HAPPY HOLIDAYS! 

WARNING: LOTS of ERRORS ahead

Still that Monday evening…

Damn it! The palpitations still hadn’t stopped. Even after a good fifteen-minute distance away, the sickening twist proven by the worsening of said palpitations wouldn’t calm themselves to a more acceptable rate. What in the name of the devil was going on? The car halted in the middle of the street, causing several other cars behind it to blow their horns real loud. Thanks to this driver’s indecision to move, they were now stuck in traffic where there really shouldn’t be any.

The fuming driver in front of the queue quickly formulated a decision and made an illegal U-turn on a supposedly one-way street. The driver was driving too fast for any of the other drivers to have the chance of reporting the traffic violation committed or even to just have a glimpse of the plate number. Maybe the driver received an emergency call; maybe he/she was upset by it and rushed out of there. None of them could have guessed that it was no further from the truth. But then, none of them could have guessed the said “received call” actually came from pure instinct. Guts telling the driver that something was not going according to plan.

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

The room was silent, save from Elvie’s audible gasp. Gingerly, she reached across her husband’s lap for the brown envelope to retrieve the paper. Her hand was shaking so bad. Alvin as another boy’s father? Did that mean during the course of their marriage, he had betrayed her? Or was this boy born before they were wed? Either way, she had to see; she wanted to see; needed to know what exactly she had to deal with – Alvin’s betrayal of their wedding vows or his bastard son?

What she saw couldn’t be compared. Her name in bold print on the box labeled as mother’s name. It was as if her own identity was taunting her right on the face. Her name on a certain boy’s birth certificate as his mother. Her name…

Her name!

“What kind of bluff is this?” she whispered, removing her other hand from her husband’s clasp.

Il Woo. Jung Il Woo. Il Woo…

No, she didn’t know this boy; hadn’t heard of the name until almost a week ago when her son was first accused of planning an accident. Speaking of her son…

As far as she knew, the only child she ever had was So Min – and she was a daughter. Now, the concept of sons was unexpectedly being presented to her. She looked up at Wang Hee – not one – then looked back down on the paper – but two sons. “This is absurd!” How could any of this make sense?

Alvin cleared his throat to prevent his wife’s upcoming outburst. He wasn’t up for answering anything to her, especially if he hadn’t the answer at ready. He focused on the younger lads in front of them. Jung Min’s eyes were in coordination with his mouth on forming perfect O’s. He was stunned to the bones, which was expected since Alvin, and now, Elvie, had the same reaction. Wang Hee, on the other hand…

“You knew,” he said quietly, very quietly, in fact, that he was surprised when Wang Hee looked at him. “You knew, didn’t you? You don’t seem to be shocked. You knew!”

Alvin prided himself for not freaking out like his wife tended to do upon reading the document in question. Yeah, but freaking out upon revealing its contents and observing the lack of surprise on Wang Hee’s face was a different story entirely. Surely, his own outburst was understandable? If Wang Hee knew it, had known it from the start…

“I didn’t know,” Wang Hee said as if reading Alvin’s mind and stopping it from going to where it was headed. “I didn’t know Jung Il Woo is your son,” he clarified, with eyes not removing their fixed stare on Alvin’s, “I knew that I’m not.”

This earned another hasp of horror from beside Alvin. “What do you mean you’re not?”

Wang Hee waved a hand towards the certificate on Elvie’s hand instead of responding. “Stuff like that need to have both parents’ signatures to be filed, don’t they?”

The middle-aged couple stared at the paper. “Victor…” Elvie said.

“Yes,” Alvin replied without letting her finish.

Victor was the only close friend who was able to forge both their signatures perfectly – and he’d boasted it to them often. By then, they were already in their twenties and had been issued most of their government documents and IDs – it was too late to change the way they sign thus, making them rely on their trust to Victor not to use his practiced “talent” to any compromising situation. And back then, trust him they did. Completely.

But now with all this revelation, it was difficult to cope with that lost trust. It was probably good that Victor couldn’t face them personally anymore, or this couple would have thrown a fit.

Alvin’s head snapped up, giving Wang Hee an investigative stare. “How did you…?”

“Apparently,” Wang Hee cut off, knowing exactly what Alvin wanted to know. “—there’s a difference—” he continued as a certain piece of paper bore holes in his pocket. It was time to have a supporting document of his own. He stared back at the older man and finished, “—between sterility and having low -cell count.”

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

Hyun Joong pressed his ear on the bathroom door, but no noise followed aside from rustling of papers. Were they reading another document with lots of secrets? Hyun Joong wanted to stay to find out. He knew he was being nosy, but, damn it, this involves a great deal of emotional baggage to So Min. He couldn’t imagine her taking all this in lightly, particularly when he, himself, was already having a hard time absorbing it.

Il Woo? His very best friend Il Woo was actually the brother – the real blood brother of the woman he loved so dearly? Talk about small world.

Oh hell. That explained a lot – Il Woo’s instant liking to So Min the moment Mr. Hwang introduced her to them; his constant worry for So Min’s well-being; So Min’s instinct to run to Il Woo when she felt devastated during