49
Their Kingdom Panorama
/\_____/\
“Hurry up, I’ll be there waiting for you.” Victoria quickly sent the text to Donghae.
Setting her phone down on the square table she glanced around the soju tent then rubbed her hands together. Amidst the others with their friends in the tent Victoria felt as if her heart was even louder than their chatter. For once, she was excited. It’d really been a while since she’d gotten together with Donghae, just the two of them. She could feel her cheeks turn pink from just thinking about it.
Imagining how much fun they’d have together helped her pass the minutes that came and went by. After another 30 minutes she picked up her phone to crazily spam him with her texts.
“What are you doing?” a voice asked as his hand slammed down on the table loudly.
Victoria looked up to see Donghae still dressed in his work uniform.
“Took you long enough, do you know how long I waited?” Victoria questioned.
“Point is: you shouldn’t make the birthday boy wait, but it’s fine if birthday boy makes you wait, got it?” he told.
Victoria sneered at him.
“This is it, the drink I promised you,” Victoria offered him a shot.
“I’m forbidding you from drinking more than three shots,” Donghae explained.
“What? Why?” Victoria asked. “I’m a good drinker, besides you don’t have to worry about me.”
“It’s not worrying,” he corrected, “it’s being cautious.”
Victoria frowned at him.
“Delicious!” he exclaimed after downing it.
Victoria watched him with a smile lurking over her face.
Donghae glanced at her, “What is it?”
Victoria turned away feeling her heart race. She’d suddenly realized that she never knew he was such a looker.
“Thank you, for the birthday present,” he thanked, “since it was a birthday gift, I’ll accept it. If there’s anything else from you, I don’t think I can accept it.”
Victoria turned to look at him suddenly wondering why he was saying this to her.
“About your feelings, sorry,” he apologized, “I don’t like you that way.”
Victoria’s world shook and came to a standstill. It was hard to pull a smile on her face even when she wanted to. It was suddenly so difficult to respond to him, it was so hard that her heart was suddenly trying to tear apart her rib cage. Her heart was screaming, pounding against her ribs as if it had arms of its own.
“Yah…” Victoria said unable to bring that smile onto her face, “I didn’t bring you here for that…”
“I know,” he told, “I just want to clarify with you…”
“Why? That you like unnie?” Victoria asked. “You’re going to tell me that you’re crazily in love with So Rae unnie?”
Donghae stared at her bewildered.
Suddenly overwhelmed with so many emotions flying from all over Victoria said, “I know, I know that you like her. I know that you’re angry, that you dislike me for becoming Cho Kyuhyun’s fiancée, but have you ever thought of asking for my side of the story? Have you ever thought that I didn’t want it in the first place? And here you all are, talking about it as if I asked for it in the first place!”
“Victoria,” Donghae warned.
She caught his eyes skimming around the tent as others turned to stare.
“I don’t care if you don’t like me that way,” Victoria told, “but I like you and I still want to be your friend.”
“Why are you acting like this?” he asked.
“Because you’re being like this,” Victoria shook her head.
Donghae stared at her with a small frown, “Don’t be like this toward me.”
Victoria let out an exasperated laugh, “Like what? Awful?”
“Yah…” he started.
Victoria turned away, “Sorry, for being like this. I should apologize for having feelings for you. I’m wrong, yes, I’m always in the wrong.”
Getting up from her seat, Victoria walked out of the soju tent and sped down the sidewalk glad to see the crowd that had formed that night.
/\_____/\
Donghae got up and went after Victoria. He hadn’t meant for it to become like that. He didn’t think he’d hurt Victoria. Wasn’t she supposed to be the woman of steel?
When he stepped out of the tent he couldn’t see her anywhere. Whether she’d gone down his left or right, he couldn’t know. There were so many people there that night that the sidewalks were surprisingly packed. He squeezed his way through the crowds quickly browsing around then came to a stop.
What would he say to her if he found her? He honestly didn’t know.
“Victoria, anyone but her.”
He suddenly tilted his head up toward the sky when a raindrop landed on his face.
Turning back to glance at the soju tent he whispered, “I never said I wanted to stop being friends with you, so why’d you get so upset?”
/\_____/\
It suddenly felt like such a nice fact that the sky was dark. The street lights dimly shone down on her, behind her, and before her, but she seemed blind to it. Victoria couldn’t see a single damn thing through her eyes at the moment.
No, she wasn’t crying. She was just too dumbstruck. Yes, she knew, she always knew that Donghae liked So Rae. It was only because there wasn’t a single good quality about her. Because she was mean, awful, bad mannered, always screaming, and angry. She could pretend to be as elegant as So Rae.
Victoria let out a pained laugh as she stopped in her steps. Half glancing down the now almost empty streets she wondered why was it that the people she wanted to understand her never understood her?
Closing her eyes she raised a hand up to her face.
“Get a hold of yourself, Victoria,” she self talked, “this is only the beginning. If you sink, you lose.”
Heaving a deep sigh Victoria glanced up at the crying sky and pressed her lips together.
“You knew, you couldn’t depend on him as a friend. No one wants you.” Victoria told herself. “It doesn’t matter if I’m alone, I can do this by myself.”
Leaning against the empty building behind her Victoria dropped her eyes upon the small puddle that had formed on the ground.
/\_____/\
Gripping onto the blanket as hard as she could So Rae felt the tears slip unwillingly through her eyes. The feeling of abandonment, her mother would never understand. Why was it that her mother was suddenly up to taking the responsibility of being one when she initiated the divorce? So Rae couldn’t bring herself to understand.
An hour later when her tears had dried, So Rae made her way down the stairs toward the kitchen for a glass of water. However, voices made her stop on the middle of the stairway.
“You’re only home now? Your father was looking for you hours ago,” the nanny scolded. “And look, you made the ground dirty. Where have you been getting all soaked and wet?”
So Rae peeked over the thick white railings to find Victoria standing there silently. Victoria was really drenched.
“Sorry, I’ll change first then come clean it up,” Victoria offered.
“Look at you…the person who brought you up must be proud,” the nanny snickered behind Victoria.
So Rae quickly made her way down the hall and hid behind the corner to watch Victoria make her way up the stairs.
“And where have you been? Suddenly acting pitiful.” So Rae muttered.
/\_____/\
After throwing on a dry t-shirt, an old one of hers, Victoria made her way down the stairs in her cut-up jeans. She was sure that if the nanny saw her again she’d start scolding her for having such poor fashion. It was the last thing Victoria needed to worry about, though. She was suddenly feeling that the branded clothes she wore everyday didn’t suit her anymore. Suddenly, she wanted the old clothes she used to wear. Jeans and just a t-shirt always did her good.
Searching the kitchen for some dry towels she went back to mop the puddles she’d created all the way from the front door to the stairs. Victoria wasn’t really surprised that the nanny hadn’t bothered to touch it. What did she expect from the nanny, anyway? Victoria had suddenly dropped the expectations she had for so many others.
Tossing the towel away, she made her way toward the kitchen and searched the fridge for something to eat. When she discovered that the nanny had thrown away the leftovers from dinner she grabbed a box of cereal and poured it into a bowl.
“Is this what they’d call midnight breakfast?” Victoria asked herself trying to create a laugh, but it was an absolute failure.
Heaving a short sigh she sat down at the lone table and ate by herself.
“Would you take the honor of accompanying me tonight?” Victoria asked the napkin holder on the middle of the table. “Sure you will. Why thank you very much!”
Quickly stuffing with the cereal, Victoria heaved another sigh.
/\_____/\
Donghae stared up at the dark ceiling uncomfortably. It didn’t feel right calling Victoria after they’d had their disagreement. He’d looked for her all night long, but couldn’t find her anywhere. Giving up on the thought that she’d probably gone home he also returned to the suite.
Seeing how Victoria had persevered by herself when they were kidnapped, he was sure that she was one to take care of herself. For some reason, though, he felt uneasy.
“I know that you’re angry, that you dislike me for becoming Cho Kyuhyun’s fiancée, but have you ever thought of asking for my side of the story? Have you ever thought that I didn’t want it in the first place? And here you all are, talking about it as if I asked for it in the first place!”
“Maybe you should start feeling bad now,” Donghae told himself.
Yes, it’d been true that he’d totally assumed everything else because why would So Rae lie to him about it? She was his boss and she was pitiful, so why would she lie? And Victoria should have said something if it wasn’t the way it was. Donghae nodded to himself.
“I’m not the only one at fault here,” Donghae said aloud, “yea that’s right. I’m not the one at fault here.”
/\_____/\
She’d wanted to sleep in. She still wanted to dream some more. She wanted to run away some more. However, the ringing of her phone didn’t stop. Giving up she reached a hand forward with closed eyes and picked up her phone.
“What do you want?” she greeted.
“Uh…did I wake you?” Kyuhyun asked.
Victoria’s eyes opened.
“No, I wasn’t sleeping at all,” Victoria lied.
She could see him smiling from the other end of the line.
“I was thinking about breakfast…”
Victoria smiled relieved, “Hold on let me get ready first. Where are you?”
“Beginning to depart from my home.”
“Ok! I’ll see you in 5!”
After hanging up Victoria tossed her hand phone onto her bed and opened up her closet. Then after a moment she decided to ditch the brand name clothes for her regular ones. The ones that had always existed before she left the prison.
“How could I have forgotten about you?” Victoria wondered. “Cho Kyuhyun.”
When she stepped out that morning she found herself kicking at the cement. The sun was peeking through the clouds then hiding itself again. Victoria wanted to play the same game but there was no point in hiding then coming back out again.
“Yes, that’s right,” Victoria told herself, “it’s a new day. Forget everything that happened the day before.”
Tilting her face up toward the sky she closed her eyes and calmly let the wind flow through her long hair. She turned to her left when the engine of a car interrupted her moment of peace.
She turned to see Kyuhyun’s car come her way.
Feeling excited she walked toward him and opened the door getting in.
“You’re excited this morning. I didn’t think you were outside already,” Kyuhyun commented as she pulled the seatbelt over her. “You were still sleeping this morning, weren’t you?”
“I wasn’t,” Victoria denied.
Kyuhyun half laughed at her before backing out of the driveway.
“You haven’t eaten, have you?”
Victoria shook her head.
“Cause you just woke up.”
“No, I was awake when you called!”
Breakfast went by deliciously. Kyuhyun had taken Victoria out to a breakfast restaurant and she’d busily stuffed herself with the food there. The milk at the restaurant seemed more pleasant than the one back at the large house So Rae and her father lived in. In fact, everything outside of the house seemed so much warmer.
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