Ice: Thaw the Frozen Heart [EDITING]

Chapter 11

["Hey don't sulk for too long. It would only make you look weak and he would think that you just want to cling on him. And I know you're not like that."]

"We have just known each other for, what? One day right? And you already know me that much?"

["One day was enough for me to know how strong you are just by how strong you stepped on my foot," he laughs.]

"Hey!" Yeojin pouted but soon smiled again.

A temporary silence fell as they both sighed and smiled to themselves.

["Hey...," he called softly, "Don't be sad aymore, kay? Remember you got us. And now you have me too! That should be more than enough!"]

Yeojin giggled tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear and felt her burdened chest finally expanded in happiness. "Whatever, lover boy! Talk to you later then. Oh! And tell Sunhee she's so going to get it!"

["You mean get kisses from you for letting me cheer you up? Yeah sure."]

Yeojin rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say! Bye, Jongin!" Yeojin ended the call with a sigh. The upward curve on her lips remained decorating her face.

As weird and goofy Jongin was, she was glad someone like him was added to her life. She turned around to walk back inside, but immediately stopped in her steps when she saw Kris leaning on the doorframe. The smile on her face was instantly wiped away, and a stoic expression replaced the smile.

"Oh! You're awake," she soullessly stated as she entered the room passing him like he was not really there. Kris shuddered at how cold she was. This Yeojin felt unfamiliar. "I'm going to take the shower first," she informed him as she walked to the bathroom.

Kris stopped her by lightly puling on her elbow. Her shoulders slumped as she heaved out a breath before turning around to face him. She cocked an eyebrow waiting for him to say something.

"I...," he lowered his gaze as he let go of her, "I'm... I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for what I said yesterday." He still couldn't meet her eyes.

"Yeah. Okay," Yeojin replied nonchalantly and walked to the bathroom.

Kris was left baffled when Yeojin entered the bathroom and closed the door behind her, but he completely understood why. He was the reason she acted that way. His words cut deep in her heart. Grandpa was right. He was wrong. Completely utterly wrong for venting his anger out on her. He out of all people, beside her family, knew that she was not the kind of person he was accusing her of.

For the rest of the day, she acted normal. At least to the other family members she did. But she – and Jinho - completely ignored him. She smiled her brightest smile, but she treated him like he was invisible. Kris couldn't shake off the uncomfortable feeling in his heart. His relationship with her was never really good when they married, but this? This Yeojin was unexpected. It – compounded with Jinho's silence treatment - strangely bothered him. He had sincerely apologized to the other family members the other day and they had accepted his apology – except for the little boy – but he knew he had to say something to Yeojin too. He knew that his apology was not enough. He tried to talk to her several times but to no avail. He couldn't even make her stay close to him long enough for him to say something. Though he was at his wits end, he still tried at dinner.

"Here take mine first," Kris, sitting beside Yeojin, offered his chicken to her when he saw how she struggled to reach for the chicken on a plate a little far away from her.

"Lin," Yeojin called out with a smile, "can you please pass me the plate?" She pointed at the plate of chicken in front of Lin.

Lin – and the others too – paused for a moment. She took a quick glance at her brother who was slowly lowering the chopsticks that was sandwiching the chicken. "S-sure, Eonni," she replied awkwardly while passing her the plate.

"Thank you!" Yeojin smiled brightly at her.

Lin honestly felt uncomfortable. She wasn't sure if it was because of how Yeojin ignored her brother, or because she ignored her brother but smiled so brightly.

"Let's eat!" Grandpa clapped his hands once to dismiss the awkward atmosphere.

"Let's eat!" The other simultaneously repeated.

"Oh! By the way," Yeojin suddenly said, "Lin, why don't I sleep at your room tonight?" Lin blinked several times. "We can have some girl talks!" Yeojin said with a grin.

"O-oh!" Lin glanced again at her brother who was sighing inaudibly. "S-sure! Let's do that!" She smiled back before her smile slowly disappeared when she looked at her brother. She wasn't the only one feeling awkward. The mothers were exchanging glances with Grandpa.

__________

KNOCK KNOCK

"Come in," he replied. The moonlight shone on his face as he sat closing his eyes and knitting his brows inside the dim-lit room. He propped his elbows on the arms of the chair and brought his hands whose fingers intertwined each other close to his lips.

The door clicked opened and he heard someone stepped inside. He didn't swivel his chair around letting the man see only the high backrest of his chair that hid himself.

"He's here, sir," the man who just came in reported and he slowly opened his eyes.

"Let him in."

He heard someone else stepping inside and only then did he turn his chair around.

"You may leave," he told his assistant while gesturing for the new comer to come closer. "So?" He placed his locked hands on the lap of his crossed legs.

"It's hard to find a loophole between them. They are hardly seen together outside besides this one day," the younger man handed him two photos.

He took them and eyed the two photos. The first one was of a tall guy with an umbrella talking to a girl and the other one was of the same guy wrapping his arm around her shoulders while his other hand held the umbrella.

He let out a light scoff and a smirk appeared on his face. "They're really good in hiding. And I would actually be surprised if you could find any loophole. Even if there were, she would still be in the way."

"Yes, sir. You've said that. That's why I took more time following her. And though I couldn't find anything between them, I found something else." This time the younger man handed him a stack of photos. "These were taken on different days," he explained as the older man flipped through the photos.

A glint of interest became more and more evident in his eyes as he saw the photos. "Well, well, well..." A wide grin spread on his face and cold shudders ran down the younger man's spine at the sight of the grin. The older man pressed on a button on his desk and soon his assistant came in.

"You called, sir?"

"Get me in touch with my old friend Oh," he ordered not taking his eyes off the photos.

"You mean Mr. Oh Jaehan?"

"Yes. Him. Tell him...," he looked up, "I'm inviting him and his sons to play golf the day after chuseok." His assistant nodded obediently and exited the room. He then shifted his gaze on the younger man who was still standing in front of him. "You did well. But your job's not done yet. Look for more." The younger man bobbed his head while he looked back at the photos. Another smirk decorated his face. Might as well try to kill two birds with one stone.