Kapitel 97: Ray Opens up to Jun
"Good morning, Ray!" Ray's mother beamed a smile towards him as soon as she saw him coming down the stairs. She was pouring down the tea in the cups before her and in front of her was sitting the person, whom Ray wanted to see at the very last.
His father was sitting on the huge couch, facing the back to him. As soon as Ray saw him, reading the newspaper, Ray's pace of walking went down.
"Good Morning, Mother….good morning… father…" Ray said, the last words coming out in a very low voice.
Without taking out his head from the newspaper, father just nodded.
"Here~" Ray's mother said putting the cup of tea in front of Ray's father, on the centre table.
Ray quietly started to walk towards the dining area to have the breakfast.
"Wait!" A commanding voice came from the back.
Shutting his eyes tight, Ray bit his lips in frustration. He turned back to face his parents, changing his frustrated face to a plain and emotionless one.
"Yes?….father…" He said.
"Why don't you have your breakfast here, with us?" Father said pointing towards the chair beside him.
"….." Ray stayed silent but in his head it was, 'No…No….Not today…I don't wanna talk with him, the first thing in the morning….'
Without waiting for his response, his father called, "Mrs. Mija? Mrs. Mija!"
Mrs. Mija came out running out of the kitchen in hurry. "Yes sir?" She asked bowing down.
"Bring Ray's breakfast out. He'll have breakfast with us, here." He ordered.
"Yes sir." Mrs. Mija said obediently.
Before turning towards the kitchen she looked at the figure of Ray from back. She noticed his shoulders drooping down as he sighed to himself. Without saying anything she went in.
"Come here, son!" Father said as he neatly folded the newspaper in his hands and kept it on the table.
With heavy steps, Ray walked towards the centre of the living room and stood beside the couch.
"What are you waiting for? Sit down." Father said and took the cup of tea in his hands.
Ray sat down in the chair, without looking up at his father.
"His finals are starting from today…" Mother informed father, on which Ray looked at her in frustration from the corner of his eyes.
"Oh!" Father exclaimed and looked at his son.
Ray bent down even more so his father wouldn't see his face or probably the other way around.
"So how's the study going?" Father asked taking a sip of the tea.
"It's going well." Ray answered.
"Any difficulties?"
"No."
"So school is going fine then?"
"Yes."
"I hope you have got back on your track and you'll score the highest this semester." He took another sip of tea.
"…."
"…Your score was really bad last semester. I expect great numbers from you this time!"
"…Yes…." Ray said in his lower most voice.
When, the tension in the conversation was at its highest, Mrs. Mija came out from the kitchen, with a tray in her hands.
"Breakfast, little master!" She said putting down the tray on the centre table.
'Phew~' Ray relieved. 'Great timing Mrs. Mija.' He thought.
As soon as Mrs. Mija stepped away from the table, Ray dug in his breakfast. Hurriedly eating everything he could see on his plate, he took the sips of juice in between.
He just wanted to get out from there as soon as possible.
"What is all this?" Father said with a grumpy tone.
Ray looked up and found out his father's disgusted face pinned to him.
His hands stopped in the middle way towards the plate.
"Is this the way you eat?" He scolded.
Ray's mouth was still half open as it was completely filled with food.
"HyunJin!" Father looked at Ray's mother. "He is getting worse every time I see him!"
Mother looked at Ray, concerned and then she looked down.
"Where are your manners?" Father turned to Ray again, his eyebrows knitted together forming a big frown on his forehead.
Struggling a little, Ray swallowed everything in his mouth in one go. But while doing that, a small piece of food got stuck in his throat and he started coughing to get it out.
"Cough….Cough….Cough…."
"See? That's why you should slow down while eating…" Father said putting down his cup on the table.
"Ray?" Mother said concerned and as she was about to get up, Father quickly got up from his seat and went towards Ray.
Picking up the glass of water, he held it before him.
Ray took the glass and drank the water hurriedly.
"Slow down…Slow down….." Father said as he patted on Ray's back to make him feel better.
As Ray finished the water in the glass, he looked up at his father's face.
Breathing heavily, he shook of his father's hand from his back and got up.
"There is no need to pretend that you care for me!" Ray said, his eyes were colder than the ice but his words were spilling fire.
That look on his face made his father stunned.
Before he could respond anything, Ray took his bag and ran out from there.
"Ray? Ray!!" Mother called but no response.
She looked at Ray's father, who was standing there with his head down and his expressions darkened.
~
The teacher collected all the papers and giving the instructions for the next day, she stepped out from the classroom.
Everyone got up from their seat to leave the classroom.
Jun was still sitting in his seat, his pencil between his nose and his pouted out lips. His eyes were squinted as if he was thinking about something.
"Hey~" Ray came towards his seat. "How was the paper?" He asked.
"As always!" Jun shrugged his shoulders, "But…Now I'm thinking about it….I think I messed up something in the last question…" Jun said as he started tapping the back of his pencil on his head.
"Oh well!" The next instant he tossed the pencil in the pocket of his shirt. "What can we do now?" Saying that he got up from his seat.
"There you go!" Ray said laughing. "I was just starting to think that since when you cared so much about what you wrote in your answer sheet."
"You know me." Jun winked at his friend and threw his backpack on his back.
"Hey wait!" Ray said. "Where are you going?"
"Umm…Home?" Jun raised an eyebrow.
"This early?" Ray asked impatiently.
"Uhh….Yeah…" Jun said trying to observe his friend's expressions. "Why? Aren't you going home?"
"….." Ray went silent on that.
"What happened, Ray?" Jun sensed something was bothering him.
"….Can you stay a little longer?" Ray asked.
"Why? Is there anywhere else you wanna go?"
"No…It's not like that…."
Jun looked at his friend with concerned eyes.
"I….I just don't want to go….home….for now…." Ray said quietly making his friend even more worried for him.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Jun asked.
"My father is back from U.S." Ray answered and looked out from the window in the distance.
"….Umm….So?" Jun was confused as he didn't get what was wrong with his father being home.
"….I….I don't want to spend time with him…."
"Huh?"
"Leave it…You wouldn't understand…" Ray sounded disappointed as he turned his back to Jun. "You can go if you want to….I'll do something in the library…"
"Wait, Ray." Jun said. He had never seen his friend this upset and he didn't even know the reason properly. "Is there any problem? You can tell me if you want to…"
Sighing to himself, Ray turned back and walking towards Jun he sat down on a chair beside him.
"….It's just….that….my father is back home and I just don't wanna see him or talk to him…"
"But why?"
"Huhhh…..You know, Jun….the feeling…..when you are sitting in a large room with a lot of air around you but still you feel like you are suffocating….That's how I feel when I'm around my father…!"
Jun kept a hand on Ray's shoulder and sat down on the next seat.
"You know? It starts from my grandfather, Kim Dae Won, he is the founder and chairman of the KDW Industries. One of the biggest sportswear industries in South Korea which has also deepened its roots in America now…."
Jun nodded his head slowly as he was listening to his friend.
"….When he was nothing, not a successful businessman as he is now….He married a girl, his childhood friend to be precise…." Ray stopped a little before talking further. "But then, when he moved to New York for business, he met Caroline…."
"Caroline?"
"Yeah…My grandmother!" Ray said plainly.
"Your Grandmother?" Jun's eyes got widened in surprise. He had never heard Ray's story before. He had no idea about his family at all.
"Yeah…Mine and April's too." Ray answered. "My grandfather married her and left his first wife. She died in couple of years after that due to her health issues…"
"Ohhh…"
"My Father and My uncle…I mean April's father…Both were brought up in New York. Then, when my Grandpa sent them to Korea when they were around our age, my father met my mother in the high school….and according to my mother they fell in "love"…." Ray said with quite disgusted look which made Jun confused.
"That's what she felt I guess…." Ray said staring in the blank.
"Wh—" Before Jun could ask anything, Ray started talking again. "After completing the college, they got married and had me. Everything was fine….But then…." Ray took a deep breath and talked further, "My grandfather decided that my father would look after the business in New York while uncle, April's father would took over the business in Korea…and then my whole life went upside down…"
As Ray was talking this, tears started gathering in his eyes.
Jun didn't ask anything but just kept looking at his friend with worried expressions. He knew it would take some time to open up about the darkest secrets of our lives.
"…And my father met someone else in America for whom he left my mother….When I was…four!"
Jun kept his hand on Ray's back and gently started patting him.
"….I was little then, Jun….But I knew through what my mother was going….I knew she was suffering….she was suffering a lot….The guy she had loved by all her heart had left her for another woman!"
A teardrop slid down Ray's eyes and he quickly wiped it with his hand.
"…..But he didn't stop at that! He came back! He came back when I was around thirteen. After freaking 9 years! And he said he'd take responsibility of me! Can you believe this?" Now the tears in Ray's eyes were replaced with the rage of fire.
"And my mother? Well, she took him back in our lives! Right away! Forgetting every single thing he did to us! Forgiving him for all his doings!"
Ray clenched his fists, tightly gripping his pants in anger.
"But I can't forget this nor I can forgive him…..I hate him! I hate that guy who I have to call my father!"
"Ray…." Jun said worriedly.
"You know, how much dominating he is? He is just trying to control me….my life….all the time! Whenever he is back here, I just want to run away from here….as far as possible….I can't stand that person….I just can't!"
And with those words, a heavy silence got spread all over the classroom.
Just the sound of the wind coming from the window and the fast, hot breathing of Ray was spread in the air.
No one talked for minutes.
"I know I'm not in the right place to say anything…" Jun spoke up. "….But I think you should try to think it positively…"
"Positively? Are you kidding me? What is there left to be positive?" Ray snapped at him.
"I mean….your father…He came back to you people….though he was 9 years late….he came back to you…."
"He has a whole different reason for that…" Ray said with a disgusted face.
"Whatever maybe the reason….But he did come back….Have you realized, if he hadn't, you two would have been suffering….till this day!"
On those words, Ray looked up at Jun whose face was so calm like he knew what he was talking about.
"And as for your mother….It wouldn't have been easy for her too….She was the one who was hurt the most….But she took him back in your life….for you! Don't you see?"
Ray's eyes widened as every word coming out from Jun's mouth was hitting his ears.
"I am no judge here….nor I would tell you what you should do. I just want to tell you that….you know….Consider yourself lucky….!"
Ray frowned in confusion. "Lucky?" He asked.
Jun nodded. "Mm. Hm."
"….How?"
"At least your father was able to come back to you and your mother." Jun stopped before saying further, as his expressions changed were changed. His eyes were cold.
"Unlike others, whose parents leave them to never come back again. Ever!"
On this, Ray dropped his shoulders and looked at his friends face.
"J-Jun?"
Jun snapped out from his thoughts and looked at Ray with a weak smile.
The next instant, Ray got up from his seat and gave Jun a tight hug.
Tapping on his back, to comfort him; his grip getting tighter every second. Now this started suffocating Jun.
"….Maybe…Now I know…." Jun said.
Ray let him out from the hug and looked at him confused.
"The feeling of suffocation, in a large airy room!" Jun said jokingly and beamed a cheerful smile at Ray.
Ray also couldn't help but laugh on that.
"How can you be like this at such a serious moment?" Ray asked.
"Well, I think you should also need to learn this. I can teach you if you want!" Jun joked and shrugged his shoulders.
"Haha….Sure!" Ray said.
"Now, let's go home…Or you wanna stay here?" Jun asked.
"….No…I think…I'll head home too…I'm feeling much better now…"
"Thank god! Cause I haven't studied a single thing for tomorrow. And I was hoping to bug that idiot to tell me the important things!" Jun said referring to Mia.
"Haha….Sure…Sure…." Ray said.
As they came out from the school, at the main gate, they heard Mia's voice from back, calling for them,
"RAY!!! JUN!!!"
Both the boys turned back and Mia came running towards them with her bicycle to her side.
"I thought you went home." Jun said surprised to see her.
"No. I was with April and So Hee. Clearing some of their doubts for tomorrow's subject." Mia answered. "What are you two doing here this late?" She asked.
"We…"
"We were also clearing some doubts!" Jun answered cutting Ray in between.
"Ohhh….Great then! Let's go home together Juna…" Mia smiled.
"Yeah…"
As they turned to go, Ray said from the back. "Thanks Jun! For everything!"
Jun turned his head back at him and just smiled.
'Huh?' Mia thought. 'Why Ray is thanking him? Did Ray clear Jun's doubts or Jun cleared his?'
~
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