A Girl From High Society

Chapter 2

                             

Passing through a suite of rooms, still empty and luxuriously furnished, Jisoo and Edward found themselves in the garden, or rather, in front of it, because the garden itself was a lot of lawns fenced with hedges, and one of them just stretched right behind the house. With an area of about one hundred square meters, it was all overgrown with a wonderful green lawn, and in the middle of this lawn there was a small gazebo covered with ivy. Jisoo saw that someone was sitting in this gazebo.

-Dad's there.- Edward stepped out of the doorway and tugged impatiently at her hand. The black-haired's heart ached painfully at the thought of what awaited her, but she forced herself to calm down. In the end, she thought, maybe nothing will work out with Edward yet, and then this whole story will become one of the memories that grandchildren tell, starting like this: "Once, children, I was acquainted with an aristocrat and found myself in his posh house. Well, I suffered a lot of fear there, I'll tell you..."

Walking towards them was a tall, perhaps even very tall, middle-aged man dressed in golf breeches, a shirt and an unbuttoned tweed jacket. On his thin face, so similar to Edward's, Jisoo saw an expression that she often caught watching the rich people who came to play tennis. It was an expression inaccessible to most of Park's acquaintances, originating from the very consciousness of self-confidence in the future and belonging to the circle of the chosen, originally instilled in all wealthy people, and in Edward's father it was complemented by a haughty fold of lips that immediately told Jichu - this man would never accept her. Shrinking inwardly, she put a friendly smile on her face and pulled her skirt down, trying not to betray her confused state.

-Father!- Edward stretched out his hand towards the approaching Mr. Park, who slightly stretched the corners of his lips, which was supposed to be a smile, and squeezed his son's palm. Then the cold gaze of his green eyes rested on Jisoo.

-Good afternoon, son!

-Father-. Releasing his father's hand, Edward turned to the girl standing behind him.- And this is Kim Jisoo, whom I've told you so much about.

Jisoo was surprised when Mr. Park held out his hand to her-in her opinion, aristocrats did not greet women as they greeted men, but she hurriedly shook the cold palm and smiled slightly.

-Good afternoon.

It was impossible to tell from Mr. Park's face what he was thinking, but Jisoo had no doubt that he, like the butler, immediately appreciated her face and outfit and drew the appropriate conclusions.

-Jisoo.- She looked boldly at Mr. Park and was shocked by the hostility streaming from his eyes. However, he again slightly stretched his lips in a smile and nodded.

-Okay, Jisoo.

Edward looked at his father in bewilderment, then at the girl, and Kim noticed that his face in this house also seemed to have acquired some kind of unnatural, strained expression, as if the very atmosphere of this place affected everyone who came under his roof. The Edward she knew and loved so well, who had once danced shirtless on the counter of an East End workers' bar, had ceased to exist. This Edward was his father's son-a reserved, well-mannered and cold aristocrat, and she wasn't sure she liked him that way.

Mr. Park extended his hand in greeting towards the gazebo.

-Are you tired from the road? Would you like some tea?

Jisoo would have liked to drink not tea, but something stronger, but she didn't have to hope for a drink before dinner, and Edward, to her surprise, ceremoniously replied:

-No, Father, we will go up to our room for now, and we will come to dinner. By the way, where is Chaeyoung? I've missed her terribly.

Nothing had changed in Mr. Park's thin, wrinkled face, but Jichu caught the instantly chilled atmosphere and wondered again what kind of person this mysterious Chaeyoung was if they spoke of her as a dead person - muffled and bitter, hurrying to quickly turn the conversation to something else.