In Between the Lines | Completed

Chapter Thirteen | Double Meanings

Vivian Jones

Kar Jin-Ho walks into the lobby of the giant hotel. A beautiful fountain with koi fish spitting water from their mouths sits in the middle of the room, a marble inlay on every visible surface adding to the expensive feel of the building.

"This is their granddaughter's favorite hotel?" He asks with a sigh. "How ostentatious."

Kar Jin-Ho walks forward, his calculating eyes seeing investments and changes to be made once he marries the granddaughter of the Song Group. If they come to an agreement that is.

He goes to a private elevator tucked away to the side where the secretary of the Song Group waits for him.

"Hello, I am Kar Jin-Ho." He hands the man a business card and accepts the one half-heartedly given to him in return.

The thin man stares at Kar Jin-Ho, suspicion written across his face.

"The Mistress is in her suite upstairs. I will give you access, and you can go ahead without me. I need to prepare for the board's luncheon."

"I understand."

"Walk down the hall to the suite with the gold double doors, the Mistress will await you there. Do not insult her kindness in accepting this meeting by dallying on the skywalk."

Kar Jin-Ho hides a scoff, trying not to insult a man he could tell already had significant amount of disdain for him. He was not too proud to know, or naïve enough, not to know that the opinion of a family's secretary held much weight in his world. So, to have a man like that already show his opinion of him so openly was nothing to mock.

Have I already insulted them? It was the Chairman's wife, the grandmother of this woman, who reached out about the marriage alliance. Not me.

He quickly boards the elevator and begins the ride to the top of tall hotel, "Dally? As though I have enough time to waste on this trip to dally at a tacky building."

A quick ascension takes him to the top floor of the building. After exiting the elevator, he looks out onto a beautiful view of the Tokyo skyline staring back at him. So high in the clouds, it seemed like he was walking the skyline of the city, the angled glass ceiling showing the sky to him. Had it been nighttime, he had a feeling that the glow of fluorescents coming from the city would light up the clouds, making his experience like walking into heaven's gates.

Had he not seen many beautiful sites over the years, he would have gasped and gaped at the site before him.

"Impressive. I understand his warning now."

He quickly walks down the aptly named 'sky walk' and goes to the double doors the wily secretary had mentioned. Taking a deep breath, he used one hand to smooth his hair, fixes his tie, and knocks on the door leading into the Penthouse suite.

"Enter," a soft voice says.

Kar Jin-Ho's stomach clenches at the voice and something nags at the corner of his mind, like a memory he couldn't quite shake.

A woman with long, flowing hair sits demurely on a white sofa in the middle of the room. She wears a matching suit in soft blue, her pearl jewelry sitting on her throat with additional soft white pearls mixed in the flowing waves of her hair. She sips on a dainty cup, setting it on a saucer as he nears. The windows behind her shade her face from his view as he adjusts to the suddenly blinding light coming towards him.

"Hello," the voice is neutral, neither the voice of a friend or an enemy, and once again his stomach clenches. "Long time, no see."

Kar Jin-Ho's eyes finally adjust to the brightness of the room, and he is shocked to see a familiar face sitting in front of him, not a care in the world.