Chasing the Shrew

Meeting the Head

Amelia and her children were ushered into the Bing estate through the side door. Peter tugged her hand a little, “Mommy? Why are we entering a different door than everyone? We are all walking the same way?”

Amelia didn’t want to lie, “This is the old way for rich Asian families to let us know our place here. The main door they walked through was for family members and guests. The side door is for servants. You and Jenny must never leave me sight and if they pull us apart you must stay together, you understand?”

Peter pursed his little lips, “Yes, mommy.”

Jenny also nodded quietly.

Kae turned around and smirked, “I’m glad that wasn’t lost on you, but I’m curious, how did you know?”

Amelia didn’t bother to smile, “DS got me hooked on historical c-dramas.”

Kae hummed and turned to walk into the main hall. At the head of the room sat a fierce-looking old man and the room was filled with older-looking men in suits with the younger ones standing behind him. There were easily fifty men in the room.

“Where is Dae-Seong? Who is this woman?” He asked in a booming voice.

Kae sat in one of the chairs to the side and a servant immediately served him tea.

“Brother will come home soon to get his woman,” he shrugged.

Amelia scowled, is that how he is introducing her to everyone?! No wonder the pretty girl slapped her. Maybe she was a past lover. Amelia decided she needed to clear the air before it stifled her and her children.

“I am not his woman. Dae-Seong is my brother.”

“SILENCE,” the fierce man shouted, the room was so quiet a pin drop could be heard.

He turned to Kae, “Explain.”

“I looked into it on the jet ride, he has lived with her for the last six years. She is a divorcee with two children and hasn’t been in a relationship since.”

The room broke out in a cacophony of murmurs and shouts until the fierce man lifted his hand again. He was frowning so hard his eyebrows fused in the middle, “Woman, what is your relationship to my son? Know this, if you lie, I’ll cut out your tongue.”

Amelia trembled but held firm, “DS is my brother. We took care of each other over the years as we are both alone.”

As she was explaining another man entered the hall and walked to the front. Leaning down he whispered into the fierce man’s ears. The man looked up with his eyes slightly widened, then he looked at Amelia and the children.

“This is interesting. You’re a popular woman it seems.”

Amelia frowned, what did that mean? She didn’t have to wonder for long.

“The Farley and Jones family are bringing Dae-Seong back to trade for you. They will be here in four or five hours. So, woman, what is your relationship to all these men? Is one of them your children’s father?”

Amelia didn't want to answer, she didn't want to give them more reason to mock her if they knew her children were from another man.

“I am currently engaged with Chris Farley. Like I said, DS is my brother, we are not in any other relationship.”

“Bullshit. A single mother raising two kids on her own? You obviously mooched off Dae-Seong,” the beautiful young woman strutted into the hall and sat in the chair directly opposite Kae.

Amelia opened her mouth but Peter stood in front and shouted at the woman. He was furious, “Shut up you hag! Mom and Uncle are siblings, they take care of each other! If you don’t know then don’t talk!”

The woman shot up in her chair, pissed to be talked down to by a kid.

The fierce man laughed, “Hahaha!! He has a backbone. He will do well with us.”

Kae smiled, “I thought the same. No matter if Dae-Seong comes home or not, we should keep the boy.”

Another older man next to the young woman spoke up, “Why just keep the boy? The mother is a beauty and her daughter looks good now, how stunning will she be in the future? We can train them to be Gisaeng.”

Amelia didn’t know the word but the way he looked at her and her daughter in a lewd way gave it away. She crouched down and hugged her children close, “Stay away!”

The beautiful woman sneered, “Gisaeng is perfect for a hussy like her. The boy can be an escort too. If we train him into a fighter he will come back and bite us. He can please madams in bed with his good looks in the future.”

Amelia glared daggers at her, what kind of sick b*tch suggests child prostitution?! Amelia glanced around the hall and saw the older woman sitting next to the fierce man, she gathered that they were DS’s mother and father so she decided to entreat mother to mother.

“Ma’am, you are a mother! I won’t ask you to help me but please spare my children!”

The woman said nothing but looked away from Amelia’s desperate eyes.

Kae laughed, “You can stop, she can’t understand English.”

Amelia threw out what little Korean she learned from DS, “Jusipsio!!”

The woman flinched and looked at Amelia once more. The malice she had earlier was gone replaced with a look of pity yet she did not move.

Amelia felt a hand on her shoulder and whirled around seeing the lecherous man leering at her. She growled and shoved her kids together out of the way, “Peter!!”

Peter pulled his sister aside.

Without a second to waste, Amelia straightened up on her knees and reached back to grab the man’s arm then threw him over her shoulder. She rolled with him landing squarely on top of him, driving her elbow into his chest knocking the air out of him. The room, “oohed” and watched on with amusement. Amelia grabbed his larynx between her index, middle finger, and thumb; her eyes bloodshot as she crouched over him like a predator about to rip his throat out, “Touch my children and he dies first,” her crazed eyes swept the room.

Kae quietly stood up, “We’ll break your arms and legs for this. If you back off now, we won’t harm you much.”

Amelia chuckled then broke into a crazy sorrowful laugh, “We are going to die here anyways. If that’s the case,” she looked at Kae with a sinister smile plastered on her face, “I’m going to take as many of you with me.”

Kae shot one hand out and grabbed Jenny by the hair yanking her up. Amelia looked startled but kept her fingers on the man’s throat; he was her only bargaining chip.

Kae smiled, this woman was getting more interesting. He looked down and saw Peter aiming a punch at his privates. With a kick, he sent Peter sprawling. The boy got up immediately and rushed Kae again.

“STOP! This is my home, not a brawling pub! Kae put her down. No one is going to be a prostitute or dying today. Get off, woman!”

Amelia got off the man kneeling on his ribs as she did.

“Woman, what is your name? Did you train in martial arts?”

Her children hurried back into her arms and she looked at DS’s father warily, “ Amelia and no, I just watched wuxia dramas for the last six years.”

He looked at her with wide eyes then broke out in laughter. The hall erupted with guffaws and knee slaps.

When it finally died down DS’s father stood up. As soon as he did, there was a clatter of chairs as most of the men sitting stood as well.

“I believe you now. There is no need for a sleeping tigress to lie,” DS’s father spread his arms and looked around, “Welcome to the Bing Family.”

The standing men clenched their right hand in a fist and covered it with an open left palm. A thunderous guttural sound echoed in the hall as they shouted in unison, “Huan Ying!”