[✔️] Across The Years | Seulrene

Ch. 21 - The moment (Part I)

No One's POV

For the rest of the evening, Mark poured on his normal charm. On one level she was happy that all was as it should be; her at a ball with a very handsome man, who would soon be her husband. The other ladies were giving her looks of envy.

But Seulgi was gone and Irene had no idea how upset she was. Irene felt torn, Torn between tremendous pressure to conform to society norms, family obligations and her growing attraction to the Korean rebel.

By the end of the night, Irene managed to push those worries about Seulgi out of her mind as Mark kept pouring on the charm and the compliments. The weight of those societal pressures didn't seem as bad when Mark flashed his smile.

Of course once Mark said his farewell at the end of the evening, Irene started to worry again. As if released from some spell, Thoughts of Seulgi quickly returned.

Lying in bed alone, Irene soon fell into a deep sorrow for how she treated Seulgi. What surprised her most, was the depth and intensity of the feelings of regret and sorrow that came upon her. For the first time since her mother died, Irene would cry herself to sleep.

The following day was Sunday and she first caught a glimpse of Seulgi at breakfast. The actress came out holding a tray of eggs. What struck Irene was her emotionless expression. The young Korean-Latina immediately found it disconcerting.

"Good Morning, Seulgi. How are you this fine morning?" Irene asked, desperately trying to get some reaction out of her.

"Fine, thank you Miss Irene." Seulgi replied in a monotone voice.

As Irene's spirits quickly dropped, her father interjected. "Seulgi, you're performance last night was splendid. Sir Miles was quite impressed."

The Korean rebel paused from her serving duties and again replied in polite but monotone voice, "Thank you Sir, It was my pleasure."

Seulgi then quickly finished and vanished into the kitchen without so much as looking at Irene. The rest of breakfast was the same. Seulgi was there, but she showed almost no emotion and did her work quietly and diligently. It saddened Irene greatly.

"Seulgi's furious at me, I know it." Irene thought as she ate her breakfast.

"Is something wrong Irene? You seem sad this morning."

Realizing she had door a poor job of hiding her emotions, Irene quickly lied. "I was just thinking of mother. She will not be able to see me married. It saddens me greatly."

Mr. Ferrer nodded his head, "I miss her as well. You're sorrow is quite understandable. We're going to church after breakfast; you should remember to say prayer for her."

"I will father."

In church a little while later, Irene did pray. But she prayed for some way to make this all right, as she really had no idea how. At this point, she wasn't even sure what she wanted half the time.

After church, Irene hardly felt better. She felt even worse as the day went on. All day, Seulgi played the part of quiet, emotionless, hardworking servant. Irene also suspected that Seulgi was actually avoiding her.

Seulgi was in fact avoiding her. Last night's incident left her confused, frustrated, guilt ridden, aroused, hurt, but mostly angry. Honestly, at one point when she got home, she found herself tempted to just go home and let Irene rot in that grave.