CITY HALL, SEOUL

Monday 4th of March

A few days with Jiyong in Cape Verde, a kiss on New Year Eve, as well as a few dates a week and Sandara was already head over heels in love with him. But the problem was that Kwon Jiyong was acting hot and cold.

They would hang out together from times to times and she would accompany him to some official appearances but then she wouldn’t have any news from him for at least a week. Basically, he reached out for her in public, but behind the cameras he would just ignore her. And as much as she wanted to put some efforts in their relationship, she had others things to do. She had to prepare for her exams as well as starting to write her essay before completing her degree.

On his part, Jiyong was harassed by his father. Kwon Seoyuk had never managed to become president, and now he was doing everything he could to put his son on top. The Kwons were the descendants from a North Korean family of aristocrats and no matter what Kwon Seoyuk did, people didn’t consider him a pure South Korean citizen. He was a Korean businessman, investor, and politician known for his high-profile positions in South Korea. The man went as far as he could in his career, but now things were going to change. He had a lot of projects for his favorite son.

Jiyong was not the only son Kwon Seoyuk and Kwon Boram had; there were three Kwon brothers. However, Jiyong was the one who was most likely to succeed in politics. He was intelligent and charismatic. When he spoke, everybody stopped to look at him. Also, he had a good public image, Kwon Seoyuk had made sure of that. Indeed, he had enlisted Jiyong to the army as soon as he graduated and had made everything possible so that he would be affected to the Republic of Korea Air Force for 24 months. During his military service, Jiyong had learnt to pilot an aircraft and how to use air defense artillery such as KP-SAM and K200 KIFV.

Jiyong had enjoyed his military service, but he knew that it wasn’t his fate. The Kwon men were politicians, not servicemen. After almost 24 months of military service, Kwon Jiyong met a girl that was living in a small town near the border. She was a refugee from North Korea. Surprisingly she had managed to escape North Korea by crossing the lake that separated North Korea with the Mongolian desert. In China, she was lucky enough to find a family that helped her transit to South Korea. At that time, Jiyong really liked the girl. He and her flirted for two weeks before Kwon Seoyuk heard of this and put an end to the fling. Jiyong and his father had a huge discussion over the girl, as Jiyong wanted her to come back to Seoul with him. But his father was already thinking ahead of time. How would the citizens react if they learnt that his son’s lover was a North Korean refugee that might be a spy?

All his life, Kwon Seoyuk had tried to hide his North Korean origins for the sake of him family but the prick he had as a son was about to ruin everything by falling for a girl he knew nothing about. As he always did, Kwon the father settled the situation by giving a big amount of money to the girl and asking her to disappear in return. And even though Jiyong thought he was in love with the girl, he forgot about her as soon as he got back to Seoul and started going to mundane parties all over again. The girl would never have fitted in his world anyway.

However, there was one thing Kwon Jiyong had managed to get without his father’s help. It was the respect of his commandants. During his time in the army, Kwon Jiyong had worked hard so that people would look past his last name. By the end of his service, he was rewarded with a medal of merit with two other comrades. Back in Seoul, his father had thrown a “welcome back” party for his son and he announced to everyone that Jiyong had decided to go in politics.

In the end, Jiyong was torn between fulfilling his parents’ wishes by properly dating Sandara and living the life he had always imagined for himself. However, today Jiyong had to ask Dara a favor. Being the Mayor of Seoul, Jiyong had to do many apparitions and try to go to every places he was invited. This time, he was invited at Seoul Child Hospital in Seocho-gu, to pay a visit to the children there. But when Jiyong had received the invitation, both his and Sandara’s name were written in it. The people from the hospital were hoping that she and him could read a few tales to the children. Thankfully, Sandara had accepted to accompany him without arguing much. However, seeing how desperate he was to make her come with him, she forced Jiyong ask the question again, telling him to call her  “My honey bunny” instead of "Sandara". And to think that he had taken her for a mature woman…

After her morning classes at university, Jiyong had joined her in a traditional Korean restaurant. While they were eating, he noticed that she was barely touching her food, as she was making sure that the bodyguards accompanying them were eating well. Jiyong thought it was a nice gesture of her, nevertheless he felt compelled to put some more food in her plate, reminding her to eat too.

As they arrived at the hospital, they were welcomed by several members of the board and some nurses that led them through the hospital. They visited almost ever