บท 28: Call Me Yeong

Anton Yeong waited outside the coffee shop, but he noticed Yanmei had not yet stepped outside. He peeped through the glass door and saw both women throwing daggers at each other with their eyes.

Yanmei pulled her arm back and added to her earlier words, "I used to feel sorry for you but meeting you now, I can say that Anton, even as he is, deserves someone better."

"Let's go, Yanmei," Anton called and the two hurriedly got on his car agitating further Baek Hei-ran. Yanmei, for one, could feel a hole burning on her back from her fiery gaze.

As Anton sped through the road, Yanmei said, "Mr. Yeong, how could you leave with - "

"I'm sorry. She is crazy. I had to get out of there," Anton tried to justify his actions.

He then heard Yanmei laugh. She said, "You know what she said? If you steal Anton from me, you are going to experience hell! She absolutely does not know you at all!"

Anton frowned and cleared his throat, asking, "What do you mean?"

Yanmei nearly choked, realizing she was about to bring up the gay word again. She collected herself and said, "that you know - you don't like to get close to a woman in general… So it's really not likely that we would - especially since I'm not into men! Haha!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Yeong. I'm not making sense - "

"Yeong," he plainly said. He recognized that not many knew him at all. As for Yanmei, just months of working with her, she had understood him more than anyone else.

"What?" She asked with a puzzled expression.

"Those who really know me, call me Yeong," he explained. "Except for Junsu of course, he still need to maintain calling me as such."

"Right…Yeong? But that's your last name?" She made sure she heard it right.

"It's a long story, but I prefer to be called by Yeong than Anton and Mr. Yeong is too formal," said Anton.

"I think I remembered Andy calling you by Yeong," said Yanmei. She then looked at him and smiled. "Yeong it is, girl. I mean Yeong."

Anton shook his head. Yanmei called him "girl" again.

It was after the sugar cubes incident that Anton patched up with Yanmei, even without personally saying the sorry word. They were back to working healthily together while Yanmei returned to accompanying Yeong Soon in the days that followed.

Since then, Yanmei had called him Yeong while occasionally being called "girl". Although Anton found it irritable, Yanmei was very good to excuse herself by calling others the same. Junsu was also often called by "girl." He reckoned it was a mere expression of hers.

One evening, Anton's father requested his presence at their home for dinner. Yeong Jae-won rarely asked for such favor, and so he agreed.

However, to his dismay, the dinner had something to do with Baek Hei-ran. "Anton, their family is asking for a marriage alliance. I am not going to force you, but if you really dislike her then, then maybe you should settle with someone you like and maybe Baek Hei-ran will give up."

"I-I received a call from her father, saying she was very devastated and that you seemed to have favored a normal working woman than her."

Yeong Soon who was listening to the father and son conversation gave her agreement. She said, "Anton, it's time to give roses to Yanmei-"

"Mother," Anton warned. "Look, I will decide who to marry or who to date. I hope this is the last time I hear of this."

Anton finished his dinner quickly and left the house. He did not want to have to show his dismay towards his parents.

Just as he stormed outside the mansion gate, he saw a familiar car that blocked the road. It was Baek Hei-ran. She got out of the car and demanded to talk to Anton.

"What are you doing?! Get out of the fucking road?" Yelled Anton as he took a step on the pavement.

"I wanted to talk to you," she said. The fact that Anton was seen with a woman threatened her and she could get it out of her system.

"You told me before you had no plans to have a relationship, but why… Why are -"

"Stop this right now! Yanmei isn't who you think she is. She is a lesbian. She is not into me," explained Anton.

Hei-ran suddenly began to laugh. She said, "and you believe her? Anton, I can tell when a woman is gay or not and that Yanmei is definitely not!"

"Enough! Get out of the road or I call security and have you arrested!"

"Listen to me Anton, that girl is just waiting for an opportunity. Mark my word, if you find yourself alone with her, she will seduce you to bed! She will then announce that she got pregnant with your child and force you to marry her!" Baek Hei-ran pinned onto Yanmei the plot that she had originally planned for herself.

"I'm calling security now." Those were his only response while going back to his car.

She tried to hold him back, saying, "Anton, I am just looking out for you. Please believe me!"

It did not take long for security to arrive, and Baek Hei-ran had no choice but to clear the path for Anton. It was only then that Anton was able to leave.

Even if Yanmei had not done anything wrong nor had she attempted to seduce him once, Hei-ran's suggestion lingered on his thoughts that in the succeeding days, he avoided going to the office, merely working from Yeong Guns and Ammos factories.

He started distancing himself again from Yanmei until a storm hit Korea and he was obliged by his sister to check on her. Anton and Andrea were on the phone, talking about his predicament, involving a syndicate that had been attempting to steal from their factories.

"Yeong, please be safe," pleaded Andrea. "Can't you just leave with it the police?"

"What can they do? How long will they need to capture all of them? I've already captured a few of their men and know their base location. I have more reliable men than the police force."

Yeong went on and on about his disappointment towards the authorities when Andrea changed the subject, "How is Yanmei?"

Y: "She is fine. She is very close to mom…Anyway, I better go now. The signal is getting bad. There's a storm coming - "

A: "What? Yeong, please check on Yanmei. She is all alone!"

Y: "She is a grown adult, and you chose a good apartment for her - "

A: "At least, call and make sure she is fine."

Y: "Why me? Why don't you call her?"

A: "Duh, long-distance calls are so expensive! Bye, I have to go. Call her!"