Chapter 19

Her hands clapped around the blue IT world’s lightest IT-0-1 second generation 31” 2 wheeled upright packing suitcase loosened, dropping it onto the crystal floor with a loud echo. She tilted her head with the right corner of her dark red lips arching up. The house was a dead white place. Feeling the ugly gaze of Jaejoong’s maid, Tiffany angled her head, eyes questioning her, “Where’s everyone?”

“Why do you want to know?” Bong Cha asked, & walked away after giving Mr. Hwang a rueful stare.

Tiffany, frustrated already, rolled her eyes & turned around to face her father, “I’ll prepare a bedroom for you, dad. I’m sure people around her won’t mind.”

“We should have called first, honey.”

“It doesn’t matter. Here, let me carry that for you. Those stairs…”

“What are you doing back here?”

Tiffany stopped in her tracks from the loud voice of the housewife. She bit her top lips in annoyance, averted around gradually & stared up at Yoona as she descended down from the staircase! “I wasn’t note that I wasn’t allow in this house by the owner.”

Yoona reached the bottom of the stairs & walked forward slowly, taking just a small glance at Tiffany’s father, “You’re talking to the owner.” Her brows raised in a demanding way as she spoke. Her hands swung by her curvy hips as she continued to walk the short distance to Tiffany, “By my note, you’re not allow in this house any longer.” She nodded her head towards the elderly man, “You & your servant may leave this house immediately before I call the authority.”

Tiffany swallowed solidly, brows narrowed down hard. She unclenched her teeth, barely enough to said, “You’re dealing with the wrong people here, woman.”

“What do you mean?” Her gazed scanned down Tiffany’s body, unappeased. She dropped Mr. Hwang another small, familiar glance, “You’re placed under my nose, Tiffany. Don’t make yourself sound so high class. Truly, it’s not your type.”

Her hands balled up into a fists. Her arms lengthened its strength. About to step up to give the woman a warning, Tiffany was only pulled back by a hand on her shoulder. She looked back. Mr. Hwang shook his head, unsatisfied. A grimace crossed .

“Oh, maybe I was wrong about this man.” Yoona raised a beautiful, puckered thick eyebrow, “Is he your boyfriend? I never knew you liked old men, Tiffany.”

A disgruntled growl came out of violently. Shaking her father’s hands off her shoulder, Tiffany lurched forward, aiming for her beautiful rectangular-shaped face with a balled fist. Her only determination was to plant a purple bruise on Yoona’s face. She had waited too long & the way to success was just before her. Her fist was already out, just one inch from the face then she would be granted success but it stopped just so close. The tight grip around her wrist merged her blood to stop slowly. Her eyes were straight across from Yoona’s. The woman’s peachy pink lips were parted in surprise, still unable to move a muscle from the close hit.

Teeth gritted together too hard, the corner of Tiffany’s eyes stared at the man. She felt the anger & heat rising in her body. Her throbbing pulse at her wrist slowed down & yet, his hold tightened even more. She snatched her wrist away but his hand followed.

“You were about to hit my wife.” Jaejoong murmured, through gritted teeth. Tiffany studied as his eyes narrowed. She tried to break his hold unnoticed but he held on tightly.

“I believe that’s my daughter’s wrist you’re hurting, son.”

Tiffany felt him flinch & though, when she knew this meeting would happen, her heartbeat doubled its speed. The color of his face colored slowly with frustration. Jaejoong angled his head, staring straight into the aging eyes he hadn’t seen since the sentence of the man. A small muscle jerked unwillingly in his jaw. Then he loosened his hold on her wrist. Without any second to waste, she yanked her wrist back, holding it tightly herself.

A hand slowly touched her shoulder again, “Does it hurt?” She shook her head as if in another world & lie. Her eyes were focused on him as his were focused on her father. Mr. Hwang blinked, then looked back at Jaejoong, “I suspect you had treated my daughter like you have your new wife?” He took a short, detest glance at her as she had did to him earlier, “& I’m not only talking about Tiffany. I’m also talking about my Stephanie.” His voice was strong & firm, unable to tell the tremble that came in between, “I would like to have a talk with you now.”

“Dad.”

“You’ll stay right here, Tiffany. I’ll like to talk to this unknown man that married your sister without any notice from me. I know you had told me everything but after this unwilling scene, I doubt that I would like to leave here without any explanation.” He shifted his gaze to Jaejoong, “The way please.”

“But…”

“I promised your mother to return back as fast as I possibly can. To get this over with today would be lovelier than anything on earth.”

Before she could say anything else, he gave her a warning sign. Her lips clapped shut unyieldingly. Tiffany jerked her angry gaze to the man standing across from her. She swallowed thickly. He blinked briefly. She raised her chin as a sign of something she couldn’t quite understand. Everything, her father had said. No, she hadn’t told him everything. As she gazed into his eyes firmly, she saw the same thing that reflected from hers.

She wanted him to refuse the talk with her father. In his eyes, she could see that he was willing to do it & say the things he knew were the mere truth. As he moved a bit, Tiffany took a small step back in alert. He wasn’t about to refuse the offer of an ex-father-in-law.

Jaejoong turned around, making her walked forward but she stopped. It was impossible to intercept into the real game now. Though her footsteps remained glue to the crystal, white ground floor, her heart followed them as they walked down the dark hall with the echoes of heels clapping from behind.

Silence immerge but remembering that the woman was still hovering nearby, Tiffany angled her head, “You were in luck.”

Yoona opened & closed again & again, too shock from the scene. As she finally had her closed chatter box open again, her cheeks began to flush a deep red, “Your father?”

“Of course.”

The woman’s chin yanked up, reconsidering her slight slowness & changing back to her old self, “What are you doing back & with him? Are you trying to divorce Joongie Oppa & my marriage? Of course you can’t do that. It’s impossible.”

“I never said that I would. My dad just wanted to see the man that had killed his daughter.” Her brows met in the middle, thinking for a bit, “& you, who had destroyed their marriage life. Just see, Yoona, I’m not a nice woman & I never have been. See how it feels to be cheated on the one you love the most, especially by your husband.” A small sarcastic grin added to the end of her words.

Yoona stumbled back a bit, “Meaning?”

“I’m not meaning anything much. I just wanted to warn you.”

“You’re a little brat, Tiffany! I know what you’re doing. Your little trick & words can’t scare me.” She exhaled, “You were gone for a week, giving this house its peace at last but look what happened when you came back?” She threw her arms out, “You woke up the devil.”

Tiffany shook her head, not interested in the subject, “It was here before I had even stepped into this house. Besides, we were only present in this house together the night before I left for San Francisco. What do you know?”

A nasty grin crossed her lips, “You just watch, Tiffany. Soon enough, I’ll be the one kicking you out. I’m the owner now. Likewise, why would Oppa want to feed an extra when he can just kick you out?” Another smile, then she turned around, walking away, “Tell my husband that I’ll be back late.”

The curse that escaped Tiffany’s mouth flowed out as she was left alone. She started to ball her fists up again, but feeling the aching pain that climbed up her arm & then down her hand, she resisted the urge. She took a hold of her wrist with her other hand & examined it. The marks left by his prints were visibly red. Her shoulders stump & she finally let out a small groan. Deep inside of her, she knew that the groan wasn’t just for the burning pain that scanned across of her skin but it was a groan of confusion.

She knew well of his violent temper but never had she ever experienced his real abusive side physically. He had used his strength to almost her not some weeks ago but now, he was using his strength to hurt her physically, to protect the wife he never had loved. Or was she wrong?

He seemed to inhale; his shoulders & back straightened up. His ears listened at a short distance as Mr. Hwang approached after closing the door. Seeing his back when entering the door, he had never thought to spare a glance at the unknown old man but to save Yoona from the incoming hit but as he had observed him before, Mr. Hwang had seemed to change more than a bit from his experience of a prison life. His hair had grayed itself from the black color that used to shine in the sun.

Jaejoong had always observed the man from a far away distance eight years ago unnoticed. He was never spying upon him. Instead, he had always wanted to meet & discuss alongside him his relationship with Hannie, though he knew there would never be a chance. The thought of eloping had occurred more than once between his long lost love. Maybe the idea of eloping would have been better after all, instead of just keeping their love a secret & maybe, she would have never disappeared from his life.

Brushing his hair back, Jaejoong turned around to face the man in the billiard room. He had the dim lights that was hanging from above the pool table just after entering the room. It portrayed a shadow on the side of the old man’s face, making him a mysterious sight.

“My daughter isn’t a woman who is easily to be assaulted, Jaejoong. I know that she had almost hit your wife but there’s no need to be abusive to a woman.”

“Then you should know why I protected Yoona. She’s not a woman like your daughter.” He turned his face to the side, not trusting his hideous words. His hands slowly reached out to grab the eight ball.

“She’s a woman who doesn’t know her respects.” Mr. Hwang took in a huge breath, “But I’m not here to talk about your wife, Jaejoong. I’m here to talk about my daughter. You married her because of your father’s ridiculous contract after I was sent to prison. All against my wishes, even of now, I would have never let this occur just to learn that she killed herself.” He tried to keep his calm by putting pressure into his fist. His voice shook as he spoke, “Did you love her?”

Jaejoong rolled the eight ball along the green platform of the pool table. He slowed it down, looked over his shoulder at an angle & blinked gradually, “More than anything on earth.”

“Then why did she kill herself?!” Mr. Hwang exploded, almost stumbling onto his feet, “Why did you remarry not even three months after her death? My daughter isn’t just something to be thrown away, even after her death.”

He rolled the eight ball into the right corner pocket & turned his whole body around, “As a man, Mr. Hwang, I never had any intention of remarrying a woman so fast, just after my wife’s death. I never cheated on her. I loved her more than anything on earth, including myself. My marriage with Yoona wasn’t a choice. I didn’t have any way out of it. The two sole proprietorships that I’m in control of now would have never reached its history of credit if I didn’t married Yoona. The one that I’m running in San Francisco now would have long been demolished. What was I supposed to do? I learned that living your life as a mourner for your wife would never accomplish anything. This might sound as if I don’t care about Stephanie, Mr. Hwang, but I’ll never forget her.”

Jaejoong inhaled deeply & let it out ever so softly, “We went behind your back, dating each other for more than a year. I was in love with her, so was she with me. We planned to talk to you someday about our relationship but we never got to it. She was afraid that you wouldn’t permit our marriage. Eloping had crossed our mind more than we can count but to go against my father’s wishes & yours, we resisted it. However, we never did think that my father would do such a thing. I somehow knew that he was up to something bad. I didn’t try to figure it out. Until it was too late. I never knew that my father was the real felon prior to Fany’s saying. I didn’t trust your daughter until I went in search of the folder myself.”

Mr. Hwang frowned, “How did my daughter get it then? It wasn’t a copy; it was the real one.”

‘She stole it. She got it through me. Untamable answers.’ Jaejoong thought undesirably, “I gave it to her. Knowing fully well that I’m the owner of a sole proprietorship wasn’t what I wanted. I don’t want anything that belongs to someone else with their hard work given into it.” He grunted a bit, “We will get this deal with soon. I’ll hand your business back over to you as soon as we get the incorporate fix & sign.”

“I didn’t come back here to take over my office room again. It’s not what I want. You keep it for all I care. I had already informed the county board of trustees. My two daughters are more important for now.” Mr. Hwang raised his chin as Jaejoong arched a brow, “To give you a punch on the face was the first thing that occurred on my mind after learning that my daughter’s life had ended but I detest violence. Why did she kill herself? You as her husband should know.”

His heart heaved. To tell him the truth was to tell him a lie. A disappointment, he didn’t know the answer himself but he knew who were involved in it.

“Depression.” Jaejoong responded slowly, his heart aching to the very bottom, “She had been experiencing some difficulties with her stresses.” He swallowed, almost unable to, “I’m sorry I haven’t told you this before but she...she was five months pregnant.” He brushed his hair back, feeling his own stress running over him, “I told Mrs. Hwang before the funeral. She asked me not to inform Fany about it & I did as asked. However, Fany figured it out just after the funeral.” He peered up from looking at his black stacy adams prescott shoes.

“I’m guessing your wife had already told you?”

Mr. Hwang nodded, eyes closed & then they fluttered back open melancholy, “My daughter knows that we know. She feel quite displeased after thinking that she was trying to keep a secret her mother. I don’t blame her. She always tries her best not to keep the burden on us.” A small smile lifted up his lips, “Tiffany told me that she knew about your relationship with Stephanie.”

“She did. Hannie half-pleaded her to keep it a secret away from you & Mrs. Hwang.” Jaejoong grimaced, unsatisfied with the thought he was now having. What would have happened if he had fallen in love with her instead of Stephanie? He shook the thought out of his head, “I’m sorry for all of what my father & I had caused. Maybe eloping would have been better for me & Stephanie after all.”

“It would have been better than not seeing her face.” Mr. Hwang remarked slowly, “Though her sister & her are twins, I still miss seeing those two beautiful faces together.” He took in a deep breath, not believing that his promise of keeping a hard & firm talk with the young man would come to an agreeing decision, “My daughter & I would be staying here for a while. It won’t be long. I just want to visit Stephanie’s grave. You won’t mind, would you?”

Jaejoong shook his head, “Of course not. Stay as long as you please, Mr. Hwang. I’ll sent one of the maids to get a bedroom ready for you.”

“Thank you.” With one more look at the young man, Mr. Hwang turned his back & walked out silently. Closing his eyes desperately, Jaejoong leaned back against the pool table, letting the dark, jarring silent surround him for a while. His thoughts sloped back into the memory he had had with her that night.