Torn between Love and Hate

Twenty-Two

Dara was surprised when she saw Jiyong already sitted on the chair at the end of the dining table as Jiyong stood up to greet her.

"Good evening!" Jiyong politely greeted.

Dara was dumbfounded and awkwardly replied. "Good evening?!" Just as Mrs . Kim came out from the kitchen with their food.

"Good evening Mr. Kwon, Mrs. Kwon!" Mrs. Kim happily greeted them.

Dara took the sit at the opposite end from Jiyong. The table sits at least sixteen people. The distance between the two is quite far. This didn't sit well with Jiyong but he doesn't have a choice at the moment. He didn't want to go overboard and scared his wife, when he hasn't even started yet.

Their dinner was served but for Dara she grew up believing in God and so she prayed before taking her meal. While Jiyong just went ahead and started eating. As he was going to take a bite of his steak he saw his wife with her eyes closed with her head down and hands together. He didn't realized right away what she was doing until she made the sign of the cross. Now this is something new that he just learned about his wife. He took a mental note of learning about what his wife is like as a person. He already knows that she's a successful entrepreneur which until now what made him to be more intrigued by her.

They ate in silence for a while until Dara's cell started buzzing. She looked at the caller and it brought a smile on her face. Jiyong looked up and saw this.

"Hello." She answered.

"Hi sweetie!" Donghae answered on the other end of the line.

Dara fully smiled upon hearing Donghae's voice which made Jiyong cringe. "I should be the only one whom she should be showing that smile." He thought to himself.

"Oh hi there!" Forgetting that Jiyong was actually there she giggled.

"Missed me? Because I miss you so much!" Donghae was saying.

Dara giggled some more and answered. "You know I do. Sooo muuu...ch." She suddenly looked up and realized that her husband is actually there listening with the hint of irritation masking on his face. She suddenly got up and bowed down as she excused herself.

Jiyong on the other hand is feeling anger buildup. He suddenly lost his appetite and just left the dining room to his home office. As soon as he got there he went straight to his mini bar and poured himself a drink. He stood outside his patio and recalled the way Dara was giggling and smiling. He is not even sure as to why he's feeling this way and it's driving him crazy. He never felt like this to any of the girls he had dated even with Yu Na. He suddenly heard Dara's voice and as he looked up to his left and he saw her up on her bedroom balcony laughing.

Dara is still talking to Donghae and it's been about almost an hour now. She was at her balcony not knowing that Jiyong is down at his office patio sitting in the dark listening to her.

As Jiyong listened he found out that his wife is a workaholic and a perfectionist. He heard how she cares about every little details about everything. How she makes the dealings with the merging with the the other companies. He has never met a woman like his wife. After a while the call ended. But he noticed that she stayed to where she was at for a bit longer. Then another call came in.

"Yes Kyle." Dara answered and listen for a bit. "What do you mean they are backing out?" She started to raised her voice in irritation. "No Kyle. I will deal with them myself. Book a flight to Netherlands for tomorrow night." Paused. "Okay. Thank you and goodnight." Dara hung up and she took a deep breath a couple of times. Then she called her mom.

"Hi mom. How are you? Yeah, I got back this morning. I know. But mom listen. I'm going to have to go Netherlands tomorrow night." Paused. "I can't mom. The company is backing out on our dealings because they found a glitch on one of the apps that I created. I'm going to have to go there in person to find out exactly what they are talking about." Paused. "No Kyle will not be coming with me. I have assigned him a very important task. No mom. I'll be fine. I've been doing this a while mom you know that." Paused. "It depends. Not sure how long I will be gone this time." Paused. "Okay. I will try to stay there a couple of days after my business dealings. Paused. "Yes mom. I promise I will be careful. I love you too mom. Take care of yourself as well. Goodnight." She then hung up and went back to her room.

Jiyong heard everything. He just cannot believe that his wife is leaving again when she just got back this morning. "Is this how she's been living her life?" He thought to himself. He suddenly picked up his phone and asked his secretary to book him a flight to Netherlands tomorrow night.

The following evening Dara left for the airport. Jiyong is already at the airport waiting to see his wife. He already checked in and sitting down while on his phone. Dara on the other hand just finished checking in and was looking for an available sit. She finally found one and sat little did she know that Jiyong is sitting next to her.  
She placed her carry on on the floor as she took out her phone.

"Dara?" Jiyong asked pretending to be surprised.

Dara was dumbfounded as she looked who was asking. "Ji...Jiyong? What are you doing here?" She asked surprised.

"I...I'm waiting to be boarded." He answered.

"Oh! Uhmm...are you also boarding to Netherlands?" She quietly asked.

Jiyong awkwardly nod his head. "A...are you also?" He asked.

Dara could only nod awkwardly.

Jiyong pretended to be surprised. "Oh! This is the first. But didn't you just got back yesterday?"

"Y...yeah?!" She answered which sounds like a question. "I mean." She cleared her throat. "Well, remember what I told you before that I do travel a lot." She as asked awkwardly.

Jiyong slowly nodded his head but has a questioning look on his face. "I see. So is this for business or for pleasure?" He asked.

Dara stared at him for a while debating if she should tell him. "It's for business of course. Not that you would care anyways." She said whispering the last words.

Jiyong cleared his throat and sat up straight. They stared at each other for a while which they have not done in a while.

Dara broke the eye contact first when the announcement for their boarding will take place soon. After that both just stayed quiet awkwardly.