Be My Pride

Chapter 4: Visiting Dad in Custody

Jeongguk has no idea what imagined Seoul to look like. Grand, maybe. With as many houses and buildings as the eye can see. A little bit of nature? Not to forget loads and loads of people. For a boy who has never visited the rich capital before, such an image is already quite all right.

Seoul is not at all like that.

There are many buildings indeed. Very high buildings with good structures. Not as many houses as Jeongguk thought. Instead there are many flats. There are people. So many of them, the twenty-three year old feels small. And the nature? It is lacking. But Seoul is very beautiful indeed. Jeongguk cannot stop staring at everything around him as the car drives forth to their hotel.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Mira pats the boy's shoulder lightly to get his attention. "I was born here in Seoul. Though, I have not been back in fourty years."

"Why is that?" Jeongguk asks the lady. He manages to tear his eyes away from the window and looks at the elderly woman next to him instead.

Mira smiles. Though, it is a sad smile. One needs not look twice to be able to tell she is reminiscing the long gone past.

Jeongguk feels like he should not have asked. "Sorry, Granny, I shouldn't have,"

"San-ah, it is fine."

It is not. Jeongguk thinks to himself seeing the sadness in Mira's eyes. But he refrains himself from saying it out loud.

"My family used to live here. When I was around the age of twenty, my father's company went bankrupt. I started working at Crimson Heaven after that and asked for a permanent transfer to Busan three years later."

Jeongguk just stares at the lady, feeling dumbstruck. "Granny used to be one of them?" The surprise in his voice is clear, but there is not a sliver of disgust. This is still his Granny after all. No matter what life she used to live, today she is his Granny.

Mira smiles and chuckles. "That was so long ago!" She declares. "I was just a young girl who wanted to have nothing to do with her own family. You can say their misfortune was my opportunity."

Jeongguk dislikes her explanation.

"Don't be like this, San-ah. We all have got our reasons to work at Crimson Heaven, isn't it?"

Mira is right. Jeongguk knows she is. But that does not at all mean he likes it. And he is not gonna act like it is all right when it really is far from it. And so he sighs, deciding to just drop it. "Today's a Monday. Do we need to get to Crimson Heaven first, or can it wait?"

Mira complies. "They want to meet you tomorrow evening, so there's no rush. We are just gonna check out the hotel today and take some time to look around Seoul." She takes notice of Jeongguk's depressed look. "What is it, San-ah? Feeling embarrassed to spend some time with this old lady?" She jokes.

Jeongguk quickly shakes his head and forces a smile. "Of course not!" He exclaims, quickly taking hold of the woman's hand. "Am not embarrassed!"

"I know. I was just teasing you, no need to panic." Mira comforts the younger and caresses his cheek with her thumb. "You should sleep early tonight, okay?"