Tao held her gaze firmly, still unmoved from where he sat with arms still crossed. For a second he resembled Sehun, emotionless and incapable of breaking through with a smile.

“Don’t,” he flatly said, “don’t trust me.”

Reaffirming the fingers tucked against her palm Namjoo let the silence continue to whirl vigorously around them. Tension heavy and neither driven enough to further provoke the other, Namjoo swerved and stalked out of the trailer home.

The crisp fresh night air outside bit her face gently, the sound of her heels echoing behind her as she stomped up the road toward the street. Her heart palpitated crazily. She needed calm, but she couldn’t find it anywhere. She felt hazy, her emotions everywhere. All at once she was so relieved and fearful.

Sehun knew she wasn’t Choonhee. The rest of her life lay in the grip of his hands. Would he send her to jail for impersonating her dead sister?

And yet, she was relieved that at least someone knew she was Kim Namjoo.

Staggering toward the cab that had pulled up for her she slid into the backseat, slumping against the chair. Closing her eyes she sighed, pressed a hand against the ruined makeup on her face, and prepared herself for home. It was obvious that Choonhee’s parents would interrogate her for walking out with Sehun the second she walked in. A deep inhale with her breath shaky helped draw off the sudden coaster of emotions that had just run through her. She felt a bit better, but now she a headache was storming at the back of her head.

And she had to decide what she was going to do from now on.

\\\\\

Lee Eungi and her husband Lee Kwan stood up from the main room the second they heard her coming from down the hallway. The two parents clambered toward the entrance, their eyes ogling her with inquiry. Unable to help herself, Namjoo immediately clasped both hands in front of her and lowered her eyes.

Their silence while waiting for her to first talk told her that they weren’t ultimately happy, but they didn’t seem to exude a great amount of temper either. She assumed that since the wedding was set they were relieved and she suddenly wasn’t sure what they were waiting for.

“Where’d you come from?” Choonhee’s mother then spoke up then frowned when she finally took note of the ruined makeup on her face from crying. “Look at you…”

“Where did you go?” Lee Kwan asked with an edge to his tone. “What did you and Sehun do? What was that nonsense back there? What have you been doing with him? You know you’re getting married to Kai. Everyone will be watching! The board members were there tonight! If it weren’t for the wedding confirmation, do you know how embarrassed your mother and I would have been tonight?”

To maintain her stability Namjoo pressed her lips together, forcing herself to mutter an apology she didn’t think she needed to give.

“Good enough. Now go upstairs and wash up. You’re a mess.” Choonhee’s father waved his hand at her to shoo her off.

“Go get some rest, honey. From now on, you’ll finally be starting your new life. Don’t worry about what your father says. Go on.”

Namjoo shot them a curious glance, wondering if they were as clueless as Choonhee or as greedy as the others. After all, Choonhee’s parents would be getting something out of the merge…if only she remained as is.

“The wedding,” Namjoo spoke up, a sling of nervousness passing through her, “I don’t want to do it.”

“Are you crazy?!” Lee Kwan raised his voice. “We’ve already settled the affair. It’s because of Sehun, isn’t it? He’s gotten to you, hasn’t he? That crazy brat…”

“No, it’s not him.”

“Are you feeling unwell somewhere,” Eungi pressed a hand against her forehead. “Oh…you must be stressed. Don’t be like this, hmm?” she glanced at her husband, shooting him a warning to let her take over and took Namjoo’s shoulders within her hands then looked directly at her.

Namjoo couldn’t tell if the woman was being sincere or if she was being coy – if at all, she was just pretending with her at this moment, to be the kind mother others would think of her as. The high pitch she was speaking in made Namjoo doubt her intentions. She, in fact, sounded like the women at the orphanage who were honestly annoyed with the orphaned kids wailing for their unknown parents, while pretentiously lying with smiles and hugs.

She was shoved toward the stairs, Eungi’s arm around her shoulders. “Go rest. I don’t think my son-in-law would be happy to see you so drained. Go up.”

With a pat on her back Namjoo’s foot landed on the first step and she glanced back at the woman batting her eyelids, waiting for her fake daughter to disappear upstairs. That patient smile appeared so naturally on her heavily made up face and those eyes encouraging her to sleep forever, had Namjoo keeping quiet. Further down the hall Choonhee’s father watched brazenly, his stance stoic and cold.

A sudden pressure loomed over her, crossed her like a shadow telling her to retreat or else.

And she saw her split image in her head, crying, “No one will listen to me, I feel like I have no voice.”

Then turning around Namjoo started upstairs to Choonhee’s room.

\\\\\

Tao listened to the door slam behind him, his eyes flat on the empty space before him. A flush of emotions surged through him, raging from pity to undying dismay.

Before Choonhee died he’d known she was deeply troubled about something, something she chose not to share with him. And then she just left.

How many times had she sighed in front of him? How many countless times had she harbored that failure of a smile on her face while refusing to cry about her worries? Of all the times she’d used him as an escape from her troublesome world, had she told him she needed help?

None.

But now her sister was right in front of him, in that same world. Would a friend not care for a friend who helped paid off his debt? Would he not care for her?

He would. He definitely would.

The man who made Choonhee like that, Tao wanted to find him and punish him. But he didn’t know that man’s identity nor could he step into Choonhee’s world, because he wasn’t one of them.

But Choonhee’s sister was right in front of him. Like her, he was learning about how pitiful Choonhee had been and it made him angrier for he had done nothing. If he had done something, if he had realized earlier how seriously tyrannized she was he could have helped!

“Do you know what I just went through?! I was so scared! I just realized how alone I am right now. No one is going to stand on my side.”

And no one had stood on Choonhee’s side either.

What if he had set Namjoo up to get hurt? If something terrible happened to her, what would Choonhee think of him?

\\\\\

“Is this how you felt before you died?” Namjoo asked, knees curled up to her chest and wrapped up in the blanket. Sitting on the bed she stared at Choonhee’s picture through the dark, the moon waning and shining in through the room from the tall windows behind her.

“Why are you doing this to me? Even if it’s not fair for you, why me? Did they do you so much wrong that you only felt it right to put me here to clean up after you?” frustration swung through her. “What do you expect me to do? I’m scared, you know.”

\\\\\

Kim Namjoo. Kim Namjoo. Kim Namjoo.

Kai paced around in his room. Something about it bothered him insanely. The girl in the picture. The records.

Who was it that had sent that to his father and why? What did they want?

It was an open fact that Choonhee was not the Lee’s biological daughter. Lee Eungi was infertile, the fact was loud and clear.

Pausing at the foot of his bed he rubbed his chin with his fingers, his arms crossed. Choonhee had come from Namsanwon. The girl in the picture had stayed at The Angel House. It didn’t make sense. Unless Choonhee had stayed at The Angel House before, but he’d never heard her talk about that place.

Then who was the girl in the picture that looked just like her?

The curiosity was too much. It was giving him a headache.

Giving up, he snatched his towel from the chair in the room and walked into the bathroom. When he awoke the next morning the first thing he did was call his secretary to search for a private investigator.

\\\\\

The culprit. There was only one person whose name came to mind.

Oh Hayoung.

Instead of ringing the doorbell at his side that morning, Tao knocked hard and loudly with his fist. The impatience was hot in him. He hated the thought of coming here, but there had been no choice.

There was only one reason why he knew of this place. Choonhee had stopped by here once while he waited outside for her. Hayoung lived here alone, he learned, apart from her parents in Jangheung. The girl who needed the city to live and thrive; to climb up into the world of the wealthy made a decision to leave her parents, live here in luxury alone. Such a country town like Jangheung couldn’t do that for her.

The door clicked open and Tao lowered his fist. A second later he came face to face with a homily dressed woman whose hair she’d tied back into a messy ponytail, dressed in an over-sized sweater and sweats. Not very flattering for a high-class secretary.

There was a stammer of surprise that entered her expression before she dropped it. Then icily, she asked, “What are you doing here?”

He was due in for work in half an hour. There was completely no point beating around the bush. “Until how long are you going to use Namjoo?”

The corner of her lip curved up coyly, “What problem is it of yours? She’s not Choonhee, you know. What point is it are you trying to make? After all, Namjoo hasn’t done anything for you.”

“Damn right she’s done nothing, but Choonhee has done everything. And what happened to her, won’t happen to her sister. Do you get me?”

The smirk off her face, Hayoung coldly told him, “Don’t try to be noble, you penniless jerk. Just because Choonhee paid you some attention doesn’t mean it gives you the right to try to intervene in her leftovers. If you’d leave, I have somewhere to be in an hour.”

She started to close the door on him, but Tao gripped onto it halfway and forced it back open. With a mean glare, he warned, “If you touch a hair on Namjoo’s head, you won’t be the next one I’ll be seeing.”

\\\\\

After making a cup of coffee, Sehun immediately returned to his room. Taking a seat behind his desk at the side of the room he opened his laptop and began searching for a list of South Korea’s best private investigators. If Hayoung weren’t his secretary, he wouldn’t be doing this personally but get help. But he realized that if he got Hayoung involved in finding out who Choonhee’s fake was havoc would break out.

If he had to deduct how Namjoo had entered Choonhee’s home, Hayoung would be the only answer. It wasn’t very difficult discovering why.

Choonhee’s money, the inheritance, the company, and the wedding which he couldn’t imagine happening. Namjoo and Kai? The picture didn’t sit right no matter how many times he played it in his head.

And he hated it.

In no less than an hour he had scribbled down three names. The first one wasn’t available to answer his call and goddamn, he couldn’t wait another second for someone to get back to him. He wanted immediate answers as fast as possible.

The second detective picked up after three short rings. “Hello, this is P.I. Go Jaehwa. How can I help you?”

“You have under your description online that you look for people.”

“Ahh…yes. Do you need help searching for someone?” the middle aged man asked.

“I need you to find out about someone for me…everything, everything about her.” his heart raced at the thought of discovering more about the woman constantly zapping his entire whole. “Her name is Kim Namjoo. She’s around twenty-four, twenty-five.”

“Can you be more specific?” the detective asked. “A picture, perhaps, would work better. South Korea isn’t a very big country, but isn’t very small either. There are many women who are also called Kim Namjoo…”

“I’ll get you your picture,” Sehun raspily said, “then you’ll search all of South Korea for her? I want to know everything about her; who she is, where she’s from, how she grew up, her friends, any possible family. Everything! I can get you all the money you want, so as soon as possible get all the information you can about her.”

\\\\\

Namjoo had just barely closed the door to her room, ready to catch another hour of sleep or so when the door opened again. Turning around she spotted Hayoung who hastily closed the door, stepping toward, as if blocking her only escape from her.

She hadn’t recalled any appointed meeting with Hayoung. Or maybe…perhaps she’d heard about what happened yesterday?

A flight of exhaustive anxiety flushed through Namjoo and she froze in spot. What was it this time?

“How much longer do I have to tolerate you?” Hayoung asked.

“W…what?”

“Don’t become greedy, Kim Namjoo, it won’t do you any good. You’re already getting married to Kai, don’t think about getting any closer with Sehun,” Hayoung warned. “When they find out who you really are, do you think they’ll still care about you?”

Drawing her eyes to the side, Namjoo fought to distinguish the reason for Hayoung’s abrupt showup; why she seemed irritated with her. On her own account, Namjoo never recalled trying to take anything from Choonhee’s life for herself.

“Do you know where I went yesterday?” Hayoung asked, her voice made of steel. “Incheon.”

Suddenly more aware of where Hayoung was going, Namjoo’s throat clenched up. She wanted to hide under her blankets, now well aware that Hayoung might have come across something that Namjoo wished she could undo.

Her heart became ear-splitting thunder to her hears as it beat erratically. She could feel Sehun stripping her clothes away and blanketing her body with his as he hypnotizingly kissed her into sleep with him. Subconsciously, her hand drew into a scared fist.

“Oh Sanghyuk, Sehun’s father, bought a flat for business purposes in Incheon. There’s a check-in maid who often goes to clean up the place,” Hayoung explained calmly, her eyes hard on her as if having caught her red handed for the biggest crime yet. “I stopped by to see if that’s where Sehun stayed that Friday night.”

Namjoo glanced down to the floor when Hayoung tossed something down and felt her blood run cold at the sight of Choonhee’s blue hairclip.

“It was found in the sheets when they were going in for a wash,” now glaring Hayoung slightly raised her edgy voice, “you wore it that day. You spent the night there. How dare you?”

In the blink of an eye Hayoung shoved Namjoo backward angrily, threateningly. The force of her hands was heavy and so strong that Namjoo felt like she was being punched by the air. An embarrassed, yet fearful whimper escaped Namjoo’s lips. Drawing her shoulders up she lowered her head.

“N…no…I didn’t…no…” was the only thing she thought of saying, even though it wouldn’t erase the fact that she did spend the night at that place.

“Do you know how long I spent waiting for Sehun?!” eyes wide, Hayoung screamed at her. “And just because you’re here, you think you have a chance with him too? Don’t you dare think that way! You’re nothing! You can’t even compare to where I came from! You came here for one reason and only one! Don’t you ever forget that. You are Kai’s woman. You are his lover and you’ll become his wife.”

When Hayoung’s footsteps receded and the door slammed again, Namjoo dropped back onto the bed. Curling the sheet up into her fist she gritted her teeth and let out a cry of anger.  

Why was this happening to her? 

***Namjoo's scared now that she's starting to see the deeper picture of Choonhee's oppressive life. She's surrounded constantly by these people she barely knows, with no information about them and these parents she feels subjugated to. The only thing she can do is flow along while laying low, but that isn't helping her anymore. Now Kai's father has papers about her real identity, Kai is intrigued by who this Namjoo is, and Sehun is on his way to discovering more about her, and Hayoung is now out there to get her because of a one night with the man she loves. 

***And a few things to make clear. Only Sehun and Tao knows Namjoo isn't Choonhee. The talk between Kai and his father in the recent chapter signifies that they're using Choonhee for their own gain, and Kai damn well knows his parents are greedy for more wealth. So even if he loves Choonhee a little bit, he's still using her for own personal gain, like everyone else. But now that it has come to this, Sehun's story is becoming different in the case of Namjoo. 

***And to clarify: Yes, Choonhee's life was really pitiful. She was used for everything by everyone. We've still yet to find out whether she knew what everyone's intentions were and what she did to end up pregnant and dead. And as we know it, Choonhee and Namjoo are two very different persons with different personalities despite the fact that they're twins. So what Choonhee did might end up being what Namjoo won't do. We'll have to see as Choonhee's fate is falling heavier onto Namjoo's shoulders.