"Ommaaaaa!! Appaaaaaa!!!! Your beloved daughter is hereeeeee..." Shin Hye beamed into their parents' house. 

"Omooo... Uri Ddal is hereeeee!" Her mother squeeled happily. She put down the dishes she was carrying carefully on to the dinner table and quickly rushed to her daughter and hugged her. 

"Omaaa.. Bogoshippo!" Shin Hye told her mom.

"Omma as well," Her mom replied. They then, walked hand in hand to the dining room. "Shin Hye yah... why are you getting skinnier? Don't be too lazy to cook at your apartment. I thought your company provided you a caretaker at your apartment. " Her mother commented.

"Oh.. Kenyang... I need to lose weight. A lot of people told me I am gaining." Shin Hye explained.

"Ahhh.. Karee.. but that is expected for married woman." Her mother countered.

"Kenchana Omma.. I feel much better and healthier." Shin Hye assured her mom. She looked at the delicious food being prepared by her mother. "Wowww... Omma... no wonder Oppa cannot lose weight. I bet if my husband is to live here, he would gain as well." She imagined Min Ho gaining weight. "Awhhhh Kiyoutaaaa..." 

"Yah! You both need to keep your figure for your job. Whereas I can be like this or like that, my job doesn't require me to look like I came out of the magazine at all times... This is the life..." Her brother chimed in as he took his seat. Shin Hye pouted at his comment. 

"Where's appa?" Shin Hye asked. 

"He will be here soon. He just need to make a stop at the shop to get some drinks." Her mother explained. She sat next to Shin Hye. "How is Min Ho?" Her mother asked. "We were worried about his news on the accident. I hope he is fine." Shin Hye smiled to her mom.

"Well... He's more than fine but the production gave him some resting time. His ankle was twisted but it's healing." She told her mother. 

"How is my girl holding on her busy life?" Her father's voice heard as he entered the house. 

"I will be fine Appa. I miss you a lot!" Shin Hye stood up and rushed to hug her father. She and her father walked to the dining table together. Shin Hye took the plastic bag filled with drinks and placed them on the dining table.  

"Omooo.. Uri talented wife cook a lot today. Thank you my love. Thank you for this lovely delicious dinner. We all will enjoy this." Her father was the kind of man who would always appreciate his wife's hardwork and whoever around him. He was well known among people around him for his kindness and warm heart as well as good empathy towards others.

"Aigooo... this simple thing... Let's eat now." Her mother blushed at her father's compliment.

The food was really great, the family talked non-stop.  While cleaning the table, her father re-appeared to the dining room. "Shin Hye, come and see me at my office once you are finished." He asked her. Her mother looked at her confused, feeling rather odd with her father's sudden serious request. She gestured to Shin Hye to leave the table and go to her father's office. 

She slowly approached his office. Her heart suddenly beat fast, she didn't know what to expect. She prayed that it was nothing. She slowly knocked the door. 

"Terua." Her father told her to enter. "Anjo..." He asked her to sit.  She sat on the sofa next to the bookcase. Her father sat across her. His expression was crestfallen. Shin Hye felt uncomfortable a little bit. He was never like this unless it was something serious and she encountered that only a few times. Her nervousness filled her mind, she bit her lower lip unconsciously. "How is your life?" He asked slowly.

"I think it's manageable. I am adjusting to it." She answered honestly. She fiddled with her fingers as she answered.

"How is your life with saui?" Her father asked. 

"Kenyang.... We are okay... There are tough times but so far we managed. We try to hold on." She explained sofly.

"I will be honest. At that time I agreed about your marriage, I thought you will be able to live normally as husband and wife but things have changed. As a father to the daughter, I cannot help but worry of how the life of my daughter is." Her father forlorned. 

Shin Hye understood her father's view and weight about the situation that she was in. She inhaled deeply. She tried to find ways to assured her father regarding their situation and how happy they had been so far and how hard both of them to work on making one another to feel content and happy.  Before she could gather ideas of what to say to her father, he cut her in.

"I am not sure how you would carry out your life but I do want you to be able to be happy and not stress out. As a father to my only beloved daughter and just like any other father, I want you to have a normal marriage life. What is the point of having a marriage but you can't be together and let alone, the reason being your companies." Her father reasoned. " I know, you value your talent and so did he, I know how loyal you are to your company, but what is it so important that you have to put aside your marriage and keep it a secret." He said slowly and yet the words penetrated right through her heart. Tears started to drop. Shin Hye couldn't digest everything but yet her mind understood what her father was saying. "Now, don't cry my lil girl... I am just a father who is very worried that his daughter would end up feeling being toyed with and her life not being valued well. I want you to be honoured by your man. I want him to know that he should be proud of his woman and understand how sacred a matrimony is." Her father  exhaled feeling relieved letting out how he felt. "I know this is hard to take in. I shall respect whatever your decision is. As long as Min Ho saui understand that he truly appreciate my little girl whom I raised from the day she was out of her mother's womb." Shin Hye nodded. Her father left her in the room. She took her time to calm herself and think about what her father had said. 

She took out her phone, she saw texts from Min Ho. 

"Chakgya.. Bae Go Pa Yo... Please come to me soon. " Reading that made Shin Hye's heart hurt and happy at the same time. The mixture of feelings were overwhelming. 

"I promise him... I will go... We will talk..." She spoke by herself. She slowly stood up and put her mobile phone in her pocket. 

*********

Shin Hye arrived at Min Ho's place. Her initial intention was just to feed him and then went straight back to her apartment as she needed to prepare for the next day and she needed some time alone. She was feeling rather unusually exhausted. It was probably because she did not have enough and proper rest as well as the situation she had with Yong Hwa and added with her father's truest concern.  She didn't realize that she was standing in front  of his porch for quite sometime until Min Ho opened the door startled by her ghostly figure.

"Ah... Kkamjjagya!" He jumped a little bit. 

Shin Hye slowly turned her attention to him and automatically smiled bleakly. Min Ho immediately felt something was not right with Shin Hye.  

"Why are you just standing there?" He asked as he rubbed his chest. "You scared me. I was worried when you didn't call nor informed me about coming here." He admitted as he slowly guided Shin Hye to the kitchen. He tok the packed food off Shin Hye's hand and placed it on the dining table. He then pushed her lightly to the living room and seated her. He ensured that she was comfortable. "What's wrong chakgya?" He asked as he tucked her loose hair behind her ear. 

Shin Hye finally got back to her senses. She turned to look at his face, her eyes were teary. She couldn't stop the fast flow of her tears and without her realization she started to cry really hard. Min Ho pulled her into his embraced. He didn't understand her situation but his instinct to protect her and to make her comfortable quickly kicked in. He hugged her tightly and his hand kept on patting her hair and carrying it down to her back consoling her. 

"Waee?" He asked softly. His voice brought a little comfort to Shin Hye's heart. She started to subdued a little. "Tell me... please..." He pleaded. Shin Hye slowly pushed herself from him. Min Ho's hand cupped her face softly and he studied her face trying to read anything from it. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked. 

Shin Hye slowly shook her head. Min Ho took a ply of tissue from their coffee table and dried her tears. He quickly straightened out her hair and held her shoulder so that he could continue to see her face. "What is it my love?" He asked again feeling that Shin Hye was slightly okay to talk.

"I had a long talk with Appa." Shin Hye finally opened up. 

"I see..." As if he knew how the conversation went, " Was your father disappointed in me?" He asked, his voice trembled at the end.

Shin Hye shrugged her shoulders. "I just don't know.. what exactly was happening there." Shin Hye herself was having a hard time grasping what her father wanted to convey.

"Ara... I think I know... If I have a daughter I would probably feel the same." Shin Hye narrowed her eyes towards Min Ho, she herself couldn't actually pin down what her father told her and let alone him who didn't even hear what he said. "It may be hard for you to get it but as a man and as someone who wants to have my own children in the VERY NEAR future," He emphasized and that, at least made Shin Hye chuckled and it made his heart felt a little bit lighter, "I think I can understand what a father felt." He explained himself. Shin Hye could feel that he was hurt. She put her hand on his chest and slowly rubbed it as if she wanted to heal it. 

"I guess so..." Shin Hye softly agreed. "I want him to see this side of you so that he could understand who you are." Shin Hye voiced out. "I want to prove to him that you are every bit of what kind saui that he dreamed of." She went on.

"Yoebo... Just like a mother in law who always felt inadequacy of a daughter in law, it doesn't mean a father  in law won't feel the same. I would too at every sign of discontentment towards my daughters in the future and you would too, to the wife of our sons." He went on. "It's only normal to feel protective." He smiled. 

"Matta... He mentioned about our agencies... I do understand that part... If only our directors understand.." She said regretfully.

"Ah... That's why we have to be strong. This is how they probably plan to break us. I think we need to persevere." Min Ho said carefully. "Maybe we need to set a meeting with your father and explain fully how we are going to play this game. " He kissed her head as she was leaning towards his chest. Shin Hye, like a little girl being promised a candy, nodded slowly in agreement. "I'm not letting you go no matter what, Shin Hye. I don't think I can be strong enough not having you for the rest of my life. " He admitted.

"Na dul.." She agreed. She inhaled in a breathe of relief. "Omma gave you lots of food. She said you need to have some flesh." 

Min Ho laughed at how funny his mother in law could be at times. "I need some muscle!" He exclaimed. "My wife can be a partner in crime to help me build some muscle." He winked at Shin Hye.

"Andwe~~ You need to recuperate well. Your shooting and your pack schedule will be up soon." She stood up. "Now, I -" Before she was about to prepare him his food, Min Ho quickly grabbed Shin Hye's hand, pulled her on his side, pushed her on her back and locked her lips to his. "Yah..." Shin Hye protested after his kiss. Her lips were red. He smiled. 

"That's for the coming week." He pulled her up as she straightened her hair. "And it's only a preview," He had his mischievous smile on his face. Shin Hye quickly stood up and ran to the kitchen. "I am locking you up tonight!" He shouted at her. Shin Hye turned around and made a silly face to him. He smiled contently, "I am never letting you go." He said to himself as he slowly stood up following her lead to the kitchen. 

We will be stronger,

We will stand together,

You and I are rock solid foundation,

The proof of our love to one another... 

P/s: This has been one of the hardest chapters for me to type... T_T

My note: Don't look at Shin Hye's father negatively in this chapter, I think it is understanable for any parents to have some concerns of the life of their children. It's inevitable feeling they have :) I've been married for almost 12 years and my parents still treat me as their baby hehehe I think it would be similar to me as well once we have our own children. Enjoy reading.  <3 <3 <3