CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

With her luggage on one hand, and her phone on the other, Soojung quickly enters the heavily guarded hospital her brother told her. Going there was the first thing she did as soon as her plane landed. When the news came out, she didn’t think twice and went straight ahead to the airport so she could fly back to Seoul at the earliest, and now that she was inside the said hospital, she felt her heart crushing painfully at every step she took.

 

And there they were, at the end of the hallway. Her mother, sitting down at one of the chairs and sobbing her eyes out, together with her brother who was calming her down. That scene was so new to her. So new, and yet so painful to watch as it was actually her first time seeing her mother crying like that. Frozen at her place, she was unable to move closer in shock and accidentally drops her luggage, causing them to look at her direction.

 

“Oh, Soojung.” Mrs. Jung immediately stood up to run and hug her youngest child. Hugging her daughter doesn’t stop her from crying, in fact, it makes her cry harder than before. “I am sorry for keeping all these to you. I am very, very sorry.”

 

Confused by what she just said, she hugs her mother tightly without questioning her words while she glanced at Jaejoong who just sighed. No words came out from when she was just looking at him, but he knows that she wanted explanation to what their mother has just said.

 

“Mother, you should get some rest. I’ll to talk Soojung.”

 

 

Since there were a lot of journalists roaming around outside the hospital in hopes to get an exclusive interview of either one of the members of the family, it wouldn’t be the best place to talk to her so he had brought her out for a coffee at a café a little further to the place. So far she hasn’t shown any emotions nor has she spoken much and just kept on starring at the espresso in front of her, but neither has he.

 

“He was diagnosed last year, lung cancer, stage four. It was detected months before his birthday.” He starts off, watching her carefully on how she was going to react. He had actually thought that she’d arrive in the hospital crying, but he stand corrected. “When the company first started, father used to be so stressed out a lot to the point that the only he could do was smoke 20 cigarettes a day just to calm his nerves. He had difficulty to stop, and only successfully did so when Sooyeon was born. She was, back then, very sickly so he had no choice but to do it.”

 

Still, Soojung showed no reaction despite hearing his story for the first time. She could only hope that this serves as a wakeup call for his brother to stop smoking.

 

“Compared to Sooyeon and I who got engaged when we were already in our 20s, your engagement got arranged earlier than we all expected because he knew that he won’t live any longer. He wanted to see the three of us happily married before he dies… but I guess, he wont able to do that anymore...”

 

It all makes sense to her now. Everything makes sense. That’s why he asked her to just stay in Seoul. It wasn’t just because ‘they wanted her to be close to Jongin’, it was because he knew that he won’t be able to see her, or any of her children again. That's why he didn't question her sister when she moved out of her place with her husband. That’s why he was pushing her wedding before she could even graduate. That’s why he was the one who seemed the most eager about the wedding.

 

“Remember when you came to me worriedly, telling me that you heard mother crying and thinking that our parents were going to separate? Mother was indeed crying that night, but it was because he feeling much more worse, and she couldn’t do anything but watch. She didn’t know what to do.” Jaejoong sighs before continuing, “I lied when I told you that they were in the States for a business trip. The midnight when they left the mansion secretly, I was there assisting them. But instead of heading to the airport, they went to a private hospital in Incheon instead.”

 

Still looking down at her untouched coffee, she finally speaks up. “Am I the only one who didn’t know about this?”

 

He would be lying if he didn’t admit that he was startled when she suddenly talked. “No, no. Because father didn’t want anyone to know, only a few people knew. Apart from mother and I, our assistants, our lawyers, some of the mansion’s oldest and most loyal employees knew.” He answers.

 

“So Jessica unnie didn’t know?”

 

“We didn’t tell her, but after I told you both to be with father more often when we were in London, she got suspicious. I didn’t tell her the truth, but knowing her, I bet she asked either one of our parents until she finally learned the truth.”

 

He notices her expression changing, from a poker face to a tired and sad one. “How will we inform her that father has passed away when we don’t even know where she is? How will she say goodbye to him for the last time-”

 

“Actually… I do.” This time, it was Soojung who looks at her brother while he avoided her gaze as he felt guilty of not telling her. “I know where Sooyeon is.”

 

“W-What?”

 

“I knew that Sooyeon had plans to leave the country, but I didn’t know exactly when or where to. When you called me, I was genuinely surprised because I didn’t think she would leave already. But when my workers and I checked the airport’s CCTV, we easily found out where she went to.” He wasn’t even look at her, but he could feel her slowly frowning. “She wasn’t in Paris just like how she told father. She went to New Zealand and has been staying there for months-”

 

“And yet you didn’t bother telling me?”

 

“She didn’t want anyone to know. Hell, she didn’t even want me to know but she had to spend some money eventually and I had to help her somehow-”

 

“She didn’t want anyone to know? So, I’m a part of ‘anyone’ now?” She laughs half-heartedly, “For ’s sake, I am a part of this family as well! I’m also her sibling, her sister. Why was I not informed? How come everybody’s hiding everything from me?”

 

“It’s not like that, Soojung. Don’t be mad because of this-”

 

“I am not! I just…” She insists. Now she’s feeling tears forming on her eyes. She knows that she shouldn’t be, considering what’s happening to her family currently, but she just couldn’t help feeling upset. Not wanting to be on a public place anymore, she suddenly stood up. “Excuse me, I have to go…”

 

“I’ll drive you home-”

 

“No, oppa. I want to be alone.” She states, turning around from him.

 

 

Never has Soojung thought that the mansion could possible look much more depressing than before, but that was exactly what it looked like when she arrived back home. It was empty, dark and depressing, with no one around and even when the windows were closed, it felt so cold that she had to tighten the cardigan that she had on.

 

The first thing she sees as soon as she entered was the huge painting of their family in the middle of the stairs. She has passed by that painting a lot of times already, but somehow it was attracting her as if it was calling for her name. Slowly, she walks at the stairs and stops right in front of it. She has never noticed it before, but she realizes that the painter had painted them with such happy expressions.

 

Honestly, she doesn’t even remember seeing her father smiling that widely before. Seeing how young she looked on it, she was almost sure that it was done right before she left for Los Angeles. It slowly hits her. The fact that she was never going to see her family like that anymore, nor was she going to see her beloved father anymore. Even when she was quietly starting to cry, she didn’t move her eyes from it.

 

No matter how hard she tries to stop the tears or look away from it, she just can’t to do it. She sobs, burying her face into her hands, and eventually collapses on the marble stairs. A lot of regrets were going through her mind, on how she should have tried at least to be closer to her father, on how she wished she could have told her the real her or at least she could have told him that she loved him. But now, she couldn’t do all of that anymore. She was too late.

 

The only thing that stops her from crying was the sudden sound of the doors behind her opening. In fear that her brother sees her like that, she quickly wipes her tears off and puts up her best poker face. But instead of seeing Jaejoong, it was her fiancé she sees.

 

“Jongin?” Confused and surprised, her eyebrow raises. Before she could ask what he was doing there when she knows that he should be in Tokyo that time, the boy quickly runs towards her to wrap his hands around her petite body.

 

“I’m sorry, Soojung. I’m so sorry.” He mumbles to her. He, himself, was getting emotional as he hugged her. He knows how much she loved her family and this happened. “Are… are you okay? How are you feeling?”

 

He literally wanted to punch his face for asking that stupid question, if only he wouldn’t look stupid if he does that. Her father just died so obviously, she wasn’t okay but that question still slipped off his lips. However, before answering, Soojung smiles at him, confusing him.

 

“I’m… fine. Are you okay?” She asks the question back as she caressed his cheeks, looking very worried. “Did you come here all the way from Tokyo?”

 

“Y-Yeah, I did.” He blinks as he was not expecting her to sound very concerned about his trip. “The boys are on their way back here as well.”

 

“The wedding’s still going through, by the way.”

 

“Right now, I don’t give a damn about the wedding. I came here for you. I know that it’s hard, but I just want to tell you that I’m here-”

 

“You must be very hungry and tired. I don’t know if there are any snacks in the refrigerator but let me check-”

 

“Soojung.” The boy looks straight to her eyes, putting both of his hands on her shoulders. “Stop pretending that you’re okay. It’s alright to be upset. It’s alright to cry-”

 

“Oh, but I’m genuinely fine though?” She insists and even puts up another smile. Usually when she does that, he couldn’t help but to smile at her back. But this time, seeing her forcing her smile was hurting him instead. “It’s not like something’s going to change anyways. I won’t able to see my father anymore, but I didn’t get to see him a lot either when he was alive so…”

 

Her voice suddenly cracks, and he expected her to finally cry, but being the stubborn girl that she is, she just kept on smiling in front of him until she finally left him to look for snacks.

 

 

Later that day, an hour after the boys arrived back in Seoul, they all decided to meet up at the funeral hall. They arrived with their own families, but soon after separated from them as they waited for their other friends to arrive. Jongin, now in his formal wear, and Jinri were the first ones to arrive.

 

Inside, a huge picture of Mr. Jung was shown, adorned by white flowers and candles. On the right front side of the hall was the Jung family, with Soojung standing right next to her mother wearing a hanbok while they talk to one of their guests. Instead of speaking directly to her, the first thing the group of friends did was bow in union to the picture to pay their last respects, and does the same thing in front of Soojung, her mother, her brother and his wife.

 

“We offer our deepest condolences.” Junmyeon tells Mrs. Jung after their handshake. “What happened was very unfortunate.”

 

Still teary eyed, the widow thanks her daughter’s friends for coming. She did really look like she appreciated seeing them there, though not so much when she saw Jongin there. Engaged couples who were about to get married weren’t supposed to attend funerals, and yet there they were. Nevertheless, she gives him a pat on his shoulder. After shaking their hands with Jaejoong and Catherine, they finally reached Soojung at last, with them hugging her instead.

 

“I’m sorry you guys have to cancel your trip.” She tells them before they could even try to say some words of condolences.

 

“Oh Soojung,” Tao couldn’t help but to sigh and hug the shorter girl. “We’d rather stay right next to you than go elsewhere.”

 

“We’re always here for you, Jung.” Jinri tells her, pushing Tao a little further so that she could hug her. “I hope we could make you feel better in some way-”

 

“You guys, I feel okay. No need to worry.” She tells them as she slowly faked a smile.

 

Seeing her like that made their friends glance at Jongin. He had told them about Soojung acting a little strange about her father’s death, but they didn’t believe him. Now that she’s acting the same way as she did to him, they couldn’t help but to get worried. Surely, she was faking her happy persona once again, knowing that she has reputation for that.

 

 

It was nice that a lot of people turned up to say goodbye to her father one last time, Soojung thought, though she wasn’t very sure if she could still think the same upon seeing her brother-in-law walking up to her family. She couldn’t believe his guts to show up in front of her family like that, when he had never showed love to her sister and is one of the reason why she’s not there.

 

Still, the smile on her face didn’t fade as she watched him greet her mother and her brother at the corner of her eyes. If she hears it right, he also offers his condolences, bowing slightly to her mother before turning to her.

 

“Soojung, I-”

 

“Please don’t talk to me.” She cuts him off, but was still smiling. “Not today. Not in my father’s funeral.”

 

“You must really hate me so much.” Without saying anything else, Jin sighs before walking away.

 

Throughout the rest of a day, Jin leaves Soojung alone.

 

 

In the small world of business and the upper class, there is a chance that most people were acquaintances. So when the news broke out, most of Soojung’s former classmates and their families attended, having met the late patriarch of the Jung household on several occasions and despite most of them still being on their summer vacations abroad. Jongin even spotted Taeyong’s family, though he didn’t see his former teammate.

 

“Hey guys.” Since nobody in their group was too enthusiastic to talk and were just silently praying, they immediately look up knowing a guest was talking to them. Turns out it was Seulgi, looking very concerned and preoccupied by seeing her friends like that. “How’s Soojung?”

 

Not that they don’t want her around, but they just exchanged looks after hearing her question. It was just they, themselves, didn’t know how their own friend was feeling. Sure, she was smiling at them, saying that she was fine, but they all doubt that she’s telling the truth, especially Jongin. Even though they’re not really close, he knows how much her family means too her so he knows she’s far from being fine.

 

Only Sehun stood up to greet and hug the girl. “Well, she’s okay. That’s what she says.” He glances to where the youngest Jung was – at the same spot as yesterday, causing Seulgi to look at the same direction. “But we all doubt it.”

 

“Gosh, I feel really bad for her.” She whispers. Soojung catches her looking at her and immediately waves at her, and she had no choice to wave at her back. “I have to go and greet her. I’ll see you in a bit.”

 

After Seulgi walked away from him to approach Soojung, Sehun turns around and was preparing to sit again when Jongin suddenly stood up from his seat, looking very surprised. At first he thought that there was something in his face, but he realizes that he was looking past him. Puzzled, he looks at where he was looking at and after doing so, he slowly adapts the same expression as him.

 

Even Seulgi notices the look on Soojung’s face. She wasn’t mad, but she didn’t look happy either. It was like she has seen a ghost seeing how shocked she looked. Since she knows that she has seen her, she was pretty sure she wasn’t looking at her so she had to turn around to finally realize what was happening.

 

“Isn’t that her sister, Jessica?”

 

Whispers and soft gasps were heard inside as they watched Jaejoong enter and walked in the centre of the hall hand in hand his teary-eyed younger sister, who looked rather bloated and chubbier. And was that… a small baby bump on her stomach?

 

“She’s pregnant?” Jessica hears a person whisper not so quietly behind her. But she didn’t care about the attention she was getting. The only thing that she was focusing on was the huge picture of her father in front of her.

 

In front of everyone Soojung quickly run to take a better view of her sister. Sure Jaejoong has told her that he actually knows where she was and might have informed her, but she never thought her sister would just walk in a room full of their friends, acquaintances and other important people. Jessica immediately runs to hug her, finally separating her grip from her brother’s, and she swears that she heard her sister whisper that she was sorry.

 

“Unnie…” She looks at her sister crying, and then to the little baby bump that she had. “You don’t know how glad I am to see you two here.”

 

Shortly after, Jessica bows right in front of the picture of their father. While bowing, she couldn’t stop bawling her eyes out, even when she finally faced their mother. Since she never mentioned her having a baby, she was shocked but in a good way. That was until Jaejooong whispers something into her ear, probably something about the baby not being her husbands, and it broke Jessica’s heart when her mother’s smile fades away. Much more when she spots her husband standing behind her, looking surprised to see her.

 

 

“If you brought me here to argue, I’m begging you please, not today.” Jessica immediately whispers after her husband had finally let go of her grip once they got to an empty hallway. She wasn’t sure if she had made the right choice to actually go there with him, knowing how he is, but Jin hasn’t stopped on asking her to come with him so she had to. “You have the right to be furious after what I did, but I’m still shocked over what happen so-”

 

“Sooyeon, I haven’t even spoken any word.” He cuts her off from complaining, “Let me speak first, damn it.”

 

“Okay, go ahead and speak. I’m listening.”

 

Instead of actually saying something, Jin finds it difficult to start. He knows exactly what to say, but for some reason, he just couldn’t find the right words. “I just… I don’t know how to start.” He sighs, running his fingers to his hair as he leaned to the wall next to her.

 

Jessica keeps quiet, but couldn’t help but to find his actions a little strange. He looked quite nervous and tense, and that wasn’t very like him at all.

 

“I... I was there when you father died.”

 

“You what?!”

 

Seeing how quick her expression changed to a mad one, he cuts her off again before she could even accuse him of doing something absolutely ridiculous to her father. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I didn’t do anything to him, I swear. I mean, before I got there, I did… plan to do something but…” He admits, looking down to his feet, indicating that he regretted it. “Seeing how weak and miserable he looked, I suddenly lost the intention to do it.”

 

“He looked that bad?” She asks, and even though he blatantly just admitted that he did plan on doing something, the only thing she cared about was her father’s condition. Just imagining how he describe him was enough to make her teary eyed. “I should have been there for him. I shouldn’t have left.”

 

“He really loved you, Sooyeon.” He utters silently. “Just before he took his last breathe, he asked me to take care of you for the last time. I couldn’t say no, but I knew I’m not the one who could protect you…” He glances at her and sighs, “I’m letting you go, Sooyeon. Just like how you originally wanted to. After the funeral, I’ll have my lawyers over-”

 

And just like that, Sooyeon starts to sob uncontrollably. For the first time in their two years of marriage, Jin sees her cry. Not knowing how to comfort her, he could only pat her awkwardly while looking around just to make sure nobody was watching them. “You know, you really should spend more time with your family before that boyfriend of yours. Especially with Soojung…”

 

Stopping briefly from crying, Jessica looks up to him to ask, “What is that supposed to mean?”

 

Jin could only sigh and looked away. “Go ask her yourself.”

 

 

Even when she insisted to stay, Soojung was advised to go back home and rest by her mother. She hasn’t cried in front of her family, nor does she has plans to, but her tiredness was very evident. She was caught with her eyes closed, sleeping when she was just sitting so she had no choice to go back home. But once she put on her comfortable clothes, she wasn’t able to sleep easily just like she thought she could. Instead of trying to sleep, she goes downstairs at their backyard to get some fresh air.

 

Enjoying her solitude, Soojung lets her mind wander. The following days wouldn’t be very easy for her, considering that her father has just died and her wedding is still going to push through. She found it funny, the fact that she hated how she got engaged exactly a year ago without telling her, but now she’d wish her father could have seen her get married and felt like she couldn't do it without him. He’s the one behind all of that after all.

 

Before she could start crying, she immediately tried to think of something else. For some reason, she automatically thought of Jongin, and by just the thought of him cheers her up. He had been right next to her throughout these past and difficult days to support her, and she couldn’t be more grateful to him. She removes the chain that had the engagement ring he brought for her and plays with it for a little while before putting it on her finger. Once it was placed on her ring finger, she kisses it with her eyes closed.

 

The wind blows, and despite it being a summer night, Soojung shivers. Maybe it wasn’t really a good idea to go out in shorts and an oversized t-shirt. Even the blanket that she had around her shoulders wasn’t really keeping her warm either. However, just when she was about to stand up and go back inside the mansion, she suddenly felt someone backhugging her so she looks up…

 

“What are you doing here, wifey?” Jongin asks with a small smile, and then plants a quick kiss on her forehead. “Aren’t you cold?”

 

Stunned because she was literally just thinking about him moments ago and now he’s literally there in front of her, she looks at him in shock. He really knows when to come, she thought. “Why are you here?”

 

Before answering, he sits right next to her at the couch. “I asked where you were and they told me that your mother has sent you home. I just dropped by to make sure you were okay.” Since she didn’t really answer his second question, he just removes his blazer and puts it around her shoulder, something that reminded her of something similar to what he did last year.

 

“Thank you.” She blushes, but thankfully he wasn’t able to notice it considering that it was dark outside. “Shall I bring you some drinks? Do you want some wine? Water? Juice?”

 

“I’ll get them myself, thanks.” Jongin stood up, and was about to go inside when Soojung does the same thing. She insists on coming with him to the kitchen and even leads him the way by holding his hand as if it was his first time there and didn’t know where it was. He didn’t mind it though.

 

Just like how they expected, the kitchen was dark and empty, since most of the workers in the mansion were either in the funeral or were already resting. They didn’t even bother turning on the lights as the moonlight outside was already giving them the sufficient light. Soojung sits at one of the counter, letting him choice whatever he wants in the refrigerator. He had no idea what he wanted so it takes him a long time to pick until she suddenly spoke up.

 

“Is it bad that I feel upset?” She mumbles, causing Jongin to look at her but the strands of her hair were covering her face. “My family… They never let me in, and I feel as if I’m not a part of them. But then again, I never told them about myself either, so I guess I deserve it.”

 

Instead of continuing to look for something to drink, Jongin closes the refrigerator and walks closer to her. “I’m sorry. I’m being dramatic again.” She apologizes, faking a smile once more just like she has been doing the past few days.

 

“There’s nothing wrong with being upset or sad, Soojung.” He tells her, placing a strand of her hair at the back of her ear to see her face more clearly. “They have a reason for not telling you, and that is because they didn’t want to hurt you, just like how you didn’t want to tell them. Some people just have a different way of showing their love.”

 

Not wanting to let him see her get teary eyed, Soojung lets her head rest into his shoulder, and he knows that she was about to cry so he just lets her by gently caressing her hair. “Even the strongest people get tired sometimes. You’ve been strong for so long, so just let it all out.”

 

Soojung listens to him, but before she could let her tears flow, she hears a faint cough and knowing who it was exactly by the voice, she immediately stood up from the counter, pushing him a bit and turns away to dry her eyes. Jongin thought he was just hearing things, but was quickly embarrassed upon seeing both Jessica and Yoona at the kitchen entrance, who both had a cheeky little grin on their faces.

 

“God, why do we always get caught?” Soojung thought to herself.

 

Not knowing what to do, Jongin faces Soojung, but she was too busy making sure that there were no tears on her face, so he quickly turns back to the older women to bow and greet them.

 

“Lovely evening we’re having.” Jessica comments, walking up to the refrigerator to drink something while Yoona sits at one of the counter chair, chuckling.

 

“Uhmm…” Jongin glances back at Soojung, before mumbling the most stupid and cliché excuse on an awkward situation ever. “I have to go to the bathroom. Please excuse me.”

 

As soon as he leaves the room, Soojung turns to her sister with her usual fake smile but before she could even speak up and greet both of the ladies a good evening, her sister was quick to fire her a question. “What was that all about?”

 

“What was what, unnie?”

 

“Don’t play dumb with me, sis. You know what I’m talking about.”

 

Instead of actually giving her an answer, Soojung just laughs awkwardly and then takes small bottled water from the refrigerator to drink it in one gulp while both Yoona and Jessica just watched and judged her silently. When she finished, she makes the same excuse as her fiancé and runs off the kitchen.

 

“Did something happen between those two when I was gone?” Jessica asks her cousin after grabbing bottle water herself.

 

Yoona just shrugs, “Apart from the kiss that they had at their school’s ball, I don’t think their relationship really improved.” She says as if it wasn’t a big deal, but her older cousin’s reaction was saying the opposite. “They’ve kissed before that too, so…” She thought that it would make Jessica less surprised, but it just made her eyes wide even more.

 

“I really need to have a word with my sister soon…” The older Jung states as she thought about what her husband said about talking to her sister.

 

 

Everybody's eyes were on the Jungs when they finally arrived at the burial site, and even if they were the ones who lost a family member, they held their head high. Unlike before, Soojung was now wearing a knee-length white dress and was the only in the family who wasn't wearing a pair sunglasses to hide their puffy eyes. Her hair was done simply, with her not using her usual hair accesories and just had it straightened.

 

A lot more people went at the burial day of their father on the last day of the funeral. Those who visited before came back one last time such as their employees, family friends, distant relatives. Of course, Soojung’s childhood friends were also present at the burial site together with some of their former Imperium Academy classmates. That doesn’t surprises Jongin as much when he saw some of Ehra High students paying their respects there.

 

Maybe he did expect Youngji to be there, even though she was supposed to work back in Jeju until school starts again, considering that she works for the Jungs, but he never thought he’d see Mark, Jackson, Taehyung, Jin and especially, Namjoon there. And to make it much weirder, he didn’t look like he was being forced by his friends to go there with them. In fact, when he caught the young heirs looking at him, he just nodded at them. He didn’t frown, he didn’t snicker. Thankfully no matter how much they hated their guts, Soojung’s former classmates were civilized and pretended like they weren't there.

 

It wasn’t just the young heirs who were surprised when they arrived there though. Just like everybody else, Youngji, Mark, Jackson, Jin, Taehyung and Namjoon all went up to the Jung family to express their condolences no matter how scary or intimidating they thought they were. Of course, they got confused upon seeing them, only knowing Youngji out of the six, but still thank them for coming anyways. But as soon as Soojung sees them, she quickly smiles widely and introduces them to her family as her ‘friends from Ehra High’. Seeing her smiling like that got them a little confused.

 

Since they weren't married yet, Jongin didn't sit with the Jungs during Jaejoong's eulogy for their father. He wasn't able to focus to his speech though and was just looking at Soojung. As if she knew that he was looking at her, Soojung turns around and catches him. Usually, when he gets caught looking at her, he'd look away, but this time he just offers her a small smile that she returned back. 

 

Jongin could only wish to hold her hand at that very moment.

 

 

After the burial, the Jungs had invited everyone back in their mansion for dinner and the atmosphere was much better than the past days back in the funeral home. Though most of the guest left already because of their busy schedules, there were still a moderate amount of people who came, including both Imperium Academy students and Ehra High students, who were eating far from each other, but were casually glancing at each other.

 

Soojung would probably be torn to be with either of her two group of friends, but fortunately for her (or more like unfortunately for her), she was stuck in her father’s study room with her family and their lawyer as they tell them Mr. Jung’s will and the inheritance that he left for them. Inside the perfectly furniture and polished room was her mother, her older siblings and her father’s siblings.

 

The lawyer was such a slow reader, and it was killing her slowly. She honestly wasn’t even interested how much of the company stocks her father left her or which of the many cars he had was going to be passed down to her, but of course, she just couldn’t say that. She felt like her older siblings were more deserving to receive something from him than her, she thought.

 

As everybody expected, Jaejoong was named the next CEO of the company in the will that his father left, leaving 50% of the family'sbusiness empire to him, being the eldest one. He couldn’t help but to glance to his younger sisters. He knows that Soojung was never really interested in the company, and Sooyeon wants to build her own fashion empire, but he wished that the also took part of it, though they were also given quite a lot of stocks.

 

In the end, Soojung was left with a lot of things including a 20% share of the company, an old painting, and one of her father's car, but the one that made a lot of impact to her was when the lawyer handed her an envelope, saying that it was a letter from her father, a hand-written one on top of that. Her siblings actually also received the same white envelopes and were already tearing up when they started reading it, so before she could even do the same, she excuses herself from the room.

 

Seeing how Soojung rushed out of the room, Jongin rapidly stood up from his seat and hands his cup to Chanyeol. He was about to follow her, only to be block by his own friends, explaining that she might need some time to herself.

 

As soon as she arrived at her room, the first thing that she does was open the letter with shaky hands and later turns on the light for her to see well. She sat up at her bed and started to read the letter.

 

To my dearest Soojung

 

If you’re reading this, then it means that I passed away before your wedding because if you’re not, I would have made another one.

 

When your mother told me that she was pregnant with you, I couldn’t help my happiness. For nine months, I wondered if you were going to be as moody as your brother or as noisy as your sister. I prayed that you wouldn’t be like them, and I’m glad you didn’t. You grew up happy and were always smiling in front of us, no matter in what situation you were. Even when you were just a baby, whenever I see you’d be smiling and it made my worries and tiredness from work go away, to the point that I would sneak out of the office just to go back home earlier and play with you. Your mother would get mad at me for doing so but I bet she’s just jealous.

 

I knew that you were a smart girl so I thought of sending you abroad to study with your sister. But I should have done that when you were a little older. You were away from home so young and I used to think that it was for your own good, but now that I think about it, you must have suffered a lot. I should have thought about your feelings before thinking about your future.

 

It’s unfortunate that I wouldn’t have been there to see you get married. I wanted to see all of my children happily starting their own family before I leave, but it’s too late now. Though seeing you with Jongin is enough for me. By the look and the way that he looks and speaks of you, I can say that he cherish you a lot. I’ve already told him to do his best to make you happy, and I really hope that he does that. You’re very precious and even though I won’t be around you physically, it would still hurt me to see you unhappy.

 

Out of all the things that I have done in my life, not spending much time with you was my biggest regret. How can I do that to my youngest and my brightest child? I know how much you wanted to go to Harvard, but yet I didn’t let you. I should have let you go to make you happy. May you forgive me for being such a horrible father and for not telling you about my health. I have only wanted to see you smiling and I feared that if you happen to find out a year ago what I got, you wouldn’t be able to smile as bright as before.

 

My Soojung, I hope you’re not crying by the end of this letter. I don’t ever want to see you sad. You’re so precious to me, and I don’t want to see you unhappy. I never told you before, but I want this to be the last thing I tell you… I love you so much, my sweet little Soojung. Be happy always.

 

Her father told her to smile.

 

Her father hoped that she wasn’t crying.

 

And yet, she was unable to control the tears that she has been keeping these past days. Hugging her pillow, she lets out all of her sadness as she cried her eyes out. The words that she has been hoping to hear from her father were in the letter, but she knows that she will never hear them come out of his mouth anymore. The worst part is that, she’ll never get to say that she loves him back.

 

She told herself that she wasn’t going to cry, that she’d let anyone see her breakdown and unknowing to her, Jongin was behind her door and was about to knock until he heard he starting to cry.

 

 

For some reason, when she was about to walk down the stairs after calming herself down for a long time in her room, she sees Jongin walking upstairs. She wonders what he was about to do when there was practically no one on the second floor, so she stops at the top the stairs. He was already midway to his steps when he finally realized that she was there and instead of asking her how she was just like the past few days, he greets her with a smile.

 

“Where are you going?” She asks her as soon as he finally reached the last step. But instead of answering her, he pulls out a small flower from his pocket and hands it to her. Since she didn’t expect that, it takes her long for her to accept it. “What… is this? What’s the flower for?”

 

“I was roaming around the garden and saw the same flower I gave you back then when we we’re younger. I thought that maybe I should give you again, except this time it’s not dead.” He smiles at her, while he kept starring on what he gave her. “Let’s go to Paris again.”

 

Taken aback, she quickly looks at him. “Huh?”

 

“I know the timing is bad but…” He presses his lips together before continuing, “…I’d really like to bring you there again.”

 

He doesn’t want to see her silently suffering like that.

 

“Please tell me when you want to leave-”

 

“3 days.” She says quickly when he was already about to walk away. “Give me 3 days to spend with my family, and then let’s go back to Paris.”