Fifty Three


Hyunji gazed out the car window, admiring Seoul city at night. It never seemed to get old. What did get old was attending mind numbing business meetings. Hyunji's presence hadn't been required to one of these dinners in quite some time and she was still puzzled as to why she had to go tonight. With the recent tension in her family she decided not to put up a fight, this time.

Seojun pulled up in front of the restaurant and his family all got out of the car. He handed the keys to the valet along with a cash tip before they headed inside.

"I want you to be very kind to them." Haneul said, for the hundredth time.

Of course they had reservations, they were seated quickly and waiting for the Choi's. Hyunji scanned over the menu as she waited, but before long she heard a familiar voice.

"Ah, they're here." Haneul smiled, standing up out of her seat.

Since when do we stand up and dramatically greet partners we've met before. Hyunji thought as her mother smacked her shoulder, telling her to stand up.

Turning around she saw none other than Jaehyung. He smiled seeing her.

"This is Jaehyung-" Haneul started to introduce him.

"Mom, we go to the same school. I know who he is." Hyunji softly said.

Everyone sat down and of course Jaehyung was seated straight across from Hyunji. Haneul was in for it when they got home.

"Jaehyung is looking at some of the same schools you are. He's going into engineering, isn't that cool? I know you loved engineering before." Haneul went on.

"I never liked engineering-" Hyunji furrowed her eyebrows.

" He's been quite the addition to the congregation, we're so proud of him."

Hyunji looked at Jaehyung and he softly smiled. "I'm sorry." He lipped.

Hanuel became distracted with conversation with Jaehyung's mom which Hyunji was thankful for.

"This is awkward isn't it." Jaehyung chuckled.

Hyunji sighed. "I can't believe she's trying to play matchmaker. They're supposed to be meeting my boyfriend next week and they're trying to replace him already."

"I'm sorry. I didn't think I was signing up to go on a date with you."

"It's not your fault."

The waitress came and asked for their orders before taking the menu. The air was silent between Hyunji and Jaehyung. He found it funny that despite the situation he was more than happy to be spending time with her. She was tough to get over.

"I didn't know you were religious." Hyunji tried making conversation.

"I wasn't till recently. My parents started going to church and trying to incorporate it into their everyday life a few months ago. They asked me to give it a try, so I'm gonna see what happens." Jaehyung explained.

"That's nice."

"You stopped going?"

"It's been shoved down my throat my entire life. It's just not for me."

"I respect that. You should have a choice about what you do with your life. I'm sure this isn't making anything better, huh?"

"Oh yeah."

"I understand why my sister had to stay home now. Not that she wanted to come, she just wanted the option."

"Couldn't have her interrupting this "date"."

Hyunji tried to contain her frustrations anytime Haneul very obviously tried getting them together. Even attempting to arrange for them to come over the house for dinner, which Hyunji wasn't going to put up with.

________________

The car ride home was silent, Hyunji put on her headphones and couldn't wait to get home. Her dress was constricting her and the heels she wore felt like hell itself. Haneul noticed Hyunji's attitude during dinner and planned to address it at home. Seojun was of course oblivious to everything as he drove home.

With the house in sight Hyunji was already grabbing her purse and taking off her seatbelt. What a waste of her evening. After she stormed into the house and out the back door with Jay, Seojun turned to his wife, finally realizing his daughter was upset.

"What's her problem?" Seojun raised his eyebrow.

"I'll talk to her." Haneul grumbled as she went towards the back door.

Only wearing a sweater, the cool air made Hyunji shiver. Jay slowly wandered around the back yard as if he had all the time in the world. As Hyunji expected, the back door slid open and Haneul came walking out.

"I know you're mad at me-" Hanrul started.

"You're supposed to be meeting my boyfriend next week and you're trying to play matchmaker with someone that's acceptable to you. I guess I'm crazy for thinking you could just be happy for me." Hyunji turned to her mother, speaking her mind.

"It's not that. I just thought,"

"What I should look at all my options? Look at all the fish in the sea? I've been with Jungkook for six months! He's a huge part of my life and that is not changing. I didn't think I had to tell you I was loyal to him."

Haneul sighed. "I'm sorry, Hyunji. I shouldn't have done that."

_______________

The next week. . . .

A tinge of nervousness filled in Jungkook's stomach as he saw Hyunji's house in sight. He was set on making a good impression. He had a bouquet of flowers for Hyunji as well as for her mom.

"Is this the house, Kook?" Joowon looked at Jungkook through the rearview mirror.

"Yeah." Jungkook took off his seatbelt.

"Damn, this is huge. It's only Hyunji and her parents, huh?"

Jungkook was worried about everything. What if they didn't like the way he was dressed? Or what if he said the wrong thing? He was even worried about his damn hair. It was more stressful than his first date with Hyunji.

"Relax, son, your grandad didn't like me till I gave him a grandchild. Just be yourself. The worst that can happen is they don't like you, not the end of the world." Joowon said.

Sometimes his dads "pep-talks" were even worse than he expected, only fueled more anxiety.

Jungkook walked up to the front door as odd as it was. He was more used to sneaking around back then knocking on the front door. He was praying Hyunji would answer and he could spare himself a few more moments before meeting her parents. Jungkook's father pushed him in front of them both and made him knock.

The door opened and Jungkook was relieved to see Hyunji. He smiled and pulled her into a hug, inhaling her scent it already made him feel calmer. Jungkook took advantage of her parents not being around and pressed his lips to hers.

"Oh c'mon how long has it been a long four days?" Joowon shook his head.

"Five actually." Jungkook said, handing Hyunji her roses.

"Thank you, babe."

Hyunji hugged both of his parents before leading them into the dining room. She was nervous as well. Hyunji gave both of her parents a talking to, it was her turn to tell them to be kind and open minded. She led them into the dinning room as she got nervous herself.

"Where's Jay?" Jungkook asked, hearing faint barking.

"He's in my room right now." Hyunji replied.

Haneul walked into the dining room bringing the rest of the food while Seojun brought out a pitcher of water and some glasses. They all introduced themselves and when it was Jungkook's turn to shake Seojun's hand he quickly wiped the sweat off his palm to give a very firm handshake to Seojun.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Jungkook spoke.

He was going with "sir" just to be on the safe side.

"Nice to meet you too." Seojun cracked a smile.

Jungkook sat across from Hyunji and the rest of their families sat down.

"Everything looks delicious." Areum inhaled the aroma of the food.

"Thank you." Haneul smiled.

Hyunji took a deep breath as she tried to relax her nerves. She was ready to eat some of her favorite comfort food Haneul had made. Their table was set perfectly, Haneul even brought out the "special" plates. Jungkook watched as everyone began putting food on their plates, he was so nauseous, but the food looked so good. It'd be obvious if he didn't eat though.

Both of Hyunji's parents silently prayed before they began eating.

"So what do you two do for work?" Haneul asked.

"I'm a nurse practitioner, I work at a pediatric office in the city." Areum replied.

"Ah, that's really nice. I was a nurse back in the day." Haneul smiled.

"I owned an auto shop with a buddy of mine. I'm mostly retired now, I only go in once and a while."

"Well I guess we have a new mechanic." Seojun smiled, "Which side are you leaning towards, Jungkook?"

Jungkook awkwardly scratched his head. Nursing was far far from his skillset and if he worked on cars all day. . . Well he'd be miserable.

"Uh, neither of them are exactly my forte." Jungkook awkwardly chuckled,"I'm looking into graphic design, web design, things like that."

"That's a good career field."

"My job is too old school for him. I used to take him to the shop with me and he'd throw a temper tantrum almost every time." Joowon laughed.

"Hyunji hated going to the office, she'd cry the entire time that she wanted to go be with her mom. It was great for business meetings." Seojun reminisced.

Hyunji and Jungkook just looked at each other and shook their heads. If sharing mildly embarrassing stories made their parents laugh together they would put up with it.

______________

After dinner they moved into the living room, Hyunji was waiting a few minutes before she brought out cupcakes.

"I'm sorry I should've asked earlier, do you guys want wine?" Seojun asked Jungkook's parents.

"That'd be great." Joowon said.

"Red, would be perfect." Aruem replied.

Seojun stood up and turned to Jungkook, just as he was about to take his first bite of food.

"Jungkook, can we have a quick conversation?" Seojun spoke and it sent a fucking chill down Jungkook's spine.

"Sure." Jungkook stood up.

FUCKING SHIT ABSOULULTY NOT. ABORT. All the sirens in Jungkook's head went off.

"Dad," Hyunji firmly said.

"We'll be right back, Hyunji." Seojun said.

When Seojun turned around Jungkook faced his girlfriend "Pray for me" he dramatically lips with his hands clasped together. Nearly running into the wall doing so. He followed behind Seojun, he assumed he was going to the bar in the basement.

Shit, he's taking me to the basement. . . . Away from civilization. I'm pretty sure we had sex on that counter by the bar. . . . Jungkook thought.

Seojun walked towards the bar and pulled out a bottle of wine from the wine cooler. Sitting it on the counter he looked at Jungkook who was as stiff as a board.

"How many girlfriends you got?"

Fuck, that wasn't in the study sheet.

"Uh, just the one, sir." Jungkook stuttered.

"I'll get straight to the point, Jungkook. Hyunji's our only child and my only daughter. She means the world to us, as her father it's my job to make sure she's with someone that truly cares for her. So I have to ask, what are your intentions with my daughter?" Seojun

Thankfully Hyunji's father was mostly predictable, he had been preparing for this question the past week. The perfectly rehearsed response in Jungkook's head was erased, his mind was blank.

"I completely understand, sir. Hyunji is everything to me. I only want what is best for her too and I will make sure I always put her first. I love her more than anything and I intend to marry Hyunji in the future. I want to be with her for the rest of my life." Jungkook sincerely said.

Seojun studied Jungkook's tone and facial expressions, seeing that he was honest. He could see Jungkoook was genuine and only hoped he kept his word. Seojun nodded his head to Jungkook, giving the boy a sense of relief.

"I'm glad we're on the same page. She speaks sooo highly of you and I just have to make sure her first boyfriend is good to her and serious about your relationship with her." Seojun spoke.

"Of course." Jungkook smiled.

Seojun reached out to shake Jungkook's hand, satisfied with the response he got. Jungkook shook his hand and knew Seojun would say something.

"Your hands are freezing!" Seojun said.

"I'm sorry, I'm just nervous about making a good impression." Jungkook awkwardly laughed.

"You don't have to be nervous."

Hyunji practically begged her parents to accept their relationship and to be kind to him. Seojun made sure to not scare the boy, yet still made sure he took their relationship and his daughter very seriously.

______________

Hyunji was even more stressed out than Jungkook was. She specifically told her dad not to interrogate her boyfriend and she almost believed that he wouldn't. Haneul and Areum were busy talking and that left Hyunji looking for her boyfriend to come back.

"Hyunji, sweetie, relax. He's not gonna kill Kook, there's too many witnesses." Joowon spoke, he could see how tense she was.

"I just want them to like him." Hyunji sighed.

"I know, it's a big thing but everything will work out."

"I hope so."

"So did you like the purse Jungkook got you for your birthday?"

Hyunji grinned, "It was the exact one I had been wanting."

"Good, I got Are a purse for our anniversary a few years back and pshh I haven't seen the damn thing in years. Legend says it got smothered in dust in her closet." Joowon said, making Hyunji laugh.

Though engaged in conversation Haneul took note of how comfortable Hyunji was around Joowon. Hyunji was always shy and reserved around people, especially men. Yet, she acted like she'd known Joowon for years. He had quickly become a father figure in her life and it didn't go unnoticed by Haneul.

Jungkook walked back in the room with Seojoon following. Jungkook sat on the couch next to Hyunji, she was expectantly looking at him to say something.

"It was fine, babe." Jungkook reassured her. "Eunji was worse."

"Really?" Hyunji raised her eyebrow.

"Well I wasn't physically threatened for starters."

"Thats good."

Jungkook put his hand on Hyunji's thigh as he sat beside her, finally feeling a sense of calm. Of course he wasn't expecting her parents to suddenly be extremely supportive of their relationship. But it was a start. Seojoon seemed to have softened up a little bit and Haneul. . . well she still seemed pretty skeptical of him. Though she did appreciate the flowers Jungkook had brought her.

_______________

Dinner had gone well, Areum was already inviting the Kim's over for a game night at her house. Hyunji's parents walked them to the door, but Hyunji followed Jungkook out to the car and was keeping him hostage in her grips.

"I love you." Hyunji said, her head on his chest.

"I love you too, Princess." Jungkook smiled.

Jungkook's parents were waiting in the car as Joowon grumbled under his breath. He was ready to go in for the night and they were acting as if it was their last day together, typical.

"I promise you he's not going off to war." Joowon said out the window, jokingly, but he wasn't going.

"I will call you later, baby, M'kay." Jungkook pressed his forehead to hers.

"Remember, next week we're going prom shopping." Hyunji reminded him.

"How could I forget?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

She turned around and walked to the front door, she could finally stop worrying about how the night would turn out. Sighing as she already missed her boyfriend.
______________

Hyunji had ventured upstairs to her room leaving her parents downstairs alone. Haneul heard Hyunji's bathroom door shut and turned to her husband.

"What did you think?" Haneul asked him.

"Hmph. . . . I mean he seemed nice and all." Seojoon answered, shrugging his shoulders.

They had nothing bad to say about him. Jungkook was very kind and respectful to them and they couldn't deny the look of pure adoration everytime he looked at their daughter. It was almost disappointing.

Seojoon replayed the night in his head and he remembered one thing that bothered him.

"I almost slapped his hand off my daughter's thigh." Seojoon commented.

"What?" Haneul asked.

"I went to the bathroom and when I came back I saw his hand resting on her thigh. I can't get used to a boy being all over her. The worst part was Hyunji didn't even react."

"Well I don't think he meant anything bad by it. . . . At least not with us there. Either way I have a feeling you're gonna have to get used to seeing them like that."

"I'm not looking forward to it." Seojoon grumbled.

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