Chapter 6

The next morning Ha Ni was woken up by her friends.

"Come on Ha Ni! If you don't get up now there won't be enough time to eat breakfast before school!"

Min-Ah snickered from the door and rolled her eyes. "We came an hour early. You won't miss out on breakfast."

After one more violent shake of her shoulder, Ha Ni turned over and gave a disgruntled look at Joo-Ri, causing Joo-Ri to scream and jump back in fright.

At that moment Ha Ni's phone let out a buzz. Both girls read the message on the screen.

'Good morning beautiful. I hope you had a good sleep.'

Joo-Ri snickered. "If Seung Jo saw you now he wouldn't call you beautiful. Good God woman what happened to you. I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest when I saw you!"

Jumping out of bed, Ha Ni ran to her dresser and the mirror there, pushing Min-Ah out of the way so she could get a look at her face. Grimacing at the pale face with tear stains and puffy eyes looking back at her, Ha Ni ran her fingers through her tangled hair.

"Seung Jo messaged me last night. He… "

Ha Ni was interrupted by Min-Ah putting her arm around Ha Ni's shoulder. Min-Ah smiled at Ha Ni through the mirror.

"Don't worry about that now. Go wash your face and meet us down stairs. Everyone is down there waiting for you, so we can talk about what happened yesterday."

The three girls walked out of the room together. On the landing Min-Ah gave Ha Ni a little push towards the tiny bathroom, then linked arms with Joo-Ri and continued down the stairs.

Ten minutes later Ha Ni entered the restaurant still in her pyjamas, but with her face washed and her hair cascading down her back in its usual neat style she was feeling more presentable. Taking a seat at the table Ha Ni noticed that as well as the Park siblings, Gi-Tae was also joining them for breakfast. After greeting everyone Ha Ni saw her father walking towards them pushing a trolley of covered dishes.

"Papa the restaurant doesn't open until 10. You don't need to make us all breakfast."

Dropping a kiss on Ha Ni's forehead, Ki-Dong replied, "Ha Ni, I need to do prep for the day so I'm here anyway." Smiling at the Park siblings he continued, "Plus you spend so much time eating at the Park residence that I'm happy to feed them anytime," smiling at the other occupants of the table, "that goes for all your friends."

Seeing her fathers smile falter when his eyes landed on Gi-Tae, Ha Ni quickly introduced him. "Papa, this is Kim Gi-Tae, Seo-Yeon's boyfriend."

"Kim Gi-Tae… Why does that name sound familiar…?"

Seeing both her boyfriend and Ha Ni blush, Seo-Yeon giggled. "Ha Ni agreed to go out on a date with Gi-Tae to make Seung Jo jealous."

"It didn't work." Ha Ni interrupted with a frown.

"Anyway, when Ha Ni decided to join nursing and we met, I introduced them and was amazed to find out they dated. Lucky I'm not the jealous type, and as they say, the rest is history."

Seeing how awkward Gi-Tae was feeling, Ki-Dong introduced him self to the younger man. "It's good to meet you. As a friend of Ha Ni's, you are welcome to eat here any time."

"Thank you, sir."

"YOU!"

Hearing the angry shout come from the kitchen doorway, Ki-Dong turned in time to see Joon-Gu come blustering out holding a tray of drinks.

"Don't think you can come sniffing around Ha Ni now she's single. If you try to make a move on her I will punch you again!"

By this time Joon-Gu was standing toe to toe with Gi-Tae. Gi-Tae's posture showing he was ready to act in self-defence. Sighing in exasperation Ki-Dong took the tray of drinks out of Joon-Gu's hand before he dropped them and placed the tray on the table.

"Boy! You need to control that temper. That's a customer you are talking to. Remember you are an employee here and one who is skating on thin ice. If I hear one more outburst like that come from your mouth in this restaurant you will be looking for a new job."

"But boss…"

"No buts. Get back in that kitchen before I change my mind on giving you another chance."

With one last glare at Gi-Tae, Joon-Gu spun on his heel and went back the way he came.

"I'm sorry about that kids." Gently pushing Gi-Tae back into his seat, Ki-Dong continued," Please enjoy your breakfast. I will make sure you are not interrupted."

When Ha Ni's father left them, they started to eat.

"Joon-Gu hit you? What happened?"

Looking at his girlfriend, Gi-Tae replied, "We got into a fight in the library." Looking at Ha Ni he continued, "You are wrong if you thought Seung Jo wasn't jealous. That day when he broke up the fight and held you by his side, he looked so possessive that I knew it was time to give up on you. Even if he had not admitted it to himself, I knew then that he was in love with you. Then when we were studying the other day I thought he was going to hit me, he was so angry."

Gi-Tae laughed." I think I need to stay away from libraries. They are going to be the death of me."

"What?"

Seeing Ha Ni's confused look, Daasi smirked and leaned across the table to ruffle her hair. "Ha Ni you are so unobservant. World War three could break out around you and you would probably still not notice. It was a good thing the tennis captain turned up that day."

"You weren't even there!"

"I told him about it later. Seeing my cutie about to get hit…" Seo-Yeon took Gi-Tae's hand in hers and smiling at each other sweetly continued," …I had to do something drastic and step out of my comfort zone to show some PDA to convince your husband my guy is no longer a threat!"

Everyone at the table cracked up laughing at Seo-Yeon's blatant exaggeration.

"I feel you Gi-Tae. I could feel my lifespan decreasing yesterday. He comes across as so cold, but there is no denying there is red hot blood running through those veins."

Daasi winked at Ha Ni. "Lucky girl!"

Smacking him on the arm, Seo-Yeon gives him a look of exasperation. "Knock it off Daasi. You like to think you are as cool as Captain Jack but we both know you don't swing both ways. I see the way you watch that girl in your law class."

Glaring at his sister for bringing up the girl who refuses to fall for his charms, "How do you know I haven't dabbled in the male form? Anyway, where is my respect? You don't even use honorifics with me." Daasi whined. "Our parents ruined you when they let you immerse in the Western culture!"

Hearing this argument many times before and wanting to distract them before it escalated, Min-Ah interrupted,

"So, what happened yesterday? You looked terrible when we woke you earlier. Did things not go well?"

"Oh my God, I nearly had a heart attack, you looked like the girl from the ring!"

Ha Ni laughed. "I'm sorry Joo-Ri. To answer your question, I think it went well. I turned up late and sat next to him like planned. I did my best to not let him distract me and by some miracle I answered a couple of questions correctly. Because of that my professor was impressed and tested me by making me answer a lot of questions. So, I had to listen to the lecture because I didn't want to look like an idiot in front of Seung Jo."

Leaning across the table, Seo-Yeon asked eagerly, "What was Seung Jo doing?"

Sighing Ha Ni replied, "Everything he could to distract me." Smiling at the memory of him pulling his chair right up beside hers Ha Ni continued, "He then started passing sticky notes to me. Complimenting me on my improved English, asking about the flowers… and you guys.", with a look at the Park siblings.

Daasi interrupted, "Oh great! So, he already knew who I was before I came to your classroom.", with a huge grin on his face.

"What?"

"You went to her class?"

"Why did you go to her class?"

Was heard around the table. Seo-Yeon answered," Ha Ni and I were messaging, and she told me she was sure Seung Jo had read the first message about catching Mr Darcy. Our Mr Darcy has an IQ of 200 so if he read it I was sure he would see the similarity in names with dear brother here and thought I'd give him a little incentive."

"I was wondering why I was getting an invite to dinner when you guys knew I was having dinner with my father."

"Of course, seeing my superior looks would be enough to make anyone nervous!" Turning serious Daasi continued, "Did anything untoward happen when he dragged you out of the class room and away from me?"

Seeing Ha Ni blush and cover her cheeks, Min-Ah gave her a reprieve from answering that question. "So, if nothing bad happened why did you wake up this morning looking like you had been crying all night?"

"Last night, even after I had told him I had blocked his number, he sent me a text message. It was the most sincere and honest he has ever been with me. I was touched."

Hearing a whoop across the table, Ha Ni looked up in time to see Daasi and Seo-Yeon high five each other.

"Operation "Bag Mr Darcy" is on! Hurry and go get ready Ha Ni while we work out a game plan."

"But…I still don't know who this Darcy guy is."

"Don't worry, we will watch the movie after school, I'm sure you will see the similarities." Seo-Yeon pushed Ha Ni towards the stairs and went to join the huddle at the table.

Ha Ni, seeing all her friends whispering with their heads together, went to get ready.

Twenty minutes later Ha Ni descended the stairs to see her friends collecting their stuff ready to leave. Noticing Ha Ni, Seo-Yeon broke away from the group to link her arm with Ha Ni's.

"Perfect timing! Let's go and we will fill you in on the way."

Ha Ni and her friends said good bye to Ha Ni's father as they walked out the door.

Linking her other arm with Gi-Tae, Seo-Yeon began, "You are doing great. Seung Jo is finally starting to show his emotions. He needs to court you like he should have done in the beginning. You need to give him encouragement without falling back into old habits."

"How am I meant to do that? I want things to be different but he's just…", imagining Seung Jo's perfect features.

Seeing Ha Ni starting to slip into a daydream, Seo-Yeon clicked her fingers in front of Ha Ni's face.

"Earth to Ha Ni!"

"Oh! Sorry." Ha Ni looked a little ashamed of herself.

"You need to stop avoiding him."

Min-Ah voiced her concern. "Uh that has never worked to her advantage in the past. When she would try to get over him and stay away, at the littlest encouragement from him she would go straight back to her stalkerish ways."

"YAH!" Hearing Daasi laughing beside her, she smacked him on the arm.

Grimacing, Min-Ah apologised. "Sorry Ha Ni but it's true."

Gi-Tae had a thoughtful look on his face. "I think Seung Jo liked her stalkerish ways."

"WHAT!" Ha Ni, Min-Ah and Joo-Ri exclaimed together.

"He used to belittle her for following him all the time." Joo Ri argued.

"Maybe in the beginning. I don't want to come across as a stalker myself, but while keeping an eye on my biggest rival, I observed some things."

"Like?"

"Ha Ni remember when you stopped following him after you thought he and that uppity girl were living together?"

"He Ra? She's not so bad."

"Well he noticed your lack of presence in his life. I can't be sure, but I think at that time he would watch for you." Gi-Tae looked at Joo-Ri and Min-Ah, "Didn't you find it odd that as soon as you accused him of stringing Ha Ni along while he was seeing someone else, their misunderstanding was cleared up?"

Min-Ah replied thoughtfully, "I didn't at the time, but looking back on it…"

"As soon as you two left, he made a phone call and went to find Ha Ni."

"He told me he was only tutoring with He Ra and introduced me to the kid." Ha Ni supplied.

"If he liked her back then why did he agree to marry He Ra!" The anger in Joo-Ri's voice apparent.

Seeing the sadness in Ha Ni's face, Daasi grabbed Ha Ni's hand, "That's something only Seung Jo can answer. If I have the timeline right, what I want to know is, if you had suspicions that Seung Jo liked Ha Ni and knew Ha Ni liked him, why did you confess to her a couple of days later?"

Everyone stopped and faced Gi-Tae, who's face was turning red from embarrassment. "Well I knew he was a conceited ass and thought he was encouraging Ha Ni for an ego boost. I was sure of it on the day I went to visit Ha Ni at the tennis courts. I gave him a chance when I asked for his permission to date her and he told me to go ahead! It wasn't until that incident in the library…"

"That arrogant ass!" Seo-Yeon fumed, "Ha Ni I don't blame you for using Gi-Tae", in an aside to Gi-Tae, "Sorry baby. I hope you rubbed his face in it!"

"She asked me to meet her at his workplace. While he was working."

Everyone laughed while Ha Ni ducked her head.

"Seriously though Gi-Tae, I'm really sorry for using you like that and causing you any pain. It was really mean, and I still feel terrible about it."

Smiling at Ha Ni then Seo-Yeon he replied. "Don't worry about it, all was forgotten when I met this beautiful girl and I got to keep you as a great friend. I'm a lucky guy!"

Seo-Yeon gave him a kiss on the cheek and pressed closer to his side. "Ok then, we need to limit face to face contact to English class. If you find yourself in difficulty, message any one of us for support."

"I have a better idea! We all need to stay up to date, we need a group chat." Joo-Ri exclaimed excitedly.

"Great idea!" Min-Ah quickly opened her messaging app and added everyone to a new group.

Outside the school gates Seo-Yeon addressed Ha Ni, "Don't forget you are coming to our place to watch Pride and Prejudice later. Everyone is welcome if you can handle a chick flick!" Seo-Yeon invited.

"Speaking of Mr Darcy…" Daasi trailed off.

Looking up, Ha Ni met Seung Jo's icy glare from across the grounds. Wondering what she could have possibly done to make him angry first thing in the morning, she watched his eyes slowly travel from her face to her hand held in Daasi's then back to her face. Ha Ni quickly took her hand out of Daasi's. Seung Jo raised his eyebrow, turned around and walked away.

Ha Ni was distracted from watching his stiff posture depart by Seo-Yeon's breathless exclamation.

"Oh my! Why do I feel like I'm watching a drama right now!" While fanning herself with her hand.