Chapter ninety eight

Oliver

Of all the bad decisions I've taken in my life, coming here was the biggest of them. I shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have brought Dallas. This whole thing was just wrong.

After meeting Ron, I realized why he was so close to my Dad. He was a family man like my dad was. And he seem to care about his wife and daughter a lot. But knowing him wasn't worth anything I just went through.

I had to sit through a torturous meal and silently watched as my mum and Jenna took digs at Dallas all because of me. Because she chose to come with me.

The worst part was that I couldn't even do anything about it. Not like she'd want me to. Dallas held her own against them quite well. I'm pretty sure she'd flip me the middle finger if I had interfered, but I've never felt more helpless in my life.

I couldn't protect her. I couldn't stand by her. I let her feel uncomfortable without so much as lifting a finger. And I still left her with them.

I shifted in my seat. I shouldn't have done that. Even if she'd assured me she was fine, I shouldn't have left her.

“Would you like some wine?” Ron's voice interrupted my session of self loathing.

I adjusted my tie and flickered my gaze towards him on the couch. We were sitting on his balcony. The breeze was gentle and the view up here was nice, but it did nothing to ease the tension brewing inside me. I felt my guts tightening with each passing minute.

“I'm good.” the words came out strained.

I loosened a few buttons of my shirt. I needed to get this over with so I could… editt.

Ron poured himself some wine, a smile on his lips.

“I need to ask you something about father's old business partners. I heard you were partners at some point before we moved away.” I started.

His smile only grew wider as he stared at me. I arched an eyebrow, expecting some sort of reply aside the eerie smile from him.

He must have noticed how I was staring at him as he drew a long sigh.

“I know all of Kang Joon business partners even after he left Korea. We were always in close contact.”

He was calling my father by his traditional name. I haven't heard that in a while. Everyone usually calls him his English name, Henry. That shows how close Ron was with him.

This is what I wanted. Someone who knew my father enough to know who might pose a threat to him, to the extent of killing a man in jail. But I couldn't help the nagging feeling at the bottom of my stomach.

If Ron and my father were as close as he and everyone claimed, how did I not remember anything about their relationship? Not even when we were in Korea. But then, I don't really remember much from our life before the accident, so maybe I just forgot about him since I haven't seen him for a while.

“That's great.” I adjusted my sitting posture and I was facing him directly.

“I've been having some situation with one of my companies, not the usual kind of situation. But while I've got it under control, I recently found out that the person behind it might have had something to do with my father, probably a business deal gone wrong, or something else. Do you know anyone that might have a secret vendetta against him?”

Ron sighed and set down his glass on the small table in front of him.

“Kang Joon has always been a nice and easygoing man. Everyone loved him. I can't think of anyone who would want to harm him, not to talk of after his death.” He clicked his tongue.

“Son, maybe you got your facts wrong. I mean it's been more than two decades since your father passed, why would anyone choose to attack his company now? It just doesn't make any sense.”

“My facts aren't wrong.” I said with a certainty I don't feel. When he spelt it out like that it really did seem I was chasing a deadend.

I started to question myself at the moment if maybe he was right. Maybe this had all been for nothing. Maybe Alberto was just messing with me when be dropped that subtle clue.

But thinking back to the moment, it didn't seem like something he intentionally did. He got carried away gloating and accidentally said what he said. But if even my Dad's closest friend doesn't know who it might me, then maybe they weren't after my father.

I ran through the list of my enemies in my head. I was a hundred percent certain none of them could pull of something like that. And if they wanted to, they would focus on Kang empire's biggest establishment. Like the airline, or the hotels, or other establishment.

I've had multiple cases like that in the past. They almost never target Kang Chemicals. This attack was carefully planned and executed. Catching the mastermind seem to be more difficult than I anticipated.

I looked up at Ron to see him staring at me, a keen expression in his eyes. Like he was waiting for me to figure it out. I cocked an eyebrow at him and he tore his gaze away.

“My bad. You're a successful business man. You've made the empire bigger than how your father left it. I was wrong to think you would get your facts wrong.” He said and let out a chuckle.

I simply stared at him, not saying a word.

“Now that you mention it though, I vaguely remember an argument Kang Joon had with someone right before you moved away.” He adjusted his sitting posture, leaning towards me.

I stared at him expectantly, but made sure to keep my cool. Maybe it wasn't a dead end after all.

“His name was Park Seung. Park Seung invested some invested some money in Kang Joon’s business. They had a huge misunderstanding when Seung insisted on getting 70% of the profits since it was his money Kang Joon used to promote his business. Kang Joon refused saying he invested capital too, plus efforts to market it and he wouldn't give majority of the profit to Seung. It turned into a huge misunderstanding and I remember Seung threatened Kang Joon that he would ruin him.” Ron scratched the side of his head as if trying to get the details correctly.

“But the fight happened over thirty years ago. I don't think Seung is responsible for the current happenings.” He concluded, taking a sip from his glass.

“That's great. I'll follow through with the information.”

I can't rule anything out at the moment. It's ridiculous to think it took Seung over thirty years to get his revenge, but I'm not going to sweep it under the rug. Maybe he was bidding his time until Kang Chemicals became big enough and he'd attack.

“I do think it's not a very good idea though. This incident happened a long time ago. And though, I've known Seung to be a vengeful human, I doubt he'd wait this long to get his revenge.” Ron countered.

“How do I get to this Seung?”
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After getting all the information I needed about Seung from Ron, it was finally time to get the hell out of there. It was already getting dark. I managed to shut down his attempt at talking about my impending marriage. I made an excuse of a work emergency and drove off with Dallas.

Jenna wasn't in the living room when I got down. The scene I met would have been pleasant if not for the obvious tension between my mother and Dallas.

Mum made a point to avoid Dallas completely, her sitting posture tilting away from her. Julianna seem to be the one keeping the atmosphere light.

I could see the instant relief in Dallas's eyes as I dragged her away, mumbling a few words to Julianna and my mum.

As soon as we got into the car, I leaned closer to her and sealed had lips with mine. She kissed me back without hesitation.

“I'm so sorry.” I said as we broke the kiss.

“Don't be,” her voice was breathless as she spoke. “I asked for it. And it wasn't that bad. Your mother and I even exchanged a few words. It was the longest conversation we've ever had.” She said, a bright smile on a face.

I decided not to point out that Mum was blatantly ignoring her and scooting away from her.

“I promise I'll make it up to you.” I said, gently caressing her cheeks.

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
“Really, Mr Kang? And how do you plan on doing that?” A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes and I couldn't help the smile on my face.

“You'll see.”