The Turning Tide

It was our first anniversary, he was late. Sighing I took out my phone and saw he did not even bother to text me. I shifted in my chair; it was uncomfortable and not made for a woman like me who was a little on the larger size. I heard murmurs of excitement as a man walked into the restaurant and I glanced up to see one of South Korea’s top idols walking in. We made eye contact and he smiled at me. I scowled and went back to staring at my phone. A wave of unease came over me and I looked up again to see the idol still staring at me. Just then I saw my boyfriend walk in and I breathed a sigh of relief. A few people stopped him and he smiled while he greeted them. I continued to fume at the table while he decided it was best to ignore me. Finally, after another fifteen minutes of waiting for him to come to the table, he sat down. I was on my third glass of wine and it was going to my head. “Why are you looking so morose, my love?” I scowled at him and clenched my fists in my lap. “It is our one-year anniversary. Where were you? It was your idea to come to this place.” He sighed and rolled his eyes as he summoned the waiter to our table. “We are ready to order a bottle of Dom as well please.” He rattled off his order and then gave me a disgusted look. “She will have the house salad and the steamed salmon with lemon and rosemary.” I blinked at him; I didn’t want that for dinner. The waiter gave me a hesitant look and then scurried off. “I didn’t want that to eat.” He looked at his reflection in the silver utensils and then c****d an eyebrow at me. “Darling, I told you that you needed to lose weight. It is an embarrassment. Even more so now that I am signed.” My cheeks heated with embarrassment. “I don’t see what my weight has to do with you being signed to an agency. I’m not the one in the public spotlight. Besides, they will have you hide your relationship with me.” He let out a bark of laughter and people turned to stare at us. I slumped further in my seat and winced as the chair pinched my hip. I could feel eyes on me again and peered up to see S0ju the idol still watching me. I mean he probably found this amusing. “Oh, stop being melodramatic, Alegra. I’m trying to have a nice dinner, and you’re ruining it.” I sniffed and tried to fight back the tears. “You always make it seem as if it is my fault.” I would not cry in front of him. “I’m in a good mood Alegra, please don’t spoil it.” Our appetizers came. I pushed my salad around on my plate and sighed. “I was hoping to talk to you later, but since you’re in such a morose mood.” I knew he was probably going to complain about my mixed heritage and that was why I was such a disgusting burden to him. Won Joon hated the fact that my Korean father chose an American woman. My father was one of the top business moguls in Seoul and Won Joon had his eyes set on me from the moment I came back to South Korea. I knew he was just interested in me for my father’s money. I didn’t care he was the only man that showed any interest in me. I might have been a bit starved for attention. “Joony!!!” A waif of a woman in sky-high heels walked over to our table, she didn’t even glance at me but pulled out a chair and sat down next to my boyfriend. “Amber, baby I told you that I had something to do.” I blinked at the two of them as they made eyes at each other. “I just couldn’t wait to see you though. Daddy told me he was impressed with your reading and that you would be cast as the male lead opposite of me in the drama.” I saw Won Joon’s eyes light up and felt sick as he grabbed the woman’s hands. “That is amazing baby.” I threw my napkin down on the table and both turned to face me. The woman pouted at me and looked me up and down. “Joony who is this?” He sighed and patted her hand. “I was in the process of breaking up with her.” I blinked and felt a tear splatter onto my hand. “She is kind of fat, why are you dating someone so ugly.” When I stood up my chair stuck to me and then fell off my hips with a crash, alerting everyone in the restaurant. “Alegra sit down, you’re causing a scene and embarrassing me.” I downed the rest of my wine, grabbed his drink, then tossed it in his face. “You’re an ass, you brought me here to break up with me, so I wouldn’t make a scene? Well, too bad!” I stormed out of the restaurant without looking back. Hailing a cab, I didn’t know where I wanted to go. All I know is I needed to be far away from here. “Yeouido Hangang Park please.” The driver gave me a strange look and I knew why he was looking at me like that. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to go anywhere else?” I sighed and shook my head. I just wanted to walk along the river. “No, thank you, can we stop at a convenience store along the way.” He nodded and pulled into traffic. I looked back to see that S0ju was standing outside the restaurant, and he was looking at the cab I had gotten into. I couldn’t spend time thinking about why some K-pop idol found me fascinating. I just wanted to forget tonight ever happened.