Death of a Prince | ✓

EP 08: FAMILY MATTER

EPISODE 08

'family matter'

CORDELIA SONG WAS legit too pretty for mortals.

Every movement, every gaze, every exhale felt like an effortless production of an orchestrated play that cost more than your wages worth in a year, but could cleanse your soul for the next lifetime.

I was having a weird she's too beautiful to exist moment. Like when you meet movie stars in real life and they're everything you imagined to be. Almost unreal.

Give it to the Song siblings for such a good production of genes.

But there was also something very sharp about her. Something that reminded me of my stepmother.

Like she knew everything.

And much more.

"So," she started, eyes crinkled, face too smooth to be real. Her fingers were interlaced together, elbows on the table. Her black hat framed her dark hair nicely. "Isn't this a better place to talk? Dominic's place is too stuffy despite such minimalistic furniture. Kind of feels like it's choking you isn't it? I really can't fathom how you can sleep in such a place."

"He accommodated us well enough," Leon said dryly. He and I were now dressed after a quick shower and getting into a different car; sleek back, nondescript, with tinted windows. Cordelia only knocked at the divider before we were around the streets in a confusing mess of circles until we stopped at a very ordinary Chinese tea shop atop a convenience store. The smell of jasmine and incense smoke was intense enough to knock you back several steps upon entry.

It's dark and dreary, the windows closed shut by heavy, red drapes and made the room feel like it could be any point of the day.

Cordelia spoke in crystal Chinese to the old woman behind the cashier who merely blinked at her 谢谢. And now we were here, Leon and I on one side of the booth, his sister in the other, and a pot of fragrant tea between us.

I took a tentative sip. It didn't burn my tongue at all, but it warmed my entire throat as it went down. Christ.

"Tastes exquisite isn't it?" Cordelia said. "They import straight from Shanghai. The leaves are from Taiwan though, so I don't know why they have to shop it to Shanghai, an office issue most likely, but all the same, damn good tea."

"You were born in America," Leon remarked, the grumpy face he's had since his sister arrive ever present and ever unshakable. "You don't get to like tea."

"I'm Korean. I can like tea. Stop being so protective of a drink." She took a casual sip for emphasis.

"That's probably what all colonisers said."

Cordelia's eyes narrowed. "It's tea."

Leon didn't back down. "It's culture."

"Alright," I said, setting my own cup. "Can we get back to the topic at hand?" Tea, culture, colonising. We were getting off topic. "The murder of a socialite?"

Cordelia and Leon stared at each other for a second longer before Cordelia backed down, sighing as she fixed her hair. "Wendy is right. And what a lovely title. It could be one of those crime detective novels. The Murder of a Socialite."

"There's nothing lovely with Dominic's murder," Leon said, grinding his teeth.

Cordelia sighed. "You know that's not what I meant. You need to stop taking things like they're personally attacking you." Leon opened his mouth but Cordelia raised a finger. "Dominic is my friend too and I know he would've adored being in some sort of mystery novel. And, not to wave it around your face but I think you're forgetting that I knew him first. And I'm not stripping you off of your right as his closest friend - I'm just saying, stop trying to take things like a personal attack and keep your head together. You're in a crossroads and you're trying to separate your body because you want to go to every road there is because you're panicking and burdened and you want to be left alone - and it's not a good thing, honey. You're on the verge of unraveling if you don't keep your head on your shoulders upright."