the penthouse

10 | once in a lifetime.

kang beom-seok was one weird man. he was born into an already rich family, but he took all of the kang's businesses and made them ever better. he brought a lot more money into the family, meaning that there was a lot of hope for his future.

when he married his high school sweetheart, who no one really knew, everyone expected for him to have a daughter. it was no good that dong yuan-yun, one of his academic rivals, had a son six years prior to him, and jeong do-yoon was expecting his second child.

since they were born, jaehyun and sicheng were born to succeed. they had everything, and they were expecting to get over any problem that came near them. that is exactly what beom-seok wanted for his son. however, there was one problem.

he had a daughter. her name was kang seulgi, and no one really cared about her. she was not near jeong jaehyun, nor dong sicheng. she was not even close to kim doyoung, the recently-born son of a smaller businessman. she was no one in this world.

it was no better when kang's first wife died. after he remarried, he was given yet another daughter. because of that, he divorced his other wife and sent her and his second child to the united states, without wanting to hear from them.

as much as seulgi tried to get his attention, she could not. she was not a son. she was a woman, something beom-seok found shameful. she was his first-born child, and she was supposed to be the son and heir to the company.

seulgi was well aware that her father never loved her, and he did not even think to name her on the board of directors. she tried so much, she wanted to make him proud and let him know that, yes, a woman can lead a company.

and here she was, once again, in front of him, holding a few files. her heels were killing her feet, her skirt was too tight, and her blazer sat on all the wrong areas. why was she so uncomfortable around him ? he was her father, and the only family she had.

" father, i brought the files that your secretary sent over. she told me you were quite tired today. " seulgi tried to smile to her father, who did not bother to look at her. " you should go home, and rest. i can do the rest of the work. "

" you can not. you should be the one to go back to your home, at your ridiculous penthouse complex. " beom-seok replied to his daughter, who's eyes widened. she was extremely hurt by his words. " i can not believe you live there. "

" it is a beautiful place, and the whole dong family was very nice to me. " seulgi sharply replied, throwing the files on his desk. he finally looked at her, with dark and cold eyes. " i feel as if they were more of a family, than you have been. "

" then why did you not seduce dong sicheng into marrying you ? " beom-seok replied, getting up from his seat. " if you would have cared, you would have been married to him or some other rich man. now, he is next to that devil woman. "

seulgi let out a scoff. marrying sicheng ? not only was he six years older than her, but he also got married when she was barely thirteen. how inappropriate and disgusting would it have been for a nineteen year old sicheng to go after a thirteen year old seulgi ?

" you know well that he and yeri met when i was extremely young. thus, i could have never married him. " seulgi rolled her eyes, but her father did not seem to agree with her words. he continued to look at her, in a way that scared seulgi.

" of course. your mother should have given birth to you faster. " beom-seok sat back down at his desk, looking away from seulgi. he took the papers, letting out a sigh. " and you should have been a son. i am embarrassed to have you. "

" i did not think of any other reaction from you. " seulgi said, walking away. she did not want to see him anymore, she did not want to hear from him or keep quiet whenever he told her the worst things he could think of.