Chapter 28

“Good morning Bora, how are you?” Tiffany gave the old lady her best smile.

“Tiffany, you are back.” They embraced, “I haven’t seen you in a long time. How have you been, dear?” Her eyes sparkled.

“I’m doing good. I just got back from France & I brought something for you as well.” She lifted the large paper bag that held the gift.

“You didn’t need to do that. I have everything I need.”

“Bora, would you mind if I spent the afternoon here? I mean, I really missed the books.” The maid patted her hand & shook her head.

“Of course, you could spend the afternoon here. You don’t even need to ask.”

“Thanks, Bora. I have a book to add to the collection.” Before she turned towards Taewoong’s room, she handed Bora the paper bag, “This is for you, Bora. Just think of it as a birthday gift since I wasn’t here to celebrate it with you like I did every year.”

“Alright then. I will take it. Thank you, Tiffany. Go on now. I have some things to do in the kitchen.” With that, both of them went their separate ways.

Just before she could even insert the key, someone addressed her, “Tiffany, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at home?” She froze. Tiffany could ask him the same thing.

“I...uh, came to visit Bora. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the office right now?” She began to panic. This had never happened before. She had always made sure that he wasn’t home before she came here.

“I had left a document in my room. If you came to visit Bora, why aren’t you in the kitchen? That’s where she is.” Tiffany could hear the anger in his voice but why was it even there? It wasn’t like she was trying to set the house on fire, “& what are you doing trying to get into my brother’s room?” He snatched the key from her fingers, “Who gave you the key?”

“Your father did. Now, give me back the key, Jaejoong Oppa.” Her attempts to retrieve the key failed. He was much too tall.

“No. Why did my dad give you the key to Taewoong’s room? No one ever goes in there except for my mother & now she’s not here anymore.” She could see the flash of pain that ran through his eyes.

“Oppa.” Tiffany didn’t know what to say, “Here, let’s go in your room. We need to talk.” He didn’t even protests when Tiffany took his hand & guided them towards his room. When they finally situated themselves on his bed, she took both of his hands in hers, “Oppa, tell me what’s bothering you please?”

He didn’t reply immediately. It took him a while before he found his voice & began to speak, “It was because of me that Taewoong died.” He took Tiffany into his arms, “When I was little, I always played with these miniature cars. I had spend the whole day in my room, building racetracks with whatever I could find in my room.” He hesitated & then began again, “My brother was never the type that liked things like that. The things he treasured most were his books. Everywhere he went, he would have a book with him. I was the exact opposite of him. I hated books. I loved cars. I was only three when I saw a miniature car in the window of a shop. I wanted it so badly but the shop owner wouldn’t sell it. Of course, being the stubborn kid that I was, I begged my brother to get it for me. No matter how much money he offered, the shop owner still shook his head and said, ‘Not for sale’. It didn’t end there. I would stand in front of the shop, just eyeing the figure. Of course, I wasn’t the one suffering. Everyone else was. The chauffer had to wait endless hours until I would finally get back into the car. It was a cold winter day when something happened. That day, I saw the shop owner taking the car off of its stand in the front window. I had no clue what I was doing. I just knew that I had to get the car before that man did so I popped open the