The Living Scultures of Pemberly- [Pride and Prejudice Soundtrack]

“I want you to stop by Aroma Café at noon. There’s something very important I wanted to discuss with you.”

This was the message Jaejoong received from his mother this morning that couldn’t stop replaying countlessly through his mind all day.

No more, no less.

It was uncanny to have his mother request for his time in the middle of the day for she knew he had an important role as the sole heir to Kim Enterprise. But, as a man who had the highest respect for his mother, he had agreed to have a cup of coffee with her. Jaejoong rolled into a parking spot half a block away from the café as he took of his dark shades and tucked them into the pocket of his Armani suit. As he furiously typed away at his Blackberry, he was unaware of a woman struggling her way out of the café, with large paper bags the grasp of her delicate hands. The two collided by the front of the entrance, the paper bags falling to the concrete ground, spilling its contents across the sidewalk. Luckily for the woman herself, Jaejoong had managed to catch her on time before her body was sent tumbling to the ground like the rest of her belongings. He didn’t take a close look at her face, but noticed a small golden pendant that glistened in the sunlight lying delicately across the woman’s collarbone.

“Woah, are you alright?” Jaejoong asked, his arm still wrapped around the woman’s petite waist.

Looking up with deep chestnut-coloured eyes, the woman blushed in his arms as she hastily regained her composure and nodded.

“I am so sorry,” she bowed and apologized. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

With a small smile, Jaejoong responded. “I guess that makes the both of us.”

With another bow, the young woman began picking up her books off the sidewalk, placing them back into their respective bags.

“Here, let me help you,” Jaejoong offered as he stooped down to pick up a few books.

“Oh, n-no! It’s fine,” the woman insisted.

A twinkle of amusement sparked in Jaejoong’s eyes as he smiled. “Nonsense. Besides, I would be frowned upon if I didn’t assist a woman in need.”

He looked at the cover of the books in his hands to notice they were all books related to the history of art. Each book had colour-coded sticky tabs, bookmarking various pages in the books.

“So, you study art?”

The woman curled a piece of hair behind her ear before she nodded and took the books from Jaejoong’s hands. After placing the books back into the paper bag, she looked up towards Jaejoong’s tall figure once more before bowing for the umpteenth time.

“Thank you and I’m very sorry again,” she said before walking away from where Jaejoong stood.

With a lighthearted chuckle, he headed inside the café to meet up with his mother.

----//----

“You’re getting married.”

Jaejoong’s cup of coffee halted halfway up to his lips as he gazed at his mother, who was sitting across from him. There she sat, dressed in an age-appropriate, crème-coloured dress with a light cardigan over her small shoulders. Her hair was pulled back into a loose chignon and accessorized with a pair of diamond earrings she received from Jaejoong’s father along with her wedding band resting on her left ring finger.

Jaejoong had a mischievous grin upon his face as he took a sip of black coffee before placing it back onto the glass table.

“I would think you would congratulate someone who recently got engaged,” Jaejoong joked with an amused smile on his face. “But, I believe you’ve mistaken me for someone else. The last time I checked, I don’t have a fiancée.”

His mother shook her head lightly, her posture still upright. “Jaejoong, you’re twenty six years-old. Your father and I gave you the opportunity to find a suitable wife and we told you that if you didn’t find one by the time you were twenty seven, we would find one for you.”

“I still have time,” Jaejoong clarified.

“I don’t think five months is enough time for you to find a woman and truly get to know her,” his mother replied.

“And you think marrying me off to a complete stranger is any better?” he frowned.

Jaejoong’s mother sighed before looking at her son with loving eyes. “We gave you a chance, Jaejoong. If it were completely up to your grandfather, you wouldn’t have been given the option to find someone yourself. You know how strict your grandfather is about family tradition and marriage is extremely important to our family.”

Jaejoong listened intently to what his mother had to say. Even though he strongly disagreed with what she was saying, he had the utmost respect for the woman who raised him to become the man he is today.

“You’re at the point in your life where you have to start thinking about these things,” she continued. “You know I’m not out to get you, sweetheart. Of all people, you should know that I understand what you need to go through. But, I promise you that you and your future fiancée will grow to love each other just like your father and I.”

As Jaejoong was growing up, he had often heard stories about his parents and how they didn’t get along when they first met. “Not getting along” was an understatement. In fact, they loathed each other and didn’t talk to each other for the first month and a half of marriage. It wasn’t until they had to attend a charity event where Jaejoong’s father had noticed the kind-hearted woman Jaejoong’s mother was and the twinkle that was always in her eyes whenever she smiled. It was at that instant where they finally started opening up to each other and realized that they were meant to be together. Now, nearly thirty years later, his parents are still happily married and still going strong. It made Jaejoong wonder if he could ever truly find the kind of happiness that his parents have.

“Times have changed, mother,” Jaejoong spoke. “What you and father have is rare to find these days.”

His mother sympathetically smiled at her son as she took his large hands in hers. “Your grandfather had been pressing this issue recurrently these past couple of month, but your father and I didn’t want you to know because we wanted to give you the privacy that you deserve. I know you always had this idea of marrying the woman of your dreams, but at this point in your life, you just don’t have that kind of leisure.”

Running his hand through his neatly combed hair, Jaejoong said, “So, with grandfather pushing the idea of marriage for a couple of months, I’m assuming you already have someone in mind, don’t you?”

His mother nodded.

Jaejoong sighed.

“She’s a very sweet girl,” she said. “The two of you have been betrothed at a little after she was born. But, both our families agreed that if you had found a fiancée of your own by twenty-seven, the arranged marriage would be annulled. You’ve met her couple of times when the two of you were much younger. I just recently met up with her and she’s grown up to be such a beautiful woman. She’s the daughter of one of your father’s closest friends from university and the military. They’re truly the most compassionate and caring people we have ever known and your father is in debt to his friend during their days in the military. He’s one of the only people in this world that your father can trust.”

Jaejoong knew that his father was very reserved when it came to his years where he served in the military and he respected his father’s privacy.

Finally taking a sip of his coffee that had now gone cold, Jaejoong asked, “And the daughter was okay with this?”

“She hasn’t expressed how she felt about the matter, but like everyone else, she needs time to think about it,” his mother replied. “She told me that she would express her opinion when our families have dinner together two weeks from now. But, before then, I wanted the two of you to meet each other. She said she was willing to meet you tomorrow after her classes.”

“She’s still in school?” he questioned.

Jaejoong’s mother nodded. “She’s finishing her graduates at Seoul University.”

“But, what about work-“

“Your father has given the day off work tomorrow,” she answered. “He truly believes that the two of you can work. He chose this family specifically because he didn’t want to choose a family that was only looking for higher status. Please understand your duty as the heir to your father’s company that this is really important for us.”

When Jaejoong did not respond, his mother only assumed that he understood what she said. With loving eyes, she got up from her seat and kissed her son on the forehead.

“I’ll give you the information of where you can find her tomorrow after her classes,” she said. “Her name is Chu Hae Bin and I can assure you that she’s wonderful.”

----//----

“You’re WHAT?!”

Sitting in a private room of a bar, Jaejoong called out his best friends for a much needed drink. It was just after eleven in the evening, the life of the club still in his early stages with the music quietly pulsing through the sound proof walls of the private room. There Jaejoong sat with his friends from high school on the leather couch, arm extended across the head of the couch while his other hand held a bottle of beer.

“So, let me get this straight,” Yoo chun said. “You couldn’t get a girlfriend that you were satisfied with to become your future wife, so your parents are now taking control of your love-life by finding a fiancée for you?”

Jaejoong took a swig of his beverage. “First of all, it’s not that I couldn’t get a girlfriend. I could get any girl if I wanted to. It’s because I didn’t find someone suitable enough to my parents’ liking. And secondly, they aren’t looking for one, they’ve already found one.”

Yunho whistled. “Dang…that’s rough.”

“Have you met her yet?” Hyun joong asked.

Jaejoong shook his head. “Apparently we met when we were kids, but I don’t exactly have any memories of her. I’m meeting up with her tomorrow by my mother’s request.”

“Do either of you get a say in this relationship?” Yoo chun asked.

“Well, my mother explained that we both get time to think about it…but even if we disagreed on this arranged marriage, they would continue on with the marriage because of my grandfather,” Jaejoong responded. “He’s very strict about tradition and it just so happens that marriage is one of those customs that can’t be lenient.”

All of his friends nodded.

“Well, I’m sure if your parents chose this person to be your fiancée, then she should at least be good in nature,” Hyun joong said.

“Whose side are you on?” Jaejoong frowned.

Hyun joong shook his head at his friend’s narrow-mindedness. “I’m not on anyone’s side.”

“Don’t worry man,” Yunho reassured his friend with a friendly pat on the shoulder. “We all have your back. Now, drink up! Because you need it.”

Three four men cheered with their beverages in hand and all drained their bottles.

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Hey everyone!

So, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the revamped version of YSTEIM. LIke I stated before, the premise will be similar to that of YSTEIM, but I will change a couple of things, starting off with adding a name to the main character. Again, like I expressed in the Foreword, you are welcome to substitute yourself as the main character, but for the sake of convenience and helping me make the story flow better, I added a name.

Anyways, I just want to say that I hope you are all doing well. I'm currently in exam-prep mode where I'll be studying for all of my exams for the next 2 and a half weeks. I will apolgoze in advanced if I don't get a whole lot of chapters up in that time, but I will say that I am currently writing up chapter 2, so be on the look out for that. :)

So, please comment below and let me know what you think of the story so far.

And please subscribe if you have not already subscribed!

Until next time,

-dbsk408-