AAE -- For Better For Worse

Part 2 -- Chapter 11

by LoveCR2

edited by All-About-AAE

 

 

"You're upset at me."

 

"I'm not upset."

 

"Yes, you are."

 

"Honestly, I'm not."

 

 

While being ushered from Yoon Hoe-Jang's house to the courtyard where Hyung-Chul was waiting in his BMW, Sun-Mi had wondered what mood he would be in. After all, she had come to speak to his father on her own accord, having decided not to discuss it with him first, on the possibility that she might change her mind at the last minute. She had not anticipated he would learn of it from his father before she could speak to him first.

 

She could surmise that he might be bothered at having to interrupt his day to drive all this way just to collect and send her home. Or might be curious about her conversations with his parents. Or disgruntled that they didn't come together the first time.

 

But the expression on Hyung-Chul's face as the doorman had seated her in the car and sent them off yielded scant insight into his thoughts. The closest it matched was the look on his face that day he discovered the 'little white lie' she had told him about her father being ill while instead it was Woo-Jin she was concerned over, or the night in his car after she had chattered non-stop about Kim Woo-Jin as he sent her home. Sun-Mi was left with deciphering a tinge of tiredness mixed with a dollup of annoyance and a dab of disappointment, together implying that, once again, she had somehow crossed the line...

 

 

Sun-Mi looks at Hyung-Chul dubiously, challenging his assertion, "Then why haven't you said two words since I got into the car?"

 

"Does someone not talking have to mean they're angry?" he sidesteps her question.

 

Exasperated, she exhales sharply."I didn't say that!"

 

"But you thought it," he retorts, keeping his eyes fixed on the traffic crowding busy Seongbuk-ro. "Isn't that why you went behind my back, because you thought I'd be angry?"

 

"I wasn't trying to go behind your back! I was trying to help," she rebuts his accusation. "I was worried because I thought your father had disowned you for choosing to marry me instead of Yoo Joo-Hee."

 

"And what did you find out?" he asks, certain of her answer.

 

"That what I believed wasn't true, but only a ruse," she admits sheepishly.

 

"Exactly, so you went to a lot of trouble for nothing," he criticizes her initiative.

 

"It was not exactly nothing," she differs. "I did meet your ..."

 

"The next time a rumor involves my family, talk to me first," he dictates, interrupting. "Don't get all worked up because of something you presumed. You're always like this, stirring up worries over nothing."

 

 

His condescending tone irks Sun-Mi.

 

"I wouldn't have gotten 'all worked up' if you had told me what you were planning in the first place!" she counters. "You're always like this! Why am I the last to know anything that involves you?"

 

"It was about my family problems," Hyung-Chul makes the distinction an excuse, irritated. "Why should I involve you?"

 

 

Sun-Mi stares at him, aghast.

 

"Stop the car!" she orders.

 

 

Disgruntled over their tiff, he ignores her, continuing with the traffic flow.

 

"Didn't you hear me?" she persists. "I asked you to stop!"

 

"Why?" he brushes aside her request out of hand.

 

"Senior, we need to have a frank talk!" Sun-Mi declares emphatically, putting her foot down. "Now!"

 

 

Deciding to humor her, Hyung-Chul signals and moves over to stop in the parking lane, turning the warning flashers on.

 

"What is it? he asks impatiently, clueless as to what has suddenly set her off. "What's so important?"

 

 

Crossing her arms, Sun-Mi glares straight ahead, her brows furrowed, a grim set to her mouth.

 

"What's so important?! ... If you and I are still going to get married, or NOT!" she states resolutely. "That's what!"

 

 

Her jarring answer sends cold tremors ripping through Hyung-Chul's heart.

 

"All right," he obliges immediately, not wanting to rile her further. "But let's do this someplace we can talk in private. Okay?"

 

He takes her silence as agreement, and gives her the choice.

 

"Where do you want to go?"

 

 

Sun-Mi's curt reply delivers another icy stab, freezing his chest so that he can hardly breathe.

 

"Where we met, that morning ..."