Swiss Stakes

Her Most Treasured Possession

"There, how does that look?"

"We're against the light."

"But we have a good view behind us."

"She'll only see a white window from where she is."

Se-ri walked to the couch then, the selfie camera moving along with Jeong-hyeok trailing behind her.

"Here," She sat cross-legged and tried propping up the phone on the low table in front of the couch. "Give me the vase." She extended one arm as Jeong-hyeok handed the coffee table vase that would double as a dock where her phone would lean onto and facilitate a video call.

Jeong-hyeok reached out to adjust the phone himself so it would show their faces more and not their chests.

"Okay, ready?" Se-ri turned to her partner looking fresh from the shower with side-swept hair and a beige mandarin collar linen shirt, complementing her blush pink elbow sleeve dress. One might say her outfit was rather plain but it brought attention to her diamond heart dangle earrings. Her hair cascaded down her left shoulder.

She scrolled past her list of contacts and selected the person they intended to call. It was 3 pm in Seoul, her mother could be having tea at her desk. After Se-ri called her a few days ago to say she had landed in Switzerland there had been no further conversations.

"Se-ri ya" Han Jeong-yeon was expecting a voice call, so to see a live camera window was a surprise. More so the fact that there was someone sharing the screen with her step-daughter. The attention shift to Jeong-hyeok had her momentary frozen. "Ah Jeong-hyeok..."

Jeong-hyeok bowed low.

"Eomma," Se-ri had not seen her mother interact with Jeong-hyeok but she knew that such a meeting had transpired and was intrigued to see how they related with one another. That was one of the reasons why she wanted them to arrange the video call, "I thought we'd surprise you."

"I didn't expect to see you two. It's good." Her mother nodded smiling. For most of Se-ri's life she had known her to be icy and stoic, the icicles only melted a few years ago. Jeong-hyeok would not know any of this, it seemed her mother had not been shy to regard him with the same kind of warmth and trust she showed her step-daughter now. "How are you?" She asked, but her line of sight was directed at Jeong-hyeok.

"I'm well," Jeong-hyeok assumed full formality with his stance in the manner that he sat and spoke, "I hope you are doing fine, eomeonim. Thank you for the gift. It's very kind."

"He's wearing it now. It looks great on him." Se-ri pointed but it's not visible from the camera, "You wrote him a letter?"

Jeong-hyeok kept calm but not wholly unbothered as his eyes rolled over to Se-ri. Se-ri kept her focus on her phone screen.

"I did." Her mother responded coolly.

"Is it a secret letter?" Se-ri asked.

Her mother weighed her response with the calm lifting of her teacup, "It's been a while since I last talked to him so I wanted to write him a note." She smiled at Jeong-hyeok, "He can tell you if he likes."

"You heard her." Se-ri faced Jeong-hyeok.

"She said, 'if I like'." Jeong-hyeok quoted.

Se-ri would have snorted fire. "What, are you two talking behind my back?" Only within Jeong-hyeok's earshot.

Unaware, her mother made a new inquiry, "You have seen Se-joon and Hye-ji, I assume."

"Yes," That unfortunately was also one of Se-ri's topics for discussion. "They're really serious about this. Have they been calling you?"