They traveled along the white concrete quietly. There were a few Lexus cars that strolled passed but other than their presence no one seemed to be lounging around. Donghae assumed that the people in the Park Side were often too busy making money to even bother with the outdoors. Well that only meant more time for him to be with Victoria. He slightly chuckled to himself before they reached a large golden gate with two stocky brick poles at either ends. A large sign with letters in gold on the arc above read: Park Side Village. 

 

“Wow,” Donghae mused, “it’s like a total rich village within a city.” 

 

Victoria made no comment beside him. 

 

Donghae led her forward down a rough paved path which extended in all directions, a grassland and trees also available for sightseeing there. Donghae led her down the paths toward the large brick exterior buildings. They were really as stunning in reality as they were in those house magazines he’d seen at the mart. A variety of cars were parked out front neatly and Donghae spotted a mother walking out with her young daughter toward their white Benz. 

 

“Wow,” he mused again impressed before pausing to stare at the brick buildings. “So neat, huh?” 

 

He turned to Victoria to see her staring without much amazement, her eyes browsing around for something. What was running through her mind? Donghae wanted to know so bad. 

“Are there any more over that way?” Victoria pointed down the path to her left which was suddenly blocked off by a large gold gate, and it was closed even in broad daylight. 

 

“Ah…we can’t go over there,” Donghae shook his head, “that rich guy’s house is over there. Um….I think his name is Yoon…Yoo…oh, that’s right! Yun Man, yea it’s Yun Man. His house is located over there privately.”

 

“Is that so?” Victoria asked. 

 

“But I heard he doesn’t have a security system like that Gi Su,” Donghae whispered, “he uses security guards which patrol his billion dollar home. I heard he has a good collection of gold and silver antiques that his father bought with bazillions of money. And they’re of important worth to his family line, which means they pass things down from generation to generation. Interesting, right?” 

 

“Yea,” Victoria did sound interested. “Well, I guess there’s not much to see here.” 

 

“Oh? But weren’t you going to talk with an executive about buying an apartment?” he asked when she turned to walk away. 

 

“I can do that with Seohyun next time,” Victoria replied, “I just wanted to look around some and know where this area is.” 

 

“Really?” Donghae asked. “Then do you want to do anything else? Seoul has a lot of good restaurants and famous sites.” 

Victoria looked at him as if she were unsure of it. He watched her face fall into deep thought for a few minutes while they stood there in complete silence. Donghae began to feel maybe she didn’t want to do anything with him after all. Besides, just exchanging phone numbers didn’t mean that she had the same feelings for him as he did her. 

 

“Well, you know, you don’t have to - ” he began. 

 

“Why not?” Victoria smiled calmly at him. “I don’t go around much anyway. Show me what Seoul has then.” 

 

\ \ \ \ \

 

“Please wait here,” a middle aged woman with hair in a tight bun at the back of her head said before walking away, her long black navy dress trailing at her ankles. 

 

Luhan watched as she turned around the corner before turning to look around the fresh room. A large glass vase filled with morning flowers sat in the middle of a long table at the opposite end of the room. By staring at the family photo on the wall he assumed it was their dining room he was standing in. while waiting for the woman to return with Lee Sook Chin, his father’s best friend, he walked over to the tall window in front of him. 

The sun shone in brilliantly flashing a hot heat over his head as he stared out into the backyard overgrown with flowers and bees buzzing around. 

 

The clicking of shoes made him turn around to see a broad man in front of him and the woman from earlier beside him. She set a tray of tea onto the long table before bowing to Lee Sook Chin and walked out, her dress swaying with her movement. 

“Luhan!” Sook Chin sounded thrilled when he walked over. 

 

He put an arm around Luhan and patted his shoulder like a father would. 

 

“Why are you back so soon? I thought your father sent you abroad.” 

 

“I’m back for the holidays.” 

 

“Is that so? Have you gone home?” 

 

“I’m staying with a friend during the meantime,” Luhan explained, “I visited Gi Su earlier, so I decided I should visit you after.” 

 

“Ah…is that so?” Sook Chin asked before urging him to sit down on the soft velvety couch newly imported. “I heard there was an attempted break in.”

 

Luhan nodded. 

 

“It’s a relief nothing was taken, but what could have been their motive? It’s really strange,” Lee Sook Chin shook his head. “Lets not talk about that, how have you been Luhan?”

 

“I’m good,” Luhan smiled, “have you heard anything about my father?”

 

“Ah…your father,” Sook Chin said, “he hasn’t been getting much news coverage after all. He’s been kind of busy and really quiet lately. I, myself, haven’t heard from him as well. Oh, Luhan, I heard your mother went back to China.”

 

“I heard about it,” Luhan said without a smile, “do you know why it happened?” 

 

Sook Chin, his father’s best friend, was one of Luhan’s favorite business persons. Not only was he kind, but he was righteous as well and conducted his work with respect. He was definitely a very generous man who often donated to charities and even appeared at such events to encourage business sponsors. There was one time when he’d even volunteered in the Red Cross willingly. Luhan had always looked up to him as a child and he knew for sure that Sook Chin wouldn’t lie to him about anything. He highly believed that Sook Chin had nothing to do with the ‘Golden Mary’ but he would have at least heard about it. 

“I haven’t heard from your father in months,” he explained, “I heard the news from An Kor when I met him at a convention about investing in NASA’s outer space project.”

 

“An Kor?” Luhan repeated. “Uncle, have you been to the business meet a few days ago? The one held by Ha Dong Ju? Or have you heard about it?” 

 

“Ha Dong Ju? The scammer?” 

 

Luhan nodded almost furiously eager to for any information. 

 

In the end, Sook Chin shook his head, “I haven’t heard about it. There’s been talk about it amongst my peers, but I don’t know anything about it. Why? Did something happen?” 

 

“Oh…yea…there was an attack midway through the speech,” Luhan went on, “there hasn’t been any news on it?” 

 

“Not at all. If it were in the news it’d definitely be cause an uproar,” Sook Chin opinionated, “but isn’t it dangerous if there was an attack?”

 

“I don’t know what happened either,” Luhan honestly said, “but An Kor was there. My father’s business isn’t in that line of work, do you know anybody An Kor’s related to in the business circle?” 

 

His uncle shook his head again, “I’m afraid I don’t know.” 

 

Luhan let out a disappointed sigh.

 

“What is it? Are you bothered by something?” Sook Chin wondered. 

 

Luhan debated to himself if he should let Sook Chin in on the ‘Golden Mary’ or not. Yet, why did it seem like Sook Chin was clueless about it?

 

“Haven’t you heard of any gossip?” Luhan asked. “I know for sure it’s spreading from business to business. Investments have been socked and small business owners have gone bankrupt. There’s been a line of those kind of businesses that have gone out of play. Uncle, what about the government banquet a few weeks back? Did you not receive an invitation?” 

“The banquet for the businesses?” asked Sook Chin. “Yes, I did receive one, but Chun Hee fell sick so I couldn’t go. What about it?” 

 

Luhan narrowed his eyes and fell into thought again. So Lee Sook Chin hadn’t been present during the time of the banquet whereas everyone else had gathered there. As a man he didn’t quite focus on gossips either. Did he honestly not know about the ‘Golden Mary’? 

 

“What about gossip? Hasn’t there been some hot gossip running amongst your friends?” Luhan pondered on. 

 

He was actually praying now that Sook Chin would have something for him. 

 

“Uncle, you really don’t know about it?” Luhan asked, eyes wide, head shaking from side to side. 

 

Lee Sook Chin frowned at him, “About what?” 

 

Luhan stared at him, every other noise unable to make its way to them. All had silenced, doubts drained away. 

 

“That the ‘Golden Mary’ is gobbling everything up.” 

 

\ \ \ \ \

Donghae had led her down the streets, to food stands and paid for her share, he showed her popular shopping districts, they went through Dongdaemun, and he showed her a variety of areas popular with tourists. 

 

It was already late into the evening when Donghae ran back to her with an ice cream cone. Victoria was sitting somewhere along the stairs of the large library enjoying the warm breeze blowing at her. After walking for such a long time she was starting to feel hot and maybe a little tired, but Donghae seemed as energetic as a 12 year old child. 

 

“That was fun, don’t you think?” Donghae asked a little breathless. “They have a 3D museum somewhere too.” 

 

“Maybe we can save that for next time,” Victoria suggested eating at her ice cream. “Don’t you get tired of Seoul sometimes?” 

 

“Yea, that’s why I take a trip every now and then,” Donghae told, “to refresh the mind and revitalize the body. I’m starting to feel so much more alive now.” 

 

Victoria glanced at him. He seemed a little more carefree than she’d expected. 

 

“Are you here alone in Seoul?” she asked. 

 

“Yea,” Donghae nodded tilting his head up. “For as long as I can remember, I don’t even know my parents’ faces anymore.” 

 

“Yea?” Victoria asked. 

She watched him smile. Whether it was for self comfort or a smile that all was ok and it didn’t matter anymore. Victoria was suddenly beginning to wonder if he was the kind of people who really did anything seriously when the time called for it.  

 

“My father was a druggie, he’d abuse my mom and sister. I would have heard it every night but I was just 2 years old, so even if I heard it I didn’t understand. My sister left the house when I was 5 then my mother followed when I was 8. I was left alone when my father was killed in a gang fight,” he went on, “oh well, none of it could have turned out much differently. I’m just lucky I’m a bit smarter than the rest of those brats out there.”

 

Victoria felt kind of sorry for him, honestly. It didn’t seem to hinder him much though. She assumed it was because he’d often been left alone as a child, so being alone in adulthood wouldn’t be much of a difference. On one hand, it would have been easier for him to survive since he was a boy. Then on the other hand, he would have had it hard because he was a boy. Homeless boys were often targets by gangs, murderers, and people who dealt with business she didn’t know about. When Victoria really thought about it, it would have been easy to get him into the trafficking line of business.

 

“One difference is that they have no family when I had one to begin with,” Donghae told, “the other,” he turned to look at her with a soulful smile, “I have luck on my side.” 

 

She stared into his gleaming eyes before turning away. 

 

“You really are carefree,” she commented quietly.