Sooyoung’s completely drained right after the burial, two days after the wake. She excused herself from school and tended on the burial just how a bereaved family would act, just how her parents did.

“Baby, we will be home later. Can you manage?” Yoonsoo asks her daughter as they leave her on her bedroom.

Sooyoung gives a weak nod as she lay on her bed to have the much needed rest. Yoonsoo finally leaves her on her comfort upon seeing her even breathing.

“Will she be fine alone?” Jisun asks after Yoonsoo closes the door.

“She needs to rest. She might give in if we insist on sending her to school,” she spares her husband an assuring smile before they left the house for work.

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

Kris had been in a daze for the past two days ever since he learns that Nana is already dead and his father didn’t even gave him the privilege of being on her wake and burial rites. Somehow, even his friends started to distance themselves on him. They even avoided sitting beside him during those classes they share.

It’s his nightmare come true; to feel being alone and avoided again like when he was young. It’s very much unbearable to have all eyes on you not because of awe but of pity and sympathy; to be even tailed with guards and even taken away your social freedom.

Sooyoung is not even in school and he aches to see her, hold her, kiss her and just stay with her. It is maddening not to even hear her voice for the past days since his father confiscated his phone. A glimpse of her will surely make everything better but she is not still around.

When he arrives at home, he locks himself on his room; withdrawing from any contact even with his parents. He pulled his knees to himself as he crouches on the corner of his room; scared of even facing any breathing human in their house.

His mother is going insane as well from what is happening to her son. She hates seeing him being like that just as how he was when he was young; too young to even experience being an outcast because of his father’s strict orders. He was not violently mistreated but the idea of being pulled away from mingling on your own social circle; instead being looked and whispered or murmured when you step into the limelight is surely not a good thing for a young boy.

She would often hear him scream in his room from unwanted nightmares when he was still young and she don’t want him to experience it again. She had enough of seeing him struggle to keep up with his father’s expectation and she is willing to do everything to give way for him.

“Kris, baby,” she steps inside his room to find the lights switched off, except for the bedside lamp. A lump figure crouched on the far end of the room escalated the fear inside her. She rushes to get near him, but he visibly flinches from her touch which brought tears on her eyes.

“Baby, this is your mother,” Stella reaches but what he whispered made her cry all the more.

“I will be good… I will obey father… Don’t take her away… I will be good… Don’t take her…”

The shake in his voice from fear is very much evident as his eyes wanders looking so lost and scared.

She moves forward, crouching to take his shaking figure in her arms as she tries to soothe him; to bring back the Kris she wants, not the other one.

“Baby, please, this is your mommy, don’t be like this,” Stella sobs.

There’s always wrong with her family and she is trying to think of offering even her soul to the devil just to have a peaceful one; an ideal one which will settle her. Her sobs echoed inside Kris’s room and she didn’t know how she finally drifted into dreamland with a shaking Kris in her arms.

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

The severe pounding in her head made her pull herself off from her bed and grip her head just to lessen the pain. Her eyesight is even failing her as she sees everything getting upside down. Tears are falling from her eyes as she tries to take in the pain without wailing.

She finally fell on her knees as she tries to scamper for her bag to get the medicine. When she finally did, her clumsy hands made her shake the bottle violently as few more unnecessary pills spills. She lost count of how many she had in her palm as she downs it on , pushing it hard without the aid of water and wait in agony for the much needed after effect relief.

When she can finally breathe, a still bit dizzy from the throb in her head, she picks up the spilled pills and places it back on the bottle, not minding the dirt that had accumulated on them. She needs to keep this and she plans to do so.

As she drags herself back to her bed, she picks up her phone only to get disappointed upon seeing no message from him. What her mother had told her suddenly echoed inside her head once again.

‘If you won’t break ties then I am afraid he will be the one to break ties with you.’

Unwanted tears fell from her eyes as she tries to convince herself that she is just being paranoid and dismisses the heart breaking realization as she pushes herself to sleep to prepare for school tomorrow.

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

The strain in his arms and neck woke up Kris. He tries to shuffle off, but the tight embrace on him made him stop. When he had adjusted, the sleeping face of his mother leaning on the wall greeted him. She had cradled him and he finally realizes why.

He must have been into the same state again.

A tightening on his chest made him sigh at how broken their family is. They may be together, but their emotional attachment towards each other had never been good.

His half-sister is away to live her life; his father is living with them but he is always out of town and whenever he is home, he is so distant; his mother is too worked up on bringing all of them together, forgetting to even think of herself; and here he is, wasted from being deprived of the only thing he wants.

‘What a perfect model,’ he bitterly thought, trying to shift and lift his mother to his bed. School will be in two hours so he has to prepare.

The house is still silent and dark. His father might still be sleeping so he decided to make some breakfast for his mother before leaving earlier than the usual early time he leaves. After having something to make him survive the morning, he left a tray on his side table for his mother.

“Let’s leave,” he instructed his two body guards’ right after closing the front door.

“But Young Master, it is still early,” one of them objects.

“Then give me the car keys, I will leave on my own,” he lazily turns on the said guy.

With a swift bow, he immediately fetched the service car Kris uses and drove him to school.

Apparently, he is still the very first to get there. After they parked the car, he stayed inside, waiting for the students to pour in before he steps out of his car.

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

“Miss President! How are you now? Are doing fine? We are sorry for what happened to your Nana. Condolence,” the SC Secretary moves to put an understanding hand on her shoulder.

Mustering up all her strength, she managed to pull a smile, “I’m good and thank you.”

“I have finished all the needed works so all we have to do for this final quarter is to prepare for the upcoming finals,” she smiled and Sooyoung is so glad to hear such.

“Thank you,” then for the first time, which even surprised the said lady, Sooyoung enveloped her in a hug. She felt hesitant but soon hugged back.

As she heads to her first class, she sees Kris at the opposite end of the hallway. She felt that pull on her to run to him but the sight of his two body guards stopped her. She bit her lower lip, averted her gaze to avoid the tears falling and walked to her class.

A faint trace of smile reached her lips upon seeing a napping Chanyeol on their first class together.

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

Lunch period came and he decided to spend it on the clinic to savor the silence of the said room. Mei notices the faint dark circles under his eyes.

“Had a rough night?” she asks as she hands him some pillows.

He fluffs it on the sofa and nods before lying on his back.

“Take this,” she hands him a bottle, “It will somehow relieve the stress.”

“You are not trying to poison me right?” he stares at the bottle for a while before receiving it.

“I would have done it before,” Mei rolls her eyes and left him the privacy and silence he wants and very much needed.

The silence that followed gave him the opportunity to ponder over things. With a sigh, he closes his eyes, letting his arm rest above his eyes.

“Is it possible to sell your soul to the devil and really get everything you want?”

Mei spares him a sad look, pitying this young man from all that’s happening.

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

Stella wakes up from the rays of the sun streaming from the open curtains. When she adjusts, she felt the soft mattress and the warmth of the blanket above her. She looks around and recognizes her son’s room.

She pulls herself up and notices the tray on the side table. There’s a note stuck on the cover. She recognizes her son’s penmanship. It’s just a short notice saying she should eat. When she lifted the cover, she felt proud and maze at how his son can make a meal.

After some thought, she finally takes the breakfast before preparing to carry out whatever is on her mind.

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

“I’ll just drop by at the clinic to get the annual report so I can include it on the annual portfolio,” Sooyoung smiles at Chanyeol as they part for their next period.

“You will be free for this period so I will just follow you at the SC’s office, okay?” he reaches to cup her face, kissing her forehead not minding the people around them.

With a sigh, she heads on the clinic. She notices the two men in black by the doorway and it would only mean one thing.

Her heart starts to palpitate as the rush of emotions grips her. Her eyes start to sting from tears as she blinks furiously to avoid it from falling.

Turning on the corner, she uses the other entrance since those two will surely interrogate her and she really hates it. She has seen them do it on his friends and she doesn’t want the same scenario.

She reaches for the knob with trembling hands as she braces herself of what she may do if she gets the time to be with him after all these days.

Mei is not on her desk after she finally gets inside. Since the door she used is on the end of rows of bed, she peeked on each to check if he might be sleeping on one of each, but he’s not in here.

When she reaches the desk, she sees him on the sofa, sleeping. With trembling hands, as she bit her lower lip to stop the sob form echoing inside the clinic, she let her hand caress his face.

The ache is too much to handle as tears came in rush. She wipes it off and leans forward to kiss his lips ever so lightly before leaving the folder on the desk. Mei will surely understand what the folder means and then she walks out the room in hurried steps. She needs to let this out. She takes the elevator and she’s thankful that no one came to join her. Upon arriving at the last floor, she runs to the sanctuary of the office, sliding down the door upon closing it as she finally cries, her sobs echoing inside.

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

Stella finally arrives at Kris’s old unit. It’s been a month since he had been banished from using the said unit. It’s still well-kept as she had instructed. She doesn’t want his son to feel any discomfort when he finally gets to use it again.

His room is neatly cleaned, some his clothes still on the closet. There’s even few more belongings he had left in there which his mother surely knows that he value those. As she walks to the kitchen, a slightly ajar portion of the wall on the far end of the sink caught her attention. With deliberate steps, she moves to the said location, slowly pushing the said portion. It creaks as she tries to reach for a light switch. The moment the room gets illuminated, she gasps.

It’s like a little museum filled with things she can’t quite comprehend how it brought up the interest of her son. Books, bottled drinks, shirts, and other more things took the best of her interest to know how his son values these things.

A hanging frame on the corner of the large broken mirror caught her attention. She reaches for it as she carefully removes the stuck note on it. It’s from Baekhyun. Her eyes widened before it starts to water upon seeing the picture. It’s the one Baekhyun captured during their basketball match.

Suddenly everything makes sense now. All these things surely have something to do with her and him.

It dawns on her that her son had been so into Sooyoung even before and she mentally reprimands herself for not looking over her son these past years. A hanging white cloth covering the other wall caught her attention again. She returns the frame on the hook and steps to see what he could be covering. With a slight pull, the cloth came off. She stares at the sight in front of her. His son is surely surprising her as she ventures more in his unit.

The wallpaper is visibly personalized since half of it is like a large picture of him and her holding a paper lantern. Although the picture seems washed out, it is still visible in the eyes. She recognizes the occasion which was during the Grand Annual Ball of Eiden Academy where they were invited.  She is wearing a glittering golden long gown while he is on a black three-piece suit.

The intimacy of the distance is very romantic and picturesque. Then on the other half are Polaroid photos of her in every angle. Some are stolen, some are not. She deduced that he wants to surprise her with this.

Finally making up her mind, she left the said area, securing the door before leaving his unit to head on her next destination.

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

The great C’s hospital looms over her as Stella gets to the entrance. She had never been inside the said structure since her husband forbids it. After asking a nurse passing by, she takes the elevator. It opens on a busy hallway with doctors in coat walking, talking with their colleagues.

The sight of her inside the said place brought up whispers as she heads to where the CEO’s office is. A desk outside with a young lady sitting behind it made her stop.

“Excuse me, is Dr. Choi Yoonsoo inside?” she asks the said lady.

“She’s currently on her rounds and will be back in a while, is she expecting you?” the lady asks, standing up.

“No, this is actually a surprise visit. How about Dr. Choi Jisun, where is he?” Stella asks again.

“Dr. Jisun is on the surgery room right now and will be out hours later, would you want me to inform him about your arrival?” she asks again.

Stella shook her head, “I am here to meet Dr. Yoonsoo, please, do inform herthat Mienmei Wu is here to meet her.”

The said lady nods as she guides her inside the office to call on Dr. Yoonsoo. Instead of sitting on the plush couch, she heads to the large framed picture above the large shelves of books. There’s just the three of them on the picture and from the look of Sooyoung, it looks very recent.

Then she let her eyes travel on the line of frames seated atop the shelves. As she marvels at the sight of the perfect family captured on those pictures, the door creaks.

“What do you want? Do you know that my husband might hurt you if he learns that you are here?”

“No greetings or such?” Stella turns around, composing herself as she stares at Yoonsoo.

“Why are you here?” Yoonsoo asks, still standing near the door.

“I know that you want your daughter to have what I want for my son as well,” Stella starts, slowly walking near her.

For someone that’s already 41, Stella is surely too y and beautiful to be having such age. She may pass for someone ten years younger her age. The glamour that she exudes will surely intimidate anyone, but Yoo