Game of Shadows | pjm

037. No Rest For The Wicked

[ flashback ]

It was silent in Lee Dongho's office.

The air was still and the candle placed in the middle of the table barely flickered as Dongho's unsleeping green eyes skimmed through this year's report of the hotel's revenue. By candlelight his bone structure seemed sharper, as if cut by granite, and his eyes were darker, turning from their light green to almost olive.

Either way he was an exceptionally handsome man, a man who just oozed class and power, a man who easily excelled in everything without too much effort. It wasn't hard to spot the resemblance between the two Lee brothers, even though Dongho was slightly shorter than his older brother Jiho. His hair was slightly curly instead of the poker straight strands his brother flaunted, and his expression was less severe and hard and more laid-back and easygoing.

No one expected grand things from Lee Dongho. Just one of the benefits of being born second. Everyone coddled and cosseted him until he grew up to be a cocky, irresponsible man-child whose only abilities in life were reduced to spending his family money and being a loving uncle to his brother's daughter.

Until one fateful day all of that changed.

Dongho experienced a metamorphosis so phenomenal it turned him into a completely different person. After Jiho and Reyah's untimely death, it was suddenly expected of him to take care of everything: his little niece and her half-brother, the family's business, the finances, the marketing... everything. The shift in his dynamic with the world was so palpable now that he had to be in charge of everything. He had to be a father, a guardian, a protector and a boss to thousands of people.

It was an exhausting and demanding ordeal, but he was giving it his all.

The flame grew dimmer every second as the wax melted down to its last. In an instant it burned down, ceasing to cast shadows that radiated out as crooked hands. The remainder of the wax slowly turned to liquid, running down to the side dramatically as if it met its abrupt doom.

A knock on the door dispersed the quietness of the room. Dongho looked up, brow twitching, and put his pen down. He glanced down at the clock wrapped around his wrist. It was probably Nadya – his ferociously loyal secretary, confidante, Protector, and sadly, one of the many women whose love he could not return.

He sighed, rubbing his temples, before standing up and walking around the desk and heading for the door.

"Nadya, it's late."

His hand wrapped around the chrome doorknob and started twisting it just when he heard a couple of muffled sobs from the other side of the door.

"Nadya, is that you?" Dongho's brows pulled together.

"It's me, uncle Dongho."

Within a heartbeat, he flung the door open, holding his breath. Aera's shadow stretched over the floor as his eyes landed on her bare feet sinking into the soft red carpet of the hotel hallway.