Chapter 9 - Abandoned

"Could it be serendipity? Or should I take it as zemblanity?"

The beautiful lyrics sang by an euphonious tone flowed into Jinhee's ears, creating a sensation of déjà vu and nostalgia at the same time.

A suave male performed the song on the platform whilst cheering of fans could heard from below. Seeing the entire scene from the television, Jinhee's chest tightened painfully, causing her to feel suffocated.

Kim Jaehyun was extremely good at conveying emotions through his voice to the point it managed to reach the deepest corner of listeners' heart and develop whatever feelings he wanted within their heart.

In previous life, this was Jinhee's favourite song, and countless times she asked Jaehyun to sing it for her. Sometimes, he complied while the other times, he did not.

Immediately shutting off the television, Jinhee tightly shut close her eyes. She couldn't let those emotions rise up within her; She was supposed to be strong in this life.

The knock on Jinhee's door brought Jinhee out of her trail of thoughts, and she tilted the head towards the brown door of her bedroom.

"Come in," Jinhee ordered.

The door to the room opened, revealing a female in maid uniform. The female bowed respectfully before speaking out, "Ms. Jinhee, you're being called downstairs for dinner."

Jinhee nodded, as the maid closed the door behind her before leaving. The corner of Jinhee's lip curved up whilst her eyes showed scorn.

"Grandpa Dowon must be visiting or else they won't bother calling me out," Jinhee mumbled.

Jinhee sighed— recalling the events of today's dinner somewhat.

°°°

On the host's chair seated was Lee Dowon, the current head of the family. His hair was black with signs of white visible in it. Dowon wore a strict expression on his face, but Jinhee was aware of how warm his heart was beneath that demeanour.

Even though he couldn't visit Jinhee the time she was hospitalised— for he was out of the country— he still sent his people to ask Jinhee regarding her health everyday and provided her with everything she needed.

Guilt caused Jinhee's chest to feel stuffed, and Jinhee found blaming herself for disappointing Dowon all the time. He probably wasn't peaceful even in the time of his death, mostly because of her.

There were many times he tried to warn Jinhee on pursuing both Taehee and Jaehyun. However, she never paid heed to his words and ran after both relentlessly.

He even offered to take her with him abroad, as his main office is based there, but she declined, wanting to stay close to both of them.

"How are you, grandpa Dowon?" Jinhee asked, wearing a smile and taking the seat right to Dowon— a seat reserved by him for her.

This seat won her more resentment and anger from Jinkyung in both the lives. In her last life, she gave up this seat to Jinkyung for the sake of peace, disheartening Dowon. Now, she regretted her decision back then, and this time, she will not allow that to happen.

"Fine," Dowon replied concisely.

To his left was Lee Youngchul. Unlike his brother, he had no warmth beneath his stern complexion and cared about the status of Lee family the most. A scar, attained from his military days, ran down the left side of his forehead and ended a centimeter below his eyes.

He had more white hairs compared to Dowon among his bunch of brown chair. Whilst the first thing one would feel towards Dowon was respect, it was fear when it came to Youngchul. One look from him was capable of imprinting fear into a person.

Jinhee didn't bother asking Youngchul, as she was aware that he would simply ignore her. The amount of sentence he spoke with her in a year could be counted by her single hand.

In her last life, Jinhee tried her best to curry favour with Lee Youngchul for she wanted him to get her engaged with Kim Jaehyun. However, this time she was not going to throw herself on him for that.

Beside Youngchul sat her so-called father, Lee Minjoon. Disgust filled Jinhee when she saw his face everytime; Seeing him reminded Jinhee of how he bit the hand that fed him.

Jinhee supposed that her indifferent father

would possess some moral, but after the news came out on how he instigated Minjoon's death, Jinhee could barely look at him without feeling nauseated.

His usual navy suit was on his body, and solemn look was there on his face. His hair was neatly brushed back, and he gave off an esteemable aura— opposite to what he actually is.

In the previous life, after the truth on his was found out, he took the opportunity to flee from from the country. Unfortunately, he was caught by Daeho's man in time and sent behind the bars. For the rest of his life, he was ordered to be detained behind the bars until a conclusive statement came on what to do with him.

To his left was Kim Jiyoung, Jinhee's apathetic mother. Ever since Jinhee could remember, she always yearned for her mother's affections, but she was never given that.

For her mother, her living and dying was the similar thing. Even when she was sick in her bed for weeks as a child, her mother did not visit her or comfort her.

Jinhee spent her childhood, crying and pondering on why her mother doesn't want her. A mother was supposed to care for her child despite of everything else, but it was a different case when it came to her mother.

It was not as if her mother lacked the ability to show tenderness towards her kids for she displayed countless actions of warmth when it came to Jinkyung. It was Jinhee who was neglected by her family.

Envy rose within Jinhee all those time when she saw her fellow classmates back in kindergarten and elementary talk about how caring their mother was. All Jinhee could do that time was find a corner to cry at.

However, as Jinhee gradually grew up, she understood that she was the unwanted one. Nevertheless, she sought the answers as to why she was abandoned by both of her parents.

Would she be liked if she was born as talented at Jinkyung?