Mat

The sound of black birds chirping and the weak light spilling on my bedroom carpet are enough signs to hint the morning is approaching.  Opening my eyes, I am again reminded that we are in England.  The high ceiling of this mansion, the thickly carpeted bedroom, the vases which hold fresh flowers, and especially the patio doors which lead to the balcony facing the acres and acres of garden.  Pulling the duvet aside, I slip into my slippers and fling open the glass doors; the morning air brushes against my cheeks, filling my lungs with its English coldness.  The sun is peeking behind the horizon, her light touches the green slopes and revealing the fluttering leaves in their trees.  Standing here, looking at the grass which is covered with diamond droplets from the morning mist as the bright star continues to rise, I am still reminded of yesterday's evening with Mat.  
Our short but sharp argument which only ended in my slamming the door shut.  How could she not believe in us?  Didn't our debut concerts prove anything to her?  That we're good enough, surely, for the country?  Of all people, I'd thought she had believed in us, believed in our skill and our voices.  I thought she was honest and good, and now I've finally learnt that she never did have faith in us; it was pure luck in her opinion.  
I change into my plain yellow sleeveless shirt and jeans before leaving my room.  As I descend down the stairs and into the dining room, I see Liz at the far end of the table on her own drinking a cup of tea.  She sees me and smiles.
"Good morning... Joong?"
"It's Jong."  I say politely.
"Oh pardon me, I'm such a diddle-biddle for remembering names.  Come and join me for a tea."  Liz invites, gesturing her hand to a chair next to her.  "Or would you like coffee?"  
"Coffee, if you please."
"Another coffee, will you Lindsay?"
"Certainly madam."  She walks quietly out of the room.
"I hope you had a pleasant sleep.  Didn't suffer from jet-lag, did you?"  Liz asks in Korean, taking a sip.
"Thank you," I say, appreciating her for speaking Korean for my sake, "a little bit but I'm perfectly fine now, thank you."
"So, what places are you keen to see in England?  Are you into sight-seeing or shopping?"
"Any famous tourist attraction is just fine."  The maid arrives with my coffee on a silver tray along with a jug of milk and a pot of sugar.  "Thank you."
Nodding, she retreats into the kitchen.
"May I give you some recommendations to go to London and Cornwall?"
"Of course, I shall take these recommendations into consideration."
Liz smiles, swallowing some more tea then looking out the glass doors.  Silence sinks into the atmosphere; the whole mansion is quiet apart from the chiming of the grandfather clock in the living room.
"How do you know Mat?"  Liz asks, breaking the silence.
"A friend of Joong's introduced her to him and ever since, she has been living with us."
She nods.  "Mat is a good person; she really is her being in a difficult situation and all."
"Yes, her family disowned her, or so I heard."
"Yes, but do you know who her family is and why she is constantly in a difficult situation?"
"No, I don't.  Why is that?"
"Her parents own big companies of materials, like sugar, butter and chocolate.  Mat comes from a very wealthy family, richer than my own."
"Why did they disown her?"  I ask, being curious about the reason why Mat had left all the luxuries to be in a foreign country.
"She wanted to become a financial journalist but her parents wouldn't let her that's what."  Liz answers, pushing her tea away, "Her parents wanted her to own their companies and take over from them because they didn't have a son, and now," she continues: "Already disowned her; they have a son and focussed all their attention on him."
"Mat has a brother?"  I ask, an absolute surprise for me.
"Yes, called Tristan and a little sister too called Adèle."
"Wow, I never knew."
"She doesn't speak of them much because they are rarely in contact.  She doesn't want to be reminded of the hardship of cutting off her family and living alone without the wealth to back her up."
"I understand." I say slowly.
"Don't tell her I told you," Liz says, "I'm sure she wouldn't want me telling people that but I overheard the bitterness in your voice yesterday evening."  Liz blushes: "I didn't mean to, I only passed by you understand..."
"Yes," I say quietly, "I'm sorry for being rude..."
"When she said her wish to meet for you boys to meet her friends who, I understand, have influence over the society such as myself, don't be offended by that."
I say nothing, keeping my eyes fixed on to the cold mug of coffee sitting in front of me.
"When you guys arrived, I had no idea what a family you are to her when she looked at you.  You are her family and her close friends, and that means something because you have her confidence and trust."
"Then why does she have no faith in us?"  My voice is cold and blunt.
Instead of flinching from the iciness in my tone Liz shakes her head, a look of pity in her eyes.  "Some of you may be older than Mat but clearly you have no experience of the outside world."  She stands us and walks to the glass door, facing the garden as the sun is growing brighter.  I hear her inhaling a deep breath, sighing.  She turns to me: "Do you think the world is as easy as addition and subtraction?  Do you think you have the world at your feet after some debuts and a few fan-meetings?"
"Obviously we still have a way to go-"
"A long way to go if you keep thinking like that, like a naive kid.  I ask you: you entered into a competition to sing and after you sang, the audience thought you were the best singer so logically, you would be the winner, right?  Do you follow me?"
I nod.
"That only happens in schools because in the real world, the big-wide-scary world, there is a thing called corruption.  There are no rules, no logic, no anything!  Even if you were the best singer in the world, the judging panel wouldn't care because people are selfish, they only ever think about themselves and money.  Instead of picking you, they would pick another person who may be the worse singer because you know why? behind closed doors, money is exchanged to ensure the winning of a particular person or other benefits."  Liz says, her eyes blazed in the sunlight, "You might as well say that money buys securities and rich's can influence people because of what they are, and you poor people stand no chance."
I say nothing because I have nothing to say.
"Mat knows all this because she experienced it herself; before she was disowned, the world was her oyster.  The best private schools were begging to accept her due to family background, anything she wanted she had.  Then suddenly, one day, she found herself penniless and homeless.  The world became a horrible nightmare ever since she was disowned.  She was thrown to the wolves, pardon my change of language.  It took her years of hard hard work to re-gain where she is now, though her life is still difficult but at least she has people like you to share it with."
Liz sighs after what seems an eternity of explaining.  
"Come with me and I'll show you something."  
Pushing my chair back, I follow Liz to the living room where she walks in front of the huge brick fireplace.  She picks out a photograph near to her right and hands it over to me.  In the picture, there is Liz herself and another girl in front of what seems like a school.  The girl has dirty blonde hair and is smiling for the photo.  She is holding a bunch of daisies in one hand while the other is wrapped around her friend's waist while they posed but what is most familiar about that girl is her eyes: the deep ocean blue colour, the one and the same pair of eyes as Mat's.
"It was taken three years ago."
"Surely not?"  I say, gobsmacked.
"Yes," Liz says, placing the photo back on the mantelpiece, "beautiful, wasn't she?"
"So young..." that's all I manage to say.
"That's what hardship and difficult decisions do to you when your life is on the line every day with no money and no family in a foreign country."