“What did you do?!” She screamed angrily, her whole body shaking in anger.

This had to be the angriest I had ever seen my mother.

“I’m not going to take back anything. I picked up all the paperwork today and it’s all finalized” I responded coldly staring back at her.

“Undo it! Undo it now!” She screamed, fixing her burning eyes on me.

“I know what you did with the money dad left me. How can you ask me to take it all back when you used my money to ruin my life?” I said as I refused to look away from her.

“You’re dad was a fool for leaving everything to you. You’re nothing but a child and you expected me to hand everything over to you? Look at you! For a man you’ve lost our company a great asset!”

“…Just stop it. I only came because you wouldn’t stop calling and leaving angry messages. I really want you to leave me alone from now on alright?” I said, digging into my bag and pulling out a small bank slip, “I took a sizeable amount of money to live on my own and get me started, but I’m leaving the rest of that precious money to you alright? From now on, just pretend you never gave birth to me”

“Hyerim don’t be so dramatic” She snapped.

“Why is that even being dramatic? You have your money. There’s no one here mom, you don’t have to pretend that you really care about me” I stated

“I care about this business, but you’re my daughter. Can you imagine how my image is going to suffer when people find out my daughter just left?” She said completely serious as if I was dumb for not understanding.

I sighed and glanced at the clock. It was already late. I stood up and smiled sadly. Part of me pitied her, but it was a small part that wouldn’t change my mind and make me forgive her.

“Everything is always about you, can’t you see that? But it’s not my problem anymore. Please don’t bother me again” I said politely.

“Hyerim, I don’t want to have to do this, but if you walk out right now then don’t expect to ever return. I’m no joking. You’ll run out of money eventually and I will not hand out a single penny” She said strictly.

“I would really rather starve then come back here. I promise I’ll never come back” I said firmly as I left her before she could say another word.

I groaned as I tried to blink away the pounding headache I had as I drove away and headed to Kai’s parent’s house. I wanted to feel sadder about cutting off everything with my mom, but instead I felt relieved. Just the thought that I would never have to deal with her again made me smile. I was just ready to start living life without her imposing rules.

As I pulled over I closed my eyes again and tried to build my courage up to face them. I was so ashamed of what my mother had done that my only hope was that his mom would at least give me a few minutes to say something and explain. Walking up the small path to the front door I realized that even though the last time I had been here had been long ago, it felt familiar as I walked up to it. With a quick shake of my head I knocked firmly on the door and waited quietly.

There was no answer, but I tried again. Finally I heard noises behind the door and Kai’s mom stood there awkwardly.

“What are you doing here?” She asked avoiding my gaze and staring at the door uncomfortably.

“I just wanted to apologize for everything” I said honestly, “I never meant for this to happen, but I made a mistake and I…” I trailed off quietly, the words I wanted to say jumbling up in my mind and stopping in my throat.

“It’s fine, but you should go before my husband comes back. You can probably understand why he doesn’t want to see you” She said softly, for the first time staring at me, a flicker of pity in her eyes.

“I cut off everything from my mom and I got everything back for you guys” I said quickly.

Her eyes widened in surprise and an unsure smile came onto her face.

“It was all your mother wasn’t it? I thought so, but no one in this house would listen to me! Are you alright? Was it hard for you?” She asked worriedly and I smiled as I realized the full scope of her kindness.

“I want to see Kai. I’m begging you, please tell me where he’s staying” I whispered.

“I can’t. He made me swear I wouldn’t. Don’t worry as soon as I tell him about this I’m sure he’ll rush over to you and you two can make up” She said optimistically and I shook my head gently.

“He wants a divorce. He’s completely misunderstood everything. He already handed me divorce papers. I need to talk to him. Even if he finds out I returned everything… I just need to talk to him in person please” I said.

“…Alright. I know he loves you Hyerim. If he didn’t he wouldn’t be throwing such a fit because of you. I hope you can fix things” She said with a small smile as she ran inside and handed me a note with a hotel name and room number, “Good luck, my son is nothing if not prideful so I guess try to be understanding”

“Thank you. I’ll try”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kai’s eyes didn’t even betray surprise when I knocked on his door. He stepped back and I walked in without a word. I figured his mom must have called ahead of time.

“Did you sign them?”

“Here, this is all the paperwork returning all of the shares my mother took control of back to your family. The debt she paid off to begin with is gone so you guys don’t have to worry about that anymore” I said softly as I handed him the papers.

He stared at me a second longer and took the papers from me. I watched nervously as his eyes scanned them and he placed them besides him on the counter. He turned back to me with expectant eyes and I looked down as I pulled out the unsigned divorce papers. Well, unsigned on my part anyways.

“I was hoping we could talk first” I said and when he didn’t reply I added, “I’ll sign them after we talk”

“Fine. Do you want anything?” He asked as he led me into the small table in the hotel room.

“No thanks. I just want to talk”

“Alright. What do you want to say?” He asked as he took a seat and faced me directly.

“Uh… I guess, I just want you to know how sorry I am you had to find out about all this from my mother. I should have told when things started changing between us, but you’ve got to believe me that I honestly didn’t help her do this, my feelings for you weren’t a lie. I did marry you for Daehyun and what she promised me, but things changed so fast I guess part of me just forgot…” I explained.

“How did you manage to get our company back for us?” He asked quietly, not acknowledging my words.

“There were some mistakes my mom made during the business transactions. I cut things off completely with her you know. She’s ruined a lot of good things for me”

“Hyerim… I just… I can’t trust you” Kai said bitterly looking down at his hands.

“Daehyun is just a friend. I don’t know what you think you saw, but he helped me get the papers I needed to pull this off. I’ve made it clear to him I love you and he understands! We’re just friends now” I insisted.

“Why can’t you just cut off all ties with him too?” He asked seriously, a frown on his face, “Cut him out of your life”

“I-I… can’t. He’s been with me since the beginning. He’s my best friend and I won’t just give up the only real friendship I have. I won’t meet him without you until you trust me completely again. I can do that, I can compromise” I said.

“I don’t want a compromise” He said, his jaw set stubbornly.

“I’m trying to prove how much I love you, but it’s getting hard when you’re not even willing to try to see things from my point of view”

“I guess I’m not mature enough to understand that you might need him if you have me” He said and I could hear the sting of pain and a hint of realization in his voice.

“I need you because I love you. Would I throw away my entire inheritance and my mother if I didn’t love you?” I asked.

“My dad wants me to go and focus on running our business” He said, a slight frown on his face.

“… He wants us to get divorced” I stated, confirming his words as he nodded and finally looked up into my eyes.

“I owe him a lot, because of me we almost lost everything. He says he’s sorry for pushing me into an arranged marriage too young. He assures me we won’t be happy because we’re too young to do this” He said sadly.

“What about you? What do you want?” I asked quietly, afraid of the answer he might give me.

“I don’t know. It’s too much, all this crap we’ve had to deal with. I’m starting to wonder if he’s right about us”

“I’ll sign them” I said.

He looked away guiltily and I shut my feelings down. I was going to be strong today. I stood up and went over to the counter. I heard his footsteps echo behind me. I grabbed the pen and my hand trembled as I put the pen to the paper. I let out a quiet breath and signed it. The fresh black ink glistened on the crisp white background and I stared at it for a few seconds before I placed the pen down and turned to Kai.

He looked sad and I tried to smile. I wanted to run away, but I remembered something. I looked down and took our wedding ring off. I extended my hand out him and he looked surprised, though I have no idea why. He didn’t expect me to keep it right? Kai grabbed my hand instead and I stiffened.

Why was he purposefully trying to break me? I looked into his eyes a bit resentfully; didn’t he know how hard it was to keep it together?!

“I know you love me. I believe you about everything” He said in a hoarse voice, “I love you too but… I’m sorry”

“Your dad might be right. Maybe this was never as real as we thought it was. We’ll probably get over it in a month” I said adding a forced laugh that even to me sounded more like a sob than anything else.

He frowned and stepped up. I stood still as he gently leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. I didn’t know what to do so I simply closed my eyes and tried to engrave this moment in my memory. He still held my hand even after he pulled away. His eyes looked more unsure and conflicted than before.

“Take the ring. I want to leave please” I whispered, keeping my eyes on his.

He nodded and while grabbing the ring he pulled his hand away. My hand suddenly felt incomplete. I looked away and nodded to myself before I went for the door. I didn’t say goodbye, I didn’t trust myself to stay strong if I tried to speak again. I stepped out and shut the door tightly behind me. I dragged my feet to the elevator, but he never came chasing after me.

Part of me expected him to.

I went home quietly. My face set in stone as I walked into the home I knew I would never share with him again. I wondered if I was broken as I stood a bit lost and unsure. My insides felt like they were dying, my chest hurt, but I couldn’t cry. Instead I stared impassively at the white walls and the pretty furniture. Loneliness is a cruel thing.

I went to my room and began to pull clothes out. I purposely ignored the portrait as I pulled out suitcases and filled them. I managed to get a couple hours to pass by until my room was completely empty of all my things. I placed the suitcases by my door and turned off the lights. I stood in the darkness for a few minutes before I just sat down besides the suitcases, brought my knees up to my chest, and rested my chin on my knees.

With my eyes closed I replayed the last few moments with him. The way his soft lips felt on mine, how happy we had been, and I wondered if this overwhelmingly sad feeling would go away soon.

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Another long update :) I'm actually determined to finish this fic by chapter 50 at the most so updates are probably gonna be this long (or longer) from now on ^^

Thanks for reading and commenting ^__^ (and sorry for the sad chapter ._.)