91
Their Kingdom Panorama
/\_____/\
Also lying on his side, Donghae glanced at Victoria’s close features. She was still the mirage of perfection. Slowly reaching a hand forward he pulled her hair out of her face and hesitantly moved forward to place a kiss on her cheek. Laying back down with her face just centimeters away from him he found himself smiling. If he could spend the rest of his nights with Victoria like this, he’d consider himself the luckiest man alive.
For the rest of the night he lay there beside her, watching her doze off, and finally dozing off himself.
When he awoke in the morning he found the blanket lying over him and Victoria was nowhere to be seen. Sitting up he leaned his back against the window with a small smile on his face.
Victoria still cared.
/\_____/\
So Rae opened the doors to the café and found Kyuhyun sitting in the lone corner by himself. Calmly walking over she joined him at the table.
“So what is it you want to tell me?” she asked. “I don’t have a lot of time as you know.”
“If you’re in your office everyday, you should have time since you’d use the time to finish up work,” Kyuhyun told.
So Rae snorted.
“The wedding with Victoria, I’m going to cancel it.”
“What?”
“You heard me,” Kyuhyun said, “you were after stopping us anyway, isn’t that right?”
So Rae stared.
“Leave Victoria alone,” Kyuhyun advised, “you’d live happier that way, even if you don’t like her.”
“Are you lecturing me?”
“No,” he shook his head, “So Rae, you’re turning Victoria into a hate machine. You’re so full of anger that you’ve directed every single bit of it toward her and because we’ve all been pressuring her, Victoria is, as well, becoming full of anger herself. Don’t you see that you’re turning her into you?”
“Are you insulting me?”
“Listen to me,” Kyuhyun tried again, “Victoria joined your family, not because of her own free will, but because of your father. It’s not Victoria who started all this war, you began it yourself because you dislike her. If you need some comfort, why don’t you get it from Victoria who needs it as well?”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m telling you, that you should live life in a happier way, So Rae,” Kyuhyun explained, “I should have known all this from the start, but I didn’t understand anything until just now. Victoria lacks a mother’s way of teaching, you do as well. If Victoria can’t show you that she cares, can’t you take the first step toward her just once?”
So Rae stared at him for a long time before she got up and left. Who was Kyuhyun telling her to be nice to? Who did Kyuhyun think he was to tell her that Victoria was a good person? Who was he to tell her that Victoria needed to be loved first? Unfair. It was unfair.
/\_____/\
Opening Myung Soo’s office door Victoria stepped in angrily. Without a word she walked up to his desk, grabbed the binder out of his hand, and tossed his pen to the side.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded angrily.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” she shouted. “I didn’t think you were so evil.”
Myung Soo laughed.
“You’re outrageous,” Victoria snorted, “I’ve been turned into a fool because of you.”
“And whose fault is that?”
Victoria tossed the binder aside and listened as it bounced off the edge of the desk onto the ground.
“Leave my family and Donghae alone!”
Myung Soo stared at her amused.
“You can leave them alone after you do what you first came here for,” Myung Soo told stiffly. “There’s no way you can be transferred back to your secretarial position, do you know that? Being demoted like that isn’t good for you.”
Victoria clenched her jaw.
“Get So Rae out of her position first, we’ll talk the rest later,” Myung Soo had finished his conversation with her.
“If you tell your men to lay hands on Donghae again, I’ll never forgive you,” Victoria threatened. “If my father knows you were the one behind the kidnapping incident, if I ever tell him about it, you’re going to be dead.”
Victoria walked out slamming the door after her. She detested herself so much at the moment. Turning to the wall she slammed her hand against it and exhaled angrily. Why couldn’t she have known earlier?
/\_____/\
Donghae pulled the car over to the side of the road. So much of what had happened last night was still contained in his memory.
“What are you doing?” So Rae questioned.
“I want to ask you some questions,” Donghae began twisting himself around to face her.
“What is it? You’re wasting my time right now.”
“Mi Sun told me that you dislike Park Myung Soo, your father’s right hand man,” Donghae started off, “why?”
So Rae eyed him. “I don’t get why you’d want to know.”
“Why?” he persisted.
“My father trusts him too easily. One word from him can change my father’s mind. I don’t like how that happens. Why?”
Donghae then went on, “I also heard that he’s associated with the black market. Is he…a dangerous guy?”
“Who’d you hear this from?” So Rae wondered crossing her arms. “Mi Sun?”
Donghae nodded reluctantly.
“Well, there are such rumors, but they’ve never been proven true,” So Rae shrugged. “I still don’t like him whatsoever.”
“Do you think it’s true, though?”
“Why are you asking me?” So Rae seemed annoyed.
Donghae turned around and thought to himself silently before twisting himself around again.
“I want to tell you something,” Donghae began.
“What.” So Rae seemed to be near angry now.
“Right after I delivered the necklace to you, Victoria and I were hunted down by some men,” Donghae explained, “they were asking for the necklace and when we told them we didn’t have it, we were kidnapped.”
Donghae hesitated about whether he should tell about the incident from last night or not. If So Rae knew that Victoria had been together with him he was unsure about how ugly the situation would get for Victoria.
“Then what?” So Rae asked.
Donghae looked back at her, “We met them again last night, but it was different. They called out Victoria and it seemed like they were talking about something.”
“What are you rambling on about?” So Rae questioned, irritated, confused, and impatient. “You’re saying Victoria’s associated with them somehow?”
“No,” Donghae shook his head afraid that he’d get Victoria misunderstood, “I just think Victoria knew something about them. Do you think, Park Myung Soo has something to do with it?”
So Rae stared back at him.
“Start the engine.”
/\_____/\
Victoria paced back and forth in front of her father’s work room. She was uncertain about whether she should go in and talk to him or not. She really didn’t want to. Victoria didn’t possess any interest in the business, but if she didn’t, Myung Soo would start after Donghae for sure. Just to protect him would mean betraying her family members. But was she willing to go that far?
Yes, she disliked life in that house. She disliked the way she respected her father and wanted to fulfill his wishes to make him happy. She disliked the way he used her feelings to do as he wanted. And So Rae, she disliked everything about her at the moment. The person who’d made her become what she’d became was So Rae. So Rae had turned her life upside down and she’d done a real good job at it. Yet, there was still that small glow within her that respected So Rae as her unnie. If So Rae wouldn’t become her sibling, who would?
For a short moment she’d thought life was getting back on track again. After Kyuhyun’s mother had comforted her, she’d thought for sure that she could live normally. The wedding would be put to a rest with Madam Cho’s words and life could continue again, but before she could even settle down again she had to be interrupted by another force of fate she didn’t want. She never thought Myung Soo would bring the worst obstacle so far her way, and this one seemed much more frightening considering the fact that he was the one who’d initiated the kidnapping. He was…a scary man.
The door opened and Victoria turned surprised. Her father looked surprised as well.
“What are you doing?” he questioned. “Come in, I have something to show you.”
Victoria joined him in the office and he showed her a picture of her mother.
“That necklace on her neck, do you see it?” he pointed to it. “The photo’s a little blurry, but I’m getting it fixed up so you can have a copy of it.”
Victoria squinted her eyes. The photo was so old and sepia colored. It was hard to make out any small detail, since the picture had been taken so that her parent’s full length bodies were visible. The necklace on her neck was small and fragmented, but it looked familiar.
“I left this necklace with your mother,” he explained, “hoping that she’d pass it along to you, but I’m not sure where it is now. Isn’t it beautiful?”
The necklace, the necklace. Victoria focused her eyes on the item before her eyes suddenly went wide and she unconsciously threw her hand over her lips.
“What did you say this was?”
“Your mother’s necklace, I hoped that you’d be able to inherit it perhaps before you got married,” he went on and the rest of his words blurred out in Victoria’s ears.
The necklace she’d discovered under the bush. The necklace she’d given Donghae who would deliver it to So Rae. The necklace in So Rae’s dresser which she’d taken. The necklace she’d thrown to Myung Soo… The necklace that had gone from hand to hand.
“Mother’s necklace? This is mother’s necklace?” Victoria’s voice became so raspy that it seemed torn.
“Yes, your mother’s necklace,” her father nodded.
It had been the only thing besides the ring on the chain that her mother had left behind before she died. But how did Bang In Tak have it? Who had killed him? For what purpose? And why had it been so important to Park Myung Soo? Victoria was confused, alarmed, and worried. But even so she was angrier at herself. She’d given away her mother’s item.
“Father…I…I think I have somewhere to go,” Victoria got up. “Don’t wait for me at dinnertime.”
Rushing out of the house Victoria grabbed a taxi outside. Her heart raced. How could she have given away her mother’s possession? She should have known that the necklace was an important item, yet she’d treated it so rashly. She ran a hand over her face feeling so frustrated with herself. Why couldn’t she do anything right anymore?
/\_____/\
So Rae started up the steps toward the house and up the stairs when she got in. The necklace, as she’d heard from Mi Sun, was a treasured piece of jewelry her father had left with Victoria’s mother. So far as she knew, the necklace was now Victoria’s mother’s belonging, which had somehow made its way back to its rightful place, their home. She’d resented it when Donghae had handed it to her.
She still had the necklace. She’d kept it well in her room and had forgotten about it all this time. So Rae could imagine the delight on her father’s face when she presented it to him.
Opening the door to her bedroom she started for her drawer pulling it open expecting to see the large case sitting inside, but it was nowhere to be seen. A frown encased her face in confusion and she started searching about her room, under her bed, the table, and through her closet for it. In the end, she went back to the drawer rummaging through it hopelessly.
“Where’d it go?” So Rae wondered.
So far as she knew no one entered her room…
Running downstairs she found the ahjumma cooking in the kitchen.
“Ahjumma!” So Rae yelled.
The ahjumma turned around, “What is it? Are you hungry?”
“You’ve been in my room, haven’t you?” So Rae questioned. “Did you open one of my drawers?”
“No.”
“Did you happen to see a jewelry box somewhere? Anywhere?”
“I haven’t touched anything,” the ahjumma shook her head, “I’ve only dusted the table, the walls, the ceilings, and only changed your bed sheets. Why?”
So Rae shook her head frustrated.
“Maybe Victoria took it?”
So Rae’s eyes shot open wide and she started up the stairs. Opening the door to Victoria’s bedroom she went through her closet, her drawers, and paused when she saw the necklaces she kept in her drawer. Turning away from them she wondered where Victoria could be keeping it. Did she know about the necklace? Did she know that it belonged to her mother? If she took it, why?
/\_____/\
Hopping off the taxi, Victoria tilted her head up high trying to get a peek of the house inside the tall gates. No matter what, she had to retrieve the necklace back. She had to return it to her father.
Ringing the bell, she waited for someone to answer her.
“Who is it?” a male voice questioned.
“Victoria, I came to see Park Myung Soo.”
Pause.
“Wait a moment.”
Victoria glanced around wondering if anybody was watching her then turned when the door unlocked. A thin tall man greeted her and led her toward the large three story house. She was amazed to see that Myung Soo’s house seemed larger than hers.
The doors were engraved in stylish engravings and a large mellow yellow hallway greeted her. Paintings and abstracts of all sorts hung alongside the hallways dotted in gold frames. Before she could look around anymore they’d already reached the end of the hallway and she spotted a long yellow marbled stairs leading up to the second floor at the corner of the round hallway.
The man knocked on the door and opened it.
Victoria took the notion to walk in and found Myung Soo sitting behind a large elegant light brown desk at the back of the room. Her mentality opened its mouth open wide when she realized that the room was larger than hers and Myung Soo’s office at the company. She didn’t miss the heavy chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Even the wallpapers were dotted with glittery silver swirls, nothing of what she had seen anywhere. Everything about him was suddenly becoming more suspicious, stranger, and scarier.
Myung Soo laughed, “My! How did you make your way over here? What can I do for you, Victoria?”
Victoria walked toward bravely taking note of the three men standing alongside the walls, those of whom she didn’t recognize. There was an open doorway to her right and she wondered if he had more men behind there because she doubted that he’d have a kitchen full of treats back there.
Pausing in front of the desk she said, “Where’s my mother’s necklace?”
“Oh? So you finally realized the importance of it.”
“Give it back.”
“Things certainly aren’t free in this world.”
“I’ll get So Rae out of the company, please give it back.”
Myung Soo laughed.
“I’m afraid you made the wrong move by coming here so impulsively,” he warned.
***Victoria's back to defending her family and Donghae again. She finally finds out that it was her mother's necklace she'd rescued in the beginning and given away to Myung Soo. He's the man who was after her and Donghae since the beginning, it's gonna mean trouble heading to his place :/
***I'm feeling so pained and depressed lately :/ It's the last time I'll be seeing SJ do promotions before their number in members dwindle down again :( My heart's going to break when Leeteuk goes to the military, I know I'm going to cry already :'(
Comments