"Who the hell was she? What does she think about herself?" pondered the old man in awe. He again stared at the money that he picked from the backseat and smiled. "She doesn't know who I am. If she would have known she would have never done such a thing. But I admire her courage and loyalty. She shouted at me because of her mother. She stood by her elder and even scolded me because I scolded her mother. That's what you want in your kids. She was right it was a mistake. I need to control my anger." He couldn't stop smiling. He then addressed his driver, "take me back home. I need to change my clothes."
"Yes sir," the driver replied. He took a U-turn and drove towards the old man's home. The old man tried identifying the car of the girl but it was lost in the sea of cars on the road.
Ashma looked back but that car and the old man were gone. She sat inside the car in anger. Her anger shifted from her mother to the old man. "How dare he shouted at mom? Who was he? What does he think about himself? Is he the king of England? It was just a mistake and she said sorry. Being an elder he should be humble and kind just like nanaji. Coming to Korea was a mistake. If one gets a welcome like this, it's better not to come. How can someone be this rude? Well, you were rude to everyone just yesterday. It happens in anger, so chill. Let's think about what is going to happen when you reach your mother's lover's family. Ew… Mother's lover… well… I am not saying, FATHER."
All through the travelling, Ashma kept diving into thoughts after thoughts and in turn, was hit by emotions after emotions. She felt anger and sadness and disgust and guilt one after another. The closer she was to her destination, the faster was her heartbeat. She didn't know whether she was nervous or angry or sad. All she knew was that she was not at all happy. All her joy and happiness were carried away by one phone call from a stranger, a very annoying stranger.
"Here we are," announced Dae-Hyun. The car reached its destination and entered an automatic gate. The whole house was surrounded by a beautiful garden that had a koi pond to enhance its beauty. The car stopped in front of a beautiful house made of white marble and a wooden façade. Neither Ashma nor Vidhi tried to exit the car. Ashma was now regretting the pre-paid taxi, at least in the name of payment she would have delayed getting off the car but now she had no reason to delay.
Vidhi opened her car door and stepped down. Ashma followed her suit as she didn't want her mom to enter alone. Her grandfather asked her to take care of her mother and she always obeyed him. She closed her eyes and gulped once. She exhaled a long gust of air and calmed herself down. The driver opened the trunk and took out their luggage.
"Thank you," Ashma showed gratitude and folded her hand in namaste. Dae-Hyun bowed to her and she immediately copied him and bowed down to him. He smiled at her politeness. Both women stood outside the car and looked at the large wooden door before them.
"Have a nice stay," shouted Dae-Hyun and drove away.
Ashma walked slowly while dragging the luggage behind her while Vidhi walked briskly and reached the front door. She reached toward the doorbell but her hand froze before she could press it. Ashma saw her mother's nervousness and anxiety and took pity on her. She held her hand and pulled Vidhi back. Ashma stood at her place and was about to press the doorbell when the door flung open.
A cute-looking, average-height girl with beautiful round eyes and jet black hair appeared before them. She had the prettiest smile on her face.
"Oh my god! Oh my god! You are here. You came, you really came." She was screaming at the top of her lungs and jumping with happiness. She threw herself towards Ashma and gave her a big bear hug. She kept tightening her grip every second. Ashma released her luggage and tried to push the annoying girl away. The girl squeezed Ashma once again and swayed her left to right multiple times. Ashma stood still and kept blinking involuntarily with shock. She couldn't understand what happened to her.
"I can't believe you are here," screamed the girl.
"Believe it," she said surprisingly yet sarcastically. "Um, who are you?" she inquired.
"I am Park Bong-Cha, your half-sister." She screamed in Ashma's ear in excitement. Ashma flinched away but was still in her grip which was becoming more annoying with every passing second. She released Ashma and looked at Vidhi. "You must be her mother." She bowed down to Vidhi and hugged her for mere seconds.
"Yes, how is he?" asked Vidhi.
Bong-Cha avoided her question and said, "Please, come in." She grabbed Ashma's hand and started dragging her along with her.
"What? Hey! Our luggage," screamed Ashma.
Bong-Cha looked back, turned towards Ashma and said, "leave it. It will be taken care of."
Ashma rolled her eyes at her sense of privilege. The moment Ashma entered the mansion another girl threw herself towards her and hugged her tightly.
"What is happening?" she shouted. Another hug? A few seconds ago she was being hugged by Bong-Cha, then who was she? Who was this new girl who too was excited to meet her?
"We all are so happy that you are here," she said. She released Ashma from her embrace and Ashma got a good look at her. With the alluring brown eyes, the heart shape face, hip-length hair, small lips, tall height, the beautiful figure, this girl could give competition to any model in the world.
The twinkle in eyes of both the girls when they smiled was making Ashma angrier. In her mind, she was on a mission, a mission to help her mother meet the man whom she fell in love with for the last time and return to India for her show. But these girls were wasting precious time hugging and smiling. She even hated their pearly white teeth.
"Okay, that's enough. Enough hugging." She wiggled out of the embrace. She looked around, no one was in the big white living room, except two men. Both were staring at her, their mouth-open.
One of them was a cute-looking, chocolate-faced man, with beautiful round eyes and slicked-back jet black hair. His face resembled that of Bong-Cha. Ashma understood he was her half-brother.
The other one was a tall, athletic-built, handsome man. She knew him somehow but couldn't recall. His pastel yellow fitted shirt was unable to hide his large chest, shoulders and muscular arms. "This man spends more time in the gym than his work, idiot!" she prejudiced.
"Who are you?" asked Ashma rudely to the second girl.
But before she could reply, everyone heard a female voice from a room. "Why are you girls screaming?" Ashma looked around but no one was visible.
"Vidhi!" the woman screamed. Everyone looked in her direction. A tall, charming woman with big black eyes approached her. Her face was full of kindness and warmth.
"Eun-Kyung!" Vidhi bowed down to her. After hearing her name Ashma's eyes widened. She couldn't believe her ears. Her fairy godmother was in front of her. Everyone wishes for one and she had one for real. She didn't know whether to be happy that her godmother existed in real life or be sad as her fairy godmother was the wife of her mother's lover. She was the woman who took her mother's place.
"Ashma!" Eun-Kyung turned toward Ashma and smiled at her.
Ashma could not control herself and tears started streaming down her face. She bowed down to Eun-Kyung with her hands folded in namaste.
"Oh, my sweet child!" Eun-Kyung said in a sad voice and hugged her tight. Ashma emotionally returned her hug. "It is so nice to meet you face to face. It's your first step in my house." She too couldn't control her tears.
"Yes, it is nice to meet you face to face," cried Ashma and tightened her hug.
"What is happening right now?" shouted Bong-Cha as everyone was confused why Eun-Kyung was meeting with Ashma as if she was meeting with her long-lost daughter.
Bong-Cha realised that after she came to know about Ashma she never inquired more about her from her parents. Her sole mission was to bring her to Korea, so she didn't know about the relationship her parents had with her.
"What have we here?" said a kind voice.
Everyone looked at the man who entered the house. Ashma turned towards him. Her eyes widened.
"You?" the kind voice changed into an arrogant tone. It was the same tone and the same face, Ashma dealt with a few minutes ago.
"You?" she screamed back.
"You are the girl from India?" Daggers were coming out of his eyes.
"You are the fucking man, the old man who destroyed my mother's life." Ashma immediately understood that the man she scolded in the morning was her stubborn, arrogant grandfather she heard so much about.
"Ashma!" screamed Vidhi and Eun-Kyung in unison. The rest of the people present in the living room had their jaws dropped.