PUNISHMENT

"Mom, Dad. I'm home."

It is already dark outside and the clock ticked 8:30PM. Heiran is from Ruel's house but she found out no one's at home. She is worried about Ruel not texting her back. He should open up if he has some problems so she could help him. But instead, he just dumped her messages and never responded at all.

Heiran opened the door and saw her parents sitting on the couch. On the other side, she can see Ruel's parents along with Ruel who is just sitting quietly on the edge of the sofa. Why are they doing here? They all seemed serious.

"Heiran, sit down here."

She is trying to calculate the intensity of her parent's tone. They all seemed mad and serious. However, Ruel seemed to be pretty nervous in that corner where he is silently sitting. Are they going to talk about Ruel's departure next week? Is this what it's all about?

"Why aren't you two dating?"

Heiran felt intimidated with the question. So this is what it's all about? They aren't still over that issue? Heiran is just 21 years old and for her she's still too young to know what love is. On the other note, Ruel is already dating that Chinese girl from the other city. There's just a lot of things that contribute to their incompatibility.

"Heiran, you are already 21. Aren't you interested with dating Ruel at all?"

"Dad, that's the point. I am just 21. I want to grow to a more mature person first."

"Do you know why we'll send Ruel back to Australia?"

Heiran devoted her attention to Ruel's father. She is waiting for him to answer his own question. It isn't necessary to send him back to Australia. His classes just started and he is already third year college. Also, they don't have any family members left in Australia so things like this shouldn't be considered in the first place.

"We've been following him last two weeks. He keeps coming back to the next city. We found he is dating someone else."

"It is alright, we are not dating.", Heiran defended her best friend.

"You are agreed to each other. You can't just date someone you like because you are already for each other."

"Believe me, Ruel and I tried to get there but we didn't feel anything special for each other. We are just friends and we can't do what you expect from us."

"Well send him back for a week. If that woman can wait for him to return, then we'll let her date my son. If not, whether you like it or not you will date my son."

"With all due respect Sir, Ruel has been following your orders all this time. He's so strict in obeying you and you're strangulating him too much. He's not a kid anymore, let him decide for himself."

"Show some respect Heiran."

Heiran froze in the middle of the discussion after her mom slapped her real hard in her face. Ruel had to stand up and pulled her away from her mom, kept her protected inside his body as he wrap his arms around her. That embrace soothes and comforts her but it isn't enough to get rid of the pain that slap caused her.

"We talked to the both of you in the nicest way we can."

"And we also tried explaining ourselves on the very first part of this issue.", Heiran still stood up both for herself and Ruel. He is patting her back, telling her to stop arguing about it but she doesn't care. They should fight for their freedom or else they will be puppets for the rest of their lives.

"Ruel, I'll talk to you for the last time. Be with my daughter and we won't send you back to Australia."

"Mr. Choi, imagine we really dated but we don't love each other. Can you imagine how painful it'll be for the both of us?"

"You are not willing to follow me? You are caught in the act breaking our rules. What punishment are you expecting?"

"Son, do you want me to take your girlfriend off her volleyball team?"

"Dad no."

Ruel knelt down in front of his parents. Heiran was shocked upon the gesture. All those time he is dating that woman, he only get nothing but rejection and heartaches. Heiran isn't expecting he will actually plead for her. "Ruel, what's with that woman? Why do you love her so much?", she thought to herself.

"Leave her alone. I am willing to take all the punishments. Just leave her alone."

"Then we'll send you back to Australia. Surrender me your phone now. This week you'll be grounded and next week we'll fly to Australia."

Ruel, still in hesitation surrendered his fight and gave his phone to his mom. It is the only way he can protect his girlfriend. He doesn't want her to get involved with any of this. Two weeks will pass by so quick. After the restriction, he believes his father will learn to accept his son's relationship.

However, Heiran is so tired with the injustice they are suffering from. Ever since they got here in this country, she only tasted bitter restrictions and strict rules from her parents. Every misbehavior results to punishments. Every wrong move results to being grounded. And she hates it.

"Heiran, go back to your room now. We are still going to talk about Ruel's flight."

She has another plan in her head so instead of staying with them, she rushed to her room and locked her door. "You said you're just a call away. Are you going to take my call?", Heiran asked before hitting up Young Jae's call. And he did answer right away so Heiran never wasted a second and asked him...

"Where are you now?"

"I bought some noodles in a convenient store."

"Let's play basketball?"

"Where are you? I'll come over."

"I'll take a bus instead. Send me your location and I'll go there."