Something Beautiful
Chapter - 31

The captain and one man stood upright in a military posture in full uniform on the empty deck of a ship barred from sailing, observing a black chariot approaching and stopping right in front of their bridge.

"That's it?" asked one in disbelief, staring at the slim, upright figure who was walking across the bridge. The woman's hand held the hand of Sir Choi, one of the most influential people in the navy. "You're saying that the white-haired old lady had enough leverage to get the prime minister to hold the ship and quarantine us? Just so he can come here and hear our explanation?"

Lisa jumped at the sound of a knock on her cabin door, her heart pounding loudly the train was scared and hopeful, as it always has been for these five days whenever she hears a noise outside. But it wasn't Kim Mingyu who was standing at his doorstep, but rather Mingyu's grandmother. They have not seen each other since the wedding day. "How are you?" lisa whispered in despair, too anxious to say hello to the woman properly.

"Captain and nausea one knows nothing," replied the grandmother briefly. "Follow me."

"No!" Almost hysterically shouting, which she had been holding for two days and two nights, Lisa shook her head strongly and then retreated. "She's gonna want me to stay here..."

The grandmother straightened up and looked at the pale and frightened woman from above her noble nose. "My granddaughter," he said in a very cold voice, "would expect you to behave with pride and control yourself so that it would be worth mentioning as his wife."

Hearing that, Lisa felt her face as if it were slapped, and as a result, she returned to thinking logically. Her husband would expect her to behave like that. Trying to control her panic, Lisa holds her puppy, straightens up, then steps stiffly next to her grandmother and Sir Choi onto the carriage, but when the coachman holds her elbow to help her ride, the train driver takes her seat, Lisa jerked her hands, her eyes for the last time looking frantically at the row of taverns and warehouses on the busy dock. Her husband is somewhere here. Sick or injured. It must be like that... Benak Lisa did not want to think about other possibilities besides that.

A few hours later, the train slowed and gallantly crossed the streets of London. Lisa turned her empty gaze from the window to the grandmother, who was sitting in front of her. The woman sat with her back straight, her facial expression so cold and flat that Lisa wondered if the woman felt nothing. Inside the grave-like silent carriage, Lisa's whispering voice sounded like a loud scream. "Where are we going?"

Intentionally not immediately answering to show her dislike for having to explain their purpose to Lisa, the grandmother coldly said, "To my town house. Will must have arrived there with a small army of servants who would have closed the curtains and told the guests that we were at Rosemeade. The news of my granddaughter's disappearance has been plastered in all the newspapers, and I don't want to be bothered by guests and curious people.

The grandmother's tone of voice seemed to have drawn sympathy for the minister, Sir Choi, as the man for the first time began to speak and tried to calm the woman down, "We will move heaven and earth to find out what happened to Kim Mingyu, "he said softly. "Kementrian has hundreds of people who can be sent to the dock, conduct official research, and the Kim family's legal counsel has hired hundreds of detectives who are instructed to use all means to get information. So far no one has asked for ransom, so we don't think this is a kidnapping case."

Lisa refrained from crying because she was definitely disliked by her grandmother-in-law, she ventured to ask her deeply feared question, "How likely is she to be found?" Voice disappeared. He could not pronounce the word 'living'.

"I..." The man hesitantly replied. "I don't know."

From the tone of voice of the man can be known the possibility is not good. Lisa's tears expanded and hurriedly concealed her by burrowing her cheeks in Henry's soft fur while swallowing a lump of sadness that stuck to her throat.

***

For four long days, Lisa stayed at the home of her grandmother-in-law, who insisted on treating her as if she was not around, not talking to her and not seeing her. On the fifth day, Lisa was standing in front of her bedroom window when she saw Sir Choi coming out of the house. Too anxious to wait to be called, he ran down the stairs to the sitting room and asked his grandmother.

"I saw the minister just leaving. What's he saying?"

The grandmother glared to express her displeasure at seeing Lisa enter without such permission. "Sir Choi's visit is none of your business at all" he replied coldly and then threw a rough look, gesturing for Lisa to leave the place immediately.

The words of the grandmother broke the self-control Lisa had been trying to keep. Clenching his hands on his sides, he said in a trembling voice in frustration and anger. "Even though you feel that way, I am not a foolish child, Ma'am, and my husband is the most precious person to me in this world. You can't, can't, hide information from me!"

When the grandmother stubbornly just kept staring at her while remaining silent, Lisa changed her tactics to begging. "It would be much better if you told me the truth than to hide it from me. I can't bear not to know.. Please don't do this to me. I won't embarrass you by being hysterical... When my father died and my mother was unable to continue her life, I took over the household when I was fourteen. And when my grandfather died, I...."

"No news!" snapped by Mrs Kim, Lisa's grandmother-in-law. "When there's news, I'll make sure you hear it."

The grandmother's eyes looked straight at her and flashed with hatred. "You're pretty good at theatrics. Even so, you can stop worrying about your well-being. My granddaughter made a pact with your mother and gave her enough money to enjoy the luxurious life of a lifetime. He's got plenty of money to share with you."

Lisa gasped when she realized she thought she was worried about her husband for the sake of her own future, and not because her current husband might already be lying on the bottom of the sea.

Unable to speak so enragedly, Lisa heard Lady Kim finish her sentence hatefully, "Go from before me! I wouldn't watch you pretend to worry about my grandson's safety, not a minute. You don't know him at all, he's nothing to you."

"How dare you!" Lisa screaming. "How dare you sit there and tell me all that. You're... You won't understand how I feel about him, because you don't have feelings yourself! Even though you've got, you're too old to remember what love feels like!"

The grandmother slowly got up, seemingly wanting to intimidate Lisa, but Lisa was too emotional, too angry, to stop the burst of thoughtless words.

"You can't imagine how I feel when I see him smile or laugh with me. You don't know what it's like to look into his eyes...." Sobs began to rise to Lisa's throat and tears began to flow down her pale cheeks. "I don't want the money.."

"I want to see him smile." Unexpectedly, Lisa's knees buckled and she fell to the floor, in front of her grandmother's feet, crying. "I just want to see her beautiful eyes." Lisa was crying sobbing.

The grandmother hesitated for a moment, then turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Lisa to let out all her grief and misery alone. Ten minutes later, Will walked into the room carrying silver tea utensils.

"Her Grace says your body is weak from hunger and wants a little snack" he said.

Still sitting on the floor with her hands clutching the sofa and the face buried there, Lisa slowly raised her head and misbehaved her tears.

"I beg you, please bring the tray. I can't see food."

Obeying the orders of the mistress and ignoring Lisa's request, Will puts the unwanted tray on the table, then he straightens up, and for the first time since Lisa met him, he looked confused and nervous.

"I don't want to gossip" he said stiffly after a few moments of silence, "but I was told by hairdresser Mrs Kim that she had eaten nothing for five days. I had brought a tray of food for him in a small sitting room. Maybe if you want to invite her to eat together, you can persuade her to eat."

"The woman doesn't need to eat" Lisa gulped, having no energy to stand up. "He's not like a normal human being."

Will's cold carrier instantly becomes completely cold hearing the indirect criticism of his employer. "I've been working for the Kim family for forty years. I'm very concerned about him and it makes me think you're also concerned about him, because you're now part of this family. I'm sorry that I misjudged."

The man bowed then stiffly walked out of the room, leaving Lisa feeling guilty and confused. Will seems to be very loyal to Mrs Kim, even though Lisa knows exactly how the grandmother behaves to her servants. The time at Rosemeade the grandmother twice warned him sternly for chatting with the waiter, lisa asks Will if the man is married and asks a waitress if she has children.

From Mrs Kim's haughty point of view, talking to a waiter is tantamount to chatting with them. And thus, it means treating them as equals, and that, Lisa remembers the grandmother's harsh statement, as unacceptable. Nonetheless, Will seemed to be loyal to the woman. It means there are other things in the old woman besides being arrogant and arrogant that I don't know about, Lisa concluded.

That possibility leads to another possibility. Lisa glanced at the tea tray in confusion, wondering if the grandmother intended to invite her 'peace'. Five minutes ago, the grandmother had no interest in knowing Lisa had eaten or not. On the other hand, the tray may have been intended as a stern warning to Lisa to control herself.