Hearts in Seoul ✧

xliv

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

TALK OF THE TOWN: Hyun vs Ramirez - the unexpected family rivalry of the decade.

This time, it was no longer the school newspaper spreading the headlines; rather, it was now both the national and the international media. A fierce competition arose between Kayleigh's and Lucas' family, each side demanding a public apology, engaging in a war of attrition between the two sides. Kayleigh's parents, her mother — more specifically — demanded that they apologise for disarming a once-sweet girl who turned out to be disobedient, while the other party demanded an apology for publicly humiliating their son during school hours.

The redundant rivalry and the war of attrition between the families continued on for weeks, with neither side wanting to step down and swallow their pride, constantly calling out to each other in hopes of an apology, but to no avail. A month later, when the Ramirez and Hyun families finally decided to meet each other at the Hyun Airlines Headquarters, without the presence of their children, their meeting caused a stir in the media. Aine Sullivan-Ramirez had said "yes" to a meeting with the Hyun family — an unexpected decision by the Ramirez.

The meeting room was situated on the top-most floor of the skyscraper that generated billions a year. Apparently, the penthouse was where only important meetings were held, as it was a private area for the CEO of the company.

"Ramirez. You know who we are," Aine glared at the security guard, immediately escorting them to the penthouse.

Aine and Miguel did not even bother gaping at the vastness of their surroundings, and instead decided to just look straight ahead wanting to get the meeting done and over with. Once she heard the elevator bell ring, Aine sashayed towards the room and burst the door open.

Georgina and Christopher wearing expensive Tom Ford clothes, as opposed to their Ralph Lauren clothes, calmly sitting on the chairs of the meeting table, waiting for them.

"I don't think I need to introduce myself," Georgina began, raising her eyebrows at the Ramirez couple who just entered. "But, to clarify, I am Georgina Choi or Choi Choon-Hee. This is my husband, Christopher Hyun, or Chang-Jung. We secretly got married last week in a private ceremony."

"And I thought you both loved the publicity." Georgina rolled her eyes. "My name is Aine Sullivan-Ramirez, and this is my husband, Miguel Ramirez," Aine introduced, taking a seat opposite Georgina. "May we begin? I do not like wasting my time."

Christopher cleared his throat. "Sure, okay. Let's begin with your apology. According to the CCTV footage the school sent to us, not only did you storm into the campus without prior notice, but you also publicly humiliated your daughter and my son. How can you be a mother, saying things like that to your own daughter?"

"Please do not go off topic. You shall not question my motherhood. As far as I know, you don't have a daughter, Christopher. So you can't question how I discipline my daughter because you don't have one yourselves," Aine smirked. "Anyway, if you listen carefully, I did not do anything wrong with your son. Heck, I did not even touch him, nor did I lay a finger on him. Sorry to disappoint you, but I did not do anything wrong. I only did what I could to my daughter."

"Alright then, why did you do that to your daughter? As a parent, you should discipline your daughter privately not in front of the whole campus," Georgina asked. She thought of how it must have been hard growing up under the wings of Aine, who only seemed to have raised a child just for the riches her baby was going to inherit. Her heart broke for Kayleigh. She was fond of her.

"Didn't we agree to not question the way we parent our child?" Miguel intervened. "Anyway, Kayleigh has never been as disrespectful and rebellious as she is now. Ever since she came here to Seoul for that exchange programme, she wasn't the Kayleigh we raised. And it's nice seeing you, Christopher."

Georgina looked at the two skeptically. "You know each other?"

"Yes," Christopher sighed. It was due time she found out. "I was indebted to a bank back when I started Hyun Airlines. I took out loans I couldn't repay and they sued me. He was my lawyer. He lost his first case because of me."

Georgina's mouth formed into a wide 'O' as she continued. "Okay, and what has that got to do with our family and Lucas? Why do we need to apologise?"

"Your son disarmed my daughter, Georgina. She's been too involved with your gangster of a son, and his gang as well, which I do not approve of. I only blame you and the way you raised your child for that," Aine challenged.

Georgina fumed. "For the sake of not bringing it up again, you have no right to question the way I parent my children. I was not present when they were growing up, and perhaps it is partly my fault as to why Lucas turned out the way he did, but it shall not be the basis of this argument. What do you propose, then, Aine?"

"It is your fault. Your family is wretched, Georgina."

"You don't know what we've been through."

"Fine. I propose that we should agree that we should purposely break Lucas and Kayleigh up. She is to finish her exams here, complete her requirements and the minute she does, we will be flying back to Australia for you to never see us again. We will be picking her up and dropping her home so that she has no time to meet and see Lucas. What do you say?" Aine explained, looking at the couple who were in deep thought.

"We agree, as long as you leave us alone."

"Deal."

Meanwhile, the J-Alpha gathered in their dugout at twelve midnight. It was sort of an emergency, as knowing what Lucas had been through, in addition to the recent events that were threatening his relationship with Kayleigh and the sudden revelations about his family, Lucas needed to talk to his trusted boys.

"You guys sure you okay?" Lucas asked, drinking the soju prepared by Joseph.

"Yeah, not like this isn't the first time," Justin nodded his head. "You okay? With everything going on, I'm sure it should be a lot. Have you talked to Kayleigh?"

"No. Not yet. I can't contact her. It seems like her parents took the phone you bought her, Justin," he sighed. "Let's not talk about this first. Do you guys have anything to say?"

"Nothing on my side," Jacob said.

"Me too," Justin nodded.

"Same here," Joseph whispered.

"Uh. I do," Noah cleared his throat, as his eyes glossed with tears. "My mum and dad... well, you know they have never been in good terms. My mum wants me to go back to Japan and see my father during the exams, so I'll be flying into and out of Korea for about three weeks. Don't know why she added extra stress on me but she said it was an emergency."

"Oh good luck, Noah. That should be hard, jumping from one country to another in the middle of exams. But same here. I'll be temporarily leaving the country. I need to visit Mum in the Philippines. Dad wants me to lose my girl fetish. Don't know why he isn't proud he produced a son with good looks, but oh well," Levi chided. "Will be out for three weeks too. I'll be studying with my mum and doing my exams online."

"Well, you guys used my code yeah? You guys got a 75% discount on plane tickets?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, thanks for that bro," Noah patted his shoulder. "Well, forget about Levi and I. Cheers to us. We've been through a lot. We'll go through a hell of a lot more."

"But I know for sure that we will rise above it all. I've got brothers for life," Jacob interrupted. "Here's to an everlasting friendship."

The six clinked their glasses together, as the liquid spilt out of the glass and onto their arms.

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•