Surprise Gone Wrong

Jaehyun had come out of Sooyoung’s house and soon a man who was in the vicinity approached him. 

"Is this Kang Sooyoung's house?" 

"Who are you?" Jaehyun asked. He didn't want to be rude but in order to protect Sooyoung, he wanted to know who was looking for his girlfriend. 

"I'm her father. I've been abroad so I haven't had a chance to see her new place yet" 

"Ah. Nice to meet you my name is Jaehyun" Jaehyun replies. 

Sooyoung hadn't really told Jaehyun much about her dad other than the fact that he was abroad and he looked a lot like Sooyoung so he let his guard down a little. 

"Can I talk to Sooyoung?" her father asks. 

"She's not here right now but if you want I can call her" Jaehyun offers. 

"No, it's okay. Do you have a few minutes" 

"Yes sure" 

Jaehyun and Sooyoung's father go to a café. Her father tells Jaehyun how he wants to get closer to his daughter and would like Jaehyun’s help with it.

"I'm not really sure I can help," Jaehyun replies cautiously. 

He didn’t want to get overly involved in Sooyoung’s family matters especially since he didn’t know much about them. 

"I know it's not easy but this will be good for Sooyoung," her father says. 

"If I may ask how have you drifted apart?" 

"Sooyoung has always been very independent and invested in what she does. Also, she doesn't open up to others very easily. Since you're her boyfriend I'm sure you must have noticed that. So slowly that’s how we started to drift apart" 

Jaehyun stays quiet. Everything Sooyoung's father was saying wasn't exactly wrong. It is true that she doesn't always talk about how she's actually really feeling about something. It's also true that she can be independent. But something felt strange to Jaehyun. 

"I'm sorry if I'm putting you in a difficult position but you understand where I'm coming from right?" 

"Yea... Ok, I'll talk to her about it" Jaehyun says. 

If he just brought it up he would be able to hear what Sooyoung had to say about it. 

"No, I would prefer to surprise her. Can you help me to organize a place where we can meet?” 

“Um... ok,” Jaehyun replied hesitantly. 

It was for Sooyoung’s good he kept repeating to himself. 

Later that evening Sooyoung and Jaehyun met up. He didn’t tell her that he had met her father and they just hung out like they normally would have. They hadn’t been dating for very long but they were quite comfortable with each other. 

Now she was doing a reading for one of her classes. She was resting her head on Jaehyun's lap as she completed her work. 

“Are you sure you can concentrate like this?” Jaehyun asks her. 

“You know I care a lot about what I do. I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t able to concentrate” she replies with her eyes on the screen. 

“Ok as long as I’m not distracting you” 

Sooyoung laughs a little at his comment. True, Jaehyun wasn’t distracting her at that moment. 

“You never distract me” Sooyoung replies as she keeps looking at her tablet. 

“Really? Liar”

“I’m not lying! It’s the truth” Sooyoung says, trying to be serious. 

“Look at me and say that again,” Jaehyun says. 

Sooyoung looks at him and then looks away. She didn’t mean what she was saying so to keep the joke going she had to look away. 

“You are not a distraction for me”

“That’s funny cause you distract me all the time. You’re so beautiful it’s hard for me to keep my eyes off you” 

Sooyoung tries to contain her smile but it’s almost impossible. Jaehyun glances at her laying on his lap. 

“That was out of nowhere” Sooyoung replies a little flustered. She then covers her face. She starts to giggle a little.

“You’re always so composed. It's nice to see you like this,” Jaehyun tells her. 

Sooyoung doesn’t reply. Showing emotion wasn’t always easy for her. But she really liked it when Jaehyun complimented her. 

“Is Sooyoung being shy now?”

“No...” she replies. “I’m just finishing my work now” 

They spent the rest of the evening joking around with each other and just enjoying each other’s company. Jaehyun kept thinking about what Sooyoung’s father had told her. He had to find a way to make this happen without making Sooyoung feel uncomfortable. 

“Sooyoung” he starts.

“Yea” 

“Should we go somewhere this weekend?” 

“That’s a good idea. Is this a date?” she asks eagerly. 

“Um... yea in a way” he replies 

“What’s that supposed to mean it either is, or it’s not” 

“Anyway I’ll text you the location later” 

“Ok, I’m looking forward to it.” 

The week passed by and the day when this “surprise” meeting was going to happen had arrived. Jaehyun had arrived early and he was waiting for Soyoung to arrive. She soon walks into the café looking around for Jaehyun. It doesn’t take long for her to spot him. She warmly smiles at him as she walks towards him. 

"Hey" she starts. 

"Hi" he continues. He then pats the space next to him. 

Sooyoung is a little surprised. Usually, they sat next to each other if other people were coming. She quickly noticed that the table was for four, not two. 

"Is someone else coming?" She asks curiously. 

"Just sit," he says. 

"Ok" Sooyoung replies. 

She still wasn't exactly sure what was happening but she sat down anyway. 

"So do you like it here?" 

"Yea the scenery is great" she replies.  

"Sooyoung..." Sooyoung's father says. 

This makes both Sooyoung and Jaehyun turn towards him. He was standing right in front of them with a smile.

Sooyoung’s eyes widened as she realized that it was her father that greeted them. All she wondered was how he found her and why he had to show up like this. She suddenly felt lost and really small. 

Her father takes a seat in front of them. 

"How are you Sooyoung," he asks her. 

"I'm okay. How have you been?" She asks. 

"Working abroad isn't easy but it's not too bad these days" he replies. 

Sooyoung slowly nods. She starts to fiddle with her hands under the table and she keeps her gaze low most of the time. 

Jaehyun noticed something different about Sooyoung; she usually didn’t act like that. So he holds her hand. Sooyoung quickly turns and smiles at him. Her father’s visit had caught her so off guard she wasn’t sure how to react. But there was one thing she knew is that she didn’t want to stay there any longer than she had to. 

So after a few minutes she wanted to try and leave.

“You know I actually forgot there’s something I need to do for work so we’ll have to go,” Sooyoung says trying to find a way out of the situation. 

“Oh already? That’s a shame. I really don’t understand why you keep acting like this Sooyoung” Sooyoung’s father says. 

“I’m working overtime, I’m just trying to take care of myself” she replies

“Haven’t I always taken care of you?” 

“Why are you bringing that up now? Things are the way they are for various reasons. There’s no need to talk about who and what made things this way”

“I really didn’t want to have to say this but you’re exactly like your mom” 

“Well, shouldn’t you have expected that? I was with her all the time” 

Sooyoung’s father remained silent. Every time someone was accusing him he kept silent. Sooyoung knew that which was part of the reason she wanted to leave. She didn’t want to do or say something she would regret. 

“Jaehyun I’m sorry for leaving like this but I have to go. I’m not used to my father just showing up like this” she tells Jaehyun. 

“I didn’t just show up your boyfriend helped me to meet you” Sooyoung’s father blurts out. 

Sooyoung was even more shocked so she let go of Jaehyun’s hand. She took a few deep breaths as she reminded herself she shouldn’t cause a scene. It was probably best to leave and recollect herself before asking him why he organized this. 

“Well I have to leave now,” she says as she gets up and walks out of the café. 

She knew that in the area there were some benches overlooking a river. She decided to walk over there in order to recollect herself. 

In the meantime, in the café, Jaehyun wanted to go after Sooyoung but her father stopped him. 

“Talking to her now won’t help, don't look for her,” he says. 

“With all due respect, I know that she’s your daughter so you know her better than I do but when she walked out she was not ok and I can’t just watch her feeling like that on her own. So if you’ll excuse me I’ll get going” he says before he also walks out of the café.

Sooyoung’s father was not entirely surprised his daughter just walked out on him. Ever since she moved out of home and started to take care of herself she had been doing that. 

After that Jaehyun tried calling Sooyoung but she wouldn’t pick up her phone. He didn’t know where to look for her. After a few minutes of walking in the area surrounding the café, he sees her. 

“Sooyoung” he calls out. 

Sooyoung hears him call her name and she turns around. 

“Jaehyun please I just want to be alone for a few minutes” 

Jaehyun runs to catch up with her. 

"Sooyoung I didn't realize your relationship with your father was like-" 

"Please I just want to be alone right now" she interrupts. 

“Don’t be like this,” Jaehyun replies, a little frustrated. “You should talk about what is bothering you not just keep things inside” 

“It’s my dad’s fault if I’m like this!” Sooyoung snaps back “That’s why I tend to avoid him” 

She added with a calmer tone. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t know your relationship with him was this bad” Jaehyun apologizes. 

“Why didn’t you ask me first?”

“You never talk about your dad so I had no idea”

After he said that Sooyoung realized she was being a little impulsive with her words. She gave herself a few seconds before she said: 

“Don’t apologize it’s not your fault I never told you about it so there’s no way you could have known beforehand” Sooyoung replies. “It was just so surprised and I didn’t want to argue with anyone so that’s why I went out of the café” 

Jaehyun leans in to hug her. Sooyoung hugs him back as she tightly holds the back of his jacket. She was trembling. Jaehyun noticed that so he started to caress the back of her head. 

She hated it when her self-esteem dropped like that. Being around her dad was not exactly the most refreshing experience for her. Being in Jaehyun’s arms made her safe, safe enough to be vulnerable, safe enough to cry. Slowly, tears started to fall down her eyes. 

Both of them stood in the street like that for a while. Jaehyun just let her cry without saying too much. He knew this was her way of getting everything that was stressing her off her chest. After a few minutes when she seemed to have stopped Jaehyun gently wipes the remaining tears off her face. 

“How are you feeling now?” 

“Better. Where did all of those tears come from? I don’t usually just cry like this” she says attempting to crack a joke. 

“Should we go home and just spend the rest of the afternoon there? We can order some food and just watch movies together” 

“Well we came all the way out here, why not take advantage of it?” Sooyoung suggests. “Can we go for a drive?”

“Of course! Anything for you darling”