Summer Child

Harsh Winter. Part 4a.

Ri Jeong Hyeok blinked awake to the white smooth ceiling. It took him several moments to gather his wit and recognized his surroundings. He sighed happily as he snuggled into the white duvet and cushion y pillow; he couldn't believe that after everything that had happened, he still ended up here. In the same space with Yoon Seri as he slept on her guest bedroom.

He glanced to the clock on the nightstand and smiled when it was barely 6 in the morning; he really had set up his internal clock for his success. He sat up immediately and put on the house robe and walked outside his room. The apartment was still silent, as Seri was never really a morning person. And he was glad that she woke up later than him because it enabled him to prepare her breakfast almost everyday now.

He opened the refrigerator, and pulled out several ingredients to make a kimchi fried rice. He had made it a point to stop by a grocery store last night after his investigation trip to outskirt Seoul, and bought everything he needed to make this simple homemade meal. He tried to move fast, because in less than 45 minutes, the team would come from the front door and forced their strictly planned schedule for both of them.

The schedule that he was positive the Yoon Senior had a say on every single item; because despite he had been living under the same roof with Seri, but they barely had time to say anything to each other longer than "Good morning, I have to go", or "You just got in? I'm so sleepy, Ri Jeong Hyeok-ssi". He rolled his eyes at this, but couldn't find any courage to complaint. Because the very fact that he was not in NIS detention center for being an illegal defector was solely resulted from the love Yoon Jeung Pyeong had for his only daughter.

Jeong Hyeok sighed as he rewind the previous week incident, when Seri's father came into the apartment and caught him red-handed for causing his precious daughter injured. To say that the older man had chewed his head, and not a small part of his dignity, would not be an exaggeration. Even Seri cringed hearing just how harsh her father's words to him, but Jeong Hyeok couldn't find any strength to defend himself.

Because her father was right, on every single fact he spewed to them. How he got all of the information about him correctly, down to the name of his father and his position, was beyond him. Even Seri was surprised, because even though she had shared some stories about Jeong Hyeok back then when they were dating, but she never went to great detail. Jeong Hyeok even vividly remembered that Seri told him she never told her father that Jeong Hyeok was a North Korean. She just said he was a Korean student who studied music in Zurich. Which was true, though she played it fast and loose with which of the Korea she was talking about.

While looking at the brownish red dish he was making for his woman, his mind wandered to previous week.

~The past week..

Seri and Jeong Hyeok could only looked at their knees as her father finished his barrage of words to Jeong Hyeok, though in some spots, he also questioned Seri's sanity in letting this craziness happened to her. Jeong Hyeok was half the mind to correct the Yoon Senior, that Seri had no fault whatsoever in this case, but the older man's stare was enough to swallow his words.

"And why you didn't tell this to me directly is beyond me, Seri-ah" he finally turned to his daughter, though he still glared viciously to him. "You should have come to me at once when you were assaulted the first time. But instead, you let this rookie soldier to guard you, and see where it leads you. You're injured!"

"But Appa, the doctor said this wound will heal in no time" she tried to argue, but fell silent when her father shot her his laser eyes. Her father's voice faltered down a bit, and for the first time since they met, Jeong Hyeok finally saw her father as he was. A father who loved his daughter very much, and therefore, at least in his mind, it justified every single harsh word spewed to him.