"It was a spur of the moment thing... I just sat through the most boring meeting at the bureau... and wanted barbeque all of a sudden..."
"You didn't eat barbeque during the summer, but now that it's late autumn, you want barbeque?"
Lisa was speechless...
"Yeah, why does the season matter? You're funny, get in the car."
"Okay then, I won't drive."
Lisa would occasionally park her car at the hospital and go home in Jungkook's.
Jennie came in person to invite her to dinner, so she had to go. Plus, she loved barbeque.
"How are things with you and Taehyung?" Lisa had been fairly busy recently and forgot to ask Jennie about her and Taehyung.
"His parents and younger sister are hard to deal with, but everything else is good."
"Taehyung has a younger sister?"
"Not only does he have a sister, but he also has a younger brother. Seriously... if he had 6 siblings, then I might even suspect that I got engaged to one of the seven Calabash Brothers."
Jennie said in all seriousness...
Lisa burst out in laughter...
"I love it when you joke in with such a serious expression on your face. Haha, you're hilarious."
"I'm being serious here, I wasn't joking," jennie said as she glanced at Lisa.
"Oh, right, I have to send my husband a WeChat and let him know we're having dinner together."
"Does he oversee where you go to dinner?" confused, Jennie asked.
"No, he doesn't, but he always picks me up after work, I don't want him to miss me."
"He's the best husband in Korea," Jennie praised.
As Lisa's close girlfriends, Jennie and Chaeyoung were both fans of Jungkook.
They admired Jungkook's love for Lisa; persistence like that rarely existed in this world.
There were a lot of Jimins in this world, but not a lot of Jungkooks...
That was Jennie's conclusion...
The way Jennie saw it, Jimin's feelings toward Lisa was a playboy search for novelty. He wanted to dominate her because he couldn't have her.
Jungkook, on the other hand, went through years of hardship to finally end up with Lisa. No matter what difficulties lied in front of him, his world always revolved around Lisa. Time was the best way to test someone's heart.
Same goes for Jimin – only time could prove Jimin's sincerity for Lisa...
Soon, Jennie's car parked outside a small barbeque restaurant.
"You've been here before? Is it good?" Lisa thought, since Jennie went through all that trouble to bring her here, it must be a unique restaurant.
To her surprise, however, Jennie replied nonchalantly, "I wouldn't know, I've never been here. I picked this place randomly."
"Um... you picked this place randomly? You win." Lisa sometimes thought that she was weird enough, but ever since she met Jennie, she felt more and more like a normal person. This was because someone even weirder than her appeared in her life.
As soon as Jennie and Lisa sat down, Taehyung called...
"We're eating barbeque. Yeah." And then she when on giving them the address.
"Okay then, come on over."
After hanging up, Jennie glanced at Lisa. "The Calabash brother is coming, do you mind?"
"Nope," Lisa smiled and exclaimed; Jennie and Taehyung were probably just as a fun couple as Bambam and Chaeyoung.
"What if Jimin came as well?"
"Pff... never mind then, I shouldn't see him so often." Lisa got up to leave.
"Sit down, don't jump out of your trousers just yet. Taehyung's coming by himself. Jimin has been really busy recently, I heard that BigHit is planning something big in an attempt to show JC who's boss."
"Oh, that's interesting." Lisa nodded.
"I'm curious, did you really not feel anything towards Jimin when he sang for you that night at JC's party?" Jennie wondered.
Jimin was like a rich, handsome god-like existence. Did her heart not flutter at all upon hearing him play the piano and sing for her?
Lisa picked out the barbeque items she wanted to order as she replied, "Nope."
"You sure are a badass..."
"I shouldn't be greedy. Heaven already blessed me with the best man on earth, why would I pay attention to someone else?"
Then, Lisa handed Jennie the menu. "I ordered some, order what you want, but not too much. We shouldn't waste food."
Jennie truly liked Lisa as a friend...
Everything she did made you feel comfortable...
Girls today relied on their looks to juggle multiple guys at the same time.
But, it wasn't something to be encouraged, because girls needed to love themselves first in order to be loved...
As an old saying goes, 'Things that people fight over at supermarkets are usually for sale, and the cars with spare tires were usually old and used'.
A truly outstanding woman didn't need people to fight over her, or spare tires. To her, one was enough.
Lisa was right; people shouldn't be greedy. The heavens had already given her the best, so who else would she ever need?
After receiving his wife's WeChat message, Jungkook was no longer in a hurry to get off work...
He worked until 6 PM, and as he was heading out, his father called.
He felt bad for his father; to prevent his mother from causing a scene at JC's anniversary party, his father instead decided to go to Hawaii and skip JC's 30-year anniversary.
JC was his father's life's work...
"Kook."
"Dad."
"How's the company?"
"Everything's good."
"What about Japan?"
"We've reorganized the company there and made adjustments to the projects. You don't have to worry."
"Don't overwork yourself... you may be young, but health is what matters."
"I know, Dad, how are my uncles?"
"They're all doing well. I play golf and drink coffee with them every day, and sometimes we go mountain climbing. I feel like I've gotten younger here."
"That's good." Jungkook nodded.
"Son... how's your mother?"
They've been married for years; even if Mrs. Jeon acted as extreme as she did, Jungkook's father still had her in his heart.
Older generations never say what they mean...
"I haven't been back recently."
"Kook, everything your mom did was for you. She may be a little over the top sometimes, but we can't hold that against her. After all, she's your mom..."
"I know."
"She gets lonely when I'm not at home. You should go visit her more often. She still hasn't accepted Lisa, so don't bring her with you, it's better that way. We can talk about the rest down the road."
"Okay."
"Okay then, go on with what you're doing."
The phone call from his father was his attempt to get Jungkook to go see his mother. After all, she lived in that big mansion alone, without the company of her son and husband. Anyone who lived like that would be in a bad mood.
Lisa was having dinner with Jennie, so Jungkook drove back to the Jeon Manor.
"Young Master, you're back."
The maid immediately greeted Jungkook upon seeing him...
"Where's my mom?"
"She's upstairs with Miss Tzuyu, let me call them down."
"Miss Tzuyu?" Jungkook wondered.
The maid ran up the stairs. "Mrs. Jeon, Young Master is back."
Mrs. Jeon came downstairs... standing behind her was Tzuyu, who was wearing a long, dark blue dress.
"You're finally willing to come back?" Mrs. Jeon seemed to be mad at her son.
"I passed by a dessert shop and bought some of your favorite." Jungkook placed a box on the table.
"At least you have a conscience." Mrs. Jeon's attitude changed upon seeing the desserts her son bought her.
"You guys talk, I'll be going now." Jungkook was about to leave.
"Wait... are you leaving? You just got here. We haven't eaten yet, stay for dinner," Mrs. Jeon said domineeringly.
Tzuyu smiled. "Auntie, don't give him a hard time; he might still have work to do."
"Work? What kind of work? I bet he's off to find his..." Mrs. Jeon didn't get to finish saying 'little vixen bitch' when Tzuyu stopped her.
Tzuyu immediately interjected, "If you're not in too much of a hurry, why don't you have dinner with us? I made auntie some butter croissants, they're really good. Would you like to try some?"
Upon hearing Tzuyu's sincere invitation, Jungkook felt a little awkward...
He wanted to refuse, but his mother had already begun ordering the maid, "What are you standing there for? Let's have dinner, the young master is hungry."
"Yes, Mrs. Jeon."
Just like that, Jungkook was forced to eat at home...
Tzuyu had stellar cooking skills; she lived abroad for so long, so she was very good at cooking western food.
"Tzuyu, your parents are coming back soon, right?"
"Yeah, in a couple of days."
"Let's have dinner together once they're back. I really miss your mom," Mrs. Jeon said with a smile on her face.
"Sure, I'll find a time for our two families to get together."
"Kook, do you think Tzuyu looks different than she used to?" Mrs. Jeon looked at her son.
Jungkook wasn't in the mood to eat; he had his head down and occasionally chit chatted with Lisa over WeChat.
Upon hearing his mother's question, he looked up. "What?"
"What do you mean, 'what'? I was asking you if you see a difference in Tzuyu, compared to when she was younger."
"Of course, it's been 18 years," Jungkook said faintly.
"That's what I was saying. She's grown up to be so beautiful. Compared with the plastic-infused women out there with long pointy chins, Tzuyu is such a natural beauty. She is so much nicer to look at."
Mrs. Jeon really liked Tzuyu, so she kept complimenting her...
Jungkook didn't react much...
After dinner, Jungkook got up to leave, but his mother said, "Since you drove here, drive Tzuyu home."
"You're not staying here?" Jungkook was surprised that she wasn't staying to keep his mother company.
"No, I've been staying at my uncle's." Tzuyu smiled.
Before Jungkook could say anything, Tzuyu added, "I can drive, but ever since I got back from Italy, I haven't gotten used to the driving lanes here yet and keep making mistakes. My uncle suggested that I should go find a driving school and practice for a while before hitting the road, or else it might be dangerous."
"Okay, let's go."
Jungkook nodded...
Tzuyu followed Jungkook onto his Maybach...
"I didn't see you eat much just now, are you not used to the food?"
"No, I wasn't hungry," Jungkook replied.
"Why didn't Lisa come with you?"
"She's having dinner with friends."
"Oh... I actually already met Lisa at South Side."
"She told me about it."
"I'm sorry, you won't blame me, right? I was just wondering what kind of girl you liked."
"It's fine." Jungkook belonged to the type where you ask a question and he replies with a sentence, no initiation at all.
"But you've got great taste, she's a really pretty and smart girl... She's also really straightforward, I like her a lot."
"Thank you," Jungkook simply answered.
"Time passes by really fast... It's been 18 years already. Do you still remember the days when I stayed at your house? I used to cry a lot. Every time I cried, you would run away from me because you had severe OCD and was scared that I would get snot on you. Your parents always laughed when it happened... I was really a klutz back then."
"I don't remember much from when we were young..." Jungkook didn't have time to reminisce about the past with Tzuyu.
Tzuyu couldn't help but look disappointed upon hearing Jungkook say this...
"You haven't changed much though, you're exactly the same as you were when you were young... Sometimes when I see your face, I feel like we're 8 years old again..." Tzuyu smiled.
Before Jungkook had the chance to react, she added, "The truth is, I used to visit you once a year when you were in the States."
Surprised, Jungkook tilted his head to look at Tzuyu. "Why have I never seen you before?"
"Because I never showed myself... I'm actually an introvert who isn't that good at expressing my feelings... When I went to see you, I watched as you walked the school grounds, ate hamburgers in the school cafeteria, played basketball by yourself, or sat there lost in thought ..."
The truth was, Tzuyu was heartbroken upon seeing Jungkook like that...
She didn't show her face for one simple reason – Jungkook had gone abroad to mend his broken heart after a breakup.
She wasn't sure if he would like her, so she could only quietly watch him from afar...
She wanted to wait until they were both back in South Korea, so she could create a beautiful chancing encounter...
However, to her surprise, Jungkook came back so quietly; not even her father knew about it.
Of course, no one knew that he got married; he had secretly obtained his marriage certificate...
Him getting married completely messed up her plans...
But now, her visiting him in the United States for 7 years was no more than a story that wasn't worth mentioning...
Jungkook suddenly had no idea what to say, because he didn't know what Tzuyu's motives were.
"Ha... I'm a stubborn person, aren't I? My parents always told me that I'm not good at expressing myself, even with really good friends... Growing up, I always thought you were the cutest friend I had... so I always wanted to see you again... Now... we finally met again, and the truth is, nothing else matters, and I'm just really thankful... I'm grateful for the time we spent apart. It's great that we get to see each other again as friends."
Tzuyu was very vague in her words...
Jungkook was puzzled – what did she want to say?
She reminisced, called him a friend, and talked about the past...
Upon seeing Jungkook's silence, Tzuyu pointed outside the car window. "I used to love that amusement park. I loved riding the merry-go-round, but I was too much of a chicken and didn't have the courage to. I still remember that you pushed me up and scared me half to death. Even today, I still remember that fear."
"When I was young, I used to be so bold and outrageous... but now, I'm just a chicken..." Tzuyu mocked herself.
Before Jungkook said anything, she suddenly asked him, "If Lisa never appeared in your life, would you...?"
Jungkook's phone began to ring before she had a chance to finish her sentence...
"Doll," he said gently; for a split second, Tzuyu was so sad that she almost burst out in tears.
"I need to drive Tzuyu home first, I'll pick you up in a bit."
Jungkook didn't hide the fact that Tzuyu was in his car; perhaps this was his method of drawing boundaries with her.
"What were you saying?" Upon hanging up the phone with Lisa, Jungkook tilted his head and glanced at Tzuyu.
"Oh... I was saying, you and Lisa must be happy together."
"Yes, the best years of my life were spent with her."
Jungkook didn't evade her question at all...
After he dropped Tzuyu off, Jungkook drove to the barbeque restaurant.
Lisa, Jennie, and Taehyung were still eating.
"Kook, come here, this barbeque place is delicious... I ordered you their classic barbeque squid."
Lisa intimately wrapped her arms around Jungkook's as he sat down.
Jungkook froze for a second upon seeing Taehyung. Then, he glanced at the cutleries on the table.
There were only three sets, it seemed like jimin wasn't here...
"President Jeon, is she expensive to maintain? She ate so much, even more than me." Jennie laughed as she glanced at Lisa.
There were a bunch of kebab sticks on the table.
"She is really expensive." Jungkook chuckled.
"I'm worth it, okay? I may cost a lot now, but it means that you're investing and stocking up the shares. I'm a stock with high potential..."
"Fine, Dr. Huo, I hope that you can become Norman Bethune... and go down in history," Jennie joked...
After they ate for a little while longer, the four of them left the restaurant. As soon as Lisa got into Jungkook's car, she quickly said, "So, do you mind answering my question?"
"Please ask." Jungkook cooperated.
"It's dark outside, so why was some other girl in my husband's car?"
Jungkook, "-_-"
"The 3-second countdown begins... now." Lisa was really impatient for her answer.
"When I went home to see my mom, I realized that she was there too. Then, we had dinner together, and I dropped her off on my way to see you."
"What? You guys had dinner together?"
Jungkook, "-_-"
"What did you eat?"
"I don't remember, there were a few western dishes, and the maid made a soup. I didn't really eat."
Jungkook was telling the truth because he wasn't in the mood to eat.
"I seeeee..." Lisa purposely dragged out her word.
"Doll, you have to believe me. If something really happened, I wouldn't tell you that she was in my car."
"I know. I didn't ask you anything, so why are you so nervous?" Lisa chuckled.
"I wasn't nervous, but your questions made me nervous."
"If you're not guilty, how could I make you nervous?"
"I didn't want you to think too much."
"Am I someone who thinks too much?"
"Okay... doll, I'm sorry," Jungkook apologized.
Lisa smiled as she wrapped her arms around Jungkook's...
"Kook... my test is the day after tomorrow. I'm really nervous, what should I do?"
"The day after tomorrow? That soon?"
"Yeah, I think Director Jung is trying to kill me. I told him that I needed some time to prepare, but he scheduled for me to take the test the day after tomorrow. Damn it... I'm going crazy."
For the first time, Lisa didn't have confidence in herself...
This was a dream that she had always hoped to achieve – but the more she thought about it, the more nervous she got.
"Don't worry, I trust you."
"But I don't even trust myself. Do you know how ridiculous neurological pathology is? Oh right, Jennie said that she was going to send me some studying material, I wonder if it's reliable."
The two of them drove back to their home at Imperial Park...
Before Lisa went upstairs, Haruto called her.
"Noona... did Wonyoung go looking for you?"
"No, what's wrong?"
"She's still not contacting me... I don't know what's wrong, I thought she would be better after a few days."
Haruto sounded really worried...
"Maybe she's been having a rough time adjusting her emotions, don't get anxious."
"Noona... I'm going to tell you the truth, but don't laugh at me..."
"Yeah?" Lisa held the phone with one hand as she spoke with Haruto. She slowly sat down on the couch.
"Ever since she started ghosting me, I haven't been able to concentrate on my studies... All my thoughts are about her. I really don't understand why she suddenly became like that... I don't have the appetite to eat and I can't sleep. I know that you'll call me a good-for-nothing, but that's what I am right now."
"I won't call you a good-for-nothing, that's what love is. You're still young, so it's natural to feel like your organs are ripping apart... but the things is, I don't know what happened between the two of you, so I can't get involved... Why don't you wait a while longer, what do you say?"
"Noona... do you think she doesn't want to date me anymore? If she wants to break up... She can tell me, and I can accept it... I just can't accept the fact that she won't say anything, while also pulling away from me."
"I know... ruto. How's this, wait a few more days, and if she still doesn't contact you, I will ask her myself and make sure you get an answer, okay? Don't think too much, and help mom clean up the old house. We'll move after my test."
"Okay, sounds good. I got it, noona."
"Okay then, goodnight."
Lisa sighed after she hung up the phone...
She's already busy as is, but the young couple, Haruto and Wonyoung, continued to worry her.
The next morning, Lisa had the day off.
After Jungkook went to work, she began cleaning the condo...
After she finished, Chaeyoung called, and the two of them went shopping together.
To Lisa's surprise, she bumped into Tzuyu at a coffee shop.
She was having coffee with a couple of other women and smiled politely when she saw Lisa.
"Hey, have you guys heard? The young madam from JC is the illegitimate child of Oh family. Her mom was a mistress," the girl beside Tzuyu said; she wasn't whispering, so Lisa heard everything.
"Who said so? Don't spread untrue rumors."
"I'm not, Nancy told me herself. Why would she lie about stuff that's going on in her own family?"
Then, they began making fun of Lisa ... and Tzuyu didn't say anything.
Lisa calmly drank her coffee. Chaeyoung, on the other hand, couldn't take it anymore. She shot up from her seat and walked up to the women.
"Hey... do you really think it's okay to talk behind others' backs?" Chaeyoung demanded aggressively.
"Huh? Who... are you?"
Baffled, the women turned around to look at Chaeyoung...
"I'm a friend of JC's young madam, you have a problem with that? I find people like you who talk smack about people behind their backs disgusting."
"We are free to say whatever we want."
"You are free to speak, but you can't twist the truth, can you? Mistress...? Let me tell you, that Nancy's mom is the ultimate mistress... I can't believe she had the willpower to live under the same roof as that man's legal wife for all those years. Plus... Ncnay was a stupid bitch when she was in school... I can't believe you would believe things that she said, you're all more retarded than that stupid bitch."
Chaeyoung was always coarse in her choice of words, and she immediately blew up when others disparaged Lisa.
Therefore, she forgot that there were people around them and began yelling at them... and people started gathering around them.
Lisa immediately walked up to her and grabbed her. "Chae, forget it, let's go."
"Forget what? If we don't teach these people a lesson, they'll think that you're easy to bully..."
One of the women recognized Lisa and muttered under her breath, "Damn it, why is she here?"
Just then, Tzuyu, who remained silent all this time, opened her mouth, "Lisa... they're just gossiping and didn't defame you on purpose. Please don't get mad."
Before Lisa had the chance to say anything, Chaeyoung viciously glared at Tzuyu, "It's easier said than done... if someone talked smack about you, and then said that they were just gossiping and you shouldn't get mad, would you be okay with it?"
Tzuyu's expression changed slightly...
"You people... you're all dressed in such expensive clothes, but the words you say don't match your status... Socialites? Are you kidding me?"
"Mind your own business, who the hell do you think you are? Waiter, chase this shrew out of the coffee shop, she's so embarrassing."
One of the girls with Tzuyu clamored...
The waiter walked up to them, "Miss, I'm sorry, could you please leave? There shouldn't be yelling in here."
"We're customers, why do we have to leave? Shouldn't they leave for insulting others?" Chaeyoung was raging.
"We're gold-card members... are you? As members, we can do what we want here..." one of the women with Tzuyu boasted arrogantly.
"Please leave, you're holding up our business."
The waiter recognized those women because they were frequent customers and sided with them.
However, he didn't know who Lisa and Chaeyoung were...
So, his attitude was obvious – act like a snob and suck up to the rich people...
In the beginning, Lisa didn't take offense. She wanted to pull Chaeyoung away because she didn't want to cause trouble.
However, the waiter's attitude infuriated her.
Lisa took out her phone and called Assistant, "Get someone from the Finance Department down here and evaluate something for me."
"Young Madam, are you planning something?"
"I want to purchase a coffee shop."
Ten minutes after Lisa's phone call, 7 Mercedes Benz stopped outside the coffee shop, all from JC.
Out came bodyguards, a financial team, and assistants.
It was as if Lisa had launched a campaign of some sort...
The women were flabbergasted; they were shocked by Lisa's efficiency...
Was she looking to fight them? Of course not, she was just showing off her wealth...
"Young Madam," Lee greeted her politely.
"I don't care how, what you do or how much you spend... I want to buy this coffee shop as soon as possible."
Lisa issued Lee an ultimate mission...boy, she was pissed.