a/n: gaaah happy new year guys !! sorry took me a while to update this but i hope 2020 will be a great year for you guys and i hope you'll all achieve what you want this year!!
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chapter 44: ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
"young miss, sir and madam wants to have dinner outside tonight. please be ready in two hours." a maid announces to jihyun before quickly leaving. jihyun groans, rolling over on her bed, whining to hersef about how lazy she is.
she suddenly gasped and sits up. she thinks back to the last time they had dinner together as a family. it ended with both siblings storming off, leaving their parents. she's worried that tonight's dinner might just end up like the last one.
she lies back down on her bed, setting an alarm to wake her up for the dinner before drifting off into a slumber, hoping that the dinner would go well.
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the siblings arrive at the restaurant in seonghwa's car, both feeling nervous about what their parents wanted to talk about. they had arrived back in korea a week ago and they haven't had much interactions up until today.
a waiter ushers them to their table where their parents have arrived and they slowly sit down awkwardly. their mother smiles at them while their father stays silent.
"i sure hope you two don't run away this time. i'd like a complete family dinner for once." their father states, not looking at the siblings at all as he skims through the menu.
their mother chuckled awkwardly as the siblings stayed silent. not long after, a waitress comes over and took their orders. when the food arrives, the family eats silently, their mother occasionally asking questions about how they've been and all that.
"seonghwa, you do know you're gonna have to stop playing around at youngmin's cafe now right? we're back now and we need to see you start working at the company." their father sternly states, wiping his mouth before taking a sip of his wine.
seonghwa rolls his eyes, putting down his fork and spoon before wiping his mouth with a napkin. "it's not playing around, father. i enjoy working there a lot because i'm not forced to." he says as a matter of fact.
"i don't care. you're going to quit by the end of this week and i expect you to start at the company next week." mr park gives his son a glare, taking another sip of his wine.
jihyun looks at her brother sadly. she pitied that he had to be forced to do something he didn't like. well, at least he had the past months to enjoy himself. jihyun only has about two months before she has to train to work at the company too.
"jihyun, you on the other hand," their father pauses. jihyun looks at him expectantly, wanting him to quickly get to the point. "i've arranged a marriage for you after your graduation." he announces calmly, as if it wasn't such a big deal. seonghwa has his eyes wide, looking at his father in disbelief and jihyun stops chewing on her food. "w-what?"
"father, you can't be serious right?" seonghwa exclaims, slamming a hand to the table. luckily, mr park booked a private dining room so he didn't have to worry about people seeing, though maybe seonghwa's voice might have been a little too loud. "seonghwa, keep it down! everyone's going to hear you!" his mother whispers harshly, pulling on his hand to make him sit back down but he refuses, shrugging off her hand.
"you're kidding, right? jihyun's not even an adult yet! i'd understand if it was me but jihyun? you can't just do that to her!" seonghwa defends his sister who was still too shocked to speak up.
"park seonghwa. why are you making such a big deal out of this? your sister's the one i arranged a marriage for yet you're the one screaming about this," his father states, rolling his eyes at his son's behaviour. jihyun then stands up too, glaring straight at her father.
"are you serious? you left for almost a year, you don't even act like our father and when you come back, you try to control us? do you even care about us?" jihyun laughs humourlessly. "you want us to listen to you and respect you as a father but did you even act like one? have you ever thought about how we feel? we're barely adults! we have a lot more to experience and you're taking that away from us just for your stupid business! is your business really more important than your own children? do we mean nothing to you at all?" jihyun chokes out, tears threatening to fall.
her mother looks at her pitifully. she had never seen her daughter cry. she felt like she was doing a bad job as a mother, which she is. she knew her children didn't really like them but she didn't think they thought that way. they thought that they meant nothing to her and her husband. which was completely wrong. but it was understandable that they think that way.
"are we even your children? because with the way you're acting, i don't think you care enough about us to be our actual parents." jihyun says with a cracked voice, tears already flowing with no signs of stopping anytime soon.
and for the first time on a long time, the look in their father's eyes changed. it turned softer when jihyun broke down infront of him. jihyun always had a strong persona infront of him. she was always stern and clear with her words. he had never seen this vulnerable side of her.
he was about to apologise to them, to clear out their misunderstandings but it was too late as jihyun had already stormed off, crying while seonghwa goes after her.
he sighs as he looks at his wife and instantly, they both knew their children weren't coming back to the restaurant after this.
