To Be or Not To Be A Family - Chapter 54

As Guryongpo Beach was far from Seoul, it took Yong-Sun time to reach the beach. The whole way every single person present in the Park mansion kept calling him one by one to find out where he reached. It was after dinner yet no one ate or slept. They were worried but now, everyone knew why they were unable to find Ashma because she was not in Seoul. Bong-Cha and Vidhi couldn’t even fathom that they forgot about Ashma’s obsession with beaches. They kept cursing themselves for not thinking about it before.

Everyone thought about seaports, airports, malls but no one thought about beaches. Eun-Kyung was worried that Ashma had nothing to eat since morning. She called up Yong-Sun.

“Have you reached?” asked Eun-Kyung.

“No, Gomo,” replied Yong-Sun.

“How much more time will you take?”

“More than an hour,” said Yong-Sun.

“Buy something to eat, and make sure she eats when you find her. Don’t know what she ate the whole day,” said Eun-Kyung with worry.

“I will, Gomo. Don’t you worry,” reassured Yong-Sun.

“She has not eaten anything since morning, no since last night as far as I know,” her voice quivered.

Yong-Sun understood that she was crying. “Please don’t cry. You know it will break my heart. And if you cry who will look after Ashma’s mom.”

“I am not crying,” Eun-Kyung wiped her tears and spoke.

“I will inform you as soon as I reach. Don’t worry,” said Young-Sun and disconnected the phone.

He went in silence for a while. Again his phone rang. He pressed the Bluetooth speaker on his phone and received the call. “Did you reach?” asked Bong-Cha instantly. She didn’t waste time greeting him. She came straight to the point. Her voice was deep and shaky. One could tell she was crying her eyes out.

“Not yet, Bongie,” said Yong-Sun keeping his eye on the road.

“Drive faster, then. Why are you wasting time?” screamed Bong-Cha.

“Yes, mommy,” teased Yong-Sun.

“Oppa!”

“Give me the phone.” Seeing that Bong-Cha was wasting time, Baek-Hyeon snatched the phone from her. Everyone else was looking at Bong-Cha for news but she had no answer. Baek-Hyeson asked, “where are you?”

“Half an hour from the beach,” informed Yong-Sun.

Baek-Hyeon removed the phone from his ears, looked at all the people present in the living room and announced, “he says he is half an hour from the beach.” Everyone nodded at the news. All were slowly relaxing. “That’s good. Well Hyung, how did you know she was at the beach?” inquired Baek-Hyeon.

“One of your security personnel informed me. He called me and said that his informant somehow got the news that she was spotted at the beach,” replied Yong-Sun.

“Our security personnel?”

“Yes, he said he worked for Park security,” said Yong-Sun.

“Did he give you a name?” questioned Baek-Hyeon.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t ask as I was too excited to get any information regarding her,” said Yong-Sun.

“Why didn’t he call me? I was coordinating with everyone,” said Baek-Hyeon, surprised.

“No idea.”

“Why didn’t that informant approach her himself?” asked Baek-Hyeon. He was too confused as to how people found her when she was out of Seoul.

“Maybe she would have run away again. Maybe he was scared to approach her. How would I know? Why are you asking me all this?”

“Maybe you are right. Let me find out,” said Baek-Hyeon with determination.

“You do that, I will go and find her and bring her back. Pray that she is still at the beach,” said Yong-Sun. “I don’t know what I will do if I could not find her,” muttered Yong-Sun to himself.

“Trust me, we all are praying.”

“Hey!” Yong-Sun lowered his voice. “What about harabuhji? How is he?”

“Um… wait a minute.” Baek-Hyeon moved from the living room away from everyone and answered, “no one knows, he hasn’t come out of his room today.”

“Do you think he is feeling guilty?” asked Yong-Sun.

“Don’t know. All I know is everyone is angry at him. No one went and talked to him. Bong-Cha didn’t even go and talk to him. He is all alone in his room. Only Pyo-ssi went inside, that too for his food. He informed us that Harabuhji was sitting in his room in darkness,” answered Baek-Hyeon.

“Maybe he is feeling guilty,” suggested Yong-Sun.

“What should we do of such guilt? He should never have hit her. He was wrong.”

“Okay, leave that topic. You take care of everyone there. I am about to reach the beach. Talk to you later,” said Yong-Sun.

“The moment you get her in your car, inform us.”

“I will.” The phone disconnected. Baek-Hyeon repeated every word that Yong-Sun told him but he hid all that they talked about Young-Jae.

“What did he say?” inquired Young-Soo, eagerly.

“He was about to reach the beach, so he disconnected the call. The moment he gets her in his car he will inform us,” said Baek-Hyeon.

“Good, good,” said Eun-Kyung.

“Oh my sweet child!” exclaimed Vidhi.

“Don’t worry my son will find her,” said Hei-Ran.

It was late night when Yong-Sun reached the beach. He parked his car and jumped out of it and ran on the beach searching for Ashma. A few people were roaming on the almost empty beach. Even though it was empty, he could not spot Ashma. It was a long beach and searching every inch of it was impossible. Suddenly he had an idea. He thought of calling Ashma and following the ring tone.

He called her up but was disappointed. Her phone was switched off. He kept running and running on the beach but almost 15 km of the beach was impossible to cover. He wanted to see her as soon as possible. He knew she could fight yet he was concerned for her, concerned for her safety, concerned for her physical health, concerned for her mental health. He could only imagine what she would be feeling right now, away from her family, away from her country, all alone.

He walked and ran and walked and again ran. He would stop to catch his breath. He would ask people who were still at the beach but no one saw an Indian girl. His heart was beating faster. He was afraid that he might have missed her. He cursed himself as before coming to the beach he didn’t look for Baek-Hyeon’s car. He kept praying to God that he would find her at the beach.

When he gave all his hope up of finding her on the beach, he decided to give it a last chance and went to the slightly hilly area. He wanted to cry and shout with joy. But the scene in front of him calmed him down. He clenched his stomach and took in as much breath as he could, he was out of breath after running for long. He kept breathing for a few minutes. His heart started slowing down. He closed his eyes and thanked God.

He wanted to cry and laugh and jump and roll on the beach with happiness. He kept staring at the girl in front of him. Ashma’s long hair was flowing in the cold air. The water kept washing her feet with every wave. She was hugging her knees and occasionally throwing pebbles in the sea. He titled his head and looked at her with love and sympathy. His breath shuddered.

After looking at her for a few minutes, he ran towards her and placed his hands on her shoulder. She jumped and stood up. Yong-Sun looked at her face. It was red and swollen. Her eyes were bulging out due to crying. Her nose was red. She refused to look at him.

“Are you okay?” asked Yong-Sun with all the adoration in his heart.

“What are you doing here?” Her voice was all hoarse, shaky and sad.

“I am here to take you home,” said Yong-Sun. He touched her chin softly and forced her to look at him.

“Home? Huhh… what home?” Her voice broke. Tears started flowing from her eyes. She broke down and her knees gave in. She fell on the sand and started bawling. Yong-Sun heart broke after seeing her so broken, so dejected.

He too knelt down, placed his arms on her shoulder and pleaded, “please don’t cry.”

“What else should I do?” she shouted.

“Come home with me. Everyone was scared for your safety. They want you home,” begged Yong-Sun.

“I am never going back,” Her voice shuddered.

“I am not leaving without taking you back,” said Yong-Sun with determination.

“Then you will have to use force because I am not going back on my own,” challenged Ashma.

“I am not afraid to force you to come with me,” replied Yong-Sun.

“Oh, really! Remember I kicked your ass at the hospital,” taunted Ashma.

“You took me by surprise that won’t happen again,” said Yong-Sun and took his fighting stance.

“I know five different types of martial arts,” warned Ashma.

“Huh only five, I know seven.”

“Oh yeah. Let’s go then. Maybe hitting you will provide me with the necessary release.”

“If I win you will come home with me,” challenged Yong-Sun.

“If I win you will leave me alone,” Ashma challenged back.

“Done,” Yong-Sun accepted her challenge.