the explanation of everything.

AUTHOR’S POV

After a set of cries the blonde girl was finally up, she looked at the mirror, she stared at it for three good seconds then sighed. The mirror didn’t do a very good job reflecting her reflection. Dark circles below her eyes were visible, she looked really tired while all she did was just sleeping…in tears.

She didn’t know how many days had been passed, all she knew was she had to pay for the rent so she needed something that all adults needed, money. She needed to work. She needed to get a job which was quite troublesome for her since she had quitted her job to apply for a vacant position on Hwang Corporation. She despised her decision to come to that big office that day.

Hwang Corporation was a very big company that had branches overseas with its first company was built in America since her Father era. She thought if she applied in one of the branches of Hwang Corporation she would get better money without Mr. Hwang knowing and could show her supposed-to-be Father in law that she could survive and be a better person for Tiffany. But she was wrong.

She got there only to find some men in black suit, who she thought were the interviewer, coming in and handed her a stack of papers containing a deal, a deal to leave Tiffany alone. She refused to sign the papers right away but then a sentence from Mr. Hwang muted her.

“I won’t give my permit to anyone who can’t even accompany my daughter properly in business meeting.”
Yes, it was always been an issue for Jessica. The business meetings that Mr. Hwang mentioned were the meetings that Tiffany had to attend since she was young. The meetings when money mattered so damn much in many ways.

Money wasn’t an issue for both Jessica and Tiffany, they had passed that stage since they knew each other since they were young, but Mr. Hwang hadn’t. He hated how sneakily Tiffany would ask him to give her some money just because they couldn’t cover their living cost.

It became an issue when Jessica wore same blazer to two meetings, it became an issue when Jessica wore the same black heels to the meetings, and it became an issue when many of the rich gentlemen there flirted with Tiffany as if she was invisible. The problem was simple. There was too big gap of them economically.

And it became an issue when Mr. Hwang brought it up.

Jessica never knew about how Tiffany acted to her Father behind her, she never knew, she thought she earned just enough for both of them. When she made more effort to earn more, there she was, facing a deal that she never wanted to take. Yet she took the deal, she promised Mr. Hwang that she would be back when she thought she deserved Tiffany.

By shaking Mr. Hwang’s hand, she knew that she had chosen her pride over Tiffany, she knew she did wrong, but her rational mind also realized that Tiffany deserved better.
Tiffany was right. Jessica had sold her Tiffany to Mr. Hwang. She had sold Tiffany for her own pride. Jessica deserved the slaps, even more.

But Mr. Hwang wasn’t a heartless person, he knew Jessica since she was young. He had passed the stage of accepting his daughter’s same relationship, he had. He also had seen how hard it had been for Jessica to survive alone without her Mom and sister. He knew that Jessica was a tough girl. He knew that Jessica would be success with a slight push.

But Jessica stayed in her comfort zone a little too long, Mr. Hwang got impatient and pissed every time he thought about Tiffany, living poorly in the small rented flat with one bedroom and almost broken door while he worked hard just so Tiffany could live happily in Hwang’s big mansion but Tiffany refused it. Tiffany refused the wealth for love.

No Father could stand that, so was Mr. Hwang. You could call him selfish but that was natural for any Fathers. He pushed Jessica’s button, too bad it was a wrong button. It was a hurtful button, making her comfort zone vanished all in one go. She had quitted her job, but she couldn’t work in Hwang Corporation. Her rent was almost due and Tiffany left her with a broken heart.

He wasn’t a heartless person, but he was indeed cruel when he needed to be.

No matter how evil Mr. Hwang was seen, he still liked Jessica as his neighbor’s daughter, his friends’ daughter. He prepared a scholarship for Jessica, business major in a top university in USA. He offered that to Jessica just to be rejected by the prideful girl right away. The documents were all set, plane tickets were inside of the binder, all she needed to do was giving up to her pride. Yet she didn’t do it.

Even though it was for her own successful life, for her own happiness, for her Tiffany, as actually Mr. Hwang wanted her as his daughter in law. But who Mr. Hwang wanted wasn’t the old Jessica. He wanted a better Jessica, a best self Jessica. By then, he wouldn’t mind having that kind of Jessica to be her daughter in law.

So here he was, knocking at the door of the small flat. The almost broken door was opened right away after two knocks, their eyes met. One was heartwarming while one was surprised.

As soon as they looked at each other, Jessica opened her dry mouth, “Tiffany isn’t here anymore, sir. I’ve done what you told me to do.”

It actually broke Mr. Hwang’s heart to see how vulnerable Jessica’s condition was, but he needed to push the girl more, “I know, she’s at home now, sleeping soundly.”

Jessica gulped at the word ‘soundly’, as if when Tiffany slept with her she couldn’t do it soundly. But she kept herself composed, “It’s a good thing to know, sir.”

Mr. Hwang stepped forward once without getting invited in. He looked around, seeing the condition of the flat. Once again Jessica felt smaller than she actually was. She cursed herself, how stupid she was not to realize that Tiffany su