The Contract: Sunshine (28 page)

Reaching on the wall
next
him in the hall
,
he flipped the switch and illuminated the hallway giving him enough to light in the bedroom to see the bed but not wake
up Sunshine in the process.  He planned on doing that himself when he got in bed.  There was no sight more beautiful than her sleepy smile when she realized he was kissing her.

Intense astonishment touched his face and he paled.  The bed he left her in rumpled and musky by their passion was now neatly made
.
H
owever that wasn’t what surprised him.  Finding it empty is what knocked the wind from his lungs.

Yoon
turned
on the bedroom light and quickened to the closet.  Her things were gone.

A sudden bereft feeling of loneliness and confusion welded together in one upsurge and threatened to devour him.  His dark eyes showed the tortured dullness of disbelief as he stumbled back from the closet and s
a
t on the edge of the bed, his hand landing on the folded paper that rested on the bed.

He hesitated, torn with screams of frustration and the gamut of perplexing emotions like none he ever felt before.  He rubbed at the spot above his heart.  Was he about to have a heart attack?
Or was this what a broken heart felt like?

Why would Sunshine leave him?  They had a contract,
damn it
!    
Sophia Dupree
.  She’d finally gotten to her.  That had to be it.  He couldn’t imagine Sunshine leaving him unless she was forced to do so, not when she loved him.   But then again
,
she didn’t know that he felt the same. 

God no
. Sunshine was trying to save his company from her grandmother on her own.  She probably thought she was doing him a favor because she believed he would care more about his business than he would about being married to her.   She couldn’t be more wrong.

He unfolded the paper and read:

My one and only love, and I can say that with conviction because it’s the truth.  I’m sorry for leaving this letter.  After all you’ve done for me...how much you changed me...the happiness you gave me in such a short time, I wanted to say this to you face to face because it is the least I could do for you. 

However, time has betrayed us and for the first time since we married
,
you didn’t make it home early.  I don’t have to ask why.  My grandmother is at it again I know and I wished you would have told me before things got so bad for you.  I’m sorry for making a mess of your life.  I should have been honest from the beginning and told you exactly what you were signing up for.  I also should have not ignored my family from the beginning as if that would make them go away.

The only reason I wasn’t home to tell you this in person is because I promised my grandmother I would return to her home before nightfall.  I call it her home now because for the rest of my life no matter where I am or who I may end up being married to in the future
,
my heart’s home will always be where you are.

Rest assur
ed
as you read this letter the world as you know it, your busine
ss, your finances, your privacy and
you
r entire life before me are
returning to normal.  I hope in time you will be able to forgive me for agreeing to marry you knowing the baggage I carried, but the simple domestic life I pictured with you was too tempting to pass up and it was everything I imagined it to b
e
and so much more than I anticipated.  I swear Yoon
,
for a man that didn’t love me you put your all into making me feel very...very...VERY loved in our marriage bed.  Thank you for that.

Tearfully
,
Yoon smiled.

I never realized I knew nothing about love between a man and a woman until I m
et you.  The times before you were
just practice for the real thing.

Yoon, be happy.  Don’t be so hard on yourself about your first marriage.  After being married to you, I’m thinking you weren’t the only one to blame for that marriage not working, besides I’m grateful to her because if you had been married still
,
there would have been no need for you to blackmail me!

He laughed
.

Seriously, Leslie is a good woman and she really does love you.  Not as much as I do I’m sure, but enough that she will try hard to make you happy if you let her.  I know it’s crazy that I say this but I realized she truly cared for you when she stayed out of our marriage after your mother’s visit.  Leslie put your happiness first and that is what a person who loves another do
es
.   So that should earn her some favor points on your mother’s list of potential brides in the future. 

By the way
,
your mom let one Black woman in, I doubt she will let another one so don’t go marrying another Black woman.  Okay, you know me t
o
o well.  I don’t want you with another Black woman.  I like knowing I was your first and your last.  Selfish huh?

Yoon nodded with a grin.  He washed his hand over his damp face.

Oh wow
,
this is about to turn into two pages and I know the only thing you sit still for this long is when you’re having sex and I’m on top.  That was my favorite position by the way; but I think you already know this.

Be happy for the both of us
,
Yoon
,
for I will be keep
ing an eye on you from a distance
.  I will be the angel behind your shoulder and you won’t have to worry about my...Grand Madam Sophia ever again.  She wanted a replica of herself?  That is exactly what she will get until the day she or I die.  It’s time she gets a taste of her o
w
n medicine.

I will always...always...believe choosing to be Mrs. Sunshine Young
—
even if it was for such a short time
—
was the most significant thing I will ever do in my entire life.  Why?  Because it was the first thing I ever did just for me.

Much Love Always,

Sunshine

“I be damned if I let you become anything like your grandmother, Sunshine.”  Yoon’s voice cracked in the deafening silence.

It was too quiet without her here.  It already no longer felt like his home and the thought of sleeping in the bed without her warm body against him was completely out of the question.

She was his wife and he would not allow her to spend twenty-four hours in that old domineering shrew
’s
care.  Marriage meant they were a team and he wasn’t going to allow her to fight this battle alone.

“And who the hell was she to think she could fix me up with Leslie of all the women.  And no Black women?  Maybe that’s all I wanted to be with after being with her.  God, I love her, but she’s such a
princess
!”

Yoon shook his head and chuckled.  “Why am I sitting here talking to myself?  I’m going to need help with this one.”

He removed his cellular phone from his pants pocket and pushed the redial button.

“Hello
Ap-ba
, Father, I didn’t have anyone else I could call.”  He drew in a shaky breath.  “Sunshine is gone.  I love her and I’m going to need you to call in a few favors to help me get her back here w
h
ere she belongs.”

“I know you love her, your mother said as much.  She hasn’t been kidnapped has she?”  His deep voice was full of concern. 

Yoon quickly put his fears to rest.  “No, it’s nothing like that Ap-ba, but do you remember our conversation about her grandmother and how there might be a problem...”

“Of course, I was surprised that I had a new daughter-in-law from such a prestigious family.  You make me very proud son,” Ambassador Joon Woo Young said.

“Well I hope you continue to think so when I tell you one of the things I may be required to do in order to bring Sunshine back home to me.”

“I don’t understand.  She is your wife, is she not?  Why are you bartering with your in-law for a woman that is already legally bound to you?”  His father’s voice became stern.  “Get off the phone with me and go get your wife, Yoon!”

“It’s not that simple.  Sunshine’s grandmother has a lot of pull in this town--”

“Is this woman why you have been having business troubles lately?” Joon Woo interrupted.

“You’ve heard about that?”  Yoon’s eyes drifted closed for an instant and he chuckled in chagrin.  “I can’t seem to keep much from you.”

“No and you shouldn’t try.  You should have come to me when things first started to go bad,” the older man chastised.  “I take it that you already know what Mrs. Dupree wants from you.  It obviously isn’t money.”

“Definitely not money.”

“Don’t tell me she doesn’t think my son is go
od enough for her granddaughter!
”  He bellowed into the phone.

“No, though she probably does think she could find someone more palpable to give her what she want
s
th
a
n I
will
,” Yoon murmured.

“My goodness what does the woman want?  Your firstborn child?”

“I never consider
ed
that but since she wants me to change my last name to Dupree instead of Sunshine taking our family name, then our first born will probably be her next request,” Yoon replied sarcastically.

“Yoon
,
this is not the time for jokes.”

“I wish I was joking,
Ap-ba
.”

“I see.”

Huh?  “Is that all you have to say?”

“Well, it’s not that uncommon for a family of power with no male heirs to want their son-in-law to become the heir, especially in a royal household,” Joon Woo reasoned.

“Are you saying you’re okay with this?”

“Hell no!
  You’re my only son!  What does the woman expect me to do about my future heir?  I dare her be so presumptuous and without discussing it with your parents first.  It is quite improper.”

“I think I have a way to stop Sunshine’s
grand
mother
’s
interference but I need you to look into something for me tonight.  I don’t want to wait until my resource gets back to me tomorrow,” Yoon confided.

“Anything.  Tell me what you need me to do.”

“She attacked my business and seeing how I have spent the past two years setting up a deal for her
,
I’m not without knowledge of her business affairs.  The thing is
,
what I have planned is not quite legal for me to pursue because she use
d
to be my client, but I can say Dupree Foods is very interested in infiltrating the Asian markets.”

“Say no more.  I will do some snooping on my own and the less you know about it the better.  My meeting with my new extended family is long overdue.”

“
Ap-ba
, I want Sunshine back home tonight.”

“I taught you patience,” Joon Woo stated and with a sigh added, “I will do what I can, but these things sometime take time.  Just keep your mind on the outcome and not the process of getting there.”

“I will.”

“I truly hope she is worth the favors I am going to have to call in because
doing business with the Dupree C
orporation is a big deal, Yoon.”

“I know what I’m asking of you, but this is my future I’m talking about.”  The desperation he felt leaked over into his voice.

“I could lose a lot of future votes during the re-election if Sophia Dupree were to withdraw her business offer to expand into South Korea.  Having her build stores and a distribution center there that would service throughout Asia could be a big boon for our economy.”

“I know,
Ap-ba
, I made the arrangements.”

“Maybe with all that is at stake I don’t have the right to be vain and ask you not to change your name...”

“You have every right.  You are my father!  I am proud to carry your name.  Hell, Sunshine was proud to carry your name.  That is the way it is in a marriage.  A woman takes on the name of her husband!”