To Be or Not To Be A Family - Chapter 47

Hae-Won could not believe her eyes. In fact, no one could believe their eyes. It was a grand gesture. Ashma bought an expensive gift. Ashma knew this won’t justify what she did but she hoped that the phone would mend the broken hearts. She not only wanted Hae-Won but everyone else to forgive her.

“This is for me,” inquired Hae-Won again as she could not believe what was happening. Ashma simply nodded. She was too overwhelmed with Hae-Won’s expressions to talk. She was happy that she liked her present and was ready to forgive her.

“You giving her phone doesn’t justify that you shouted at her,” rebuked Chin-Sun.

“I know and I am very sorry. I apologise from my heart,” said Ashma with a guilt-ridden face.

“Why do you always do that? You always talk rudely and then think that saying sorry will make it okay,” shouted Chin-Sun.

“Chinsuna!” scolded Hae-Won.

“No, aunty. She is right,” said Ashma. She then looked at Chin-Sun and said, “I know I need to control my anger. It is not fair to any of you that I use you guys as a punching bag. I use you guys to get rid of my anger and sadness and fear and all other stupid feelings. I am really sorry. I will try to control it in future. I promise. If I hurt you guys again, I promise you can pull my ears, I won’t say a thing,” said Ashma with tear-filled eyes. she was fed up with crying so she lifted her head up and tried to control her tears from falling.

“But what happened why were you so angry?” asked Bong-Cha.

Ashma exhaled to calm herself down and looked at Bong-Cha. She sniffled and said, “one of my colleagues sent a dress to an Idol’s stylist and she was about to give it to the idol. My dress would have been used for an album launch today. If she would have worn it, I would have to bear a loss in millions.”

“Was that dress that special?” asked Bong-Cha, surprised.

“It was one of my dresses from my spring collection. It was supposed to be one of the showstopper dresses,” explained Ashma.

“What?” said all in unison, shocked.

“Yes,” said Ashma with a faint smile.

“Where is that dress now?” asked Bong-Cha.

“With me, I brought it back,” said Ashma.

“Was that stylist, Jong Jin-Kyong,” asked Yong-Sun.

For the first time that evening, she looked at him. He was desperate that she would look at him and the moment she did, his heart leapt out of his chest. He looked at her knee and then at her face. She was in pain and was trying to hide it. He wanted to hold her badly and assure her that all her pain will go away one day. “Is she that infamous?” asked Ashma while staring at Yong-Sun.

“Oh yeah, she is known for her back-channel dealings,” clarified Yong-Sun.

“Yes, I have heard. She has been trying to collaborate with me for ages but a lot of newcomer designers told me about her, how she duped her, how she took their designs and put her label and paid them peanuts. I hate people like her,” said Ashma. Yong-Sun smiled at her. She smiled back. It felt as if he was in heaven. He forgot where he was, that he was surrounded by people. He just wanted to grab her and kiss her. She suddenly broke the gaze and looked away. He shook his head and came out of dreamland.

“Wait, before anyone asks any more questions, who was the idol who saw your wrath,” asked Bong-Cha, excited.

“Um… I can’t divulge that information. It’s about her reputation,” said Ashma. Chin-Sun was slightly impressed by her. She didn’t want to name names that would destroy someone reputation. She had no control over her anger but at least she has a sense of what to say and when to say it. Chin-Sun liked that about her.

“It’s Salt,” shouted Baek-Hyeon, the very next instant.

“What?” Ashma was shocked. She looked at him. He was staring at his phone. She was shocked as to how he was able to guess so soon but immediately that mystery was solved. “Oh, you googled, didn’t you?”

“Yes, she was the only one that had an album launch today,” said Baek-Hyeon as it was the obvious answer.

“Okay, so the cat is out of the bag.” She looked at everyone. Everyone was staring at her with an open mouth. “What?”

“You scolded Salt, just because she was about to wear your dress,” said Chin-Sun, angrily. She was still not ready to forgive Ashma for shouting at her mother.

Ashma was hurt at her comment. “You have such a low opinion of me? Do you think I would scold her just because she was about to wear my dress? The scolding for my dress was all for Jin-Kyong. I scolded Salt because she was the one who injured me,” explained Ashma.

“What?” said everyone in unison. They were shocked to their core. Vidhi was surprised the most. Her martial artist daughter was injured by a girl so easily.

“What did she do?” screamed Bong-Cha, angrily.

“First, she almost caused an accident for a parking spot,” said Ashma.

“Excuse me!” exclaimed Baek-Hyeon.

“She was driving her car herself?” inquired Bong-Cha, stunned.

“Yes.”

“But idols are not allowed to drive,” said Chin-Sun. Her perception of Ashma was changing slowly as the story progressed. She thought that Ashma scolded Salt without any reason but slowly the truth was coming out that Salt deserved to be scolded.

“I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Tell us everything in detail,” pleaded Bong-Cha.

“Hmm… so, she is a brat who thinks she is entitled. She stole my parking spot, then tried to show off that she was rich and hence superior. When she was still not satisfied, she pushed me, I fell and got injured. The worst thing she did was insult my poor, old driver. I would have slapped her then and there but I had to protect the old man so I took all the insult.” Everyone was hearing her out without even making a peep. Even the servants forgot about the evening tea and kept listening to her adventures.

When no one spoke or threw a question her way, she continued, “then I went inside but I didn’t have an ID. So, I made Salt’s manager take me to meet Jong Jin-Kyong because it was about Salt’s dress. So I went inside, Jin-Kyong knew me. I knew her. She knew my reputation and what happens to people who try to steal from me. I warned her that if I don’t get my dress back I will sue her and Salt’s company. They handed me the dress over. Salt apologised because she didn’t recognise me and was a fan. I was angry at everyone, my employee, the stylist, Salt and came back without getting rid of that feeling. That was a big mistake.” She lowered her head, took a deep breath in and then faced Hae-Won.

“Aunty was, I don’t know, recording and I heard my introduction. All I could see was the future when people would come to know the secret and how that would impact every one of us. We getting together to know each other is one thing, people finding out is another. That anger came out on her. I screamed at her for which I apologise again and also for breaking her phone.” She kept looking at Hae-Won with sad eyes.

“It’s okay, you apologised enough,” comforted Hae-Won.

“She told me you broke her phone with your bare hands,” asked Bong-Cha, stunned.

“She did what? You did what?” inquired Baek-Hyeon, bewildered.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Liar, show me your hands,” demanded Bong-Cha.

“No, Bong-Cha,” emphasised Ashma and stared her down.

As if stare had no impact on her. She batted her eyes at Ashma and said, “call me, Bongie.”

“No, Bong-Cha is fine.”

“Fine, I won’t pester you about nicknames but show me your hand, it’s injured too, isn’t it,” stated Bong-Cha.

“No.”

“When did you have your anti-tetanus shot?” asked Chin-Sun.

“I don’t know,” said Ashma casually.

“Tomorrow morning you are coming with me to the hospital,” said Bong-Cha.

“What, no,” screamed Ashma.

“Do you want to apologise to keunuhmma?”

“Yes, in every possible way.”

“Then get the shot,” shouted Chin-Sun.

“Chin-Sun, I know you are angry at me. I apologise to you too but trust me I am fine. I don’t need the shot.”

“Yes, you do, you fell on the street and broke the screen of the phone with your bare hands. You need the shot,” said Chin-Sun.

“But aunty cleaned all my wounds with antiseptic liquid, I am fine,” begged Ashma.

“You know that’s not enough,” replied Chin-Sun.

“But what about your work?”

“Don’t worry, my boss will understand.” She looked at Yong-Sun and smiled.

“Of course, he will,” said Yong-Sun.

“Fine,” said Ashma and rolled her eyes.

“Why don’t you tell the world that you know martial arts?” shouted Bong-Cha.

Ashma laughed out loud. A gasp escaped from Yong-Sun after hearing her laugh. “Chill! I just don’t like to advertise that.”

“But it’s a good thing,” said Bong-Cha.

“Somethings should be private.”

“Teach me,” pleaded Bong-Cha.

“Yaa,” screamed Yong-Sun. Everyone looked at him stunned. “I tried to teach you and you used to run away. But you want to learn it from her.” He jumped from the chair and ran towards her. “Come here. Bong-Cha saw him jumping from his chair and she too jumped and began running. She ran for quite some time like cat and mouse.

At last, he caught her and pulled her ears. “Sorry, Oppa!” she yelled.

Everyone was smiling from ear to ear except Young-Jae. He was standing at the kitchen’s entrance and saw everything happening inside. He heard every word. Suddenly he shouted, “will I get my evening tea today or you guys will waste time talking?” His eyes fell on Ashma’s knees but he said nothing.

“Sorry, Shiahbuhji! I will send you tea in a minute,” said Eun-Kyung and addressed In-Ho after that “Pyo-ssi!”. In-Ho nodded and urgently started making tea.

Young-Jae left.. Everyone tried hard to control themselves but as soon as their eyes met, everyone started laughing like idiots.