"Do not utter a single word in defense to that dimwitted brother of yours. Luck has already favored him that he hasn't lost his mind yet after years of consuming that dangerous drug. See...I warned you but you wouldn't listen! Your father must have had a hand in his recent recovery. I also forbid you to see that girl again! Your father is watching us. I'm certain of it."
"Mother you're acting insane!"
"I taught you well enough to always be a thousand steps ahead of your enemies and two thousand more steps ahead of your friends."
"I did everything you asked..."
"Our situation is precarious my dear daughter. Never disobey me again."
"All of us are unredeemable anyways, our actions incorrigible. The only person who doesn't deserve this suffering is brother."
"I wish to forget him but you remind me of him every single moment!"
"I will not partake in any more suffering brought to brother. Grandmama has promised to shelter us from this storm after this situation subsides."
"This will never end. This is just another case that your father will maneuver his way out of. What nonsense. Grandmama?"
"Grandmama is our only option mother! How much alcohol did you consume really..?"
"Look at me! You ungrateful child! Do you think I was married to your father for love? No! It was to hide his secret! You should have met his frightening great grandparents, no one was allowed to have children unless they were women, but your father had to go and get pregnant. I was forced to hide that from everyone...pretending to be the one that bore your brother! I despise that boy to the core! That wretched boy grew up calling me mother! Mother! And my family forcing him to me!"
"Mother..."
"Bankrupt cunning fools that only played their way into my parents life because of their presumed good name! Fine match they said....your marriage would ensure success and the stocks will shoot up, they said. Little did I know this marriage was all about survival for the fittest."
"Thats why we need to start over after the dust settles."
"I suspected you'd say that, seeing that you're my flesh and blood. My dear daughter, I apologize for putting a lot of weight on your shoulders but this family never was to begin with."
"You remind me that everyday."
"Do you know what happened when I discovered your father pregnant with your wretched brother? He strangled me until I collapsed. When I woke up, he'd locked me up and brought in the same man that impregnated him to introduce him as his lover. I rebelled thinking I'd be set free but he only laughed at my empty threats. Days in that room turned into weeks, then months. No one looked for me not even my own family. Then one day, your father paid me a visit with another who marked me, taking away my imprint. They were hoping I knew where my family kept their wealth and turns out, they got what they wanted. My jeweleries gifted to me were my most priced possesion, enough to fund your father's investments to secure his future and that of his bastard son. But then, I discovered I was pregnant. Your father had you inseminated into me. Turns out, before we were married and his penis lost it's purpose after his marking, he was smart enough to save some parts of himself that made you you. You my daughter are the only good thing that man has ever done to me. His parents investigated the authenticity of my pregnancy afterwars and it was then that I was allowed back to visit my parents. They knew you were the only acceptable heir of us two so they began to care a little. To date, it still surprises me how my parents insisted I stay in marriage to save face, a decision they regreted years later that has taken me long enough to forgive them for."
"Mother you're selfish. How can you expect me to just take in all of that information."
"I must tell you the truth before you hear it from someone else. Both our families are good at keeping dark secrets. Besides, your father frightens me."
"He wouldn't dare come near us now."
"The prosecutor's office have already conducted a search in your family home and seized some things. My assumption is they have found more evidence that will give your father a life sentence.... Are you listening madam?"
"Pardon?"
"My dear daughter, you'll scare the man away." Mora's mother cautioned softly. She reached out and held her daughter's hand and squeezed it in a comforting manner. "It's over. Things won't be worse than they already are. This is the end of him so you do not have to be afraid."
Mora seemed worried as she spoke, looking at her now sober mother. "This is not the first time we have done this mother, try to run away that is."
"I no longer can stomach your father's actions and neither will I stick around to face numerous enemies he has made over the years. Everyone is coming out speaking against him. He obviously didn't think things through mistreating his staff like that and using some of them as experiments. Let him bear his own responsibility."
Looking back at their lawyer, Mora spoke. "You should have told me about the search in the house. Mijin was..." Mora stopped briefly. "How thorough are the searches done? There is one room I'm particularly concerned about."
"Do not worry. The cleaners left no trace of evidence. You did pay them well after all and they know what is at stake if they mess up."
Mora's mother seemed dissapointed. "You could have at least discussed that plan of yours with me beforehand."
"Mother, you would have refused. Besides, you may not believe it but this is one request I had to fulfill for brother. Mijin is his life."
"Bringing her to a destroyed family as ours, I fear she may be too weak..."
"Quite the opposite. Even post administering CS to her, she can still pick up bits of whatever happened."
"If that is the case, you will encounter trouble. The side effects of that drug completely makes one omit the parts in their lives that cause them the most pain."
"I already confirmed her memory after I paid her a visit. She seemed a little lost but I'm convinced she knows she is forgetting something. My voluntary confession of what happened to her was to make her reliant on me, and to tie brother to her for good. If she isn't pregnant, I'd be dissapointed of my brother's impotence. Her character though is still just as difficult."
"Mora, we should stop here. I've lived my life in misery and at my age, it's too late to start over. I can't heal physically neither mentally but you still have a whole life ahead of you. Do not proceed further than this. You have fulfilled your brother's wish and if I'm correct, this gentleman will make sure your brother is protected. Your father also wants to settle our divorce quietly. We can sop here and stay with your grandmama. She misses you."
"I still have a support group to run now that I'm going to be a senior in campus. If anything, I should stand tall and insist the funding given to the support group was from grandmama. After all, aren't we victim's too of father's violence? If we stay quiet and hide, we are confirming to be accomplices to his crimes.
"This is not your fight to lead Mora"
...I won't loose Mijin and Yeon...
"My brother, despite his defectiveness, I refuse to leave him behind..." Mora stopped when her phone rang. Her eyes showed surprise as she looked at her phone.
"Who is it?" Her mother asked.
Ignoring her, Mora answered the phone but didn't say a word. After a few seconds of silence, she put the call on loudspeaker and gestured to her mom and their lawyer to remain quiet.
"Mora, speak up you ungrateful child. I know you can hear me."
Upon listening to the voice, her mother covered her mouth and shook. She seemed frightened.
"Tell me, where are you now? Is your mother with you?"
"I have nothing to say to you father."
"Father? You dare call me father after throwing my name in the mud? My, you truly are my daughter to be as cunning as you are."
Mora flinched when she heard her father laugh.
He is too comfortable and I don't like it.
"Let's not discuss family matters over the phone. Come home."
Home? I thought he was remanded?
"I don't trust you father."
"Haven't you done the same to your dear brother? You used to be protective of him when you were much younger."
"I learned from the best."
They heard a sigh before he continued. "I regret now. I've brought shame upon our family and I'm sorry for that. Do not shame the family as I have done daughter. You forcing that girl in your brother's life will only worsen our situation further. The moment people find out she is your brother's fated, her stream of lovers will come running for a piece of the family's fortune. She is a parasite and everyone she has associated herself with just wants to leech off of us."
"Don't be too proud calling us a family. We do not deserve a second chance to be labelled as such especially when you are around. Odds are, we wouldn't have lasted this long if it wasn't for grandmama."
"You should learn to control your mouth you ungrateful twat. Instead, thank me for making your life easier. The mistakes you've made are your own responsibility so stop embarrassing me and snap out of that little blame game you're playing with your stupid mother."
"This is exactly why we are not going back to you!" Mora's mother jumped in despite her daughter's and the lawyer's disapproval. She seemed frightened with every word that left her mouth. "Stop looking for us..! Go to that lover of yours..!"
"You must be insane. Don't you remember? You poisoned him as an act of revange."
"I never killed anyone in my life!" Mora's mother began to whimper. "If anything, I warned him about you! You're selfish! You ruined my life! I would have accepted your pregnancy and hid your secret from the start but you tortured me..."
"Are you talking about yourself?"
"Stop trying to confuse me! I know it was you! You said your family doesn't accept marked males! Please...say the truth..."
"I never imagined you'll backstab me as such. How you managed to lure your daughter into your plans, I do not know."
"I didn't do anything!"
"Mom!" Mora called out to control her hysterical mother.
"You've put me on loudspeaker, smart move except nothing can be gotten from this conversation, assuming you've recorded me. Using our little chat as evidence will only incriminate you my cunning little Mora and if you care for your mother so much, don't release this to the public. People will think your mother is mentally insane."
"I can manipulate this conversation to our advantage. You taught me well about forgery. Remember?"
"Then if you learned from the master, don't be arrogant. I have you on loudspeaker too, my cunning little Mora."