The Contract: Sunshine (2 page)

“Her family and I are good friends but the girl is much younger than he is and he sees her as a little sister.  She’s always fancy marrying him someday but I think she is too spineless for my son.  If he makes it clear enough, she will not be a problem in the future,” she assured her.

“Good, we don’t need a stalker on hand interfering in any progress we’re making.  Are you positive your son is the heroic type you say he is?  I don’t want victimize my granddaughter and have her humiliated for nothing.”

“You make your granddaughter a damsel in distress and I guarantee my son will be there to save her.  However there is always a margin for error in these things.”

“I’ve made things hard on her but I’m hoping she knows that no matter what she is going through, she can call me if she needs me.  But I would like to see how she gets out of this mess without family money or help.

“I guess we will soon find out, but if for some reason they aren’t drawn together like we think they will be, we will take it as a sign that they aren’t meant to be and let it go.”

“Of course,” she murmured placing the empty tea cup down on the matching saucer.

“Okay, what’s next?”

“My granddaughter’s rent is due soon.  I called her mother and told her what I wanted her to do to assure she would use her rent money and be unable to pay her bill.”

“Her mother actually went along with it?”

“She’s in between marriages and need money desperately.  She would probably sell her to the highest bidder if they offer the right amount.”

“That’s a shame.”

“The woman is quite shameful.  You make sure your son is at that restaurant.  The manager will make sure they are sitting side by side and hopefully your son will notice her.”

“What about the picture he saw of her.”

“Looks nothing like she looks today,” the woman laughed with a wink and a smile.  “Lord, she was a homely child.”

“This all feels so risky and if we somehow succeed in helping them to discover each other and they were to every find out...” The woman suppressed a shudder at the thought.  “Let’s just say I would like to be able to see my grandchildren one day.”

“They won’t if I can help it.”  She looked the other woman in the eyes.  “But sometimes fate needs a motherly hand; and speaking of grandchildren, do you think your son would change his last name to my family name if they were to marry?”

“Goodness, I hope not.  It would devastate his father.  He’s our only son.”

“You know I will try and sway him to take my family name.”

“I wouldn’t have expected any less from you,” the woman gave her a serene smile.  “However, my son is an honorable man.  He is as proud of our family name as you are of yours.”

“Everyone has a price,
chèrie
.”

“
Mianhae
, sorry,” she shook a “no-no” finger as she spoke to her friend with a grin. “Not...my...son.”

“It’s been awhile since I felt excited about a challenge.”  The other woman laughed.”

“As long as you remember I will not allow my son be scarred by this in any way, Sophia,” she said firmly.  Leaning forward in her seat she added, “I will not have Min Yoon in a second failed marriage.  Until him, no one in my family had ever divorced.  However, girls these days do not work at anything.  She gave up after a couple of years, leaving my son feeling like a failure.  He had never failed at anything and since then he swore to never marry again, thinking he’s not ‘husband’ material.”

“All good husbands think that until an even better woman prove them differently,” Sophia nodded.

“You think your granddaughter can be that woman?”

“Oh please, Hye Da,” Sophia stared down her regal nose.  “My granddaughter, Sunshine, has many centuries worth of strong women of color flowing through her veins.”

“Don’t give me that ‘Grand Madam’ stare you like to use on weaker individuals.  You don’t intimidate me.  I’ve come to know you too well,” Ha Da snorted on a laugh.  “Min Yoon has the Korean blood of great warriors running through his veins.  You better be glad I like you or I would not ever have considered allowing my son to marry a non-Korean girl.”

“Oh yeah, friendship,” Sophia said sarcastically.  “I’m sure your son obtaining stock in a multi-billion dollar grocery chain after being married to my granddaughter a year is not motivational enough.”

“Well, I already take a lot of flack, from family, when I visit Korea because I have the only divorced son in the Young and Park families.  If my son marries your granddaughter, that will be a first also,” she fretted.

Sophia rolled her eyes, “Just tell them your son is laughing all the way to the bank; that will shut them up.”

“It’s not always about money,” Ha Da released a long sigh.  “My son’s heart will not be an easy win.  He refuses to even consider marrying again.”

“You want to bet on it?”  An excited gleam appeared in Sophia’s stare.  “Sunshine is a
Dupree
woman.  Men find us irresistible.”

“You’re starting to buy into your own publicity stunt after all these years,” the Asian woman chuckled with a shake of her head.

“
However
,” Sophia continued choosing to ignore her friend’s interruption.  “Because Sunshine was born the most unattractive one in our family, I’m afraid she has yet to realize even a small dose of an ‘average’ from her mother’s side, I assure you, doesn’t take away the poised charm that comes from my side.”

“Oh my,” the younger woman groaned.

“What say you?  How about a small wager that my granddaughter makes your son fall head over heels in love with her?”

“I don’t see it happening.  I just want him to be happy enough with his choice to settle down and give me grandbabies,” Ha Da reasoned.

“A passionless marriage,” Sophia shuddered, “how boring.”

“It worked for me and Yoon’s father.  Our marriage was arranged and we grew to mutually respect one another.  Our ambitions in life were so similar, we grew to love one another.”

“How’s the sex?”

“Whah...how...whah...” Ha Da sputtered fanning herself with the cloth napkin she held in her fist.

“Hell’s bells!  Calm down woman before you embarrass us both by actually swooning on the sofa.”  Sophia leaned forward and hissed, “I swear if you faint Ha Da I will pretend to not know you.  I hope your son is not as prudish as you are.  Dupree women need hot kinky sex from time to time to keep the blood flowing.  It’s why I look so young.”

“I do not care to hear these things,” Ha Da said recovering quickly.  Her Asian eyes narrowed on Sophia’s face.  “You would do that?  You would actually leave your best friend passed out on the sofa without helping?”

“I don’t have any best friends.  Especially with a
female
,” Sophia muttered.  “Women are only a
cquaintances
and
potential competition
, mind you.”

“I know you don’t have any friends.  This is why I felt sorry for you and became your friend; your
only friend
, which makes me your
best friend
.”

“Peasant Korean stock cow,” Sophia insulted.

“Snooty American Bijou Bitch,” Ha Da insulted back.

“Are we playing
poker
tomorrow with the ladies?”

“Yes, we are playing
bridge
tomorrow.”

“Bridge is an
old lady’s
game!”  Sophia’s aging but still quite stunning face screwed up in a frown.  “There is no money to be had.”

“I will give you a hundred dollars to shut up right now.”

The Contract...

Yoon Young, the only son of the South Korea’s Ambassador to the United States dropped down into a chair across from the eldest daughter of the
Lee Group
, a large import export company well known in South Korea.  She was extremely attractive; her body was a bit thinner than he had grown accustomed to since living in America for the past six years, but her smile and intelligence made up for any physical attributes he found lacking.

His mother had done well this time.  He could see this woman elegantly hosting a room of potential investors and he knew she was from a good home and a prestigious family.  Their fathers were also friends and business associates.  Out of the last twelve arranged meetings his mother had setup for him in the past two months this one had taken the most of his time. 

Not because he was actually interested but because she refused to allow him to end the evening like a gentleman.  Leslie Lee knew he didn’t want to displease her father and she was taking full advantage.

Yoon knew if he didn’t choose a bride soon, the
Seons
—
arranged meetings for marriage
—
would continue forever and frankly he was too busy to continue along this vein.  Being a loving and accomm
o
dating son to a determined stubborn Korean mother was not working for him.  He was going to have to sternly tell his mother this date was the last one she would be allowed to set up for him. 

It was his fault that she thought he was a willing participant; but Yoon thought after the third woman he dismissed as a potential suitable bride, his mother would get the hint that he wasn’t ready to give up his freedom yet.  It has been this way since he’d turned thirty.  Now that he was thirty-two, his mother obviously was getting de
s
perate. 

His mother, Hye Da Young, wanted grandchildren and Yoon had hope the pressure would be taken off of him once his younger sister Sa Rae married Leslie’s brother, Bong Tae, but because she was having di
f
ficulty conceiving, the pressure was on him once again.

His mother was always in the state of “dying” and the older she got, the more she used her age and pending death to control him.  Of course there was absolutely nothing wrong with her health.  During her last physical, her blood pressure was lower than his; but that was under
s
tandable considering
he
wasn’t harassing her every day on the phone.

For him, the struggle with his mother started at age ten when he started to exert independence by refusing to take dance lessons.   “Yoon, you must take dance lessons,” his mother had crooned... “Before I die, Yoon, I must know you are gracefully inclined so that you can guide your bride
—
my future daughter-in-law
—
across the dance floor.  I would be a bad mother if you don’t do this.”  Yoon had taken three years of dance classes.

When he quit and played soccer instead, being athletic wasn’t good enough for his mother.  Her son needed to be musically inclined and once again she cried...“Before I die, Yoon, I must know you are musically inclined so that you can serenade your future bride
—
my future daughter-in-law—like the handsome actors play the piano and sing in the dramas.  Do you want my future daughter’s parents to think I’m a bad mother?  Hey?”  Yoon took five years of piano lessons because he a
c
tually liked it and still played the piano to relax.

This line of argument with his mother ended with him learning English and Japanese fluently, and obtaining the status of a licensed chef, which he never had any intentions of using.

Yoon felt smothered and pressured into a perfection he felt he could never obtain for this “future bride” he couldn’t imagine marrying.  During his childhood all he thought about was relocating to America.  He worked twice as hard to get out of school as quickly as possible and graduated early with honors. 

He had been prepared to go straight from secondary school to college in America but the thought of him being that far from home caused his mother to worry herself physically ill.  His father convinced him to attend his
alma mater,
Seoul National University,
instead.

Afterwards, Yoon insisted on following his own dreams and like his Korean entrepreneur hero,
Chung Mong Joon,
he attended
MIT
Sloan School of Management
and
the
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
in Washington, D.C.
for his Ph.D.

Yoon returned to South Korea, met and married the girl his pa
r
ents chose for him and had never been so miserable in his entire life.  He was restless and unhappy, working late into the night and leaving early in the morning.  His bride divorced him after three years of a loveless ma
r
riage.  His parents had been very disappointed in him.