"Mother? What Mother? You are not my mother! You never were even when we were joined by this title of mother and son!" Se-na hissed, her voice dropping. "I don't remember even once when you protected Do Ra-ik as a so called Mother. And now that its clear that you are not my mother then ..." se-na stopped mid sentence and took a deep breath, it was as if ra-ik-a was keeping her from saying hurtful things to this woman. But Se-na was also adamanst about saying it out loud, she rubbed her eyes rather forcefully and then continued, "And if you aren't my mother, then you have even less right to stand in front of me, let alone touch me. You are a stranger in my home."
The woman gasped, her chest heaving as she stared at the "son" who had suddenly found a spine of steel.
"And about loyalty? Don't make me laugh!" Se-na continued, her eyes flashing with a sharp, Maeng Se-na malice. "You, a lonely woman, in the penthouse apartment of a man who lives alone? What will people say when they hear the 'loyal' wife is breaking into bachelors' suites at midnight to beat a man? Think of the headlines."
She took a step forward, her massive shadow now completely swallowing the woman. "They will not believe that you are here for your son, or for beating a man you called your son for years. The news that I am not your son might have already been released by Do Hyun-joo, and people... humans are dangerous beings, Mother. They will only see what they want to see, and interpret what they want to interpret. All they will see is a grown man who is not your son and a lone woman who is not my mother anymore in the dark. They will forget I was ever your son or you ever my mother. So, do you really think the world will believe you?"
Se-na reached out, her fingers steady despite the thrumming in her chest. She tucked a loose strand of the woman's hair behind her ear trying to give off a gesture of intimate, terrifying dominance of a man.
"Who will they believe?" Se-na whispered, leaning into the woman's personal space. "The so-called 'tainted woman' of the Do house? Or the man who made a name for himself, the man people love and call the 'Nation's Healer', the one who was shunned by his own family? Me not being your son? That has already been a rumor for a long time you see... so people will not say oh my god they will say why did you never speak of getting a test done? Why did you keep a stranger in your home for all these years? why did you stay quiet? what did you want to hide? who did you want to hide? then mother what do you think Who holds the scale now?"
"Do you think only I will go down alone?!" she shrieked back, her face contorting with a terrifying madness as her saliva sprayed across Ra-ik's face. "I will take you with me!"
Se-na wiped the wetness from his face with the back of her hand. For the first time tonight, she didn't just feel cold irritation, but felt a raw hot fury.
"Ugh, woman!" Se-na cried with deep disgust, her voice cutting through the woman's hysteria. "Keep your spitting to yourself! You, with your filthy statements and demonic actions, cannot afford to leave even a single scratch on this face. This is a face adored by millions! People will chew you up and spit you out of this society like a chewed, dry bone."
"YOU!" The woman raised her hand again, but her fingers were trembling.
Se-na caught her wrist mid-air and held it with absolute strength without causing pain.
"Ok now I am bored of tis game," Se-na whispered, her face completely empty of emotion as she let out a deep sigh. "I have always been tired of this drama. It's good that it's ended."
She let go of the woman's wrist, letting it drop like a piece of dead weight.
"So goodbye. Go play this little game of yours with your husband. Don't waste your time here on an unrelated man. Don't raise mine or your blood pressure okay! now go."
"SECURITY!" Se-na didn't wait. She smashed her palm against the emergency bell mounted next to the door.
Within seconds, the heavy thud of boots echoed in the hallway. Two guards appeared, and Se-na pointed a trembling, bloody finger at the woman. "Get this intruder out of here. Now."
The guards didn't hesitate. They took the wailing, screaming woman by the arms and dragged her toward the elevator. Her cries of "Where is my baby?" echoed down the shaft until the doors hissed shut.
The silence returned, but the body didn't recover. Ra-ik's legs gave out, and Se-na collapsed onto the floor, her hands pressing into the glass shards.
What is happening to me?! she screamed internally.
Her heart was beating in a frantic, painful rhythm fueled by a cocktail of adrenaline and a depression that wasn't hers. She tried to draw a breath, but it came out as a ragged, sobbing pant. Tears hot, thick, and heavy poured down her face.
She could feel it clearly now. This wasn't her grief. This wasn't her trauma. These painful emotions of hate, disgust, and absolute, soul-crushing sadness were being projected into her from the very marrow of these borrowed bones. She was an intruder in a house that was currently being demolished.
She clutched at her chest, trying to distinguish between her own identity and the man's agony, but the lines were blurring. In the dark of the penthouse, with her feet bleeding into the glass, Maeng Se-na realized that the "cozy" life was gone. She was trapped in a war she didn't understand, wearing the skin of a man who had already surrendered maybe.
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