Masquerade // Jeon Jungkook

CHAPTER 4

A walk in a park is Tae Hee's kind of favourite thing to do when she feels boring staying at home. She just finished a roll of Kimbap that she bought from a stall before entering the park. She was currently holding a cup of hot coffee as she strolled around the park.

The park is huge that it could fit about twenty houses. There are benches for people to sit at every corner and jogging tracks around the park. The path that she was walking is line with trees and rectangular beds of colourful flowers, trimmed neatly by the gardeners. A lot of people like to take their dogs for a walk or play fetch.

Tae Hee smiled at an old couple that sat on one of the benches as they made an eye contact. The couples' hair already grew grey and they were enjoying their time at the park as they teased each other. Cute, she thought about it.

Her mind wandered about her parents. If only her father is still alive, will they spend their time together like this? Will they tease and feed each other with snacks as they walk hand by hand along the park? She sighed as those questions were useless. Her father already left and went beyond the earth while her mother is not in her right mind. She'd been mourning her husband's death until she couldn't differentiate between her illusion and reality. Tae Hee was in high school when this unfortunate event struck her family.

"It's rare for Miss Mina to be walking alone in the park." Seonghwa's voice bounced Tae Hee back to reality. She jumped a bit when he suddenly appeared beside her and her hand instantly flew to her chest.

"Park Seonghwa, you're scaring me!"

"I'm not sorry for that," he deadpanned.

Tae Hee rolled her eyes and asked, "What are you doing here? Are you following me?"

"I'm meeting someone when I saw you walking into the park. I don't have time to stalk you, miss."

"Yeah, that doesn't suit you but I wouldn't be surprise if you do so. You knew a lot about me." She shrugged and brought the cup to her lips to sip the warm coffee. Black coffee is her favourite kind of coffee. The strong taste of caffeine gives her the energy to go through her rough day.

"That's not stalking, that's researching. Keep that in mind," he corrected her. "By the way, how was the meeting?"

"Nothing special. Both of the parents did the talk." She threw the empty cup into a bin. "The dinner went smoothly and Jungkook sent me home."

Seonghwa nodded and they continued walking in silence. He didn't know why but something is bothering him every time he looks at Tae Hee. Is it because she resembles Mina a lot that I got confused about whether it is her. Their personality is different but what's bothering me?

"How's Miss Mina?" Tae Hee glanced at Seonghwa. He didn't respond instantly and his eyes seem lost in thoughts.

"Still the same," he sighed. He wished there's an improvement but Mina didn't show any sign of waking up soon.

"I've been wondering about this since I saw you in the office." Tae Hee paused for a while before she continued. "What's your relationship with Chairman Lee's family? You don't look like a regular employee that only working in the office."

Seonghwa stopped on track. He directed his gaze towards Tae Hee who was walking ahead. The latter stopped walking and turned around when she realised Seonghwa was not walking beside her. Did I ask a wrong question? She shot him a questioning look.

His face twitched into a smirk. "You're quite observant to my surprise."

"Why do I feel offended though?"

Seonghwa let out a small laugh causing the girl to frown. "You're right about it." He stepped closer to Tae Hee and reached out his hand to grab a dead leaf that fell on top of her head. Seonghwa smiled before he stepped backwards and threw the leaf onto the ground.