In His Arms: Chapter 8

CHAPTER VIII

Ji Hoon led Eun Hye to their living room and offered her a seat as he called out to their house helper to serve them juice. He glanced back at Eun Hye and caught her looking at his house as if she has never seen a house before.

“Hey, Eun Hye.”

Eun Hye faced Ji Hoon. “Yes?”

“Do you find something wrong with my house? You keep on looking around as if you’ve never seen one before.” He asked inquisitively.

“Oh, that… It’s just that…”

“What is it?”

“I thought you live in some kind of a mansion or something.” She bowed down to hide her shyness.

“Chinchayo?” He was quite surprised. People never seem to stop surprising me today.

Eun Hye nodded.

Ji Hoon walked towards the sofa and sat beside Eun Hye. “What made you think so?” He faced her, eagerly waiting for a response.

“My first impression of you was more of a spoiled brat rich-kid, but seeing you now made me think otherwise.”

“Hmm… Is that so?” He leaned back on the sofa and rested his head. “Things… appearances can be deceiving, you know.”

They finished drinking their juice and went straight to the study room to write their draft. Eun Hye shared her part of the paper, which she has diligently finished on time, while Ji Hoon started to write his on the computer.

Every few minutes or so, Eun Hye would glance at Ji Hoon and check on how he is doing. She’d often help him in writing since she didn’t want to stay up too late

It was only around 9:30 pm when the helper called both of them for dinner. Eun Hye immediately stood up and went down and Ji Hoon trailed behind her. They both sat down at the table and ate their dinner.

At one point, Ji Hoon stopped eating and stared at Eun Hye. She looks adorable when she’s eating like this. I must’ve starved her too much for her to eat so much. He smiled. Eun Hye, on the other hand, was oblivious to the fact that Ji Hoon had been staring at her because she was enjoying her food too much.

Their silence was broken by Eun Hye’s curiosity. “Do you really eat this late everyday?”

Ji Hoon quickly took his eyes off her and continued eating. He only nodded to her question.

“How about your parents?” Eun Hye said, still full of curiosity. “Don’t you eat with them?”

“My father’s a doctor in the ER, so he really doesn’t get to stay here that much, while my mother comes home late from work everyday.” He said in a monotonous tone. “Why do you seem so interested with my life, anyway?” Curiosity creeping in his voice.

Eun Hye blushed upon realizing that she must’ve asked too many questions. “Oh… I guess I’m just not used to this… you know, eating without my parents.”

Ji Hoon could only smile. His attention was diverted when the door opened. “Speaking of which, my mother’s here.” He stood up and offered his hand to Eun Hye. “Come, I’ll introduce you to her.” He said with a smile.

Eun Hye reached out to his hand and went with him to meet his mother.

“Umma, I’d like you to meet my classmate, Eun Hye.” He looked at Eun Hye. “Eun Hye, my mother.”

“Annyeong! It’s nice to meet you.” She smiled and bowed down.

“Nice to meet you too, dear” Mrs. Joo gave a warm smile. “Ji Hoon, I’ll be upstairs if you need anything.” With this she went up and left the two of them there.

Eun Hye noticed that his family doesn’t seem to be as intact as hers was. They don’t hug each other, and greet each other with much enthusiasm. They seem to be too formal with one another to be even called a family.

She wanted to ask Ji Hoon about it but she stopped herself as she might be prying too much into his private life. Ji Hoon, though, noticed that she has been wandering off with her thoughts again.

“You’re wondering why we are like this, am I right?”

Eun Hye nodded.

They both returned to the study room. Ji Hoon offered her to sit at the sofa as he sat beside her. There was a moment of silence before Ji Hoon spoke about his family. He never really shared much about his family, except to his friends, and Eun Hye was an exception. He took advantage of the softer side of her that she is showing right now, and took it as an opportunity to open up to her. She seems to be soft when she’s shy. He thought.

“You see, my mother… the one you saw.” He hesitated but Eun Hye listened intently. “She’s just my step-mother.”

Eun Hye gasped upon hearing this and instinctively reached over his shoulder to comfort him.

“My real mother died in a work-related accident when I was eleven, and my father remarried three years after.” He sighed. “I was never really close with my father. I even became a rebel at that time because he never asked for my consent about remarrying, but my step-mom did her best to make me like her by giving me everything I wanted… even until now. That’s probably the reason why you thought I was a spoiled brat.” He chuckled.

Eun Hye laughed and urged him to continue.

“It was my noona who helped me go through all of these, and encouraged me to give my step-mom a chance.”

“Aiee~! You have a noona?” Eun Hye cut him short.

Ji Hoon smiled at her. “Yes. But now that she’s married, she had to leave me too and live with her husband in America.” And now I’m all alone, I hope you don’t leave me too.

Eun Hye did not realize that she was already hugging Ji Hoon. She was surprised and was about to pull away when Ji Hoon held her closer, not wanting to let her go. She pitied him for everything that he has been through and decided to give comfort to him as much as she can.

Ji Hoon savored each second that they were hugging each other. He liked the way her warm body felt against his as it gave him much comfort. I didn’t know Tommy had such a soft spot too.  He smiled. He didn’t want to let go, but sooner or later, he will have to or else she might see through him.

Eun Hye pulled away again and this time, he let go too. Ji Hoon was about to head to the computer when he heard Eun Hye yawn from behind him.

“Are you sleepy already?” He turned around and faced her. “We can continue this tomorrow if you’re too tired to work now.”

“Oh, no. It’s alright. I can continue for an hour or so.”

Somehow Ji Hoon saw differently as he saw her eyes falling slowly. “Aish, don’t be stubborn. Let’s go to noona’s room so you could rest. I’ll just wake you up early so we can get to school before your first class.”

Ji Hoon held her by her shoulders and directed her on where to go.

“Ji Hoon, you’re acting way too nice to me, you know?” Eun Hye told him as she yawned once more.

He laughed.

“Yah, you’re still teasing me, aren’t you?” Eun Hye asked again seemingly wanting to be answered. “You’re actions—they’re odd. At times you are kind, and then you suddenly become mean again.”

“My actions…” He paused for a while. “My actions can be as deceiving as my looks.”

Eun Hye couldn’t and didn’t have enough strength to comprehend what he said as she was already too sleepy. All she could do was laugh at him. “Okay, if you say so.”

Once they reached his noona’s room, Eun Hye ran for the bed, took off her jacket and fell asleep almost immediately. He went to her, and made sure that she was already asleep. He slowly drew his face near hers, his hand tracing the soft curve of her face. Gently, he kissed her on the cheeks, tucked her in, and wished her a good night before finally leaving the room.

He shut the door behind him and went to the study room to continue writing his part.

Once he was done, he went back to his noona’s room to check on Eun Hye. He opened the door and peeked through the little opening. He saw her peacefully sleeping on the bed, and this brought a huge smile on his face. “You are so pretty even when you’re asleep.” He closed the door and leaned on it.

“Yah, Tom—Eun Hye, what have you done to me?” He softly told himself and smiled.