Eyes Full Of Stars || Park Sunghoon

30 ¦ Who did this?

"Where is Sunghoon?", I ask Teresa when I enter the dining room the next morning and find only my mother and Teresa. Teresa sets her cup down and gives me a quick glance. "At his company, there's probably a team meeting going on," she informs me.

Hesitantly, I sit down at the set table and look at the prepared breakfast. It looks delicious, but my appetite is waiting. So I merely reach for the jug containing orange juice and fill my glass.

"Are you all right?" my mother now wants to know, giving me concerned looks. "You mean apart from the fact that I still have to marry a man I don't love and who doesn't love me and that my own father almost beat me to death?", it bursts out of me before I can think those words over.

My voice trembles with anger. I don't know myself why I am now accusing my mother of all people. I think I just need someone to vent all my pent-up emotions on. My mother sobs and rises from her chair. With tears in her eyes, she storms out of the dining room, leaving only Teresa and me behind.

Something has changed since our brief conversation last night; the mood between us seems distinctly tense. It's as if she's hiding something from me. But what?

"You can't talk to her like that," Teresa mutters, shaking her head in bewilderment. Of course, I know myself that my behavior is not fair. But why is it that everyone is allowed to talk to me however they want and make decisions on my behalf, but once I open my mouth, everything I say is directly inappropriate and wrong?

"Sunghoon will marry me despite what happened to my father and give him his money," I inform Teresa. This is not an excuse for my emotional outburst, of course, but it is an explanation. Teresa doesn't seem particularly surprised by my news.

"It's for your own good," the middle-aged woman mutters, not even able to look me in the eye. "For my own good?!", I want to know, upset, shaking my head violently. Tears well up in my eyes and my vision blurs. Why does everyone think they know what's best for me better than I do?

"Marrying a man I don't love, throwing my life away like it's worth nothing.... That's what's best for me?!" Teresa contorts her face as if she is in pain. But she does not say anything. "And now you can't think of anything else?", I ask, agitated.

A sob escapes my throat. My heart races with anger and in my chest I feel an uncomfortable pressure that makes me gasp audibly. "I wonder if you, like my mother, would have nothing to say about this if it were your own daughter we were talking about here!"

Teresa freezes and I notice how her eyes glaze over. I must have hit a sore spot with her, but I'm so angry that I don't even think about stopping. "But I guess you'll never be able to understand that, since you've never had any children of your own," so I top it off.

With her lips pressed together, Teresa lowers her eyes. Tears run down her cheeks. I am sorry, but I am too proud to apologize.

"That's enough," a voice sounds from behind me. Now I'm the one who freezes.

Sunghoon.

His heavy steps approach me and immediately behind me he finally stops. "If you're allowed to be angry at anyone, it's your father and me," the young man says firmly.

The scent of his expensive aftershave fills the room. He rests his arm on my chair as he props his hand on the table and leans down toward me. "But don't take your anger out on the people who have been there for you all your life and are just trying to protect you."

Sunghoon's face is right next to mine, but I don't even think to give him the satisfaction of returning his gaze. "Will you leave us alone, Teresa?", Sunghoon asks the woman. Although everything in me screams for her not to leave me alone with him, Teresa rises from her chair with a silent nod, leaving me alone with him.

"You're exhausting, Dolores," Sunghoon sighs, dropping exhausted into the chair next to me. Only now do I notice that he is holding a cooling pad to his cheek. Immediately, I lift my gaze and notice that his lip has split open and his left eye is slightly swollen and discolored.

"What happened?", I ask in shock. It's hard for me to suppress the concern that's spreading through me. "It's none of your business," Sunghoon drives at me, annoyed.

"Who was that?", I continue to ask. "I said it's none of your business!" Sunghoon yells angrily, peppering the cooling pad on the table. I flinch, startled. I've never seen Sunghoon as angry as he is at this moment, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid of that side of him.

It doesn't seem to escape him. "I'm sorry, Dolores. That was out of line of me, forgive me," he says immediately in response, averting his eyes from me. Sunghoon strokes his chin with his thumb, his eyes fixed thoughtfully on the table.

A sigh escapes his lips and I feel him reach for my hand. "I don't want you to worry about that anymore." Silently, I eye Sunghoon, who continues to avoid looking me in the eye. Although I'd like to know, maybe it's really better if I don't find out what exactly happened to his face.

"Does it hurt a lot?", I finally ask. Sunghoon shakes his head, but draws in a sharp breath as I touch his swollen eye with my fingertips. His split lip is still bleeding a little. I swallow hard before rising from my chair and reaching for a napkin.

I take the pot of water and pour some onto the napkin before standing directly in front of Sunghoon. I carefully begin to dab the blood from his lip with the napkin.

Sunghoon grabs my wrist so that I pause in my actions and return his gaze with widened eyes. Visibly tense, Sunghoon clenches his jaw before loosening his grip on my wrist again and allowing me to continue.

Concentrating, I clean his split lip, not speaking a word to each other. Suddenly, Sunghoon puts an arm around my waist, rising from his chair and pulling me closer to him. I place my hands against his chest and look up at him with wide eyes. Sunghoon returns my gaze, though I can't see any emotion in his expressionless eyes.

"Did I do something wrong?", I ask meekly. His brown eyes dart back and forth between my eyes and my lips before he pushes me away. Still clutching the cloth tightly with my fingers, I watch Sunghoon reach for his cooling pad and storm out of the room without a word.

A/N: What do you guys think happened to him?