Crash Landing on You - Edelweiss Diaries

Part 20 - Homecoming I

And the screams from the reporters gathered outside the entrance reached her. "Yoon Se Ri Depunim, is this all staged by you?"

"Yoon Se Ri Depunim, is your father truly hospitalized?"

Se Ri. The quiet around her was now absolute, while the words shifted and tumbled around in her head of their own accord. Rise.

It was all him. Her hand fisted by her sides, her gaze unseeing at everything in front of her. There was no longer a question in her mind and unawares, she took a step towards the door.

Her brother cussed more, however, the words didn't penetrate the bubble of betrayal that consumed her then.

The car drew up to the lobby stairs and she ambled out numbly while still being pulled hither and thither by a sea of reporters. Secretary Kim and a few of her office staff contained the throng, even as she settled inside. The car door was closed shut and the driver navigated the swarm of people chasing them on either side of the vehicle. Eventually, the car sped past the crowd and the world fell away outside the window.

Her phone buzzed then and the distinct tune indicated that he was the caller without her having to take the phone out of the bag. She let the call go to voicemail.

They have been married for nearly three years and yet, the man was still secretive. It was as if a part of him was ever shrouded in darkness, one where his fears and insecurities lived and led to the overprotection she was now beginning to resent. If surprises were at one end of the spectrum, being outsmarted by him was at the other.

He was thoughtful to a fault, ever attentive to the extent it bordered on deference at times. In the beginning, she felt spoilt and pampered. The distance and separation always cast a rosy tint to the moments they spent together. Like that of a fairytale prince, he was charming and mysterious and she could only fall harder for him. However, over the years the silences did add up too. The number of things he didn't tell her in the name of love, to protect her had turned into piercing thorns in their relationship.

The trauma from the time he was imprisoned at the detention center was an elephant in the room. His night sweats or the patrol walks he took around the estate grounds even during witching hours, were never discussed. He never sought her for the times he silently sobbed playing Schubert's Fantasia, the four hands piece he'd played with his brother long ago. For the instances, she ventured into the piano room inquiring if he was ok, he would readily mask the deep sorrow inside him with a fake smile and the assurance that he was fine. To date, he'd never mentioned the several boarding passes to Seoul she'd sighted in a shoebox in the closet of their swiss home. Then there was the matter of why he slaved day and night for his already successful company that reaped in tens of millions in revenue. Partly, she'd assumed that he wanted to measure up to a wife whose net worth was in hundreds of millions. But there was no saying what moved the heartstrings of her Ri Jeong Hyuk. Was it love or fear of losing that love?

And today, she couldn't help but feel she'd lost control over her life to his obsession for discreetness and her body shook from the tears that rose to her eyes.

Her phone rang again and she picked it up this time.

"Everything ok?" He was anxious at the other end. "How did it go at the meeting?"

She swiped at the tears and the latent anger flooded her voice. "You really don't know Ri Jeong Hyuk'sshi?"

"Alright, you are mad at me again," he said and the taunt in his words aggrieved her more.

"You are really going to keep up that innocent act?" She said with a measured pause.

"You have to tell me which part —"