บท 3: Nightly Visitors

Minho entered the mansion with Jina happily riding on his shoulders.

"We're home!" she announced.

The servants came forward, watching the father-daughter duo in amusement. Minho's cold expression always softened whenever Jina was around. Jina's live-in nanny, an elderly lady by the name Kim Saeron, came forward to attend to her.

"Welcome back sir and young miss,"she greeted warmly.

"Nanny!"Jina squealed. "Look I drew an elephant at school today!"

She showed the old woman the picture of a scribble which was supposedly an elephant.

"Very nice,"Kim smiled.

"We've already had dinner outside so tell the chefs not to prepare anything for us," Minho instructed. "Is Jina's bath water ready yet?"

"Yes sir," Kim replied. "I'll take her. Come on young miss."

She stretched her arms out. Jina jumped into them, giggling. Minho headed straight for his bedroom to take a shower. He changed into a black shirt and pants, wiping his wet hair as he came out of the bathroom. Turning on his laptop, he began to check his workload.

His company, Hwang Constructions, was the largest conglomerate in the country, generating billions of dollars every year. He joined the company as a CEO when he was merely 20 years old and within fifteen years, he had turned it into a power to be reckoned with. There was only one thing to do: make money. It was the life he led and the rule he abided by.

Many women tried to seduce him and to this day, they coveted the precious title of Mrs. Hwang. He was not averse by the idea of marriage but rather by what he could gain from it. Before going on any dates, he would check the monetary value of the woman and what sort of financial gains his company would benefit from such alliance.

Unfortunately, none of the women he met with fit into his criteria even if their families were super rich. They lived off of their family's money and did not have any financial backing of their own which only made them worthless in his eyes. Furthermore, he could instantly identify when some of his dates had tried to fake their affections for Jina. Their tricks were too obvious.

"Daddy!"

Jina came running to him, jumping on his lap. "What is this?" she asked, pointing at the complicated numbers on his screen.

"It's maths," he explained.

Jina pouted at the numbers in front of her.

"I don't like Maths," she concluded. "It's so hard!"

"It's not that hard," Minho said. "Daddy will help you out."

"Okay!" she exclaimed, getting off his lap and running out of the door. Within seconds she returned with her school bag, dumping all her books on the table.

"Help me with my homework!" she ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" he sighed.

Putting his work aside, he helped his daughter to finish her school work. Her nanny, Kim, was observing them from the doorway with tears in her eyes. One of the new servants, Yejin, whispered to her, "Is he really the cold blooded CEO everyone talks about? He seems so nice!"

"Only to his daughter," Kim said. "No one other than Jina is spared from his wrath."

She sighed. If only the CEO would get married and give Jina a good mother who would look after her.

"What happened to the CEO's wife?" Yejin asked. "Jina's mother."

"Shhh!" Kim shushed, looking back to see if the CEO had heard them. Fortunately, he was preoccupied with Jina so Kim took Yejin aside.

"Don't talk about Jina's mother," she said in a hushed tone.

"Why not?"

"No one knows who she is," Kim replied. "For an entire year, the CEO stayed out of town. He communicated through his secretary only and no one knew what he was doing. When he returned, he brought the newborn Jina. When I asked who the mother was, he ordered everyone that no one should ever ask about her."

"What sort of a mother abandons her own child?" Yejin asked in disgust.

"I don't know but for some reason the CEO refuses to talk about her," Kim said sadly. "Even Jina never asked about her mother. At least not yet but I'm sure she would want to know some day."

"Wasn't it hard for the CEO to take care of her on his own?"

"It was!" Kim chuckled. "The poor man who only knew about money and revenues was at a complete loss about taking care of the baby. It was difficult at first. He was utterly confused on what food to feed the baby, how to change her diapers and barely slept because of the constant crying. But somehow, he managed to learn. The first month was hard but he really loves his daughter. He managed it all."

"That poor child," Yejin sighed. "If only-"

Suddenly they heard footsteps approaching. Minho came out of the room, carrying a sleeping Jina in his arms. They quickly stopped talking and bowed as he walked by. He barely acknowledged them and headed straight for Jina's room to tuck her to sleep.

He gently lay his daughter down on the bed. She stirred, opening her eyes.

"Daddy, Casper says good night too," she said.

"Your new imaginary friend Casper?" he asked warily. Jina had a wild imagination. Everyday, she came up with new imaginary friends. Yesterday it was Julia and today she made up a new one named Casper.

"They're real!" she insisted. "Casper is a construction worker who got hurt! His head is bleeding! Look!"

She pointed left, but Minho saw nothing there.

"Well, tell him to be careful next time," Minho replied. "Now go to sleep."

Jina pouted a little. Minho kissed her forehead and turned off the lights before leaving the room.

"No one believes me," she whined turning to her left. Standing there was a man in a grey uniform. Blood was flowing from his head and his right eye was completely smashed in. He was invisible to everyone's eyes but hers.

"I wonder where Julia went," she said out loud. "Did she manage to find her killer yet Casper?"

But the invisible intruder merely shrugged, unable to speak since his vocal cords were also destroyed in the accident. He had just died two days ago and was wandering around until he found this little girl who was able to see and communicate with him.

"Good night Casper!" she said before drifting off to sleep. Casper gave her a thumbs up and disappeared as she fell asleep.