“ARE you going to be rude to me the whole time you are in Korea?” Donghae couldn't help but say over dinner. Ninz hadn't even tried to look at him. She talked to Jans constantly and he was already feeling excluded from the conversation. Even Sungmin was shooting him apologetic glances.
“I am not in the mood to fight with you.” was all she said. There were a lot of things on her mind that she wanted to say to him but she didn't want to make a spectacle in the Japanese restaurant that they moved to for dinner.
“What is your deal, princess?” Donghae was getting frustrated.
“You calling me princess irritates the hell out of me. I have a name. You have permission to use it.” she hrmph-ed at him. Donghae smiled a bit. This was Ninz softening up. It looked scary and sounded daunting for other men. But he knew that when she did talk back to a guy with those sounds, she actually cares enough to snap at them. It means the ice around her is thawing.
“Ninz, can't we be friends at the very least? We have to bust our asses for these two. We might as well get along.” He held out his hand for a handshake.
Ninz felt her ears and neck get redder. She hasn't heard him call her by her name in such a long time. It was always that gong-ju business. If she hadn't found out what it meant in Korean then she would have been perfectly happy being called a princess. But it had a meaning that she didn't care for. She was not a princess-type. So what if she was into making herself feel good by looking good? It wasn't her fault she was consicous of her appearance. People who judged her as a bimbo always ended up bloody on the floor. Ninz was not the kind to take prisoners. But she had to make an exception with this douche Or she'd have to haggle in her broken Korean and never get things done on time. Donghae can be the driver, translator and moving man all in one.
“Fine.” she shook hands with him. She was planning to pull her hand away when he tightened the handshake before letting it go.
“I'm glad you guys are getting along again. If he does anything stupid just gimme a call.” Sungmin winked at Ninz. She didn't know why he said that but she smiled at him anyway.
JANS and Ninz met often and talked about what the former wanted their house to look like. It was technically an apartment but it was actually two units that were merged. Jans didn't want to live in a mansion since she was overwhelemed of the responsibility of keep that kind of place. She said that she wanted to start small. If they would later move to a bigger house, it wouldn't be a mansion and she wasn't going to let Lady Lee feel like she was invading her territory.
“She doesn't strike me as a the evil mother-in-law though.” Ninz commented.
“Yeah, she is the dotting, super hands-on kind though. I would never learn anything on my own. I would of course come over as often as I can to get cooking lessons and to keep her company when she is not off to some trip with daddy. But for the most part, I want her to come over my house so she won't feel obliged to take care of me. I think she really wanted a daughter and she can be a little overwhelming with the attention she is pouring on me.”
Ninz saw that Lady Lee really loves her future daughter-in-law. She wondered if Donghae's mom was the same.
She stopped herself and thought, Where the hell did that come from?
Jans snapped her back to reality. “Earth to Ninz! Where did you go just now?”
She smiled. “I was just envious of you. You have such a great man, dreamy and very loving. Then you get along with his family. Not everyone can boast that they were hand-picked by a Korean family to register in their family someone whom their son initially didn't even know.” Ninz loved teasing her friend about the circumstances that started her wonderful and almost whirlwind romance with Sungmin. Jans sighed and smiled brightly at her.
“If there was anything in the world that I could wish for right now is that you have someone too. I want to exchange stories about relationships and I want to listen to how you deal with your own boyfriend. You work too much, girlfriend!” Jans tried to sound like a sistah girl.
“Well he won't be Korean, that's for sure.” she muttered.
“So Donghae is not an option huh?” Jans provoked her.
“Sungmin is the exception. Donghae is the rule.” Ninz mentioned a private joke they have. They got it from a movie where Justin Long said that the “one” is the exception and all the other people one dates is just under the “rule”.
“You really think so? That's too bad. It would be great to go on trips together if you fell in love with him.” Ninz felt bad about hiding something from her friend. It was making her want to puke.
“Ninz...” Jans looked worried.
“What?” she sounded preppier than usual.
“Didn't you ever like Donghae?” Ninz couldn't handle it anymore and ran to the nearest sink and threw up.
“I guess that answers my question.” Jans didn't get it. Ninz was too busy throwing up to correct her assumption.
