There are Many Flowers in Seoul

Chapter Eighty

The studio wasn't the friendliest or most welcoming place in the dark.

Rose thought back to the day she arrived during the storm, sodden and broken, torn apart after she'd realised Tae-won had lied to her and had in fact known her true identity all along. Eun-young had been the person to admit her entrance to the building on that day, too, and she'd suppressed the urge to ask her for comfort or support because she knew that she would reveal all her secrets if Eun-young was too kind.

Now she wished she'd just told her the truth that day, and had dealt with the consequences much earlier, before she'd come to care for the woman so much.

Rose closed the door firmly behind herself and the lock engaged. Until Eun-young saw fit to throw her out, she would be safe. The soft glow of light came from the rear office behind the reception desk. It was unoccupied, but it was probably comforting to have some manner of illumination in the lobby, especially when it came time for Eun-young ot lock up and head home. The portraits of her mother and grandmother hung in the gallery overhead, both looking down upon their descendant with something like disappointment. Rose knew that, given the choice, both women would find someone else to take over the company when the time came rather than a girl who only thought of herself before others, and who was too cowardly to face the truth and any challenges head on as a real leader should.

'Rose,' Eun-young said as she stepped out of the elevator. She cleared her throat softly and corrected herself. 'Miss. Porter-Abe, what are you doing here so late?'

Rose's eyes pinched. 'Please, don't address me formally,' she begged. 'I'm still the same person I was when we first met.'

'When we first met you were technically my superior,' Eun-young replied, 'and I should have treated you as such.'

'You know as well as I do that I'm not your superior. Not in any respect. Please, can we sit down somewhere and talk about this? Is there an office or... maybe the studio downstairs?'

'Si-woo is downstairs,' Eun-young said. She noticed Rose flinch at the sound of his name. Although the girl didn't deserve it, Eun-young reassured her, 'He won't come up here. He's packing away the equipment and separating his things from ours. He'll leave when he's finished.'

Rose knew that she ought to speak to him, too, before she fled the country, but after their argument and her incredibly public break-up with Tae-won – a break-up which occurred shortly after she'd told Si-woo that she loved him and that their relationship would endure – she didn't know that she could face the man. Not only had she spewed lie after lie at him, she'd also neglected to mention that she was the deceiver in the relationship, and had used Tae-won as much as he had her.

Making amends with Eun-young was one thing, but patching things up with Si-woo was an impossible task.

'I can make us tea,' Eun-young offered, cutting through the awkward silence with her unwavering politeness and hospitality. 'I don't think there are any cupcakes available, but it's better than nothing. Shall we?'

Rose followed Eun-young like a puppy grovelling at its master's feet, fearful that it was about to be hated and abandoned by someone it dearly loved. The elevator ride to the café was painfully quiet, and Rose twisted her hands and stared at the floor. Eun-young's maturity and sensible nature had always made Rose feel like a child, but never more than it did now that she was so thoroughly ashamed of her actions. This woman was more than an employee of the company; she was someone Rose desperately wanted to like her, because she knew that Eun-young was more than just an asset and a hard-worker, but she was just the sort of woman she hoped she might get to work with again in the future as an equal, or seek out as a mentor should she be so burdened with the task of running Silver Lilies on her mother's behalf.