Heartfelt

3. Detachment

Y/N

I walked to a car waiting outside with Ryujin and slowly slipped my hand out of hers. She looked at me but didn't say anything as she guided me to the backseat.

She held the door open and I got inside before she followed suit and sat down beside me. I watched as a butler closed the door for her and got to the passenger seat.

I took notice of her private driver who waited until everyone was inside the car and only then spoke up, "Where to ma'am?" Ryujin clicked her tongue before she said, "Back home." She said in a silky voice.

She looked at me then.

"Y/N are you usually this cold with your father? You didn't even wish him goodbye or anything." Ryujin said as she surveyed me closely.

I rolled my eyes, "He's doing this only for money." I looked at my lap. "He's never really taken care of me like a father actually should. Honestly I knew something was wrong once he started behaving all nice and sweet. And it was this. That he was selling me off."

Ryujin sighed and wrapped her arm around my shoulder pulling me close. I hated how nice she smelled. Her soft vanilla perfume made me almost dizzy. I reluctantly leaned my head against her shoulder.

"Suwon has no right to treat you that way. You deserve better than that, Y/N." Ryujin said as I remained close to her. I didn't reply.

She looked at me for a brief moment as if making sure I was okay before she fell quiet too. The ride to her place was silent but comfortable.

Once we reached I suppose it was around thirty minutes passed ten. I got out of the car holding her hand in a small grip. She led me inside.

I looked around the beautiful villa and my goodness was it pretty. "Do you live here?" I asked as I took a look around the fountains of her yard.

"No not really." She answered as she held my hand in a firm grip, leading me inside so I wouldn't get lost. "I travel a lot for work."

I looked around with a smile, "This places gorgeous." Ryujin smiled a little, "Thank you. You have great taste."

I flushed a little but quickly shook it off. I shouldn't be getting all blushy already. "Hey, Ryujin?" She looked back at me as she led me into the hall and to the staircase.

"Hm?" She hummed in response. "What is it like being all rich?" I questioned innocently staring at the beautiful crystal chandelier.

"It's nice." She answered as she walked upstairs and I followed her, "Just nice? All this luxury and all the designer stuff you own, just nice?" I inquired as we reached her room.

"Yeah it comes with a cost." She said as she pulled me into her study which was right beside her room. I followed her inside and she picked me up setting me onto the tabletop right beside her main work table.

I blushed.

"What cost?" My voice lowered an octave and she smiled, "The cost of never having privacy." She chuckled, "And never being able to make friends without being taken advantage of."

"Have you been taken advantage of before?" I asked in a small voice. She nodded with a hint of melancholy in her gesture.

She nodded to the picture frame nearby and I looked. Instantly my heart dropped.

The picture frame held a pretty polaroid of a beautiful blond woman and a little child with Ryujin alongside them. The child looked like Ryujin but had blond hair.

I smiled a little, "Is that your..."

"Wife yes and daughter." Ryujin said in a steely voice before she turned back to me, "I got divorced two years ago." I nodded, "I could tell. The house holds a vibe of... Loneliness."

"Pfft, I'm not lonely." Ryujin rolled her eyes and continued to hold close to me, "Your daughter is beautiful." I suddenly said and she smiled, "Yejin was my world. Is... My world."

"I suppose your wife got all custody over her? Why though? You could provide better for her." I said as I tilted her head to meet my eyes. She smiled sadly, "That's her birth mother. Besides I wasn't so rich back then. I was an alcoholic and a drug addict."

I caressed the side of her face, "But you loved Yejin so much." She nodded leaning to my touch, "She is my everything even to this day."

"Why don't you try now?" She sighed at my words, "What's the point now?" "Maybe she misses you."

Ryujin chuckled.

"I miss her too. My little sunshine." Her fingertips touched the photo frame and I watched the view for a while before my hands held the sides of her face firmly, "Ryujin look at me."

She looked my way and I sighed softly. "Why are you here trying to get all lovey dovey with me? You have a kid to take back."

She chuckled once again.

"I'm afraid what if she doesn't want me back?" Ryujin asked me and I couldn't sense the vulnerability in her tone.

"She'll want you back, alright." I said determined. "How's her other mother anyway? Her birth mother, I mean."

Ryujin laughed with a scoff following right after, "Terrible. Woman doesn't know how to treat kids I swear. Only if Dahye let me keep Yejin such drama wouldn't have arose. Instead she insisted Yejin was better of under her care. It's so stupid honestly."

Ryujin paused before she continued, "Yejin deserves a loving mother and all Dahye does it traumatise her."

I held Ryujin's hands, "I understand where you're coming from and for both yours and Yejin's health it's important you try for custody one last time. Please?"

Ryujin looked away. "For me?" I asked in a softer tone and then she finally looked my way.

"Fine. I'll try one last time."