on the spot by forcing her to take less clients than him over and over again. Of course she had taken the first opportunity to leave and build her own firm after being treated like that.
Yet, what hurt most wasn’t knowing they had lost another important adult in their life, but what Father had inadvertently said without being aware of it.
For he had implied “he should have married someone else” and that was the issue.
It wasn’t fair to the woman who had carried Jae Yi to term, nor to…
“You think you deserve that trip to Japan now?”
Another glance to her left confirmed to Jae Yi how belligerent Father was that evening. It was 9pm and both of them were tired, but he had been boiling in his stew of hatred for longer than that. Ready to explode in anyone’s face.
Maybe it was for the best that Seong Je didn’t have to deal with mock exams yet. Father would have never been satisfied with him getting below a Grade 2… something Seong Je would have managed to accomplish just to spite him some more, no doubt.
“I’m keeping a steady progress. And I’m basically set for Suneung. Appa said I just needed to make it to Grade 1 in all subjects to…”
“That bastard. Hasn’t he softened up along the years…?” Father’s words cut through the small space between them, his manic, incredulous chuckle making Jae Yi flinch under her safety belt. “He used to say only being the best mattered. Even ninety-nine percent used to be wasted effort in his eyes. He clearly hadn’t foreseen you. Let alone Seong Je.”
Jae Yi had learned from a very young age how much Father disapproved of tears shed in his home, or… rather, in his household. So no matter how much she wanted to bite down on her lower lip and let herself feel the pain his words had caused, she knew better.
Just like Mother had taught her long ago as a very small child, Jae Yi imagined to put some distance between Father and herself, a chasm stretching between them as she floated downwards in a pool of nothingness. It was the only thing her mother had taught her, the only memory Jae Yi held of her as the woman looked sternly at her from above.
Below the surface, in that abyss of stillness, Jae Yi could breathe. She could finally find her place somewhere Father’s hatred couldn’t touch her or the people she loved…
And it was there, in the icy waters of dispassionate kindness, that Jae Yi could find a way to be the daughter Father needed her to be.
“Appa is a tad melodramatic, you know that Abeo-nim.”
Satisfied with her answer, the most successful defence attorney in town nodded in approval and offered to take Jae Yi somewhere nice to eat.
Only for Jae Yi herself to realise where they had ended up amidst the traffic.
“I think we missed the right corner,” she was saying, looking out into the artificial light of that late September evening to take notice of the many tutoring schools lined up for the poor kids to make their pick. “I’m sorry, I think I’ve distracted you with my chattering… maybe we can take a shortcut by…”
But it was then that Jae Yi realised exactly just how mad their Father was that day.
Because the instant she spotted her darling Seul Gi looking at the cars anxiously as she stood at the bus station… Jae Yi knew what was happening.
Father never picked them up from the library.
She shut her eyes tight and kept her face away from sight, so that Father couldn’t see her when she played the part he wanted her to embody.
“Oh! That’s Seul Gi,” she said then, using her best impression of surprise she could muster despite feeling weak at the knees.
“What was that, dear?”
The fake disinterest, the condescending tone, “dear”… all bad signs.
“That’s a classmate of mine, Woo Seul Gi,” she explained, turning slightly to let Father see her face, so he wouldn’t suspect her being cross with him for that ambush. “Ah, right… I think you know her dad. He was wrongly accused some time ago last year.”
Not bringing that up would have only made Father angrier.
Nice play, Han Jae Yi.
“Where is she? Which one of those girls?”
Father was now leaning into her personal space, looking out on the side of the road while they were still waiting for yet another traffic light to turn green. So Jae Yi humoured him and leaned back a little, finding a point of contact with his shoulder as she pointed in Seul Gi’s direction.
“It’s the girl with the white sneakers.”
“Isn’t this Kyeong’s usual bus stop? Is she here too?”
“Ah, I think she had plans with her family tonight…”
Father pretended to think about it for a split of a second and then went back to his rightful place behind the wheel.
“Let’s give your friend a ride.”
Contrary to Jae Yi’s expectations, this was so much worse.
“What?”
Wrong move, Han Jae Yi.
Father turned around slightly, looking down on her in that way that Dad liked so much.
“Why? Is it so bad to offer a friend of my daughter’s a safety ride home?”
In all honesty, Jae Yi had only believed Father to be interested in getting a reaction out of her. To see if she could hold under pressure and still offer a diplomatic stance on the girl who had surpassed her in maths in the midterms. But no. Father really wanted to…
Powerless to do anything else, Jae Yi rolled the window down and waved with a fake smile until Seul Gi could see her. She coaxed her closer, feeling like she was helping Father lure in another prey of his, keeping her grin in place because she knew Father could spot her expressions from the side-mirror to her right.
Seul Gi, bless her heart, beamed at the sight of her friend and Jae Yi’s heart broke just a little at the thought of what was about to happen in that car. She had to watch passively as Seul Gi looked around carefully before coming closer to the car. Jae Yi had no doubt that she was being careful not to jostle her backpack too much, in fear of ruining the sponge cake she had saved for her step-mother and…
“Is it Seul Gi, Woo Seul Gi?”
Father had leaned over to greet the girl right when Jae Yi was about to yell at her to run away, but it was too late for that now, was it?
“Ah, good evening, sir.”
“You recognised me, didn’t you?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you again for all you’ve done for my f…”
“It’s nothing, kid,” Father cut her off, blinding smile still in place. “We were wondering if we could take you home? We’re headed roughly in the same direction anyway.”
They most certainly were not.
Their place was in Yongsan, much quieter for a family like theirs to handle their business in peace. Seul Gi didn’t live nowhere near t…
“Is… is that alright with you, sir?”
All Jae Yi could do was smile warmly at Seul Gi and hope Father was too exhausted to cause any damage with his words. She kept a close eye on her friend as she boarded the car, Jae Yi’s hand already on the handle to join her in the back…
Only to discover Father had blocked the doors as soon as Seul Gi was seated.
“The light is turning green, dear. You’ll have to stick with your old man for the time being.”
He had planned this.
Up to the way Jae Yi would have had to sit when Seul Gi showed up.
“Is your family doing well, Seul Gi-ssi?”
“Yes, thanks to you, sir.”
“None of that, please. I’m happy the defamation case wrapped up nicely,” Father said then, never looking at Seul Gi from the rearview mirror, not at all interested in her reaction or attitude. “From such an unlucky experience at least something good came to be in the end, right?”
Clearly confused, both girls eyed the man with conflicting emotions, pending on what he would have told them next.
“I mean. Reparations got you enrolled in our Jae Yi’s school too,” that awful man said then, which only made Jae Yi hurt further…
Knowing she still loved him to a fault despite his horrendous ways.
“Ah, yes. She’s taking good care of me at Chaehwa High,” Seul Gi managed to squeeze in, her right fingers sneaking in the space between Jae Yi’s seat and the car frame just so they could hold hands. “She’s helped me settle in nicely. I’m very grateful for her help.”
Perceptive, wonderful Seul Gi.
If only this could have saved her from Father’s wrath…
“That’s brilliant. I’m very proud of our Jae Yi.”
From the lilting quality of his voice it was easy for Jae Yi to infer that Father disapproved of Seul Gi. It was written all over his face, his contempt showing even if nobody would have been able to catch it. After all, he was showing off his best smile, the one he had worn last as Attorney of the Year at the National Bar Association Gala.
Nobody would have dared call him out on his bullshit while he was at it.
“Now that midterms and simulations are done I’m sure you’ll have a little bit of time to yourself,” Father continued, hopefully ignorant of the way Jae Yi’s fingers were spasming in Seul Gi’s palm by the left. “Christmas is coming up in a couple of months. Any plans?”
“We’re not Catholic. So, I’m not really sure…”
“Jae Yi got herself a nice trip booked in Japan with her friends for a couple of days. Her godfather volunteered to take them while he’ll be there for a business trip.”
There was no reason to flaunt it to…
“Did she invite you?” Father asked, this time turning to take in Seul Gi’s expression while they waited in line to turn the nearest corner. “I think we can convince him to look after another well-behaved teenager like you. What do you say?”
What a low blow.
Father hadn’t done something so heinous ever since telling Jae Yi that Mother was moving away from the country altogether. She still recalled the relief in his features at that, knowing Jae Yi’s mother had lost her only chance to save their child from her fate.
“My mother wouldn’t like that,” Seul Gi replied with the kindest tone she could convincingly wield against the man himself. “My father won’t be home and I don’t want to leave her alone during that time.”
The squeeze Jae Yi’s hand received as Seul Gi said that came loud and clear for the “I’m sorry” that it was. It made Jae Yi feel better, even if only marginally so.
Dissatisfied with the girl’s reply, the older man turned cold despite keeping his pleasant attitude. Instead, he offered to stop at a convenience store to let the girls pick something to eat… only for Seul Gi to rebuff him mentioning how her mother didn’t approve of her spoiling her dinner.
It was then that Jae Yi was left speechless as she realised Father’s distraction tactic had worked. Without her even noticing, they had ended up cutting through Gangnam until coming in sight of Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Its many lights peeking through the glass of the facade, glaring down on them as the Mercedes slowly approached the building.
Why was Fath…?
“Go pick up your Do Young-samchon, Jae Yi-yah.”
Jae Yi turned around slowly, terrified of what her eyes were about to see.
For the man currently sitting to her left couldn’t be called her Father anymore.
Only the infamous defence attorney Han Dong Soo remained in his wake.
“I’m sure he’ll be ecstatic to see you at the office.”
*
Dad wasn’t supposed to be there.
He never was.
He spent most of his time in Shinnam, handling his business at the Ferry, overseeing contracts with companies from all over the Pacific. In fact, Dad hadn’t told her anything about making a surprise visit when Jae Yi had called him just the previous day to chat.
All these doubts roamed her mind as Jae Yi hurried down the entrance hall to talk to one of the night watches there. Any minute she spent out of that car was a minute in which Father poisoned Seul Gi against her and this wouldn’t have done.
She suddenly, viciously wished Seong Je was there to help.
He would have thrown a tantrum, yelled at Father for embarrassing one of Jae Yi’s friends like that, stormed out of the car and forced Father to look for him instead of messing with Seul Gi’s brain.
Or maybe not.
It all depended on her brother’s mood, really.
But it was nice to think about that hypothetical 50% chance Jae Yi had just missed.
The lady at the counter sounded very apologetic, saying she believed the CEO of Shinnam Ferry to have left already for the night, out for a company dinner. Jae Yi asked her to – please – check again, just to make sure. She was her goddaughter, you know, and he had promised to come to dinner with the family instead and…
“Gongju-nim, is that you?”
Princess.
Only one person in the world called Jae Yi by that name without any hint of sarcasm in their voice.
She turned around then, her duster coat getting a little tangled in the seasonal ornaments atop the main desk as she did so. But before she could free herself Jae Yi got engulfed in a bear hug as she was lifted from the ground, warmth spreading all over.
The lady at the desk took a startled breath at the sight, stunned into silence.
“You got your results today, right? How did it go? First in the national ranking, didn’t you?” Was what their Dad said as soon as he released her from his hold, a tired but thrilled smile taking over his features.
And Jae Yi was only human.
So all she did was nodding instead of ruining this moment for him.
“I knew it,” sighed in relief Dad, looking up to meet the night watch’s gaze in the process. “My goddaughter is the best high school student in the country. I think I’ve restored my faith in humanity just about now.”
Dad was never talkative unless they were in public.
It offered a more palatable image of him, he said, since he looked so tall and intimidating. But it was also true that Jae Yi could see how proud he was of her in that moment, even if he would have perhaps preferred to show it by offering her a hearty meal instead.
At times like these… yes.
It was easy to spot Seong Je in there, behind the overly friendly tone Dad was displaying then, just to save himself from scrutiny.
“We were supposed to go to dinner tonight right? Is your father waiting for us in the car? Did he pick you up from your tutoring lessons?”
He sounded so hopeful.
Like he really meant it.
It dawned on Jae Yi then that Father might have actually told Dad just as much. In Dad’s mind, they were actually going out to celebrate. It’s wasn’t a rouse to him at all.
They waved their goodbyes to the shellshocked night watch and walked out of the building just as Dad was putting his suit jacket on. The old, familiar Mercedes of Jae Yi and Seong Je’s childhood was right there in plain sight, glistening as if it were a present for Dad to unravel. Which was probably why he quickened his step at the sight, preening under that unexpected bout of attention form his partner.
Dad was so happy, in fact, that he didn’t even flinch when he noticed Seul Gi on the backseat as they descended the stairs.
“A new friend? Is she coming to dinner with us?” Dad asked then, completely unbothered, unknowingly reminding Jae Yi that he hadn’t met Father in almost six months. “Of course, of course. I’m always happy to meet your friends. Do we have to pick Seong Je up too or…?”
God, wasn’t he chatty…
Tell me he wasn’t planning on fucking tonight, Jae Yi silently prayed the Lord at that, painfully aware of how much Dad’s mental state depended on Father’s willingness to be bent in half on a good day. Tell me he wasn’t looking forward to meeting with him…
That was why Jae Yi did something she would have usually never done.
She decided to piss her beloved Dad off.
So, before he could beat her to it, she rushed down the stairs and took the passenger’s seat, leaving Dad to fend for himself on the curb and Seul Gi to scoot over to make room for him.
That way, Father would have been satisfied. Because Jae Yi knew he liked it best when he managed to put a dent in between their children and Dad. But that also meant…
“Ah, you’re cute when you want attention,” was the horrifying reply Jae Yi was met with as Dad opened the back door and picked the most uncomfortable spot next to Seul Gi. “Our Jae Yi just loves to be a Daddy’s Girl, isn’t that how it’s called nowadays? Where are your manners young lady…”
Seul Gi chuckled at the joke, Dad’s faux reproachful tone towards Jae Yi just convincing enough to make the girl stiffen a giggle.
“Seul Gi-ssi, this is Jae Yi’s godfather, Seo Do Young.”
Seul Gi politely ignored Han Dong Soo at the wheel to nod in greeting towards the man who had just taken over the back seats, his frame almost comically large compared to hers.
“Jae Yi’s father has kindly offered me a ride home.”
Seul Gi’s words were quiet against the growling of the Mercedes coming back to life. It was an old model, good enough to pass undetected when their driver had to take the kids places. Dad believed it would have attracted less attention in case of a possible kidnapping and Jae Yi found herself agreeing.
Seong Je hadn’t gotten through years of trauma work for nothing after that one time at five years old. His stuttering still peeking out from time to time.
A newer car would have only brought them more risks to avoid.
The silence around them made Jae Yi suddenly tune back in on what was happening around her. Father was muttering under his breath due to a reckless deliveryman having almost hit him in passing, while Dad looked oddly pensive in the back. Jae Yi could see his expression changing from the rearview mirror.
Not even the glasses he was wearing were thick enough to shield his heart from view.
“Where’s Seong Je?”
Seul Gi didn’t catch the meaning behind the question, simply because she didn’t know everything about her new friend and her family yet… but Jae Yi had immediately caught it.
Dad was starting to connect the dots.
And he wasn’t liking it one bit.
“Seong Je is my son,” Dad explained to poor Seul Gi next to him, taking off his glasses to massage the bridge of his nose while he was at it, a deep sigh echoing soon after. “He grew up with our Jae Yi. I thought we were going to dinner… all four of us.”
Jae Yi knew Seong Je should have been there to diffuse the situation, but she couldn’t possibly figure out what their Father had originally planned to have the lot of them inside the same vehicle for. It was clear that he had schemed to get Seul Gi involved from the beginning and God knew what he had told her in the car while Jae Yi was gone but…
Unless…
“Seong Je told our Jae Yi he had study group tonight,” Jae Yi’s Father said, nonchalant in that way of his that revealed just how guilty he was. “I believe he finally convinced the smart kid from Eunjang High to join them.”
There was no study group.
Unless Father had paid that little insignificant kid himself to pay attention to Seong Je while he played cat and mouse with Seul Gi in front of Jae Yi.
“Right,” Dad exhaled then, nodding to himself, having clearly read between the lines without even having to look at Jae Yi’s Father for confirmation. “It wouldn’t surprise me if someone paid that poor kid to deprive me of the joy of seeing my child after so long.”
Sometimes, but only sometimes, Jae Yi hated how connected she was to the man known to the world as Seo Do Young. They thought the same way, berthed the same air, said the same things…
Is that why our Abeo-nim hates me so much?
Since Father wasn’t saying anything to that, it was Jae Yi’s duty to relieve the tension once again, much to her immense displeasure.
“Do Youngie-samchon didn’t mean that, Seul Gi-yah,” she said in the least suspicious way she could come up with, winking at her from the passenger’s seat. “I’m sure he’s just missing his son after a long day at work. And it’s not like Seong Je is the nicest when it comes to giving a rain check either…”
“Gongju-nim, it’s still my son you’re talking about.”
“Yes, yes. I know. Sorry, sorry.”
Nobody was laughing at that awkward display of damage control, but Jae Yi felt rather grateful nothing had turned for the worst in the end.
They were coming closer to Seul Gi’s neighbourhood now and…
“Seul Gi-ssi?”
“Yes, sir?”
Jae Yi didn’t turn this time around, bracing herself as she felt cold all over despite the duster and the heated seat beneath her.
Whatever was going to come out of Father’s mouth… she didn’t want to hear it.
“Make sure to give Jae Yi some tips in maths next time as well,” Father uttered then, right as he was slowing down to park nearby Seul Gi’s apartment complex. “It doesn’t happen often that someone manages to beat our Jae Yi in that particular subject after all.”
That being said, mortified to a fault, Jae Yi didn’t even greet Seul Gi goodbye. She couldn’t be bothered, not after Father had successfully humiliated her in front of Dad like that, not after her precious friend had been used as a pawn for his mind games.
So, when everything was said and done, Jae Yi ignored the text message she knew Seul Gi had just sent her. She held onto the phone in her pocket, however, the backpack on her lap shielding her away from what she knew was about to ensue.
“Han-byeon.”
“Yes, Seo Do Young-ssi?
“Pull over,” was the icy, devastating order coming from the backseat. “Han Jae Yi. In the back. Now.”
Jae Yi was powerless to refuse, fending for herself against the cold as she switched places with her Dad, who didn’t even spare one of his reassuring smiles for her to latch onto.
By the time they got back to their villa in Yeonsu, the shouting match was still ongoing.
And Jae Yi had all but dissociated into oblivion.
*