Amber moved, taking the old lady's hand and sitting by her side, hoping that she would be nothing like her own grandmother who could be sexist to the core. The lady tilted her chin, eying her from side to side like prime meat and even stroked her strange pixie ears. But Amber truly didn't mind, as she too scrutinized the lady before her. Age didn't do much to her skin, and only her eyes that were heavily lidded and slightly murky depicted her status.
"Have you eaten?" his grandmother murmured in dialect Korean. It was a heavy language that snarled and growled if used with a lower, raspier voice. Others might be afraid of her words and the seemingly hostile tone, paired with the cold, sharp looks of the matriarch of the family. But Amber understood her words as clear as day.
"Yes, the buffet was good. I enjoyed the appetizers, ma'am, " she answered much to the surprise of the occupants in the room.
She'd learnt satoori from her soulmates, and the one that Casper's grandmother spoke in was the dialect she used with Sieon. She could lie and say that she learnt it to respect his culture, but truthfully it was because Sieon spoke jejueo when he talked in his sleep. And Sieon's dreams were important for her future, including the wet ones.
"You speak dialect?" his grandmother gasped. "My boy doesn't." Casper. And so did the rest of the room, judging from the blank looks in Claudia's eyes and the confusion on Casper's mother's face. They didn't understand. Dialect seemed to not be a part of their extensive repertoire of skills.
"My soulmate does."
"One of your seven," she nodded, letting her chin go to lean back against the soft chair. "You have a very strong soul. A good sign for strong soul nourished children." Grandmother chuckled. "They say geniuses and prodigies are always born from big families like yours. My soulmate was the child of a big soul family too, but a single father, multiple mothers."
"Different times," Amber pointed out. Ah, the obsession with blood and lineage. Cliché and boring.
"Perhaps. The competition dictates that you complete this test," the older lady gestured towards her helper. She nodded, pulling forth a paper that Amber took quickly with two hands. "The results will be compared with the rest of the family."
Amber cringed, lips parted at the strange mathematical questions on the first page. The second section was, as predicted, chemistry and physics. She flipped through it noting the topics on economics, business and politics. Even a section discussing the news related to the media. The language portion featured traditional Chinese and Russian, both she did not know.
"I planned to draw on the paper," she admitted, setting it down after a quick look. "I won't complete it. I don't even plan to try."
"Draw?" Grandmother raised a brow.
"Casper and I discussed it. I didn't think you would look at it, but we pictured psychologists and mathematicians marking my work. So I planned to draw penises on the paper." She shrugged. "I'm an artist. I didn't study for this. So I thought I would show them my prowess in a different way. But still, fail of course."
"And now that you know I look at the paper, what would you do?"
"I will censor it and draw elephants instead."
His grandmother threw back her head and laughed out loud, cackling madly at her words as if Amber had spewed the most hilarious crap in the world. The rest of the occupants in the room stared at her too, confused at what she'd done. But Amber paid them no mind, gapping as the old lady wiped her eyes and called for tissue.
"The truth is, young girl. The company is not my creation, although I do now own a large enough portion to own it. It was my soulmate's and I too have no understanding of this paper. Truly, experience triumphs." She smirked. "I paint as a hobby. I painted the portrait you see above us of my husband when we were younger." Amber's lips parted into a scandalous gape, surprised to find someone on the same wavelength as her.
"You wouldn't have been mad if I drawn dicks on my test?"
"No, I drew plenty of my husband in my younger days, nude art was a hobby of mine. I do have a few still stored away for my private viewing," the older lady sighed. Damn, grandma was nasty. "But I cannot give you the shares. I created the competition hoping to give women more power over the men in our family. It wouldn't be fair if I didn't give everyone a measurable chance."
"But, why include me?" Amber asked. "Casper made it clear that I didn't want to be a part of this. Is this really just about equality?" The older woman smiled, it was then as if the fog lifted as her eyes grew sharper and more cunning. A trait that resembled Casper's own ability to transform from the clumsy sweet giant to the dangerous, swift leader.
"Your soulmates work in entertainment. They raised a child from nothing. And that child burned the hand that cared for it. You could protect them if you had an insider's role, provide them with more exposure on the media. You could push them higher from where they fell. Absolute protection," Grandmother smirked, "will make them invincible."
"I'd be like a corrupted shareholder." But Amber knew she was right. The only reason why idols fell from stardom was because of scandals and a lost of interest. If a celebrity remained, always good, always in trend and always in the public eye. They would never fall unless they chose to retire.
"Idols pay news agencies all the time. The royalty, the rich, they all do it too. It's what makes the media profitable, that and the scandals they raise." Grandmother smiled. "Don't you have issues you want to put up? Things your soulmates faced that didn't go resolve? Problems you faced? I've heard of how you struggled to meet Casper. Soul flowers...Right?"
A shockwave danced through her veins at her words and Amber's mind crashed as she was yet again reminded of the true conflict that battled in her heart. It came with the surge of pain that never left, the anger that burned deep and full.
"D-do you know something?" Amber gasped, body shaking at her words.