Can't Let You Go

***LIAM***

"How well do you know anyone?"

That was what I'd said to the officer when she asked about my knowledge of Tally. Straightforwardly admitting that I barely knew her, might hurt her case, so I kept it to myself. It's not really a dishonest answer, though, as you can live with someone for years and not really know them. 

Like my father who I barely knew. He was not really involved in raising me so I didn't think about him much until after he was gone. My mother was a different story. I may not know everything about her, but she is largely predictable at this point.

Our family's business is her main priority. Her great grandfather started the company, but it really thrived under her father. She managed one of the divisions when she was younger, but it didn't go well. Her father eventually sent in a new management team and barred her from taking any other position. The shame she feels from that is covered by a vehement pride and attachment to the company as though it were her own legacy. I didn't realize that until more recently.

She wasn't happy when her brother started climbing the ranks, hoisting his son along with him. She might have a point about my frivolous cousin, but I'm not on board with her plans to promote me as the alternative. I try to use her controlling nature against her as proof that if I'm really so incapable of making decisions on my own, I shouldn't be in charge of a large company. She is unrelenting though.

The bigger problem is that she doesn't limit herself to interfering with my career choice for the sake of the family business. She has also dictated my personal life as much as possible. I'm sure she was much happier when I was young and this was something she had nearly direct control over. Constantly arranging my social life so that it included as many kids from "acceptable" families as possible, she excluded anyone else. 

To her, "acceptable" wasn't just about the wealth of the family, but the compatibility of their source of wealth with ours. In other words, they were potential business partners. One good thing came out of her interference which is that along the way, she taught me how to evaluate people. I'm sure I don't come to the same conclusions as she does, but it's still been useful for me.

I may not know Tally well enough to be able to read her, but my early observations make me feel like she is trustworthy. Maybe I just have a soft spot for girls who get abandoned by their families. Many men are susceptible to falling into the role of savior - I'm not unique, but I should know better. There might be a good reason a person's family boots them out to teach them a lesson. Or they might be a scam artist looking to see what they can get off sympathetic lovers. One of my good friends from college fell prey to a gold digger. His example is why my help comes with employment strings attached.

I thought I knew my ex pretty well. She cut me deep though. Hurt me so badly that I don't even say her name anymore. I'm not sure what good the time and distance between us has done for me if I'm still a snarly jerk. But, I was like that before I met her, so maybe my lack of growth in that area has nothing to do with whether or not I've truly moved on from her. 

I guess I assumed I had since I haven't thought about her in a long time. Meeting Tally and the parallels between the two is bringing a lot back up for me. Did I move on or did I just move far away?

Kim Dae-Ho and I had collaborated multiple times in college and he'd wanted me to come to Seoul with him to start a business in the tech-friendly nation. Though I was all in for a partnership, I'd been on the fence about the actual move until my world basically fell apart; made worse by my mother's nagging. Work was a convenient excuse for getting away from it. The deal was sealed by the fact that my anger at my father for leaving was less than my anger at everything else and being here might help me learn more about him, in a roundabout way.