To Be or Not To Be A Family - Chapter 46

True to her word, Bong-Cha was back quickly. She went inside the kitchen and bombarded Eun-Kyung with her questions again, “now tell me where she is? Why was she so angry in the morning? What was the problem? Where did she go? Wait! How did she go? Did she need our help and didn’t tell us? What are we doing to help her?”

Vidhi moved towards her, grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Hey! Chill! She is okay. She is just sleeping,” said Vidhi.

“What? At this time?” Bong-Cha looked at her wristwatch.

“Yeah, she was injured but now she is fine,” said Hae-Won.

“Injured? Where? What happened? Tell me in detail,” shouted Bong-Cha.

“There was a problem with her spring fashion show, one of her employees sent her new dress for an idol to wear,” explained Vidhi.

“Idol? K-Pop Idol? Which one?” Bong-Cha suddenly became excited.

“She didn’t say.”

“She let that idol wear her dress?” asked Bong-Cha surprised.

“No, never. If they would have gotten the dress through the proper channel she would have let her have that dress but not when they got it from the backchannel,” clarified Vidhi.

“Then?”

“Then what?” asked Eun-Kyung.

“Eshhh… Tell me everything,” said Bong-Cha, frustrated.

“Well, she came back quite upset. She got angry at Haewona,” said Eun-Kyung in a sad voice.

“What? Oh no!” Bong-Cha looked at Hae-Won with sympathy. She very well knew how it felt to be at the receiving end of her anger. “She is scary when she gets angry.”

“That she is,” replied Hae-Won.

“What she said?” asked Bong-Cha.

“More than saying, she did something that was scary,” replied Eun-Kyung.

“What?”

“She broke her phone,” replied Vidhi.

“Noooo…” stretched Bong-Cha.

“Yes, first she threw it on the floor and when was not satisfied with it, she cracked it even more with her bare hand,” said Hae-Won.

“What? How?”

“She is a martial artist. She practises five different types of martial arts,” said Vidhi with pride.

“What? Why don’t I know about that?” said Bong-Cha disappointed.

“She keeps this information private.”

“Why? This is something you must advertise. It will help young girls. We love to copy our idols,” said Bong-Cha.

“You know how she is,” replied Vidhi.

“No one knows better than me. And Keunuhmma, I am sorry on her behalf. When she gets angry she does not know what she is saying,” said Bong-Cha.

Hae-Won touched her head and caressed her hair, “sweet Bongie, she already apologised. It’s okay.”

“But you love your phone.”

“Not more than my kids.”

Suddenly a voice interrupted them from behind.

“What are we talking about?” inquired Baek-Hyeon. Yong-Sun and Chin-Sun followed him. They all placed their bags and purse on the floor and approached the chairs to sit. Iseul picked up their bags and took them to their rooms.

“Ashma!” said all the ladies in unison and started laughing.

“Oh yeah! What’s the latest? Who was she shouting at?” asked Baek-Hyeon.

“What? She was shouting again?” asked Chin-Sun. Yong-Sun rolled his eyes with a smile on his face. Within a day he understood that she was a lovely, kind person but had no control over anger. Moreover, all the problem in her life was making her angrier. She had no idea how to deal with all the surprises life put in her path.

“Oh sit, sit, something interesting happened,” Bong-Cha signalled to the chair next to her.

“Really,” said Hae-Won and raised her eyebrows. Chin-Sun went and sat next to Bong-Cha, excited.

“Keunuhmma, our life was boring. After she came, the exciting thing keeps happening to us,” said Bong-Cha with a bright smile.

“Getting scolding from her is exciting?” shouted Hae-Won.

“Better than sipping tea in silence,” replied Bong-Cha.

“So what happened? Who she scolded now?” inquired Chin-Sun.

“Oh a lot of people, some employee from her office, some idol and keunuhmma,” answered Bong-Cha.

“What? She scolded my uhmma. Wait! Where is she? I need to talk to her.”

“First, hear out every detail and then judge and she is sleeping,” replied Hae-Won. Chin-Sun was surprised that her mother took Ashma’s side.

“Yes, uhmma, sorry. But why is she sleeping now? At this time?” asked Chin-Sun.

“She was hurt. When she came back her wound was all clotted but started bleeding again,” said Hae-Won. All had sympathy for her on their face. But Yong-Sun’s heart leapt out of his chest. He heard that she was hurt and he wanted to run to her and take care of her.

Before anyone could say anything or react further, the doorbell rang. Pyo In-Ho went and opened the door. A man was standing at the door with a small package in his hand. They had a conversation in Korean and Pyo In-Ho came back into the kitchen.

“Ma’am, there is a delivery for miss Ashma and the deliverer is asking for an OTP,” announced In-Ho.

“Delivery for her, here?” inquired Vidhi. She was surprised as to what she ordered now.

“Yes.”

“Okay, let me wake her up,” said Eun-Kyung.

“Let me do that,” interjected Vidhi.

“Of course, Vidhi,” said Eun-Kyung.

Vidhi smiled at her and went inside the guest room. She found Ashma, still sleeping covered with a blanket. She placed her hand on her arms and gave her a slight nudge.

“Ashu!” she said softly.

“Hmm,” Ashma groaned.

“Ashu! There is a delivery boy with a package for you,” informed Vidhi. Ashma opened her eyes slowly. She was feeling more pain in her leg. Her knee was tingling badly.

She rubbed her eyes and sat on the bed with difficulty. She yawned and said, “oh yeah, Priyanka ordered a package for me. Is it here?”

“Yes, he is asking for an OTP,” said Vidhi.

“Ohh, wait let me check.” She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and unlocked her phone. There was a message present. It had an OTP in it. She put her legs down and tried to get off the bed. As soon as she put her legs down, she flinched with pain.

“Ashu! Just tell me the OTP, you should rest,” begged Vidhi.

“I am fine, mom. I can walk,” comforted Ashma.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, mom. I am so unlucky. I should take care of you but you are taking care of me,” Ashma felt sad.

“Oh shut up, I am fine, it’s you who are hurt.” Vidhi patted her head playfully.

“It’s just a scratch, mom,” reassured Ashma. She got up from the bed but her knees gave in and she immediately sat down.

“I told you not to walk,” scolded Vidhi. Her voice was so loud that everyone in the kitchen heard her reprimanding.

“I am just drowsy, mom, it’s fine,” ashma lied. She didn’t want her mother to worry unnecessarily. She got up and moved toward the door slightly limping. She didn’t show her face to her mother but the pain was written all over it.

“Why won’t you listen to me? You need rest,” shouted Vidhi and followed her.

“What is happening?” asked Eun-Kyung after approaching them. Everyone else was looking at Vidhi and Ashma from the kitchen’s entrance. Their eyes fell on Ashma’s wound. One leg of her pyjamas was still rolled above her knees. Vidhi avoided looking at each of them.

“She won’t listen to me. You make her understand,” said Vidhi to Eun-Kyung. “She can’t walk properly but insists on walking up to the door.”

“I am fine, mumma,” said Ashma “and mom, I am fine.”

Eun-Kyung understood everything. She understood that it was important for ashma to collect the packet by herself. “Why it must be you who should receive the packet?” asked Eun-Kyung.

“Because I made the mistake, I have to correct it,” said Ashma.

“So you are punishing yourself?” asked Eun-Kyung.

“No, I am not punishing myself. I just want to see the look on her face,” replied Ashma. Eun-Kyung smiled at her and caressed her head with adoration. Vidhi understood none of it. It seemed as if both were talking in their own code language. Vidhi again felt jealous.

Ashma went up to the door limping and gave the OTP to the delivery boy. He handed her the packet and Pyo In-Ho closed the door after him. Ashma looked at Hae-Won and started walking up to her. She was in great pain but was still trying to get to her. Yong-Sun and Baek-Hyeon had enough. Before Yong-Sun could move ahead, Baek-Hyeon ran to Ashma and stood in front of her.

“What?” asked Ashma, surprised. Yong-Sun too was surprised. What was Baek-Hyeon going to do? His stance appeared as if he was going to hit her.

“Don’t be stubborn like harabuhji. You won’t die if you ask for help,” shouted Baek-Hyeon. Yong-Sun’s fear found him. He was sure Baek-Hyeon was going to hit her. But he would never put his hands on a woman so he was going to scold her. She rebuked his future mother-in-law. He might want revenge to get on the good side of his future wife and her family.

“Excuse me!” exclaimed Ashma. Without warning, he looked into her eyes and lifted her in his arms. “Baek-Hyeon!” shouted Ashma. “Put me down, I can walk.”

“Yeah, I saw. How fast you were walking,” reprimanded Baek-Hyeon. He said and took her inside the kitchen. He softly placed her on a chair. Yong-Sun wanted to kiss Baek-Hyeon for his kind gesture. He was overwhelmed with emotions. He was so happy. Baek-Hyeon did what he wanted to do, so he was a little jealous too.

“Thank you,” appreciated Ashma. She smiled faintly at Baek-Hyeon.

“You are welcome. And next time ask for help,” said Baek-Hyeon.

“Good boy!” said Eun-Kyung and patted his back with pride.

“Thank you, uhmma.”

Ashma inhaled sharply and gathered some courage. She looked at Hae-Won and said, “Aunty! This is for you. I sincerely hope you can forgive me.” She took the package in her hand and moved it in Hae-Won’s direction.

“For me? And I already forgave you, dear, anyone would have forgiven you after seeing that you didn’t care about your wound while apologising. I was a bit angry but when you forgot that you were injured and only saying sorry was important for you, I realised that your mother raised you well.” Tears started forming in Hae-Won’s eyes. She looked at Ashma with tear-filled eyes.

“I had to do that, I was ashamed that I unloaded my anger onto you,” Ashma lowered her gaze with shame.

“I was about to record you to be fair. I forgot about the secret. Sometimes I forget where I am in the intoxication of my popularity. It’s a good thing you took my phone.”

“Here is a new one.”

“It’s a phone?” Hae-Won was surprised at Ashma’s gesture.

“Yes, I hope you like it.” Ashma moved the packet further and Hae-Won grabbed it with a smile on her face. Tears were streaming down her face. She opened the packet in front of everyone. She took out the phone and everyone gasped.. It was the most expensive and latest phone in the market.