Chapter 2

Many women don’t find me pretty.

Instead of seen as something pretty, I was seen as something weird.

My long-time companion, sand, even rejected me.

But despite being disliked and treated harshly, I stayed strong and turned into a beauty at the end.

Because the rejection from the sand in the oyster is the irritant that ultimately produces the pearl.

It was my turn that night to accompany Madame Yoona to her banquet.

Usually, diamond is always her first choice—since she had so many diamond necklace, from the small ones to the big, extravagant ones. But today, Madame picked me—the humble, simple yet sophisticated pearl necklace—for unknown reason. As pearl, there is no way I could read the Madame’s mind right?

Tonight, Madame wore me alongside the simple, one-piece black dress; elbow-long black gloves; black clutch; and black stiletto. The only non-black attire Madame wore that night was me and the silver hairpiece she slipped at the side of her rolled up hair.

She looked like the Asia version of Audrey Hepburn.

But unlike Audrey Hepburn who is always cheerful and a little bit reckless, Madame was unusually very quiet tonight. For years I’ve known Madame, she is a very bright lady, who spread warmth and cheerfulness to those around her. But I didn’t see it in Madame tonight.

Madame seemed gloomy and sad—especially since she didn’t bring her husband—the Master—tonight.

Well, it’s been an hour since I started accompanying Madame, when I and Madame arrived at lightly dimmed building that exude artistic feeling. It was a 7 stories building with artistic signage of ‘PLATFORM L’ at the front side of the building.

Madame immediately got off from the car and told the chauffeur to wait for her. She said she wouldn’t be there for long, and I saw the chauffeur nodded at her instruction and drove away when Madame closed the door.

When Madame stepped into the artistic looking building, she immediately being greeted by a very chic, professional looking woman.

“Good evening, Miss.” The woman asked with very professional manner. She sounded so polite and warm at the same time.

“Good evening.” Madame tried her best to sound as polite and as warm as her, but failed nonetheless. She still sounded hollow.

“May I see your invitation?”

Madame didn’t reply, instead she immediately took out an envelope from the clutch and gave it to the woman. The woman smiled when she read the envelope and gave it back immediately.

“Welcome to the exhibition, Madame,” The woman said in warmer tone this time. “Missus Choi have waited for you.”  

Madame received the envelope and walked to the inside part of the building. As I accompanied Madame strolling around by herself, I saw the breathtaking yet intriguing art installations; beautiful yet confusing paintings; even empty space that had been lighted and scented to set a specific atmosphere.

I’ve seen many exhibitions with Madame—as I am one of the Madame’s earliest jewelry collection—but I could saw this artist is definitely different.

Whoever he or she is, he or she must possessed amazing, yet unique talent in art.

That talent which could awe you instantly.

“Unnie!” Madame finally said a word in cheerful tone—the kind I hoped to hear for the past 2 hours. I could sense Madame approached a very elegant looking lady with her broken white attire, whom accompanied by her son.

“Yoona!” The elegant lady walked to Madame’s direction, her son followed along. They stopped in front of Madame and I could see the elegant lady and Madame exchanging cheek kisses as greeting. “It’s nice to see you coming, dear.”

“My pleasure is mine, Hyeyoon-unnie.” Madame said to the elegant lady. “Thank you for inviting me to the exhibition—it’s a really fascinating and breathtaking one.”

The elegant lady smiled gratefully to her and shook her head. “The pleasure is mine, darling,” She pulled her son’s hand to Madame’s direction. “Greet Auntie Yoona, Yeonjun.”

The elegant lady’s son—a cute, monolid boy with jet black hair like her mother—bowed to Madame cutely. With his cute voice, he greeted Madame. “Hello Auntie. My name is Yeonjun.”

“How old are you now, Yeonjun-ah?”

“4!” Yeonjun said excitingly while shoving his chubby fingers to Madame. I could guessed that Madame would spread her beautiful smile to the elegant lady’s son.

“Beside his eyes, he got everything from you, Unnie.” Madame commented about the elegant lady’s son appearance. But instead of getting an approval from the elegant lady, the elegant lady shook her head. “He is the exact replica of my brother when he was young!”

I could hear Madame’s faint laugh and the elegant lady’s pique in her voice. The elegant lady’s son didn’t notice anything, so he just stood next to the elegant lady.

“Speaking of my brother, let me introduce you to him.” The elegant lady said. “He’s the one behind all these art installations and paintings.”

Madame didn’t refuse and just followed the elegant lady and her son’s footsteps. They walked to the upper gallery room and approached a very dashing gentleman with his ed black tux.

“Uncle Seunghyun!” The elegant lady’s son called the gentleman and rushed to his side—leaving Madame and the elegant lady behind. The gentleman, who have been talking with another young man, looked surprised yet delighted to be approached excitingly by his nephew.

“Yeonjun.” The gentleman called his name and ruffled the elegant lady’s son soft hair. “Where is your mom?”

“I’m here,” The elegant lady announced her appearance to the scene. “Hi Jiyong.”

“Hi nonna. How have you been?” Another young man—with smaller built than the dashing gentleman—greeted the elegant l