197 — Growing Tension IV

Eun Ha's POV:

Eun Ha opened and shut her mouth, words gone, unable to understand exactly what she felt as the last statement rattled in her brain like marbles in a cup.

Why the sudden anxiety, the sense of being swept away from a destination she couldn't reach, and an urgency that dug sharply into her being, carving deep grooves that would never disappear.

Eun Ha wanted to shake her head, look him straight in the eye, and tell him no—that what's happening between them was a step in the right direction—or, in this case, a healthy dose of vanishing for reasons of her own sanity, but her words faltered. She didn't trust her lips; they quivered as if she'd start sobbing in the middle of breakfast.

Terror.

That's all she knew, in her heart, in her mind. She wasn't sure. Wasn't sure of anything but a steadily quickening heartbeat. The boy looked ethereal now, a beautiful, transient specter in her mind and nowhere else.

Perhaps sensing that his mother was frozen in shock at his declaration, Phantom Jae-il repeated, clearly, concisely, and this time, he aimed the full intensity of his gaze.

'Soon enough, you'll no longer see or hear me..."

Silence.

"My God. My only boy's out there with the entire pro league and even the national team in his sights, but no time for romance!"

Phantom Jae-il laughed, regarding them with something akin to sadness, before turning to her once more.

'I think you know what this means, Mom. When the nightmares start to fade, and when my apparitions are gone… it's not because you're cured, but because you have no more need for me. You'll have the real thing to obsess over.'

Eun Ha's gaze drifted from her phantom tormentor to the Jae-il at the table. In contrast to her strange phantom, the real son smiled and finished up a piece of fish with relish.

'You still can't face it, can you? Still denying it.'

Yeong Gu was still going on about Jae-il's football career. .

"Guess that's a good thing, though." He continued, leaning back, swirling the coffee in his mug. "Let the boy focus. He'll have plenty of opportunities later, once he's secured his place in the world. Plenty of girls will come and go. He'll have a blast. And in the end, he'll find someone worthy, I'm sure. Still..."

Yeong Gu still seemed insistent on playing matchmaker with that Kim girl.

"It's always smart to keep a good connection. That's how the world works, son. You can't change that, no matter how talented you are. Umh... I hope—hmm, not now, maybe—after your tournament—maybe I could just—"

'Uh oh. I better get out of here~' Phantom Jae-il chuckled nervously, glanced at the stairs, and suspiciously vanished under Eun Ha's confused eyes.

Then—

"Hmm? What's going on?"

The question sliced through Yeong Gu's ongoing speech about beneficial alliances, delivered in two identical yet distinct voices from the staircase.

Mia and Su Ah stood there, sleep still clinging to their faces, but with sharp and alert eyes.

They descended in near-perfect synchronicity, like predators sensing something wrong in their territory.

Yeong Gu beamed, oblivious. "Girls! It's been a while! Come, come. Your brother and I were just discussing his future."

Mia reached the table first, pulling out a chair with deliberate slowness. "His future?" Her voice, when it came, was coated in sweetness. "Sounds important."

Su Ah slid into the seat opposite, her gaze flicking between her father and Jae-il.

Both sisters reached for utensils, poured themselves coffee, and performed mundane breakfast rituals while their eyes remained locked on the conversation's epicenter.

Even Yeong Gu, finally sensing something amiss, trailed off. Eun Ha held her breath. She watched her daughters, two deadly organisms with the same sickness as the mother, and knew with certainty that this peaceful conversation had just been breached by the most unwelcome intruder.

And she wasn't the only one who could feel the shift in the atmosphere.

Even her husband seemed to catch the change in his daughters' demeanor.

He chuckled, though it sounded a little forced.

'Oh, you oblivious, stupid little man.'

"Oh, I was merely suggesting Jae-il here meet an associate's daughter. Bright girl. A very promising match for him."

"......"

Was it Eun Ha's impression or did it get a little colder?

Mia's hand stilled on her coffee mug, her knuckles whitening. "A match?"

Su Ah didn't look up from her plate. "An associate's daughter?"

Yeong Gu, missing the dangerous notes entirely, nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly! She's—"

"Is she pretty?" Mia interrupted, her smile not reaching her amber eyes.

"Beautiful, from what I recall." Yeong Gu confirmed, puffing up a bit. "And intelligent—"

"Smarter than me?" Su Ah didn't even deign to look up at Yeong Gu, merely choosing which side dishes to embellish her plain bowl of rice.

For a moment, the clinking of utensils sounded out, giving Yeong Gu just enough time to gather his bearings at the barrage of questions.

"What? No, I—"

"Then why would he be interested?" Su Ah said, looking up finally. "If her intelligence is below the level of his own, then I'm certain any date would bore him to death. Is she wealthy too, at least?"

Yeong Gu stopped trying to disarm the situation altogether.

Mia tilted her head at her father. "Money, brains, and looks, right?" She reached over to help herself to a side-dish from the middle of the table, and put a piece of pork belly on Su Ah's rice. The gesture was soft and delicate and an affront, all at once.

Jae-il was so surprised to see this kind of unholy cooperation that he just sat there, blinking.

Su Ah thanked her big sister, flashed a smile, and began to quietly eat.

Eun Ha quietly joined them at the table as Mia's smirk turned back into the sugar-sweet expression that made her look cute and docile.

'No...'

Yeong Gu could do little but smile awkwardly, but Su Ah turned her eyes toward the patriarch.

"Tell me, Dad, do you have photos?" She took another sip of coffee.

"... huh?"

"Photos of this girl. Of how she looks? I want to see whether the match is actually perfect or merely adequate."

Mia snapped her fingers. "That's a brilliant idea, Su Ah! Yes, Dad, do you have any photos? I'm curious~"

Eun Ha watched them interact like they were playing a game. She couldn't help but see two anacondas slowly slithering across the table and wrapping all around a speechless Yeong Gu.

"I—uh... maybe not right now... but..."

"Oh, but how am I to assess the match if you do not have them readily available? Jae-il wouldn't want his happiness hanging on the strength or quality of someone based on a verbal description, now would he?" Mia tsk-ed her tongue, and looked over to her beloved brother. "Perhaps I should be the judge. Dad, please email me a copy of whatever image you have, I will assess whether this girl is a fit for Jae-il."

"Email it to me as well." Su Ah pipped in. "The best solution would be to meet her, though, since that would provide us with the highest-resolution picture possible. And of course, there's the value of face-to-face interaction."

"You're absolutely right, Su Ah." Mia nodded wisely as she sipped on her drink.

Then, she batted her eyelashes.

"Should the physical beauty be off putting, however, wouldn't it be a massive waste of time for Jae-il? Especially if, say, she doesn't quite measure up to his taste, intellectually, personality-wise or even in the attractiveness department."

Su Ah tilted her head. "True, true."

"Fix me up with an invitation too, Dad. Let's meet this girl of yours. Perhaps the two of us should set off to scout her. After all, the choice will be more palatable with proper evaluation."

As the two sisters exchanged smiles over their bowls, their father remained speechless and frozen.

And they all looked at Yeong Gu, innocently. Waiting.

"Right. Then... perhaps." Yeong Gu muttered under his breath and threw a glance over to his wife, seeking some help in understanding whatever the hell happened, but instead she stared blankly and continued eating silently.

Mia nodded in satisfaction and leaned in to grab some kimchi to add to her bowl.

"Dad." Mia, seeing that he'd lost the battle to maneuver her brother into some random woman's bed, began a new attack. She plastered a sweet smile across her face. "Jae-il's career is at a critical juncture. He needs to focus. I'm sure he'd appreciate less distractions."

Su Ah placed her chopsticks down with an almost inaudible click. "Besides. I'm certain Jae-il can choose for himself. Without assistance."

"Besides, he's fifteen. Isn't he too young to be thinking about that?"

Eun Ha wanted to shrink into the floorboards, knowing how ironic and hypocritical her daughters were likely being—yet she had no proof to contest whatever was being said, and inwardly, she found this most unlikely teamwork against her husband's crazy ideas for Jae-il… a good thing, actually.

She didn't approve of whatever match the man had seemingly found for Jae-il either.

Yeong Gu, a man of commerce and contracts, was utterly unprepared for this particular negotiation. He blinked, floundering. "Well, it's just a thought. For the future. Networking. You know."

"Uh huh."

"Yeah. Sure."

Both sisters smiled sweetly, showing far more teeth than was socially acceptable. "Keep us updated, won't you, Dad?"

"Yes, the world's scary, you never know what kind of woman could sink their claws into Jae-il and try to leach off him." Su Ah shook her head helplessly.

Mia nodded along, arms crossed under her bust. "Hm~hm! Definitely! Jae-il has such a great future ahead. He can't afford to date the wrong person, he might accidentally enter a toxic marriage, and you'd end up heartbroken."

"God forbid Jae-il gets trapped in the same old arranged marriage. She might even harbor resentment and be purposefully unpleasant in every aspect."

"Right~?"

Yeong Gu gulped down whatever objection he had and nodded, completely speechless under his daughters' tag-teamed insistence—he couldn't help but give his son a most helpless look.

After that, Mia and Su Ah gradually built their food with more grace and calm.

But Yeong Gu remained utterly bewildered and uncertain what to do with this rather hostile environment, or perhaps he didn't even bother at all, already assuming that all would go according to plan regardless.

A/N: For those wishing for more football, soon!