Taemin slowly made her way back to her place after bidding Kibum goodbye. She wanted to spend a few hours at Kibum's place to do some revision for their upcoming test but Kibum fell asleep after  half an hour of revision, claiming that the never ending rows of words are hypnotizing her. 

"Why did he initiated such a search for the owner of the blanket?"

Mi Sun's words were ringing in Taemin's minds as the night wind sent some chills to her. Why did Mr. Minho wanted to search for her? Not to mention he seems rather anxious and determined to do so. Taemin started blushing a little as she thought of the different possibilities why would Minho want to meet her again. Ahh, Taemin pabo yah, stop thinking so much... But her blanket, she really wanted her blanket back.

Taemin's home was actually a cheap apartment with only two rooms located in the low cost housing area in Seoul. That's the best that she could afford. But then it doesn't matter that much, because as soon as Taemin's father got himself into a fight or when the loan sharks are after him, they would have to run for their lives and settle down at somewhere else.

"Appa, I'm back..."

Taemin shouted as she unlocked the front door and entered the tiny apartment. The room was dark, none of the lights were switched on and Taemin reached out her hands to turn on the lights. To her horror, the moment the lights were on, she saw her father lying on the ground. His arms and legs were spreaded, Soju bottles can be found almost everywhere and the entire room was in utter mess. 

"Appa?!" Taemin kneeled down on the floor, hoping to help her drunken father but Lee Sang Woo mumbled a few words and pushed Taemin away forcefully, making Taemin fall backwards. "Ahh! Appa!"

Lee Sang Woo stood up and pointed his fingers toward Taemin, "You are such a good for nothing!! Shouldn't have even brought you into this earth! You're just like your mother, useless!" He went near Taemin and grabbed her chin, forcing Taemin to look into his eyes. "I feel disgusted even just by looking at you, you look just like your mother!" He finished his sentence and pushed Taemin further away.

Taemin squeaked in pain as she landed on the floor. She had to try her best to hold back her tears. Taemin had lost count of how many times had she heard such awful words coming out from her father's mouth, but still it hurt her a lot, really a lot. Taemin used to envy her high school classmates so much when their parents turned up for annual school events and showed love and concern to their children. She never had such things from her father, her father didn't even look at her when she managed to finish high school as the top five excellent students in her year and showed him her report card. She never understood why her father would hate her so much. She intended to have a serious talk with her father when he is sober enough but he never was. 

"I should have thrown you into the sea the moment you were born..!" Lee Sang Woo grumbled as he grabbed the pile of books next to him and threw them towards Taemin. Taemin was shocked at first but she she quickly tried to avoid it. "Appa! Please...!"

Lee Sang Woo started picking up whatever that is next to him and flung them all towards Taemin. Taemin was crying out as she tried to dodge the stuffs the came flying towards her but she freezed when she saw her father picking up a glass jug and flung it towards her direction.

"AHH!!" Taemin screamed. She covered her face with her hands but wasn't quick enough to dodge the glass jug. Both her hands were cut by pieces of the glass jug. "Appa...." Taemin was hoping that her father would put a stop to all these but Lee Sang Woo wasn't moved at all even after seeing her daughter's bleeding hands. "Ahhh really, I'm so sick of looking at you!" He grabbed Taemin around her neck, completely ignoring her cries, shoved her out of their apartment door and locked Taemin out.

Taemin started knocking the door with her albows since her hands were already bleeding. "Appa! Appa!!" No matter how many times she pleaded, her father wouldn't respond. To make things worse, there were sounds of thunder and lighting, followed by a heavy down pour. Taemin had no where to shelter herself from the rain, she thought of going over to Kibum's but the rain was so heavy. She could only squat down near the stairs in front of her apartment door, wrap herself up in a bundle, hoping that the storm would soon fade away.

Omma, its so cold here. If you can hear me, please make the rain go away, please.

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

"Yah hyung, you've been staring at it for almost a whole week..."

Jonghyun jerked from his office desk, "Oh gosh, you scared the socks out of me yah Minho!" Jonghyun patted his chest as Minho grinned. Minho wanted to drop by at Jonghyun's room to discuss about the upcoming bidding for a major project but Jonghyun was staring so intensely at a pair of blue navy shoes that he didn't even notice Minho entering his room.

"So this belongs to the mysterious girl that you've been waiting for in the club this whole week?" Jonghyun looked away, wondering how on earth Minho knew ".........." Minho chuckled. He wanted to know who is this girl that managed to capture this Casanova cousin's heart. Jonghyun sighed as he leaned against his the back of his chair. It has been almost a week already. Not only did he waited at XOXO Bar, he even went to the other bars around Gangnam area, but still no sight of the girl. His rationale was mocking him for being so emotionally attached to the girl, but he couldn't care less, he was worried for the girl.

Minho's cell phone rang, "Neh, yes. Yes, send me the full details as soon as you can be hundred percent certain about it." 

Jonghyun was curious, Minho tensed up the moment he answered the phone call. "Yah, what happened?" Minho shoke his head, "Ani hyung.."

"Don't tell me you're still after Im Na Jun's family?" Jonghyun accidentally found out that Minho had been hiring private investigators to track the families of the woman that separated his parents. Jonghyun knew that it must have hurt a lot, seeing your family being riped apart by a stranger. But revenge isn't quite a nice thing either.

Minho remained silent, yes indeed Jonghyun was correct. The private investigators had recently reported to Minho that they found evidence that Im Na Jun's husband and daughter might be alive, living somewhere in Korea. This piece of news triggered all the emotions and hatred that MInho had buried all these years. He found himself yearning for revenge more and more everytime the investigators brought back more news. Maybe revenge was the only medicine to heal his broken heart, maybe it was necessary after all.

"Minho ahh, really." Jonghyun held Minho's right shoulder. "You know, this is really dangerous..." Minho knew that Jonghyun was going to go over and over again about the whole issue of letting go and moving on. Jonghyun was right, but without something to soothen his heart, Minho really don't know how he can ever find the courage to let go and move on. "Ah hyung..enough about me. You know, I've seen this shoe before..." Minho wanted to have a good tease of his cousin. 

Jonghyun was about to keep his precious blue navy shoes into his personal locker, this might be the only thing that he will ever have that belongs to the girl, it was important to him, it was something to remind him of her. "Mwo?!?!?! Where?! Where? Tell me!" Jonghyun immediately stood up from his chair and held unto Minho's arms. Minho laughed, "Yah hyung, are you pabo or what? That's the shoes we provide to all our floor employees to wear.." 

Jonghyun was completely taken aback. "MWO?!" he took a closer glance at the blue navy shoes, indeed Shinhwa Hotel's logo can be found inside the shoes. He really is a pabo, how can he failed to notice this! Minho started to laugh seeing how dumfounded Jonghyun look right now. "Yah Choi Min Ho, don't think i'm not aware of your search for a blanket owner yah...." Jonghyun teased Minho before he put on his outer black coat and left his office room in a rush.

Minho chuckled again. The owner of the brown blanket... No one came forth to give him the answer he wanted yet. Could it be that she resigned already? Or, he is being too anxious and his actions were too much that it scared her from stepping forward to claim her blanket? Minho sighed, Ahh Choi Min Ho, you really are quite impatient aren't you? Minho was considering whether he should follow Jonghyun's plan and start lingering around the kitchen basement area more often to meet her again.

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

to be continued..