Choe Min Hyeon realized a few things about semi-dating Koo Seo Ryeong. He wanted to say that they were dating but she insisted on calling their meeting each other regularly during summer break as a 'probation period'. Suddenly they were back at being non-physical with each other, which drove Min Hyeon mad with desire. Since Seo Ryeong made no moves, he decided that maybe getting to know each other better on a non-physical level was better in the long run. This did not stop him from admiring the occasional glimpses of skin and innocuous touches that Seo Ryeong gave him. Min Hyeon felt that Seo Ryeong knew the effect it had on him and used it regularly to her advantage.
Every single day of the summer break had them hanging out near the waterfront at Jagalchi Market. Min Hyeon had tried to bribe Seo Gyeong with everything that he could think of but she was steadfast in her refusal. Since Seo Ryeong could not stay away from the shop for more than half a day, Min Hyeon found himself spending more and more time at the shop with the two sisters and their mother. He wondered what his friends would have said had they known but they were all away from Corea so he was relatively safe from their jibes. He wondered momentarily whether that meant that he was ashamed of being seen hanging out with Seo Ryeong. That thought was forgotten as fleetingly as it came.
The Koo family was definitely close-knit. Their eomma was a little absent-minded where her daughters were concerned but she was kind to Min Hyeon. Min Hyeon brought food and gifts to the shop every time he was invited over for lunch – a daily occurance, but she always admonished him for bringing anything. Seo Ryeong had an interesting relationship with her little sister. They talked to each other about everything. They bickered as naturally as they breathed. Min Hyeon was amused at their constant verbal jabbing. He noticed Seo Gyeong ignored Seo Ryeong whenever she was being dictatorial and just did whatever she wanted. Min Hyeon felt he needed to pick up tips from Seo Gyeong on how to handle her capricious sister.
Seo Gyeong asked him many questions about KU Group. The first day she did that had been a little awkward. Min Hyeon had only a general idea what KU Group did. He was due to intern at KU Group during the final year of university. In his mind, he would start learning about the company when he interned there. The disappointed look on Seo Gyeong's face contrasted with Seo Ryeong's I-knew-this-chaebol-knew-nothing face. He went home that day and approached his father at the club golf course.
"What brought about this round of questioning? I've been trying to get you to know about the company for years and you insisted you would only learn when you interned there," his father said.
"Nothing," Min Hyeon replied, watching his golf ball fly into the air and land right in the bunker. Rats.
His father gave him a look and sent his private secretary to him the next day. Min Hyeon was surprised to find that he actually enjoyed the briefing. He tried to impress Seo Gyeong the next time he went over for lunch but she had even more questions that he couldn't answer. So, Min Hyeon found himself learning more about KU Group during the summer break that he ever thought he would during his final year internship. There were other rivals to take note of – old chaebol companies, as well as new start-ups which threatened their hold on the Corean economy. Suddenly he understood that the social events he had to attend as a child had more business implications than he had ever realized.
Occasionally, Min Hyeon brought Seo Ryeong out, with her eomma's blessing. They went to the mall, cinema, gaming centres and even to the library. They went out drinking some nights, and Seo Ryeong could hold her alcohol like a man. One of the nights involved a Truth-or-drink game, and Min Hyeon found himself losing spectacularly.
"How do you do it?" Min Hyeon slurred to her.
"Just good genes, I guess. Funny enough, eomma doesn't drink much. Give me the car keys."
"What? You said you don't have a license."
"Do you need a license to be able to drive? You're wasted. I can drive. Come on. Give me the keys."
Min Hyeon slow-blinked at her. He couldn't even move fast enough when she went for his pockets and grabbed the keys to his BMW. She slung his arm around her shoulder and supported him to the car. To his surprise, she drove them from the bar at Haeundae to his house. There was no one in the house except the house keeper. His parents were in Seoul on business.
"Get in the shower."
"Why?"
"I can't sleep if you smell like that."
"You're sleeping with me? Now?"
"I can't drive your BMW back home. I'm staying over."
Min Hyeon wasn't sure what happened next because he was truly wasted. He woke up the next morning because his body hurt. Seo Ryeong had slept on his bed and let him sleep on his own floor. Somewhere in his mind, he thought she might have taken care of him and babied him. This was again, something else. His groaning woke her up.
"You're awake? Good."
"What happened last night?" He asked.
"I took your virginity, that's what happened."
"No, you dragged me out of the shower and threw my pajamas at my face."
"Yes, and I'll never forget you falling straight to the ground before you even reached your bed. You're very heavy." Min Hyeon's head throbbed at her laughter. He did not realize the implication of her last sentence until much later. So, she had tried to help him to his bed but failed.
"Tell your driver to send me home. I can't catch a bus from here. You're obviously in no condition to drive."
"Stay with me."
"I don't think so. I've got things to do. Besides, I don't want to meet any of your family."
"They're not here. Stay."
Min Hyeon slumped on his bed where Seo Ryeong was lying and laid one heavy arm on her. She wriggled away but he held her tighter. She stilled. When he woke up hours later, she was gone.
Seo Ryeong carefully slipped out of Min Hyeon's arms ten minutes after his breathing evened without jostling him. There was something too intimate about being held like this. It was addicting and it made her feel weak. Seo Ryeong did not like feeling weak. She did not like feeling like she depended on anyone for her happiness. The past four weeks of their summer break had been somewhat idyllic. No matter how hard she tried to recall that Min Hyeon came from the same breed of men as her appa, she was falling for him in stages. Sadly, she was as susceptible as any female to a man's attention.
She saw him waiting for her every day at the shop. He helped her eomma carry the heavy crates of fish and seafood without being asked. His muscles had bulged at all the correct places and Seo Ryeong's mouth went dry. They had not done anything remotely sexual ever since that day in the Ferrari. Seo Ryeong wasn't sure why but she liked that he hadn't pressed her about it. That he hadn't expected anything more than she was willing to give. She still had fevered daydreams about that day in the car. There was something very sexy about being dominated like that and she liked the unshakeable confidence that he had in himself even when he was losing control.
Almost every evening, they strolled down the waterfront where the fishmongers were cleaning up their stall fronts. He was genuinely interested in what she wanted to do with her future. He didn't scoff when she told him that she wanted to be a Prime Minister if she could. He just smiled speculatively and said I think you would probably scare the other politicians with just how good you are. She was also impressed with his plans for KU Group. At first, he had seemed unsure about just what a juggernaut KU Group was in Corea. During the past four weeks, as they discussed the hows and whys of society, he had shared his plans to invest in mass media.
Seo Ryeong took a quick shower in Min Hyeon's bathroom. She looked down at the Seoul National University jumper that she took from his wardrobe. It was a few sizes too big, but it wouldn't look out of place with her jeans. The white T-shirt she wore last night was covered in Min Hyeon's vomit. She refused to bring it back with her. She would be hounded off the bus. He would probably have it laundered and sent back to her. For now, she would just wear his jumper with no shirt underneath. Her jeans were spared from the pukefest so it was safe to be worn again.
Seo Ryeong met the housekeeper on the way out of the house. The ahjumma was looking at her like she was a prostitute. The fact that Min Hyeon was not escorting her out of the house made circumstances look highly incriminating. Seo Ryeong hated being judged for something she had yet to do. She walked for twenty minutes to the nearest bus stop. The bus ride back to the shop was a sobering one. She had feelings, and she did not want to think about them. You have ambitions, girl, she reminded herself. Don't change it all just because you think you care about some man. He's just a human being, like you. Walk away, Seo Ryeong. Walk away while you still can. Don't let him do to you what appa did to eomma.
Back at the shop, her eomma did not ask her anything about staying out for the night. Seo Ryeong knew Seo Gyeong was dying to interrogate her. Seo Ryeong also knew that she didn't get interrogated because Seo Gyeong could sense her pensive mood. Her little sister was very perceptive when it came to reading the atmosphere. It was just as well. Seo Ryeong had no mood to talk to anyone. Thus, the visit from Min Hyeon's father's private secretary was an unwelcome surprise.
"What do you want?" Seo Ryeong asked Secretary Kim when they were out of her eomma and her sister's earshot.
"I was instructed by Chairman Choe to give you this," Secretary Kim replied, using two hands to hand to her an envelope.
"Is it money?" Seo Ryeong asked. "Are you guys being cliché about paying me off? I thought this only happened in Corean dramas."
"It's your tuition fees for Seoul National University for all four years."
"I have a scholarship. I'm not even dating Min Hyeon."
"You were seen leaving the Choe residence earlier this morning. Choe Min Hyeon ssi has never brought any woman back to the house."
"He didn't bring me back. I drove him back home. He was drunk."
"Why did you stay then?"
"There's no bus service after 11 p.m. Do you chaebols know that? Of course you don't."
"What is your relationship with Choe Min Hyeon ssi?"
"How much are they paying you as a secretary to do their confrontations for them? Listen. I didn't go after him, alright? He came after me. If you think I'm going to be controlled by money, think again. I'm going to take this money. I'm going to treat Choe Min Hyeon any way I want. Whether we end up as friends, enemies, lovers or whatever, it's none of your business. You can keep trying to pay me off, I'll just keep taking the money. I'm not like the actresses in Corean dramas willing to forgo money for the sake of love. You can tell Chairman Choe that."
"He won't like that."
"He doesn't have to like it. I don't like it that you're here either."
"Be careful, Koo Seo Ryeong ssi. You don't want to make enemies with KU Group. You might just find yourself jobless and helping your mother to sell fish."
"Just go back to your master and tell him I'm society trash. That I'm willing to accept payment for everything. That I have no ideals and no morals. While you're at it, you can tell Min Hyeon to stay away. Oh right, tell Chairman Choe to get ready for a paternity suit. I think I might be pregnant. His son is a vigorous man. Or was it the other men whom were vigorous? I can't recall."
Seo Ryeong turned away and walked off from the slack-jawed secretary. She guessed that he had never met anyone as rebellious towards authority and the order of society as she was. She seethed inside. Her eomma had been in love with her appa, married him even when he was disowned, had allowed his family to look down on her and had taken everything that happened as her lot in life. Her eomma had refused payment to divorce her appa, because she was in love with him. Yet, her appa had caved to family pressure and the divorce still went ahead. So, Seo Ryeong and her eomma ended up back at the fish shop, with not a single won to their name.
Seo Ryeong refused to be decent like her eomma. What did her eomma get by being a nice, decent person? What did her eomma get from loving her appa? Nothing! Nothing but a lifetime of backbreaking work and regret. Seo Ryeong was determined not to let scruples get in the way of practicality. Money was a necessity in life. She was determined to seize opportunities that came her way, whether it was considered the right thing to do or not. There was no way she would end up like her eomma. Hence the envelope in her hand. If Chairman Choe of KU Group thought that paying her off would make her dance to his tune, he was going to be in for the biggest shock of his life.
When Min Hyeon arrived at the shop that evening, Seo Ryeong wasn't sure what she was going to say to him. Half of her wanted to end things right there and then, the other half of her wanted to give him a chance. She didn't think he knew about his father's intervention. She gave him the benefit of the doubt.
"You left the house," he said. I missed you, he wanted to say.
"Yes, it's my turn to take care of the shop. Seo Gyeong wants to read at the library."
"Where's your mother?"
"She went grocery shopping."
"Listen, thank you for last night. I'm glad you got home alright. I should have gotten someone to drive you home."
"I took the bus. It's not rocket science. Secretary Kim came for a visit. Your father's secretary."
Seo Ryeong wanted to see Min Hyeon's reaction for herself. He looked shocked.
"Are you sure it's him?"
"Yeah, he introduced himself. He gave me this."
Seo Ryeong took out the envelope from her jeans back pocket. She handed it to Min Hyeon, not sure whether she was going to break it off or wait for his reaction. His hand crumpled the envelope in anger. He looked perplexedly at the envelope and then at her.
"Is this it? You took the money? So we're not going to see each other anymore?"
"Who says we're not seeing each other anymore? What has that got to do with me taking the money?" Seo Ryeong replied archly. Min Hyeon began to laugh in disbelief and relief.
"You took the money."
"Yes."
"We're going to continue this dating probation thing, right?"
"Yes. Unless we can't stand each other."
"Thank God. I thought you would just take the money and do as you're told."
"In your experience, have I ever done anything that I've been told? Let's go eat meat. Your father's paying."
"We'll wait until someone comes back. Otherwise, the shop will be left empty," Min Hyeon replied.
"You're quite the shopkeeper now," Seo Ryeong teased him. He looked pleased at the comment.
"Why did you take the money? You don't even let me pay for anything," Min Hyeon said, settling down into a plastic stool next to Seo Ryeong.
"The full truth or the half-truth?"
"Both."
"I think it's because he expected me to reject the money to prove the sincerity of my feelings for you so I decided to be unpredictable."
"Feelings for me?"
Seo Ryeong avoided looking at Min Hyeon's eyes. It just felt dangerous, when it was just the two of them and now that he wasn't intoxicated with drink. Even though they were surrounded entirely by dead seafood, there was something quite intimate about talking to him like this.
"Don't flatter yourself. I meant it to be entirely theoretical."
"Is that the whole truth?"
"I guess my bigger issue is that my eomma had the exact same experience with my appa. He got disowned when they married. His family tried to pay her off so that she would agree to divorce him but she didn't take the money. My sperm donor divorced her anyway and she never got a single won."
"So you think it was stupid."
"Yes, she should have just taken the money then. It kills me to see her working so hard now. I'm going to be rich one day. Then, she won't have to do all this manual labour. But I guess, she was in love." Seo Ryeong scoffed. "So now you know why I don't believe in love."
"I see."
"So you can see from this tiny episode, that your father doesn't want you to have anything to do with me. I'm society trash to him. He thinks I bedded you last night and left the house like a paid woman. That's why I don't want to even meet your family. They're judgemental without even trying."
"You're not trash."
"Not to you, maybe. You could just be saying that because you're trying to establish me as a permanent sex partner."
"Touché."
"Listen, I might as well tell you. I could have hinted that I was pregnant and I'm going to file a paternity suit against you."
"Thank you for letting me know before we even had sex."
Seo Ryeong burst out laughing at the look on Min Hyeon's face as she uttered 'paternity suit'.
"You're welcome. I just thought it would annoy your father to the max. It's a heads up for whatever family confrontation you're likely to have after this."
"Thanks," Min Hyeon replied drily. He had a feeling a family meeting was coming. His mother would be in tears again as father and son shouted at each other.
A week later, Min Hyeon was summoned to his father's study the moment his parents arrived from Seoul. His mother was there, no doubt to diffuse the situation. Min Hyeon could not depend on his mother to back him up. She did not have the inner strength to stand up to the old man. Their marriage was a marriage of finances, not of love. Min Hyeon had told Seo Ryeong that couples that stayed married in the upper eschelons of Corean society mostly stayed married to protect their reputation and social standings. Under the outward veneer of respectability, there was a cesspool of broken relationships and infidelity. Min Hyeon knew that his father had mistresses and that his mother closed a blind eye. It was hard to accept a lecture from him about relationships and marriage, when he wanted something different for himself. Something that did not look like his parents' sham of a marriage.
"That girl is trash and you know it," Chairman Choe told his son. "Did you know that she took the money I gave her? She doesn't have real feelings for you. It's all about the money. Every girl in Corea is only interested in you because of KU Group. You wouldn't even be looked on twice if you were poor."
"Leave Seo Ryeong out of this, abeoji," Min Hyeon tried to control his rising temper. "I can make my own judgements."
"Can you? Is it your brain that's making that judgement? Or just your other body parts? If it's a woman you want, you can pay anyone to sleep with you. Don't forget you're almost engaged."
"I don't want to marry Chairman Bae's daughter. It's like committing incest."
"I'd rather you commit incest than bring in that mongrel into our family."
"Really, abeoji? Eomma, what do you think of committing incest?"
"YOU GO TO FAR!" Chairman Choe stood up from his desk.
"No, you go to far, abeoji. Koo Seo Ryeong ssi is smart and knows what she wants. We may look like we've slept together and I've fathered children, but we haven't. She's not going to leave me just because you told her to. If she leaves me, it's because of something I did, not because you paid her off. If you're wondering why you can't manipulate a daughter of a fishmonger, you can look right at the mirror."
"How dare you compare me to the daughter of a fishmonger?"
"You're the son of a butcher, yourself. Eomma married down when she married you."
"GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"
"Yes, abeoji."
"COME BACK HERE! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?"
"How else can I get out of your sight, abeoji?"
"Min Hyeon," his mother chastised.
"What's this about a paternity suit? Is the girl pregnant?"
"Even if she is, I'm going to support the child. Why?"
"You're a fool, son. I didn't raise a fool."
"Too bad for you that I'm your only son, then."
"You're going to give your eomma a heart attack if you continue your relationship with that girl."
"Why are you two so worried? What's the point of always comparing ourselves with the others? Do you think Chairman Yoon, Chairman Bae, Chairman Shim and the others really care about us, father? They just want to see us fail."
"Min Hyeon, you've never brought a girl home before. Of course your abeoji and I think it's serious. We want what's best for you," his mother interjected.
"I didn't bring her home. I wanted to but she never wanted to come. She didn't want to meet any of you because she knew how you two would react. Even then, she drove me home because I was drunk and I couldn't drive. She stayed because the bus services stop at 11 p.m. She left immediately the next morning. Nothing else happened. She's a King's Scholarship winner and is the top student among the freshmen batch. I really like her. Please don't interfere and do think better of her."
Min Hyeon could see that his parents were dumbfounded by his appeal. He could see how different his response was. A younger version of himself would have just shouted, not bothering to explain and just made a scene. Well, if he was going to grow up into a dependable man, he had to start small. One of them was to learn to keep his cool when being attacked. He could see that his parents still did not approve. They would probably still try to sabotage their relationship whenever they could. He just had to be ready.
Summer break finally ended. Min Hyeon was disappointed when Seo Ryeong refused his offer to drive to Seoul together with him. He found himself taking the night bus from Busan to Seoul with her instead on the second last day of August. His upper body strength that summer was better with all the hauling of fish crates at Seo Ryeong's eomma's shop. He met Seo Ryeong at the bus station. She was clutching a romance novel in her hand, no doubt a last-minute gift from her sister.
"I want to throw this away, and yet I can't," Seo Ryeong told him ruefully. He grinned. He had hung around enough at the shop to know that Seo Gyeong loved reading fluff.
"Just read it. You know she's going to ask you about it the next time you call home."
"I know," Seo Ryeong shuddered.
"Our bus is here."
Min Hyeon helped Seo Ryeong put her luggage into the overhead carrier and slid into the seat next to hers. She adjusted her seat lower and promptly tried to fall asleep.
"Aren't you going to express your surprise at me taking a bus all the way to Seoul?"
"I think you're dumb to do this when you've got a perfectly good car."
"You could have followed me in that car."
"Good night, Min Hyeon."
Some time during the night, between the juddering of the bus and the constant switching of sleeping positions, Seo Ryeong's head found it's way to Min Hyeon's chest. He woke up with a start, wondering where he was, before tucking her head under his chin and going back to sleep.