FALLING SLOWLY ||Complete||

Poisoned Roots

Any number of years in US would not prepare him for this. So tugs at his collar and muses darkly. His father and his crowd of well wishes always end up suffocating him. It is a circus of different tenor, where he allows his father to show him off like a seal playing with a pink ball.

Assemblyman Hwang has an image to protect. He is the man who as a prosecutor had prosecuted his oldest son for doping just for the sake of uplifting justice. As a father he had to suffer the loss of a child and an almost breakdown of his family. But like a Phoenix he has risen from the ashes. Now one of his sons is back in the game basking in enough glory to wash away the stains of past and the other is getting engaged. It seems the fortune favored those endured.

Or those who knew how to play with the opportunity. So closes his eyes and rubs his temple wishing himself anywhere other than this nest of vipers. The halls are painted with too many memories to bear. Still once in a while he comes when he is summoned like a penance he imposed on himself, So tortures himself with memories of his brother and his own mistakes.

He recalls the very same hall in less light and the hush of night, where Tae begged their father to reconsider. To believe in his innocence. He fists his hands and wills away the shivers curling his spine at the memory of the desperation in his brother’s eyes, the tremor in his tone as he goes down on his knees. Tae had been on the edge of Olympics - a chance he lost due to the allegations. Flames that their father had aired. Instead of standing with him his own kin had pushed him to the pit.

Justice - So thinks with his eyes closed - is a wickedly fickle thing.

He should not have been a part of Tae’s fall though it is a little too late to be thinking that, So accepts the knowledge would haunt him to the end of his days. Had he kept his mouth shut, perhaps, his brother would have been alive. He had seen it eat him away, the feeling of being an outcast in this very house. And So had nothing to offer him than an apology.

“I watched you in Jakarta!” A breathy voice wakes him up. Startled So opens his eyes to find Yeon Hwa smiling up at him. Without invitation she takes his hands in hers, her thick lashes fluttering. “With my heart in my throat - you can still do that you know?”

“I’m flattered,” So frees his hands from the tangle of her fingers. “Congratulations Yeon Hwa, Yo is one lucky man.”

“That he is -” Wook joins them just in time saving So from any further conversation with his younger brother’s fiancee who was also a swimmer from his own club. Turning his eyes on his brother through adoption So wonders how well suited Wook is to this atmosphere whereas he finds the entire facade an ill fitting skin. There is a petite woman in his arm who looks at him with wide brown eyes. Eyes that looks familiar in a strange way.

Saving him the trouble “You!” she says in greeting.

“You remember him?” Wook rounds on her, his eyebrows raised. “Strange…” He mutters to himself.

The woman has yet to tear her eyes off him. So shifts uncomfortably and offers, “we met in the graveyard when I went to visit Hyung.”
There is something in his tone that denotes the said visit is off the list of topic. Instead with a flinch at the memory Soo turns to Wook.

“Should I remember him from somewhere else?” She asks tilting her head. There is speculation in her voice. Wook looks uncomfortable as he chooses his words. He speaks to her in a cautious tone of one addressing a child.

“I talked about him remember ?” He asks tentatively. “This guy here - is my younger brother who lives in US. Since you both haven't met before an introduction is in order,” Wook babbles on not catching the undercurrents between the pair holding their gazes. “Soo - meet my brother Hwang So the national athlete. So - Hae Soo my girlfriend and Yeon Hwa's cousin!”