Chapter 1
Some small far off village in Daegu, South Korea
Dr. Lee
"Taehyung shi, are you absolutely certain your mother never mentioned Sir Jeon Seojoon or Lady Song to you?
Taeh tore his thoughts from the aching memories of his parent's funeral and looked at the elderly, white haired physician seated across from him at the kitchen table. As his father's oldest friend, Dr. Lee had taken on the responsibility of seeing the siblings settled, as well as of trying to care for Dr. Kim's patients until the new physician arrived.
Taehyung
All Sunoo and I have ever known was that Mother was estranged from her family in Seoul. She never spoke of them
Dr. Lee
"Is it possible that your father had relatives in Jeju?"
Taehyung
Papa grew up in an orphanage' home there.
Taehyung
Can I make you some coffee Dr. Lee?
Dr. Lee
Stop fussing over me and go sit outside in the sunshine with Sunoo
Dr. Lee
You're pale as a ghost
Taehyung
Is there anything you need before I go?
Dr. Lee
I need to be a few years younger
He replied with a grim smile as he poised to continue his letter.
Dr. Lee
I'm too old to carry the burden of your father's patients. I belong to back to my own hut back in Gwanju with warm tea and a good book on my lap. How am I to carry on here for four more months until the new physician arrives, with this weather, I can't imagine.
Taehyung
I know it's been terrible for you
Dr. Lee
it's been a great deal worse for you and Sunoo
Dr. Lee
"Now, run along outside and get some of this fine winter sunshine. Its rare to see a day this warm in January. While you sit in the sun, I'll write these letters to your relatives."
A week had passed since Dr. Lee had come to Daegu to visit the Kim's, only to be summoned to the scene of the accident where the carriage bearing Mr.Kim and his wife, Jiwon, had plunged down a river bank, overturning. Soohyun had been killed instantly. Jiwon had regained consciousness only long enough to try to answer Dr. Lee's desperate inquiry about her relatives in Seoul. In a feeble whisper, she had said
Mrs Kim
Grand mother Lady Song Hye-kyo
And then, just before she died, she had whispered another name – Seojoon. Frantically Dr. Lee had begged for his complete name, and Jiwon's dazed eyes had opened briefly. "Jeon," she had breathed.
Mrs Kim
Sir.... Seojoon.... Jeon Seojoon...
After a long pause, she nodded feelbly
Dr. Lee now fell the difficult task of locating and contacting these heretofore unknown relatives to inquire whether either of them would be willing to offer Tae and Sunoo a home – a task that was made even more difficult because, as far as the old doctor could ascertain, neither of the two Honourable had any idea the brothers existed.
With a determined look upon his brow, Dr. Lee wrote the date at the top of the first letter and hesitated, his brow furrowed in thought.
Dr. Lee
How does one properly address the Honourable ?
He asked the empty room. After considerable contemplate on, he arrived at a decision and began writing.
Dr. Lee
Dear Lady Song Hye-kyo
Dr. Lee
It is my unpleasant task to advise you of the tragic death of your granddaughter, Kim Jiwon, and to further advise you that Mrs. Kim's two sons, Taeh and Sunoo, are now temporarily in my care. However, I am an old man, and a bachelor besides. Therefore, Lady Song, I cannot properly continue to care for two orphaned young boys.
Dr. Lee
Before she died, Mrs. Kim mentioned only two names – yours and that of Sir Seojoon Jeon. I am, therefore, writing to you and to sir Jeon in the hope that one or both of you will welcome Mrs. Kim's sons into your home. I must tell you that the boys have nowhere else to go. They are sadly short of funds and in dire need of a suitable home.
Dr. Lee leaned back in his chair and scrutinized the letter while a frown of concern slowly formed on his forehead. If the Honourable were unaware of the boys' existence, he could already foresee their possible unwillingness to house them without first knowing something about them, he turned his head and gazed out the window at the young men.
Sunoo was seated upon the swing, his plump shoulders drooping with despair. Taeh was determinedly applying himself to his sketching, in an effort to hold his grief at bay.
Dr. Lee decided to describe Sunoo first, for he was easier.
Dr. Lee
Sunoo is a cute little boy, with light brown hair and Fox shape brown eyes. He is sweet-dispositioned, well-mannered, and charming. At seventeen, he is nearly of an age to marry, but has shown no particular inclination to settle his affections on anyone in the district...
Dr. Lee paused and thoughtfully stroked his chin. In truth, many gentlemen and ladies in the district were utterly smitten with Sunoo. And who could blame them? He was pretty and sweet. He was angelic, Dr. Lee decided, pleased that he had hit upon exactly the right word to describe him.
But when he turned his attention to Tae, his straight eyebrow drew together in bafflement, for although Tae was his personal favorite, he was far harder to describe. His hair was not brown as Sunoo', rather, it was a vivid shiny black. Sunoo was a pretty thing, a charming, demure young man who turned all the local boys' and girls' heads. He was a perfect partner material: sweet, gentle, soft-spoken, and biddable. In short, he was the sort who would never contradict or disobey an authority or elders.
Tae, on the other hand, had spent a great deal of time with his father and, at twenty, he possessed a lively wit, an active mind, and a startling tendency to think and boldly speak his mind.
Sunoo would think as the higher authority told him to think and do what was told to him, but Tae would think for himself and highly likely do as he thought best.
Sunoo was angelic, Dr. Lee decided, but Taeh was... Not?
Squinting through his glasses at Tae, who was resolutely sketching yet another picture of the vine-covered garden wall, he stared at his patrician profile, trying to think of the words to describe him. Brave, he decided, knowing he was sketching because he was trying to stay busy rather than dwell on his grief. And compassionate, he thought, recalling his efforts to console and cheer his father's sick patients.
Dr.Lee shook his head in frustration. As an old man, he enjoyed his intelligence and his sense of humor; he admired his courage, spirit, and compassion. But if he emphasized those qualities to his noble relatives, they would surely envision him as an independent, bookish, unreliable man whom they would have on their hands forever. There was still the possibility that when Park Bogum returned from France in several months, he would formally request Tae's hand, but Dr. Lee wasn't certain. Tae's father and Bogum's mother had agreed that, before the young couple became engaged, their feelings for one another should be tested during this six-month period while Bogum took an abbreviated version of a grand tour.
Tae's affection for Bogum had remained strong and constant, Dr. Lee knew, but Bogum's feelings for him were apparently wavering. According to what Mrs. Park had confided to Dr. Lee yesterday, Bogum seemed to be developing a strong attraction to his second cousin, whose family he was currently visiting in Paris.
Dr. Lee sighed unhappily as he continued to gaze at the two young men, who were dressed in plain black shirts, one with shining light brown hair, the other's gleaming black. Despite the somberness of their attire, they made a very fetching picture, the doctor thought fondly. A picture! Seized by inspiration, Dr. Lee decided to solve the whole problem of describing the boys to their relatives by simply enclosing a picture of them in each letter.
That decision made, he finished his first letter by asking the grandmother to confer with the cousin, who will receive an identical letter, and to advise what they wished him to do in the matter of the boys' care. Dr. Lee wrote the same letter to Honourable Jeon; then he composed a short note to his solicitor in Seoul, instructing him to locate the two noble relatives to deliver the letters. With the brief prayer that either would reimburse him for his expenditures, Dr. Lee stood up and stretched.
Outside the garden, Sunoo nudge the ground with the toe of his slippers, sending the swing twisting lifelessly from side to side.
Sunoo Taeh's brother
I still can't quite believe it,
He said, his soft voice filled with a mixture of despair and excitement
Sunoo Taeh's brother
Mama was the grand daughter of a Noble Honourable, what does that make us, hyungie? Do we have titles?
Taeh send him a wry glance
Taehyung
We are 'Poor Relation'.
It was the truth, for although Kim Soohyun had been loved and valued by the grateful village folk whose sickness he had treated for many years, his patients had rarely been able to pay him with coin, and he had never pressed them to do so. They repaid him instead with whatever goods and services they were able to provide – with livestock, fish, and fowl for his table, with repairs to his carriage and to his home, with freshly baked loaves of bread and basket of juicy, handpicked berries. As a result, the Kim family had never wanted for food, but money was ever in short supply, as evidenced by the oft-mended hand-dyed shirt and pants that Tae and Sunoo were both wearing. Even the house they lived in had been provided by the villagers, just as they provided one for the village priest. The houses were loaned to the occupants in return for their medical and religious services.
Sunoo ignore Taeh 's sensible summation of their status and continued dreamily
Sunoo Taeh's brother
Our cousins is a Honourable and our great grandmother is a Honourable also! I still cannot quite believe it, can you?
Taehyung
I always thought Mama was something of a mystery
Taeh replied. Blinking back tears of loneliness and despair that misted his dark eyes
Sunoo Taeh's brother
What mystery?
Taeh hesitated, his sketching pencil hovering above his pad
Taehyung
I only ment that Mama was different from other female I have ever known
Sunoo Taeh's brother
I suppose she was
Sunno agreed, and lapsed into silence
Tae stared at the sketch that lay in his lap while the delicate lines and curve of the meandering roses he'd been drawing from his memory of last summer blurred before his moist eyes. The mystery was solved. Now he understood a great many things that had puzzled and troubled him. Now she understood why his mother had never mingled comfortably with the other village women, why she had always spoken in the cultured tones of a noble gentlewoman and stubbornly insisted that, at least in her presence, Tae and Sunoo do the same. Her heritage explained his mother's insistence that they learn to read and speak French in addition to English and Korean. It explained her fastidiousness. It partially explained the strange, haunted expression that crossed her features on those rare occasions when she mentioned Seoul.
Perhaps it even explained her strange reverse with her own husband, whom she treated with gentle courtesy, but nothing more. Yet she had, on the surface, been an exemplary wife. She had never scolded her husband, never complained about her shabby-genteel existence, and never quarreled with him. Tae had long ago forgiven his mother for not loving his father. Now that he realized his mother must have been reared in incredible luxury, he was also inclined to admire her uncomplaining fortitude.
Dr.Lee walked into the garden and beamed an encouraging smile at both boys
Dr. Lee
I've finished my letters and I shall send them off tomorrow. With luck , we should have your relatives replies in three months time , perhaps less
He smiled, pleased at the part he was trying to play in reuniting them with their Noble relatives
Sunoo Taeh's brother
What do you think they'll do when they receive your letters, Dr Lee?
Dr. Lee patted his head and squinted in to the sunshine, drawing upon his imagination.
Dr. Lee
"They'll be surprised, I supposed, but they won't let it show – the upper classes don't like to display emotion, I'm told, and they're sticklers for formality. Once they've read the letters, they'll probably send polite notes to each other to discuss your futures. A butler will carry in tea – "
He smiled as he envisioned the delightful scenario in all its detail. In his mind he pictures two genteel nobles – wealthy, kindly people – who would meet in an elegant drawing room to partake of tea from a silver tray before they discussed the future of their heretofore unknown – but cherished – young relatives. Since Honourable Seojoon Jeon and Honourable Song Hyekyo were distantly related through Jiwon shi they would, of course, be friends, allies....
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