Adrianna Kim has been sacrificing her whole life. Born into an old money family, she's been subjected to strict rules and a mother who acts like a Drill Sargent. With her parents away for work all the time, she voluntarily took over the role of rais...
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Adrianna's POV:
When we reached home the kids were already there, they had changed out of their uniforms and into their pajamas.
They were all watching TV in the living room and, I assume, were waiting for me like they did whenever I was late. Not that it happened often.
As soon as we walked through the door I was attacked by a wild Soo-ah. She smiled up at me with those beautiful brown eyes. I smiled and picked her up, holding her as close to me as I possibly could.
I almost started crying as Jae-in walked over and hugged my waist. I wrapped an arm around her as best I could whilst still holding Soo-ah.
This felt peaceful. Life didn't feel so bad now I have my babies in my arms. Michael and Ken walked up to us and they both could instantly tell something was wrong.
"What happened? Did the meeting go wrong?" Michael asked. "No, the meeting went exactly as mom planned" I honestly replied as I gently placed Soo-ah down.
"That doesn't sound good" Ken said. "I'm married" I blurted out. Might as well let it out now. "What?" Michael asked.
Normally, he would've laughed and shook me off, but it's our mother were talking about here, and Michael was there when mom made that promise. Granted, he was only 9 but he'd remember everything our mother said if it kept him out of trouble, even if it wasn't aimed at him.
"That's what the meeting was for, I signed a marriage contract with a son of the Volkov Family" I explained. Michael's face turned blank for a split second as he processed what I had just said before it filled with rage, and he marched in the direction of our mother's office. We all chased after him as he practically pushed the door off its hinges.
"A marriage contract?" he yelled as he directed all his anger at his mother. "Do you have no manners? Were you taught to enter a room without knocking?" mother spoke with a scowl as she tried to scold her son, but his anger was much more prominent than his nurtured urge to obey.
I didn't even try to stop him because, in all honesty, I didn't want to. She's had this coming for a very long time. I knew eventually one of us would snap but I honestly thought it would be me.
"Has Adrianna not suffered enough for you that you had to marry her off to some stranger she's never met?" he seethed and stared daggers into his mother's face. Her scowl only deepened as she realized her son was not going to listen.
"How is marriage suffering?" she asked and Michael scoffed. That question only seemed to make him angrier, and I no longer wanted the little ones being in the room for this conversation. So, I asked a maid to take the girls up to Hana's room.
"Adrianna has never met this guy a day in her life! She doesn't know his age, his birthday, his personality, his likes or dislikes, how do you even know they are going to be compatible?" Michael was almost screaming at this point but the more he spoke the more I realized how much of a stranger Owen Volkov was.
"You are sending my sister- YOUR DAUGHTER- off to live with a complete stranger and that's okay to you?" Michael spat as he pointed at his mother who only maintained the scowl on her face.
"Who's going to wake us up and help us get ready for school? Who's going to make sure we stay on schedule and aren't late? Who's going to check Ken has taken his medicine? Who is going to make sure Soo-ah has brushed her teeth or put her socks on the right foot? Who is going to calm Ken down when he has one of his episodes?" every time he listed the things I did he raised a finger in her face.
"Did you even stop to think how much everything would fall apart without Adrianna?" he honestly asked the woman sitting in front of him. "I am your mother, not Adrianna, I keep the balance in this house" she spoke with a glare. I raised an eyebrow. Is that really what she thinks?
"You can't be serious?" Ken asked with folded arms as he sat in one of the chairs that were in front of the desk. "You can't truly think this family runs so smoothly because of you? You're not even here a majority of the year" he calmly stated.
To anyone who didn't know him, Ken's calm tone could seem dismissive and almost like he didn't care, but I knew him well enough to see he was just as angry as Michael.
He just expresses his emotions differently to his very expressive older brother. Mother's attention was now drawn to her younger son as he continued to speak.
"Adrianna is the one who wakes us up for school and keeps us on schedule. We have never been late to anything a day in our lives because of her, she wakes up around 1am almost every day to put your baby back to sleep and then only gets about 2-3 more hours of sleep before she has to get up again and wake up the whole house, she keeps me calm and helps ground me when I have an episode and she upholds your rules when you're not here" he pointed out.
"You cannot seriously think we are as obedient as we are because we are scared of you? Soo-ah and Jae-in may be but Michael and I are not anymore, we do it all for Adrianna" Ken stood up and let his hands fall to his side.
"You may be our mother, but Adrianna raised us, and that will never change" he said. That almost made me cry, I never knew they felt all of this about me, and I didn't even realize I did half the stuff they listed. I smiled gently as I watched my brothers stick up for me.
Ken kept his calm exterior to the best of his ability, but I could see he was starting to shake, his posture slightly stiffened, and his chest started to move a little faster. This is where I step in.
"Ken," I matched his calm tone and drew his attention. "Come here," I opened my arms for him, to which he immediately walked into, and wrapped him in a secure hug, stroking his hair gently.
"See that right there?" I heard Michael ask as he pointed at us. "Ken was on the verge of a panic attack and Adrianna noticed, did you? Do you even know how to deal with his panic attacks?" he gave his mother a scowl identical to her own. "Mickey, it's time to go" I said and gestured to the door with my head.
I let go of Ken but held onto his hand tightly. Michael glared at her one last time before opening the door and waiting for us to walk out before closing it softly behind him, being mindful of Ken's sensitive state.
Once we reached my room, Ken was stable enough for me to let Mickey handle the rest while I showered and changed into my pajamas. The permanent seal I had on my emotions broke when I lay down and they both hugged me.
Michael had his arms wrapped tightly around me as he lay in front of me, and I broke down while Ken hugged me from behind soothingly stroking my hair the same way I did his.
This was the first time they had truly seen me cry but I didn't think about that. All I could think about was how safe I felt, they were keeping me safe.
Sometime into the night Soo-ah and Jae-in joined us, they made sure Michael wasn't angry anymore before climbing into the bed and squeezing themselves in-between us.
This is all I need. This is my happiness. That night was filled with a lot of cuddles and laughter as Soo-ah and Jae-in bickered. These kids really knew how to cheer me up. I'm gonna miss this.
