EONGDEONGI PANG PANG (helloooo any carats)
sorry for the delay in chapters guys :(( what are u guys doing for break? (NGOC IF U ARE READING THIS TAKE ME TO CHINA WITH YOU PLS)
That voice-
She whirled her head around. "I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else. My name is Cho Hyewon, not Lee. Kindly unhand me, sir," she says coolly, yanking his hand off her arm, not caring that someone could be watching them.
But before she could chase after Riki again, two steady hands gripped on her shoulders and made her stop. "Not so fast," Advisor Lee says sternly. His glasses perched on his nose glinted in the light. "You're still my daughter, Hyewon. Nothing can change that."
His daughter. She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of his statement. So he still had the audacity to claim her as his child? How funny. Now he came back, looking for an opportunity to talk to her, now that she was some kind of 'big-shot' for being the prince's guard.
All her etiquette thrown out the window, she bared her teeth before throwing her head back, letting out a humorless laugh. "Really? I'm your daughter? You lost the privilege to call me that 14 years ago. The moment you stepped out of Mom and I's home, you gave up the right to call yourself 'my father'. You denounced us as your family a long time ago. Don't you have another wife to bed?" she spat, boiling with animosity.
All of her past fury came back to her, feeding into her hatred for him. She hated him, the very sight of him made her want to snap something into two. How many days had she spent cursing his name after bringing so much pain to her mother? She growled under her breath, harshly jerking away from her 'father'. She had no time for this, she had to find Riki and apologize to him-
Lee Kangseok didn't wince at the abrupt action. "Needless to say, you have my blood in you. You remind me of myself when I was younger," he spoke firmly, "No matter how you try to deny it, your position, where you are now, it's because of your inheritance. You cannot change your roots. And you seem to accept Heeseung well enough. You should know fairly well that he's your cousin from my side of the family, not your mother's."
"I am nothing like you." Hyewon hissed. Everything seemed to be tinted red in her vision. "Blood does not define skill nor personality. How dare you claim my own merits as part of your own? Heeseung may be your nephew, but at least he was there for me more often than you were, Father," The word tasted sour in her mouth. She paused, "Oh, that's right. You were never there for me."
She stood there, staring defiantly at him, holding her ground. "There may have been a time where young, stupid me wanted you to come back, to fill the gap you had felt. But you didn't," she continued, "When I was five, I was foolish enough to imagine how our life would be if you ever came back. But then you got married again. You fathered twins with your new wife, so that got crushed pretty quick."
"Mom was heartbroken for four years when you left like that, no note, no explanation, nothing. You knew that, but you still did nothing. And now you are still shameless enough to saunter up to me like this?"
Hyewon lifted her head to stare at her absent father straight in the eye. "Don't come crawling back and ask for forgiveness when you still have not changed. You have no claim on the both of us. In the end, you are no better than a coward."
Silence. She watched as Lee Kangseok's eyes darted around the room, which was practically empty now except for some who lingered around to watch the child-parent drama. He sighed and lifted his hand. "Hyewon, I'm not here to argue with you-" he began before cutting himself off. "Let's not argue. What has happened with your mother and I has been put aside for years now, what is happening now is only the two of us. I only ask you to hear me out and respect your promise to your mother."
Her promise? A vague memory resurfaced her mind. Right, she had agreed impulsively to her mother's request. Hyewon frowned. "How do you know about that?"
"Your mother wrote to me not too long ago," he replied shortly.
"My mother would never willingly get involved with the likes of you," she snapped.
He shrugged his shoulders loftily. "It's your choice to believe it or not. Let's finish this conversation at my office to have some privacy." His eyes flickered towards the door.
Should she go? The immediate answer should've been no. She owed him nothing. But she hesitated. He was still, irrevocably, part of her life. Family was still family, no matter how much she wanted to deny it. And she had promised her mother she would speak with him...
Hyewon exhaled tiredly. "Fine. 10 minutes, nothing more than that."
-
The walk to her father's bureau was silent.
She followed him, staring at the paintings on the palace walls in means of avoiding making conversation with her father. When her father stopped in front of an unfamiliar door, she almost bumped into him.
Kangseok held the door for her and let it swing shut when she was inside. It had a distinct musky smell that made Hyewon scrunch her nose before sneezing. However, the desk, made of walnut wood, was neat with its papers stacked on top of each other neatly. A few lit candles were placed around the room, brightening their surroundings. In a way, it faintly reminded her of General Kang's office, except it was a whole lot cleaner and tidy.
He noticed her sneeze and smiled slightly. "The smell, right? You'll get used to it. Take a seat. Would you like me to ask a servant to bring in some tea?"
"No, it's fine," she declined, sitting warily on an armchair in front of his desk, arms and legs crossed as she examined the room. What would it be like growing up, playing around this room if her parents had stayed together and resolved their problems. It was useless to ponder about such things, she chided herself. The past couldn't be changed. He had another whole family to take care of. Besides, she was already too old to be horsing around, it was impossible to go back.
Her eyes caught on a small painting hanging from the wall. It was of a family and quite well done too. The details were immaculate and precisely stroked. It must've been of his family, she thought, slightly bitter.
Unable to deal with the elephant in the room, Hyewon turned to Advisor Lee. "That painting is of your wife and your children, right?" she asks softly.
He blinked before sitting down and wiping his glasses. "Yes, that's my current wife, your stepmother, Jia, and my two younger sons, Wooin and Woojin. Of course, they are also your half brothers, that is, if you would like to accept them."
"Do they know that you had me?" A simple question, but oddly enough, Hyewon eagerly leaned forward to hear his answer.
"Jia does. Wooin and Woojin, on the other hand, don't know they have an older sister. They're rather young to know things about this.
"Oh." Having nothing else to say, she rested her back against the chair. Half brothers. She never had a sibling before, being a single child. She never thought of having one, let alone two before, biologically related to her. Yeonjun had filled in the position as her older brother for her, but now she was the older one. "What did you want to tell me?"
He toyed with a pen in his hands. "To be honest, I wasn't expecting you to agree to come to my office," he confesses ruefully. "I'm sure you know the story of how your mother and I separated well enough."
"You two fell in love after meeting each other during a festival, got married 5 months later, and had me. Three years passed. Your father," My grandfather, she reminds herself, "did not know about the secret marriage that you had with my mother and had not approved of it. And when he found out, he had already betrothed you to another, my stepmother, and became furious, demanding you leave my mother. Then, without fighting for us, you filed a divorce and left with no note at night and it wasn't until one year later that Mother heard that you got married again." she recounted blatantly.
He nods. "So she told you after all. It may be hard to believe, but I didn't want the marriage with Jia."
"But you still consented to it," she countered. "You didn't even protest to stay."
Kangseok sets down his pen. "Love requires you to make sacrifices," he answered, "You'll see that when you are older. Some things in life, you cannot control. Your grandfather is a ruthless nobleman. If I had stayed, my father would've blackened your mother's reputation and might've even sent an assassin to your mother. I couldn't allow that to happen. Would you have wanted that for your mother?"
"Did my mom ask for your protection? She loved you!"
"As so do I," he replies calmly. "I did it for you and your mother. It may not have been the best decision I could have made. Perhaps with time, I could have made your grandfather stand down. But is that worth the risk of a human life, a life I love?" He paused. "I don't ask you to forgive me for my actions, only to understand them. What has been done has been done, Hyewon. It is pointless to argue now."
"You love Jia now." It wasn't a question, but a statement.
He inclined his head. "I won't deny it, I don't harbor a grudge to Jia and I do love her. Our marriage had not been her choice either, but over time, we learned to love each other." He studies her. "You love that prince, don't you?"
Startled by the sudden question, Hyewon choked. "Pardon?" she coughs. She certainly hadn't expected that.
"So you do. I presume you two are in a secret relationship?" Her father leaned back, sighing. "Reminds me of when I was still with your mother," he says wistfully.
Riki. Her stomach churned uneasily at the reminder of their 'argument' at the courthouse. She made a mental note to apologize and make it up to him later.
"How do you know?" she asks in confusion.
He shrugged. "An educated guess. The way you two looked at each other earlier. You two seemed pretty intimate and comfortable with each other."
"It's that obvious?"
"Not really, but anyone can tell at one glance that you and the prince are much closer than the usual what your position requires. Well, do you love him unconditionally?"
"I do." she answers instantly. "But... are you telling me that the empress and the emperor already found a match for him?"
"There is word going around that Yoon Lia, that daughter of that darn minister, has been arranged to be his wife. Or maybe a princess of one of our allies. But nothing is confirmed yet." Kangseok explains. He chuckles. "I guess falling in love with someone that is forbidden runs through our blood. My other reason for wanting to talk to you today is also this."
"You have two things that your mother and I didn't have. For one, your mother also knows of your relationship with Riki and we both fully support you in that. And secondly," he continues, "don't forget that I have the power of the court as advisor to the emperor. I have the ability to influence him and it is my job to give him advice. I can provide you with the support for your relationship with the prince. I may not be able to sway all of my colleagues, but it can shift things into your favor. It also helps that technically, you are eligible, if you wish, to be Prince Riki's wife, as you are of nobility through my bloodline and have credible merit and background being a Chiye."
"Really?" Hyewon sat upright, surprised. She wouldn't have to hide her relationship with Riki anymore! But her smile fell off her face almost immediately. "Why would you do that for me?" she asks suspiciously.
Her father offered her a small smile. "I want you to be happy with the one you truly love, a chance your mother and I never got. And perhaps as an apology for being absent as a father for your entire life. Besides, I never liked Minister Yoon and his secretive ways. Something tells me his daughter is exactly the same. I don't like the idea of that man having his daughter on the throne, who knows what they would do." He wipes an invisible tear from his eye. "Gods, children grow up so fast these days."
Hearing his words made her heart soften. "Thank you," she says softly.
"Don't thank me, you deserve it. Whether or not you consider me a father after this, I still am one." he paused, "Oh, that reminds me, remember to greet the Sims at tonight's dinner."
Hyewon furrowed an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"You'll see. Now, shoo, I need to get this petition signed!" With that he ushered her out of the door, closing the door behind her before she could even register what had happened.
A/N: longer than usual to make up for the delay of this chapter. break started for me yesterday though, im hoping to write a little quicker now
thank you for supporting and giving love to my story! happy holidays everyone!