8

“What did you say?” Jin Hun was sure his ears were playing tricks on him.

“You heard me.” Sam Soon walked to the door.

He quickly ran ahead and placed his back on the door, blocking her.

She stood back and watched him. “Are you going to let me through?”

“What’s the matter with you? What did you just say to me?” Were they on Candid Camera? It was some sort of joke, right? Did she just threaten him? Is this what four years of their relationship had boiled down to?

“Let me through,” she said, pushing him. “I need to get back to my shop.”

Jin Hun didn’t budge. “Not until we talk about this!” He could feel his blood pressure skyrocketing.

“There’s nothing to discuss. If we haven’t set a wedding date by my birthday, it’s over.”

He banged his head on the door. “So basically, you are giving me a few months to convince my mother?”

“I have given you years, Jin Hun, YEARS! How many more do you want?”

“Wow…. So you are willing to throw what we have away?”

“What do we have?” she replied spitefully. “What is it we have that you can’t even get this simple thing done? Four years ago you promised my mother that you’d convince your mom and we are exactly where we were back then. If you can’t do it, forget about us.” She shoved him. “Just let me get through! Sam Shik, I want to leave!”

He stepped aside. “You know something?”

She gave him a sidelong look. “What?”

“Why don’t we just end it now?”

“Wh-what did you just say?”

“I said, LET’S END THIS NOW!”.

She inhaled. “Are you serious?” she asked in a shaky voice.

“What do you think? How dare you give me an ultimatum, Sam Soon? How dare you?”
Nervously, she looked around the office. “This is interesting.” She looked back at the door. “Are you going to let me leave?”

“Am I in your way? Leave if you want. There’s obviously nothing keeping you here. You have so many men interested in you now, right? If all you care about is getting married then go and marry one of them!”

She narrowed her eyes. “So you’re serious about is?”

“Of course! Why should we wait a few months to break up? If you think you will be better off without me, go! GO NOW!”


***


“I’m leaving early. Reschedule all my appointments,” Jin Hun said to his secretary as left his office. Who was he fooling? He couldn’t get any work done when all he could think about was what had happened less than an hour earlier. What in the world had happened? What had he been thinking? Why did she have to say those things? And why had he?

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He had to call her and tell her he was only kidding. That there was no way he meant any of the things he’d said. Surely, she had to know that. He dialed her number but all he got was her voicemail.

Before he knew it, he found himself running to his car.


***
“I’m sorry, Sam Soon. I never meant what I said today. I was so hurt that you said such a thing that I didn’t even know what I was saying. Please, forgive me. I love you and I want to marry you. I am sure you know that. You know I will give everything up for you. Even if my mother doesn’t approve, we will get married,” Jin Hun said as he pulled to her store.

“I’m sorry, Sam Soon, I never…” He kept practicing his speech as he walked to her store.

He took a deep breath and opened the door. The waitress didn’t notice him enter so he kept walking. He was glad that Yi Young wasn’t around because he didn’t want to have to deal with any interruptions.

He was just a few steps from the counter when he heard a male voice say, “…so let’s go.”

Jin Hun tensed up but kept walking.

“But the shop isn’t closing yet,” he heard Sam Soon say.

In a split second, Jin Hun found himself behind the counter, staring at Sam Soon and Lee Tae Young. “Wow, it really didn’t take long, did it?”

Sam Soon looked up at him. “Sam Shik…” she started breathlessly, “what are you doing here?”

Jin Hun laughed. He’d never felt so stupid in all his life. “Exactly. What am I doing here? But a more important question is, what is he doing here?”

“He just came to buy something.”

Jin Hun laughed harder. “Isn’t he on the wrong side of the counter? When--”

“Hey,” Mr. Lee interrupted, “don’t talk to her like that.”

“This is getting funnier,” he said to the ceiling. Then he looked at Mr. Lee. “Who are you to tell me how I can talk to her? No, I really want to know. Who the hell are you?”

“Hun—”

“Calm down. I’m only back here because I could see that she was barely holding herself together,” Mr. Lee replied.

“And how is that any of yo--”

“Hun, please, stop it,” Sam Soon begged. “He was just being nice.”

“Nice? This is what you call nice? You know something? I’m out of here. I must have been crazy to come here,” he said shaking his head. He gave her a long, hard look then walked out of the store.


***
Sam Soon didn’t even understand what had just happened. Confused, she looked at Tae Young, begging him for answers.

“What… What...” She could feel herself hyperventilating. “Oh my God! What... I have to go after him,” she said before she sprinted out of her store.

“Sam Shik! Sam Shik!” she screamed. She caught up with him before he reached his car. “Are you just going to leave like that?”

He looked at her scornfully. She’d never seen him so angry.

She grabbed his hand. “Please, don’t go.”

He pulled her hand off his then folded his arms. “So is that your other option? Is that the reason you threatened me today? If we are not engaged by your 35th birthday, you are going to him?” he spat.

“Of course not. He has nothing to do with this.”

“No. So what are you saying? That you’ll really leave me if we don’t get engaged soon?”

What was she to do? Lie? “No…”

“So are you saying that what you said today was a mistake?”

She loved him but she couldn’t back down now. If she backed down, he’d keep dragging his feet and they’d never get anywhere. So she decided to stall. “Is that why you came over? To ask me that?”

“Actually, no. But I’ll blame that on temporary insanity.” He waved his hands for emphasis. “But now I am genuinely interested. What you said today, was that a mistake?”

She looked away. “No…”

“And you are trying to tell me that it’s not because of another man? If you didn’t think you could get better than me, you wouldn’t even think about giving up on us.”

She bit her lip. Could she tell him that she was only threatening him with the hope that it would give him an incentive to speed things up? Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose? She looked away.

He moved his head so that he was looking directly at her. “I am very disappointed in you, Sam Soon. I am really disappointed to know that you think you can live without me when I know that I can’t live without you.” With that, he got into his car and drove off.