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Chapter 22: Just That Girl…and a Piano – August 11, 2015

Her appa looked like he’d been slapped across the face.  Puzzled, he frowned.  “What?”

“Nari has spent her life working hard to please you, yet you rarely acknowledge her hard work, proceeding instead to shower your lazy son with affection.”

Mr. Beom felt his irritation rising.  “How dare you?!”

“I dare, sir, because I really do love your daughter as much as I claim.  I do not like to see her heart broken.  Not by anyone.”

Mr. Beom’s eyes flew to Nari.  She was hanging her head.

“Nari?  Is this really how you feel?  Like I’ve always favored Naru?”

“It’s all right, Appa,” she spoke in a quiet voice to the floor.

“Nari.”  His tone would not let her hide.

She glanced up reluctantly to meet his eye.  “He’s always been your favorite.  Ever since we were tiny.  I’d bring home the highest marks, and you wouldn’t even notice as long as he was finally passing his classes.”

“I noticed, Nari.  I’ve always been so proud of you.  You are a most brilliant girl and a hard worker.  It’s just that your brother needed encouragement to even pass school.”

“You didn’t think that I needed encouragement?” Her breaking voice left him speechless, so she continued, “So, why is it that you want to leave your company in his hands?  Aren’t you afraid he’ll run it into the ground?”

“I would be if I had any intention of leaving it with him.”

She gasped.  Her eyes met his again.  “What?”

“Nari, what made you think that I was going to put your brother in charge of the company?”

“You said so.”

“When?”  He furrowed his brow.  He definitely did not remember ever saying such words.

“When we were twelve.  You told him, ‘Pass all your classes this semester, and I will consider putting you in charge of my company someday.’  You never said such words to me.”

He stared at her.  “Nari, do you remember how your brother did that semester?”

She shook her head.  

“He failed two of his classes.  Such an inducement couldn’t even entice him.  I was testing him.  I had no intention of giving him the reins to my company.  I just wanted to see what he would do if he was given a chance.”  He sighed.  “He disappointed me.  As he has often done.”  He glanced up into her eyes.  “But you, Nari, have never – not once – disappointed me.”

Shocked, she gaped at him.  She was squeezing Yoongi’s hand tightly, though she was oblivious to her own actions. 

“Not even last year when I told you I didn’t want to go to college right away?”

“Not even then.  I understood your need for independence.  I just wanted to make sure you were safe.  Nari, you’re the apple of my eye.  You always have been.”

Her eyes flooded with tears again.  “Really, Appa?”

“Of course.”

She released Yoongi’s hand and flew across the room to embrace her appa.  

After he’d clasped her to his bosom for a few moments, he asked them both, “So…shall we proceed with our original plan?  Shall we make your engagement party the time we announce the partnership between our families?”

Nari glanced at Yoongi.

“Whatever satisfies you, sir.  The only thing I need to be happy is your daughter, sir.”

“And a piano,” Mr. Beom countered.

Yoongi smiled.  “And a piano, sir.  How else can I play her all the songs I write for her?”