SeungHyun’s POV

Breaking the news to my parents was not easy at all.  Even with SeungRi’s help, it still didn’t go well as I hoped.  Reactions from my parents were totally different and both caught me by surprise which made me not knowing how to handle.

“Mom, calm down.  Will you?” SeungRi grabbed mother by both arms and tried to pull her down to the sofa.  But she was so angry that she tried to charge forward to me as if she wanted to slap me on the face.

“I cannot believe you.  How could you do this?  How could you go to see that boy without consulting us?  You are about to get married.  What is this mess that you have brought yourself into?  Out of you two, I never thought something like this would have ever happened to you.”  Mother started to cry.  Tears fell down her cheeks as she shouted at me.  She hit me on my chest with her fists.

SeungRi tried to pull her away from me, “Mom, you can’t hit your favourite son like that.  Be nice!  Sit down, OK?”

Mother stopped and said to SeungRi, “I can hit any of my sons whenever I want to.  And from this day on, you are my favourite son!”

SeungRi blinked his eyes a few times and put his palm on Mother’s forehead, “Mom, are you having a fever?  Is your head alright?”

She pushed away his hand and said as she fell onto the sofa behind her, “At least you never needed me to clean up messes with some bimbo.”

SeungRi sat down beside Mother and wrapped his arm around her, “Hahaha…  Mom, when did you learn the word ‘bimbo’.”

I let out breath and stepped back to the sofa behind me.  Just as I wanted to sit down, Mother shouted, “Who gave you permission to sit down?”

I straightened my back and stood on my feet.  This was the second time my mother was so angry at me.  I glanced at SeungRi and saw him smirking at me.  All these years, I watched my brother being scolded by our parents as if it had nothing to do with me.  Now the situation flipped upside down.

“Have you talked to EunHi yet?  What does she think about this?” Father asked calmly.

“She of course is angry.  Upset.  Devastated.  What else?  What woman on earth would open her arms to welcome her fiance’s illegitimate child?  That poor girl.  What have her ancestors done that things like this happened to her mother 25 years ago and now to her.” Mother threw me a death glare.

I lowered my head and couldn’t help but feel ashamed of myself.

“Yes, Hill is upset.  Devastated.  But she is not angry at your son.” SeungRi said.

“How do you know?” Mother asked anxiously.

SeungRi threw me a quick glance and answered, “Mom, all that girl can think of is your son.  She put him before herself.  All she can think of is what is best for the child.”

Mother let out a heavy sigh, “Silly girl.  Don’t tell me that she is thinking of letting go so that your brother can give the boy a complete family.”

“Mom, how do you know?  Whoa, are you a psychic?” SeungRi looked at her with eyes wide-opened and jaw dropped.

She threw me another death glare as she spoke, “With what she has been through her childhood, it’s not difficult to guess.  And to be honest, she would be better off letting go.”

“MOM!  You don’t mean that!” SeungRi cried.  I looked up at Mother instantly.

She lifted her chin and stared at far away, “A pretty and rich girl like her.  Why should her get herself into this mess?  She has a whole world in front of her.  Why should her become a step-mother before she even gets married?  Because of love?  Look what love has given her now?”  Every word she said, she said it to me.  She wanted to tell me that even as my mother, she would not stand by my side this time.

Father snorted at Mother and threw her a sideways glance, “You haven’t got the chance to talk to her yet, have you?”

I nodded.  I dared not speak a word since my mother has made it very clear that she was angry at me no matter what my explanation was.

Father sighed, “How about Mrs. Kim or WooBin?  What do they think about this?”

I looked up at him and said, “I went to see them this afternoon.  They of course are not too happy about it but they agreed to help.  As long as Hilary is not giving up, they are willing to give me one last chance.”

Father nodded his head in relief, “It’s very kind and understanding of them.  I’m kind of surprise that Mrs. Kim let it go so easily this time though.”

“I guess, after all, she is just a mother who loves her daughter very much.” I said as I gave my mother a quick glimpse.

She raised her eyebrow and gave me a stare.

SeungRi wrapped his arms around mother and hugged her tight from the side, “Mom, you are also a mother who loves your eldest son very much, aren’t you?”

“Not anymore!” She grunted.

“Mommm!  Don’t say anything you don’t mean.  You know you love him no matter what.  And look at the bright side.  You have a grandchild now.  How nice!” SeungRi thought mother would be happy about that but he has thought it wrong.

“Grandchild?  Who says I have a grandchild?  I’m not calling that girl’s child my grandchild.  Not in a million years!” Mother made herself crystal clear that she didn’t want anything to do with Krystal’s child.

I closed my eyes as I inhaled slowly.  I knew it would not be easy with Mother since she didn’t like Kyrstal since day one.  And after what the kidnap, Mother hated Krystal even more and swore that she never wanted to have any tiniest connection with her for the rest of her life.

“Mom, the boy is Hyeong’s flesh and blood.  Your flesh and blood.” SeungRi said with a big smile trying so hard to boost up Mother’s negative mood.

Mother glanced at her husband and said, “I don’t care.  I don’t want anything or anyone that has to do with that girl.  Do you seriously think the girl would just handover her child to you?  What about her brothers and the gang?  I’m telling you, she came back for a reason.  She didn’t just come back and tell you you have a child.  She must want something in return and something with a huge price tag on it.  You could almost kiss your relationship with EunHi goodbye.”

Father closed his eyes as if he was thinking what Mother has just said.  No one made a sound.  A while later, Father spoke, “Go talk to this girl.  Ask her what she wants.  Then we’ll work from there.”

“Me?  You are asking me to go talk to that girl?” Mother put her hand on her chest and asked in surprise.

Father put his arm around her and said, “I don’t think there is any other who would fit for the task.  And I’m sure you won’t want your son go talk to her on this matter.”

Mother threw me another glare and let out a heavy sigh, “Alright!”  She then turned to SeungRi and demanded, “You’re coming with me.”

“Me?  Why?  What is that have to do with me?” SeungRi ran his fingers in his hair as he spoke.

Mother nibbled his chin and smirked, “Coz you are my favourite son now!”

SeungRi rubbed his hair with both hands and screamed as he jumped on his feet, “CHOI SEUNG HYUN!”

*  *  *

Hilary's POV

That night, I sat on the edge of my bed and stared out of the window for so long, with my mind thinking of only one thing. 

I called CL and told her not to come back since I wanted to be alone.  She debated with me on phone for at least 20 minutes before giving up.  But then she insisted to hire the suite closest to mine for the night just to keep a close eye on me.  DaeSung got her the suite and she sent me a picture of herself in the suite just across the hall to prove to me that she was a woman of her words.  I couldn’t help but chuckle at her texts.

I spent the whole night sitting there and tried so hard to think.  To convince myself.  To lay out the pros and cons in my head.  To go through all the possible consequences and outcomes.  And no matter what, everything came down to one simple answer.  Choi Seung Hyun.  The man I loved so much.  The man I would never want to let go again.

Should I take the risk?  Or should I say, take the challenge?  Give this a chance.  Give us a chance.  Even if it didn’t end well, I at least have tried.  Then I would not live with regrets.

But what if it really turned out the nightmare I was afraid of?  Then our love would change.  Everything would change.

Definitely a tough decision to make.

*  *  *

The knocking on the door woke me.  I stretched out my arm to grab the phone on the bedside table.  I slightly opened my eyes and found that it was already 10 o’clock in the morning.  I couldn’t remember when I fell asleep last night.  The only thing I remembered was that, after a long self-debate in my own headspace, I still couldn’t make up my mind.

I dragged my exhausted body to get the door, “Who is it?”

I was petrified when I opened the door and saw who was standing in front of me.  I took a deep breath and jerked my head to gather myself before I said, “Krystal.  What can I do for you in the early morning?”

Krystal didn’t seem to be in a good mood.  She pushed me over and stormed inside my suite.

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I closed the door behind me, “OK!”

I walked into the suite and asked, “So, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

Krystal turned around and glared me in the eyes, “You promised me no one will take away my child.”

“Yes, I did.” I said calmly as I sunk into the one-seater.

She sat down on the sofa opposite to me and said, “Did you know SeungHyun went to see my boy?”

Though I didn’t want to admit to her, but I still nodded.  Reluctantly.

“Then, did he tell you that he wants to take away my boy?  Did he tell you that he wants me to give up my custody right including visitation rights?” Tears ran down her cheeks as she spoke.

I gasped and said, “I haven’t heard about that.”

“Liar.”

“Why would I lie about something like that?”

She looked me in the eyes, “You are afraid that he would see me because of the child."  She paused for a second and swallowed before she continued, "Our child.  You want me to be out of his life.  You make him take the child away from me and take away my visitation rights to my child.”

“This is absurd.  You can’t storm in here