Hilary's POV

The interior of the house was even more breath-taking than how it looked from the outside.  It embraced the simplicity of white and grey.  From white wooden floor, white walls, huge stonewall with a fullview décor fireplace in the living room, two large grey couches with a simple pinewood coffee table, open staircase, two taupe curtains for the floor-to-ceiling windows.  Everything was plain and basic, yet made me feel like home.

I couldn’t help but feel amazed by what I saw in front of my eyes.  I never wanted a home in complex design with lots of expensive furnitures and displays.  This was just the way I always wanted my home to be.

SeungHyun slipped his hand into mine from behind.  His hands were always warm.  He leaned closed to me and whispered in my ear, “Shall we go take a look at the master bedroom?”

I in the air as I slightly nodded.  SeungHyun led me upstairs to the master bedroom. 

Again, the bedroom design was simple.  Instead of those fancy four poster princess bed, a king-sized bed was placed against the center of the wall with a grey headboard and white bedside tables on each side of the bed.  The floor-to-ceiling glass wall with sliding doors on each end separated the bedroom with the massive walk-in closet.  There were curtains which could be opened or closed to block off the closet in case ones wanted some privacy.  In front of the glass wall was a 50 inches curved smart tv.  Inside the closet, there was a simple white desk with a huge mirror which served as a dresser inside the walk-in.  There was also a lighted up standing mirror in the corner.

SeungHyun stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around me.  He rested his chin on my shoulder and asked, “Do you like it?  I keep everything simple since I think you will like it this way.  But we can always redo everything if you find it not the way you want.  I can ask people to come in tomorrow and turn everything over.”

I nudged my head to his and said, “No, it’s perfect.  Everything is perfect.  Just the way I like it.”

SeungHyun hugged me tighter and kissed me on my temple, “I’m glad you like it.”

A tear shedded before I even noticed and fell onto SeungHyun’s forearm.  He immediately loosened his grasp and turned me around to face him.  He nibbled my chin and lifted my head up so I looked straight at him, “Honey, why are you crying?”

I drew a deep breath trying to hold back my tears as I shook my head.  Yet, the more I tried, the harder to hold back the tears.  SeungHyun wiped away my tears with his thumb and said, “Shh…  Tell me what it is.   Is it something that I have said or done?  Tell me and I’ll fix it right away.”

I really had no idea why the tears just wouldn’t stop from falling.  I suddenly felt so sad that I didn’t even know how to deal with the feeling, nor did I know what to say to him.  The house looked extremely pretty and warm.  Everything was just the way I wished for.  It would be so blessed to build my own little family with SeungHyun in here.  But it also felt so farfetched to me at the same time.

“Hilary, talk to me!” SeungHyun cupped my face with both hands and said.

I sniffled and opened my mouth, yet nothing came out.

SeungHyun let me to the bed and sat me down, while he crouched in front of me.  He held my hands with his and looked up at me, “Hilary, I cannot tell you how sorry I am that things turned out the way they are.  I know I hurt you because of my past.  But you should know that it was never my intention to hurt you.  And no matter what happened, my feelings for you will never change.  You will always be my first priority.”

Tears fell down my cheeks as I listened to him.  He reached out to my cheek and brushed off the tears, “I will always stay by your side.  And I will put every effort to make you the happiest woman on earth.  All I ask from you is to give me one more chance.  Trust me and never let me go.  Coz I cannot imagine a life without you.”

I pursed my lips and gave him a pout.  He chuckled, “Is your little pout a sign for me to kiss you?”

I drew my brows at him and gave him a quick glare.  He smiled as he lifted my hand up to his lips and kissed the back of my hand, “The fact that I have a son won’t change the way I feel for you.  I will not love you any less because of that.  Instead, I will only love you more since it is you who gave me strength and courage to be a responsible father.”

“Me?” I muttered.

He nodded, “Yes, you.  I want to become a man that you can trust.  That you can feel secure with.  I know if I ignore my own blood, you will never forgive me and treat me the same, coz you are not the kind of person who will ask me to choose between my son and the woman I love.  And I am sure I will do better if you are by my side since I know you won’t let me fail.”

“What if I can’t do it?  What if I fail?” I asked in my shaky voice.

SeungHyun sat down beside me and wrapped his arms around me tightly.  I rested my head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat.  He kissed me on the head and said, “You won’t fail.  If anyone can do it, it will be you, Hilary.  I have faith in you.”

“You think I can do it?  You think I won’t become my mother?”

He squeezed me tighter, “I don’t know what made you think you would become just like your mother.  I don’t have the slightest clue.  But I have no doubt about one thing.  Honey, you are nothing like her.  You will never treat an innocent child like she did to your brother.  In fact, I am pretty damn sure you will be the total opposite.”

I gasped at his words.  It was not the first time I heard somene told me the same, but his words were the only ones that could pierce into my heart and ease my worries.  I slid my arms around him and hugged him back, “I was never mad at you.  I’m just scared.  Worried.  I thought…”

“You thought things would be on the right track if you stepped away.” He pulled away and looked me in the eyes, “No, Hilary.  Contrarily, things will only fall apart if you are out of the picture.  I can never be happy without you.  And knowing that you sacrifice your happiness for me will only make it worse.  If I’m not happy, my son won’t be either.  Do you understand?”

Tears fell down my cheeks uncontrollably as I nodded my head.  SeungHyun cupped my face with both hands and pressed his lips on mine. 

He kissed me, passionately.

He kissed my worries away.

*  *  *

SeungHyun and I spent the next hour cuddling at the swing seat in the garden.  I put my legs up on the seat and leaned my head on SeungHyun’s shoulder while he wrapped his arms around me.  We chatted a little bit, kissed a few, and cuddled together in silent for a while.  I felt relaxed and all the worries and troubles seemed to have gone away somehow.

Then, I suddenly thought of Krystal showing up this morning.  I pulled away from SeungHyun and straightened my back.  I looked at him and said, “Krystal came to see me this morning.”

SeungHyun immediately stiffened up and asked, “What did she want?  She didn’t hurt you, did she?”  He held my hands tightly as if he was afraid I would slip away somehow.

I squeezed his hands back and said, “Did you know your mother went to see her early this morning.”

He nodded.  So he knew.  But did he agree on what his mother did?  I took a deep breath and asked, “Your mother tried to take the child away from her.  Did you know about that as well?”  I couldn’t hide the disapproval in my voice even if I wanted to.

He looked at me and hestitated to give me an answer, as if he was trying to figure out my standpoint at the matter and processing the right thing to say.  I could see the wariness in his eyes.  However, I was not backing down.  I gazed at him back and waited for my answer.  I totally understood that his parents might want to take the child and raise him themselves instead.  But forcing the birth mother to forfeit the custody rights like that was not how things should be done.  And I sure wouldn’t stand to be part of it.

I waited patiently for him to answer my question.  He knew it from my eyes that I would not drop this unless he gave me a proper explanation.

He took a deep breath and said, “I knew Mother was going to meet Krystal today.  Father asked her to do so last night.  But I had no idea she had all the papers ready and threw them right at her face and forced her to sign them.  I believe that was not something Father had in mind either.”

I was relieved to know that he had nothing to do with that.  He caught me letting out a sigh in relief and asked, “You thought I would do that to my child and his mother?”

I immediately felt guilty of not trusting the man I loved so much.  I should have known that SeungHyun would not do something like that.  But when I thought of the poor child, I couldn’t help but get a little overreacted.

“I’m sorry.  I guess I’m just worried about the child.  No matter what kind of person Krystal is or whatever she has done in the past, she is his mother and I can feel that she loves him very much.  No one has the right to take the child away from his birth mother.  No offense, but not even you can do that, SeungHyun.” I hoped I would be a mother some day.  And even if I was not one yet, I could never imagine the feeling of my child being taken away from me.  And I would not want to do that to an innocent child either.

He closed his eyes as he nodded.  He took a deep breath and said, “I understand.  I don’t blame you.  I don’t agree to handle things like that either.  If I knew Mother would do something like that, I would have never agreed her to go talk to Krystal.  To be honest, I still haven’t decided what I want to do.  Whether to raise the child myself or let him stay with Krystal.  But either way, the only thing I want is the best for the child.  If staying with his birth mother is the best for him, then that’s how it should be.”

I took his hand and lifted it to my lips and planted a kiss on the back of his hand, “And I will do my best to help you either way.  All I want is that everyone is happy.  That the child can grow up without worries and be happy.”

He smiled and pulled me close to him, “Thank you, Hilary.”

I slid my arms around his waist and hugged him back, “I am not letting go this time.  And like it or not, you are stuck with me.”

He squeezed me tight as he laughed, “You have no idea how much I wanted to hear you say that.”

I pulled back a little and put my hand on his cheek as I leaned forward to kiss him.  He wasted no time to kiss me back deeply.

*  *  *

SeungHyun’s POV

I took Hilary back to the hotel after we left the house.  I proposed that we could move in before the wedding, but Hilary insisted we should wait unti