Eyes Full Of Stars || Park Sunghoon

7 ¦ I hate you

"Did Dolores behave anywhere near decently?" my father inquires of Sunghoon as we sit together at the table and eat dinner that same evening.

It bothers me that he talks in front of me as if I were not present. Besides, he portrays me as if I am an impulsive little child who doesn't know how to behave.

"If you mean I didn't bite or kick Sunghoon, and I buckled my seatbelt properly while driving... yes I did," I say irritably, poking at my food with my fork, imagining that the pasta has my father's face.

Angrily, my father puts down his fork and looks at me warningly across the table. "I'm talking about just such inappropriate cheeky comments," my father retorts angrily, clenching his hands into fists.

"Then stop talking about me like I'm not here," I retorted in a cold voice. I don't care what Sunghoon thinks of me. Besides, my father has nothing to fear because no matter how badly I behave, his business with Sunghoon is safe anyway. I merely serve as Sunghoon's insurance policy to protect him from my father's fraudulent dealings.

My father looks like he's going to jump up from his seat and jump down my throat at any moment. I wonder if he would beat me up like he beats up my mother, who just sits intimidated next to my father, obviously not daring to open her mouth.

Sunghoon, sitting across from me, takes a big gulp from his wine glass before looking coldly at my father. "Dolores has been behaving well," Sunghoon assures him. "We took a trip to a private art gallery and looked at the paintings. She liked one of them so much that I bought it for her."

He says it like it's a reward for my good behavior. As if I were a lapdog that needed to be rewarded for successful parenting.

The tense expression drains from my father's face and he seems visibly surprised that Sunghoon doesn't have the exact opposite to tell him.

"Oh really?" my father replies, reaching for his wine glass to take a sip from it. "That sounds promising, doesn't it?" The victorious expression on his face disgusted me.

I would love to say something, but I refrain from doing so to spare my innocent mother the consequences this would threaten. "Do you want to see it?", I asked my father to join the conversation, but he waved me off.

"How's the planning for the wedding going, anyway?" he wants to know instead from Sunghoon, who puts his now empty wine glass on the table. Disappointed, I avert my eyes and push my plate away from me as I have finally lost my appetite.

"I've already made an appointment with the planner for tomorrow afternoon," Sunghoon replies calmly. It is really unbelievable how apparently everything that also concerns me is always decided without me.

When I was a little girl, I spent hours imagining my dream wedding. I dreamed of wearing a beautiful dress that had a long train. I imagined my father walking me down the aisle and how happy I would be. And now I'm not even supposed to be involved in the planning?

"What do you have to say now?" my father wants to know when he notices my dissatisfied expression. Tears come to my eyes. "What I have to say now??", I ask incredulously, trying convulsively not to cry. Shaking my head, I push back my chair and rise from the table.

"Sit back down at the table," not my father, but my mother, of all people, demands of me. Stunned, I look at her. "Are you on their side now?", I want to know. That now the very person I'm primarily sacrificing myself for is stabbing me in the back hits me like a slap in the face.

"I'm not on anyone's side at all," she replies, shaking her head. "But it's all for the good of this family, dear," she adds in a calm voice, reaching for my father's clenched fist, barely able to contain himself again.

My mother is a coward. She is afraid of him and what he is capable of doing if things don't go his way.

"The welfare of this family...", I repeat her words. I snort contemptuously, because when I say it again myself, it sounds all the more ridiculous. "I'd rather die than call you my family!", I say hysterically.

In a flash, I reach for the meat knife Teresa left at the roast. I don't know myself what has suddenly got into me. I can't think straight anymore and I just want this terrible nightmare to end. I just can't take it anymore...

"Dolores." my mother called out in a panic. I push up the sleeve of my white cardigan and expose my forearm, still discolored from Yeosang's grips, to which I hold vertically the long, sharp knife blade.

My breathing is frantic and tears stream unstoppably down my face. "Don't you care that much about your family?!" my father yells at me. Reproachfully, he glares at me instead of asking me to put the knife down. He doesn't care about me...

"Do you care so little about your daughter that you would even rather see her die than lose your fucking company?!", I retort, feeling the cold steel touch my skin.

My mother cries bitterly as my father rises from his seat. Sunghoon gestures to my father not to approach me. Instead, he rises himself. "Dolores," Sunghoon finally draws my attention. With his hands raised, he approaches me cautiously.

Panicked, I back away. "Don't come near me, Sunghoon," I warn the young man in a shaky voice, shaking my head. I don't want him near me, because Sunghoon is to blame for my predicament in the first place.

"You won't hurt yourself," he states with conviction, taking another step in my direction. "Don't test me," I retort, clutching the knife handle tighter.

"Go ahead, do it," Sunghoon calmly prompts me, shrugging his shoulders indifferently. His eyes scrutinize me coolly as he moves a step closer to me again so that we are only an arm's length apart. "Come on, what are you waiting for?" he says a little louder now.

I squint my eyes and want to bring myself to do it, but before I can even make the final decision, Sunghoon grabs the hand I'm holding the knife with so tightly that I open it.

The knife slips out of my hand and eventually falls to the floor, where Sunghoon kicks it out of my reach with his foot.

"I hate you," I whisper powerlessly, sinking to the floor as my knees buckle under my weight. "I hate all of you, every single one of you."

Sunghoon kneels down on the floor with me, pausing next to my ear. "Don't you ever dare try to hurt you again," he hisses angrily so that only I can hear before he lets go of my hand and rises again.

He turns his back on me to sit back at the dining room table as if nothing had happened, while I remain huddled on the floor, shaking.

"Dolores..." my mother says in a tearful voice, but I get up from the floor and rush upstairs to my room, slamming my door as hard as I ever have.

A/N: The urge to punch her father is soooooooo big😭