To Be or Not To Be A Family - Chapter 57

Ashma’s words kept echoing in Young-Jae’s ears. She challenged him. All he could do was listen to her. As usual, she shut him up. “Get ready for the acceptance,” she said. Did she mean it? Did she really want him to call her sonnyuh or did she say that just out of spite? She was not ready to accept the family but wanted acceptance from him. What was her play? What did she want?

He kept changing his place of sitting. He would sit on his couch, then on his bed. She threw a bet in front of him and ran away from there. He could see her limping slightly due to the injury on her knees but that didn’t stop her from walking away. Why did it always happen that she used to say everything that was on her mind but he would never be able to speak his mind? Why did he always lose?

He was waiting on the terrace to say sorry to her. He had no idea why he wanted to say sorry all he knew was that he had to. Maybe after that Bong-Cha would forgive him, his family would forgive him. He knew he didn’t develop a love for her in a night but he did wrong by slapping her. He never hit any of his children. For the first time, he hit someone and he was feeling guilty about it.

He wanted her to pardon him but instead of accepting an apology, she picked up a fight. Why did she always pick a fight with him? Till now she won every fight, except this morning when he used slang for her. For the first time, he rendered her speechless. He was sorry for the use of the language too. No matter what she was still his son’s daughter, somehow she was still family.

He didn’t eat well, rest well since morning and now this girl made him lose his sleep. He kept jumping from bed to couch, couch to bed. He kept sipping water as his throat was dry due to her challenge. What was she going to do that his perception towards her would change? Was she trying to be the perfect daughter of that house? Only time would tell.

On the other hand, Ashma came back with a smirk on her face. She was at peace. She knew she transferred all her tension to Young-Jae. She was lying peacefully on her bed fully aware that Young-Jae must be tossing and turning in his bed. Nothing could take away her smile now. She was thankful to Yong-Sun to bring her back into the fight.

She wanted to run far away from Korea. She wanted to go back, wanted to go away from Young-Jae but just one sentence from his mouth made her aware that she was about to accept defeat and she never lost in her life, then how she would lose now.

Many students used to bully her in her childhood as her mother was unmarried, she had no father, but she never took any shit from anyone. She believed in tit for tat. For a few minutes, she forgot that and Yong-Sun reminded her. She was obliged to him. She made a point that next time she sees him she will thank him.

The next morning she woke up happy and well-rested whereas Young-Jae woke up all sore. His old age and elusive sleep made him tired. She was ready for a great morning whereas Young-Jae was not even ready for a good morning. Moreover, no one in the house was talking to him. Instead of having his meals in his room, he decided to have breakfast with his family.

Both Ashma and Young-Jae came out of the room at the same time. His room was near the stairs so she ran so that they would descend the stairs at the same time. He stopped at the top of the stairs after seeing her smiling at him.

“You first,” said Ashma sweetly. She never stopped smiling. She had a purse and a big parcel in her hands.

“Excuse me!”

“You first, my dearest grandfather,” she teased him.

“You!” Young-Jae raised his eyebrows at her.

Before he could speak something else, Bong-Cha interrupted, “come on, Ashma, you don’t have to talk to him.”

Ashma immediately changed her expression. She made a sad face and looked at Bong-Cha. “It’s okay Bong-Cha, he…”

“I don’t want to hear anything about him,” shouted Bong-Cha. Young-Jae was sad to hear that. The person he loved most was not talking to him, in fact, she was not ready to hear anything about him.

“But Bong-Cha…” protested Ashma.

But Bong-Cha was very angry. She shouted, “come down and walk carefully. You never know he might push you.” Bong-Cha walked inside the kitchen. Ashma pinched her lips together and raised her eyebrows. She smirked at Young-Jae and tried hard to stifle her laughter.

“Shut up!” said Young-Jae and started walking down the stairs.

She raised her hands in defence and acted like he was about to push her. “Ohh, you are getting angry, will you push me?” teased Ashma.

“Do shut up!” said Young Jae. He knew he can’t raise his voice at Ashma as she had all the sympathy at the moment. The whole house was in her favour and everyone was angry at him.

Ashma sniggered at Young-Jae. He rolled his eyes hard and kept climbing down the stairs. She followed him.

They both entered the kitchen together where everyone was already sitting. No one was able to sleep properly as they went to sleep late at night. The moment everyone looked at them, Ashma stumbled on purpose. She grabbed Young-Jae’s hand and stopped herself from falling.

“Are you okay?” shouted Vidhi.

“Yes, mom. He saved me,” said Ashma. She looked at Young-Jae with fake gratitude. He narrowed his eyes at Ashma. “Thank you for saving me,” said Ashma to Young-Jae with the sweetest voice possible.

“What is he doing with you? What are you doing with her?” shouted Young-Soo. He ran to Ashma, grabbed her hands and brought her closer to himself, away from Young-Jae.

“Relax Mr Park, he just walked down with me,” comforted Ashma.

“How are you?” asked Eun-Kyung.

“I am okay. I am absolutely okay, Mumma,” replied Ashma. Young-Soo took her to the empty seat next to Bong-Cha. He pulled the chair back and gestured Ashma to sit. She thanked him and sat on the chair. Yong-Sun was sitting in front of her. She smiled at him. His mouth fell open. He blinked his eyes at her smile. She was dressed in a navy blue A-line dress. No matter what coloured she wore, she always looked gorgeous.

“Did you sleep well?” asked Hei-Ran. Young-Jae was still standing. No one acknowledged his presence. She took an empty seat at the end of the table and sat there. He kept staring at Ashma and kept thinking about her end game. She fake stumbled and told everyone that he helped her. What was she planning?

“Yes, I did. Thank you for asking,” said Ashma humbly. In-Ho served breakfast to both Young-Jae and Ashma.

“How is your pain?” asked Chin-Sun.

“I was just about to ask that,” said Hae-Won.

“Less now, I am not even limping,” replied Ashma.

“Good, you are ready? You going somewhere?” asked Bong-Cha.

“I have to courier my dress.” She took a bite of eggs that In-Ho prepared for her. She closed her eyes and savoured the flavorful dish. “Speaking of ready why are you not ready, don’t you have college?” asked Ashma.

“I was not able to sleep properly because of you. I need more rest. After breakfast, I am going back to sleep. I think we all are going back to sleep,” said Bong-Cha. Everyone groaned to show how tired they were.

“Sorry, everyone. I am really sorry,” apologised Ashma.

“You don’t have to be. This is someone else’s fault,” said Young-Soo.

“Let it be. It’s okay, you all forgave me, that is enough for me,” said Ashma.

“You did nothing that you should ask forgiveness for,” said Young-Soo.

Everyone was silent for a while. As she was sitting next to Bong-Cha she saw her typing something on her phone. She was typing in Korean but the alphabets were being translated from English to Korean. She pieced the message together. She was telling her friends that she was not coming to college.

“This is the second time I found you avoiding college, is everything okay?” said Ashma. Everyone looked at Bong-Cha.

“Why won’t it be? Everything is perfect, I am just tired,” said Bong-Cha. She stretched her body to show everyone how sore she was and she needed to sleep.

“Bongie, are you alright?” asked Baek-Hyeon.

“No, I said I am tired and you are annoying me,” she chided at her brother.

“Go to sleep sonnyuh, you don’t have to go to college if you don’t want to,” interjected Young-Jae. Everyone ignored him.

“He is right, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Ashma approved.

“You are taking his side?” shouted Jong-Woo.

“Please forgive him guys, he cried on his knees yesterday asking for forgiveness,” commented Ashma.

“What? When?” everyone was shocked. Everyone shouted in unison.

“Last night, he came to my room to ask for forgiveness,” said Ashma and looked at Young-Jae.

“What?” Young-Jae shouted.