(Second chapter)
"Are you don-"
"No"
Sowon pouted and glared at the red haired girl in front of her, who was too focused on painting Sowon's nails with some weird stuffs.
"Are you going to eat me? Or why are you looking at me like that?"
Haneul asked, not caring to look up at her friend who was continuing to glare imaginary holes on her head.
"Sometimes I wonder how you are my best friend."
Sowon asked, looking at her nails which were already done. They were painted in light peach colour, with a tiny butterfly which was light purple coloured on every nail right in the middle.
Damn it looked very pretty.
"Because you were a loner, duh. I felt pity and became your friend. The end."
Haneul replied coolly as she finished drying the paint on Sowon's nails. Sowon rolled her eyes, not caring about the insult at all.
"You know I would have kicked you right now, be thankful that I am injured."
"That I am because I know you won't be able to chase me if I stole your food."
Haneul spoke as she flipped her long red curls backwards and winked at the female in front of her.
"Don't you dare." Sowon growled at her best friend who shrugged and sat in front of her.
"So tell me, how did you get injured?"
Sowon stopped the urge to roll her eyes as she picked up her panda bear and hugged it tighter. This was the same question she was being asked since 5 days back and Sowon felt very suffocated with the unending enquiries.
More strangely as much as Sowon anticipated her father to come and apologize, he hardly talked to her. Heck, she did not even see him for the past 2 days as she was stuffed up in her room.
Everytime her door would open, Sowon expected her father but he never came. It was only her mother who came to take care of Sowon.
Sowon felt hurt and neglected by her father. She did not know why he was not even coming to meet her even once, after the incident and the fight they had.
"Hello? Earth to Sowon? Come back from your world and tell me, what happened?"
Sowon blinked at her best friend, remembering that she left her hanging with a question. Tiredly, Sowon replied.
"I was just practicing my dance and fell down."
Sowon did not feel like talking about the incident because it made her furious. The two things she loved the most were away from her for almost a week.
"Are you sure? Do you want to talk abou-"
"Yes and no. I do not want to talk about it so please stop asking me more questions."
Sowon sniffed and hastily wiped her tears away, feeling bad that she almost dropped her anger on her best friend who was just trying to help her. She never felt more exposed than right now.
"Hey, its okay Sowon. I am here, don't worry. I am sorry I won't ask more questions but please stop crying."
Haneul's words made Sowon more emotional as both of them hugged each other and cried together. She was thankful for having such a good friend.
After 5 minutes of a silent and emotional hug, both of them pulled away and Sowon could not help but smile when she saw Haneul crying with her.
"Yah! Are you laughing at me? How dare you?"
Haneul grabbed a pillow and threw at Sowon who started laughing loudly, unable to hide her laugh.
"Look at your face, its streaked with your makeup and tears."
Haneul grunted and threw another pillow at Sowon while trying to hide her face and rush towards the bathroom. Sowon smiled, feeling happy after a long time.
But no matter how much Sowon tried to ignore, a feeling like an instinct told her that something was going to happen very soon.
※
"Sowon? Are you asleep dear?"
Sowon smiled and turned from her seat to face her mother who held a tray of black coffee and cookies on it. Her mother smiled back as she kept the tray on the table beside her seat.
"What are you doing?" Her mother asked curiously, peeking at the screen of the blue laptop which Sowon held.
"I was just watching some dance videos-"
Sowon stopped talking, closing her eyes as she controlled her emotions which took her to the day she got herself injured.
"Sowon dear, are you alright?" Her mother asked softly.
"Yeah mom I am fine. Just some stuffs...mom I have a question."
Sowon gulped as she prepared herself to ask the question. No matter what she called herself desperate or not, she knew she had to ask the question or else she would burst out of curiosity.
"Where is dad?"
Sowon could not miss the fact that her mother froze when she mentioned her father. Why was she acting like this? Were they hiding something from her?
"Nothing dear, I think you should rest-"
"No! Mom, I asked where is dad? Where is he? What happened to him?"
Sowon finally bursted with anger as she confronted her mother who stood there quietly, avoiding any eye contact.
"He went on a trip, he will come back soon."
"What?"
Sowon asked, utterly confused as to why her father suddenly went on a trip without even caring to inform her. Was he that hurt? Was she that bad to him?
As tears threatened to fall from her eyes, Sowon felt her mother hugging her. She hugged her back tightly, inhaling the fresh scent of roasted marshmallows which her mother always smelt of.
"Sowon you know that whatever your parents are doing, they do it for the best of you right?"
Sowon nodded with obscurity of what her mother was actually talking about.
"You have to first understand us, why we took this descision okay?"
Sowon scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, leaning a little backwards to keep some space between them.
"What are you talking about mom?"
Her mother tightly held her hand, tugging on it as she kissed it softly.
"I love you Sowon, do you promise to understand us first?"
Sowon was about to deny, ask for what reason she had to promise her mother. But seeing the tiny glistent at the corner of her mother's eyes made her speak,
"I promise you."
Her mother nodded as she kissed her hand once again before moving and kissing the forehead of her daughter.
"You have grown up so much my child."
Sowon smiled quickly and nodded, not wanting to lose the chance to ask her mother what was she talking about. Holding her mother's hand she asked,
"Mom, can you now tell me for what did I make that promise?"
Sowon could not ignore how the warm smile on her mother's face slowly faded away before she covered it with a painful one.
"You will soon know dear, soon. I will tell you when the time comes."
Sowon's mother brushed it off and stood up but her daughter still held her hand tightly, tugging on it with a face that she was not satisfied with the answer.
Her mother sighed, leaning down and caressing the cheeks of her daughter's face as she replied,
"We have chosen a man for you to get married with."
Those words were enough to break Sowon's heart into a million pieces, making her feel like she was betrayed by her parents and thrown off a cliff.
"w-what?"
Sowon could not register what she heard to be true, it was lies. This could not be happening to her, anything else but not this.
"I know! I am so happy for you that you are finally grown up enough to get married in a few months soon."
Sowon scoffed at her mother's excitement about her wedding. She dropped her mother's hand roughly, not willing to accept the ludicrous situation.
The scowl on her daughter's face made her ask.
"Sowon, are you not happy? You are finally going to get married-"
"NO!"
Her mother flinched at the sudden yell, not expecting such a reaction to the news. Sowon struggled but stood up on her own, glaring her mother with the most menacing face she could show.
"No, I am not getting married mother. I don't want to get married so soon."
Her mother stood there shocked at the girl who directly refused at her face like a stubborn kid, when instead she thought Sowon would be happy.
But her mother was also not willing to take any more fits or tantrums she would throw. With a firm voice she spoke,
"Yes you will. Like it or not, you will get married to the man we chose for you Han Sowon. And I will not hear any more argument about this."
With that Sowon's mother left the room shutting the door loudly behind her while Sowon stared at the empty space where her mother stood a few seconds ago, mouth wide open and unable to think anything more except for one thing,
How the hell will she escape the marriage now?
A/N: What would you do if you were Sowon? :)