Jina's Mission to Love (5)
Jina's Mission to Love (5)
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Jina!" she replied. "Your future wife."
Her response made the staff almost laugh. She was staring dreamily at Jaewan, her cuteness making everyone's heart melt.
"I don't want a child bride," Jaewan sighed.
"I'll grow up and marry you!" she insisted.
"Kid, that's an unforeseeable future," he sighed. "What do you want? An autograph?"
"I'll settle for an autograph for now," Jina agreed. Jaewan picked up a pen and paper and signed his name on it.
"Here you go kid," he said lazily, handing it to her before sanitizing his hands. "I'm tired now and I need rest. Go back to your parents."
"I don't know where they are," she simply said. "I got separated from my mom while we were seeing your show."
Woobin leaned over to whisper in his ears.
"Boss, we should take this kid to the security team!" he suggested. "What if something bad happens to her if we let her go like this?"
"Just show her the way out and let her find her own way!" Jaewan whined. He was not particularly fond of children since they were messy. Mona barked in Jina's lap while the little girl cooed at her. Jaewan glanced at them, noticing that Mona was fond of this girl. It felt a little strange because Mona would never voluntarily jump onto a stranger's lap since she was a neat freak as he was. She even growled at his staff whenever they tried to pick her up.
"Mona loves her," he muttered. "Aish!"
He was a little irritated but seeing how much Mona was liking the kid, he decided to go along with Woobin's suggestion.
"Kid, let's take you to your mom," he sighed. "Where was she last?"
"That's okay, you can take me to my dad instead," she replied. "He's in the main office of the mall."
"Dad?" Jaewan echoed. "He works here?"
"He doesn't work here," Jina scoffed. "He owns this mall. Hwang Minho is my dad."
"Hwang Minho?" Jaewan asked, trying to recall the name. "Ah, yes! The guy who had ink mark on his face and uses drug store brands."
Woobin wanted to facepalm himself. That was how his boss remembered the most powerful man in the country?
"Let's take you to him then," Jaewan stood up and yawned. "But I'm not holding your hand!"
Jina pouted and followed him outside towards the private lift with Mona still in her arms. As soon as they entered the lift, Jina asked him, "Oppa, how come you don't have a girlfriend?"
"No girl ever interested me," he said in a matter of fact tone.
"But you know so many pretty girls!" she exclaimed. "Weren't you in love with that idol, Kim Soobin?"
"Rumor."
"Jung Kahi?"
"Another rumor."
"Shin Mihee too?" Jina asked in astonishment. She used to support Mihee and Jaewan a lot.
"Hate her. She's a bit-"
Jaewan stopped himself from saying the word aloud but seeing the little girl's expression, it looked like her fantasies came crashing down.
"Well," she began. "They're pretty. But not as pretty as my mom."
Then an idea sprang into her head. "I know!" she realized. "Why don't you make my mom your girlfriend?"
Jaewan was amazed at the girl's wild imagination. "Your mom is married to your dad," he snorted. "Why would I date her?"
"They're not married," she sighed. "I don't even know what they are…"
There was a tinge of sadness in her tone as she recalled how sad her mother was by her father's silence. They had not spoken with each other for so many days that even Jina felt that them staying apart was better than them living under the same roof in utter silence.
Jaewan was unsure of what to say to the little girl who was on the brink of crying. Hesitating a little, he gently tapped her head.
"What are you doing?" Jina frowned.
"Trying to pat you," he replied. There was an awkward silence between them.
"You suck at this," Jina said bluntly.
"Tch! I know."
...
Minho was inspecting the stores in the mall with Jongin in tow. They were discussing the profit generation of the shops as they walked around when they noticed a few of the security guards approaching them.
"What happened?" Minho asked, noting the tension on their faces.
"Sir, we just received a complaint from a customer that her daughter went missing in the mall!" the guard informed him. "We need your permission to secure the area so that no one can leave until we find the girl."
"Keep an eye on all the exits and make the announcements," Minho instructed. "And-"
He froze upon seeing a slender figure coming their way. Gayoon halted when she saw Minho ahead. The visibly nervous look on her face told him everything.
He walked past the guards and stopped in front of her, his eyes glaring at her with a cold fury.
"What happened?" he asked coldly.
"Jina and I were watching Ahn Jaewan's event," she began to explain. "When-"
"When you lost her," Minho concluded. He put an emphasis on the word 'you' making her feel worse than she already was.
"I tried calling you for help!" she retorted. "I spent hours looking for her all over the mall but I couldn't find her! So I called you but you were so blind in your anger that you wouldn't even pick up the phone!"
"You couldn't even take care of her for one day!" Minho argued back. "Who told you to bring her here anyway?"
"Well, if you had spent more time with Jina, you'd have known that she's growing out of her clothes!" Gayoon accused him. "And now, instead of trying to find her, you're yelling at me!"
She had had enough of his silly anger. The tears she had tried to hold back were now flowing through her eyes and she was unable to control her emotions any longer. Her daughter was nowhere to be found and this infuriating man was making accusations instead of helping.
"You can go home, Jeon Gayoon," he said loudly. "I'll find my daughter."
"She's my daughter too! I'm not going until I find her."
She turned around to find Jina on her own but Minho said, "Really? Where were your feelings when you passed on your curse to her?"
Jongin and the guards who were standing there had no idea what the crazy couple was talking about. Gayoon turned around to retort when Jina's voice came out of nowhere.
"Mommy!" Jina exclaimed as she stepped out of the elevator, holding a pug dog in her arms. She ran towards her mother who hugged her tightly. Minho stooped down, relieved to find his daughter was safe. Gayoon was crying uncontrollably, baffling Jina.
"Where were you?" he asked as Jina let go of Gayoon, who was still sobbing hard, slumping on the ground.
"Long story!" Jina said. "Oppa found me!"
She pointed at Jaewan who was standing at a distance. Minho stood up and approached him, feeling thankful for his help.
"Thank you for you-" he began to say but as if in a trance, Jaewan walked past him. To everyone's shock, he walked towards the crying Gayoon. Jina also watched as Jaewan stooped down, finally finding the woman he had been looking for so many years.
Gayoon looked up when Jaewan's warm hand touched her head. She was shocked to see him in front of her after so many years.
"Gayoon?" he whispered.
No other words were said. It was as if time had not passed at all. In a slow motion, Minho watched as Jaewan hugged Gayoon, comforting her. Inexplicably, she accepted his gesture, hugging him back, glad to find assurance from an old friend who stood by her side a long time ago.
"I missed you, Ghost Girl," Jaewan said, unable to suppress his relief.
"I missed you too," Gayoon sobbed. "Oppa."