All she is capable of doing was to vision the glass half-full rather than half-empty.
No effort can reward her any word of encouragement, compliment, or even a pat on the back from her father. Complying to every task given, meeting all the requirements, deadlines, and improvement on marketing has given her not a single glance or appreciation from the old man. The sad part is, over the seventeen years living with him, Seukhye has grown used to it.
Unwanted: the word she heard in a conversation between her parents once upon a time.
What confuses her is why they bothered to keep the fact to themselves when the treatment she's been receiving spells it clearly. Her mother is compassionate, but she doesn't say anything towards Seukhye's father's assertiveness, and that does nothing but trigger anger from the female towards her mother.
"You're not his servant" A fifteen year old Seukhye once told her mother after witnessing how she's being treated by her father. All she got was a slap on the face. After that, she never came in between them.
Then again, compared to when she was eight, the relationship between her parents got better. Before where they would fight night after night, where one of them would storm off and the other would follow, leaving the house empty and broken, now they rarely talk to each other unless it's completely necessary.
Despite having two older siblings, the house reeked of nothing but loneliness. Her brother at work, sister in a boarding school, and parents who are usually out of town, or even out of the country-- there's usually no one to entertain her, nor meet the attention she needs and seeks from anyone.
At age six Seukhye played with dolls, read herself books, and even wrote stories of her own. She would play dress up in front of a full body mirror, use her sister's shirts as dresses and wore heels she could find. The attic was the last place anyone would thought of looking for her, thus the dusty ol' place became her paradise.
It was when she reached eight did Seukhye found interest in reading manga. Although back then all she did was look at the pictures, it'll somehow become a big part of her life and her ambition to excel in arts.
By her feet was a broken vase, shards scattered on the floor by two bare feet. The twelve year old was found standing in the living room with a sharp piece within her clenched fist, tears falling from her eyes as blood made a thin outline along her arm before droplets fell onto the floor, accompanying those that coursed from her feet.
It was excused as an accident by the household, and it was only Seukhye who knew it wasn't.
Rebelling was considered unacceptable within the confines of the manor, and neither her brother nor sister has gone through such phase, which goes the same for the youngest child. Security was only established for the family company's paperwork, not for the children, so her parents weren't aware of anything that's going on with their kids' life aside from work responsibilities and their studies.
They were unaware of their eldest son's sexual affair with his secretary and her sister's pregnancy that ended with abortion. It was a silent treaty between the three of them and them alone.
It'd be a lie if she were to say that caving in and telling their parents about her siblings' doings didn't tempt her, but she thought it unfair. How come they were being worshiped and she's always never good enough when in reality, Seukhye's the one who's been trying her best to be perfect in the eyes of her parents.
In the end, she didn't allow jealousy to cut the relationship she had with her siblings short. After all, they're the only ones she's got.
Life never fails to surprise her at how the worst has still yet to come.
It all piled up like last week's laundry. Her brother's announcement, her sister's death, her being the heiress to the family company- too many events has happened over the course of a week that it overwhelming is an understatement to what she felt.
Anger. How could he be so irresponsible? He spent thirty years in this stinkin household, bossed around by the devil himself, trained his guts out to be the perfect heir and what does he do? Abandon everything for a girl?
Loneliness. She was the only person who reached out for Seukhye. The only person who understood. Not only was she her sister, but she was also her guardian and best friend.
Rage. What kind of a sick, heartless person would do this? The blood that pumped through her veins shouted nothing but revenge. It reeked of the desire to kill for vengeance.
Pressure. With an unstable mindset, how will she be able to run the company? She couldn't even stand the idea of being by her father's side throughout the years, despite her goal being noticed by her father. She didn''t want it to happen this way.
Isolation. With her sister gone and brother moving out, the darkness that embraced her as a child slowly seeped back into her routine.
At the age of seventeen, she was diagnosed with Depression, which followed a series of suicide attempts and unfortunate circumstances
Seukhye was late to realize that the glass was never half-full or half-empty.
It has always been empty.
