To Be or Not To Be A Family - Chapter 71

She hated the fact that Young-Soo was sitting close to her mother. Why was no one stopping it? What about Young-Jae, how was he allowing this? Why was he allowing it? Where the hell was, he? She was away from Korea so why was he not at the breakfast table?

For the first time in her life, she wanted Young-Jae to do something for her. She now understood what he must have felt when he saw these two together. She too disliked them together. Maybe because he left his mother when she was young or maybe he was trying to get close to her when he had a whole other family.

She discarded all those feelings and thoughts and ran to her mother leaving everyone behind, ignoring everyone’s questions and comments.

“What happened to you? How did this happen? I leave you for five days and this happens,” she touched her mother’s hands softly and asked. She wanted to hug her but was afraid that she might hurt her.

“Calm down! I am okay. It’s just a plaster cast,” said Vidhi and touched Ashma’s cheeks.

“Broken bones, is not just a plaster. That’s serious,” said Ashma in a mocking tone.

“Hey! Come here. Your mother is okay,” said Bong-Cha and tried to get her away from Vidhi.

She looked at everyone and shouted, “why didn’t you inform me?”

“Because you were busy,” said Vidhi.

“So, what?”

“You were under a lot of pressure, and we didn’t want to disturb you. We thought of telling you today, but you are here. Way to surprise us.”

“That makes no sense at all,” scolded Ashma.

“I am fine,” assured Vidhi.

“She is fine. We took care of her. I took care of her just like you said,” said Baek-Hyeon.

“I told you, your mother has her family with her,” said Hae-Won.

“I know aunty.” Everyone was stunned as they heard the word, aunty, from Ashma’s mouth. “But how did this happen?” asked Ashma, concerned. “Wait! You didn’t even tell Nanaji, he has no idea, does he?”

“No, he doesn’t,” said Vidhi.

“Why?”

Bong-Cha came to her and dragged her to a chair. “First, sit down, take a deep breath.”

“But Bong-Cha…”

“We will tell you everything that happened after you went away but you need to calm down. I don’t want you screaming your head off for no apparent reason,” said Bong-Cha.

“No apparent reason?” shouted Ashma. Bong-Cha stared her down. “Fine,” said Ashma and sat on the chair but her eyes never left her mother. She took a deep breath and tried to relax but it was difficult for her.

“Hae-Won! You looked absolutely beautiful,” complimented Vidhi.

“Thank you Vidhi. Your dad, your sworn sister, your house, everyone, everything is amazing,” said Hae-Won.

While they were talking, Eun-Kyung brought two big plates of breakfast for both Ashma and Hae-Won. “Eat, both of you,” commanded Eun-Kyung.

“But, Mumma,” said Ashma.

“Eat, if you want the full story,” ordered Eun-Kyung.

“That’s blackmail,” said Ashma.

“Whatever.”

“And you why did you lie to us?” asked Eun-Kyung and placed her arms on her waist with authority.

“She told me too,” Hae-Won gestured towards Ashma.

Ashma was about to put a spoonful in her mouth when she saw Hae-Won gesturing towards her. She shouted, “Hey! That’s standard procedure. I wanted it all to be a surprise. I knew what it feels when your ideas get leaked.”

“Oh yeah, congratulations on that plagiarism case,” said Baek-Hyeon.

“Thank you,” said Ashma.

“What happened to that case?” asked Eun-Kyung.

“You didn’t tell her,” she scolded Baek-Hyeon. “Nothing happened, Mumma,” said Ashma.

“Nothing?” asked Eun-Kyung.

“I mean we didn’t have to file a case or something like that, he apologised on social media and my legal team negotiated a royalty contract with them. So, if they sell my design under their collection, they will pay me royalty for every dress,” explained Ashma.

“Wow, nice!” said Young-Soo was listening to her every word. He was a proud dad.

“What happened to Rishabh?” asked Vidhi.

“As you ordered, he is out of jail. I took the case back after giving him a warning. But now everyone knows what he did so I don’t think he will get a job in the fashion industry any time soon,” said Ashma.

“But how did you get the idea of using women from daily lives?” asked Eun-Kyung.

“After looking at you beautiful ladies, one is a business tycoon, one is a student, one is an employee, one is a professor, one is a housewife, one is an influencer, and everyone is brilliant,” complimented Ashma.

“Aw… thank you,” said Hae-Won.

“Now anyone will tell me what happened here,” Ashma gestured towards her mother’s broken arm.

“Okay fine, Vidhi tell her or else her food won’t get digested,” laughed Young-Soo.

“That’s true,” Eun-Kyung smiled.

“Ha-ha, well, It was two days after you went away. I have been thinking about you, day and night. We all kept thinking about you, day and night and kept waiting for your messages but you were busy. The night before I was not able to sleep properly because of you. I kept thinking about the pressure of work you had.

I talked to dad and he said you didn’t come home for the last two days and I knew that you won’t return home till your show is over. I was pondering over whether you were eating, sleeping or taking proper rest. Because I know how you work, to what extent you get involved in your work.

So because of lack of sleep and stress because of you, that morning I was feeling dizzy. Eun-Kyung came to ask me to come to breakfast. She went downstairs and I got up from the bed but because of dizziness, I sat on the bed. It was like a vicious cycle.

Whenever I would try to get up from the bed the room would spin, there would be a loud whistle in my ears, everything would turn white. After sitting for a few more minutes, I felt better and I left the room. I reached the stairs where Mr Park was taking a phone call.”

No one spoke in between. Everyone was submerged in the story. All were listening with their ears open and with full concentration. Ashma even forgot to eat her breakfast. She was too busy listening to what happened to her mother and how it happened. As her mother was a professor she knew how to grab someone’s attention with a story.

Vidhi continued, “As I placed my one foot on the top of stairs my faint spell engulfed me again. The room started spinning again, everything turned white again, but this time the whistle was louder. I tried to grab the rails but my feet stumbled.

I felt someone trying to stop me from falling and I can say that as Mr park was the only human being behind me, he tried helping me but maybe he was slow or maybe I was too fast, I fell, rolled on the stairs and landed on my right hand. My bone cracked under pressure and my ulna broke.”

Ashma and Hae-Won gasped.

“As everyone was at the breakfast table, they came running. Young-Soo picked me up again and Baek-Hyeon raced the car to the hospital. The famous cardiologist, Seong Chung Ho, who took care of me last time, helped me this time too. He himself put the cast on my arms. He took great care of me. Well, Young-Soo and Baek-Hyeon took great care of me too.

After I came home, Mr park asked how I was doing and he even helped me once in taking my medicine,” said Vidhi.

“What, now?” screamed Ashma in surprise.

“Yes, Mr Park Young-Jae, helped me. And Eun-Kyung and Bong-Cha and Chin-Sun and Hei-Ran have been taking care of me every day. Yong-Sun and Jong-Woo keep feeding me fruits every time they visit,” said Vidhi.

“You must have felt so much pain. I am sorry I was not here, mom,” said Vidhi in a sad voice.

“Come on dear, you were doing something important, it was not like you were wasting time with hooligans,” Vidhi tried to make Ashma understand that it was not her fault.

“I am sorry, Mom,” Ashma went hand softly hugged Vidhi.

“It’s okay sweetie,” Vidhi patted her back with her left hand.

“Why didn’t you tell nanaji?” asked Ashma.

“Because he would have found you out in Samvlta and told you everything and you would have left your work and come running to me,” explained Vidhi.

“You bet I would have done that,” said Ashma.

“That’s why we decided not to inform you,” said Young-Soo. His voice was irking him but she didn’t react as she was more concerned about her mother.

“But mom, I should have been here with you. You were in pain,” said Ashma.

“I made sure that my daughter grew up to be an independent girl. So how can I raise an independent girl if I, myself, am not independent?” suggested Vidhi.

“Being independent and being lonely in times of need are very different things, mom,” said Ashma.

“Dear Ashu, my sweet child, as everyone told you, I am fine,” said Vidhi.

“Did you hurt your head?”

“A little,” said Vidhi.

“Concussion?”

“No.”

“Just broken arm?” asked Ashma.

“Yeah, I am not even allowed to wave my finger,” joked Vidhi.

“Why would you want to wave your finger?” scolded Ashma.

“To eat.”

“I am here. I will feed you from now on,” said Ashma.

“My sweet child. Okay you wait here, I have to go to the bathroom,” said Vidhi and stood up from her chair.

“Do you need my help?”

“No, sweetie.”

“Okay, mom.”

Vidhi went into the room and then into the bathroom. She locked the bathroom door and stood in front of the mirror. She had a devilish smile on her face. She looked at the cast. Very smoothly she took her hands out of the cast and jerked her hands.. While looking in the mirror she very easily flexed her fingers.