To Be or Not To Be A Family - Chapter 92

Ashma was happy to talk with Yong-Sun. He was polite, mature and understanding. She placed her head softly on his shoulder. Her soft hair landed on his back. He looked at her with adoration and kissed her head. The whole journey was spent in silence with them holding hands together. They both were carrying just masks, wallets and their phones. Everything was in their pockets and their hands were free to hold.

After almost an hour, the pilot once again announced, “Welcome to the Jeju Island, land of Mount Hallasan, Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls, Seonim Bridge, Seongsan Ilchulbong and many more beautiful picturesque places. The place is perfect for a couple. The outside degree is pleasant 29 degrees. Enjoy the view.”

“We are here,” said Yong-Sun.

“Jeju island?” asked Ashma.

“Yes.”

“What is here?” asked Ashma, again.

“Beautiful places.”

“We are here to visit beautiful places,” answered Yong-Sun.

“You are here to visit beautiful places, I am here to spend time with you alone away from your fans,” teased Yong-Sun.

“Shut up!”Ashma blushed, hard.

Yong-Sun first deboarded the plane and took Ashma’s hands and helped her down. They met with the pilot and thanked him for flying to Jeju Island.

They came out of the hanger where a black SUV was waiting for them.

“Welcome, sir,” said the driver and saluted both Yong-Sun and Ashma. They both greeted him by bowing down.

“Thank you,” said Yong-Sun.

The driver handed him the key and opened the door for Ashma.

“Thank you,” said Ashma.

Yong-Sun sat in the driver’s seat with Ashma in the passenger seat. The driver closed the door for Ashma. She nodded politely at him. Yong-Sun closed the door to the driver’s side.

“Where are we going?” inquired Ashma.

“To your surprise,” answered Yong-Sun, smiling.

“Okay, but the whole morning have been a surprise,” said Ashma.

“I know,” smiled Yong-Sun at her comment. “And keep your mask on from now on.”

“Sir, yes sir,” saluted Ashma, teasingly.

Yong-Sun laughed at her tease. He looked at Ashma. She was carefree and happy. He loved her this way. She was sad and distraught on the plane thinking about Young-Soo and how she treated him. He was happy to know that she was at least thinking about how she hurt him. At first, she never concerned herself with anyone’s feelings but slowly she was taking others’ emotions into consideration.

From the first day she arrived, he has been watching her angry and sad but now she was teasing, smiling and giggling and was happy. He loved happy Ashma. He never wanted to see her crying as he did on the beach. That picture still appeared before him from time to time and he never wanted to see her like that, ever again.

Yong-Sun started the car and drove away. They reached the Jeju sports complex and Yong-Sun stopped the car. The scene before her was breathtaking. The road was lined with large trees. Every branch, every branchlet, every twig of the tree was covered in pink coloured flowers. No matter how far her eyes could see, the whole area was covered with beautiful pink flowers. There were no leaves on the trees, it was loaded with small, sweet-smelling flowers.

She got out of the car. A soft breeze blew her hair. A few pink petals blew with the air and landed on her hair. Her mouth was open, her eyes were widened. She took a deep breath and took all the beauty in.

“Wow!” exclaimed Ashma.

“Surprise!” shouted Yong-Sun.

“What is this beautiful place?” asked Ashma.

“These are the King Cherry tree blossoms,” answered Yong-Sun.

“King Cherry?”

“Yes, the petals of these cherry trees are bigger than normal cherry trees. This is the first blossom of the season,” said Yong-Sun.

“You… you brought me here for the first cherry blossom,” Ashma was shocked. No one ever did anything like that for her, no one, not one in any relationship. No one ever gave a thought about how to surprise her. This surprise was amazing.

“Yes,” said Yong-Sun. He was surprised at Ashma’s surprise. Sure a girl like her must have received a lot of surprises in her life. Why was she acting as if she didn’t get any big surprises in her life? He was concerned that maybe she didn’t like it.

“Did you not like it?” inquired Yong-Sun.

“Like it… I love it,” shouted Ashma. “This is beautiful, no, beyond beautiful, it’s gorgeous.”

“Yes, too gorgeous,” smiled Yong-Sun, looking at her.

“But you are looking at me, look at the trees, look at the flowers,” screamed Ashma in excitement.”

“You look at the trees, I am looking at whom I should be looking at,” teased Yong-Sun.

Ashma smiled behind her mask. She lowered her mask, then lowered his mask, wrapped her arms around his shoulder and softly placed her lips on his lips. Suddenly the pink petals started flying in the air. The sweet smell of the flowers filled the air. Yong-Sun’s heart jumped out of his chest. He got goosebumps all over his body. The soft lips on his lips were softer than the cherry petals. Her pink dress was matching with the cherry petals. She was looking as gorgeous as the environment next to them.

Yong-Sun snaked his hand over her waist and pulled her closer. With his eyes closed, he deepened the kiss. Their tongues were dancing in tandem. One of his hands was in her hair and the other was on her waist. He leaned her on the bonnet of the SUV and kept kissing her. They stopped only after it was getting difficult to breathe.

Ashma blushed after looking at him. He wanted to scream “I Love You” to her but stopped herself. He knew that she was not ready for that step right now. She was just on the dating step, love step was far away.

He looked at his red face and smiled at her. Suddenly he remembered something, he asked, “have you had your breakfast?”

“Um… no.” Ashma wanted to lie to him but she was feeling hungry.

“What? Why?” shouted Yong-Sun.

“You asked me to get ready by 8 am,” protested Ashma.

“I never said not to eat anything,” screamed Yong-Sun.

“Okay, don’t shout at me,” scolded Ashma.

“I am not shouting, just a little angry,” said Yong-Sun, disappointed.

“Angry is my thing, not yours.”

“Okay, before going anywhere, we need to eat something,” announced Yong-Sun.

“Okay, done. But where are we going next after breakfast?”

“It’s a beautiful waterfall,” said Yong-Sun.

“Ohh, I love waterfalls,” said Ashma, excited.

“I know.”

“What? How?” asked Ashma.

“Bong-Cha!” said Yong-Sun as if it was the obvious answer.

“She told you that?” Ashma was puzzled.

“She is a walking encyclopedia of Ashma Dewan or Designer Ashma,” said Yong-Sun, happily.

“What did she tell you?” inquired Ashma.

“That you love water bodies. No matter where you go you always go to the beach,” said Yong-Sun.

Ashma grinned from ear to ear, “that is true.”

“Yes, she researched you even before she knew you were her sister,” told Yong-Sun.

“Ha-ha,” laughed Ashma loudly.

“And after she came to know that she had a sister he again looked at your documentary,” said Yong-Sun.

“Oh god no, not the documentary,” Ashma was embarrassed.

“Trust me, to find your address or a way to communicate, you have no idea how many sleepless nights she has had,” said Yong-Sun.

“She is sweet, and Baek-Hyeon is sweet too. But why didn’t they ask mumma, she could have told everything to them,” suggested Ashma. He raised his eyebrow and titled his head to point out the obvious. “Oh right, none of you knew that mumma knew me or was corresponding with me.”

“Were you angry at her?” asked Yong-Sun.

“Who? Mumma?”

“Yes.”

“No, I don’t know why, but I was never angry at her. I was angry at my mother though,” said Ashma.

“It would have come as a shock to you,” said Yong-Sun.

“Of course, the moment, Bong-Cha called me, my world turned upside-down. I was so angry at my whole family because they hid my father’s identity from me. As far as I knew, my father died in an accident. I never knew my father was very much alive and that he knew everything about me,” suddenly Ashma’s face became sad.

“You are lucky that your father is alive. You have no idea what I would have given to see my father again,” said Yong-Sun sadly.

“May I ask what happened?” asked Ashma politely.

“He died in an accident,” answered Yong-Sun and lowered his head.

She grabbed his face, looked at him and said, “I am sorry.”

“I was with him in the car,” said Yong-Sun directly looking at Ashma.

“What?” screamed Ashma with shock.

“Yes, I was in the back seat. I got away without any scratch but my father…” Yong-Sun could not complete his sentence. His voice choked. She held his hand tightly and assured him. After some time he said, “You have no idea how lucky you are, you have a father, talk to him, share his wisdom, take his help, help him, spend time with him, you never know when these all be snatched away from you.”

“I know, I understand, but I never knew him. And now talking to him feels like I am talking to a stranger who is trying to take away my mom from me,” said Ashma sadly.

“Your mom?” Yong-Sun was surprised.

“He feeds her with his own hand, spends time with her, they laugh and giggle like old lovers. I don’t like that,” announced Ashma.

“They were in love,” pointed out Yong-Sun.

“That was ages ago,” counterpointed Ashma.

“They were each other’s, first love,” Yong-Sun tried to make her understand.

“So you have no issue with them being together?” questioned Ashma with shock.

“Of course, I have, I love Gomo, I can never see her sad. But you have to admit that it’s difficult to forget first love,” said Yong-Sun.

“You talk as if you have experience with love,” teased Ashma.

Yong-Sun looked at Ashma, took a deep breath and said, “You have no idea.”

“Have you been in love before?” asked Ashma.

“Have you not been in love before?” inquired Yong-Sun.

“I have had many relationships, but love, no, never,” replied Ashma.

“Many relationships?” Yong-Sun was slightly hurt.

“Didn’t Bong-Cha tell you that? Every affair of mine was made public. Every man just outed themselves to the media to get some attention as they were dating me,” said Ashma with bitterness.

“Don’t you dare out me,” teased Yong-Sun.

“Excuse me!” shouted Ashma at his tease.

He smiled at her and said, “I am the eligible bachelor of Korea. You are no one compared to me.”

Ashma could not stop smiling at him, “Yeah, right.”

“Cover your face, I don’t want people to look at you and fall for you,” immediately Yong-Sun touched her mask that was on her neck and covered her face.

“Shut up!” Ashma punched his arm teasingly.

He wrapped his arms around her shoulder and said, “let’s go eat.”

“Yes, please.”

Yong-Sun opened the door for her and she sat in the passenger seat. After making sure she was comfortable in her seat, he started the car.. They moved towards Jeju Folk Village.