His and Her Circumstances (1/1)
One week had already passed from the day Yoona had dinner with the Choi family. Yoona was at a lake about fifteen miles away from her own home. This lake was pretty abandoned, but it was still beautiful. The lake was mostly inhibited by only old couples, so the young teenagers and young adults dared not to step into the grounds of the lake. Yoona took a deep breath as she took all the fresh air into her lungs. She looked down at her watch. It was still in the evening, but she was waiting for someone. Yuri, Yoona, and Jessica used to hang out with a girl named Sunny, but because she moved to San Francisco during their high school years, they were separated. Sunny finally made contact with Yoona claiming that she was coming home for good and that she wanted to see her. Yoona was rejoiced. She had not seen Sunny for five years and she was just excited. Yoona sat patiently under a tree that provided shade for her. She looked at her watch again and sighed. She had to leave in about two hours to go to an art expo in the heart of Seoul. Her family was going to be there. The Choi family was going to be there: great. She saw a distant, petite figure start to run towards her while the figure was waving. Yoona squinted her eyes and saw that it was Sunny. Sunny ran over to her and gave her a big hug. Yoona hugged her back as Yoona noticed that she changed so much physically. She was still short, but it was obvious that she grew about three inches. Her hair was dyed a light brown and she had long hair. Yoona was in delight to see an old friend again. “Girl, I can’t believe it’s possible, but you got even more beautiful!” Sunny shrieked. “Sunny, you got even more beautiful! Look at you! You’re glowing!” Yoona complimented. Yoona then saw that she had a big diamond ring on her left ring finger. Yoona automatically concluded that she was engaged. Sunny grinned to see that Yoona had noticed the flamboyant ring resting on her finger. She squealed as she held it out for Yoona to see in excitement. Yoona was in awe. At least Sunny was happy with her life. “You’re getting married? Oh gosh, I’m so happy for you!” Yoona yelled. Yoona and Sunny started to giggle as the older couples resting on the lake looked at them with confusion. They were being pretty loud. Yoona and Sunny bowed in apology for their misbehavior. “I am getting married! It just feels great to be in love with someone and he loves you back! It’s just great to have that feeling in your heart for someone and he returns it to you, too. He’s probably the best thing that had ever happened to me. To me, having a marriage is combining two souls to create one being, and I’m rejoiced to be able to share my life with him. Do you know Ok Taecyeon? I’m getting married to him!” Sunny squealed. “Isn’t Ok Taecyeon that famous rapper and actor? Omo, you’re so lucky!” Yoona told her. “Yeah, his cousin is Junho. You know that artist guy? He’s opening his fourth expo today. Are you coming?” Sunny asked. Yoona nodded. Yoona’s watch started to beep, telling her to start heading home already because she still had to get ready for the art expo. Yoona sighed as she shrugged her shoulders. “Aw, Sunny, I have to go now, but I’ll see you at the expo?” Yoona asked. “Of course!” she smiled. Yoona went home and opened the grand oak, entrance doors. She closed it carefully and started to walk up the stairs. To her surprise, Leeteuk was walking down the stairs while she was walking up, but when they passed by each other, he acted as if she didn’t exist. She knew that he was still angry at her for messing with one of the Choi’s. Yoona looked down in disappointment as her own brother treated her as if she was invisible. She understood him, though. She knew that he loved her, but he was just angry about the events that happened. He was mad that she sneaked out, went clubbing, drank alcohol, slept with a stranger who was Seunghyun, and got pregnant. Yoona looked back and saw that he was still heading down the stairs with his back facing her. “Oppa, I promise I’ll make everything better,” Yoona muttered. Leeteuk stopped walking and paused at one of the steps while his hand was holding the rails for support. He heard Yoona’s words and began to think to himself what the hell she was talking about. How could she make things better? She can’t get rid of the baby. He knew that she would never do that. He was against abortion himself. He knew that each child was a precious gift. He shook his head as he continued to walk down the stairs. Yoona could feel that he was still angry at her. She slowly started to walk up the stairs again as a few tear drops escaped from her eyes. She just hated it that she was disappointing him over and over again with all he had done for her. Yoona finished getting ready and exited her room wearing a sparkling, silver dress with glass heels on. She felt like Cinderella a little as she put on those glass slippers, but she knew that her life wasn’t going to be a Cinderella story. Her life was a long shot from it. When they entered the art expo, Yoona automatically spotted the Choi family. There were a lot of guests that were expecting some type of rumble between the two families, but it didn’t happen. They kept their distance from each other, except for Yoona towards the Choi family. She would talk to Yuri from time to time. Yoona saw Jessica with a man on her side. Yoona gave her a grin as Jessica flashed a sly smirk. Jessica approached Yoona as Jessica’s date left to go to the restroom. “Who’s that guy?” Yoona laughed, “I couldn’t see his face very clearly.” “He’s Park Jaebeom! Remember, he was that dorky kid from senior year in high school? We went to the same coffee shop, ordered the same thing, and we both left our name to the clerk as ‘J’, and when the clerk called out, ‘J, here’s your mocha caramel with extra whipped cream, toffee bits, and caramel’ we both went for it! We started to talk and then we sort of hooked up. We’re dating now, but he’s not my boyfriend,” Jessica gushed. “Wow, he really transformed from a caterpillar to a butterfly,” Yoona whispered as she finally got a good view of him. Sunny and her fiancé then entered the scene as Sunny introduced him to her two friends. “Hey, guys, this is Ok Taecyeon!” Sunny announced. Taecyeon smiled at them as they bowed to each other. Sunny giggled as she looked at him. Yoona could tell that she was deeply in love with him. Sunny smiled brightly as she showed him off. “Well, honey, this is Park Yoona. She’s an heiress to the Park Corporations. Next to her is Jung Jessica. Jessica’s a model for a fashion industry,” Sunny informed him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you two beautiful ladies,” he grinned at them as Sunny pulled him to introduce him to another pair of people. Yoona looked at the stage to see that Junho had already started to show off his masterpieces. After pointing out all the paintings on the walls and the sculptures presented in the middle of the room, Yoona tilted her head in a little curiosity to see that Seunghyun got up on stage and shook Junho’s hand personally. It looked as if they had been close friends for a long time. Yoona saw that Taeyang was on the other side of Junho shaking his hand also in congratulatory. Junho took the microphone on the mike stand and tapped the mike to test it out. He gave a charismatic smile to the crowd as some photographers started to take pictures. The press was everywhere. There were news reporters, columnists, newspaper reporters, cameramen, and photographers in every inch of the building. “Good evening and I would like to thank everyone that made time to come to this art expo. As many of you already know, this isn’t my first expo. This is actually my fourth one. I remember, two years ago, I was just a kid that didn’t know what to do. All I had was an art major and that was it. I didn’t have a penny to my name, but there was one man who helped me become as successful as I am today. You may have not known this, but Park Seunghyun had been funding all of my masterpieces in the goodness of his heart. Now, he comes here today to share something very special with the world. Is Miss Yoona of the Park family here?” Junho announced. In an instant, all the eyes in the building were on Yoona’s shocked self. Yoona laughed in nervousness to have everyone’s eyes on her. She heard Junho request for her to come up on the stage. As she made her way to the stage, she gave her cup of punch to Jessica to hold as she tried to go through the crowd of moguls, actors, models, and press staff. She passed by her brothers and they gave her a confused expression. Yoona shrugged her shoulders as she passed through them. She certainly couldn’t refuse to go up there. There were cameras in the crowd that was recording her every move. Yoona was helped up on stage by Taeyang as she looked at Seunghyun with confusion. He better not be announcing that she was his baby mama. “Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to go public and announce this to the world,” he said as he walked towards Yoona. He took Yoona’s hand and held it into his own. He felt electricity while his heartbeat quickened. He took his other hand and reached into his pocket to reveal a velvet box. The crowd gasped loudly as they saw the box. Seunghyun kept his eye contact with her as he got on one knee and proposed to her. “Park Yoona, I know that your family hates me, but I know that you don’t. Will you marry me?” he asked. Yoona was in much as shock as the whole crowd of people was. She didn’t expect it. Just a week ago, he claimed his unconditional love for Goo Hara. She sighed as she thought about it for a while. He was doing it with no free will. He was probably forced to ask her or he felt guilty for getting her pregnant without taking the responsibility. She knew that she had to say no. This wasn’t the right thing to do. She just couldn’t marry him because she was pregnant by him. She wanted to marry someone because she loved him and he loved her back. They didn’t love each other and that was that. She looked down at him and she knew that he was pretending that he was deeply in love with her just for the cameras. She looked at the crowd, and she found it weird that the only person that stood out was Leeteuk. She looked at him and his stern facial expression. He wanted her to say no, but she had to rethink things over again. If she said no, she wouldn’t have to marry someone she hardly knew, but the public would soon find out about the pregnancy and assume that she was a slut. If she said yes, there would be a merge and the family company would be saved and the public would think that the feud was over and that they were deeply in love, but she would have to marry someone she didn’t love and plus, Leeteuk would be angry at her. She looked down and decided to go along with the act by plastering a smile on her face as if she was in love with her. She did promise Leeteuk that she would make everything better. “Of course, I’ll marry you,” she smiled at him. That was when all the lights started flashing. All the cameras were capturing every single detail from when he asked her to marry him to her acceptance to him sliding the large, exquisite ring on her left ring finger. She couldn’t believe that this was happening. She wasn’t exactly happy about it, but they both had to pretend that they were happy. Yoona gave him a small hug as she smiled for the cameras. Yoona didn’t ride home with her brothers because Leeteuk insisted that they leave right after she said yes to Seunghyun. Jessica and Jaebeom had to drive her back home. She knew that she was going to enter a riot when she got home. Jessica and Jaebeom said goodbye to her as she entered her house. As expected, Leeteuk, Heechul, and Eunhyuk were in the living room waiting for her impatiently. Taeyeon was sitting next to Leeteuk with worry displayed on her face. With that, Yoona knew that she was in deep trouble. Yoona closed the door behind her as Leeteuk stood up and started to shout crazily. “How could you! How could you do this to me?! I have cared and loved you as your brother all your life and you repay me with this?!” he screamed. “Leeteuk, maybe you should go easier on her and let her explain her side of the story,” Eunhyuk tried to reason. “Yeah, don’t shout at her. She’s not used to her older brothers shouting at her,” Heechul agreed. Leeteuk was red with rage. He ignored Eunhyuk and Heechul’s efforts to help Yoona in her time of need. “Oppa, let me explain,” Yoona stated. “No, I don’t need your explaining! I don’t want you to get married to him. It’s already bad enough that you got pregnant by him! I just can’t believe how ungrateful and rebellious you’re acting! What happened to the other Yoona? The one that was innocent and obedient? I liked her so much better!” Leeteuk yelled. “Honey, please don’t let your emotions get the best of you! She’s still your sister!” Taeyeon interfered. “Taeyeon, keep out of this. You don’t want to be mixed in with my wrath,” he warned her as she stepped back. Yoona was just utterly terrified. She had never seen him ignore his wife and she had never seen him shout. He usually was happy and bright, but now, the worst side to him was coming out. Yoona was just frozen for a few seconds. He had never shouted at her. “Yoona, I can’t believe that you’re getting married to my enemy! Are you trying to make me angry on purpose? That pig, Seunghyun, is nothing but a no good, terrible man! I would rather have that child in your womb to grow up as a bastard than to have a father like him!” Leeteuk shouted. Yoona started to feel the angriness and rage rushing through her body. She could not believe that he had just said that. Her teeth started to grind as she exploded. “You’re such a selfish man for not wanting what’s best for my baby! Don’t forget that this baby inside of my womb is going to be related to you! This baby is going to be a part of this family and the Choi family!” Yoona cried out. “If I knew this was going to happen, I would have—,” Leeteuk was cut off. “You would have what? Sold me off to that Japanese investor for a merge?” Yoona fired back. Leeteuk remained speechless. His actions represented how he felt. He felt upset that he was talking back to her. He felt angry that she was defying him. With one quick second, his right hand slapped her face. The twenty-one years of respect that Yoona had towards him disappeared in one second. Yoona fell to the floor as Eunhyuk and Heechul rushed over and held him back while Taeyeon tried to help Yoona up. Yoona was in complete shock. She took her hand and put it on top of the small cut on the corner of her lip. She saw the bright red blood on her fingertips. He made her bleed. Leeteuk’s face softened up as it was filled with regret and guilt for his action. He wished that he had not hit her. Yoona got up as tears started to escape from her eyes. She was really upset that he actually hit her. Eunhyuk and Heechul were just surprised. Yoona had never had one finger laid on her because of Leeteuk, but it was ironic on how her protector was the first one to ever strike her flawless face. Yoona ran up the stairs and entered her room. Eunhyuk, Leeteuk, Heechul, and Taeyeon followed her to see that she was packing her bags. She took out her luggage and put in whatever could fit in there. She took some stuff from the table on her room and some of the clothes in her closet. She took her phone, her laptop, and everything else she could fit in the large luggage. She was still in her dress and her running makeup made her look like a mess. Her hair was messed up, but she didn’t care. She just needed to get out of the house. She didn’t find herself welcome anymore. Her four family members entered her room and tried to stop her. “Yoona, don’t leave! Think reasonably!” Eunhyuk tried to get into her head. “Yoona, I didn’t mean to hit you! Please stay! I really don’t want you to leave! You’re the baby sister of the family and we all love you!” Leeteuk cried out. Yoona looked at them as the tears began to fall from her eyes. “Maybe I don’t want to leave because of the fact that you hit me. I want to leave because I hate how you guys treat me! Eunhyuk and Taeyeon are the only ones that treat me like an adult! I’m twenty-one for crying out loud! I’m not a ten year old girl anymore! You try to control every single aspect of my life. You have to approve of where I go, who I hang out with, and who I date! I’m a grown woman!” Yoona screamed as she exited the house and drove off into her car. The hood to her convertible was off and the button to make it cover her head wasn’t working. She screamed out in frustration. Nothing in her life was working out. She drove as fast as she could. She was already about fifteen miles away from her house as she finally came to a stop. She parked at the side of a sidewalk as she put her head down against the steering wheel. “How can things get any worse than this?!” she yelled out to the sky. At that moment, it started to rain. She nodded in sarcasm as she continued to rest her forehead against the steering wheel. The rain was getting in the interior of her car, but she didn’t care. She started to sob at herself silently as she heard a car halt behind her car. She looked and saw that there was a pair of headlights flashing at her. She saw two figures approach her and as soon as they got closer to her, she knew who they were. “Yoona-ah, what are you doing here all alone?” Yuri asked. “Do you really want to get sick and kill our baby?” Seunghyun asked. Yoona lifted her head up from the steering wheel and saw that the both of them were standing there in the rain with umbrellas. Yuri took Yoona and led her to their car while Seunghyun took her luggage on the backseat and packed it in the trunk of their own car. Yoona felt a sense of acceptance as Seunghyun opened the car door to the passenger seat for her. Yoona was pretty amazed at where she was at the moment. She was in a bedroom in the Choi family mansion. She was warm and cozy as the fireplace roared a great, blazing fire. She could hear the raindrops hitting the window pane. She had already changed out of her wet clothes to her dry pajamas as Yuri smiled and brought a cup of steaming hot tea on her bedside. Yuri was just grateful that they had found her before anything bad would have happened. “Yah, don’t do that again. You scared Seunghyun oppa when he found out that you ran off in the rain,” Yuri lectured. “How did he know that I left?” Yoona asked. “Well, your brother Eunhyuk called and said that he was putting away all his pride and was pleading us that we come and get you since you wouldn’t come home to any of your own family members. You should have seen Seunghyun oppa. He went to his car with me right away to look for you,” Yuri informed her. Yoona could feel Eunhyuk’s love for her. He was such a good brother that it hurt Yoona that he was turning away from him also. All he had ever done was just priceless and she knew that she could never repay his kindness towards him. He was like her guardian angel. “I know that he only cares about me because I’m pregnant with his baby. I understand though. It would be awfully hard to care for a stranger that you don’t know,” Yoona admitted. Yuri hugged her tightly and just thanked God that she was alright. She bore her future niece or nephew, but she was also her best friend. “We’re just glad that you’re safe. My mother would like it if you would begin to live with us. She finds it reasonable since the press already knows that you and Seunghyun oppa are engaged. I’m actually very surprised that my brother proposed to you,” Yuri smiled. “Yeah, I could hardly believe it, too,” Yoona mumbled. While Yuri and Yoona’s conversation continued, Seunghyun was at the other side of the door listening to their words. He knew that Yoona was going through some hardships, and he knew that he wasn’t going to make it any easier since she had to marry him and he was obviously in love with another woman. He felt pity for her, but he had to accept the fact that she was going to face many problems with him. He had a whole plan planned out for her, the marriage, the baby, and himself. He just had to tell her soon. When the morning sun hit Seoul, Yoona awoke to see a maid in her room. The maid smiled at her gently and led her downstairs to the breakfast table. Yoona smiled embarrassingly as she saw that all of them were already seated waiting for her to sit down and join them. Yoona felt like a big burden to have people waiting on her. “I’m very sorry for making you guys wait. You should have just began breakfast without me or woke me up earlier. I’m used to my older brother, Heechul, waking me up in the mornings and I’m sorry that I overslept,” Yoona bowed. Minsun was sitting at the table with sparks of interest. She had her eyes on Yoona as she showed off a luminous smile. Yoona was the daughter-in-law she had always wanted. She was so much different from Goo Hara that it amazed Minsun that her son hadn’t fallen head over heels for Yoona yet. “Here’s a woman that knows some manners,” Minsun stated as Yoona sat down. Yoona smiled at her as one maid started serving Yoona some food. “You know, I’m actually quite relieved to find out that my son has come to his senses and proposed to you,” Minsun announced. Seunghyun and Yoona looked at her with confusion. “Mother, I was going to discuss that with Yoona privately,” Seunghyun told her. “Then go and leave so you two could talk about it with your fiancé. Ah, that feels so good to say especially when I’m not referring to the horrid girl, Hara,” Minsun cursed. Seunghyun stood up and started to walk towards the exit to the mansion as Yoona bowed to the others and followed him outside. He opened the door for her to his car as he closed it and went on the driver’s side and started to drive away. “Where are we going?” Yoona asked. “Uhm, I don’t know yet. Do you know a quite place where we can discuss some things?” he asked her. “Yeah, I know a place,” Yoona stated. When the car came to a stop, Yoona smiled. She was at the lake where mostly elderly people would hang out. Seunghyun was a little surprised at her choice of venue. All he saw was a bunch of old couples hanging out next to the lake while they had picnics and fished together. They sat next to each other on a bench under Yoona’s favorite tree. “Why do you like this place so much?” he asked her. “This is actually where my father proposed to my mother. It’s relaxing, also. I could just sit back here and watch time go by. And this place is very special to me, also. There were a lot of memories made here,” she laughed. Seunghyun didn’t want to be harsh with her, but he did learn in the business industry that things are best said with no fluff. “I need to tell you about my plans after our wedding,” he claimed. Yoona could do nothing but giggle a little. She knew what was coming and she was fully prepared for it. “Let me guess! After we get married and after I have the baby, you want a divorce so you can live happily with that Goo Hara girl since she came back crawling to you after your best friend turned her down. You only asked me to marry you so that our child doesn’t have the title of being a bastard and because you feel really guilty about getting me pregnant. And I figured that you found about the hole my family company is in right now and you’re hoping that if you form an alliance, then I’ll agree to your terms. You want me to share custody with you over the baby, so the baby isn’t missing a mother or a father,” Yoona said. “How did you know?” he was puzzled. “I figured it out in no time. I know that you feel as if you can’t marry me for love because you’re in love with another woman. I fully understand how you feel and I’m not going to try to force myself upon you. I agree to these circumstances if you do help my family’s company out. That company is very dear to me and I feel like I owe Leeteuk this one. Even if he rejects your help, I want you to be persistent. Secondly, I don’t want the baby to know its biological mother as Goo Hara. I want the baby to know its mother by me. I don’t know who Goo Hara is, and I don’t want to judge, but I know that your mother doesn’t hate her for no reason,” Yoona stated. “Hm, you’re smarter than I thought. I’m surprised that you’re taking it so well,” Seunghyun admitted. “You think that I’m going to handle it with tears and heartbreak because you think that my brothers sheltered me too much. Let me just tell you that I’m strong willed. I take after my mother,” Yoona assured him, “And I just want to tell you that I’m not against anything that you just proposed. I think we shouldn’t make the marriage last very long and make it last about one year. One year is good enough so that the press don’t get suspicious about it. I also think that we should get married soon because the reporters are going to see a bulging stomach growing on me and they’ll know about the premarital sex. They’ll figure out and there’s going to be a scandal,” Yoona suggested. Seunghyun nodded at her wisdom. She was so young, but she was very intelligent. He was just speechless about her. She really did know how to take his breath away. Yoona stood up so that she could head back to the car already. Seunghyun was already in the car waiting for her. She paused and took a glimpse of the lake and all her surroundings. She smiled gently as a cool breeze blew through her gently. She saw the tree that was behind the bench. Her heart began to beat faster as she saw some initials. She was just glad that Seunghyun didn’t recognize the tiny initials carved on the tree’s trunk. CS+PY: It was Choi Siwon + Park Yoona. In a flash, she began to wonder how he was doing. How was he doing without her?