CHAPTER EIGHT

With her discovery of Park Jinyoung’s letter to Im Jaebum, Jina hired Cho Kyuhyun, a private investigator, to look into the supposed stolen recipe issue. He happens to be a good friend of hers as well so she knows the issue will stay classified until they discover the truth behind it.

“Hello, Investigator Cho?”

“Yes, Jina?”

“I’m sorry but have you found anything yet?”

“Well… We got hold of a CCTV footage but we’re still analyzing it. Don’t worry, we’re on it and we’ll let you know as soon as we discover anything.”

“Okay. Thank you so much.”

As soon as she ended the call, Jina sighs and slumps on her chair. It has only been two weeks since the investigation started but to her, it feels like it’s already taking years.

Though she is worried of what might happen if proven true and the public finds out, Jina still wants to know who really is at fault.

‘He at least deserves a sincere apology…’ she murmurs to herself, thinking of Jaebum.

She cringes as she recalls how she had treated the man. She is aware that she had been very rude to him and while she doesn’t have the guts to face him again after everything, Jina knows that making an apology is the right thing for her to do.

She closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose, thinking hard of how she’ll approach Im Jaebum. ‘How, how, how? And will he even agree to meet after—‘

Jina opens her eyes as soon as she felt soft lips press against her right cheek. Mark who was smiling widely and triumphantly stood in front of her.

Realizing that he had kissed her, Jina blushes.

“Oh, hi. Sorry, I didn’t hear you enter the room,” she greets, trying to remain composed.

“You seem to be too preoccupied these days. Is something worrying you?” Mark asks as he takes a seat in front of his fiancée.

Jina considers telling Mark but knowing how loyal he is to her father and to the company, he most definitely will not believe her.

“I’m just stressed with work but you don’t have to worry.”

“How can I not worry when my fiancée’s looking so down like this?”

Jina flushes even more as her fiancé caresses her face. “Mark, no…”

“I know! Why don’t we go on a vacation out of town?”

“What?”

“Well, to be honest, I’m feeling quite stressed, too, so I guess this is the right time for us to unwind. What do you think?”

Knowing that she’d probably still end up going once their parents find out about Mark’s plan, Jina agrees. This makes Mark really happy that he leaves her office right away saying that he’ll now be making reservations.

Jina smiles seeing her fiancé so happy like a child. ‘It’s good to see him like this. If I were to marry him, I’d like this side of him more than the mysterious Mark…’

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“Daddy!!!” Bambam runs towards his father who was waiting for him by the school’s gates.

Jaebum crouches in front of his son and smiles at him, “How was school? Did you have fun today?”

“Yes! I am also happy that Daddy fetched me today!”

Jaebum smiles at Bambam then stands straight. He motions for his son to hold his hand, “Shall we head home?”

The child skips happily towards their car. He could not contain his delight that his father had fetched him today from school. The past few days were sad and empty for him. His father was very busy with his work and they barely had time to play.

“Would you like to grab some food on our way home?”

“Ice cream! Pizza!” Bambam exclaims.

Jaebum chuckles at how excited his son looks but feels guilty knowing it had to do with how he had neglected the child the past few weeks

Because of the issue with Kim Foods Industries, he barely had time for his family. By the time he gave up on trying to get Kim Jina to meet with him to discuss their issues, Jaebum’s boss was already following up on his pending reports, leading him to cram and spend almost no time at all with his son.

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 “Woooooowwwww!!!” Jina could not hide her amusement as soon as they arrived in Jeju. “This place is so beautiful!”

Behind her, Mark smiles seeing his fiancée finally loosen up. ‘It’s a good thing I arranged this for us.’

“Let’s go!” he says as he grabs Jina’s wrist. They ran towards the rental car that they will be using to get to the hotel where they will be staying.

‘I guess accepting Mark’s invitation is not such a bad idea after all,’ Jina tells herself.

During their whole stay, Mark and Jina wandered around, taking pictures together. It was their first time in the island so they could not hide how overwhelmed they were with the beautiful scenery before them.

They went to see a number of tourist attractions including the Hallasan Mountains, the Cheonjeyeon Falls and the Jeongbang Falls. They even went to the famous Teddy Bear Museum, a place which brought back memories of Jina’s childhood.

They also visited various restaurants to try different types of food special to Jeju Island. They loved how every cuisine that they tried used freshly-picked ingredients.

“Wow, this is so good!” Jina exclaims as she shoves a spoonful of Jeonbok dolsot-bap in .

Mark nods, unable to speak for he, too, had just eaten a big portion of abalone hot stone pot rice.

“Though we have this in Seoul, this definitely tastes better and on top of that, this is actually cheaper!” Jina exclaims as she happily eats.

Too busy devouring big portions of the food, Mark nods once again. However, he suddenly chokes on his food, causing his fiancée to laugh at him as she hands him a glass of water.

“Take it easy, Mark!”

“I almost died there and you’re still laughing?” he answers back then pouts.

“Awww, don’t get mad now~”

“Hmmph!” Mark pretends to be angry as he crosses his arms and looks away.

“I’m sorry, Markieee~ please don’t be mad. How can I make you feel better, hmm?”

The red-haired man looks at her and points to his right cheek. “Kiss~?”

Jina smiles and pretends to agree with her fiancé’s request. She moves closer to Mark and just as her lips are only a few inches away, Jina pinches Mark’s cheek forcefully. “You’re so cuuuuuuute~!”

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After spending half of the day with his son – playing arcade games, eating ice cream and pizza, and running around the community playground – by the time Jaebum and Bambam had gotten home, both were already tired.

Once done tucking Bambam to bed, Jaebum heads for his room and lies down on his bed then almost instantly falls asleep.

Jaebum does not usually dream of anything but that evening, he had a rather perplexing

nightmare. He dreams of Jackie and a strange man who had no face.

“You know, I’ve always secretly hated you. I hate how everyone loves you and your work. I hate how you’re always at the center of everyone’s attention! I hate that I’ll always be your shadow!” Jackie screams at Jinyoung, whose hands and feet were tied to a chair she was sitting on.

“Jackie, I---“

“Shut up!” the former slaps the other.

“Mommy!” Bambam cries. He, too, was in a similar position as his mother. He tries to break away but the rope on both his hands and feet were too tight, it only bruised him as he tried to struggle.

“Shut up, stupid kid!” the man shouts at the child then shoves a ball of cloth on his mouth. Bambam continues to cry, his sobs now muffled.

Jaebum could only watch. He wasn’t a character in this dream. He knows he’s dreaming but he couldn’t do anything.

“Jackie, please… Don’t hurt my son,” Jinyoung pleads to her bestfriend.

“You’re annoying me. You pretend to be all-righteous, all-nice! I should have done this before.”

A gunshot is heard then everything turned black.

As if watching a movie, Jaebum’s view suddenly skips into the next scene where he sees his wife on the floor, lifeless. The chair had fallen with Jinyoung tied to it, fresh blood oozing from the hole on her forehead.

‘She shot her… she shot her…’ he cries to himself. ‘This is a bad dream… please, please, wake me up…’

His thoughts were interrupted when he hears Bambam cry. The man had taken off the gag on the former’s mouth. He, too, had freed the child from the chair he was tied to.

“Mommyyyyyyyyy!!!”

“Go ahead and cry, nothing you do will bring your stupid mother back,” the strange man scoffs.

“Mommyyyy…” Bambam tries to shake his mother awake, as if she was just unconscious.

“Just do it!” Jackie yells at the man.

‘What are they planning?’ Jaebum thinks to himself but not even a minute later, his question gets answered,

Another gunshot is heard and everything turns black once again. This time, Jaebum succeeds in escaping from the nightmare he was having. He gasps for air as he sits on his bed. He silently thanks the heavens that he did not see Bambam’s state after the gunshot.

This update took so long, I'm so sorryyy. I haven't got time to write (even oneshots :( ) because, again, of work. This is a little longer than usual so I hope you liked this chapter. Hopefully things are getting more exciting the way you see it ^^ Let me know your thoughts <3