It was a cloudy but surprisingly not too gloomy day, Dang Youngbae who had reached the capital, wasn't thinking of anything in particular as he made his way down the crowded streets of the City. He was wearing an expensive black suit with a white shirt. His black glasses on him he reached Lee Corp. Inc.’s building in the center of Seoul. He knew what he had to do. He wouldn’t need to fight or to kill today as he had a definite plan. He would use the trick. One day ago, he called the company pretending he was a rich investor. He said he wanted to meet with Mr. Lee to discuss the possibility and benefits for both their companies for this merger. Youngbae knew it would work because men are always greedy for benefits. So, he had this appointment this morning with Mister Lee, Chaerin’s half-brother. After their father’s death, he became the new CEO. Youngbae investigated on him and wanted to bribe information from him. He was rich, young, easy to corrupt.

He strode in to the lobby and took the express elevator to the top floor where Mr. Lee was waiting in his office. A busty secretary eyed him as he approached her desk. There was nobody else, no businessman or bodyguards. It was empty and the silence made the atmosphere uncomfortable. Youngbae didn’t like it, there was something wrong. This place was empty as if nobody was working here.

There before the secretary could ask Youngbae said,

"Kwon Taeyang, I'm here for a 11:30am appointment with Mr. Lee". “I’m sorry bro!” he suddenly thought as he had taken his bestfriend’s name for this mission.

The secretary smacked her lips and buzzed Mr. Lee. "Your 11:30 appointment is here Mr. Lee". Once she hung up the phone she looked up at Youngbae and said "He is waiting!". Youngbae walked through the door of the office to see an Eighteen year old man in a black suit similar to Youngbae’s, behind his desk.

This young dude feigned a smile and suddenly spoke "Ms. Kwon, please have a seat" Youngbae walked over to the large brown leather chair on the other side of his massive cedar desk as his eyes scanned the room he noticed that everything was huge even the office itself with its high ceilings. It had a classic American theme.

“First, please accept my deepest condolences for your father. I’d met him before and he was a good person.” Youngbae exclaimed lowing his head toward the young man.

“Thank you mister Kwon. My father was indeed a better businessman than me… I’m not used to this! But you’ll have to deal with me mister Kwon, be indulgent with me please!” Mister Lee explained. “So, what’s the matter?” He simply asked. Youngbae was surprised by his childish behavior. He thought this young man would be arrogant and stubborn. But indeed he was still a child, lost in the cruel world of businessmen. He couldn’t run a company alone.

“I’ll be honest with you… I won’t speak about your company… Neither mine” Youngbae started slowly surprising the young man.

 "Mr. Kwon, I-I don’t understand… You know my time is very valuable and I would like to wrap up our little meeting as soon as possible." The dude said patting his head. He seemed to be tired and exceeded.

“It will be very quick, mister Lee. I lied to you… I’m not a businessman, neither an investor. I’m not from Seoul and actually I knew your father, and your sister Lee Chaerin. Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you neither kidnap you!” Youngbae adding as he saw the man panicking.

“Who are you then?”

“I can’t tell you but trust me, I’m your sister’s friend. She’s safe with me. I know she didn’t kill your father, and you know it too, doesn’t it?”

“I ask you who are you? I don’t want to speak about my family mister, please leave my office right now or I call the police!” the young man shouted standing up.

“I won’t move. I know things. I know that Chaerin is pursued by a bounty hunter. And I know that this bounty hunter is one of your men. Your sister saw him this day in this building. Tall man, silver hair, black eyes. Do you know him?” Youngbae asked still in his chair.

“He’s not working for me! I-I don’t know him okay!”

“So, he’s maybe working for your mother. She wanted your father’s company for herself. She paid this man. And now you’re her pawn. You can’t run a company but your mother can.” Youngbae explained slowly and confidently.

“Shut up! Let my mother out of this! My mother loved my father, she couldn’t kill him for his money. S-she is a pawn too…  She never hated Chaerin, my mom took care of her. But we had been forced by them…” The man whispered sitting again in his chair.

“Them?”

“Neh. Them. These people are more powerful than us. They want our prestige, our fortune. They want to destroy the company and the best way was to kill my father, and to control the company through me. Chaerin wouldn’t allow this so she was an obstacle. They control the company now and they want its bankruptcy!” the man said shattered

“But why are you helping them? It’s your company!”

“I said we are just their puppets! These men are powerful, they threatened us! They killed my father but they could also kill my mother. This man with silver hair is working for them. He’s pursuing Chaerin but he’s also watching us!” Mister Lee whispered as if people could hear them.

“Who are these people?” Youngbae frowned.

“I-I can’t tell you, you can’t help us anyway…”

“Lee Seungri, answer me! You love your sister, doesn’t it? So help her! She’s a fugitive now, her life is a mess. She would help you if you were at her place!” Youngbae said firmly. The young man sighed desperately and seemed to hesitate.

“I’ll help my sister… But I can’t speak here… This office is like a jail! They are watching us… You’re in danger here mister Kwon… By the way, it’s not your name, isn’t it? Let’s meet… in two days, at the Starbuck two streets away, at the same time…” he whispered then. “We have to stay discreet, they’ll investigate on you soon, because usually I have no visitors. As you must see, this building is totally empty!”

“Thank you Seungri-shi!” Youngbae bowed at the young boss.

When Chaerin woke up this day, she was alone in the caravan. She was a bit worried at first, looking for Dara who had spent the night with her in the caravan. But she found nothing more than a note from the girl. In fact, Dara left the caravan at 7am when Jiyong came back. The girl needed to go to work with her parents. However, Chaerin knew something was wrong. It was 12am when she woke up and there were no sign of Jiyong. Usually he would prepare her breakfast, clean her wound and prepare the lunch. Chaerin was used to this as she was living with him for a month now. She was used to his temper, to Dara’s visits too. The two girls even became good friends. But Chaerin didn’t see Jiyong this morning. He was used to sleep in his car when he had to work late. He was maybe sleeping there. So Chaerin decided to look for him. Honestly, she was a little worried. Nothing happened during this month but who knew what could happen!

She dressed up taking one of Jiyong’s shirt and blue jeans. This day was rainy and cold but Chaerin didn’t mind as she went through the Landfill reaching Jiyong’s car. As she thought, he was there sleeping in the back of the car. She knocked at the window to wake him up but the man didn’t move. So, she opened the door revealing the messy interior of the car. It was dusty and there were empty bottles on the floor. Jiyong was a mess too…

“Yah, wake up sleepyhead! You didn’t clean my wound today, I’ll tell Youngbae…”Chaerin started to say but Jiyong suddenly spoke.

“I don’t care! I don’t care about you and your dear Youngbae!” The anger came through Jiyong's voice.

Chaerin didn’t reply as Jiyong’s tone scared her. It was the first time she had heard this tone. He was usually playful with her even if he was saying awful things sometimes. But there, he was serious.

“Y-yah what’s wrong with you?” Chaerin stammered.

“Aish my head… I drank too much last night…” he groaned slightly as he squinted his eyes shut tight, the light of a new day just adding to the pain.

“You alcoholic!” Chaerin shot back. She quickly left speechless, leaving Jiyong to his own private thoughts.

Don't apologize. Apologies don't heal wounds; physical or emotional.

The boy stared at the little silhouette leaving him in silence for so long that his eyes watered with lack of use. He cursed himself, he didn’t need to pass his nerves on her. It wasn’t her fault if he was a up. Furious, he dashed away tears that hadn't fallen, merely threatened to expose him. Yet he was alone in his car. He had never known such immense despair and was now at a complete loss as to what to do next. Yeah what to do? However, this night he wanted to start over, to apologize for all the craps he did to his family, to his friends.

He went to his mother’s apartment in the center of Busan before going to work this night. He thought a lot about this lately. About redemption. He hadn’t seen his mother since his father’s death. He wasn’t there for her at this time. He was too ashamed to see her again.

"What are you doing here?" His mother said when she opened the door. Her face was emotionless waiting for his answer.

"I apologize," Jiyong said. "I just, I... There's so much to do." He stepped toward her, wanting to hug her but she raised a hand. "Don't you dare come near me."

He looked taken aback, but nodded. He knew it wouldn’t be that easy. He hadn’t seen her for Five years. He didn’t even see her for his father’s funerals. "Mom, I wish I... I wish I'd realized."

"You ain't going to leave? I don’t want to see you!" his mother harshly shouted. She was alone tonight, like all the other night after his father’s death. Some times Youngbae would pay her a visit but she was living alone. Jiyong could hear the television inside, he could remember his childhood in this apartment but now he couldn’t even enter it. He became a stranger. His mother turned back and was going to close the door when Jiyong desperately shouted desperately,

"I'm not a fool! How could I have seen he was dying?"

His mother froze and didn't answer at first, her head lowered beyond the angle of her shoulders. "You didn't notice everything, Jiyong. He wasn’t mad at you because your father loved you until his last breath. He forgave you, but me… I can’t! You dishonored us with your gang! I knew you were undisciplined but you were a nice and smart boy too, I thought you could become someone better… But when did you ever do anything right Jiyong?"

“I’m someone better now mom, believe me…” he assured but her mother shook her head.

“You’re egoistic, that’s all! You even screwed up Youngbae’s life! He had a bright future, a wonderful girlfriend, Sandara… He even told me that he wanted to marry her one day… But it never happened because of you! You’re lucky that Youngbae loved you like a brother, you’re lucky he protected you… You don’t deserve it!” his mother shouted.

“I know… I’m sorry…” he said, dropping his voice to a whisper. There was so much he could've apologized for. He bowed his head to her, it was his last chance, but she only replied,

“Don't apologize. Apologies don't heal wounds; physical or emotional.”

It was her last sentence as she closed the door behind her, leaving her son on the doorstep. Sighing, he leaned forward and pressed his forehead to the wood of the door. With no one to see him then he finally let the tears fall with the finality of it all. He cried for his father again and for his mother as he remembered what he had done to them. His hand rose to his face and his long delicate fingers spilled more tears from his eyes and then wiped them from his cheeks.

He had lost his mother this night, he could never catch up with her.

It was raining in the landfill as Jiyong was still in his car, wondering what to do, and Chaerin was confined in the caravan. Jiyong had to speak to her. He wasn’t good with apologizes and he sadly knew it, but he didn’t have the choice. He had to protect Chaerin no matter what and this time he couldn’t mess up. As he was going to open his door again, he heard three knocks at the window and surprisingly realized that Chaerin was outside holding two mugs of coffee.

Jiyong raised his head slowly as he reluctantly opened the door. The rain was pelting down onto her clothes and dripping off her face and her hair as she was trying to protect the mugs from the rain. But she didn’t seem to care.

“What are you doing?” he groaned again, his headache becoming more intense as he rubbed his hands over his face. His throat was sore and there was a coppery taste on his tongue.

“My dad told me one day that coffee was a good medicine against hangover…” she simply explained.

“Y-you don’t need to…” Jiyong rejected her offer awkwardly. Nobody had done this for him before.

A moment passed between them, but then she sighed and handed him a cup again. As Jiyong didn’t want her to catch a cold, he finally accepted it and let her sit in his car next to him, on the back seat. Silence engulfed the two for several moments as they nursed their cups of coffee. Chaerin was watching the rain falling steadily onto the window, each drop racing each other to reach the bottom of the glass pane. Jiyong tried desperately to think of something to say.

“I'm sorry, I’m a bastard…" It hurt to speak, but he felt the need to explain.

"For what?" Chaerin downed the rest of her mug and looked at him.

“I wasn’t myself earlier… I didn’t have the right to yell at you. I had a bad night…” he whispered ashamed of himself.

“It’s alright. We don’t need to be close anyway… You have your problems, I’ve mines.”

“I promised Taeyang that I’d protect you… So it won’t happen again, I swear you… It’s behind me now.” Jiyong declared seriously. Chaerin was right, his hangover wasn’t hurting him so much after some sips of coffee.

“Aigoo how could you protect me? You’re as thin as Dara unni!” she teased me punching my arm.

“I could surprise you…” He chuckled for the time this day.

Jiyong understood that the situation was serious and dangerous. He couldn’t think about his past anymore as his only role now was to protect Chaerin from the bounty hunter and from himself too. Why was he like this with people? He was unsociable and sometimes mean. But it was only to protect himself. He didn’t want to be close with people. Affection. It opened your chest and it opened up your heart and it meant that someone could get inside you and mess you up. You built up all these defenses, you built up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you. But Jiyong didn’t realize that it was hurting the others too. His mother was right, he was egoistical. He closed his eyes in resignation feeling like it was time for him to let his troubles go.