Road To Reelection : Fragile Relations

Chapter 26 : Before the announcement

The White House

Following the success of the operations Sparrow Hunt and Patriot we returned to the White House with the foreign delegates in tow for a joint statement a few hours later. Curious enough dad went for a two hour nap while I stayed in my bedroom. "Hey cousin." Brian said, poking his head in my room. "Mind if you show me around?"

"Yeah sure." I said, jumping off from my bed. "So, where do you want to go?" the Secret Service's reaction towards Brian has relaxed a little considering that he's my cousin. 

"Well... everywhere." he replied. 

"Okay... that's going to be hard." I said. "Because the West Wing is a no-go."

"Man." he said.

"Don't worry, I can still show you where you can go." I said with a smile. "So, this is the Executive Residence, normally for the First Family. Some of the visiting foreign guests can stay here, like Winston Churchill for example."

"The history books rarely mentioned the White House. How long has it been here?"

"More than two hundred." I explained. "Burned down in 1814 and gone through major restorations and expansions. The West and East Wings are expansions of the White House, the West is where the President and I normally work at while the East is for the First Lady's and her staffs' office.

"If Aunt Alice was alive she would have been working there." Brian said with a sigh. We took the main staircase down to the State Floor where I spotted Jack, who is still supervising the preparations for the traditional meal session to host the foreign dignitaries for their working visit to the United States outside the State Dining Room. "Who's this guy?" he asked. 

"Good afternoon Madam Vice President." Jack greeted as he had heard us coming. 

"Brian, this is Jack Peterson. He is the White House Chief of Staff, his job is to keep the work traffic in the White House running smoothly and efficiently. Jack, this is my elder cousin Brian Park Jong Hyun."

"Ah, nice to meet you sir." Jack greeted. "Madam, would you please have a look at the arrangements?"

"Sure." entering the dining room the staffs has already laid out the state china for the dinner tonight. As both surprising and unusual President Reagan tossed the job in designing the state china for his administration to me. Every media outlet reported on the new china service after it makes it's debut in a state dinner for the visiting Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The china service became popular online as this marks the first china service to be designed by the First Daughter of the United States as my father was and still is, a bachelor. I opted for a simple but elegant design that includes a sapphire blue border with hand painted roses in purple inside the border and the presidential coat of arms in the center of the plates. 

"Wow, you put your favorite design on the china Isa. It's just like the same in one of your sketch books." Brian said. "You named the design Alice."

"Mom loved blue and purple. I created this design in her memory." I said. I walked around the tables to do a final check. "Everything's looking fine Jack." I told the chief of staff. Leaving the room I showed Brian the remaining rooms in the State Floor. 

"Candice and the others are sure to be jealous." Brian said as we stood at the Entrance Hall. "After all, I'm the first to visit the White House."

"Come on Brian. We know that's not. Chan walked the halls before he went to Silicon Valley."

"Minus him." he added. "And my dad, and my uncles." I laughed in respond. 

"Hey, Eagle Eye." someone called me in my Air Force call sign. We looked to the left where Jonathan is now descending from the Grand Staircase. "You haven't introduced Mr. Pilot over here to me yet."

"Oh, sorry. Well... not just you." I apologized. "Jonathan, this is my elder cousin. His name is Brian Park Jong Hyun."

"So that makes him my nephew as well." he said.

"What? Another uncle?" Brian said. "Oh man, I'm not prepared for this."

"Thanks for ramming the North Korean guys back then. Sorry about your suit though." Jonathan said, shaking Brian's hand. "You're a real pilot? Or it's just your cover in the NIS?"

"It's not a cover job." he explained. "I loved flying so I became a pilot."

"You doubled down, huh." Jonathan said. "Your younger cuz here is way more different, a FBI analyst and senior special agent."

"I knew that already. Not a big news to me." he shrugged. 

"How come I've never heard of you?" he asked.

"Brian flies around a lot and is not at home frequently." I replied.

"My boss in the NIS values me a lot." he added. "My dad screamed at me a lot for the constant flying."

"Your dad?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah, General Park of the South Korean Army."

"Holy shit." he cursed in a low voice tone. "That Gen in the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff?" Brian nodded. "Military blood runs in the family I think."

"Not just the Army, my uncles command the Air Force and Navy respectively." Brian said. "Of course we have no idea until we meet."

"My CO did say that your dad's tough as nails."

"You don't know his training regiment." Brian and I said in unison. 

"My dad is more like a robot, seriously." Brian added.