Eyes Full Of Stars || Park Sunghoon

5 ¦ Rolex on my wrist, I'm the nice guy

I stir around impassively with my spoon in my hot cocoa. The scrambled eggs Teresa made for breakfast taste delicious, but I have little appetite.

Almost a week has passed since the incident at Yeosang's birthday party. I haven't heard from Sunghoon since then either, which is merely fine with me because aside from not wanting to marry him, I'm extremely embarrassed about what happened between us.

"Are you sick, dear?" my mother asks anxiously when she notices that I have barely touched breakfast, thus snapping me out of my gyrating thoughts.

Surprised, I look at my mother across the long table. "No," I reply, shaking my head and clasping my cup with both hands to warm my chilled fingers. "I just don't have that much of an appetite," I add, sipping my still-hot cocoa.

"Dolores," my father interjects into our conversation. He puts his open newspaper on the table in front of him and looks at me instead.

I hate him. I hate it when he says my name. I hate it when he looks at me. I hate hearing his voice.

"I was on the phone with Sunghoon last night." "Oh," I make, nervously shifting back and forth in my chair. "What did he want?"

"He wants to spend time with you this afternoon," my father informs me casually as he turns the pages of his newspaper. Every now and then, he lifts his eyes and looks at me. "Ethan will drive you to his house after lunch today."

Sunghoon wants me to come to his house to spend time with me? All by myself? Without my father?

"I don't want to spend time with him," I speak my thoughts out loud. My father slams his fist on the table. Both my mother and I flinch in shock. "You're not going to misbehave again, do you hear me?" my father immediately growls, as if he was merely expecting me to speak against.

I look at my intimidated mother sitting next to my father with her eyes downcast, staring at his clenched fists. I don't want her to be afraid because of me.

"Yes, of course I will behave, Father," I assure the middle-aged man in a low voice, now lowering my gaze as well.

I wonder what Sunghoon has planned for today. After all, we barely know each other and he doesn't know what my interests are.

"What do I have to look forward to?" "He didn't say, but of course you should present yourself on your best behavior and put on something pretty," my father says with an affirming nod.

Of course.

I'm always supposed to dress pretty, smile nicely and say as little as possible. For my father, I'm nothing more than a puppet whose strings he just has to pull so that everything goes according to his plans.

"Then I'd best go find something to do," I say, taking a last sip of my cocoa before looking at my father. "May I be excused?" He nods without lifting his gaze from the newspaper, which by now he's holding open in his hands again in front of his face.

Once in my room, I open my closet doors and remain standing in front of it, pondering. Since I like to wear dresses, I decide on a white dress with lace. With it I wear a long-sleeved cardigan, also white, to hide the bruises on my wrists.

Right after lunch, which I also didn't touch much of, Ethan drives me to Sunghoon, who lives a bit away from Madrid.

There is a dead silence in the vehicle for the entire hour-long drive. I usually listened to music on such trips, but since my father took my cell phone away from me and broke it in his rage, this option is eliminated anyway.