My father had his arms wrapped around my mother in her death, just as I had suspected he would do in the end. But I never would have thought that he would have died with her, no matter how much they owed each other. Even my uncle Hwi wrapped himself around my mother as if he meant to protect her as he had always done. My poor uncle/father-in-law with his poor back, his legs riddled with arthritis and his hands shaking in his old age. But he was still an early riser, so when my husband was still asleep, I tended to him first of all since his wife was sickly as of late and I did my best to tend to her all day long. I made up his breakfast after I had filled up a hot bath for him along with his favourite tea. I had to personally massaged him with his ointment since I was also his niece, so it was not deemed inappropriate at all. And I always dressed him up and I carefully brushed out his hair before tying it up for him and sending him out of the home along with his youngest son Geom, whom I treated not differently than my own younger brother Hwan. My husband Chul often complained that I took more care of his family than himself, but I knew how important my uncle was to my mother who constantly made a fuss over him every time she saw him. She always acted as if she was the older sibling instead of him and I knew my mother would never forgive me if I ever became a burden onto my hardworking uncle whom had raised her when she was only 5 years old. As for Geom, I adored my cousin as did my mother and took care of him exactly the way she had done with us and Hwan. Their temperaments were different as well as their personalities, but Geom reminded me of my bothers so much that I couldn't't help but to spoil him. And no matter how old he got, he was still the baby of the family no matter what he did. Even my father treated him better than my own brother Hwan sometimes, but Geom and Hyuk were not that far apart in age and started hanging around together more ever since Chul got a position in the army as a Royal Guard for The Emperor himself. And my uncle loved me for it; he was a much more mellow person that my father ever could be and I could remember him crying at my wedding. Despite the close relations that I had with his sons, he told me that he was happy to have gained his neice as his daughter-in-law, as I reminded him of my mother more than I could possibly realise.
And my mother; my beautiful and intelligent mother whom I had looked up to my entire life but I was always too stubborn to admit it since I was a straight up daddy's girl and I followed him around everywhere he went without giving him any choice at all. But I did love my mother dearly, and she was everything that I wanted to become and more. I did indeed inherit a lot of my wisdom and charm from her, but my mother was a subtle woman, whereas I was a loudmouth who always took the credit for my pranks, my actions, and my 'unlady-like' behaviour whenever I had an issue with someone, which was pretty much everyone else in our childhood since there was and still is a real prejudice about twins. I honestly blamed the bullying that we endured during my father's temporary absences for my brother's closed off personality. Because once upon a time he was just as open and as fun as I was and was friendly to anyone and everyone. But there was a period of time that my father could not approach us due to the political issues in the palace, and nobody suffered more than my brother for it. But my mother had always been by our side and always encouraged us to look to our father even though he had to absent from us a few times. She did everything she could to feed us, to clothe us, to entertain us and support us even when she had very little support. Myself and my siblings were considered socialites due to our father's status and position in the palace, but it was our mother who constantly kept us grounded and always made us empathise with people of all social economic backgrounds. Differences between the noble class and the lowborn meant nothing to us, we only looked at the hearts and the personalities of the people. She taught us to be charitable, to always see the good in others and to not let anyone's opinions change us.
But the death that hurt me the most was undoubtedly my father; my mountain of a father to loved me to no end, spoiled me to no end and always held me in his arms as much as he possibly could before tearing himself from me only go to to work. And I cried; my lord, I cried so much each and every time my father turned his precious face away from me. My mother alway reminded me of how terrible my tantrums were, so much so that she could barely keep up with me sometimes. But from the moment I knew it was my fathers time to come home, not even she could prise me away from the door or window where I would wait for him with a little present in my hand as if to bribe him to stay home with me tomorrow. I would hug him so much that I made him unable to live without myself as well, as he always took me by the hand and led me to his study when he was home. I always folded myself into his lap and I studied in front of him to win over his affection even more. As a woman, I could not follow my father's footsteps in the palace, but I proved to be smart enough to be trusted with his businesses as soon as I turned 18 and with Geom's help, we both made sure that each business that he invested in helped to turn over a wealthy enough profit for all of us to enjoy. But now what on earth was I going to do without him? As much as I loved Chul, I always felt a little guilty about leaving my father who always slept next to me since I was born, who stayed with me every time I got sick, and kept me close to his heart every single second he could. How on earth could I function without him?