Yuen-Mong's Revenge (47 page)

     
It felt as if she had just stepped into a cold shower, and she felt a hard
pang of hurt and then regret. His mind and his words had revealed too
much. If he had stopped before saying ‘you are my dream’, she would not
have known what she would have done. But then something felt terribly
wrong. His dream was to imprison her in his world. She would become
his doll, to be admired, pampered, to be shown off.

     
"I’m with Atun," she replied softly.

     
"Yuen-mong, I know you’re attracted to me. I have seen it in your
eyes. Don’t deny it."

 
     
"I do not."

 
     
"Then what’s holding you back? I don’t care that you had a relationship with Atun. It was natural, almost unavoidable under the circumstances. I won’t hold that against you. Can’t you see that he is nothing,
that he can offer you nothing."

 
     
"You only know of Atun what is readily seen on the surface.’"

 
     
"I’m sorry. There was no intention to belittle his many qualities."

 
     
She knew he was lying, and this added to her hurt.

     
"What I meant to say is that he is not Foundation. You are. You owe
it to yourself to perpetuate the purity of the Foundation."

 
     
She did not answer, but looked out the windscreen.

     
"Yuen-mong, I know too many things have happened to you these last
few months. You were plucked from a stone-age world and dropped into
the most advanced civilization of the galaxy. You’re bound to be
confused, and I don’t want to rush you. Take as long as you need to say
yes to me. I’m patient. I waited years for your mother."

 
     
"Thank you, Syd."

 
     
He put the car in motion again. She was glad that he remained silent
for several minutes. He was right, her mind was in confusion, but a
different confusion than he thought.

* * *

"She is back. I’ve just watched her grand entrance at the space port,"
were Ko Young’s first words as he entered his father’s office.

     
"Yes, I saw her."
She was beautiful, in full control, as always,
Chen
Young mused silently. "Where is she going?"

 
     
"Syd Twan picked her up and they took the road to the Soro Space
Port, I presume to meet up with their space craft which has just asked for
permission to land. What are we going to do?"

 
     
"Wait… I’m certain she will come to see me. That was her message
to me during the interview."

 
     
"Can we afford to wait? The shares have plummeted to 55 cents, a
drop of over ninety percent in eight days and they are still falling. For a
while there were some buyers, but they have disappeared too, and Kim
Deng is panicking. He insists that I call a meeting of all senior people to
develop a strategy for the upcoming special general shareholder meeting
that was called for by two shareholders."

 
     
"Two outside shareholders with ten percent of the shares? That has
never happened in our history so far."

 
     
"Yes, in fact they hold twelve percent. The request came through their
broker."

 
     
"What do we know about him?"

 
     
"Nothing, a small-time dealer with no record of dealing in our
shares."

 
     
"I smell a rat. Find out more. Find out who his clients are even if you
have to twist some arms."

 
     
"But what can twelve percent do against the combined Young and
Deng block?"

 
     
Chen Young looked sharply at his son. "Do we still hold a majority?
You know that Mai panicked and sold her shares, violating the agreement. Did anybody else panic?"

 
     
He noticed his son’s sudden fidgeting.

     
"I asked you a question? What do you know?"

 
     
"Pat and Bee also disposed of their shares."

 
     
"Who else? How much did you sell?"

 
     
"I dumped the shares I bought from Yuen-mong. It is all her fault that
we are in trouble, the ungrateful bitch, after we took her into our fold."

 
     
"So we have only 19 percent left. What do you know of the Dengs?"

 
     
"Xi Deng asked for permission to sell some of their shares."

 
     
"How much?"

 
     
"Seven percent."

 
     
"That leaves only 39 percent."

 
     
"Still more than we need to control the meeting."

 
     
"Maybe, maybe not. I think Kim Deng is right. We need to develop
a unified strategy and a convincing plan to get the shareholders back on
our side. I want to be in on that. We also need to buy back some shares.
Why did you not approach me before you sold?"

 
     
His son shrugged and avoided his gaze.
He is still afraid of me.

* * *
 

     
Yuen-mong contacted him two days later while he was attending one
of the strategy sessions, leaving a message that she would visit him on
Wednesday rather than Tuesday, the day she had regularly come on
previous occasions. Wednesday was also the day after the special
UniCom general shareholder meeting. Was the timing coincidence, he
pondered? She also excused herself from the Sunday dinner.

* * *

Syd Twan dropped her off at the port terminal building. She had to wait
about an hour before she could take a self-guided vehicle to the landing
position of Vishnu. Both Atun and Anouk stood in the open door of the
ship when she jumped off the vehicle and ran to them, embracing first
Atun, then Anouk, and Atun again. In his arms she felt as if she had
escaped from great danger.

     
They unloaded the equipment from the vehicle and stored it in the
ship. She sent the vehicle back to the terminal, remembering the scene
last time she had done the same. Although she was pretty certain that no
further attempts would be made on them, she was not willing to take any
chances. They would live on the ship for the time being.

     
The talk with Syd Twan remained uppermost in her mind. She could
not distance herself from it. She was in turmoil. She could no longer deny
that she was in love with him, that she was sexually attracted to him. It
would be so easy to say yes. But at the same time she intuitively shied
away from it. Would her love survive the dream he had constructed for
her? Would it not be the germ that ultimately destroyed her love? He
wanted her to become his showpiece. She would not be herself any
longer, but would be expected to conform to his image. Would she not
end up fighting constantly to escape the cage he had already built for her?
Her emotions swayed back and fort, rising and waning like waves, and
she was unable to hide it. She knew that Anouk sensed her state of mind
and also felt Atun’s growing concern.

     
When she retired with him to their sleeping cabin, he held her by the
shoulders and queried her: "Love, something is troubling you. Tell me."

 
     
Can I tell him? Won’t I hurt him?
She buried her face on his shoulder.

     
"Something with Syd Twan, isn’t it? He wants to marry you."

 
     
She nodded. She could not lie.

     
"I knew this would happen." He slowly disengaged himself. She let
go reluctantly, wanting to hold on to him, to be comforted by him. He sat
on the edge of the bed, bent forward, eyes closed, his hands supporting
his forehead. "Are you going to leave me?" he asked softly after a while,
briefly glancing at her.

     
"No, Atun, I pledged myself to you."

 
     
He sat upright. "Yuen-mong, I don’t hold you to that. I knew for a
while that you love him and would leave me."

 
     
Do I really love him? Can I really love him?
"Atun, I’m confused. I
thought I did. I don’t know my own mind." She hid her face in her hands.

     
"I love you, more than ever, but I don’t want to make you unhappy.
You must do what your heart tells you. He can offer you things that I’ll
will never be able to."

 
     
"Oh Atun, don’t say the same words he did." She went over to him
and pulled him up. "Hold me. Don’t withdraw from me now. I need you."

 
     
He folded his arms around her. "Love, you don’t need me, you don’t
need anybody."

 
     
Yes, I need to be loved too, the kind of love you offer me. Why can’t
I find the courage to say it to you?
"I want to stay with you. You became
my soul mate on Aros."

 
     
"I was nothing but a burden."

 
     
"Not in my eyes. Don’t ever say that again."

 
     
"But you love him. It will make you unhappy staying with me, and I
couldn’t stand that."

 
     
"No, Atun, I would end up unhappy with him when I could remain
happy with you." His hold tightened. "Will you be patient with me?"

 
     
"Yes, love."

 
     
"Will you make love to me? Passionately?"

 
     
She saw his smile and loved him for it.

21

Yuen-mong would have preferred not having to face Syd Twan on the
Tuesday of the special general shareholders meeting. His very presence
threatened her inner peace and put her mind into a spin. But there was no
avoiding him. He had to fulfill the last act before she would be able to
distance herself from him.

     
The meeting was convened in the same hall where Atun had given his
presentation, as if the UniCom board expected several hundred shareholders. From the entrance, she estimated the number of people siting in
the first few rows to be hardly more than twoscore. Ten men in official
Foundation dress sat behind a long table on the podium with a lectern in
the middle. She recognized Ko Young, sitting to the left of the lectern,
with her grandfather, Pat and Dan. On the right sat two white-haired, distinguished-looking gentlemen who looked like brothers, followed by four
younger men who again showed a marked resemblance. The current
board, she presumed. She finally was going to meet the Deng clan.

     
They were the last to enter, and she immediately felt the rage of emotions assaulting her from the podium, as the board members recognized
her. Her uncle bent toward her grandfather, whispering agitatedly, while
Pat stared at her, making no effort to hide his hatred. A number of people
sitting below the podium turned to look. Atun took a seat four rows back,
and she and Anouk joined him, leaving the seat at the aisle for Syd Twan
who placed his briefcase on his knees. A camera crew had set up their
equipment on the side of the podium and the lense zoomed in on her.

     
Ko Young rose and grabbed something that looked like a wooden
mallet, which he hit three times on a wooden board. "I declare this
special general meeting of the UniCom shareholders open. Would those
shareholders or their proxies who have not yet registered their holdings
please come forward to have them confirmed?"

 
     
Several people got up and ascended the steps to the podium, presenting E-cubes to a small man at the far right. His oiled black hair gave his
head a completely round shape.

     
She looked questioningly at Syd who whispered: "This is the company secretary who keeps the shareholder registry."