Unveiling beauty " Ambw"

To our past limitations

Ki's pov 2023

I watched as Nani gave me a subtle smile some time later that day, before walking off toward her desk. Maybe I was overdoing it when I watched her still taken aback that it was... her before me after all these years but there was nothing I could say or do to help her notice me.

I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to hug her and tell her everything would be okay. I wanted to inform her that I was the one she once loved.

However, I couldn't get past the thought that she likely already knew. How could she not? It wasn't like I changed my family name and the family firm itself has remained the same. I found myself tapping my pen onto the papers in front of me lost in a daze. A rhythmic repeat of my anxieties repeated themselves. I took a drink of water before looking out the window, my head rested on my left hand like a stand as the limited sun that exposed itself continued staring back at me.

Not too long after a knock came into my office door as I looked up to meet the eyes on the one before me.

" You seem lost in your work." my mother said as she placed her bag into the available seat next to her.

She looked at me as if she was studying me for a test of sorts.

" What's on your mind?" She asked gently, as she adjusted herself for comfort on the black leather seats before me.

" Nothing at all," I answered with an even smile, as my pen twirled in the space between my fingers.

" You seem to be unsure about something. Are you sure?" She asked again. " It's not Jae-hwa is it, I don't even know why you give her or her father the time of day." She said as she rolled her eyes.

" Because your husband can't see to let me be." I reminded her.

" Well you need to learn how to start declining your father's requests" she responded to me.

I couldn't help but chuckle at how easy she made everything sound.

" But I know that's not what's bothering you." She added.

"It appears you've already jumped to a conclusion, Eomma," I remarked, refocusing my attention to the documents in front of me, my fingers tapping a steady rhythm on the keyboard.

"Perhaps, it's something involving Nani?" Her voice was nonchalant, but it was enough to freeze me in my tracks, my fingers hovering mid-air as I turned to face her.

"Don't tell me that you..."

"Knew about Abena? Yes, I did." She released a tired sigh, sinking further into the office chair.

"Eomma..." My words hung in the air, a fragile whisper as I met her gaze.

"But how did..."

"I'm sharing this with you because I owe you the truth. It would be hypocritical to reproach your father while I did the same," she started, her voice quiet but resolute.

"Nani was also involved in the car crash with your brother and Ha-na."

"What?!?" My reaction was more of a shout than a question. "Eomma, you can't be serious," I retorted, my mind reeling from the sudden revelation.

"I couldn't be more serious, Ki, and trust me, I feel every bit as guilty for withholding the truth—"

"You assured me she had returned to Ghana! You convinced me that those letters were from her, right after I was relocated here. Now you're revealing that..."

"Seoung-ho, compose yourself," my mother interrupted, her tone firm. "And for the record, I didn't feed you those lies, your father did!"

"And yet you..." I paused, struggling to control the bitterness seeping into my voice. "You let him lie to me like that."