SEUNGHYUN’S STORY

GUILT

“Ji, are you really sure that you’re up for a business talk now? I can wait you know. Plus, you still have guests…”

“Nah… It’s just a few cousins, Tabi hyung. In fact I don’t have the heart to see them.” Jiyong said dismissively as he closed the door to his study room with a fatigue expression wore on his face. Outside the window, my gaze found Madam Kwon’s figure, still surrounded by a handful of relatives who hadn’t had the good sense to leave like the other mourners. “If one more bloody hell -up tells me that Seungri was too young to die, you should be ready to call Lawyer Oh. I’ll find myself facing a charge for manslaughter.”

He didn’t look like as if he was trying to crack a joke but I smiled anyway. “I pretty much understand you.”

Jiyong moved to the polished mahogany bar opposite his desk, loosening his black tie on the way. He rolled up his sleeves as his eyes wondered around the rack, trying to choose whichever alcoholic drink can make him lose the sense of reality faster. “Can you imagine that Yuri had the nerve to ask if Seungri mentioned her on his will? She’s our cousin for god’s sake! She hadn’t said more than two words to Seungri since grandma forced him to her to her prom night.”

I moved to the bar too. “Yuri? Kwon Yuri? The stunning black pearl? Why on earth would she need a shotgun ? I don’t think that she would be having a hard time choosing someone to be her date.”

“Well, that was before plastic surgery and liposuction.” Jiyong held up a crystal decanter. “Scotch?”

I shook my head. “Sure. But plastic surgery and liposuction? Wow, that was just too mind blowing even for me to digest.”

“Well, just digest it, hyung. It’s the truth, whether you believe it or not.” Jiyong poured a generous shot for each of them, and then motioned vaguely towards one of the leather armchairs in front of his desk.

“Looks like even the goddess has a skeleton in the closet.”

“A skeleton in the closet, huh? Well, to be honest, everyone has one.  Who wouldn’t, right?” Jiyong said absently as though dismissing that part of their conversation and the irritating relatives who had inspired it.

Yeah, Ji. You’re right. Even I have one right at this moment. But the skeleton that I’m trying hard to hide wasn’t even mine to begin with. It belongs to Taeyeon. And Seungri….

I sat but Jiyong seemed too restless to settle down in one place. He moved to his desk and his laptop, then stood there looking down, sipping his scotch and tapping the keyboard now and then to write who-knew-whatever-in-his-mind.

I waited patiently. There were a gazillion business details that would need to be sorted out before I went back to Thailand. But those things didn’t matter for me. Not right now really. As my gaze locked on Jiyong’s figure, I began to analyze his feeling. It was a bad habit of mine. I knew very well that I was a man with a few words. Words weren’t really my biggest forte but that weakness of mine helped to develop something that I liked to call a six sense. I became good at reading people’s thought. And from the way things were going downhill, I was sure that Jiyong’s mind wasn’t on business. His mind wasn’t on finding which candidate would suit best to take Seungri’s place as the head of Bangkok Wisteria Hotels and Resorts. His mind wasn’t set on the expansion project that would double, nope; triple the amount of profits that the company might gain. Not really.

Jiyong had the look of someone who was being held together by willpower and wishful thinking.

Just like Taeyeon.

Jiyong’s emotional seams weren’t as visibly seen as hers; his sorrow was bottled up, sealed tight and vacuum-packed but the strain was there. And indeed I was worried for both of them.

Even with the effect of the scotch, I was still at war with my conscience, trying to decide what the hell I should do with the skeleton in the closet that Taeyeon had trusted me with. Was I supposed to have faith with Taeyeon’s confidence and let her struggle alone throughout the pregnancy complicated by grief and unstable financial support? Or should I do what Seungri would have wanted me to do if he knows about the pregnancy and let the Kwons bear the responsibility of her pregnancy on his behalf?

Kwon Seungri, tell me! What on earth should I do? With Taeyeon’s sky high pride and Jiyong’s emotional cut from losing you, what is the best way to wrap up this mess?

“Hey, Tabi hyung, how do you feel about taking over as the CEO of Bangkok Wisteria Hotels and Resorts?”

Jiyong’s questopn ended with a long silence so abruptly that it momentarily drove Taeyeon’s pregnancy issue completely out from my mind. The offer wasn’t unexpected, though. I was Seungri’s second in command after all. “I’m up for the challenge. I think I can manage handling the Bangkok’s branch while overseeing the problem in Indonesia.” I replied, not trying to sound cocky or overconfidence.

“No regret about having to stay put in Bangkok?”

I shook my head. Unlike Seungri, Tiffany and I were very happy in Bangkok. “No. Fany would throw a fit if I tried to apply for Seoul’s branch. She made quite a few new friends in Bangkok and she’s very fond of living there at this moment.”

“Then, you’ll take the job?”

A sudden feeling of hesitation began to pile up. “Maybe. But not before we talk about the Vietnam’s expansion plan.”

“I’m gonna postponed that plan for a while.” Jiyong said as his brown eyes portraying coldness, not even flickering with the emotion that I knew should have been there. The emotion regarding the reason Seungri had been on the doomed jet. “I’m putting a team to assess the expansion and reevaluate Seungri’s last few reports. I need to determine if he has some solid reasons to oppose it.”

“Well, that’s a wise idea, Ji…”

“But a little too late isn’t it, hyung?”

“I didn’t say that, Ji…”

Our gazes loc