Entry :: {43}

“Is your wedding and Shin Eunkyung’s still proceeding as planned?”

“What do you have to say about Naomi Jung’s act towards Kim Sohee, the second daughter of Welix Enterprise and the co-founder of Chasung Tourism, Kim Taehyung?”

“As Naomi Jung is currently in probation for the crimes she had commited, do you think this will affect Royal Duo greatly?”

“What are your plans for now as the heir of the Royal Duo?”

The questions never stopped and it took Daehyun a tap on the mic to hush the reporters and media in the press conference hall. The doors then opened, revealing an elderly man in an automated wheelchair. He drove himself next to his son and seeked attention from all the media by raising his right hand. Flashes blinded their eyes followed by shutters of the camera that seemed to annoy Daehyun regardless being used to hearing them.

“Royal Duo is ultimately sorry to be facing this mishap. The outcome of this controversy resulted in the loss of trust in our partners as well as sponsors that we had been maintaining good relationship with throughout our 21 years of success. I, the founder of Royal Duo, am extremely sorry for this incident once again. For putting someone irresponsible on the front line and greatly affecting our political ties was definitely something regrettable. But if the country is still willing to spare us a second chance, I will be more than glad to show you what the heir of Royal Duo is capable of.” He then bowed slightly to the crowd to which Daehyun was awfully in shock seeing this was the first time he had ever heard his own father talking ever so highly about him.

Daehyun bowed as well and the media was taken aback as the sound of the shutters slowed down and they indecisively lowered their camera. Mr Jung then raised his head and greeted them with a smile before turning to his only son.

He then shifted his gaze back to the reporters and continued, “As for the wedding… It shall be called off.”

Mr Jung said no more and made his way to the exit. Daehyun followed suit behind him and they stood outside in silence as the reporters in the hall were full of questions.

“You did a great a job over these few years while I was away.” His father complimented him again. Daehyun thought he deserved that praise. After all, it wasn’t easy to manage such a big firm under the leadership of someone whom he disliked the most.

“I had a few people to look into why that woman instructed the JK group to terrorise our partners’ children. It all makes sense now and I can’t believe I let her be a part of our family for as long as you’re alive… I’m very sorry on my part on raising you up, Daehyun.”

He would be lying to himself if he said he didn’t feel like he was on the verge of crying as he heard that from his father. Daehyun grew up all alone, without any love that a child should receive. But as his father put aside his pride to apologise to him, he felt that those years never mattered.

“It’s… it’s alright, I learned through the hard way, didn’t I?” He only smiled with a tear strolling down his cheek.

Mr Jung cleared his throat. “I’m sorry for what happened to your friends. If only it wasn’t greed that Naomi was focused on, I believe all of us could have been in a better position by now.”

“What do you mean?” Daehyun asked.

“Naomi… She became this way when I told her about my plans of marrying you off to either one of the daughters of Welix Enterprise. She was in contact with the JK Group for as long as Sohee was apart from her family.”

Daehyun felt his knees went weak. How could she…

“The reason why she became a very capable person is because Mollin Tolls’ owner, Mdm Shin, brought her up to where she is today. When Eunkyung and you were born, they made an agreement that both families should be tied to a marriage by our children when the both of you are older. But I never knew about it. When I heard Mrs Kim gave birth to beautiful twins, there was a thought of uniting our families through a marriage between you and either one of the them. But apparently, my plan was getting in Naomi’s way of pairing you up with Eunkyung…”

“And I was informed that Naomi knew the people of JK Group even before she met me. The worse thing she did was to take away the lives of Taehyung’s parents who had been working for the Kim's family and ruined his life since young by forcing him to deal with drugs. She took this chance to pull Sohee away from her biological family and that’s how things happened. What happened to Taehee was also one of her doings. I’m at loss for words… I didn’t know the reason to all of these until now and I’m extremely sorry for whatever the Kim family as well as Taehyung had to go through all this while…” He lowered his head in extreme guilt as he explained all of it to his son.

It only made Daehyun burn with rage thinking about everything again. Sohee who was separated from her family since birth, Taehyung whose parents were brutally murdered in front of his eyes and Taehee who died a miserable death all because Naomi had plans of marrying him to Mollin Tolls’ daughter as a payback to Mdm Shin?

It was unfair that this many people had to suffer just because of their promise.

-

Sora sat in the wheelchair as she played with the strands of her hair. She hummed along to a song as a nurse accompanied her for a walk. Out of the blue, the nurse gave her courage and motivation to complete her therapy.

Sora laughed and squinted her eyes on her.

“Did oppa pay you to say this all the time?” The nurse then broke her eye contact with Sora, partially agreeing to it.

It made Sora clap her hands and then nodded in acknowledgement. Of course her brothers would do such a thing. But now she’s left to wonder, was it Taehyung or Himchan?

“But even if they didn’t tell me to remind you, I would say it to you everyday! Why are you wasting your life like this? You gave up too soon.” She exclaimed but Sora only scoff at the same words she would listen to each day without fail.

“It’s just impossible to walk again… I’ve been doing therapy for what, two months now? But nothing changed for the better. I’m still like this and I will be like this.” She sounded a little down from the way she sighed but Sora just accepted her fate.

She then felt a tap on her back and she turned around to see someone offering an ice-cream tub with a small plastic spoon in his hands. Sora shook her head even though her smile grew wider. She snatched the ice-cream without a thank you and ate it whole-heartedly like a child having their first taste of the dessert.

“You’re one spoiled brat.” He commented which made her giggle.

Taehyung thanked the nurse and said that he would continue the walk from there. Sora then remembered this very path that Taehee used to walk her. She only smiled at the remembrance of her twin sister even though she knew her not for long.

“This place holds a lot of memories…” She uttered.

Taehyung nodded silently, knowing what she meant.

“That court in front there… do you remember? He knelt there for the entire night to show how sincere he was. I can’t believe I was in a wheelchair the previous time too. I’m fated to be in this.” She chuckled and patted the side of her wheelchair.

It somehow hurts Taehyung to be seeing her like this. He knew that she tried in every therapy session. He once monitored her session to see how she was coping and the day where she was supposed to stand on her two feet was when she cried and yelled a lot, hitting her numb legs for not wanting to cooperate.

“Oppa?” She called out and Taehyung snapped out from pondering.

“Sohee… I’m not supposed to tell you about this yet but there’s a reason why we’re not letting you meet him.” Taehyung sat at a bench in front of her and held his own hands tightly.

“We thought that it’d be better to let you focus on receiving your treatment before you meet him… But you talk about him everyday and I learned that the only way to give you more strength is to bring him to you.”

Sora blinked repeatedly, understanding her family’s concern on this matter.

Taehyung then nodded to somewhere behind her shoulders and Sora turned around in surprise. Taehyung stood and turned the wheelchair around for her to meet him and he then left the scene silently to give them privacy.

Both of them had nothing to say as it hurts to even say ‘hello’.

Sora looked down in shame as he was seeing her in such a condition. A condition whereby she was now handicapped and there was nothing beautiful about her anymore. The tub of ice cream then fell on her hospital gown as she raised her hands to hide her face.

But what welcomed her next wasn’t something she was expecting as a pair of arms wrapped around her neck and she felt warmth on the left side of her face as his cheek rested against hers.

“When was the last time we met?” He asked.

“Two months ago… when I was shot…” She started to break into tears remembering him and Taehyung by her side until she closed her eyes in a chance full of uncertainty as her soul was hanging between life and death.

“Really? I met you last night, though.” He whispered once more in her ears, soothingly. Sora whined louder when she learned that he had been visting her every night once she’s asleep as he was restricted from meeting her in the day.

Daehyun then pulled away from her and cupped her face.

“Why do you feel so insecure now? You think I’d love you less because of your situation?”

Sora slowly nodded and rubbed her eyes, still finding it hard to look into his eyes.

“You’re still as beautiful as ever, Sohee.” He smiled ever so gently as he shed a tear, wondering about the future that holds for him and her. Finally, this is the happiness that he had been wanting to seek.

Sora pulled him in for a tight hug and he laughed before embracing her in his arms as well.

“I love you, Sohee.”

“I love you too.”