26
Their Kingdom Panorama
/\_____/\
It was hard. There was no way to cheer himself up. Even the bright lights in his luxurious apartment did not help bring the joy out in him. Sitting there staring at the muted TV screen he could not even focus on the soccer game. So Rae’s words still spun in his ears like a spider web.
Her eyes, her voice, the bitter memories…everything made him feel nothing but sorry for her. Still within all of it she seemed so sad…and it felt like she was crying for help through all the anger she was showing.
But in all this…what did it make Victoria? A man stealer? He was beginning to wonder if Victoria knew anything about this when she’d just entered their household as So Rae’s younger sister.
So Rae needed help…and there was no one who understood her. It’d be regretful to see So Rae fall into such a pit hole and become someone she never was. He had thought from the beginning that he’d meet a cheerful So Rae, one who was full of smiles, but in the end he’d intruded upon a hurt person.
Donghae knew then that he wanted to help her. If he couldn’t be her white knight in shining armor then he should at least try to the shadow that would help her from behind.
/\_____/\
So Rae stared at the fresh flowers Victoria had plucked from their backyard, grabbed them, and tossed them into the garbage bin. She didn’t want them, she didn’t want them, especially not from the woman who would wed Kyuhyun.
Sitting down on her bed she stared at their framed picture and clenched her teeth still upset with Kyuhyun’s words. How could he talk to her like that? How could he even say those words to her?
So Rae felt a bitter tear full of bitter anger fall down her eye. Wiping it away she took a loud breath and folded her hand into a fist. If he didn’t want to understand her problems then so be it. She didn’t need him as well as he didn’t need her.
/\_____/\
When he saw her clueless face the next morning Donghae couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed. Without a word So Rae had walked into her office closing the door after her. He noted how Victoria glanced at the door so forlorn without even knowing the reason why.
“Are you happy?” Donghae asked.
“What?”
“I asked if you’re happy.”
“About what?”
“Just in general, how do you feel?”
Victoria eyed him with a deep suspicious frown, “What do you want? You’re weird, go away.”
He snorted, “As if I want to be near you in the first place.”
Victoria still frowned at him and sat down at her desk before turning around. Staring at her back he wondered how she really felt about everything else. Her new life, her new job, her fiancé, all of it.
/\_____/\
“I’ve found the location, sir,” his assistant said placing a sheet of white paper on the desk before him.
“Good job, thank you,” Bang Dae Jung thanked.
His assistant bowed before walking out of the room. President Bang’s full office was decorated easily with a few shelves, some furniture, a coffee table, and his desk. After his assistant walked out he neatly stacked up some binders, set them aside, and gathered some other papers to put in his drawers before walking out. He’d often been thinking of this day and had always looked forward to it in his dreams.
Taking the elevator down to the 5th floor he could feel anxiety overwhelm him. The doors to the lift opened and he walked down the hallway to find Victoria sitting at her desk in front of So Rae’s office busily studying some papers. He stopped before the desk and waited for her to look up. When she did an expression of surprise lit up her face.
“Lets go,” he told without waiting for her to ask why he was there.
Victoria got up immediately, “To where?”
So Rae’s office door opened and she paused surprised that he’d made his way down to the 5th floor when he almost never did.
So Rae glanced from Victoria to her dad, “What’s going on?”
“Make sure to take her home after work,” President Bang told Donghae who was watching the whole thing.
“Yes, sir,” Donghae nodded obediently.
Victoria half snorted wondering where he suddenly got all these manners from when he’d been such a loot in the first place.
“Where are you going?” So Rae asked, stiffness and curiosity in her voice. It was almost as if she didn’t want them to leave without her.
Victoria looked silently from her dad to her unnie.
“Dad,” Victoria called.
President Bang with lips firmly together said, “I’m taking Victoria to see her mother.”
A silence full of surprise filled up the room. Victoria’s eyes widened a bit shocked at the sudden mention of her mother in contrast to So Rae whose face became sullen.
“Lets go,” he said to Victoria before walking down the hallway.
Victoria immediately followed him down the hallway. In the elevator he could sense the awkwardness coming from his own daughter.
“It’s ok,” he assured putting an arm around her hoping that it would comfort her, “your father is here.”
/\_____/\
‘Her’ was how the President had referred to his oldest daughter. It was a sad yet depressing fact to face. Donghae almost couldn’t make himself turn to look at So Rae who was now standing so still. How hurt she must feel…
As he opened his mouth to speak So Rae spun around and entered her office closing the door after her.
/\_____/\
It wasn’t windy out, but there was certainly a lot of wind. The sun was out even though half of the white clouds were trying to block it from shining through. Tall trees loomed over the place and even though they weren’t giants they seemed like giants from far away. The green grass weren’t exactly spectacular weeds, but they looked like long thin weeds prowling their way out of the ground. Tombstones, though they weren’t exactly ancient ones, varied in shape and sizes around her.
Victoria followed her father down the long cement trail wondering why they were there. It didn’t make sense that they had come to a cemetery. What did it have to do with going to see her mother? She couldn’t understand it even though a strong sense of doubt was beginning to climb into the back of her head.
She’d been smart in every other case, but why did it seem like she so bad with reality? Especially the kind of reality that she’d never dealt with before. She’d only known the world full of unfairness, insecurity, poverty, and violence. This reality, which was full of too many emotions and secrets felt foreign to her.
Her father’s back seemed lonesome from where she was standing. How much had he gone through in his life to get to where he was now? What was his history? She hadn’t expected to learn much from him since, after all, she’d only entered the household a few days ago. She was confident that as time went on she’d definitely learn more about him and about her mother as well. And about why she’d been left with her grandmother who didn’t speak about her parents.
The footsteps of her father suddenly became muted and she returned back to the present. He turned to the side and she watched him stare down at the grass. Heaving a sigh he looked up at the sky blinking his eyes and she finally realized that he was holding back tears. She turned around to take a look at their surroundings.
“Where’s this?” Victoria asked breaking the silence.
Her dad held out a hand and gestured for her to walk over. When she did she followed his gaze to the tombstone with the name: Song Tae In.
“Who…” Victoria began before she felt close up.
She turned to look around again and finally noticed a large sign way back at the entrance. They’d entered a private cemetery reserved for only high classed people.
“Your mother,” her father finally started, “she lies here after a hit and run accident.”
Victoria felt her eyes become solidly still. Even the noise of the whistling wind seemed non-existent.
“Tae In…you look just like her.”
He reached into his pocket, dug out his wallet, and handed a picture to her. Victoria took it from him and stared down at the older version of herself. Just like how she didn’t know how to feel toward her father, she was unsure of how to react toward her mother. Suddenly she was reunited with her parents, one who was alive and the other who was lying below ground level.
What to do? What to do?
Would it seem wrong if she couldn’t cry to the mother she’d never met? Whose presence she never felt…ever? Would it make her seem heartless, a little cold-blooded?
“How…was she like? What kind of person was mom?” Victoria asked very slowly.
“Beautiful, kind, and righteous. She was an angel, always been an angel,” her father’s voice sounded so soft and gentle. “She was a bit on the mysterious side and was always playful. Her cheerful personality always got the better of her, so she never learned how to hate.”
Beautiful, kind, righteous, an angel, cheerful, and mysterious were all the things that Victoria wasn’t. Right then she wanted to ask her father if he’d really found the right daughter because Victoria was no where like her mother.
“Even though your mother isn’t here with us…I wanted you to see her and let her know that we’re finally together again. I know she always wanted us to be together even if she had to be alone,” her father told.
She wanted to apologize, call him father, and hug him on the spot to comfort him and tell him she’d do better, but she was too prideful. And doing such things were embarrassing for her, so Victoria just remained standing there feeling the wind try to push her over.
They arrived at a busy restaurant for a late lunch then headed home straight after. When they arrived inside her father ushered her to head up the stairs, shower, and get some rest before tomorrow. Before she made her way up the stairs a voice stopped her.
“The madam would like to see the two of you,” the nanny’s clear voice intruded.
Victoria turned back to look at her father almost wondering who this madam was.
Following her father down the hallway they turned into the visiting room to find an expensive woman decorated in a large fur jacket and sparkling diamonds sitting on the nearest couch with one leg crossed over the other. Her hair pinned up into a neat bun with much effort and her face made up with expensive makeup, layer after layer.
Victoria felt silenced just with her presence and immediately took her to be So Rae’s gallery mother.
The woman looked her over with a small smile, “Well, I see this is Tae In’s child. The one you found behind our backs.”
Her father remained calm, “Is that why you’re back? To instigate me?”
The woman shook her head coolly, “I only came to retrieve some more clothes before heading back out.” She looked around then turned back to them, but looked straight at Victoria while asking her father, “Where is my daughter?”
“At work, it’s your job to tell her to come home earlier,” Bang Dae Jung told.
“My job?” So Rae’s mom asked as if offended. “Why is it my job when you’re the man of the house?”
“She is ‘your’ daughter,” he emphasized ‘your’ and Victoria was becoming more uncomfortable with their little indirect argument with each other.
So Rae’s mother laughed as if amused, “Ahjumma! Call So Rae and tell her to come home! I want to eat a meal as a family before I go back.”
“Yes, madam.”
Victoria glanced at the woman then to her father.
At the dining table Victoria found the mood the same as any other time she’d eaten with So Rae. Silence, anxiety, awkwardness, and competition.
“How was your day at work, honey?” So Rae’s mother asked placing some veggies upon her daughter’s plate.
So Rae looked up from her plate with a half glare wondering why her mother was pretending to be so attentive and caring. It made her angrier when she was acting like this in front of Victoria as well, as if it would spite her and make the young girl angry. So Rae wanted to snort.
“Why are you home?” So Rae set her utensil down and looked at her mother unhappily. “Do you want to cause a scene?”
“How dare you talk to me like that?” her mother turned to her very calmly and even the way she spoke amazed Victoria.
“So Rae,” her father called. “Just eat.”
So Rae pressed her lips together at the unfair treatment and bitterly grabbed her utensils again.
Victoria gulped down her rice and felt it stop halfway down . After feeling like she was going to die she began hitting her chest in hopes that the group of food would go down smoothly instead of painfully.
So Rae’s mother stared at her as if she were an exotic animal, “Is this how you eat?” She turned to her father, “Where did she grow up? With Tae In?”
Her father handed her a glass of water, “Drink it.”
Victoria nodded and gulped the water down.
“Oh geez…” So Rae’s mother commented. “Why couldn’t you have grown up like So Rae?”
“Don’t add me in this, mom,” So Rae spouted, anger underneath her voice.
“What is wrong with you?” her mother questioned her with a frown.
So Rae didn’t bother to answer, but after another bite she said, “Please go back after this meal. I don’t want to see any more of you tomorrow.”
Setting down her utensils she scooted back her chair and walked away.
“Psh…this child!” her mother scorned then turned back to her father. “What have you done to this child while I was away?”
“So Rae has always been this way, you just were here to see it,” Bang Dae Jung explained.
So Rae’s mother’s mouth dropped in disbelief and she got up from the table as well.
What was wrong with this family? Victoria wanted to know.
***Victoria finally finds out her biological mother is dead :/
***And she finally meets her step-mother!!!!
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