CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

“You’ve got to help me.”

“I have no experience in management, Jina. You know that.”

“Jaebum…”

The man leans closer to his girlfriend, “Your dad won’t be happy to know that you want me to help you…”

“Look at it this way, through this… you can help me and you can prove yourself to my Dad. Besides, you lost your job because of him. Think of it as a way to make it up to you. This will benefit the both of us. You need a job to provide for Bambam, Jae.”

Jaebum sighs and takes a sip of his green tea. Jina has asked him to come to her office but he didn’t expect this.

“Jina, I—“

“Mr. Im, I am not doing this because you’re my boyfriend. I know you’ve got what it takes and I know you will do well in this job. I will guide you until you can do things on your own. I need to work with someone I can trust and that is you. Please reconsider.”

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Heechul discovers Jina’s plan and summons his daughter and Jaebum to their old family home.

Even at his state, he still scolds his daughter and her boyfriend. “I will never be able to accept both of you! How dare you try to use the situation to take over my business!”

“Dad…”

“I will never be able to forgive you for killing my wife and now for killing my precious son-in-law!”

“Dad, I didn’t—“

“Ah, I know now… You planned all this, didn’t you?!” The old man turns to Jaebum and ridicules him, “You! You’re a thick-faced gold-digger who is after my family’s wealth and power! You say Mark was after money? Ha! It’s you, not him!”

“Sir, I am not.” The younger male tries to remain calm despite the insults Heechul is hurling at them.

“Go and take my daughter, I don’t need her. Leave my family alone!”

Hurt by her father’s words, Jina could no longer stop her tears and finally weeps in front of her father – the first since her mother died. She’s tried to remain strong for him but as a daughter whose walls have finally crumbled, she couldn’t put up with the awful words of her father.

“Dad—“

“Go away!”

“Please listen to me!”

Heechul stares disbelievingly at his daughter. “How dare you raise your voice at me! Just because my body’s paralyzed doesn’t mean you can treat me like this.”

“This is the problem, Dad. You never listened to me. You always think I’m wrong and you’re right. Have you ever tried to examine yourself? Dad, Mom’s death wasn’t entirely my fault. Look, had you not picked on me since I was a child, do you think I’d want to leave the house? It was just a stupid toy and you said all those terrible things to me! Do you not see? Mom sacrificed her life for me because she loved me dearly. She gave me all the love that you failed to give. Dad, do you know why I am like this? It’s because of you. I became heartless and indifferent. I never truly cared about people. After Mom died, I put up imaginary walls around me because I didn’t want to get attached to anyone for fear of losing them again. Do you realize that you never actually made an effort to break through those walls? Mark... He did try to break through them but Jaebum changed me altogether. Please don’t accuse him of being a user or a gold-digger. Jaebum is a good person…”

Heechul shakes his head and covers his ears, “I don’t want to hear any more of this! Go!”

“I want us to start anew, Dad. Let’s forget the past… Please… Even at this age, I still want to know how it feels like to be treated like a precious daughter… by you…”

Not wanting to admit that he’s moved by his daughter’s words and he’s sorry, Heechul scoffs at the couple. “Stop with this drama and leave me alone.”

“…”

“GO AWAY!”

Before Jina and Jaebum left, the older male speaks again, “I can never forgive you… Maybe I will when death finally comes for me.”

Jina turns to her father, smiling bitterly, “I respect that, Father. But with you… I already have.”

Outside the door, Jina and Jaebum could hear Heechul yell at them, “I will live a long life to make sure you will not end up with an average man like that widower, Jina!”

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For the next few months, Jaebum helps Jina in managing the business and he even lets the company use the recipes Jinyoung has left him with. Through this, the company was able to earn back its reputation and even surpassed the previous years’ collective performance.

Heechul hears about this and although he still denies it, he starts to acknowledge both his daughter and her boyfriend’s capabilities. He realizes that while Jaebum didn’t share the same background as the other executives of the company, he shares – probably even exceeds – the level of determination and the skills most of his people have.

Later that night, he dreams of his wife and they talk like old friends catching up. Casey asks how her husband has been and he tells her just how awful of a father he has been to their children.

Casey embraces him and tells him, “It is never too late to change, honey.”

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A few days before Heechul’s 55^th birthday…

“Dad? What do you want for your birth—“

Jina dashes to her father and shakes him awake. “Dad? Please wake up!” Seeing no response, she screams for help.

Yugyeom rushes to their father’s room and finds Heechul lying unconscious on the floor.

They take him to the hospital and they paced outside the emergency room as they wait for the doctor to reveal his assessment.

“Mr. Kim suffered yet another cardiac arrest…”

Hearing the news, Jina could feel tears stinging her eyes.

“It’s amazing that he survived this again but...” The doctor glances at the patient’s children before continuing, “He is in so much pain. He’s suffering. You need to decide amongst yourselves whether you’d want to keep him on life support or…”

“Stop, we understand. Sorry.” Yugyeom cuts him off.

“I understand. We will have him transferred to a private room.” The doctor tells them before leaving.

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Three days after…

Heechul miraculously regained consciousness. For the past few days, he’s been unconscious and Dr. Lee has been telling them that it will be almost impossible for the patient to regain consciousness again.

“Dad!”

“J-Jina… Yug…yeom…”

“How are you feeling? You need to stay strong, Dad.” His eldest tells him.

Heechul smiles at his children. “I am okay but I don’t want to burden you anymore…”

“You are not a burden to us. We are your children and we should take care of you,” Jina lectures him, making him laugh.

He coughs, trying to catch his breath.

“Dad, if you want to leave and be with Mom, you can…”

“Yugyeom!”

“Jina and I are okay now. She has Jaebum, too. We can manage… We can take care of ourselves now. Stop making things hard for yourself, Dad.”

“…Bring them here…”

Jina looks at her father. “Bring who?”

“My… son-in-law… Jaebum… and my grandson, Bambam.”

Jina quickly calls her boyfriend, explaining the situation.

“Okay, we will. We’ll be there as fast as we can.”

“Please hurry!”

When Jaebum arrived carrying his son, he stood beside Jina and smiled at Heechul, not knowing what to say or what to do.

“M-Mr. Kim…”

“You can call me ‘Dad’.”

“Y-yes… D-Dad…”

The latter smiles warmly at him before turning to his children. “Please take care… I’m sorry…”

A lone teardrop falls from Heechul’s eye and he’s gone.

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A/N: I will also upload Chapter 27 in a while. Please don't be confused ^^