“Hate you?” Park Shin Hye smiled coldly. “Hate is an understatement.”

Lee Min Ho felt his breath hitched in his throat when he heard what she said. His eyes narrowed dangerously at her.

“What did I do that make you hate me that much?” He asked in his deep voice. “I know I hurt you a lot during the beginning of the contract but we sorted things out. We were still okay before that night and you even said you will give me time.” He paused to inhale a deep breath. “I know you were angry because of that night but…”

“Enough!” Shin Hye cut him off angrily. Her eyes were already clouded with tears that made her vision blurry. Her heart ached so much and she felt the air couldn’t reach her lungs whenever she thinks about that night. She looked at him, showing him the hatred with her eyes. “We were never okay. Not in the past, not in the present and will never be in the future.”

Min Ho became more and more confused and unable to control his anxiety anymore. He cupped her cheeks firmly and looked deep into her eyes. “Tell me what happened? What did I do…”

His sentence was cut off again when Shin Hye’s phone rang. He exhaled sharply and pulled his hands away of her face in frustration as she took her phone out.

‘Jong Suk’

Anger burned even more when Min Ho saw his brother’s name on her phone.

Shin Hye glanced at him briefly before she answered the call.

“Yoboseyo.”

“Shin Hye, where are you? Have you reached home yet?”

Shin Hye looked up at Min Ho again before she averted her gaze and answered her boyfriend’s softly.

“I’m… hmmm…”

Before she could finish what she wanted to say, Min Ho’s patience was completely wear off. He grabbed her chin up and crashed his lips forcefully on hers, stopping her to continue the conversation with his brother.

Shin Hye was totally frightened by him as she desperately tried to push him off, hitting his chest with one hand as her other hand was still holding onto her phone. She whimpered softly when he pushed her harder against the wall. She continued to struggle, trying hard to break off from him but he was too strong for her and it only makes his grip tightened. She doesn’t dare to make a single sound, afraid that Jong Suk would hear it on the other side.

“Shin Hye… Shin Hye… are you there?”

Breathing hard, Shin Hye continued to hit and push Min Ho’s chest but it became useless when he grasped her wrist and pinned it on top of her head. She gasped in pain and when her lips parted, he slipped his tongue into .

Min Ho let out a deep groan when he finally tasted the same sweetness that he missed so much for the past 3 years. The kiss was demanding and possessive. His hungriness was a solid proof that he wants this woman so damn much. He didn’t give her any chance to fight back as his tongue kept violating . With each his tongue went deeper into her, battling against her soft flesh.

Shin Hye closed her eyes tightly and her body started to betray her rational mind. She couldn’t hold her wall up for long with him kissing her like this. His kisses, his scent, his hard chest, this place, this house, this wall, everything was so familiar and right. She felt herself softened and slowly responding to his kiss with the same intensity. Her hand that was still holding the phone got weaker and jellied. Without realizing it, the phone dropped to the floor and her hand slowly moved to his chest and her fingers gripped tightly onto his shirt.

Min Ho’s kiss softened when he felt her resistance faded. He let go of her hand and chin, moved his hand towards her waist, pressing her soft body fully against his. The kiss slowly turned tender unlike the forceful kiss a while ago. He deepened the kiss, opening his mouth wider, running the tip of his tongue lightly against her lower lip, teasing and tasting her sweetness. After a long minute, he pulled away reluctantly when both of them were out of breath.

Panting heavily, Shin Hye slowly opened her eyes and looked at him with her face flushed red. Both of them were staring at each other silently, neither one dare to say a word.

Just then, a loud ringing tone broke the intense silence.

She breaks their eye contact as she looked down at her phone that was lying on the floor. She looked back at Min Ho, telling him silently that she needs to answer the call.

As if understand what she trying to tell him, Min Ho shook his head. “Don’t answer.”

Shin Hye bit her swollen lip, still looking into his eyes. “I have to.”

Min Ho inhaled deeply before he took a step back, giving just enough space for Shin Hye to take her phone.

Shin Hye took a deep breath before she answered the call.

Jong Suk: Shin Hye! Is that you?

Shin Hye sighed silently. “Y-Yes.”

Jong Suk: Where are you? Why did you stop talking when I called you just now? Have my brother send you home? I tried to call him but he turned his phone off.

Shin Hye tightened her grip on her phone, trying hard to calm herself down. With Min Ho still caging her against the wall, she felt hard to even speak. “I-I’m okay. He already sent me back.” She paused and her heart skipped a beat when her eyes met his again. She gasped softly when Min Ho pulled her by her waist and embraced her tightly in his arms. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, brushing his lips against her smooth skin. She tried to push him away but it just makes his arms tightened around her. She let out a silent defeated sigh.

Jong Suk: Then what happened just now?

Shin Hye inhaled a deep breath, trying to get her voice back. “I-I was at the convenient store nearby my apartment. I… I got tripped by something and… and… dropped my phone and the things on the shelf. I-I… I was busy putting back the things into the shelf and apologized to the staff there and forgot that I was talking to you. I-I’m sorry.” She lied. She bit her lip and closed her eyes. She hates herself for lying to him. She hates herself even more now that she doesn’t hate the feeling of Min Ho hugging her like this. She felt home, she felt safe although it felt so wrong.

Jong Suk: Did you hurt yourself? Do you want me to come over? I can drop by and come back to work later.

Min Ho pulled back slightly when he felt her body stiffened. Her face was panicked and looked worried.

“It’s okay. I’m fine. You are busy with your work and I’m… kind of tired. I’m sleeping soon after I take my shower.” She lied again.

Jong Suk: Hmmm… okay then. I think I’ll still need to be here for another 2 to 3 hours. I’ll text you when I’m back. Call me when you wake up tomorrow. Okay?

Shin Hye let out a relief sigh. “Okay.”

Jong Suk: I love you.

Shin Hye’s breath caught in when she heard that three words. The guilt was eating her inside and out. She bit her lip and held her eyes low. Without replying him, she ended the call before her tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry…” She whispered at her phone.

Min Ho felt his chest tightened as he slowly brought his hand up to her cheeks and wiped her tears away gently. No matter in the past or the present, her tears still pained his heart. 

Shin Hye looked up at him and her gaze were painful. “Why must it be you?” She sobbed. “Why must Jong Suk’s brother have to be you?” She fisted his shirt and tears continued to run down her cheeks. “Do you know how long it takes to mend my broken heart? Do you know how long it takes for me to move on? I thought everything has finally reached the end when I met Jong Suk but why must you re-appear again? Do you know how much your brother love me? Do you know how much it hurts me for lying to him because of you?” She cried painfully.

Min Ho clenched his jaw when her tears dripped on his fingers, stung his skin like acidic water. “I… I…”

“Why do you keep haunting me after so many years? If I really owe you anything, everything that you did to me 3 years ago in this house was already enough to pay you back. Why can’t you just let go of me? Why?” Shin Hye cut him off as her hands started to hit his chest again.

Min Ho looked at her, letting her to release all her anger by hitting him. He couldn’t deny that he hurt her very deeply. Because of his selfishness, he dragged her into his hell with him.

“Do you love him?” He finally asked the question he feared the most.

Shin Hye’s hands immediately stopped against his chest after she heard his question. She slowly looked up at him and held his eyes. “You don’t have the right to ask me this question. It’s none of your business.”

Still holding her waist firmly, he looked deep into her eyes. “You are avoiding my question. You don’t love him, do you?  You are just treating him like how I treated you 3 years ago. You are using him to fill the hole in your heart. He is just a life buoy you use to keep yourself floating in the deep sea. The one that you really love is me. You are just…”

Slap!

Min Ho’s sentence cut off when Shin Hye’s hand landed harshly across his face.  His face was left with a red hand mark. He gritted his teeth as his eyes darkened at her.

“You are a monster.” Shin Hye breathed heavily as she fisted her hand that was sore by slapping him.

Ignoring the sting on his cheek, he chuckled sarcastically. “Yes. I’m a monster, a monster that consumed you with pains.” He paused as he took something out from his pocket and brought it to her face.

Shin Hye’s eyes widened when she saw the black cuff button he was holding. She never thought he was still keeping it. She wanted to take it but before she could even touch it, Min Ho locked the cuff button inside his fisted palm.

“Give it back to me.” Shin Hye looked at him anxiously.

Min Ho smirked. “It’s not yours.”

“It’s belongs to my father.” She said angrily.

“It was passed down to your father by your grandfather. And it was given to me by your grandmother. I was the man that your grandmother asked to take care of you and to keep this cuff button.” He said.

Shin Hye sobbed inwardly as she looked at him with a pleading gaze. “You were just putting on an act in front of my grandmother that day. Everything was just pretence and you knew it.” She sniffed hardly and bit her lip again. “Please give it back to me.”

“Wae?” Min Ho tightened his grip around her. “You want to give this to my brother?”

Shin Hye inhaled deeply as her eyes were staring deep into his eyes. Looking at his gaze, she was very sure he will not let her go tonight. He will do anything to make her give in and say whatever he wanted to hear from her. She swallowed hard and braved herself.

“If you are so sure that the one I love is you, and if you think that owning this cuff button means owning me as well, then okay. Let’s get back together.” She said without breaking their eye contact.

Min Ho was totally caught off guard by her as he looked at her in disbelief. “W-What?”

Shin Hye smiled softly at him. She softened her fisted hands and slowly moved to his shirt, undid the first two buttons. She felt his body stiffened when her hand moved to his upper bare chest and gently took the rings that were hanging on the necklace around his neck. She looked at the rings for a brief second as she felt a sharp pain in her chest.

“You are still wearing it.” She said with a painful voice.

Min Ho looked down at So Ra and his wedding rings that were now holding in Shin Hye’s hand. “I…” He stopped at mid-sentence when she looked up at him again.

“I’ll break up with Jong Suk and tell him honestly about our past. I’ll end everything with him.” She paused as she held the rings and brought it to his face. “And you… forget about Kang So Ra, throw this away and… marry me.”

Min Ho’s face turned pale as his arm around her waist loosened. He took a big step backward, pulling the necklace away from Shin Hye’s hand.

Looking at his stunned reaction, Shin Hye chuckled sadly. She leaned her back against the wall, trying to get support from the strong concrete wall so that she won’t fall down onto the floor. She was giving him a chance to hurt her all over again.

Still looking at him, she forced out another smile. “Can’t do that?” She laughed softly when she didn’t get any answer from him. “You are very greedy, Lee Min Ho. You want to own me but at the same time you want Kang So Ra too.” She averted her gaze and took another deep breath. “I’m no longer the pathetic girl that you met 3 years ago in that night club. I was no longer that pathetic girl you used to control around in this house 3 years ago. I don’t want to torture myself anymore because of some fake dream that it would never come true.”

She took a last glance at Min Ho before she slowly walked towards the door. But before she could step out of the apartment, her steps froze by Min Ho’s voice behind her.

“I need to find out what happened to her before I could move on.” He said in a trembling voice. “You promised me that you will give me time.”

Without turning back, Shin Hye chuckled softly. “How long? 3 months? 3 years? Or 30 years?” She shook her head. “I don’t have the energy to bear all this with you anymore. I don’t know when you will get out of control again when some dead body found somewhere. I don’t know when you will leave me alone again when you thought you found her.” She inhaled deeply and before she turned the doorknob, she spoke again.

“I think I deserve better than this.”

------------------------------------------------------------

“Shin Hye noona.”

Shin Hye was shook off from her deep thought when a small little boy running towards her. She smiled widely and reached for his tiny body.

“Yes, my dear Ye Joon.” She caressed his chubby cheeks and wiped the sweat on his forehead.

“You see. I draw a very beautiful aeroplane. Sister Mary gave me an A for this drawing.” Little Ye Joon said excitedly.

Shin Hye took the drawing from him and smiled. “Wah, this is very beautiful.”

Little Ye Joon nodded fiercely. “I draw exactly like how Shin Hye noona taught me.”

Shin Hye passed the drawing back to him and pinched his tiny nose softly. “Ye Joon are so daebak. I’m sure you will become a famous artist when you grow up.”

The small little boy giggled heartily before he ran back to his friends who were playing under the tree.

“He has waited for a week just to show you the drawing.”

Shin Hye turned around and smiled warmly at the old woman who was walking towards her. She stood up of the bench before she greeted her. “Sister Mary.”

The old nun nodded her head and smiled. “I thought you won’t be able to make it this week. How was your job in the art school? Very busy?”

Shin Hye shook her head without replying her.

Sister Mary saw the faint creases formed on her forehead. She held her hand and patted it gently. “Don’t keep everything inside your heart. If you have anything that bothers you, you should speak it out. I might not be able to help you but I’m a very good listener. Don’t make your grandmother worried about you in the heaven.”

Shin Hye looked at her and sighed softly. No matter how hard she tried to hide, she will not be able to hide it from Sister Mary. It has been a week since the incident happened with Min Ho in the apartment. She was trying very hard to make herself not to think about him but her brain was just out of her control. Whenever she was alone, her mind will start thinking, about him, about their past.

“Sister Mary, I think I did something sinful.” She looked down and pursed her lips. “I’m being with someone that I don’t love him wholeheartedly. There is still someone living inside my heart and no matter how hard I tried to push him away, he just stay there, refused to go away. I thought I had got rid of him after so many years but I was actually wrong. He was just buried deep inside without leaving even a second.” She slowly looked up at Sister Mary and smiled sadly. “I’m a bad person. I know I should be honest to my boyfriend or even let him go if I don’t really love him but a part of me was very selfish. I wanted to hold onto him because I feel safe and loved when he is with me.”

Sister Mary held tightly onto her hand before she asked. “How about the one that you truly love? Did he know how you feel for him?”

Shin Hye heaved a deep sigh. “Our feelings are not mutual. There was someone else in his heart that I would never be able to replace.”

“Then why do you still want to hold onto it if