HWANG MANSION
....
Nalani parked her car in front of the Hwang mansion with a gloomy face. She alighted and headed straight for the doors of the main entrance, her steps exuding confidence.
The guards at the entrance didn't stop her nor did they help her open the door. It was no new treatment for her since basically everyone in this house disregarded her existence. Even the employees.
As she opened the door, she came face to face with a maid named Agatha. Nalani had memorized basically everyone's names here as a kid. She had nothing else to do as a kid. She wasn't given much to do. People would call her a princess as no work or chores were assigned to her but it was more of a torture as everyone began regarding her as useless.
So, when she heard the girl call her 'young madam', she just smiled knowingly. Even the maids didn't regard her. She pushed past the maid and had barely made it into the living room when she heard a smack and little by little began feeling pain in her forearm.
" You little witch!..." Madam Hwang cursed " Can't you use your brain for once?! How dare you?! How dare you defy me?!" Madam Hwang continued swinging her cane at Lani as she made no attempt to dodge her swings.
Ji won was savouring every moment of this and she smiled. " Oh dear, at this rate,the girl will be paralyzed before the old woman, hehe..." She thought.
So-hee, though wanting to plead with her mother to stop hitting her daughter, did not dare to intervene. Ethan saw that the hits were becoming harder and attempted to step in only to be held back by So-hee.
" Stay. Mother's anger might get worse if you intervene " So-hee told Ethan. Ethan frowned clearly not understanding his wife's motives, " Are you seriously worried about your mother's temper at this moment? She'll kill our daughter ---"
" Oh please, don't act like you care about her now after bringing that bastard into this family" Ethan immediately calmed down when he heard this. " I do care--"
" Save it".
Meanwhile, Madam Hwang's hits were becoming harder on Lani and marks were beginning to show themselves on her body. Despite all this, Lani made no attempt to avoid nor stop Madam Hwang.
Min su sensing that the girl wouldn't do anything and his mother wouldn't stop spoke up, " Mother, it's enough".
Madam Hwang stopped and turned to look at her son, " Enough? Enough?! Isn't the trouble this fool has caused enough?! Why wont she stop?! Why?!" Madam Hwang screamed.
Ji won putting on her pretense mask immediately rushed over to her mother's side, " Mother, that's enough. Your blood pressure will rise at this point. Calm down" she said as she helped Madam Hwang sit down.
Min su instructed Agatha to bring a glass of water while Madam Hwang tried to calm down. She steadied her breath as she soothed her chest. " Let it rise. Let it. I don't care at this point. Having this girl in this house will kill me anyway"
So-hee immediately said " Mother, don't say that! She's still your granddau---"
Bang!!
" I dare you to finish your sentence, Hwang So-hee!! I dare you to say that good for nothing wretch is my granddaughter!! Say it So-hee!!" Madam Hwang screamed. So-hee immediately shut her mouth and bowed her head.
" I honestly do not know how you, my daughter,have raised such a thing. Even that bastard is better off being my granddaughter than that scum!!" Madam Hwang said this while looking at Lani with nothing but pure hatred. This sentence hit So-hee hard as she bit her lip.
Ethan, not knowing what Lani has done wrong this time, asked his mother-in-law, " Mother, if I may, what has Nalani done wrong today? Everything was fine this morning ". Madam Hwang immediately stop her soothing motion and looked at her foolish son-in-law. " Like father, like daughter " she thought.
She then looked at So-hee who still had her head bowed down, " So-hee." So-hee, though hesitant, responded with a raise of her head.
Madam Hwang continued, " What day is today? What event specifically is today?" So-hee didn't need to think hard. " It's Old master Yang's 85th birthday today. They are also announcing his grandson, Declan Yang, as his successor".
" Good, So-hee, good. Now, what was your daughter supposed to do for me? Because if I recall correctly, she was supposed to meet with the young master of the Yang family" Madam Hwang elaborated.
So-hee immediately densed something was off and turned to Nalani. " Did you not meet with the Gordon Yang today? I remember I told you just last night about your meeting"
" Mother, stop making it sound so formal like it really is a meeting. Just say that it's a date, it's not so hard" Immediately Madam Hwang heard this, her breathing fastened due to her anger.
" Answer my question, Lani. Did you or did you not meet with him?" Lani just stared back at So-hee with no intention of answering. Seeing this, old Hwang let out a crazy laugh.
" Do you see that? Do you see what shame your daughter is bringing into this family? She didn't meet with him. As a matter of fact, I got calls from Old master Yang. He was talking about cancelling our agreement because things didn't go as planned" So-hee frowned as she looked back and forth between her mother and daughter.
" He said he wouldn't partner with us unless this good for nothing dates his grandson. But here she is. As usual, spoiling our plans" So-hee immediately got angry as she marched up to her daughter.
"Pak!!"
Lani immediately felt her left cheek burn. " I told you, Lani. I told you that this was your grandmother's wish and mir mine!! Why would you flake like this?! How much more embarrassment Lani?!"
Lani turned her head to look at her mother's crying face, unmoved, " Because I don't like him". So-hee immediately stopped crying. Her face of sorrow was replaced with a face of shock before a shriek echoed through the room.
" You foolish girl!! Does it matter?! Do your feelings matter right now?! This was never up for negotiation!! Why do you think I'm giving you an option?!---"
"Why me?--"
" Because you are the only one suitable Lani dear. Listen to your mother for once in your life. Please. " So-hee collapsed in tears. Her wails echoed through the mansion.
Madam Hwang simply scoffed and got up. Walking straight over to Lani, she said " Fix what you've done and top your shenanigans. You better not mess this up. I might be old but I still get my way, one way our another ".
Then, she turned around and walked up the stairs to her room, accompanied by ji won. Slowly, everyone dispersed, leaving Ethan, So-hee, Sophia and Lani in the room.
Sophia, Lani's cousin from the third branch said, " Fix it cousin. You know what Grandma can do when she's mad. I shouldn't be telling you when you just experienced it firsthand, hehehe...." Then, she too went up the stairs, leaving the family of three alone in the living room.