After leaving the hotel with her new, high-strung husband, Seohyun was preparing herself for a world of pain and sufferring. Though she was already the owner of her father’s company, there were still a lot of doubts in her mind as she was still a young girl. A young girl who was raised by a strict family and maintained her innocence til this day. Seohyun was really very easy to manipulate as she had a penchant for pleasing people so Yonghwa knew that with a little bit of sweet talking, he could get what he wanted.

 What did Yonghwa want in the first place?

 Seohyun and Yonghwa left the hotel as soon as the lackluster heir was able to straighten his act out. Their limousine was already waiting for them at the lobby and the bellboys helped them with their bags as the elite couple entered the elongated vehicle. Seohyun wore a pretty white dress which was a little above the knee while Yonghwa stuck to his blue shirt and black slacks. The whole time, they had one topic on their lips: The Seo business and fortune.

 “So are you really confident that you and your financial advisers can run the company?” asked Yonghwa with concern. Seohyun was just fresh from crying and Yonghwa was just fresh from throwing up and getting rid of all the substances that he drank, snorted, injected, and took in the previous night. Seohyun knew that he was up to something but not letting this judgemental thought of hers get the better of her, she confessed.

 “No.” Seohyun looked down disappointed. It was the truth, actually. No way could an 18 year old like her, an innocent 18 year old like her run one of the biggest companies in Korea. No matter how many financial advisers she had, she was still listed as incompetent, especially since she hadn’t finsihed her college education yet. Yonghwa, who had just graduated with a degree in Business Management, street and book smart, entrepreneurship running through his veins, Yonghwa deemed that he was the better businessman between them.

“Obviously. You’re only 18 years old and studying.” Seohyun nodded her head, refusing to make eye contact with him. Yonghwa took her hand in his, making her turn her head towards him. “You leave it all to me. When we get home, we’ll talk about this.”

Their limousine reached the new home that Yonghwa’s parents bought for the couple as a wedding gift. Of course, being a wealthy family, they bought a medium-sized mansion for their son and his bride. It had 2 floors, marble-floored, with an indoor pool and all these ameneties. The house was complete so all they needed to bring in were their clothes and personal belongings. As for the furnitures, the mini palace was complete. When Yonghwa saw it, he was filled with pride and joy. When Seohyun saw it, she was filled with dread and sorrow.

“Well come on in, this is our house isn’t it?” Yonghwa took her hand and led her to the inside of the mansion. Seohyun wasn’t blown away anymore as she had been living in a mansion all her life.

“It is beautiful. I suppose your parents adjusted the tones to my liking.” she said referring to the tones and hues of the house. The colors appealed to Seohyun. They were so vintage-like.

“Yes they did. And if you take my hand and follow me, I can show you a surprise.” Yonghwa extended his hand and led his wife to the second floor. Seohyun was bewildered and confused as Yonghwa ran up the stairs like a little kid. Upon reaching the second floor, he presented the music room to her. Delight filled Seohyun’s heart, replacing the sadness that it felt this morning.

“Can I go in and check it out?” she asked sweetly. Yonghwa nodded like a gentleman, a far cry from the monster he was earlier before they left the hotel. Seohyun gently touched the knob, carefully turning it for fear that something might spring up or she might see something unsightly. When she opened the door fully, she saw the pastel colored grand piano as well as other musical instruments sitting prettily in the music room. Seohyun ran as quickly as she could inside and tried the piano. She played her favorite piece, impressing Yonghwa.

“Mom was right about you. You are a great pianist.”

“I’ve been one since I was a kid.” Seohyun replied, not looking back and continuing with her piece. “My mom taught me, actually.”

“Wow. Home schooled.”

“Yes.”

“That’s good.” Yonghwa said.

“Do you mind getting our things, please.” Seohyun ordered for the first time. Yonghwa frowned upon this and said,

“I have far more important things to do.” he walked up to her and pat her back a gesture urging her to get off the piano bench and transport their things from the car. Seohyun took this hint and not wanting to subject herself to even more pain in the hands of her occasionally abusive husband, she stood up and walked down the stairs to get their things.

Going down the stairs, Seohyun felt the urge to wander around and feed her curiosity when it hit her that she had to get their things. Seohyun hurried down the stairs and went straight to the car to gather their things. A butler hired by the Jung family saw her struggling with the bags and offered his help.

“Thank you.” Seohyun said. The butler smiled and helped her get their things up. Boxes and bags of things were brought up to their rooms. Yonghwa just stood there watching his wife and the butler put boxes down on the floor. Once all the bags and boxes were brought out of the car, Seohyun talked to Yonghwa and asked him to help her organize things. Yonghwa stood there and watched as she tried to unpack.

“I guess you could do this on your own. I have some other things to work on.” Yonghwa left Seohyun in the room. With her messy hair and pale face, Seohyun sat on the floor and began to fix their things starting with the clothes box. One box in particular read “Sentimental ”. Juding by the penmanship, you could tell that it was written by Yonghwa. Disregarding the profane word written on the box, Seohyun opened it and saw all of her memorable things in it. She took them out one by one and revealed a snow glass ball, a locket, a key and a heart keychain, a small feather necklace from when she was a young child, a diary sealed with a heart lock and a key dangling from it, her ballerina music box, and something that she had never seen before. Seohyun pulled out a green lantern with a note attatched to it at the back.

When you feel sad, this shall guide you to the right path. Seohyun was touched by the message and acquired a brand new object in the form of the lantern. It was green and though it only occupied a small space, Seohyun felt that it could definitely shine a lot of light on her life which was starting to become gloomy. Seohyun put it on her be and began digging through the box. She fished out a familiar looking object: the picture of the small boy whom she was really determined to find.

“I didn’t know you would follow me all the way here. Good thing someone remembered to include it in the box. Seohyun took the other things and arranged them in the room that she would share with Yonghwa, placing the picture frame on the sidetable drawer on her side so that she would wake up to its pure and innocent face every day. The music box, locket, and other senitmental objects were either kept in the cabinet or placed on the dresser. The green lantern-which was a secret gift from her father-was placed also on the sidetable drawer.

In order to celebrate the coupl’es wedding privately, Yonghwa held a special dinner inviting only family. Since Seohyun had no more family, this was more like a dinner with the Jungs. Seohyun rolled her eyes, obviously still tired from the trip and the fixing of things.

“Do we really have to do this?” she asked her husband. Yonghwa was like a girl, preping himself up for the dinner, fixing his tie and cuffs, spraying perfume. Seohyun on the other hand just slipped on one of her used little black dresses and tossed her hair up a bit for some volume. She believed that simple is beautiful and she didn’t need a fancy stylist to make her look beautiful. Natural was the way to go as she refused to put on make up and had only one jewelry on her: the copper locket that she found in the box.

Come dinner, the Jungs were greatly surprsied to see Seohyun’s natural beauty radiating all over the house, She was very simple but it brightened the palce up. The lack of cosmetics allowed her natural beauty to shine through. Yonghwa could only look at her with lustful, not loving, eyes. Seohyun looked at her in-laws and bowed before them, turning to Yonghwa next and honoring him with a bow. Yonghwa just nodded and waited for her to sit down. Seohyun’s simple slinky black dress accentuated her small frame.

“Good evening, our dear daughter in law.” said Won Hyuk.

“Good evening.”

“We are gathered here as a family to privately celebrate your wedding.” Min Sung said. “Won Hyuk and I are very happy that you two are finally married. We are looking forward to seeing the two of you progress as a couple.”

“Let us toast to that, then!” Yonghwa said out of the blue, raising his glass of red wine and encouraging his parents as wella s his wife to toast with him. The family toasted and together they ate. Yonghwa noticed that Seohyun wasn’t very much into eating and was just playing around with her food. In the presence of his parents, he tried to act as loving and caring as possible though he was feeling extreme humiliation and frustration deep down inside.

“Seohyun, dear. What’s wrong? Are you sick?” Seohyun looked up at him, showing him her eyes which had red circles underneath. Yonghwa was terrified at the sight of her eyes.

“I feel terrible. Can I go up and sleep?” she whispered. “I am in no mood to eat.” Yonghwa was feeling really humiliated but tried to smile and whispered back.

“Just pretend that you are enjoying the food. These are my parents, for ’s sake!” he grunted.

“Okay.” Yonghwa leaned at her and said,

“Behave like a normal wife or else…” he grabbed her skinny arm and crushed it. Seohyun tried not to show a pained facial expression. Yonghwa released her arm and as soon as his parents looked up to speak to him while eating, he placed both hands on the table and smiled, acting like everything was fine. Seohyun did the same but inside, what she was feeling was the opposite.

Seohyun’s multiple sclerosis was acting up, that’s why! The whole time that they were eating, Seohyun was just bearing with the headaches and the migranes.

After the dinner, Yonghwa and Seohyun bade the parents goodbye. Won Hyuk and Min Sung were so happy for them as they looked so promising and prosperous together.

“We expect to see great entrepreneurs out of you two.” Won Hyuk gave his son a pat on the shoulder. “Good work, son.” Yonghwa fixed his tie and confidently smirked, turning Seohyun off.

“I’ve been good since birth dad.” he said. “Much like you.” Seohyun couldn’t take his airiness but it was okay with her. She loved him too much to hate him now.

The parents left and the doors of their mini mansion closed. When this happened, fear reigned over the household. Yonghwa loosened his tie and angrily shot glances at Seohyun who was fixing the table upon his orders, still in her dress.

“What did I tell you about misbehaving at the table?” he growled at her ear. “HUH?!?!” he leaned over and growled at her. Seohyun moved away and hastened her work.

“I’m sorry…” her head started throbbing as the tears fell from her eyes. The pressure and pain that she was feeling was just too much. “I’m not feeling well!”

“You’re not feeling well. You’re not feeling well!” Yonghwa slammed his hands on the table, making the utensils fly and fall on the floor. “If you’re always so sick why aren’t you even dead yet!!!” Seohyun cried at this. It sounded like a death wish for her. Why would her husband-whom she thought loved her-want her dead? Didn’t he marry her because he loved her? Didn’t he promise that he would love her forever?

“Multiple sclerosis is something I cannot cure!” she answered back, eyes full of tears. Yonghwa pushed her and down she went on the floor with the plates still in her hands. Of course, with her falling came the falling of the plates. The dishes crashed down on her body, leaving minor bruises.

“I don’t care if you have MS or AIDS! You live here, you follow me! UNDERSTAND?” he yelled. Seohyun managed a mere nod. Yonghwa wasn’t satisfied and opted to use violence. He grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the wall. The back of Seohyun’s head, which hit the wall first, started pounding even harder. The boastful and violent heir looked at his new wife who was wailing in pain.

“You ought to learn from the past! Whatever Yonghwa wants, Yonghwa gets! You live with Yonghwa, you follow his rules.” Yonghwa slapped her before walking away. Seohyun slumped on the floor and sat there til the pain left her body.

That very night, Yonghwa just left her sitting there in the kitchen. Of course, Seohyun couldn’t sit there forever! The weakened and battered girl stood up and made her way up the stairs though shaken and beaten. When she finally made it to the second floor, she fell to the floor and crawled to her room. Yonghwa was there on the king size bed, sleeping. Seohyun figured that it would be better if she didn’t make a sound. She reached for the green lantern and sat on the floor with it. Staring at it wouldn’t lighten it up but she didn’t have a match.

Yonghwa’s ligther she thought. But that would be one risky move as it could wake him up. Nonetheless, Seohyun gave it a try. She was lucky this time as she saw Yonghwa’s lighter just on the sidetable drawer, right next to the picture of the boy. She grabbed it swiftly and walked out of the room. Seohyun found herself seated near the bathroom with a lighter and a lantern. She looked at the detail of the lantern while crying her eyes out. The martyr wife tried to light the candle with shaking hands and tears dripping down from her eyes.

Appa…Appa…Appa… Seohyun cried and called for her dad as she watched the green lantern illuminate.

When you feel sad, this shall guide you to the right path.