He could have gone forever like that. But he was being a responsible person, so he pulled away. Dara taught him that. She taught him how to be responsible. Even if being in the fantasy land was irresistible, he managed to step away from it. There were too many pressing matters at hand that he needed to discuss with her.

 

“You have to come with me,” he said. “Yumi knows everything.”

 

“Jiyong. . .” she whimpered. “I’m scared.”

 

“We’re in this together,” he told her. “And what are you scared of?”

 

A lump rose to Dara’s throat. “I’m scared of everyone and everything.”

 

“But you can’t run away from it forever.”

 

“I know!” she cried. “But I can’t help it.”

 

“Would you feel comfortable if Taecyeon comes with us?”

 

“Y-yes. I think so,” she answered.

 

Jiyong sighed. He flashed her a small smile. “Okay, let’s bring him with us then,” he told her. “Wait here for a moment. I just like to have a word with him.”

 

He was hurt, he acknowledges that. Moreover, he’s effingly jealous. As he saw Taecyeon in the living room, he dropped himself beside him in the sofa and sighed wearily. Unable to stop himself, he said, “She’s already married to me, you know.”

 

“I already know that,” Taecyeon snorted. “No need to remind me.”

 

“We love each other, too.”

 

“Are you trying to pick a fight with me?” Taecyeon demanded.

 

Jiyong glanced at him. “No,” he calmly answered. “I’m just saying,” he added with a shrug.

 

“Did you really think I didn’t know that? If she happened to NOT love you, there’s no way I’d let you in here in the first place.”

 

“I’m glad to see you know your place,” he sighed. “Anyways, I want her to know everything but she’s afraid. She wants you to be there when that happens. . .”

 

Taecyeon’s jaw clenched. “Pray that she’ll believe everything you tell her. If not, she’ll only hate you in the end.”

 

“Would you rather I lie to her?” he cynically asked. “I promised myself that I’ll be as honest as possible to her and I aim to keep that.”

 

“I’ll keep my fingers crossed then,” Taecyeon whispered.

 

Jiyong ignored it. “I’m going to bring her over our house. Prepare your car. I’ll just go get her.”

 

- - -

 

Jiyong can’t help himself from glancing every now and then at Dara. She was very quiet and she was looking outside the window. He wanted to take her hand and laced his fingers through it but he can’t since she was holding the hem of her black veil tightly.

 

“I missed you,” he said, unable to stop himself from saying the words. “Please don’t hide your face from me.”

 

She shook her head. “I’m not worthy to look at.”

 

“Dara,” he sighed. “Don’t be selfish.”

 

She shook her head again.

 

Silence enveloped them. He wanted to keep on persisting her to take her veil off but he just let her be. Maybe it’s too early for that. Maybe she hasn’t recovered yet. He knew that she got a lot of issues going on with her. It’ll take time but he’s willing to wait.

 

“Didn’t you miss me?” he asked but no response came. “That day. . . you were at the restaurant, weren’t you? Why did you run away?”

 

“I was scared,” she whispered. “I was scared of you. I doubted you. . . I saw the news about you being a possible suspect to what happened and I believed everything. Well, that’s what I thought. But after seeing you a while ago, I realized that wasn’t the case. I only made myself believe everything so I’ll have an excuse to run away from you, to hide from you. But the truth is, I was afraid you’ll. . . change because of what I look. . .”

 

His jaw clenched. A lot of words entered his mind. He can’t choose which response to say. “You said you love me. If that happened to me, would your love change?”

 

“No,” she answered. “But. . . that’s only me. We’re different. And. . . and you’ve got Kim Yuna.”

 

“It goes the same with me, Dara. My feelings won’t change just because you earned a scar. And I told you before, Yuna and I are over. Though I must admit, Taecyeon can come in handy.”

 

“He’s just a friend.”

 

“Oh, really now?” he asked. “How come you feel more comfortable with him than me?”

 

“I trust him,” she simply answered.

 

He felt like he was kicked in the gut. “And you don’t trust me?”

 

“Sometimes, it’s easier to trust other people than trust the people you love because when other people betray you, you won’t be hurt. But once a loved one betray you, it’ll be like hell.”

 

“I would never betray you.”

 

She never said a word again. Jiyong chose to shut his mouth, too. Every topic he comes up with kept on going back against him. He was already vulnerable as it is, and eventhough he doesn’t want to admit it, everything Dara said hurt him.

 

They finally arrived at their destination a while later. They immediately headed up towards Mr. Kwon’s home office. The old man and his wife were there, silently waiting for their arrival. Whatever their opinion about Dara’s scar and Taecyeon’s presence, they kept it to themselves. As they were all settled, Jiyong looked at his stepmother.

 

“Tell her everything,” he said.

 

“Kim Yuna. . . Kim Yuna and I are sisters but she didn’t want anyone to know about it,” she started. “She was contacted by Lady Eun Jo’s modeling agency that’s why she came back here. She said the agency wanted her to be their model. Yuna and Eun Jo strangely became close; they even became confidants of each other. I-.”

 

“That’s how Yuna knew about the truth in our marriage, Dara,” Jiyong interrupted but Dara didn’t say anything.

 

“I don’t know how they became close, but they did,” Yumi continued. “My sister tells me everything but when she became friends with Eun Jo, she rarely talks to me anymore. Then one day, she came to me. Maybe she wanted someone to talk to. She said Eun Jo heard her father talking to the family lawyer. It turned out that Mr. Park wanted to leave EVERYTHING to Sandara when he dies. Eun Jo was angry after hearing that she won’t be inheriting a cent. Due to her anger, it led her to plan. . . Dara’s death with the help of Yuna. They planned the explosion.”

 

“Park Eun Jo?” Taecyeon exclaimed. “I can’t believe this!”

 

Jiyong glanced at his wife. He expected her to at least react but she remained very still and unreadable.

 

“So. . .that day at the restaurant, when Jiyong took Dara with him. . .” Taecyeon trailed.

 

“Yuna followed them and she found out they were boarding the yacht. She immediately told Eun Jo about it,” Yumi said. “When I heard about the plan, I grew scared. I didn’t want anyone to die so I offered help. I told Yuna I knew someone who’ll do the job for them. Yuna accepted my offer. So, I hired someone to implement their plan but I also specifically said that nobody should be harmed, especially Dara.”

 

“So. . . the person who called me was the man you hired?” Taecyeon asked. “But why me?”

 

“I didn’t want Jiyong to know because I know how he’ll react. He won’t stay still until justice is given and I didn’t want that because I love my sister. I didn’t want her to go to jail eventhough she didn’t really kill anyone.”

 

“But why would my mother do that?” Dara finally spoke up. “I can give her my inheritance if she’ll ask me.”

 

“Dara. . .” Jiyong barely whispered. “Eun Jo is not your mother.”

 

Dara blinked blankly at him.

 

“Lady Eun Jo. . .” he trailed. “She’s your sister.”

 

“M-my sister?”

 

“Yes,” he slowly nodded.

 

“How. . .? I. . . I can’t. . . . that’s not true,” she stuttered.

 

“It’s true,” Taecyeon quietly said.

 

“You knew?!” Dara exclaimed.

 

“Yes,” Taecyeon grimly smiled. “It’s one of the reasons why I left before.”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

“Because you wouldn’t believe me.”

 

Silence.

 

“I can’t believe this. . .” Dara sobbed.

 

“It’s true, Dara,” Jiyong said.

 

“Your grandfather, who turns out to be your father, had an affair with one of the house servants of your family before. Your biological mother died giving birth to you. There was a protest in the family when your father decided to take you in. His wife, who you thought was your grandmother was hurt of course and well, it’s pretty obvious that Eun Jo got the hang out of it. To preserve the family’s name, they let it appear that your Eun Jo’s daughter. She got pregnant the same time your mother was but Eun Jo lost the baby. The family paid a big amount of money to keep the fact a secret,” Yumi narrated. “Haven’t you ever wondered why you’re surname is Park when Eun Jo’s husband is a Kang?”

 

Dara remained silent. There were too many information going inside her head that she can’t seem to absorb everything. Everyone had their eyes on her, waiting for her to say anything. “I don’t want to file anything against my family,” she finally said.

 

There was a moment of silence.

 

“Dara, Eun Jo attempted to kill you because of money. She-”

 

“Well. . . we can’t really blame here, can we?” Dara went on. “I don’t deserve to inherit everything because I’m not really part of the legal family.”

 

“Think about it, Dara,” Jiyong insisted. “She needs to pay for what she did! You could have died if Yumi didn’t feel any guilt for-”

 

“I. . . I. . . you’re right,” she then said. “I need to think about it. If. . . I . . . I . . . . if you’ll excuse me, I want to be alone for a moment.”

 

“Dara. . .”

 

“I need time. . .” she dazedly said, eyes unfocused. “I’ll just go to the garden. I need fresh air. I. . it’s. . .”

 

“It’s okay, Dara,” Mr. Kwon said. “You can go.”

 

“But Dad-”

 

“Thank you,” she desperately whispered to the guy. Without giving her husband a glance, she quickly stood up and ran away.

 

“Jiyong, stay,” Mr. Kwon commanded when Jiyong was about to follow. “She needs time.”

 

“You shouldn’t have let her go,” Jiyong growled.

 

“She’s just going to the garden, Jiyong.”

 

“Didn’t you see the look on her face?” Taecyeon demanded. “She needs time to take all of this in. It’s already hard knowing that your family lied to you much more knowing her supposed mother wanted to kill her.”

 

Jiyong sighed and dropped himself back to his seat. He looked down and caught a glimpse of his wedding ring on his finger. Just then, he remembered Dara’s ring. He glanced up. “Have you got something to do with the ring of Dara being in the wreck?”

 

Taecyeon shook his head. “She threw it to the water right after she heard the news about you on the television.”

 

Jiyong growled and grumpily slumped on his seat. Minutes later, he stood up.

 

“Where are you going?” Taecyeon asked.

 

“To my wife,” he answered. “I’m going to give the ring back to her.”

 

“She said she needs time to-”

 

“She alse needs me,” Jiyong cut off and headed towards the door. “Oh, before I forgot. Don’t follow me.”

 

As Jiyong stepped into the garden, he surveyed the area. A small frown creased his forehead. “Dara?” he called out. No response came. His heart started pounding really hard against his chest. He called out her name again but still, no response came. He started checking every corner of the garden but Dara was nowhere to be found.

 

“Oh damn!” he cursed under his breath. He went back inside the house and started searching for her.

 

“What’s going on?” Taecyeon asked.

 

“My wife’s missing!” he gritted and sprinted out when Dara was nowhere to be found inside the house either. He was out on the road in no time. He glanced left and right. “DARA!” he screamed.

 

“I think I know where she went,” a voice behind him said. He spun around and saw Taecyeon.

 

“Where?” he demanded.

 

“To her family.”

 

“But why would she go there? She-” Jiyong shouted. “Oh damn! She’s still sticking with them, isn’t she?!”

 

“She loves them,” Taecyeon quietly said. “We both know that.”

 

“And we both know what will happen once she sees her family. She’ll just get her heart and pride stepped on again!”

 

Not wanting to delay anymore, Jiyong went to his car and brought the engine to life. He then sped down the road.