To Be or Not To Be A Family - Chapter 55

The whole house was waiting for Yong-Sun to call but he was busy persuading Ashma to come with him. He even agreed to fight with her. There was a bet going on between them. None of the people were aware of what Yong-Sun and Ashma were about to do. They had no idea when they would be coming back.

Bong-Cha was biting her nails in anticipation. She kept staring at her phone and then at the door. Baek-Hyeon drank a lot of coffee to avoid sleep. He called every single security personnel but no one had an answer to who called Yong-Sun about Ashma. It was becoming a mystery. If no one had any idea where Ashma was then who was the person that informed Yong-Sun of the whereabouts of Ashma. Was it a prank? Was someone wasting Yong-Sun’s time? Do they have to go back to find her?

Everyone kept yawning one after the other but none of their phones rang. They all were sitting in the living room waiting for some news about Ashma. Young-Jae came out of his room looked at his family and went back. Pyo In-Ho gave his dinner to him. The rest of the family was waiting for Ashma to arrive.

“Ahhh… what is he doing? Why hasn’t he called yet?” shouted Bong-Cha and pulled her hair in frustration.

“True, why hasn’t he called yet?” said Chin-Sun. She was on the brink of crying.

“Relax you two, he will call. It’s a long beach, it takes time,” said Eun-Kyung.

“It’s all my fault,” Chin-Sun who didn’t cry a single tear from morning started crying.

“What?” Everyone shouted in unison.

“Neither I would have forced her to go to the hospital, nor paparazzi would have spotted us, nor harabuhji would have slapped her,” explained Chin-Sun. Everyone surrounded her and patted her back to comfort her.

“It’s not your fault dear. No one could have anticipated what would happen. I am just afraid Ashu won’t dump her anger on Yong-Sun,” said Vidhi with worry.

“Don’t worry my son can handle everything,” said Hei-Ran with a smile.

“But Ashu knows how to fight,” informed Vidhi.

“Oppa too knows how to fight,” said Bong-Cha.

“Should we call him?” asked Hae-Won.

“Let us give him some more time,” said Baek-Hyeon. He was holding Chin-Sun tightly to calm her.

“I am calling him,” announced Hae-Won.

Meanwhile, at the beach, Ashma stood in Long Forward Stance.

“Oh karate, then I will do taekwondo,” exclaimed Yong-Sun.

“Whatever,” Ashma rolled her eyes.

Yong-Sun took the cat stance. But the next moment his phone rang.

“Saved by the bell,” teased Ashma and stood upright.

“This is from the house, definitely asking about you,” said Yong-Sun.

“Take it,” allowed Ashma.

“So that you can attack me when I am not ready,” asked Yong-Sun. Ashma raised one eyebrow.

“Do you think I would cheat?” she was offended.

“Yes,” said Yong-Sun with confidence.

“Well, you are not wrong,” smirked Ashma.

“Your mother is also there.”

“Ohh… Emotional blackmail,” said Ashma.

“Think what you may. I am taking this call,” said Yong-Sun and picked up the call. “Hello!”

“What are you doing? Why didn’t you call? Is she with you? When are you coming back? Is she okay? Has she eaten anything?” All started questioning at once. He couldn’t tell who asked what. He removed the phone from his ear and put it on speaker for Ashma to hear. Everyone kept shouting one after the other.

“Relax everyone! She is with me. Can’t talk right now. Will call you back.” Not for once, he averted his eyes from her. He was sure she would hit him at any given moment.

True to his suspicions, the moment he disconnected the phone, Ashma lunged at him. He threw his phone on the sand and stopped her with his hands.

“I knew it,” he commented.

“I waited till your call was over,” taunted Ashma.

“So sweet of you,” said Yong-Sun, sarcastically.

“I know.” She smiled at him. He exhaled loudly. Even her swollen face brightened, her red eyes twinkled when she smiled. He could lose with her all his life. But today he had to win and her smile was making it difficult.

She kept lunging at him but he kept defending himself. She would punch him, he would punch her back. She would kick him, he would block it. She would slap at him, he would avoid the slap. They kept fighting like cats and dogs. She flipped and kicked him hard on his head.

“Hey! That was cheating,” cried Yong-Sun.

“Why? We are fighting. Everything is fair in…” said Ashma.

But before she could complete her sentence, Yong-Sun shouted, “Yeah, yeah, I know.” He stood in the back stance and gestured for her to come at him.

She ran at him and they did a few moves of wing-chun. He countered every move. He somersaulted and trapped her legs in his. She was tied down, unable to move. She squinted her eyes and punched him hard on his face and came out of the grip.

“Ow! That hurts,” screamed Yong-Sun. Now, he was getting angry. She was winning. He had to take her home at any cost. She stood up but before she could fight back he kicked her leg and she stumbled. Before she could find her footing he kicked her other leg and she fell to the ground. Without wasting any time, he jumped over her. He pinned her hands and legs with his hands and legs. He looked at her. She looked at him. They remained in that position for long breathing heavily and in tandem. Her chest touching on his chest made his heart beat faster.

Their bodies were too close to each other. The cold air was not bothering them, their body heat was enough to keep them warm. His hands automatically ran to her face. He caressed her cheeks and moved his fingers to her lips. He brought his face even closer to hers. Her lips quivered after his touch. Both couldn’t look away from each other’s eyes.

Emotions overwhelmed them. Their lips were centimetres apart. Just a simple move and they would kiss. But before they could kiss the phone rang again. Both came back to their senses. They stood up with a jerk and removed all the sand from their body. Ashma gulped hard. Yong-Sun closed his eyes and exhaled loudly. He picked up the phone from the sand. It was Bong-Cha’s call. He let it go to voice mail.

“Are you okay?” asked Yong-Sun.

“Me, yes, are you?” inquired Ashma.

“I didn’t run away from home. Let’s go, I won,” said Yong-Sun.

“You are right, you won,” said Ashma disappointed.

He understood that she was not ready to go home. “Well, we don’t have to go straight away, we can roam a little,” said Yong-Sun.

He grabbed her hand as he was afraid she would run away from him. He took her to the wooden bridge. They stood there for long just taking in the beauty of the water and the moon reflecting in it. The wavy water was glittering under the moonshine. Yong-Sun looked at Ashma. She was looking more beautiful than the water. She was happy when she was fighting with him but at the thought of going back home, she was sad and gloomy.

Suddenly she blurted out, “I don’t like it here. I want to go back.”

“I thought you were a fighter. So should I understand that you are accepting defeat?” mocked Yong-Sun.

Tears started streaming down her face. Her face contorted, her lips quivered and she sniffled, “all my life I have been a princess. I have received love from my mom, my grandfather, my Madhu maasi. I am the apple of their eyes but here I am a bastard. I am world famous but in that house, I am nothing. You know, I don’t need acceptance from him. I don’t want his love but it hurt when he shouted that I am a bastard. It didn’t hurt when he hit me, it hurt when he called me a bastard.”

“I am sorry on his behalf,” apologised Yong-Sun.

“It’s okay.”

“Everyone in the house is sorry.”

“I know. Anyway, sorry for hitting you,” said Ashma.

“I hit you too,” said Yong-Sun. He softly punched her arm and smiled at her.

“You were holding your punches. I could tell, why, because I am a girl?” teased Ashma.

“No, because I have a crush on you,” taunted Yong-Sun. Only he knew that he was telling her the truth.

“Huh… come on!” exclaimed Ashma and started laughing.

“Okay now let’s go home, I won. Your mother is worried for you. In fact, the whole house was worried for you. But Bong-Cha is crying her eyes out.”

“That girl!”

“She loves you. Everyone loves you.”

“Not everyone,” said Ashma.

“Right, not everyone,” agreed Yong-Sun.

He again grabbed her hand and took her towards his car.

“What about Baek-Hyeon’s car? Oh no! I punched him.” The sudden realisation hit Ashma.

Yong-Sun looked at her horrified face and started laughing.

“What? Shut up!”

He laughed a little bit more and said, “Don’t worry. We will send someone to bring his car.”

They both sat in the car. Yong-Sun put the car in the ignition and they both put on their seat belt. The car started and Ashma’s heart started beating fast thinking about how she was going to face everyone especially Baek-Hyeon. She only knew that she never wanted to look at Young-Jae ever again. The only thing that was echoing in her ears was the words Yong-Sun said about accepting defeat.. He was right, she must not accept defeat.