by J. S. Lee
Joomi frowned. “Eomma,” she scolded me before giving me another smile. “Kate, you look wonderful.” She gave JongB a sideways glance. He was busy talking with his stepdad, but he was also keeping a watchful eye on me. “I hope my son has been treating you well?”
“He has,” I promised her, trying to keep my face from heating up. Not saying anything was just as bad as telling her. I liked Joomi and with her, it felt wrong to hide the truth.
“Do they have you working here?” she asked, looking around. “I thought this was supposed to be a vacation for the boys?”
“Oh, it is. I’m… I can take photographs for personal use,” I told her. At no point had it crossed my mind to come up with a reason as to why I was there. Fuck.
“Where is your camera?”
“Eomma, stop harassing Kate,” JongB suddenly appeared to rescue me. “She hasn’t even gotten a drink yet.”
“You two look good together,” Joomi told us.
“Eomma!”
“I’m just stating a fact.”
Joomi was the one person I was counting on to be happy for us. She’d dropped hints the last time we had met. Although it was subtle, I breathed out a sigh of relief.
JongB turned to me. “You heard it here first.”
“I need to go get that drink,” I muttered, hurrying away before he did anything. If we did this, it needed to be one on one, not with a massive domino effect between everyone. I hurried over to the unmanned bar.
At dinner last night, Sungmin had mentioned there would be staff on the island during the day, but they would be kept to one of the buildings on the island itself, not on the water. They’d make sure we had refreshments, but other than providing meals, we would barely see them.
I moved behind the bar and poured myself a glass of fresh pineapple juice. I was returning the carton to the refrigerator when someone cleared their throat. I turned, finding Jiwon’s grandfather staring at me. “Hello?” I greeted him, using the most formal version.
“Whiskey.”
“Excuse me?” I said, dropping both the honorifics and the Korean.
“Of course they don’t employ foreigners who speak Korean,” he muttered under his breath, before switching to English. “I want a glass of whiskey.”
Jiwon was right. His family was going to hate me.
I licked my lips before nodding my head. Silently, I turned and fixed him a drink. The bar was fully stocked with premium imported liquors. I had stepped into a parallel universe and was now living in a drama.
I turned back to Jiwon’s grandfather and set the drink down in front of him. He eyed it suspiciously, before turning his back to me to glower out across the area.
I grabbed my drink, anxious to move away before Jiwon came over. My gut was telling me his was a conversation which wasn’t going to go well, and the last thing it needed was an argument about me not being a resort employee.
I moved away, and then I was suddenly pulled to Xiao’s side. His mom, dad, and two sisters stared at me. His sisters were looking at me like I was an alien, and his mom’s gaze was flicking back and forth between the two of us like she was watching a tennis match.
Beside me, Xiao was telling them… I had no idea what he was saying because it was in his Shanghai dialect. My Korean was improving daily, but I’d made no effort with my Chinese. I sucked. I would have to rectify that; I was sure Xiao would give me private lessons.
All of a sudden, Xiao’s mom was clapping happily. I slowly turned to Xiao, trying to keep a smile on my face. “Xiao, darling, what have you just said to them?”
“I was introducing them to my beautiful girlfriend.”
It was my turn for my mouth to drop open. “Xiao!”
Xiao grinned. “I love you and I want them to know.”
I glanced around, looking at the other families. For whatever reason, Xiao’s family had huddled together away from the others. I didn’t want to make any assumptions that no one else here spoke Chinese – and I didn’t have enough knowledge of the language to know if Mandarin was close to Cantonese, or close to Shanghainese. Jiwon said his family had factories in China…
I glanced back over at Jiwon. Aside from his grandfather who was still at the bar, glowering at everyone, everyone else was on the other side of Youngbin’s family.
Conversation dragged me back to Xiao’s family. One of his sisters was shaking her head, staring at me but talking to Xiao.
“I’m guessing she doesn’t approve?” I asked him.
Xiao gave me an unimpressed look. “She doesn’t believe me.”
“Which part?”
“The part where someone beautiful like you would date someone like me,” he explained. “She thinks I’m making it up because you can’t tell us the truth.”
“She’s half right, because I’m not about to prove that in front of everyone,” I told him, feeling lightheaded all of a sudden. I sucked in a deep breath. “I need to go.”
“What’s the matter?” he asked, instantly. “Are you OK, tián xīn?”
I could see his sisters exchange looks, but I focused on Xiao. “I have the smallest bladder on the planet, remember?” I held my glass up. “I’ll be back.”
I set the glass down on the wooden post which had the beams attached to it and hurried away. I could see Youngbin and CX watching me as I hurried through the crowd and I gently shook my head at them.
Inside the chalet, I felt the calm wash over me. I closed my eyes, counted to ten, and then made my way upstairs to my bedroom. This was ridiculous. I didn’t suffer from anxiety or panic attacks, so why was my heart pounding this much?
제12 장
The Chance of Love
I lay in my bed, staring at the fan which was lazily spinning. Dinner the night before had gone better than I had expected, once I’d made sure to sit at the opposite end of the table to Jiwon’s grandfather, and Xiao’s family. Instead, I was sat with CX’s parents.
His parents delivered yeontan – coal briquettes – in Ilsan. The flight down had been their first time on an airplane. His mom, Yoosun, and his dad, Kibeom were still working, despite the fact their son was starting to earn money. They never said it out loud, but I think they were worried something was going to happen to Onyx, like it had with CX’s previous group, Bright Boys.
Also, because he was new to the group, he wasn’t earning as much as the others. He briefly mentioned that his debt had been paid and now he was going to start sending money home.
The debt was the negative amount an idol started on. Money was put towards their dorm, food, training, and even each comeback. Until the group started to earn money to pay it back, they couldn’t earn significant money for themselves.
All that had done was make me feel more nervous. I’d gone to bed a bundle of nerves, not wanting to tell them about us.
“This is stupid,” I said, aloud. “Guys bring their girlfriends home and introduce them to their parents all the time. Why is this any different?”
Because this was Korea and I had more than one boyfriend.
I rolled over and stared out of the window at the turquoise ocean. It was another glorious day outside. That was good: the morning was going to be spent on a boat with Youngbin’s parents as we sailed around the island.
I pulled myself out of bed and dressed. I wasn’t in the mood for breakfast, especially not when I was about to spend a few hours on a boat, but when I went downstairs, I found Sungmin in the kitchen. When he saw me, he grabbed a bowl and filled it with the porridge he had been cooking.
“Breakfast,” he stated, simply, pushing the bowl towards me.
“I’m not hungry,” I responded.
“You might not be, but you still need to eat because that baby will be.”
Annoyingly, he had a point. I took a seat at the kitchen island and started eating the porridge. “What are you doing today?” I asked him.
“Onyx will be starting preparations for their comeback when we get back,” he said, as though that expl
ained everything.
I turned on my chair to look at him, frowning. “Don’t you get a vacation?”
“I had several weeks off before we went to South America,” he reminded me.
“You were in a hospital,” I scoffed.
Sungmin nodded. “And then I was preparing for a wedding. That was time wasted.” He pulled a bottle of soda out of the refrigerator and headed towards the stairs. “Enjoy your boat ride.”
I watched him go, biting at my lip. Of course he knew where I was going; the whole week had a schedule for the boys – and me – so Sungmin, and by default, Atlantis, would know where they were.
The problem was that I really needed to talk to him and clear this awkwardness between us, but right now, I was too chicken to do anything about it. Maybe it was selfish, but the idea of telling six sets of parents that I was dating their sons was terrifying me.
I glanced at the digital clock on the extraction hood. I had to leave. The boat and Youngbin would be waiting for me. I’d only eaten half of the porridge, but I wasn’t hungry enough for the rest. Instead, I made sure to pick up the backpack I’d packed the night before with my camera equipment and left the chalet.
I had butterflies in my stomach, but they calmed with the smile Youngbin gave me as I approached. “My parents are already on the boat,” he explained. “Are you OK?”
I nodded, and then shook my head. “Terrified is probably the best word to describe how I’m feeling,” I admitted.
Youngbin’s hands rested on my shoulders. “Don’t be.”
It was easy for him to say. I was beginning to wonder if a boat ride was a bad idea considering they could easily push me overboard. I could swim, but depending on how far out we were when they pushed me-
“Kate?”
I blinked, my gaze refocusing on Youngbin. “Huh?”
“The captain is ready to go.”
“Sure…” I followed Youngbin up onto the boat. It was different to the one we had sailed over on. That had been more like a small version of a ferry with a section for luggage and a few plastic seats. This boat was probably a yacht, with a deck for sunbathing or fishing, which also had a few comfortable loungers. If it got cold, there was a room for us to go into that looked more like a living room. And somewhere, there was a kitchen because we were promised a light lunch later.
Under a small veranda, sat in two comfortable chairs around a table, were Youngbin’s parents. “Oh,” his mother said, surprise washing over her as she saw me. “I didn’t realize we would have company, Youngbin.”
“I’m Onyx’s official photographer,” I blurted out before Youngbin could say anything. I caught him frowning at me from the corner of my eye, but I continued in my panic. “I am Kate. You can just pretend I’m not here.”
“You speak very good Korean,” his father told me. He was a man of average height, like Youngbin and he had the same flick in his hair. He really was like looking at an older version of Youngbin, and that was very disconcerting. If nothing else, Youngbin was going to age handsomely.
“Thank you,” I said before I moved over to a spare seat a little way from them, flashing Youngbin a look of panic as I did so.
“Your fans put pictures of you up for your birthday at the bus stop opposite your middle school last year,” his mother told him. She was a pretty woman, several inches shorter than her husband, but she didn’t really look like her son. He looked too much like his father.
“You sent him the pictures, Hyojoo,” his father chuckled.
“And they put them up at the bus stop outside the hospital,” she added, flashing her husband a look of impatience. “I don’t care if I sent them ten times over, I want our son to know he has lots of fans supporting him and Onyx.”
As they chatted, I pulled out my camera and started taking pictures. It wasn’t so much that I wanted to keep my ‘cover’ up, but I realized it really had been a while since they had last spent time together. Even though they lived in the same city, Youngbin’s schedule meant he wasn’t able to go home often at all.
I thought it would be nice for them to have some photographs to go home with, and as I wasn’t sure how well they would take the news, I figured it would be best to do it while they were relaxed and smiling.
After about an hour, and once a crew member had provided us with cold refreshments, Youngbin set his glass down on the table. “I know that Atlantis set this up to surprise us, but I have some news for you too.”
His parents looked at each other before looking at him. “Is this to do with your enlistment?”
Youngbin shook his head. “I still don’t have the dates through for that, but it does look like it will be soon.”
“Will you be trying for the air force?” his father asked.
“No,” Youngbin said slowly. “I would prefer a shorter enlistment period.”
Hyojoo tapped her husband’s arm with the back of her hand. “Youngwoon, he’s at the peak of his popularity with Onyx. The sooner he comes back, the better.”
“I didn’t want to talk to you about my enlistment,” Youngbin cut them off. “I wanted to tell you that I have a girlfriend.”
Even though it was medically impossible, and I had to remind myself of that several times over, I was sure my heart stopped beating.
“Are you allowed one?” his father asked.
At exactly the same time, his mom clapped her hands together. “That’s wonderful!”
“Well, it is if he’s allowed one, dear,” his father pointed out. He turned and looked at his son with a frown. “I read your contract before you signed it, and one of the conditions was no dating – at all – during your first seven years. You’re only in the start of your sixth year.”
“The Vice-Chairwoman knows and she’s allowing a change to our contracts for this,” Youngbin explained.
“Is it that member of Cupcake you did that show with a few years ago?” his mother asked. “You two looked cute together.”
“No-”
“Wait, there were rumors of you dating that member of WSJN last-”
“She’s not an idol, mother,” Youngbin cut her off. “It’s Kate.”
“Who’s Kate?” his mom asked, looking at him expectantly.
His father slowly turned in his chair, looking straight at me. “You.”
“Hi,” I said, weakly, giving him the briefest of finger waves.
“The photographer?” Hyojoo’s head whipped around as she stared at me. “You’re dating the photographer? Are you really a photographer?”
Youngbin got to his feet, walking around the table to me and held his hand out. “That’s how we met. She’s been on tour with us, taking our photographs.”
The moment my hand slipped into Youngbin’s, a sense of ease and calm settled over me. This was why people said that they felt they could tackle everything when they had a partner with them. Youngbin gave me a loving smile, gently leading me over to join them at the table.
“How old are you?” Hyojoo asked.
“Twenty-four,” I replied.
I waited while she looked me up and down, before looking back and forth between me and Youngbin. “My son is the most important thing in my world, so please look after him.”
I couldn’t help it; I let out a sigh of relief. “He is important to me too,” I told her. “I love him.”
“And your company is really alright with this?” Youngbin’s father asked, surprised.
Youngbin reached over, taking his mom’s hand. “There’s something else I need to tell you.”
The butterflies were back in my stomach, and I couldn’t take my eyes off Youngbin. If he was nervous, he was hiding it well. He looked over at me, as though sensing my unease – or maybe it was because I was squeezing the life out of his other hand. No, there were no nerves there. He looked back to his mom. “Kate’s pregnant.”
“Aigoo!” she cried, pulling her hand free to fan her face.
“When is the wedding?” his father asked. His question wasn’t
harsh, but it was direct.
I sat chewing at my lip. They weren’t taking this as badly as I was expecting, but there was still one bombshell to deliver. I leaned over to Youngbin, ready to tell him to let them process this news first.
“That’s going to be a little more complicated,” Youngbin said, ignoring me. “I know this will be hard for you to understand, but I want you to please be open with what I’m about to tell you.”
“Is she already married?” Hyojoo asked, her eyes wide.
Youngbin reached over, taking my other hand. “Don’t,” I hissed at him. My gut was telling me this was not the time to tell them.
“Kate is dating me, and she’s dating the other members of the group.”
Hyojoo looked between the two of us with a frown. “I don’t understand.”
“Is this an American thing?” his father asked.
“It sounds more like a made-up thing, Youngwoon,” Hyojoo scolded her husband. She turned back to Youngbin. “What nonsense are you saying?”
“Mom, dad, you’ve spent your whole lives wanting me to be happy. I am. Isn’t that enough?”
“I do want you to be happy, son,” Hyojoo told him, casting me a look of suspicion. “But I fail to see how this could make you happy? Are you even the father of the baby?”
“Yes,” Youngbin replied, before I could. He squeezed my hand, and I wasn’t sure if he was telling me to be quiet, or if he truly believed that – or both. “You married your best friend, and I’ll be with mine.”
“Do you love him?”
The question came from Youngbin’s father, and it was directed at me. “Youngwoon!” Hyojoo cried in disbelief. “Are you really entertaining this?”
“Do you?” Youngwoon pressed.
I nodded my head. “He’s my world.”
“Youngwoon!”
Youngbin’s father turned to his wife and sighed. “Look at them both, Hyojoo,” he said, patiently. “Look at them both and tell me if they don’t look like they love each other.”
“Are you joking? You can’t tell how two people feel about each other just by looking at them. I’ve watched enough dramas to know good acting.”
