Chapter 1

It was a warm fall afternoon. The trees were turning their respective fall shades. The shades of richness, the summer having past. Seo Joohyun placed steady pressure to the gas pedal of her white Pontiac. The engine kicked in and the vehicle shot out into the late afternoon traffic. Building winds gusted through her window, tossing the blonde waves that fell below her shoulders, matching the emotional turmoil that whipped through her heart.

Ahead, a traffic signal changed to yellow. Distracted, Seohyun nearly missed it, and was forced to hit the brakes with more force than she liked. That too added to her anger, increasing a sense of complete powerlessness in her life. The flash of white and blue on the black seat beside her caught her glance. The book. Grasping it up, she flung it out of the window in an uncharacteristic display to release her temper. It landed on the asphalt with a dull thud. The bow was still on it. Anger melded to hurt, and tears rose, stinging her eyes. She wiped them angrily away, and instead of waiting for the light to change to green, pulled into the right hand lane and made a turn down a side road.

*Flashback*

She Was practically dancing into the reception area of the engineering outer offices. Krystal had grinned wickedly in her direction.

"Still on your honeymoon, I see." Krystal, CNSD receptionist, had giggled as she picked up the receiver to page Jung Yonghwa. Seo Joohyun had worked at the industries before she andYonghwagot married 6 months earlier. She'd begun doing outside programming from her home office before she andYonghwa got married. After their marriage, she’d made it a full-time endeavor.

"Hyunnie, honey, you're positively glowing."Krystal continued, placing the phone back in its cradle. Krystal's voice dropped conspiratorially, "What's going on here? Is there something I should know about?"

Seohyun smiled sweetly at her, "Why Krystal, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm no different than any other day."

"Sure."Krystal nodded, as if not believing her. The phone rang andKrystal turned to answer it just as Jung Yonghwa rounded the corner.

Jung Yonghwa was a smart, well-built man. He wore his dark brown hair combed neatly away from his brow. Warm brown eyes that always seemed to have a smile focused on Seohyun, but they weren't smiling.

Seohyun's own smiled faltered when her eyes fell to that girl, Juniel. Simply put, in Seohyun’s mind, Juniel was gorgeous without even trying. Seohyun felt dowdy in the face of the woman’s exotic beauty. It hadn’t helped her self-esteem that the woman seemed uninterested in a friendship with her, but hang unto Yonghwa’s every word.

"Um…do you have a minute honey?"Seohyun spoke softly to her husband. She smiled politely to acknowledge Juniel’s presence. Juniel returned the smile distantly.

"Only a minute."Yonghwa said brusquely, not appearing to notice the by-play between SeohyunandJuniel, "I don’t have much time."

Seohyun frowned at Yonghwa’s obvious impatience. What had she done wrong?

"Can we talk in private, please?" She said, eyeing the busy foyer. People were always coming and going through the automatic glass doors.

"Alright, come on down to my office." He gestured down the hall. Seohyun followed Yonghwa, andJuniel fell in step behind Seohyun. Seohyun thought she could feel the woman’s eyes boring into her back.

"I'll be ready in just a minute Juniel-ah."Yonghwa paused at his door.

Opening the door he allowed Seohyun to enter before himself. His desk was full of papers; his computer screen saver had kicked in; memos were piled in his in-basket, all the evidenc