My Perfect Lady

He remained silent, standing still as he watched his father pull at the string of the kite. Anger was fuming in his chest, but he forced his demeanour to remain calm. He straightened his face, let out a deep breath, and then fixed his gaze on the bright yellow-coloured kite. It was swaying in the air madly.

As Simon Hunter pulled at the string in agitation, the kite did a wayward dance and began to dip to the ground. The old man gave it another jerk, frowning as the kite refused to obey and kept on making a downward leap. When he couldn"t get it to remain stable in the air, he looked back at the puny man holding the reel of cord and glared.

"Pull it a bit tighter," he said gruffly, and the man whimpered, immediately tugging at the string a bit too harshly.

The kite almost hit the ground.

Mr. Simon Hunter"s expression was so fierce, the man began to shiver. He looked on the verge of tears, when the Chairman uttered but one cold, angry word.

"Leave."

The man let go of the reel, which fell to the floor with a thud, and then ran for his life.

Simon Hunter turned around.

"What do you want?" he shot, angrily looking at Jim, the string still in his hand as the kite flopped to the ground behind him.

Jimmy shrugged.

"I got married," he said nonchalantly, hands clenched into fists in his pocket now.

A storm rose in the old Hunter"s eyes.

He stared at Jim with an empty expression, which slowly turned to disgust. His face turned to stone and his eyes held nothing but repulsion.

It was almost as if the sight of Jimmy sickened him right then.

The young master read his father"s emotions and didn"t feel a thing. He was used to the old man"s reproach, his inability to appreciate his son. Jim had learnt to ignore him a long time ago. Unless, of course, situations like this arose.

When Jim offered nothing further to say, Simon Hunter"s face dropped further, and he became slightly impatient. And as much as he wanted to curse the boy in front of him, he restrained himself.

"You have guts, Jimmy Hunter," he snarled at last though, "Bringing dirt into the family and announcing it to my face. You have guts."

The old man"s expression turned dangerous, almost nearing something sinister.

"I marry whoever I want," was all Jimmy said.

The air around the two men froze as they stared at each other darkly. While Jim"s face was ice cold, his father looked downright evil.

"Why did you bring it here?" The Chairman said filthily.

Jim"s own voice turned poison.

"She"s a woman, not "it". Her name is Miya."

"It"s trash you brought to dirty my ground, boy!" Simon shot.

Jim didn"t speak.

"I"ll burn to ashes what she touches, I warn you. I"ll have it burnt it to h.e.l.l!"

With that, Chairman Hunter turned around sharply, and picked up his kite again. Then retrieving the reel from the ground, he held it in one hand, while tugging at the string with the other. Once the kite was alight, he stepped further away from Jimmy and ignored his presence altogether.

He was once again in a world where Jimmy didn"t exist and sc.u.m hadn"t been brought into the Hunter family.

Meanwhile Jimmy almost heaved a sigh of relief.

From the look of it, father had found out about Miya"s meagre background, of course. He was the Chairman of the Hunter Corporation after all. And although he was furious, he didn"t seem to have taken action yet. The man was not one who would stall, he would directly remove what he didn"t like. But maybe, he was formulating a plan right now. Checking into Miya"s history, or maybe, just waiting to understand the situation better. Because if anything had happened, Park would have contacted him. And because he had received no call from his butler, Jim could safely a.s.sume that Miya and the child were okay.

Also, he hadn"t threatened him regarding his inheritance. Which meant that technically, Jim stood on firm ground.

That was all he wanted to find out.

And now that he was sure old Mr. Hunter had done nothing suspicious, Jim could be prepared for defence when he actually did.

Just then, Senior Hunter swore.

The sound was sharp, almost as if he had hissed in pain.

Jimmy immediately looked at the older man, instinctively worried. Then, he rolled his eyes.

For Simon Hunter did look in pain, but it was not because he had been physically hurt. It was because his kite was now stuck in between the branches of a nearby tree.

What an idiot.

Had Jimmy liked the old man even a bit, he would have offered some kind of help. But right then, he just felt annoyed, so he turned around and was about to walk away, when something caught his eye.

The old man was walking determinedly towards the tree while rolling back his sleeves. His expression was furious, and he lifted up one leg, and resolutely stepped on one of the stout lower branches that rooted out of the trunk of the tree. Then with an agile jump, he climbed over to another thick branch and expertly began to climb the tree.

Jimmy was instantly fascinated.

He had never seen his father do that before!

He had half a mind to yell, "Act your age, old man!" for he was afraid old Hunter might get hurt. Half his brain though, was just stunned. He didn"t know his father could climb trees, and so skilfully too!

And he kind of looked dazzling too.

And Jimmy Hunter was immediately p.i.s.sed off.

What was he doing, standing there, fan-girling over the old man climbing a tree? How pathetic!

Just then though, the man"s foot slipped a little, and Jimmy almost ran over, but then, old Mr. Hunter stabled himself and resumed his climb.

Jim"s heart was in his mouth now. He immediately fell out of his amazement, and walked to his stupid father.

"Old man!" he called out, standing directly beneath the tree, "What in the world is wrong with you? Act your age! And when the h.e.l.l did you learn to climb a tree?"

Simon Hunter, who was panting now, looked down sharply, and said in a dark voice, "When you were busy marrying that peasant!" He then seated himself on another stout branch, while gasping for breath.

Jim rolled his eyes.

"It"s just a G.o.dd.a.m.ned kite! Get down!"

"It"s a kite I made with my own hands! What would you know?! You"re talentless!"

Jimmy was silent, losing patience now. Then, he took in a deep breath and said again.

"Okay, but get down. I"ll have someone to get it for you."

"Who? Your rustic bride?"

To be honest, it wasn"t a bad idea. Jimmy was pretty sure the woman could climb trees. And d.a.m.ned well too.

He shrugged.

"Father. Get down, alright? You can make another one."

"No! It"s my special edition kite! I painted it myself. It even has a face on it!"

Jimmy shouted further, but the old man had revived his breath and was therefore, back to climbing again. Once again, he was in a world where Jimmy Hunter had not hurt him.

Meanwhile Jim"s heart was in his throat.

The tree was an apple tree, and it was at least thirty feet in height. The kite seemed to be stuck at the top! Moreover, Senior Hunter seemed more concerned about the kite"s safety than his own.

Jimmy looked at the man from below, and was strangely reminded of the incident from the day before yesterday. The time when he had been forced to slide down a pipeline… Somehow, he had the notion that had it been old Mr. Hunter who had been asked to perform the task, he would have done it gladly.

After all, all that was needed to coax him was a kite.

Simon Hunter was firm in his step. It was not his first time doing this. What his stupid son did not remember despite everything, was that years ago, when they were on a trip, they had stopped by a village. There, the Chairman had learnt the trick. He had tried to teach his son too. But the boy was just too talentless for such an amazing skill!

And just as the old man was about to catch hold of another branch on top of his head, he was surprised by a sudden gust of wind. He looked at his kite in worry, as it ruffled between leaves, afraid that the dear thing would be torn. He quickened his step, and hurriedly grabbed for the branch overhead.

Only, he couldn"t.

The branch on which he stood slipped from Simon"s feet as he failed to grab at the one on top of him. He lost balance as another gust of wind hit him from behind. His face froze from shock, and with wide eyes that seemed to register a bit too late as to what had happened, Simon Hunter almost fell to the ground from twenty feet of height.

Just then, someone grabbed his hand.

Simon was shocked, his eyes almost falling out of their sockets, as he realized he was about to fall. So when someone caught his wrist, he didn"t immediately understand.

It was when a small voice muttered, "F***" that the old man realized what had happened. As he hung in mid-air, his body being pulled down heavily by gravity, he looked up to see who had grabbed him.

He was surprised to see a small, weary face emerge from between the leaves. It was a girl, and she seemed to be hanging upside down from an upper branch of the tree, her legs carefully intertwined around the branch for support. Both her frail hands were clutching at Simon Hunter"s wrist, barely able to hold on.

The old man"s mouth flew open wide.

The girl was so small!

He could only mutter in shock, "W-Who…"

A wild look flickered in the small girl"s eyes. Her face scrunched up as she tried to tighten her hold on the old man"s arm.

She could barely breathe, and she looked furious when she said:

"Who else? Your daughter-in-law, of course!"