"So… this is the hotel you were talking about? I am disappointed, Yuri. I thought you wanted to invest into something nice. The quality here is just poor."
Old Kwon looked around, examining everything from the floor to the ceiling. He disregarded Jessica and co., as if the girls did not exist. It made Sooyoung fume visibly, but Jessica quickly grabbed the tall girl's hand and calmed her down before she could jump on the old man.
"It's good compared to other facilities in this area, grandfather," Yuri replied in a surprisingly obeying tone, keeping her head down.
Jessica's eyes turned to stare at Yuri, not being able to hide the shock with how subdued the girl sounded. But Yuri completely ignored her, deciding that the floor was more interesting to look at. Jessica felt it became harder to breathe with each second passing by, as if the air around her was being sucked away slowly.
"Why are you dressed like this anyway?" Jiyong queried, giving Yuri a disapproving look.
Yuri, however, ignored her cousin and focused on her grandfather instead. Never could Jessica imagine that the old man had such an impact on Yuri. In fact, this was the first time she saw Yuri and her grandfather being together in one room. Just his presence seemed to intimidate the tanned girl, and Jessica couldn't understand why. Wasn't Yuri always the prideful girl who never bowed down to anybody?
"You are wasting too much time here," Old Kwon's voice was stern as he continued. "You are wasting time on things that won't lead you anywhere."
The man's eyes acknowledged the existence of Jessica at that very moment. Jessica knew he was talking about her, but she kept her composure and swallowed down the urge to counter the obvious offense. She might be hot-tempered at times, but she'd had enough experience with the Kwons to know a mistake couldn't be afforded when it came to them. The twitch she felt in her chest was not because of Old Kwon's words, but because of Yuri's reaction to them. The person who a night before said she was willing to try to make it up to her was now saying nothing and just looked down onto the floor, as if her grandfather's accusation was incontrovertible.
"I told grandpa about your real intentions," Jiyong meddled in with a hint of glee in his voice, glancing at Jessica.
Jessica saw Yuri shot her cousin a deathly glare, and she silently figured out what it was all about. So it was Jiyong who found out she was working at this hotel and informed Old Kwon. Jiyong probably told Old Kwon that the only reason Yuri was here was because of her, and how little the tanned girl was interested in the expansion of the Kwon business. Jessica felt the knot in her stomach that was feeling disturbed by Yuri's behavior untying itself slowly as Old Kwon's cluelessness convincingly proved the sincerity of Yuri's words last night. But she was also aware that this meant Yuri was now in deep trouble. Yuri lied to her grandfather to be here with her. Yuri tricked him into allowing her to run to Jessica. And now he had hunted her to this place, most certainly having a punishment ready in mind.
But then, what was Yuri waiting for? Why didn't she just cut the line and tell her grandfather she didn't want to follow him anymore? Why couldn't she just say she'd chosen Jessica and leave his side for good? What was she scared of?
I'm by your side, Yuri… she wanted to whisper into Yuri's ear. We'll go through this together. You and me... together…
