"Did you at least want to see her?"
A pleading voice, very familiar to her wafted in her direction as she stood outside the drawing room, watching the pitiful scene unfold before her.
"No," she heard the reply. "What good would that do?"
"She's your daughter, Sora," her father's voice faltered a little. "Please..."
"I have given you what you want, Luo-Yong," the woman's voice carried an air of indignance. "There is nothing left for me here. I have never loved you. I will never love her."
She watched as the woman pushed her father away and hurried to walk out of the mansion, envelope in her hand, her face nothing but a blur to her. She felt cold all over as she watched the scene play over several times.
'I have never loved you. I will never love her.'
'It's supposed to end here, right? Someone will come take me away?' She thought desperately as she longed to end the scene, her chest tightening, the cold becoming unbearable with every passing second.
After a while, firm, warm hands touched her shoulders and guided her to turn around. Away from the scene, away from the cold.
"Young Miss...?" a concerned voice whispered. "I'm so sorry you had to see that." She felt a steady warmth envelope her, hugging her.
"It's alright," the concerned voice sounded again. "Young Miss, you're safe."
A flurry of movement and then another pair of warm hands took both of hers.
"Please take the Young Miss to the Atrium. I will be there shortly," she heard the voice again.
As she was being led away, Ji-Eun opened her eyes and sat straight up, her lamp noting the movement and lighting up in an instant.
'That nightmare again.' She thought as she tried steadying her breath and taking note of where she was. The soft lighted lamp, the papers strewn all over the foot of her bed, the weird mannequins standing near the bathroom door. Her suite, she was in her suite at the Regal.
'I should ask Jaehyun or someone to take those freaking mannequins out of here. They're giving me nightmares.'
Taking control of her breathing, she pushed away the heavy blanket covering her legs and tried standing up. She swayed a little and felt her sweat-soaked shirt cling to her back and it made her cold all over again.
"Change," she said out loud. "I need to change."
She moved slowly toward her bathroom and busied herself with changing her clothes.
It happens once or twice a month, she would wake up to the same nightmare each time. The same voices, the same scene, the same feeling. It would be a lie to say she didn't recognize her Father and Old Chen's voices in her head. But that woman... Maybe her Mother? She wasn't sure. In that scene, her Father clearly said '...your daughter', but Ji-Eun still wasn't sure. She had no clear memories of her. She doesn't even know what she looks like. Chung Luo-Yong had all of her Mother's pictures removed from their home years ago.
With that being said, she never asked about her Mother or confirmed with anyone in her household if such a thing had happened. She had come to terms that her 'nightmare' was some sort of memory but left it untouched. And as disturbed as she was by these occurrences, she wouldn't dream of even asking her Father or Old Chen about her Mother.
Her parents hurt each other. One left and the other tried his best to raise a decent daughter. Best to leave it at that.
Sighing, she finished changing her clothes and got some fresh sheets.
'I'm tired enough as it is...' Ji-Eun shook her head. 'I don't need this right now.'
As she walked back toward her bed, carrying her bundle, she noticed her phone lighting up.
'Messages?' She thought as she glanced at her window. It's still pitch black outside. 'Who's messaging me this early?'
"Did I forget to do something?" Her thoughts strayed to Oh Jaehyun reminding her of something as she walked back to her bed. She knew he wouldn't send her any messages or call her this time of the day if there was nothing important or urgent.
'3:15 AM' She looked at the time, sighed, and unlocked her phone. Her notifications showed around 5 messages. 'Oh God... How long was I asleep? Or rather... How early did I sleep?'
One message from Secretary Lee, informing her of her Father's schedule. Two from Jaehyun, reminding her about the closing meeting she had to attend and his usual 'get more rest and good night' message. Surprisingly, two from Hyun-Shik, with whom she had an uncomfortable talk yesterday morning.
"That's unexpected," she thought as she opened his message.
'Ji-Eun, I'm sorry for what happened this morning...'
She read through his apology message, not knowing what to make of it. Surprising that he sent her this just 3 or 4 hours after they met in her office and she wasn't expecting an apology from him anyway.
She had put her phone away and on silent to focus on work throughout the day. If anything, important messages or calls would go straight to Jaehyun if people can't reach her. This was the norm. But Jaehyun didn't say anything about any messages from Song Hyun-Shik that would warrant a quick reply, so...
'Was I harsh on him?' She shook her head. 'Maybe.'
She read his second message carefully.
'If you're up for it, can we maybe spend some time together this weekend? I'm serious about making it up to you.'
She stared at her phone for a few more seconds before putting it down.
'I don't think I said anything out of line yesterday that would warrant any type of special treatment,' she thought, sinking into her bed.
She thought about what happened yesterday in her office. She knew Hyun-Shik was uncomfortable about what happened between Jaehyun and his girlfriend, but from the look of things and professionally, she knew her friend wasn't in the wrong. Oh Jaehyun wouldn't dare create a scene or make things hard for someone like Bae Yuri. That's just it, wasn't it?
'But then again... Jaehyun can be mean if he wants to,' Ji-Eun sighed. 'I've seen it before. Experienced it firsthand. That guy... Just how much did he upset that model?'
She smirked as she held her phone up and began typing a quick, 'Okay.' With that, she hit send and turned her phone off.
"I'll deal with you later," she pushed her phone away and rolled onto her side to try and get back to sleep.