Something Beautiful
Chapter - 15

Fires of fury lit up in Mingyu's eyes. " Can't question." - he roared, but he didn't finish his sentence, he clenched his mouth tightly until the muscles in his jaw twitched. "And if I refuse?" sergeant.

"Then I'll charge you to the high court in London. Don't you think I can't" cried Mrs Bruschweiler.

"You won't do that," Mingyu said confidently. "Failing me will only make the scandal that you think has contaminated Lisa spread all the way to London."

Encouraged by Mingyu's haughty calm demeanor as well as the memories of her husband's ill-treatment, Lady Bruschweiler immediately got up from the chair, her body trembling in anger. "You listen to me, I'll do exactly as I say. Lisa's gonna get the honor out of your name or she's gonna buy that honor with your money, every penny of your money, if it's my way. Whichever way, there is no harm to us. Youunderstand?" the woman almost screamed. "I won't let you take advantage of us like my husband did. You're a monster, just like him. All men are monsters, selfish, disgusting...."

Mingyu stared coldly at the nearly insane woman standing before him, her eyes lit up, her hands clenched tightly so that her blue veins were clearly visible. Mingyu realized the woman was serious about her words. The woman seems to hate her husband so much that she is willing to spread the Lisa scandal to the public, just because she wants revenge on the man, Mingyu.

"You have kissed him" maddened Mrs Bruschweiler in an accusatory tone. "You put your hand on his body, he admits it,"

"Mama, no!" crying Lisa, hugging her own body and bending forward, either out of shame or pain, Mingyu was not sure which one, "Don't, please don't do this," she pleaded stammering. "Don't do this to me."

Mingyu looked at the little lady who was bending over to resemble a pitiful ball and it was really hard to imagine that same woman who saved him two days ago.

"Only God knows what else you let him do to you,"

Mingyu's palm hit the table so hard that its sound boomed all over the wooden-walled room. "Enough!" attack him with a loud voice. "Sit down!" his orders to Lady Bruschweiler, and as the woman rigidly obeyed, Mingyu rose from her seat. "You're with me" he ordered briefly. "I want to talk to you both."

Mrs Bruschweiler opened her mouth to protest, but old Mrs Kim finally spoke, and as the woman spoke her voice sounded ice-cold. "Shut up, Mrs Bruschweiler! We have heard enough of your words!"

***

Lisa barely had to run to avoid being left behind by Mingyu as the man walked across the sitting room, through the doorway, then into the corridor, and into the tiny sitting room decorated in a shade of violet. Once inside, Mingyu released Lisa's hand, stepped across the room towards the window, then stuffed her hand into the pocket. The silence of the room whackened Lisa's tense nerves as the man stared stiffly at the courtyard, his figure looking stern, merciless. Lisa knew the man was thinking hard about finding a way to avoid marrying Lisa, and she also knew that behind the calm, controlled attitude there was an angry outburst ready to explode, an indecisive anger will be shown to him, soon. Feeling very embarrassed, Lisa waited resignedly, watching the man raise his hand and massage the tense muscles in his neck, his facial features increasingly gloomy and threatening.

The man turned around so suddenly that Lisa automatically stepped back. "Stop acting like a frightened rabbit" he said. "I'm the one who's trapped, not you."

Tranquility overwhelms Lisa, taking away everything but shame. His tiny chin was lifted up, his back was vertical, and Mingyu could see he was trying hard to control himself, the effort he won. Lisa who was now standing before him looked like a haughty tomboyish queen, dressed in shabby clothes, her eyes shining like a pair of jewels. "I couldn't speak in the room earlier" he said in a voice that only trembled slightly, "because my mother wouldn't have allowed it, but if you hadn't invited me to speak together, I mean to talk to you."

"Say what you want to say, the sooner the better."

Lisa's chin lifted even higher hearing the cold tone of the man's voice. I don't know why he wished he hadn't treated her as hatefully as he had treated his family. "The idea of our marriage is ridiculous" he began.

"That's right," the rough Mingyu sambar.

"We are from a different world."

"Again right."

"You don't want to marry me."

"Right, Miss Bruschweiler," said the man in a mocking tone.

"I don't want to marry you either" Lisa grumbled, ashamed to the bone marrow hearing every insulting word the man said.

"You are so wise" Mingyu said cynically. "I'm gonna be a really bad husband."

"That's great," the man sneered. "And all this time I thought every woman wanted to get a rich husband."

"I'm not the same as all women."

"I can feel it from the first time I saw you."

Lisa heard a mocking tone in the man's sweet sentence, and almost choked. "Then we agree. We're not getting married."

"Instead," said the man, and every syllable was uttered with utter bitterness. "We have no choice, Miss Bruschweiler. Your mother will prosecute me publicly in court. To punish me, he'll destroy you."

"No, no!" cetus Lisa's. "He will not do exactly as he threatens. You don't know my mother. He, sick, he's never recovered since my father's death." Unknowingly, he clasped the neatly sewn sleeves of Mingyu's grey jacket, his eyes threatening, his tone urgent. "You can't let them force you to marry me. You'll hate me forever, I know that. The villagers will forget the scandal, believe me. They will forgive me and forget about it. It's my fault for stupidly falling unconscious so you're forced to take me to the inn. I've never fainted, you know, but I just killed people and..."

"Enough!" mingyu snapped violently, and felt the wedding ropes growing tighter around her neck. Until Lisa started talking earlier, she tried hard to find any way to escape this dilemma. He even began to believe in the woman's words that her mother was not serious about her threats. In fact, he was prepared with a list of reasons why Lisa would not like to marry him.

It was just that he did not take into account the woman herself who would beg him not to sacrifice herself on the altar of marriage for her sake. Mingyu had also forgotten, for a while, that the woman had saved his life.

Mingyu looked at the haughty girl in a pitifully shabby dress before him. The girl had saved him, and in return she had practically destroyed all the girls chances of getting a husband. Without the presence of a husband who can lighten her load, the girl is forced to carry the burden of the strange household on her thin shoulders all her life. He indirectly, but effectively, has destroyed the girl's future.

Impatiently, he pulled the girl's hand from his sleeve. "The two of us have no other choice" he said. "I'm going to ask for a special permit so we can get married this week. Your mother and uncle," he said with hostility, "can stay in this village inn. I don't want them under the same roof as me." That last statement embarrassed Lisa more than anything the man had said.

"I will pay for their lodging," Mingyu briefly retorted, misunderstanding Lisa's shocked expression.

"Here," Lisa turned her head, desperately looking around the dull, stiff room. "Everything! This whole thing is wrong. This is not the marriage I wanted." Despite his fear, he suppressed his remaining fear. "I've always imagined getting married in the village church, with my best friend, Rose, accompanying me, and all,"

"Well," Mingyu interrupted. "Take your friend here, if it makes you more comfortable before the wedding day. Give the address to the butler, I'll send the waiter to pick him up. Writing stationery you can get in that desk drawer over there, I think you can write, right?"

Lisa's head jolted as if Mingyu had slapped her, and for a moment Mingyu could see the woman would one day become a haughty and feisty woman. His greenish hazel eyes gnawed in annoyance as he replied, "Yes, My Lord, I can write."

Mingyu looked at the sullen girl who was looking at him from above her tiny nose and for some reason she felt amazed that the girl dared to look at him like that. "Good," he insisted.

"...in three languages," Lisa added with a graceful attitude.

Mingyu almost smiled.

When Mingyu had left, Lisa stiffly walked up to the small table in the corner of the room then sat behind her. He pulled out his drawer and took out a piece of paper, a quill pen, and an ink bottle. Too angry to concentrate on explaining the disaster, he simply wrote,

Dear roseanne, please,

Please come with the bearer of this letter and visit me as soon as possible. The calamity has come upon me and I am exiled! My mom is here too and so is Uncle Monty, so your mom doesn't have to worry about your safety. Please, hurry. I only have a little time before I have to leave you...

Two tears rose in Lisa's eyes, quivering in her black and bushy eyelashes, then dripping down her cheeks. One by one, his tears fell down the letter until he gave up and could no longer hold back his tears. He bowed his head in his hands, his shoulders trembling with heart-wrenching sobs.

"Something beautiful?" whisper to God. "Is this what you call beautiful?"