"What do you mean by this?"

Taeyeon appeared in front of her brother, shoving her phone at his face which clearly showed the message that he had sent to her a few hours ago.

"Can't you at least sit down or behave like a civilised person when you are in front of me? Do I trigger your anger button every time you see me?" Heechul talked in a calm manner as he gestured her sister to take a seat.

Taeyeon didn't reply to his question and just sat down with her arms folded across her chest. The waiter came to hand her the menu but she told him that she's not ordering anything. Heechul could only shake his head at her actions.

"Which part of the message don't you understand? The part where Harabeoji knew about the secret or the part where I said that both you and Irene are in danger?" Heechul asked before he took a sip of his drink.

"Everything. What secret are you talking about and what danger do you mean?" Taeyeon glared at her brother as she tried to control her anger.

"I know you knew about the secret. About me not being your real brother. I saw you walking away from the tiny gap of the door when Appa told me about it. You had eavesdropped into our conversation." Heechul looked at Taeyeon who had maintained her poker face. "I'm just wondering, if you hated me that much, why didn't you just expose the truth about me?"

"I don't hate you because of that. I hate you for giving in too much to Harabeoji. You listen to everything that he told you to do and so on." Taeyeon straightened up her back and let out a sigh. "So what if I knew the truth? To me, you will always be my Oppa."

A smile appeared on Heechul's face before he leaned back into his chair. Silence filled the table as both siblings kept quiet. A few hours ago, Heechul had dropped a message to Taeyeon, telling her that he needed to see her urgently. He mentioned that Harabeoji might have found out about the secret and that she and Irene might be in danger. He suggested for them to meet up at a secluded restaurant, away from the office to prevent any possibilites of further leaks.

"If me and Irene were in danger, won't that mean that you'll be in a bigger danger?" Taeyeon was the one who broke the silence as Heechul continued to have a smile on his face.

"You don't have to worry about me. I can always walk away anytime I want." 

"Do you think Harabeoji would allow you to walk away freely, just like that? He didn't even spare his own son's life." Taeyeon commented with anger as Heechul shook his head.

"Let me tell you something, Taeyeon. It's true that our parents were killed. But it's not done by Harabeoji. Someone else is after our family's blood."

"Who is it then? Is it the person who had been sending those threats to Appa before the crash?" Taeyeon's question caused Heechul to frown a little. "I overheard Appa telling Omma about it. I told you about it too, remember? When I ask you to re-open the case."

"How many conversations have you eavesdropped so far in your life?" Heechul asked with a surprised tone. 

"How sure are you that it's not Harabeoji?" Taeyeon continued asking without answering the question as Heechul explained that Harabeoji was the one who told him to look into the matter privately.

"Harabeoji didn't want to create unnecessary attention by re-opening the case and he didn't want to trigger the murderer by making him think that we were aware that it was not an accident. That is why, I've been flying out to Bangkok frequently. From what I've gathered so far, Appa and Omma were not actually on a business trip on the day the crash happened. They went there to meet someone close to the family."

"Someone close? Who?"

"Our grand-uncle. You've heard about him before, right?" Heechul had a deep frown on his face as his eyes wandered around the restaurant while Taeyeon looked totally surprised. "I found out a lot of things when I went to Bangkok. By the way, Harabeoji already knew who I was before he told me to investigate about our parent's death."

"Harabeoji knew? And he still allowed you to stay in the company, in the family? This doesn't make sense. It's not something that I had expected. How did he know?" Taeyeon became more baffled with whatever that she was being told at the moment.

"It seemed that Appa was the one who told him the truth. Harabeoji said he found out about it a few days after the accident. Two months before that, Appa had a long talk with me."

(Flashbacks)

"It seems that the secret has been leaked and I'm actually trying to find out how did that happened. Things might start to get worse soon but I had already taken measures to counter this problem, so I need you to listen carefully to whatever that I'm about to say to you. All these plans, some of them are already been put in place and I need you to follow them strictly to ensure your safety and both your sister's safety, as well as the well-being of our company's future."

Heechul waited for his Appa to take a sip of his drink before the man continued talking.

"You remembered we told you about your grand-uncle and grand-aunt before, right? Harabeoji's siblings. I had actually met with your grand-aunt when we were still in LA, during the time when your real Omma was running away from your Harabeoji. During that 5yrs we were there, I found out something about the family secret from your grand-aunt. Your grand-uncle was actually a step-son. The Great Elderly Kim actually married a divorcee whom at that time had a one year old son but everyone assumed that the kid was his because he kept saying that the boy was his son. A year later, Grand-Aunt was born and two years later, your Harabeoji."

"But why did he disappeared after his mandatory military services? Did it had to do with Harabeoji taking over the business?" Heechul asked.

"It seems that the Elderly Kim had set a tradition rule whereby the next heir to the company is to take over the position by the time they turned 30yrs old. Which means your grand-uncle never stood a chance to be the Director of the company. Furthermore, your grand-uncle was actually a notorious man. He made use of the Elderly Kim status to boss people around and always get himself into trouble. Your great grandfather had warned him that he would be removed from the family will if he continues to misbehave. But he didn't changed and even threatened to expose some of the company's secret. So Elderly Kim made a deal with him. He will support him financially as long as he leaves the country. So he left after his mandatory military services and went to Thailand. It seems that the company used to have a lot of dark secrets in the past which was against the law."

"So what has that got to do with us?" Heechul was slowly trying to understand the situation.

"24 years ago, after Elderly Kim passed away, Harabeoji broke off the financial assistance when he found out that his brother was dealing with firearms and doing some other dangerous dealings around the world. He was using the money given by the old man to trade in underhand activities across countries. So, Harabeoji cut off all ties which supposedly caused some trouble for your grand-uncle and his business dealings. He was eventually caught and sentenced to jail for 15years. He blamed Harabeoji for his downfall and had sworn that he would take revenge on Harabeoji and the entire family."

"That means he's already out." Heechul's tone of voice was full of fear when he asked that question.

"That's right and he had been contacting me for the past few months." 

(End of flashbacks)

"So is he the one who has been sending those threats to Appa? But why did Appa decide to meet him when he knows that it was a dangerous thing to do?" Taeyeon tried to understand the whole situation.

"Because the threats were not just about exposing the truth about me but there were also threats on you and Irene." 

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

Taeyeon didn't returned to her mansion that night. Instead, she went to her penthouse after spending almost 4hrs talking to her brother. Yoona was the one who drove her to the penthouse and she instructed the younger girl to go home and rest for the night. Yoona seemed to understand that her boss wanted some time alone but she made Taeyeon promised that she would be allowed to come back in the morning to fetch her.

At the moment, Taeyeon's mind was in a turmoil.

"This family is more messed up than I thought it was." Taeyeon grumbled to herself as she opened a can of beer and stood in front of the tall glass window, overlooking the Han River. "But come to think of it, why would Appa want Harabeoji to know the truth about Heechul Oppa when he has been hiding the secret all these years? And that thing that Sooyoung mentioned to me earlier?"

(Flashbacks a few hours before Taeyeon went to meet her brother)

"Hey Tae, are you busy right now?"

Taeyeon looked up from her computer screen and saw Sooyoung's head popping out from behind her office door.

"I am."

"Good. I need to talk to you about something." Sooyoung replied as she walked in while Taeyeon rolled her eyes at her tall friend. "I received an email from your Appa's lawyer."

Taeyeon who was about to nag at her friend, stopped her desire to do so when she heard what Sooyoung had said.

"Appa's lawyer? As in personal lawyer?"

Sooyoung nodded her head as she briefly explained about Mr Im Kiyoung, who was Taeyeon's father appointed personal lawyer and also his executor of will. Taeyeon listened with interest as she was not aware that such person existed.

"From what Mr Im explained to me, the will that was read out after your parent's death is not actually the final will. He mentioned that he was instructed by your Appa to hold on to the final will until the right time comes for him to execute it." Sooyoung smiled when she noticed the surprised look on Taeyeon's face. "You're shocked right? I was shocked too and guess what. He said that only two person knew about the final will content. Himself and your Grand-Aunt."

"My Grand-Aunt? I don't even know much about her. I've only heard bits and pieces of her existence." Taeyeon groaned as she suddenly felt like she was having a bad headache. During this time, she received the message from her Oppa who had requested to meet up with her. "Oh crap. Why is everything falling down on me today?"

"What's wrong?" Sooyoung asked with concern as Taeyeon just showed her the message on her phone. "Secret? Which secret is he talking about and why is there danger?"

"Do I look like I know, Choi Sooyoung?" Taeyeon let out a sigh before leaning into her chair. "I need to meet him to find out. But I'm curious. Why Grand-Aunt? Did Mr Im say anything else about that?"

"Lucky for you. I knew that you would be curious about that too so I asked Mr Im. But he said that he can't say much except that an arranged marriage is involved."

(End of flashbacks)

"Arranged marriage? Seriously? At this era?" Taeyeon continued to grumble as she remembered what Sooyoung had informed her earlier. "Why did Appa had to come out with this arrangement? And I haven't even met my grand-aunt side before. ed. This is all ed up."

With those words, Taeyeon dozed off to sleep after drinking just two cans of beer.

Meanwhile, somewhere else in Seoul, two girls were busy chatting and laughing with each other as they hung out at the living room of a guesthouse.

"I can't believe you actually asked Inspector Kwon to replace me for the musical. If I had known that you're planning to ask her out, I would have postpone the dinner so that I can attend the musical."

"Yah, Jung Jessica. You were the one who backed out on me saying that you couldn't go because you had to attend an important dinner and now you said, you rather go to the musical because Inspector Kwon will be there. I'm suppose to be your best friend, not Inspector Kwon. Furthermore, she won't be attending it if you had not ditch me in the first place." Tiffany threw a small pillow at Jessica who was laughing her heads off.

"What if you pretend that you couldn't make it on the day itself and let me take over your place?" Jessica suggested cheekily before she started giggling at her own idea.

"Seriously, are you really into her? Why don't you just ask her out?" Tiffany asked with confusion on her face.

"I don't think she likes me. Furthermore, she had seen me hanging out with Sooyoung and Taeyeon before so I don't think she would ever consider going out with me." Jessica replied with a sad sigh.

"What's with Inspector Kwon and both of them, anyway? Is there some bad blood between them? One is a cop and the other is a loanshark. I could imagine a lot of scenarios to link both of them together. Taeyeon must have broken the law but managed to get away with it because Sooyoung helped her out and Yuri is not happy with it. Something like that?" Tiffany tried to come out with a theory as Jessica started laughing at her friend.

"You really have a wild imagination, don't you think so? But I think, that is more suitable for a drama. From what I know, it's actually much simpler than that. And I think it's more of Kwon Yuri's problem than Taeyeon or Sooyoung." Jessica replied as Tiffany looked at her with interest. "Should I tell you about it?"

Tiffany nodded her head vigorously as Jessica started to grin.

"Before I do that, you need to answer my question first. Do you have a thing for Taeyeon?" 

The grin on Jessica's face widened as she noticed the expression on Tiffany's face who looked a little taken aback and couldn't give her an answer straight away.

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

"That's all for the meeting today. Any further questions?"

Taeyeon looked around the conference room as a hand slowly raised up. Her secretary, who had done the closing speech earlier, looked at her as Taeyeon nodded her head to give permission.

"Yes, Mr Ki. You have a question?"

"We heard that the big boss is already back in Seoul. So, why didn't he attend the meeting today? Is it because he's being questioned by the police due to the recent murder case? I heard that the person who was killed was in a very big debt."

Silence filled the whole room as everyone seemed to be waiting for Taeyeon to answer the question. Taeyeon took a deep breathe and clasped her fingers together.

"With regards to the murder case, rest assured that we do not have anything to do with it. It's never our practice to harass any of our clients. We are running a legal business, not loansharks. The Director is currently busy with some other matters which is why he's not present at this meeting. Does any of you have the need to meet him at the moment?" Taeyeon kept a calm look as no one answered her question. "I guess that's all for today. Thank you for attending the meeting."

Taeyeon waited for everyone to leave the room except for her secretary and Sooyoung. The moment it was only the 3 of them, Taeyeon threw a crumpled paper at Sooyoung to grab her attention.

"Wae?" Sooyoung asked  before she continued to look at her laptop, busy typing away.

"Ms Kim, is there anything that you want to add to the minutes of the meeting before I sent out the mass email to everyone?" The secretary handed over a clipboard for Taeyeon to look through before it was handed over back to her.

"No. Everything is fine." Taeyeon replied before she nodded her head when her secretary asked for her permission to leave the room. The moment the door closed behind her, Taeyeon threw another crumpled paper at Sooyoung.

"Yah, what do you want?" 

"I'm bored to death because of the meeting. And you're ignoring me." Taeyeon replied before she took a pen and started to spin it. "By the way, you received my message yesterday, right? What's the update?"

"I've already emailed your Appa's lawyer to request for the final will like you had instructed. If I manage to get hold of it, I will run through it and explained to you in further details but that is provided, Mr Im allows you to view it. Remember that he has the final say to who is able to see the content of the will." Sooyoung said before she continued to stare at her laptop.

"So if I can't get it from him, what am I suppose to do? Fly to LA to meet my grand-aunt's family?" Taeyeon asked as Sooyoung just shrugged her shoulders before mouthing the word 'maybe'. "Arranged marriage huh? I don't think the other party will agree to it anyway. Who will want to be part of an arranged marriage at this era?"

Sooyoung didn't answer her at all and Taeyeon was about to throw another crumpled paper when Sooyoung turned her laptop so that it'll faced towards Taeyeon.

"Mwo?" Taeyeon asked as her eyes shifted from the laptop to Sooyoung. "What's this?"

"It's a scanned copy of your father's final will. Mr Im had agreed to let you see it." Sooyoung explained before she clicked on something and another image appeared. "This previous will was the one that was read out to all of us after the funeral. Spot the difference."

Taeyeon stared at both images with a pout before looking at Sooyoung, cluelessly. "The dates?"

"No, stupid. Look at the last clause." Sooyoung pointed out to some words at the bottom of the page before reading it out. "My lawyer, Mr Im Kiyoung, will be in possession of my final Will which he will have full ownership of. The final Will shall be enforced accordingly, based on the instructions that I had given to Mr Im and once this final will is in placed, all other previous wills will be deemed as void"

"Does Harabeoji know about the last clause, since it was not read out to us on that day?" Taeyeon asked.

"I'm checking with Mr Im on this. Because as far as I remembered, the copy of the Will that was read out to us previously was given to Harabeoji for keepsake. So I would presume that your grandfather would have known about that clause." Sooyoung explained as she continued to be engross in her work. "Another thing that I need to inform you. Your grand-aunt has three grandchildren. Two girls and one boy. But her grandson is already married along with the eldest granddaughter which is ten years older than you. So the only available one is the youngest granddaughter, which I anticipate is going to be your arranged partner. Unless you are suppose to be the second wife of the grandson."

"Second wife? Of course not. Anyway, what makes you think that I'm going to be married to one of her grandchildren? It could be someone else that Grand-Aunt knew of. By the way, how did you even manage to find out so much information in one night when I only told you about it before I was knocked out?" Taeyeon's expression looked agonized when she remembered the bad headache she had, the next morning after drinking just two cans of beer. 

"How much did you drink last night?" Sooyoung asked before rolling her eyes when she heard Taeyeon's reply. "Two cans? You're pathetic. Anyway, it's a good thing that your grand-aunt is quite a successful businesswoman so people there knew her. But then, she's also a private person which is why my friends in LA, could only dig up the basic info about her family."

"Are you sure that the only one who is not married is the youngest granddaughter?" Taeyeon asked for reconfirmation as Sooyoung nodded her head. "But isn't it illegal? Same- marriage."

"Here, unfortunately yes. But LA, no." Sooyoung replied with a cheeky grin. "Your Appa really had everything planned out well since he knows that you're into girls."

"That doesn't mean the other girl will be the same too, right? What if she's not into girls? Does that mean this arranged marriage would not take place? We can't force her to marry me, right? By the way, do you have more details about her?" Taeyeon kept shooting Sooyoung with questions.

"Yah!! Stop with the questioning. I still need to look through the final will by your Appa to understand the whole thing. By the way, Mr Im requested for me and you to keep the contents of the will within ourselves as he didn't want any trouble if others were to find out about it. So just keep it low and wait for my further instructions. I've also said that I only have the basic info about them so don't bother asking me anything about the girl. I don't know." Sooyoung pointed a finger at Taeyeon while looking at her with a stern expression. 

"Fine. I will just shut up and pretend that I know nothing about all of these." Taeyeon rebutted with a pout before she leaned back into her chair. "But I'm going to complain to Soojin-unnie that you were bullying me at work.

Taeyeon meronged at Sooyoung before she took out her phone to give Yoona a call. She asked the girl to get the car ready in 15mins time.

"Where are you going? Lunch?" Sooyoung asked with an interested expression.

"Yes. Without you." Taeyeon friend before she broke out into a round of laughter. "I'm going to fetch Irene from school before heading to the hospital to check on Yeri. Irene said that it's been a while since she visited Yeri and she's also worried after Yeri's last relapse. If you're done with work, drop by the hospital. Maybe we can have dinner together."

"Arraseo. I'll keep you updated once I've gone through the will with Mr Im. Send my regards to Yeri. I will surely try my best to drop by later to have dinner together." Sooyoung said with a cheeky grin as Taeyeon stood up and nodded her head before leaving the conference room.

Yoona was already waiting for her at the carpark as she opened the car door for Taeyeon. "Unnie, will Irene new bodyguard follow us along too?"

"Of course. Seulgi is Irene's personal bodyguard so she needs to follow Irene wherever she goes. Just like you and me."