“You’re the first person who broke my heart. For the rest of my life, you will always be the one, who hurt me the most. Don’t forget that…”

“Keiko, want to take a walk with me? We can buy groceries on our way home,” I suggested with a smile. Keiko who was just come out from the kitchen looked at me with twinkling eyes.

“Hontoni?” she exclaimed. “I better go and change my clothes first.”

After she left to her room, I heard a low knock on the door. I limped to the door and held it open. I gasped and my heart just stopped beating for a second.

An unwanted guest, standing on the threshold.

“Seungri, it’s you.”

“Dare?” Keiko’s voice echoed from her room and she stuck out her head from behind the door.

“Ah, konichiwa. Kang Daesung desu,”the man greeted her and smiled faintly. “I’m really sorry to show up like this. But I’ve just been looking for Seungri everywhere.”

“Nakatsu-kun, what is he talking about?” she asked as she walked out from her room.

I swallowed. “I don’t know,” I said and shifted my gaze back to the man. “The man you’re looking for is not here.” I closed the door hastily and met her wary gaze with a smile.

I cancelled the plan with Keiko, saying that I had some errands to do and hobbled to the street. As soon as I opened the door, Daesung’s face floated in front of my eyes.

“I had a feeling you’d linger,” I grunted as I limped away.

“I’m not going to leave.” He followed my wobbled steps and blocked my way. “I know things were bad in Seoul. But if you don’t come home, you’ll lose your company, your family. You’ll lose everything you ever cared about.”

“I already lost the only thing I ever cared about,” I retorted immediately. “They can have everything else.”

“I don’t know what you told that girl but you can’t turn your back on who you really are.”

I snickered. “I don’t even know who I really am.”

“Just because you’re dressed poorly, doesn’t mean you’re not Lee Seungri.”

“Why would I want to be him?” I asked sternly.

He shook his head slowly and he sighed.

“When I woke up, my ID was gone. Nobody knew who I was. Nobody was coming to look for me. I realized I might be alive, but Lee Seungri didn’t have to be.”

“Changing your name doesn’t change who you really are.”

“It’s a good start,” I stated. “A chance to live simply, earn people’s respect and maybe, become a person someone could love.”

“Someone did love you. I love you. We all are.” He narrowed his gaze at me. “And I don’t think the great man you’re talking about wanting to be, is a coward. I think he would face up his problems rather than running away.”

“Their world would be much easier if I didn’t come back.”

“But it wouldn’t be her world without you in it.”

My body’s twitched and I stared back at him.

“You’ve been part of her world even before she was born. You’re her father and Ha Yi…”

Daesung’s voiced stopped abruptly as his cell phone rang. He picked up the call and distanced himself. After a few nods, he came closer and handed me the phone. “Someone wants to talk to you.”

I took it hesitantly. “Yoboseyo?”

“You’re son of a b*tch, where have you been?” Jiyong’s loud voice mauled my eardrum and I jerked away from the phone.

“You know where I am, hyung. And that’s why you’ve sent your lover to convince me to come home.” I glanced to Daesung and he just smiled sheepishly.

He sighed. “Everyone was worry about you, man. Just come home.”

“My absence doesn’t do any harm to anyone, hyung. Maybe I just…stay here.”

“You need to come home,” he urged and I could sense urgency in his voice. “Think about your parent, your sister, your friends and the most importantly, your daughter. Everyone needs you. She needs you.”

“I-I don’t understand. Why would she…why did she need me for?” I asked impatiently and I lifted my gaze towards Daesung. He ignored my glare and asked me to keep listened to Jiyong’s voice.

I heard him breathed and then he whispered. “She’s sick, man. A few months ago, she was admitted to the hospital and she needed a surgery. A bone marrow transplant. She has…leukaemia and she needs her father. She’s better now, she’s gone home. But I don’t know…for how long will…she…”

My jaw dropped. My heart was throbbing violently.

Without a second to spare, I tossed the phone back to Daesung and darted to the house. My eyes were roaming around the house to find Keiko and I saw her in the kitchen.

“Keiko, I-I have to go somewhere,” I stammered.

“Where?”

“Ano…I need to go home.”

“You are home,” she said instantly.

I let out a sigh. “I know. But someone needs me there. And I need to….”

“I knew it was too good to be true,” she sighed.

I took her hand and held it close between my palms. “But I promise to come back for you. I’ll continue to protect you. Just wait for me. I won’t be long.”

I kissed her forehead gently and walked to the door. She stopped my steps as she hugged me tightly from the back. “Don’t go,” she murmured. “Watashi wa..anataga…suki.”

I startled. My lips parted slightly.

I wasn’t expected to receive a confession out of the blue…and from her, someone who I’ve considered as a sister. I turned to her and I held both of her arms.

“Keiko,” I began. “I’m not someone who can love you. But as a human, I did love you. And I already promised to take care of you for the rest of my life. But…I can’t be the man for