22
Their Kingdom Panorama
Donghae appeared a few seconds later with a stack of papers in his hands.
“What’s that?” Victoria questioned.
“Preparations for a meeting,” he replied.
Victoria sat down in her chair and watched him go pass.
“So Rae unnie’s not in right now,” Victoria told.
Donghae reached into his pocket, “I got keys, you know? I’m that privileged around here.”
“Privileged?” she repeated.
“Or it could be that Bang So Rae just likes me.” he grinned.
Victoria felt drop as she snorted at him. “Like you? Like?!”
Donghae frowned at her, “Why? It can’t happen? I’m this handsome, who wouldn’t like me?”
Victoria bit her bottom lip.
“Yes, who would like you? I’d like to know that!” she shouted.
He scowled at her, “Goodness, what’s getting you so worked up? Is it that time of the month already?”
Victoria hit the desk with her hand and half got up. She watched as Donghae shrank against the door with a deep frown.
“It was a joke, a joke!” he defended.
“More like an insult,” Victoria muttered sitting back down.
“How is it an insult?” he crowed. “You can’t blame me for the fact that males don’t have that time of the month.”
Victoria opened to retaliate, “Does it matter if you ever got your period or not? You’ll still be PMS-ing even without it.”
Donghae let out an offended sound, “And I was about to congratulate you on finding your family. Forget it.”
Victoria’s frown disappeared and opened regretfully, but Donghae had already opened the office door and disappeared inside. Pressing her lips together she spun around in her chair to stare at her blank computer.
“It doesn’t even feel like a family,” she muttered.
/\_____/\
So Rae looked up when Mung Soo stopped walking. It was only then that she realized Cho Kyuhyun had turned around the corner to run into them.
“Kyuhyun!” Mung Soo greeted loudly walking toward him then shaking his hand.
“Yes, hello uncle.” Kyuhyun nodded.
“We’re about to head out for lunch with the President and So Rae. Do you want to join us?”
“I already had my share of lunch.”
“Don’t be like that! You should come along, anyway!” Mung Soo urged. “The President would like to talk to you as well. The more people the merrier!”
“Uh…” Kyuhyun smiled then glanced toward So Rae who looked away. “Maybe next time.”
“Aigoo…that’s a disappointment. Then next time!” Mung Soo said. “Work hard!”
Kyuhyun nodded and walked pass them. So Rae felt him walk pass and clenched her teeth together.
A few minutes later she sat at the end of the table with a fork in hand picking at the food on her plate tastelessly. It had been impossible to find the hunger in her after having seen Kyuhyun’s face. All that clouded her mind was how happy he would be knowing that he would wed her younger sister some time in the future.
She glanced over at her father and Mung Soo wondering why the two of them seemed to be in such a good mood. They were both the same. They didn’t give a damn about her.
/\_____/\
Kyuhyun walked into a large comfortable room lit up with yellow lights glowing from under the long shades of the lamps in the room. Furniture lined up the walls and a long rectangular table sat in between. Magazines and various business books had been laid out neatly to keep visitors company. The dim white walls reflected just enough of the light back to give the room a relaxing feel.
He looked around and spotted his father sitting in one of the large fluffy chairs with legs crossed and newspaper in hand.
“Dad!” Kyuhyun called making his way toward him.
“You’re here?” he said getting up.
“The President just went out for lunch,” Kyuhyun told, “you might have to wait a while before meeting up with him.”
“Is that so?” his father asked. “Then what about you? Did you eat?”
“Of course,” he replied delighted.
“I’m opening an investment office in my business, once it’s completed why don’t you transfer over to your father’s place?” his father asked standing up.
“Sounds good,” Kyun agreed.
“President Bang called to inform me last night that he found his youngest daughter,” his father told, “have you met her yet?”
Kyuhyun smiled delighted.
“I’m getting old and so is your mother, we’d both like to see you start a family some time soon. What about it?” his father put an arm around his shoulders.
“It’s too soon, dad.”
“What do you mean too soon? How much younger can a 25 year old get?” his father teased. “Have you met her yet?”
Kyuhyun nodded with a slight smile.
/\_____/\
Likes So Rae? Did he really like So Rae? Or was it just some dirty joke?
“Dirty joke,” Victoria laughed to herself unsure whether she’d meant it or if she was just being sarcastic.
Victoria turned to her left to find Donghae sitting on the tan colored couch reading a book eyeing her strangely.
“What dirty joke are you talking to yourself about?” he asked.
“Seriously, what is your job?” Victoria changed the topic. “Just to sit there all day?”
“Yes!” he answered popping his eyes wide. “Are you jealous that I have it so much easier?”
“Me? Jealous?” Victoria asked loudly.
He stared back at her with his expression sullen all of a sudden, “Why do you always yell at me? Can’t you talk to me nicely at all? Women like you should learn from women like So Rae. Be polite and have manners.”
“Psh!” she snorted. “Manners? You want me to talk manners to someone like you?!”
He frowned and sat up from his leaned-back position, “Why! Are you looking down on me just because you’ve become someone rich?”
Victoria felt gape wide open, “What did you say?!”
“You heard me!” Donghae told.
Victoria stared back at him unsure of how she was feeling at the moment. Silence and surprise caught her scrambling the words she had in her mind. Unable to mutter anything at the moment the two of them turned when they heard distant voices come from the hallway. He stared back at her and they both turned when the two people walked around the corner.
She watched as Donghae greeted the two men, but she held her gaze on him still taken aback by his assumption of her.
“Victoria?” someone called her name.
When Donghae turned back to look at her she turned away and found Kyuhyun standing in front of her alongside with an older version of him. Her mind popped blank as she stared at them.
“You’re the President’s daughter?” the man asked. “I’m Kyuhyun’s father.”
Immediately standing up Victoria greeted him mechanically.
Kyuhyun’s father smiled at her kindly. He was an exact duplicate of Kyuhyun, she thought.
“So Rae’s not in right now,” Victoria told assuming that they were here to meet her sister.
His father laughed as if he found it funny that she’d said that. Victoria didn’t get it. They were so weird. It was almost as if they were hiding something from her.
“I just wanted to meet you for a bit. Sorry if I scared you by suddenly coming in like this.” his father apologized.
“It’s ok.” Victoria told.
“I see that you’ve met my son, already.”
Victoria slightly glanced at Kyuhyun starting to feel a little uncomfortable under their gazes. She clasped her hands together and smiled awkwardly without a reply to his question.
“I hope the two of you get along well,” he smiled at her then glanced at Kyuhyun. “Why don’t you come over for dinner tonight?”
“Me?” Victoria asked surprised with his sudden suggestion.
His father nodded, “It’ll be nice getting to know each other some more. I’ll talk to your father about it.”
Victoria let out a quiet sigh wondering why they haven’t mentioned So Rae at all.
“Ah…yes, please get back to work. Sorry for intruding you during work hours,” his father told with a small nod.
Victoria bowed in reply.
“I’ll see you later,” Kyuhyun smiled before turning around to walk back with his father.
When they turned around the corner Victoria felt a frown overcome her face before she felt Donghae’s stare on her. Turning around to look at him she found a funny stare on his face as if he wanted to laugh at her.
“What?” she asked rudely.
Donghae shrugged and just sat back down.
“Geez…what’s up with you?” she wondered.
/\_____/\
When the lights had been turned off Donghae headed down to the underground parking lot still half curious about why Victoria had acted so clueless toward her father-in-law and Kyuhyun, her fiancé. Well, it was an amusing act, he figured. And Victoria’s personality was starting to surprise him more. First she seemed kind, the average kind of person he’d always intended to meet on the streets, but now meeting her again after she became rich was kind of different. He shrugged to himself. Well, he’d always heard that rich people were always kind of conceited and mean, excluding Bang So Rae, that is.
“Lets go somewhere else,” So Rae told.
He glanced into the rearview mirror.
“Where?” he wondered.
“The park.”
***It's the first time Hae's starting to hurt Vic's feelings. And from here on she'll be misunderstood even more
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