Seungho shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the chef served them lunch in the grand dining room.  It’d been a few hours already since he’d arrived at the estate and, true to her word, she had him play the piano again all morning.  As the time neared noon, however, she’d ushered him into the dining room, where the table was set for two and waved for the chef to bring out the fancily prepared meal.  

Seungho was starving; he’d skipped breakfast and the only thing he’d had all day was the fancy scone the hwajangnim had offered him before sending him to the piano.  The heavenly smell of the food wafted to his nose and made him salivate with hunger.  

“I hope you like duck,” Bangna said, giving him a kind smile, “It’s my chef’s new recipe that he’d learned in China on his recent trip.”  

Seungho nodded, biting his lips to keep his drool inside his mouth.  He cleared his throat in embarrassment as his stomach growled loudly.  

Bangna laughed and gestured towards the food.  “Let’s eat,” she said, picking up her fork and knife, “Sungsu-yah... find us a good bottle?”  

Seungho watched as an older gentleman dressed in what looked like a butler suit bowed and walked away, leaving just the two of them in the large room.  A bottle?  A bottle of what?  She couldn’t be talking about alcohol could she?

“Well?  Dig in,” she said, turning back to Seungho and smiling.

“Oh, yes,” Seungho replied, nodding politely.  He grabbed his fork and knife and waited for the hwajangnim to start first.  When she did, he mentally cheered and also dug into the food.  To say it was delicious would be an insult to the chef.  The meat melted in his mouth and the herbed aroma floated through his senses, making him almost shiver with ecstasy.  The vegetables were also marinated and cooked to beyond perfection; he had no idea zucchinis could have such a crisp and sweet flavour.  It was possibly the best food he’d ever had in his entire life.

In the midst of trying to maintain composure while stuffing his face, Seungho noticed the butler return holding a bottle of what looked like white wine.  So she had been talking about alcohol…  The butler brought two large wine glasses and set one in front of each of them.  He showed the bottle to the hwajangnim, who nodded in approval, before uncorking it and pouring some into their glasses.

“This wine is one of my favourites,” Bangna said, swirling the wine glass and smelling the sweet aroma of the wine, “Quite aged too…”

Seungho accepted the glass from the butler and held it, unsure of what to do.  He was pretty sure he shouldn’t be drinking such expensive wine with the CEO, especially when it was only lunch time.  “I…” he said, trying to be polite, “I really shouldn’t…”

Bangna looked at him in pleasant surprise and asked, “Can you not drink?”

Seungho blinked and tried to come up with a respectable answer.  “I’m afraid I’m not very good with alcohol…” he said, trying to excuse himself.

Bangna scoffed and dismissed his excuse.  “A man should learn to hold his alcohol,” she said, “Besides, it’s just a little bit of wine.  Go on, try it.”  She smiled at him and waited as she swirled her own in her hands.

Unable to see a way out, Seungho nodded and placed the glass to his lips.  Turning to the side, he tipped back the glass and let the smooth liquid glide past his lips.  It wasn’t too sweet and had a rich aroma to it which complimented the herb duck perfectly.  

“It’s good isn’t it?” Bangna said, sipping her own and nodding in approval, “Definitely one of my favourites.”

“It is quite good,” Seungho agreed honestly as he set the glass down and admired the shimmering liquid.  

As the two resumed lunch, Seungho’s discomfort began dissipating; this often happened after he ate.  It was replaced with a sense of satisfaction that could only be derived from food.  As he set his utensils down, he glanced over at Bangna.  He was surprised to find her gazing back at him with a smile as she held her wine glass in her hand.  Her plate of food was, for the most part, untouched.

“Did you like it?” she asked, gazing at him with a gentle smile.  She sipped her wine but her eyes never left Seungho.

“Ah, yes,” Seungho replied, still feeling euphoric from the food, “It was very good, thank you.”

Bangna smiled and stood.  “Let’s move to the living room so they can clean up.  I wanted to show you some pictures of my husband; you must be curious about him since I brought you back to the estate,” she said, “I have quite a few albums… my mother-in-law was quite the photographer.”  

Seungho stood too and followed her into the living room.  It was his first time in this room and he wasn’t surprised that it was as spacious as the music and dining rooms.  There was a large white marble fireplace in the center of the room.  In front of it was a soft looking rug surrounded by comfortable sofas.  A large corner couch sat near the wall and faced an enormous television.  Seungho guessed that his entire dorm would probably fit into this one room.

“Make yourself comfortable,” she said, setting her wine glass down on the glass coffee table and walking over to a large bookshelf near the corner of the room.  “Let’s see… ah,” she said, taking a large album from the shelf and bringing over to where Seungho stood, “Please, sit down.”  She gestured to the large couch and sat down herself.  When Seungho hesitated, she patted the seat next to her and gave him a smile.

Feeling a bit awkward, Seungho sat down next to her warily.  He nodded his head politely as she scooted closer and opened the album on their laps.  For the next hour, she flipped through the album page by page and chattered away as they looked at old pictures of Lee Sukgyun.  At first, Seungho was more distracted by her proximity and didn’t pay too much attention.  However, as he began looking at the pictures, he noticed something quite peculiar, if not downright eerie.

Lee Sukgyun, in his teenage and young adult years, looked strikingly similar to Joon.  Seungho stared at one particular picture of Sukgyun in his early twenties and couldn’t help but notice the familiar eyes and lips.  He shared the same straight nose and his jawline was beautifully defined.

Seungho felt a shiver creep through his neck and he shifted uncomfortably, unable to tear his eyes away from the picture.  Now wasn’t that weird?  That the late CEO of Lee-Song looked like a vintage version of Joon?

“Are you warm?” Bangna said suddenly, snapping him out of his daze.

Seungho turned to find her looking at him, her eyes almost piercing.  “I… pardon me?” Seungho replied, not sure of what he’d heard.  His mind was still distracted by the photo and he couldn’t help but look down at it again.

“It is warm in here,” she said, setting the book aside.  

Seungho’s eyes followed the photo until she placed it on the other side of her.  He looked up as she turned back to him with a smile.  

“And you’re wearing a blazer, look at you,” she said in a motherly tone.  She gave him a disproving look before she made a ‘tsk’ sound with .

Before Seungho could react, she reached out and ed his blazer.  With ease, she pushed it off his shoulders and began loosening his tie.  Snapping out of his stunned state, Seungho stood abruptly and took a step back.  The hair on his arms stood on end as his heart raced in his chest.  “Ah…” he said, unsure of how to dispel the strange atmosphere.  What was she thinking?

“Oh, does that make you uncomfortable?” she asked, standing as well with a frown on her face, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.  I was trying to help you cool off; I certainly didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable…”  She trailed off, looking at him with a sad but motherly expression.

“No… that’s…” Seungho said awkwardly.  Was he overreacting?  For a second there, as she pulled his tie, her eyes looked… hungry.  But had he imagined it?  He did have a bit of wine and it was quite warm in the room… had he imagined it due to his discomfort?  “I’m… I’m sorry…” he said, unsure of what to say. 

Bangna dismissed him and gave him another warm smile.  “So it was a misunderstanding,” she said, pointing his blazer that was still hanging on his arms, “Why don’t you put that thing aside and let’s get back to the photos?”

Nodding, Seungho shrugged off the blazer.  But as she sat back down and turned to grab the photo, Seungho straightened his tie.  Regardless of what he saw in her expression, he definitely wasn’t comfortable with having a loose tie in the home of a big CEO.  As he sat down, he made sure to put a little more distance between them; fortunately, she didn’t seem to notice.

But as she began flipping through the photos again, Seungho’s eyes were once again drawn to the handsome young man in the black and white captures.  Entranced by what he saw, he tuned out the hwajangnim as she continued to chatter about her memories with her late husband.  As the photos became more and more recent, Seungho noticed the younger Lee Sukgyun age and soon, there were photos of him and a woman.  But… it wasn’t Song Bangna that stood beside the beaming late CEO.  It was another woman with long flowing hair and… the same timid but warm eyes as Joon.  Her smile, too, resembled Joon’s shy smiles; it was so beautiful that it felt haunting.  Again, Seungho felt a shiver crawl across his spine.  What was going on here?

“Hwajangnim…” he asked when she paused, “This woman…”  He pointed to the woman standing beside Lee Sukgyun.  Could she have been Sukgyun’s sister?

“Ah,” she said, her voice quiet, almost melancholy, “Bae Eunae… she was his first wife.”  She trailed off as her she gazed sadly at the photo.  “She died shortly after giving birth to their son… though I have only ever met her once, she seemed simply lovely and kind.”

Seungho glanced at her as she reminisced.  So… Song Bangna was the second wife.  Though he had known of the Lee-Song group, he didn’t have extensive knowledge about the company or its leaders.  And since he wasn’t interested in the personal lives of powerful business people, he had never known that the current CEO was the second wife.  

As he gazed at her face, he noticed her look of sadness and melancholy.  It must’ve been hard, at the time, to be the second wife of such a powerful man.  And then, to lose him years later…

Seungho sighed softly and looked at the photo.  “It’s funny,” he said absentmindedly as he gazed at Sukgyun and Eunae’s faces, “I have a… friend that resembles them a little bit.”  He smiled slightly as his eyes settled on Sukgyun.  He would have to tell Joon later that night; Joon would probably laugh at the absurdity.

“You do…?” Bangna asked, her voice quiet.  She had stopped flipping the pages of the book, her hands paused in mid-flip.

Seungho looked up, startled by her subtle change in tone.  She gazed at him with the same smile she’d worn all day except… something sparkled in her eyes this time that wasn’t there before.  Again, he felt the hairs on his neck stand.  “I-Is something the matter?” he asked, unsure if he’d said anything wrong.

In an instant, her eyes warmed into a smile and she shook her head.  “Of course not,” she said, “I was just curious about what you’d said.  About having a friend that looked like them…”  She trailed off and flipped the page.  “I… also recently met someone that resembles them,” she said, brushing her fingers over another photo.

Seungho blinked in surprise.  Was she talking about Joon?  The two did meet at the fundraiser…

“I believe it is your friend Lee Joon-shi,” she said, answering his unspoken question, “Quite a handsome lad; a striking resemblance to Sukgyun when he was in his twenties.”

“Yes,” Seungho said, nodding in fond agreement, “There are similarities…”  He glanced at another photo as she flipped the page again.  There were several pages of Lee Sukgyun with his first wife, smiling and posing into the camera.

“He reminds me Changsunnie,” she said, sighing softly as she flipped the page again.  On this particular page, the woman, Bae Eunae, had disappeared from the photos.  It seemed as if some years had passed and in his lap sat a bright young boy… that looked remarkably like Joon.

Seungho couldn’t help but reach out and touch the photo as his eyes widened.  The boy looked as if he was one or two years old, and held on to his father’s hands tightly as he looked into the camera with excitement sparkling in his eyes.

“That’s him right there,” Bangna continued, tapping the boy in the picture, “He was a cute little rascal; always running around the house with the Kim sisters.”  She shook her head and smiled sadly.

“Was?” Seungho asked, glancing at her.  Her expression was one of forlorn and sadness as she nodded.  He returned his gaze to the photos as she flipped to the next page.  There were more photos of the boy but it was clear several years had passed; the boy looked to be around eight or nine.

Bangna fell silent briefly as she stared at the photo.  “He… he disappeared shortly after his ninth birthday,” she said softly, “Well... more like taken from us.”

Seungho looked at her, surprised by her story.  The boy had been kidnapped?  He waited for her to continue but she didn’t, opting to gaze at the photo with sadness in her eyes.  Seungho looked back down at the photo too, feeling both intrigued and a little awkward at the sharing of such private information.  He at the next photo and suddenly felt the bottom drop from his stomach.  His heart went into overdrive as his eyes widened considerably.  He tried to control his expression but he knew he wasn’t doing a very good job. 

The photo he was staring at was a side profile of the boy.  He was dressed in a school uniform and the shot had been taken from the boy’s left side.  Again, the resemblance to Joon was eerie but that wasn’t what made Seungho’s jaw drop.  What drew his eyes was the small, but distinct, mole on the boy’s neck. 

Soyun played with her napkins as she tried to collect her thoughts.  She had learned so much about Cheondoong that morning that she had difficulties keeping up with everything.  She’d learned about his mother… and her involvement with Joon.  And as she’d thought, Joon wasn’t an ordinary person.  And from the sounds of the phone call she’d overheard that morning, things were about to get even more hairy.  

“Soyun-ah…”

Soyun looked up as her second guest arrived.  She swallowed the nervous lump in and watched as Jin sat down across from her, his expression one of confusion.  As usual, she became filled with emotion as she looked at him.  But this time, instead of anger, her mind buzzed with confusion and doubt.  The phone call she’d overheard that morning had planted a seed of doubt in her solid belief that Jin was the criminal.  But… what if what he had been saying all along was true?

“I’m surprised you called me,” Jin said as the waitress poured him a coffee, “Why did you want to see me?”

Soyun bit her lips as she tried to figure out the right way to do this.  While she suspected her father’s involvement in Changsun’s disappearance, she was still wary of Jin because she knew that he had to have been involved somehow.  And while she’d hoped to hear more of Jin’s side of the story, she had no plans of revealing to him that she’d suspected her father.

“I…” she started but frowned and sighed, “Tell me again… how Changsunnie disappeared.”

Jin seemed surprised by the request, and fiddled with his coffee silently before saying, “Why would you want to hear that story again?  I thought you didn’t believe me.”

“I don’t,” she said, “I just… want to hear it again.”

Jin took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair, his face suddenly grim.  “I hate games, Soyun-ah,” he murmured, “Games landed me in prison.  Why did you call me?  Just… get to it.”  He frowned and waited, his gaze firm but filled with worry.

Soyun mentally slapped herself for being too obvious; or maybe it was because Jin was just too good at reading people.  Still, she chose her words carefully as she said, “I called you here today… because I wanted to hear the truth about Changsunnie’s kidnapping.”

Jin looked at her and sat in quiet contemplation for a while before asking, “Why now?  Why so suddenly?  You never wanted to hear anything I had to say before so… why?”

Soyun opened but wasn’t sure how to answer.  Could she tell him that she may have found Changsun?  Could she tell him that she overheard her father talking about the past?  That he had been involved in the kidnapping?  And could she trust Jin?  He was the one that had been convicted of a crime; he wasn’t exactly innocent.

“You must have met Lee Joon,” Jin murmured, sipping his coffee.

Soyun’s eyes widened as her heart thudded heavily in her chest.  What did he just say?  “You… you know Lee Joon-shi?” she whispered.  But why?  How did he know Lee Joon?  

“It’s… a long story,” he sighed, “But I was right, huh?”  He chuckled and shook his head.  “You think he’s Changsunnie…” he trailed off, gazing at her.

Soyun kept her face carefully blank as she registered his words.  So Jin knew about Joon.  But… did Joon know about Jin?

“The hwajangnim,” Jin said, his voice dripping with distain, “She thinks so too doesn’t she?”  He looked at her pointedly before laughing.  “What’s she got planned?  Another kidnapping?” he asked sarcastically, “Or wait, let me guess, she’s actually going to kill him this time.”

Soyun felt her breathing quicken as she looked back at him.  He had guessed on the spot; she did overhear her father mention some of those things.  But… should she tell him?  How else was she supposed to get more information out of him?  He was too sharp to trick…

“I think…” she said, out of options, “That Lee Joon-shi may be in danger.”

Author's notes:

Oooh everybody's meeting everybody else!  I am SO behind on this story that I really need to pick up the pace if I want to get movin!  Stay tuned, some shocking stuff coming up!