The Supernova Effect

Chapter 25

Daisuke
After over an hour of me angrily contemplating over if I should or should not see my dad. The overwhelming curiosity of how and why my father was even alive weighed me down like an anchor.

I grab my phone and anxiously wait as the tone rings and I hear Novas voice.

"Hello." She say softly.

"I'll speak to him." I say curtly

"Ok I'll send you the address, I'll be there waiting."
....
Looking at my dad was like looking at my reflection inside a house of mirrors, haunting and overwhelming. He looked a little different how from scaring and age but it was still him.

I could see myself in his eyes and what was predetermined for me to become. I hated the fact that we looked just alike; my mom could never really look at me, and if she did, her eyes would fill with regret.

We sat across from each other in his extravagantly oversized living room. I guess when you fake your death and become a lawyer money has no problem finding you.

He clears his throat, "I hear you found yourself a girlfriend."

"Cut the small talk, Ji-Young, or should I call you Mark now?" I say with a venom like tone.

His eyes soften. "You can call me whatever you want; anything's fine." He nods.

"How about dedeubiteu?" I ask tauntingly.

Dedeubiteu meant deadbeat in English, and he was a prime example.

He gives me a scolding look, reminding me of my childhood when I would get in trouble. He would never say anything; he just looked at me with eyes that spoke everything his mouth didn't. Some things just never change.

"How are you even here?"

"If you're willing to listen, I can explain everything."

His hands shook slightly when he talked about the accident, the tremor hidden under the rhythm of his speech, but it was there.

I give him a curt nod, and he starts his story.

"Me and your mom were never a normal couple. It was an arrangement set up by my dad, your grandfather. He wanted to combine the Korean chaebols (Korean families with a history of wealth) with the Japanese Kazoku ( Japanese families with a history of wealth) to ensure their business empire would stay relevant and successful in any nation.
...
Korea, 1998
Lee Ji-Young
"I don't want to marry into the Yasuda family."
I didn't ask. "If you want to be my successor, you will go on the blind date with their daughter tomorrow." My father says as he cuts his cigar.
I had secretly been dating a woman from Ghana. Her name was Thema. She was a transfer student that went to my university. Yumi National University was one of the most prestigious universities in the country, and she got in purely on one skill, unlike me, who was only based off my family's influence.

She was my everything. From the first day I met her, I knew she was going to be my future wife. I was willing to do anything for her. I knew that if I married her, it would go against everything my family stood for, but my heart moved before my mind.

But a few days after the blind date with Hana, Thema disappeared. She wouldn't answer my calls or texts. I never even saw her at school again. It was like she had dropped off the face of the earth.