My deranged marriage

Five

Eliza was always prepared for whatever her mother threw at her. The woman was terribly predictable, looping the same four or five lines of speech like some of the talking dolls Eliza had owned as a child. Even Karen herself admitted to being a broken record. It was about the only bad trait she hadn't denied having. 

So now, as Karen's figure hovered over where he daughter was sitting at the table, a wide smile on her face after asking the most random question, Eliza was caught off guard. For the first time in a while. 

"Do I remember the Kims?" She repeated the question to her mother, her brows furrowing over her eyes as her brain reeled in reasons for the query. Not only did she not have a clue who her mother was talking about, but she didn't know why or where the woman was going with this. The uncertainty made the question stranger.

"Yes, the Kims, don't you remember?"

"No?" She responded honestly.

Karen heaved a sigh, "Remember when I did that one movie with the spies?"

Eliza racked her memory for any hint of what her mother was talking about. Her mother had been in a few movies, yes. Not only had the good looks of her youth scored her Eliza's rich father, but they'd also a lucrative career in acting and modelling. However, after gaining weight from her pregnancy, it  all went down hill for Karen. She fell from the spotlights not long after Eliza's entrance into the third grade. 

In the time before the woman's fall from fame, Eliza was dragged everywhere with her big shot mother. She had been behind the set on most of her movies - and James Bond, which her mother had referred to as 'the movie with the spies' had been one of those movies. One thing in particular Eliza remembered was the glare the Pierce Brosnan rip off male lead had given her every time he saw her. As if he suspected that the six year old knew about the affair he was having with her mother. 

She didn't remember anything about 'The Kims', however. 

Her mother saw the blatant confusion on her face and rolled her eyes. It was like Eliza's inability to remember something was distinctly linked to  incompetence rather than human flaw. 

 "The Kims owned the film studio. Do you remember them?" 

And that's when the very faint memory came to her. The Korean couple that often visited the film set. The little girl that only came once to play with her and then never came again. The older boy that had latched to his father's side.

"Vaguely."

"Well," Karen let out an excited giggle, "Their son has requested to meet you!"

Eliza's eyes nearly flew out of their sockets, "Meet me?" 

They had only seen each other briefly on that one day, many, many years ago. The son had blankly looked at her, his eyes far too soulless to be a child's. He had remained the rest of the time with his father, wandering around the film set while Eliza played with his younger sister. He'd never even spared her a glance after their initial introduction. Why would he be wanting to meet with her now?

"Yes!" Karen gushed, seeming as if marrying her daughter off to a stranger she'd met once was the equivalent to going to Disney land, "You see, he's looking for a marriage partner and Areum-"

"Wait, wait, wait." Eliza shook her head, her eyes widening as she sunk into her seat, "Marriage?" There was no way that her mother...or rather, she hoped there was no way that her mother would be trying to marry off to a total stranger.

"That's what I said-"

"No, No, No, mom. I'm not getting into a marriage-"

Karen's lips pursed disapprovingly, "I wasn't saying that you're going to get into a marriage, silly."