"Hey beautiful."

I smiled at Krystal who had just entered my car as she rolled her eyes at me. Leaning my body across hers, I pulled the seatbelt and put it on for her as Krystal gave me a quick peck on my cheek.

"Thank you. I really appreciate these kind of small gestures that you always do for me." Krystal admitted honestly as I just gave her a silly grin. "Stupid."

Both of us ended up laughing as I started the engine before driving off. We chatted for a while about work before she asked me about the meeting earlier.

"Jihyun told me that after her company's board of directors had a meeting yesterday, they decided that they would not be able to assist us in terms of financial assistance. This is due to the fact that they had already assisted by helping out with the deliveries of the items from the affected containers through their cargo planes. All these additional flights are already incurring more costs on their part." I explained to Krystal as she just nodded her head. "Jihyun did mentioned that her father is willing to discuss again with me if I'm able to come up with a beneficial plan for them. She said that he was looking at a different kind of merger between the two companies."

"Different kind of merger? What's that?" Krystal frowned a little at my statement as I just chuckled while I continued to concentrate on the road. It took her some time to realise what I was talking about as she suddenly clapped her hands and formed into an 'O' shape. "Marriage?"

I nodded my head without saying a word as I noticed Krystal letting out a sigh before leaning back into her seat.

"Don't worry. I would never agree to that." 

Krystal remained silence and I knew that she was brooding about the matter. I wanted to assure her further but at the moment, my mind was already exhausted with everything that has been going on lately so I decided to keep quiet too. Luckily we were almost reaching to the cafe so the silence between us was not so tormenting. 

After parking the car by the side of the road, I was about to walk into the cafe with Krystal when my phone rang. It was Harabeoji.

"I'll go inside first while you take the call. It might be noisy inside so I suggest you talk to him here instead." Krystal gave her opinion as I nodded my head.

"I'll see you later."

Once Krystal walked away, I pressed the answer button and chatted with Harabeoji. He wanted to check on the meeting with K-line earlier so I roughly briefed him about the outcome.

"They've already helped us a lot with the shipments so I guess that's the limit." I said with a heavy heart.

"Uncle Park mentioned about a merger that Ms Kang had brought up. Something that might helped the company." Harabeoji added on before a frown appeared on my face.

"Seems like you've already talked to Uncle Park about the meeting. So, why exactly are you calling me?" I shot a direct question to Harabeoji, my tone of voice raised slightly as I felt a little agitated since I didn't like the way he was putting his words across.

"I just wanted to know your take about the whole situation." Harabeoji replied and I overheard him taking a deep breathe. "Look, Eunjin. I'm not going to force you into marriage because that's your right. I just want you to know that whatever happened to the company, never forsake your happiness for it. At the end of the day, it's just.... a company."

I wasn't expecting that kind of reply from him since I knew how much he had put effort and time into the company. Sensing that there was more to what he said, I calmed myself down by taking a deep breathe.

"Harabeoji, is everything okay?"

"I'm fine." His reply was quick but it seemed that he was not done talking. "Actually, I'm not totally fine but I'll manage. I just wish I could turn back time so that I could spend more time with your Halmeoni."

That was when his reply finally dawned on me. I was speechless for a minute before I asked him about his whereabouts. Just as I expected, he was at the hospital. Ever since Halmeoni had woken up, Harabeoji had never left her side. She was still weak so she could only take in liquid food especially since she mentioned to Doctor Ahn that her tummy still felt a little uncomfortable. Due to that, Doctor Ahn had decided to conduct more tests on her.

"How's Halmeoni? Is she getting better?" I asked in the hopes of hearing better news.

"She's talking more today but she's still weak. I've never seen her so weak before. It really breaks my heart." Harabeoji's reply came with a heavy sigh before he decided to end the conversation since he needed to tend to Halmeoni. "Remember what I said, Eunjin. Your happiness comes first."

Since the phone call took longer that I had expected, I had actually took a seat inside the car with the door opened while chatting with Harabeoji. After the conversation ended, I just stared out to the road feeling helpless at the whole situation.

"Eunjin? Are you okay?"

I heard Krystal's voice from the side as I looked at her direction. She seemed to be waiting for my reply as I just gave her a small smile.

"Sorry, did I make you all wait too long? The chat with Harabeoji took longer than I expected."

"It's okay. I've already explained to the girls that you were on the phone with Harabeoji. I ordered some food for you and it's ready. That's why I came out to inform you before it gets cold." Krystal continued to look at me intently as if she knew that I was hiding something from her. "You didn't answer my question. Are you okay?"

"Not really." I chuckled at my own words. "I'll explain later. Let's eat first. I'm hungry."

With that, I grabbed Krystal's hand softly and led her into the cafe where I greeted everyone at the table before taking my seat.

************************

Krystal's POV

I just listened attentively to Yoona-unnie who was busy explaining to us about her honeymoon trip next week. Initially, they wanted to fly off a day after the shop opening but since Eunjin was still occupied with the shipping accident case, they decided to postpone it for a week. I overheard Eunjin earlier when she kept apologising to Soo-unnie for causing the postponement. The two of them had left to their office for some work matters along with Sunny-unnie, right after we were done with eating.

"Soojung?"

I heard my name being called out by Sica-unnie as I realised that everyone who was at the table, were staring at me. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't concentrate on the talk. What was the question again?" I asked as everyone gave me a confused look.

"We didn't ask you any question though. Your unnie called out to you a few times but you didn't respond." Fany-unnie replied as I apologised. "Are you okay? You looked as if you were lost in deep thoughts."

"She must be worried about Eunjin. After the wedding, two major events had taken place unexpectedly. The shipping accident and her Halmeoni being hospitalised." Yuri-unnie let out a heavy sigh, being concerned about her best friend.

"People at work has also started to speculate that the company would not be able to withstand this 'hit'. We had barely just managed to make some profit for the past few months but I think it's going to be hard to maintain it  any longer. Those in my departments had been talking about looking for other jobs also." Taeyeon-unnie also shared about what was happening at the shipping company.

"Eunjin-unnie must have felt really bad about the whole situation because she couldn't get that involved in the shop's opening preparation and also because of the postponement of our honeymoon. The initial plan was for Eunjin-unnie to look after the place after the opening while me and Soo were not around but after what happened, she couldn't do so. Luckily Sunny-unnie managed to find part-timers to stand by at the workshop for at least a week after the opening. Hopefully, everything could be settled by the time we are flying off." Yoona-unnie gave her opinion.

I could only remain speechless as the unnies continued talking about the whole situation. Hearing about it, made me feel a little bad for Soo-unnie and Yoona-unnie. They had already delayed their honeymoon because of the shop's opening and now they had to potspone it further.

'If I'm feeling so bad at the moment, Eunjin must have felt worse.' I thought to myself as I let out a little sigh.

I felt a hand rubbing my arm as I turned to look at Sica-unnie who  was giving me a warm smile.

"Don't think too much and don't look so worried. You're Eunjin's source of strength. You need to be strong for her too. By the way, how's Halmeoni? Is she getting better?" Sica-unnie asked as she pushed a few strands of my hair to the side.

"She had woken up but still weak from what Eunjin had told me. I had wanted to visit them but Eunjin had been busy. I wanted to go on my own but Haraeoji told me to come when Eunjin is free. Seems like Harabeoji wants to spend some alone time with Halmeoni." I explained as Unnie nodded her head. "But she did receive a call earlier from Harabeoji. I hope that everything is okay. I didn't manage to talk further with her since she went off with Soo-unnie and Sunny-unnie."

"Oh yeah, talking about Sunny. I heard she submitted her resignation at Hanjin." Taeyeon's remarks caused everyone to be surprised since no one knew about it.

"Mwo? Are you sure, Tae?" Yuri asked to confirm as Taeyeon shrugged her shoulders before saying that she only heard it from someone else. "Is that why she followed Eunjin to the office?"

After Yuri mentioned it, everyone's attention turned towards the door of the office that was shut closed.

"You should have told us earlier, Taetae. At least we could ask her about it when we were eating earlier." Tiffany slapped Taeyeon's arm softly. "But why is Sunny resigning at this point of time? Won't that just add on to the problems for Eunjin?"

Before anyone could give a reply, the office door opened and the 3 girls who were inside, walked out. They could sense that something was wrong since everyone's attention was on them.

"Wae? Why are all of you looking at us like that?" Soo-unnie asked before she realised that most of the eyes were on Sunny.

Sunny's POV

After Sooyoung asked them that question and no one seemed to answer it, I realised that they were all actually looking at me. I frowned a little, trying to think of the reason why and Yuri helped me out.

"You're resigning?"

I finally understood as I nodded my head, much to their surprises. Everyone started to shot questions at me, making the whole place a little loud before Eunjin told everyone to stop.

"So you know about it?" Taeyeon asked Eunjin who nodded her head before explaining that she had just received the letter yesterday. "Yesterday? And you didn't even inform any of us until now?"

"I needed to talk to Sunny about it first. To hear her out and to understand her reason for doing so. Furthemore, I was busy with the meeting with K-line today. Which is why I didn't inform anyone about it. Anyway, just because she had submitted her resignation, doesn't mean that I would approve it." Eunjin explained herself.

"So you rejected her resignation?" Jessica asked before everyone gave a surprised reaction when Eunjin said that she approved it. "But why?"

"My father requested for me to take over his business." I decided to explain my decision as everyone's attention returned to me. "I know that it's not really a good time for me to tender, especially when the company is facing a crisis but my father has not been feeling well lately and he had even stopped going to work for the past few days. The business had been closed while he was not well."

"Omo, we didn't know that Uncle Lee was sick. Has he been to the doctor? How's his condition at the moment?" Yoona asked with concern.

"He's okay. Just some old age sickness. He has to start taking care of his health at the moment. He's been working too hard all his life." I answered as the girls nodded their heads in agreement. "I'm thankful but apologetic at the same time to Eunjin. Thankful that she's understanding and apologetic because I know she would have preferred whatever support she could get at work at the moment."

"It's okay, Sunny. Family should always be number one. Your father needs you right now. Furthermore, Uncle Lee is at the age where he should already be enjoying his life and not worked so hard." Eunjin smiled sincerely as I showed her a thumbs up.

No One's POV

The girls continued to chat while Sooyoung and Eunjin walked around the two storey building to ensure that everything was in order. Krystal stayed close to her sister but her eyes never left Eunjin. It was obvious that she was a little worried about her fiancee but she didn't want to add on the burden by asking her questions. Victoria was also there too since she would be in charge of the kitchen at the new cafe. She treated the girls with new dishes and they gave positive feedbacks about it.

It was almost 10pm when everyone decided that they should head home. 

"I'll see you guys tomorrow for the opening ceremony." Sooyoung waved at Taeyeon and Tiffany who had decided to leave first. "Eunjin, you should head home too. You've been up since morning for the meeting and should get some rest. "

"Okay. I'll make a move first." Eunjin replied as Yuri and Jessica also stood up to leave the place. 

Sooyoung would be closing up the shop and had promised them that she would leave in 10mins time.

While walking to the car, Yuri placed her arm on Eunjin's shoulder making the girl looked at her. Jessica and Krystal had their arms locked and were walking ahead of them, so Yuri wanted to take the opportunity to check on Eunjin.

"How are you holding up?" Yuri asked in a soft tone as Eunjin just gave a weak smile.

"Better than I expected. I just hope that everything can be settled within this week. I don't want Soo and Yoona to continue delaying their honeymoon or made them feel bad about leaving the cafe in my care. They've been very understanding about my situation but I'm feeling bad the whole time. Sunny helped a lot too with the part-timers." Eunjin let out a sigh before chuckling. "I didn't manage to hang out much with you guys earlier but did Krystal say or tell anything to you all?"

 "Anni. She was mostly in deep thoughts and stealing glances at you. Wae? Was she supposed to tell us anything?" Yuri frowned a little but Eunjin shook her head.

"It's not that. I can sense that she's worried about me and the current situation. I was just wondering if she had let out her thoughts on that to any of you."

"She did mentioned that she was worried about you. With the shipping case and your Halmeoni." Yuri informed Eunjin who nodded her head. "But I think she will wait until you talked to her about it. So don't keep your feelings to yourself. It's always good to share your thoughts and feelings to someone."

"I know. I was planning to talk to her later tonight. Thanks for the heads up." Eunjin gave Yuri a high-five as they were almost reached their cars.

"What were the two of you whispering about?" Jessica looked at both Eunjin and Yuri with skeptical eyes as the two girls just shook their heads. "I don't believe both of you but I'm too tired to argue. Let's go home, Seobang."

With that, they bid each other goodbyes before driving off.

************************

I walked out of the bathroom while drying my hair and noticed that Krystal was already seating on the bed with her back against the headrest. She had her attention on her phone so I walked across the room to hang my towel at the rack. When I turned back to look at her, Krystal was already staring at me.

"Wae?" I asked with a smile before making my way to climb on to the bed.

She shook her head and waited for me to snuggle up to her. I was about to rest my head on her shoulder when Krystal spread out her legs and told me to sit in between it while facing forward.

"I want to give you a shoulder massage. They seemed a little tense to me at the moment." She said even before I could ask.

I followed her instruction and soon, I felt her fingers kneading my shoulders. It felt refreshing and relaxing as I started to close my eyes. Krystal even massaged the back of my neck and all the way down to my spine. Frankly speaking, the massage was so good that it made me feel sleepy at the moment.

"This feels so good. Ahhhh..." I accidentally moaned when she started to massage my back as I quickly covered my mouth. "Sorry. I didn't mean to let out that kind of sound."

I heard Krystal giggled behind me before her fingers stopped kneading. Her arms quickly wrapped around me as she leaned her head against my back.

"Your shoulders were really tense. I know a lot of things had been happening suddenly and you must be feeling burdened for everything. I just want you to know that I'm always willing to listen to all your problems and stories, even thought I might not be of any help."

"I know, sweetheart. I know." I replied as I rubbed my hands on her arms that was around my waist. "You've been the greatest help to me so far. Especially this massage."

I tilted my body sideways so that I could look at Krystal and gave her a quick peck on her lips. She smiled at me for a moment before a frown appeared on her face. She reminded me about the phone conversation that I had with Harabeoji and also my promise to tell her about what was spoken between us.

"Harabeoji asked about the meeting this morning. I thought that he was totally not aware of it but then he mentioned that he knew of the hidden agenda from K-Line. Initially, I was angry because I thought that he was going to push me into the arrangement marriage since he mentioned that it was beneficial for the company. But...." I purposedly paused my words while I reposition myself so that I was currently sitting beside Krystal.

"But?" Krystal repeated her words as her eyes never left me.

"Harabeoji said something that I ddin't expected at all." I said before elaborating my words by repeating what Harabeoji had said earlier.

"Never forsake your happiness because at the end of the day, it's just a company?" Krystal summed up everything for me as I nodded my head in agreement. "Wow, that's totally unexpected. Especially coming from him."

"That's what I thought too. Then I realised something. Harabeoji was feeling regretful for not spending a lot of time with Halmeoni throughout their marriage life. He was always so busy with work, with the company to the extent of neglecting Halmeoni. Ever since Halmeoni was hospitalised, he never left her side. I guessed that was a big impact on him."

"The fact that Halmeoni might leave him behind forever?" Krystal's question seemed to stun me too as I became speechless. "I'm sorry. You will be affected by that fact too. But how's Halmeoni? Is she getting better? We should go and visit her tomorrow. All these talks kind of scares me a little."

Krystal snuggled closer to me, putting her head on my chest and wrapping her arms around my waist as I remained quiet. For the next 5 mins, both of us stayed in silence. 

"Eunjin..."

"Hhhhmmmmm..."

"What are you thinking at the moment?" Krystal looked up at me with concerned eyes.

"Lots of things. But at least, my mind is not as messed up as it was a few days back. There's nothing I could do with regards to Halmeoni's condition. The doctors and nurses are there to monitor her. Sooyoung will still be helping out for the week at the shop so... that shouldn't be much of a problem. What's left now is the company. But since there's no way that K-line will be helping us any further, we need to sort out other choices that we might have. Worse comes to worse, I might have to sell off the company."

"Sell off? It's that bad?" Krystal was shocked with my decision as I nodded my head. "I didn't realise that it could be that bad."

"I'm trying to find ways so that the workers there would be affected minimally by all these. I'll be discussing all the measures to be taken with Uncle Park and the Board of Directors tomorrow." I let out a sigh when I thought of the meeting when Krystal leaned in to kiss me.

"I'll be supporting every decision you're going to make. Hwaiting."

************************

"Yeobo, you should go home and rest. It's not good if you continue to rest at the couch like that. You're going to have bodyaches." Halmeoni looked at Harabeoji who was currently sitting at the couch, preparing to sleep on it.

Harabeoji was spending another night at the hospital, using the couch that was just beside Halmeoni's bed to rest for the night. He had not return home since Halmeoni was hospitalised and had asked his bodyguards to bring a change of clothes for him everyday.

"It's okay. The couch is quite big and comfortable anyway. Why are not sleeping yet? It's almost midnight. Do you need anything?" Harabeoji looked at Halmeoni who shook her head. "If you need anything, just called out to me."

"Eunjin must be sad that we are not able to attend the opening ceremony of her workshop tomorrow." Halmeoni let out her thoughts.

"She understood our situation. She was the one who suggested for us to not come because she wanted you to rest properly." Harabeoji replied as Halmeoni just nodded her head.

"Yeobo, you don't have to worry so much about me. There's doctors and nurses here to look after me."

"But I want to look after you too." Harabeoji said it in such a soft tone that Halmeoni felt a little guilty. "I've not been taking proper care of you since I've always been busy with work. It hurts me so much to see how you are in this weak condition."

Silence filled the room as Harabeoji stood up and made his way to sit at the side of the bed. He took Halmeoni's right hand and started to rub it slowly. 

"Wae? Why are you suddenly behaving like this? You're scaring me." Halmeoni placed her left hand over Harabeoji's hand.

"I'm more scared than you. I'm scared that you're going to leave me. "

"But Yeobo.... That's how life is. When there's a beginning, there's sure to be an ending." Halmeoni tried to give a smile to her husband who kept shaking his head. "You'll be fine."

"I've never imagined my life without you. I've been regretting those times that I had spent at the office instead of being by your side. If only I could turn back the time. There's so many things I wish I could make it right."

"It's okay, Yeobo. I understand and I never blamed you for anything. Always remember that I'll always support and love you with all my heart."

"And I love you too. Even though I didn't say it often but I really, really appreciate your presence in my life."