Lee Min Ho slowly scooped a small portion of rice into his mouth with the chopsticks as he stole glances at Shin Hye’s father who was sitting in front of him. He has been into a lot of business battles but none of it could make him as nervous as now.

Shin Hye let out a soft smile when she saw Min Ho’s face slowly turning green. She was quite surprise with how her father react in front of him. Her father doesn’t usually act this cool and for a brief moment, she was nervous too.

“Where are you from?”

Min Ho almost chocked when he heard Park Soon Jae’s sudden voice. He quickly put the chopsticks down on the table and straightened himself up. “I came from Seoul. I was born and grown up there.”

Still eating without looking at him, Park Soon Jae asked again. “How old?”

Min Ho glanced at Shin Hye before he looked back at him. “30 years old.”

“Work as what?” Park Soon Jae continued his questions.

“I’m the CEO of Venus Corporation. It is a manufacturing company in Seoul. We are doing beauty products business.” Min Ho answered politely.

Park Soon Jae nodded. “Business that cheats women’s money.”

Min Ho’s eyes widened at him as he gulped nervously.

“Appa…” Shin Hye looked at her father, frightened with what he said.

Ignoring his daughter, he continued to ask. “What family members do you have at home?”

Min Ho bit his lips. His heart was pounding so fast and hard that make his breathing became uneven. “My mother passed away when I was 3 and my father passed away when I was 20. I’m the only son in the family and I don’t have other relative.” He paused as he inhaled a deep breath. “I have a… a daughter…”

Park Soon Jae stopped eating and looked up at Min Ho with his stern gaze. He slowly put the chopstick down, still looking firmly at him. “A daughter? You are a widower?”

Min Ho shook his head slowly.

Park Soon Jae creased his brows. “You divorced with your wife?”

Min Ho turned to Shin Hye with a worried gaze.

Shin Hye held his eyes for a second before turning to her father. “Appa… can we eat…”

“Answer me.” Park Soon Jae cut his daughter off.

Min Ho took a deep breath before looking back at Park Soon Jae. “I’m in the process of dealing the problem with my wife and working with the divorce application but I need to find her first and get her signature.”

Shin Hye looked at Min Ho in shock. She didn’t know he was in the midst of preparing the divorce with her sister.

Park Soon Jae’s eyes were burning as he tried hard to steady his breathing. “In the process of dealing with you wife? Which mean you are still with your wife when both of you were together.”

“Yes.” Min Ho replied honestly.

“So you are having an affair with my daughter and cheat behind your wife.” Park Soon Jae’s face was reddened with anger.

“No.” Min Ho answered firmly.

Shin Hye looked at both of them worriedly. She knows that she have to cut in before her father loses his temper completely.

“Appa, it’s not like what you think. We are not cheating behind anybody or…” She tried to explain the situation to her father.

Park Soon Jae turned to his daughter. “Then what should I think? You have always been very rational and matured and we don’t need to worry about you at all. But what are you doing now? You were crying every night holding onto that damn shirt since you came back because of a married man?”

Min Ho turned his gaze to Shin Hye when he heard that she was crying because of him. The pain in his chest felt like he was being stabbed.

Shin Hye’s eyes reddened as tears started to form. She bit her lip hard as she tried not to cry in front of them.

“It’s not her fault. It was mine. I was the one who keep chasing her and doesn’t let her to push me away.” Min Ho quickly said.

Park Soon Jae glared at him. “I’m asking my daughter, not you.” He said sternly before looking back at Shin Hye.

Shin Hye held her father’s gaze and inhaled a deep breath. “It was my fault.” She said with her trembling lips. “I fell in love with my own brother in-law. It was my fault.” She said as a tear rolled down her cheek. Without looking at Min Ho, she stood up from the dining table and quickly ran back to her room.

Min Ho was panicked but before he could stand up and chase after her, Park Soon Jae voice stopped him.

Park Soon Jae was confused with what Shin Hye just said. He looked at Min Ho with question in his eyes. “What brother in-law?”

Min Ho let out a soft sigh. “My wife… is her twin sister.”

Park Soon Jae’s eyes were widened in shock. “She found her sister?”

Min Ho raised his brows. “You know that she have a sister? I thought she was adopted by you in an orphanage home. She doesn’t even know about it herself.”

Without replying him, Park Soon Jae stood up and walked towards his room. After few minutes, he came back holding a tiny box. He opened the box and took out a necklace with a heart-shaped locket hanging on it. He gently opened the pendant before passed it to Min Ho.

Min Ho took it and looked down at the heart-shaped locket. There was a tiny photo in it, a photo of Yoon Suh’s mother holding two babies in her arms. The two babies looked exactly the same. He turned the locket to the back and saw some tiny words engraved behind.

“Yoon Suh & Yoon Hye.” He uttered softly. He looked up at Park Soon Jae. “How did you get this necklace?”

Park Soon Jae sighed. “It was hanging around her neck when Sister Theresa found her.”

“Shin Hye doesn’t know about this necklace?” Min Ho asked.

Park Soon Jae shook his head. “Tell me what happened. How did she found her sister and how she ended up being with you?”

Min Ho caressed the locket gently before looking back at him. “Yoon Suh and I have been married for 10 years and we have a daughter name So Won.” He paused as he inhaled softly. “Our relationship has been very bad after So Won was born. Maybe I shouldn’t blame her. I spent almost all of my times on my work and didn’t really bother to understand how she felt and how lonely she was. Slowly, our marriage hit the hard rock. Neither of us wants to save it. I think she finally gave up and left us. After one month she was gone, one day I was going back home with my daughter, we saw my wife standing not far away from my house.”

He smiled before continued. “At least at that time we thought she was my wife, So Won’s mother. They looked exactly the same. No one in the house notice that Shin Hye wasn’t Yoon Suh. The only difference was their personalities.”

Park Soon Jae listened quietly to Min Ho’s story and slowly understands what really happened between them as he continued.      

Min Ho paused when his story reached the day when he found Shin Hye was gone. He bit his lip as he looked down at the locket. “I thought she will stay after hearing my speech but I was wrong. I was totally devastated when I found her gone.” He slowly looked up at Park Soon Jae again. “It was my fault. If I’m not that careless and mistaken Yoon Suh as Shin Hye 16 years ago, none of these will happen now. You should understand your daughter more than anyone else. She is not a person that will give in so easily. She struggled so badly and pushed me away as hard as she can. My love for her, her love for So Won, all those were a big burden to her. It makes her breathless. She wanted to move forward but because of Yoon Suh, she froze in place with fear and pain.”

He handed the necklace back to Park Soon Jae and sighed again. “It broke her heart into million pieces when you looked at her with the disappointment gaze just now. If you really need to blame on somebody then it should be me. I was the one who complicated the whole situation.” He then looked at him with a firm expression. “No matter how much you hate me or try to pull us apart, I will not give up on your daughter. Not anymore. I already missed her once. I was lucky to be given a second chance now. I won’t let her slip away from me again. I want her to stay by my side and be with me for the rest of her life. I want to be with her, love her and cherish her forever.” He continued.

Park Soon Jae looked at him for a long while before he broke the silence. “Even if she is dying tomorrow?”

Min Ho’s brows creased and were taken off-guard by his question. Even though he doesn’t understand why he asked him such a question but then he smiled softly at him. “Yes. Even if she is dying tomorrow, I will not let her go.”

Park Soon Jae chuckled. “But you said you want forever. Forever is a very long time.”

Min Ho looked directly into his eyes without any fear. “There is no measurement for eternity. Forever doesn’t mean we have to be together for a long long time. As long as we are truly in love with each other, as long as we are together, even one day can be forever.” He said.

His voice was full of certainty and honesty that makes Park Soon Jae smiled without realizing it. He was happy for his daughter. Deep inside his heart, he was whispering to his wife. Yeobo, can you hear what this man said? Our daughter finally found the man that can give her happiness. Although it might be a short one but as long as they cherish their love, cherish each other, it will be forever. You have to bless our little princess to stay healthy. Don’t bring her back to you so early.

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Shin Hye turned to her door when she heard a knocking sound. She immediately stood up of her bed when she saw her father walked into her room. Her eyes were reddened once again.

“Appa…” She uttered softly.

Park Soon Jae slowly walked towards her and motioned her to sit down on the bed with him. He let out a sigh when he saw her teary eyes.

“I’m sorry…”

Both of them said the same words at the same time.

Shin Hye bit her lip hard, letting her tears flowed down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I know what I did was very wrong. I’m sorry that I let you down.”

Park Soon Jae reached for her hand and held it tightly in his. He used his other hand to wipe her tears away. “Appa is the one who should apologize to you.”

Shin Hye looked up at him, slightly taken aback.

Park Soon Jae smiled sadly as he brushed the strand of hair away from her forehead. “How can I doubt my lovely daughter? I must be too old and getting confused.” He said before taking the necklace out from his pocket. He gently put the heart-shaped locket into Shin Hye’s palm.

“At first, your mother and I have already decided not to tell you but since you found out now, I think I should return this back to you.” He said.

Shin Hye looked down at the necklace she was holding now. She opened the locket and her heart was beating so fast when she saw the photo inside. She widened her eyes before looking back at her father.

“You know it all along that I have a twin sister?” She asked.

Park Soon Jae nodded.

She looked at the locket as her tears started to blur her vision again. She touched the photo very softly with her fingertips. “This woman…” She paused as she bit her trembling lip. “… she is my biological mother.” This was the first time she saw her face. They looked so much alike but at the same time, she felt like a stranger. In fact, she was a stranger. They never meet before. Not even before her last breath.

Park Soon Jae heaved a deep sigh. “Sister Theresa passed this necklace to us when we adopted you. She said it was hanging on your neck when they found you.” He turned the locket around in Shin Hye’s hand. “Nothing was found on you except this necklace. There were two name engraved behind the locket. Yoon Suh and Yoon Hye. She wasn’t sure which one is your name so she decided to give you another name, Shin Hye. You were only 8 years old when we brought you back. Sister Theresa thought you were still too young at that time to understand the situation. So she let us to decide whether to tell you or not in the future.”

Shin Hye caressed the two names on the locket softly as tears started dripping on it. “She just left me there with only this necklace. I don’t even know what my real name is and when is my birthday.” She said painfully.

“Sister Theresa brought you to the doctor for check-up after they found you and the doctor said you were just born not too long ago at that time. So Sister Theresa make the date she found you as your birthday.” Park Soon Hye brought his hand up again and her hair gently. “You might think that we are very selfish for hiding this from you but we really don’t want to destroy the happiness you were having in our home. Your personalities have been very strong since you were a kid. You wouldn’t let yourself to break down in front of anybody. Even if you are sad, you will just hide it inside and endured yourself. Your mother and I don’t want to see that. So we decided not to tell you.”

He then smiled slightly as he caressed her cheek. “But this time when you came back, I noticed that you have changed.”

Shin Hye looked up at her father, waiting for him to continue.

“You no longer keep everything inside your heart. You smile when you are happy. You cry when you are sad. At first I don’t understand what make you changed. But after I meet him today, I think I know why.” He said as he wiped her tears away again. “He changed you.”

Shin Hye looked into his eyes as she started to sobs. “Appa, I love him. I love him so much that it hurts so badly. I wanted to push him away. I tried, I really tried. I know it was not right. He is Yoon Suh’s husband. He is my brother in-law. But he just wouldn’t stop. He kept moving forward until I was totally cornered by him.” She sniffed hardly as she continued. “That was why I must run away from him. I have to get myself away from him before I couldn’t pull myself out anymore. But then he was once again standing right in front of me.” She cried harder now. “I thought I was the late one. I thought I was the one who stole him away from Yoon Suh. But then he told me I was wrong.” She tightened the grip on the locket. “I met him first. I was the one he love and wanted to marry.”

Shin Hye leaned forward and cried into her father’s shoulder, trying to get some strength from him. 

Park Soon Jae held his daughter’s shaking body tightly as his hand her back gently, soothing her.

“Appa…” She cried. “Why must it be me each and every time? Why must it be so unfair to me? I was the one she chose to throw away like garbage. Even the man that supposed to be mine was taken away by my sister too. He was already being with her for the past 10 years. Why can’t I have him back now? I didn’t steal him away. She was the one who didn’t cherish him.”

Park Soon Jae tightened his arms around his daughter as warm tears started to form in his eyes too. “Appa understand. Appa know how you feel.”

“I don’t have much time left. I just want to be selfish for a while before I completely lose everything. I was just taking something she doesn’t want. I didn’t steal from her.” She said in between sobs. She was trying hard to convince herself that she didn’t do anything wrong.

Park Soon Jae didn’t say anything and just let his daughter continue to cry. He wants her to let everything that she buried inside of her all out. He might not be able to help her, save her but he could at least offer her his shoulder, his strength, his warmth.

After a long while, Shin Hye finally stopped crying and slowly pulled away, looking at him.

Park Soon Jae smiled slightly as he squeezed her hand softly. “Feel better?”

Shin Hye nodded. “Thank you, appa. You have a very strong shoulder for me to lie on.”

Park Soon Jae let out a long sigh before he tucked her hair behind her ear. “How I wish I have the strength that could move the whole mountain for my precious princess.”

Shin Hye laughed softly. “I don’t need appa to move the mountain for me. I just want appa to stay healthy and happy.”

“How can appa be happy when my daughter is sad?” He sighed again. “You didn’t tell him about it yet?”

Shin Hye looked down as she shook her head. “I don’t even dare to think how he will react if he finds out. He wouldn’t be able to handle it. He might look strong outside but he has a fragile heart.” She slowly looked up at her father again. “He will fall apart. I will kill him by telling him about it.”

Park Soon Jae pursed his lips. “He doesn’t look that weak to me. I’m sure love can make him strong. You can make him strong.”

Shin Hye looked at him with curiously. “You don’t hate him?”

Park Soon Jae laughed softly. “Whoever that love my daughter, I will love them too. I just want him to think that I hate him so he doesn’t dare to bully my daughter.” He paused and sighed again. “As long as you are happy with him, as long as he treats you good, appa will always be there supporting you. Appa’s shoulder might be strong but I’m already an old man. The shoulder that you really need is waiting out there.” He smiled at her. “Appa trust you. I know my daughter is strong and brave enough to overcome all the hurdles.”

Shin Hye bit her lip as she leaned down on her father’s shoulder again. “Thank you, appa.”

Park Soon Jae her head tenderly. “Tell him. At least let him prepare himself for the worst.” He said as a tear escaped his ey