Pretend Love

Chapter 17: Revelation

Suzy sat down her bags inside her empty apartment. It felt as if she'd been gone for months, when it was really less than two weeks. A feeling of crippling emptiness washed over her and she tumbled into bed, where her sobs made her body convulse.

All the hurt and grief finally connected with her body and she felt every insult, every hateful word that had been uttered tear into her flesh like a rabid dog. She cried.

She cried for the mess she was in. She cried for the love she lost before it even really began. She cried for the Lees, for their loss of a son, a grandson, a nephew, a cousin, a brother. She cried for Halmeoni. She cried for Vincent. She even cried for President Lee and Sungjae.

Finally, her tear ducts ran dry and a new resolve was formed. She would make things right. First thing on her list? Resign.

She called Dean Frey and informed him she would not be returning to Frey Publishing. The second call she made was to her landlord, terminating her lease. The third call went to her parents.

"Mom? I'm coming home."

____________

It was a Lee family reunion of mixed emotions. Grief was a key ingredient, naturally, but Vincent's aunts and uncle also expressed joy that they could meet again after so many years. His nieces and nephews were equally thrilled. Perhaps more so, since some of them were too young to understand what dismal occurrence had brought about this family gathering.

President Lee did his best to avoid his sisters and brother, but his sister, who was the second-born of Chairman Lee's children, was quickly fed up with her older brother's reclusive behavior and quite forcefully told him so. After their row, Lee finally started attending whenever there was food on the table. Which, it seemed, there often was.

One night, Vincent found himself wandering in the vineyard, trying to get a moment to himself. With a house full of people – even a castle-like home could be overcrowded where there were Lees involved – there was not much time for quiet reflection.

He was exhausted. The nieces and nephews constantly begged him to entertain them and there were decisions to be made regarding Sungjae's – albeit small – inheritance. Vincent tried to convince his father that Soo-young's child should be named as heir, but the old man refused to acknowledge the unborn child as Sungjae's until sufficient evidence could be produced to support such a claim.

Vincent was fed up with his father's stubborn ways and wanted nothing more than to leave this place and never look back. But where would he go? The only place he wanted to be was with Suzy, and Richard Bae had made it perfectly clear that entering the US would only separate them further. He couldn't let her go to jail. He couldn't ask her to give up her life and her career for him. He couldn't be that selfish. So when they talked on the phone, he didn't bring it up. Neither did she.

"Sunggi-yah," a melodious voice interrupted his thoughts and he turned to see his cousin Mi-na coming towards him, a shawl around her shoulders to shield her bare arms from the chilliness the setting sun had left behind.

"Mi-na," he greeted her with a smile and a peck on the cheek. "Are the little ones asleep?"

"They are," she smiled. "Ki-young can't stop talking about the car you're going to let him drive..." she cocked an eyebrow.

"I never said that, I promise," he said, raising his hands and laughing. "I said he could sit in it. I have no intention of handing him the keys," he assured her.

"Good to know," she laughed.

"So, Seunggi-yah," she said in a more serious, compassionate tone, "why are you out walking by yourself?"