The S hidden inside of me

Chapter 1

Since I was a child I have always been an independent and enterprising child and it is thanks to the experiences of my past if I am now where I am.

I built my career out of nothing and deprived myself of what little I had I was able to get to where many women struggle to get to.

Perhaps I should introduce myself, my name is Elisabeth Kim, vice president of the branch of Hotel K located in Milan.

But how did a young woman like me, just 30 years old, with no managerial experience, get such an important position?

It all started 34 years ago, when the young and beautiful Italian Andrea Cavarra, at the age of 16 decided to visit Japan. 

Arriving in a remote village in Hokkaido, he was hosted by the cute Kim family, and it was here that he fell in love at first sight with my mother Mei Kim, just 15 years old.

A love that was immediately reciprocated, the two little boys spent the summer between visits to temples, small country towns and mountains, among the immense fields of the Kim property, and it was precisely so that this love became even stronger and at the end of the summer the two young boys left with a promise:

"Find each other once high school is finished and continue where we left off"

And so the young Andrea returned to his beloved Italy, leaving a piece of heart in that of Hokkaido.

Three years later, Andrea returned to those lands, in the hope that his dear Mei would remember their promise, and so it was.

In the three years that have been separated, neither of them stopped thinking about the other; Mei learned Italian and Andrea Japanese.

The latter decided to attend the University of Tokyo together with Mei, their university life was full of joy, happiness, novelty and surprises for both.

And among the latter are me.

As you will have understood these two stubborn young people are my parents when they were young.

My birth wreaked havoc on everyone, but despite this, Andrea and Mei remained side by side to take care of me.

My mother continued to attend college while I was cared for by my maternal grandparents.

Andrea juggled school and work, hoping that sooner or later he could buy a house in which to live all three together; but this will was shattered when at the age of 26 Andrea realized that this was not the life he wanted, despite the love and passion between the two being still strong, he did not feel up to raising a child and giving up everything he had always dreamed of to take care of a family.

So he decided to leave me and my mother in Tokyo alone and decided, once again to go back to Italy without ever being heard again, except for the calendar celebrations.

My mother was devastated and it was up to me, when I was only 6 years old, to take care of the house and also my mother.

"Beth, my child, don't trust men, first they talk to you about love and then they leave, don't be like me, learn to stand on your own legs"

That was the mantra my mother used to tell me about every day, until I was 18, when Andrea came back on his knees and asked my mother to marry her.

Obviously Mei couldn't resist and threw herself into his arms, but this second attempt went well I have to say, being that my parents are now still together and seem to be happy.

But I didn't, I didn't accept this man in my family, this man who thinks it's enough to pay me my university studies to make up for 12 years of absence, of emptiness.

And it is precisely from my past that my aversion to men was born, and also from the fact that my first boyfriend betrayed me just before marriage, with a man, but this is another story that will have to deepen then.

But back to my 18 years and how I lived my college life.

Growing too quickly, with a sense of duty to become independent, I started my studies in economics and management. From the very beginning I engaged my soul and body in the study, giving up useless friendships, collegiate outings, mixers, confessions of love.

My life was just workout in the morning, to clear my mind, I studied all day, and in the evening I had my job as a waitress at an Italian luxury restaurant.

The only thing I am grateful for my father is that thanks to him I can speak perfectly Italian, English and German, as well as Japanese.

All this, all these sacrifices in order to rise above all those men who belittle women, to prove to myself and to the whole world, that even a woman can live well without a man by her side.

After university, I devoted myself more to my work, and I started an evening entrepreneurship course.

Here I met Mike, an Italian-American who moved with his family to Tokyo two years earlier.

Mike looked like a model, but he was more interested in making a career because of his intellect.

Blond, hazel-colored eyes, tall on the 80s, of sturdy and muscular stature, the classic boy who draws everyone's attention to himself, but who is so taken by anything else, not to notice what is around him.

We spoke the first time during a group work, his Japanese was really bad, and maybe this language difficulty that made him approach me, the only person attending the course who could understand him.

What I couldn't enjoy during college, it starts to live during this course, along with Mike.

We really seemed to be made for each other, both with difficult pasts, both with distrust of the other sex, but ready to overcome these hostilities with the help of the other.

And so our relationship began, more than a love story, it felt more like a great friendship, based on a deep mental understanding.

We both dreamed big, wanted to open something of our own, take home together and maybe build our own family, a safe place to return when everything around us scared us.

But that was only my POV not his; you know how the saying goes 

" Lucky at cards, but unluky in love"

but which were my cards, at that time, I still didn't know.

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Hii there! Laura speaking :)

thank you very mucch for reading! what do you think about this first chapter?

Is Beth gonna find her "cards"?