SooJin couldn’t believe what was before her eyes at the moment. Her appa, Kim was sitting in front of his sworn enemy/ ex bestfriend. And the most shocking thing, was that they weren’t trying to claw each other’s eyes out. Instead, they were sitting across from each other, giving the other one the cold stare. It reminded SooJin of the cold war back in the days.

Her appa had his arms crossed across his chest as if to protect his already frail heart. Once in a while he would turn to Won as if the dislike and distrust that he had for Won had already increased by ten fold. Both Won and SooJin were squirming in their seat, not knowing what was going to happen next. It had already been several minutes since the chairman had finished his explanation of the what, why and when. What has been going on ever since he had instructed his son to take care of the movie that his daughter was producing, roughly of course since he doesn’t really know what the relationship was between the presidents. Why he had done, mainly because he felt for the first time in his life that his guilt was starting to get to him. And when he had started implementing his plan, which was last year, ever since he had discovered that Soo Jin is his ex best friend’s daughter and had started thinking about the past because he had been bed ridden for a while.

“As for my son, you don’t have to blame him or look at him like you’re about to slit his throat because he has no idea what happened. He was just following orders.” Kim Nam Yun ended before the start of the cold war between the two.

Even the chairwoman and Tan’s mother were quiet in the given situation. And at last when all the two did was grunt in turn, the chairwoman had to step in. “Chogi… I don’t mean to interrupt…” It was the most polite that she had ever been in her life. “But, why don’t you two talk to each other?” She suggested and gave Tan’s mother a look that said “Please, back me up here…”

“Oh, oh…” Tan’s mother finally caught on. “Yes, why don’t you guys talk?” She grabbed a hold of Tan who was sitting next to her and reached a hand out to EunSang. “Can’t you see you’re scaring the kids?” Tan on the other hand had been in a world of his own for the past few minutes. Occasionally he would snap out of it and looked up at his hyeong.to see if he knew what was going on between their abuji and SooJin’s appa. The problem was the both of them had no idea what exactly was going on. SooJin too was a bit in the dark. All she knew was that what had happened back then was about her late grandmother as well as Won’s mother. But that was all. By the looks of it, SooJin had sensed that her appa still had some lingering resentment left and so she didn’t dare to pursue the matter any further.

The chairman loosened his posture and cleared his throat. “So how about it, is there anything that you want to say at all?”

“What… is there to say… when you already know?” SooJin’s appa said. “Oh, I forgot…You think this world belongs to you…That’s how you treated everyone around you.” The resentment in his voice was evident.

The chairman grunted, but otherwise said nothing. He knew that he deserved whatever that his friend had to say. He sighed inwardly at the thought that they might not get to be friends anymore in his lifetime. “So…how have you been?” The Chairman asked soon after, trying to make a connection and at the same time trying to restrain himself from denying that he has done anything wrong and proclaiming his innocence.

Mr Kim scoffed at the question. He couldn’t believe the nerve that this man has. He can’t even bring himself to admit that they had been bestfriends in the first place. When he thought back to what had happened in the past, it was a miracle that he still had the self control to not lunge across the table at the Chairman.

Tears start forming in his eyes at the thought of his late mother. It was all that devil’s fault. A surge of anger went through Mr Kim’s system and he wiped the tears angrily away. No way was he going to appear weak in front of this man.

“Since when have you started caring about others? As I recalled, you did whatever you wanted to do.” Mr Kim scoffed.

“And so do you.” The Chairman said, unable to hold it in. There was one thing that he was curious about though. “You could have just stormed out of here…” Mr Kim flinched at the choice of words. “So why…are you still here?” The Chairman stared suspiciously.

Mr Kim gritted his teeth. “SooJin.” He called out to his daughter. SooJin looked up at her appa’s voice. “Is it really necessary for you to work with this family?” He asked and SooJin stared at him wide eyed while her appa waits expectantly for her answer.

“Well um…” She was unable to answer the sudden question.

“Is there a way for you to break the contract and get another company to do the funding?” Mr Kim asked again.

“Um well… we’re already starting filming so…” SooJin answered timidly.

“So the answer is no.” Mr Kim confirmed. “There you have it your answer.” He turned back to the Chairman. The Chairman nodded in understanding. And right after he pulled a handkerchief over his mouth as he coughed a chesty cough. “And you…” Mr Kim cleared his throat. “What was the use of implanting your son with my daughter?” Mr Kim could feel his heartbeat picking up and he got up, banging his fists on the table, rattling the silverware. “Just what are you trying to do now?!” He roared, shocking everyone in the room except for the Chairman.

The Chairman shook his head slowly. “You and your temper, it’s still the same.” He adjusted his seating position. “Why don’t you calm down? This is a civil occasion and to answer your question…” The chairman cleared his throat. “ I do not know why my son is there.” He turned to Won with a questioningly hard stare.

Won who had only been listening since earlier on was suddenly the center of attention. “I knew I couldn’t trust you. Now that I know who you are, it reaffirms my suspicions.” Mr Kim said, his voice shaking with fury at the thought of his daughter being involved with the son of his enemy. “What do you think you’re doing with my daughter huh? Even to the point of moving in?” he turned to Won completely.

“You are my son…” Kim Nam Yun said. “But even I can’t help you out with that one.” He leaned forward in his seat. “Son, why did you move in with President Kim?”

Won felt beads of swear starting to form on his forehead. He much preferred to be in a room filled with investors and board members and the hotshots of the business world than being questioned by his family. Family are usually the hardest to handle since they know you best.

“I well…I…” Won found it hard to answer.

SooJin herself was squirming in her seat and when he didn’t answer, she couldn’t just sit back and watch. “It’s because he desperately needed a place to stay.” SooJin blurted out. “I mean, he had no money and all that…so I took him in.” SooJin said weakly.

“Hmmm…Why would he agree when he has so many other associates?” The Chairman stared at the pair questioningly, making them squirm in their seats.

At that question both of them looked down at their laps. There was simply no answer to that and for Won, it was his first time thinking about it. Just exactly why did he do that?

Unknowingly, there was someone else that could not stand what he was seeing. “Yah hyung! Noona!” Kim Tan interjected. Now everyone’s attention was on Tan.

“Tan, what is the meaning of all this?” The Chairman asked.

“Abuji, I know the truth, so I don’t think it’s relevant to ask them anymore.” Tan began. “Hear me out.” Even Mr Kim had turned his attention towards Tan. “These two…” Tan gestured to Won and SooJin. Each and every word that came out of his mouth made Won and SooJin tremble. “This two are actually an item, abuji.” Tan said finally.

The room went into a shocked silence. The Chairman nearly had a heart attack and the same goes for Mr Kim. Eunsang stared wide eyed at what was happening, not understanding and the Chairman’s wife and mistress covered their mouth in shock. But the ones who were most taken aback was Won and SooJin. They were left at a loss for words and if they hadn’t been, they would have lunged across the table at Won and strangle him.

“And that is what’s happening.” Tan finished, feeling proud of himself.

….

A little while later, once Tan had excused himself and dragged Won and SooJin along with him. He kissed Eunsang goodbye and promised to call her later before dragging the two over to his room.

“Cha… Here we are…” He said, sitting at his desk. “You guys were lucky I was there…”

But before he could finish what he was saying, Won in, his voice sounding dangerously furious. “How…Why…What the hell was that?!” He roared, scaring SooJin who was standing next to him. “You…Have not changed at all…All you do is mess…”

“Hyung.” Tan interrupted, not sounding impressed. “Can you not be all dramatic all the time? I’m sick and tired of it. You’re like a girl, you know that?”

At this point, Won was ready to lunge at his baby brother, who was lucky to have SooJin there. She touched Won slightly on the arm to avoid a murder from happening and instead she advanced on Tan. “Tan ah, I can call you that right?” Tan nodded once in approval. “Tan ah…why did you do that?” She asked pleadingly.

Tan shrugged. “At the time both of you weren’t answering and to get rid of the tension, I had to do something.”

“But do you realise what the consequences of your actions were?” Won interrupted.

“I know those two out there are arch nemesis to each other but, in my mind, this is the best for now. It’s a win-win situation. Noona, you get that deal for sure and hyung, you get abuji off your back.” Tan explained.

“I don’t know…” SooJin said.

“Maybe we should go out there and tell the truth.” Won suggested.

“A suicide mission. Since I’ve already mentioned it, if you go out there and mention the truth, noona will never get the investment she needs and it will be on your hands hyung.” He turned to his hyung. “And you will lose the head of the company title to me and abuji will marry you off as soon as possible.” Now he looked from one to the other. “Now, do you want all of that to happen?” At his question, the other two looked at each other with conflicted glances.

The three spent another few minutes there before finally walking out to their doom.

In the dining room, the other guests, excluding Eunsang and the hosts were sitting around the table. The Chairman was staring thoughtfully at the table. Mr Kim on the other hand had his arms crossed across his chest fuming at the sight of his ex best friend.

And when the two came in to deliver their bit of news with Tan trailing behind them, it caused a second round of heart attacks that night.

They stood in front of both their families and SooJin gulped at the thought of what she was going to say while Won clenched his fists. “Appa…” Soo Jin began, grabbing the attention of her dad.

“Abuji…” Won began, his heart racing at his father’s questioning glare.

Everyone leaned forward in their seat to hear better.

Then finally the two blurt out together, “We are dating!”

Ellie : short and it is technically chapter 20 because I forgot one chapter and skipped the numbers. So, enjoy and give me some feedback. Hopefully I'll be able to update it next week!