Kang Residence
Atlanta, Georgia
United States of America
May 2011
“Mother.” Jin-ho’s throat felt dry, tight
as he took in the image of his grieving mother. Da-hyeon tucked her
handkerchief into her pocket and turned to him, reacting to the touch of her
son. “You need to rest. I’ll keep watch.”
“You have to settle things for the
business,” she told him. Park Da-hyeon, despite having been crying silently
since the whole affair started, still maintained her calm, firm voice. “Fulfill
your duties as father would have wanted for you.”
“His duties as your husband and my father
come first than his duty as a businessman.” He squeezed his mother’s shoulder,
“Please, mother. Let me do this. I need it. And you need the rest. Tony’s
willing to stay.” A couple of feet away, Tony stood there solemnly with his
trademark shades over his eyes. Da-hyeon sighed quietly before nodding and
rising. Immediately did two of the guards approach them, Jin-ho asking them in
a hushed voice for them to accompany her back to her room and keep watch.
“Please rest, mother. I’ll meet you in the morning.”
“Of course.” She looked at her son from
head to toe with an unrecognizable look and turned to move out of the room,
nodding to acknowledge Tony on her way out. The male sent a small smile her way
before making his way to Jin-ho, who this time adopted his mother’s position.
The sound of the door closing reached their ears and Jin-ho let out a slow
exhale of his own.
He too felt a hand on his shoulder but
didn’t look back. “I can manage,” he told him. Tony rolled his eyes.
“I know that you’re tired too, Jin-ho. Your
mother could see that.”
“It’s the least I could do.” His eyes
glanced at the portrait sitting in front of him, adorned with flowers of
different kinds. “She’s been sitting here all morning and afternoon, barely
talking to anyone else but me and a couple of others. I don’t know if she’s
even eaten yet.”
“I’m sure the others can attend to that,”
he reassured. Jin-ho gave a half-hearted shrug and Tony too looked at the
portrait of the late Kang Tae-min, “And I’m sure that your father wouldn’t want
you sitting by like this, taking your mother’s place.”
“It’s tradition.” He closed his eyes, “We
always do our best to stick to tradition around here, Tony. Even if we’re far
from home.”
Tony stayed silent at that, choosing then
to keep guard for Jin-ho at that moment. There wasn’t much he could do,
unfortunately, except to keep to his duty and stay there and keep watch. Many
would have expected for him to have packed up and left once the head of the
Kang family died, but Tony wasn’t like that at all. Instead, he dedicated
himself to serving the next in line: Kang Jin-ho.
Jin-ho, who had everything suddenly thrust
his way after the lawyers got hold of his father’s will. Jin-ho, who had to
rise up and manage a company that’s been long competed with and targeted by
many rivals and those in their way.
(Da-hyeon wouldn’t allow it, but Jin-ho
stepped up anyway.)
He’s
still a child, Tony had told himself. Still a lot to learn before he manages to
reach his father’s level. As he kept an eye on the much younger male, he
himself heaved out a sigh and confirmed the thoughts that kept coming back:
Jin-ho, despite graduating top of his class and managing to obtain the honor of
Magna Cum Laude in a highly prestigious university and now taking reign over
the Kang business – was still a child.
“You know, Jin-ho,” Tony spoke up, “you too
should get something to eat. You could spare your mother the burden of having
to worry about you and your health and have something.” Jin-ho’s eyes opened at
that and Tony waited. “Or, you can spend time with her and help her out. I know
you want to stick to tradition. Wait here and stay. But sometimes, tradition
has to be broken too.”
It was silent for a long, long time. Tony
worried that he might have overstepped his bounds. While he was a friend, he
couldn’t forget that he had served the family for quite some time as well, too.
Minutes passed and he brought himself to open his mouth again, but Jin-ho’s
quiet voice pierced through the thick air.
“I think I’ll feel better if you walk with
me, Tony. Eating might be the best for us.” The other man nodded and stood up,
waiting for Jin-ho to do the same. Eventually Jin-ho stood, keeping his eyes on
his father’s portrait, until finally turning around and walking to the door.
Tony stared at him for a moment until following, eventually closing the door
behind him and following Jin-ho to where his mother’s bedroom was.
Butterflies swarmed in his stomach; while
the recent events had recently took its’ toll on him, he wasn’t sure of whether
he was fully ready to interact with his mother. Was she strong? Definitely. She
was strong, perhaps even stronger than him and his father combined. But seeing
her cry made him feel uncomfortable. It was a sight he had never expected to
see.
“Do you think she’s asleep?”
“Most probably not,” Tony replied slowly.
“I don’t think she would. Maybe she’s eating; maybe she’s just resting. But
sleep? Maybe not.” Jin-ho stopped in the middle of the hall and rubbed at his
eyes; Tony frowned. “Jin-ho?”
“This is so goddamn exhausting,” the male
muttered lowly, thinking that Tony wouldn’t hear. But Tony did, and decided to
keep silent instead of bringing it up. “Is it okay if you just bring me to her
room and then take the rest of the night off? You need the rest too.” Tony was
about to protest when Jin-ho spoke up again, “And I think my mother and I need
some time to talk. Really talk.”
“…of course. I can do that.” Jin-ho gave
the briefest of nods, feeling his stomach give another twist as he neared the
room. “Are you sure you don’t need anything else for the night?”
“I’m sure I can manage getting some water
on my own.” Jin-ho gave a weak chuckle and eventually stopped in front of the
door, exhaling slowly. “…thank you, Tony. I think I’ll be okay from this
point.”
“Are you sure,” he started, but Jin-ho
nodded. His grip on the doorknob tightened. “Well. You know who to call or text
if you need anything,” he offered a final time.
“Your number’s on speed dial.” Tony took a
step back and watched as Jin-ho opened the door, silently going inside without
another look back. It closed with a soft click
and he heard the lock. There was quiet murmur from the other side of the door,
but it quieted down more until nothing else could be heard.
Inside his mother’s bedroom, Jin-ho
silently sat on one of the chairs while watching his mother pour him a cup of
tea. He didn’t care to mention that it wasn’t his favorite nor that he didn’t
even like tea in the first place. Somehow, he felt that accepting the cup would
do her more relief. Eventually, he took it from her trembling hands, sipped,
and tried not to spit it out.
“You’re going to have to make an
impression,” she noted quietly once the cups were placed back and both of them
had tea. “They’ll be expecting it.”
“I know.” He sipped again, “But I can’t be
like him. Not in a long shot.”
“Of course you can’t.” the words would have
stung and Jin-ho definitely felt the pinpricks of it, but his mother continued.
“You shouldn’t expect that of yourself. I know I don’t.”
He looked up at her. She was smiling.
“You and your father? You’re both very,
very different. You’ve got his smarts and his drive, but…you’re both far too
different. He was one kind of leader. You’re another kind. And besides,” she
added, “Change is good. A change in dynamic is good. A shift is good. I’m not
saying that your father dying was good, but…maybe it’s time for things to
change, Jin-ho.”
“…you think so?”
“I know so. Mother’s intuition.” That
brought a laugh from him and Da-hyeon raised her arms only slightly. Getting
the message, Jin-ho immediately abandoned the cup of tea on the table and went
to his mother to embrace her tightly, shutting his eyes. “You’ll go very, very
far. I know you will.”
Jin-ho didn’t say anything more, merely
hugging her as tightly as he could.
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