Garden…

“Eomma… eomma… eomma…”

Park Shin Hye turned to the soft voice of Lee Hyun Jun who was running happily towards her. She let out a smile and opened her arms widely waiting for him.

“Eomma…” Hyun Jun threw himself into Shin Hye’s embrace and smiled sweetly at her. “Eomma… don’t just sit here. Let’s play together with me.”

Shin Hye brushed his drenched hair away from his forehead and took the towel on the swing to wipe his sweat away. “Football is not a game for a girl. Eomma is very bad in sport. I’ll rather just sit here and watch you play. If I hurt myself by spraining my leg, no one will go to school together with you tomorrow.”

Hyun Jun pouted his lips. “But why are you just sitting here? Last time even if you didn’t play with me, you will still run around together with me.” He paused and looked at Shin Hye. “Eomma… are you sick? Why do you look so moody this few days?” 

Shin Hye pursed her lips and doesn’t know what to say. Hyun Jun is a very sensitive child. Whenever she was happy or not happy, he will always be the first one who noticed it. She knows it was not right to let a kid worried about her but she just couldn’t help it. When she received the call from the bank this morning telling her that her personal loan application will be on hold due to her low income, her mind has been clouded with all the problems that her brother brought to her. She wanted to help him but… she just couldn’t find a right way to help him.

Letting out a light smile, she held Hyun Jun’s tiny hand and caressed it softly. “I’m sorry. I have make Hyun Jun worried about eomma. But I’m fine. I’m just… tired. When eomma feel better, we will find another game that suitable for boys and girls and we will play together.”

Hyun Jun nodded. “Although I hate all those girly stuffs but if eomma want to play, Hyun Jun will play with you.” But then, he let out a soft sigh. “Eomma, when will you get pregnant and give me a baby brother? When I have a brother, then he can play football together with me.”

Shin Hye let out a soft chuckle. “Hyun Jun-ah, I don’t know how I should explain to you but… getting pregnant is not something so easy. I mean… it will take times.” She paused and pulled Hyun Jun closer to her. “I don’t know when but when both appa and eomma is ready, it will happen. Although eomma can’t promise you that it will definitely be a brother but… there will sure be someone to play with you in the future.”

Hyun Jun tilted his head, trying to understand what Shin Hye was saying. He later smiled and nodded again. “Hyun Jun will wait for my little dongsaeng to come.”

“What little dongsaeng?”

Shin Hye and Hyun Jun turned around at the same time when they heard Min Ho’s voice behind them. Hyun Jun pulled away from Shin Hye and quickly ran to his father.

“Appa…”

Min Ho smiled and carried his son in his arms.

“Appa… this is the first time you come back so early.” Hyun Jun said happily.

Shin Hye stood up of the swing and walked to them too. “I thought you are having a dinner meeting with your client tonight.”

Min Ho turned to Shin Hye as the smile on his face slowly faded. “It was cancelled.” After he received the call from the bank yesterday telling him about her loan application, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about the matter and keep finding possible reasons to explain it. His mind couldn’t even concentrate and focus on his work. He was waiting for Shin Hye to be honest to him but there was no sign of her wanting to tell him about it at all.

He then turned back to Hyun Jun and looked at him. “You are soaked in sweat. Go inside to look for ahjuhma and take your shower. We will have dinner together later, okay?” He said to his son as he gently put him down.

Hyun Jun nodded and ran back into the house.

Shin Hye looked up at Min Ho when he walked closer towards her. “I didn’t know you are coming back for dinner. I’ll go in and get ahjuhma to add more foods for tonight.”

But before she could walk away, Min Ho grasped her hand and pulled her into his arms. He hugged her soft body tightly against him as he buried his nose in her hair and inhaled into her soft scent.

“Are you okay? Why do I feel like… there is something wrong with you?” He asked softly. He is giving her a chance to be honest to him. As long as she tells him honestly, he will forgive her for lying and will give as much money as she wants. He just wants her to be honest to him.

Shin Hye hesitated, fighting within herself whether to tell him or not but those words got stuck and couldn’t get out from . No matter how bad she wanted to tell him and ask for his help, she just couldn’t bring herself to do so. Her pride just wouldn’t let her to do it.

She inhaled a deep breath as she rested her head against his shoulder. Staying in his arms like this somehow make her feel so much better. “I’m just tired. The school is busy with the final exam preparation. It will be better next month once the exam is over.” She lied.

A pang of disappointment stabbed Min Ho’s chest hard. He gave her a chance to be honest but she just let it slip away. If he really wants to know what happened to her, he doesn’t need to go through all this trouble to ask her. He just needs to get his private detective to check it for him. But he doesn’t want to know anything about her through a private detective again. He wanted to make a difference in this relationship and start anew with her. He just wants her to be honest to him. But she chose to lie and leave him with no choice and he has to find out about it using his own way.

He tightened his arms around her and inhaled deeply. A sudden uneasy feeling creep into him and it scares him. He is worried that the secret she was hiding will hurt them and take her away from him. It was not easy for him to unfreeze his heart and fall in love again. He doesn’t want and couldn’t go through the same heartache all over again.

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Park Residence…

Shin Hye glanced at her watch and it was already 7.30pm now. She has to rush home by 9pm before Min Ho came back but her brother still haven’t come home yet. When she heard the door opened and saw Park Hae Jin walked in, she quickly stood up and rushed to him.

“What are you doing here?” Hae Jin asked in an annoyed tone.

“I’m waiting for you. We need to talk.” She said and without waiting for her brother to reply, she pulled him to the stairs and headed to his room.

“How’s everything?” Shin Hye asked after she closed the door.

Hae Jin chuckled and looked at her. “Why do you even bother to ask? I thought you don’t even care for my life anymore.”

Shin Hye sighed softly. “You are my brother. Of course I care for you. Although I still couldn’t think of a way to help you but… but… I can talk to them.”

“You mean the loan shark?” Hae Jin narrowed his gaze.

“Yes. Let me meet them up and I’ll talk to them. I’ll try to convince them and let us pay the money back slowly. I can pay them extra interest if they let us pay instalment. We… we can try to negotiate with them.” She said.

Hae Jin laughed loudly as he shook his head in disbelief. “How can a teacher be so naïve? Talk to them?” He laughed again. “Don’t waste your energy and do something useless. I have already settled the debts myself.”

“You already settled?” Shin Hye widened her eyes in shock. “How did you settle it? Where did you get the money?”

“You don’t need to worry. I didn’t go to beg your husband.” He paused and grinned. “But I still need to thank you. Because of your beautiful face, I have more than one gold fish to seek for help.”

Shin Hye’s heart suddenly raced as fear creep along her spine. “W-What is that supposed to mean?”

Hae Jin looked at his sister and smiled. “Taec Yeon helped me to settle the debts.”

Shin Hye widened eyes grew even bigger now. “W-What?!”

“He didn’t hesitate for even a second when I asked for his help. You are so stupid to choose that stingy man over Taec Yeon. He is so much more generous than your husband.” Hae Jin added. “You can’t blame me. You are the one who don’t want to help me. I can’t just sit here and wait for my death, right?”

“How can you do that?” Shin Hye raised her voice. “How can you ask money from Taec Yeon oppa? We have already broken up. We are not related anymore. And… if Min Ho oppa find out about it… he will…”

“He will what?” Hae Jin cut her off. “Kill me? He was the one who doesn’t want to help me in the first place. He doesn’t want to help me and expect me not to find other people to help me either?”

“Min Ho oppa doesn’t even know about your debts.” Shin Hye breathed heavily. “I didn’t ask him. If he knows about it, he will surely help you. But now… if he finds out, how you want me to face him? What will he think when he know that we took money from Taec Yeon oppa?”

“Who cares what he will think?” Hae Jin said with a smirk. “I’m just helping you. You have been with Taec Yeon for so many years and I’m sure you love him more than Lee Min Ho. You just married him because of the five billion won. If he is not happy, then just divorced him and get back together with Taec Yeon. He still loves you.”

“Are you crazy?” Shin Hye asked, looking at her bother in a bewildered gaze. Tears were stinging in her eyes and threatening to escape. “How can you say something like this? I’m your sister, not a tool that you use to gain money. You have already sold me to my husband once. Are you going to sell me to other men again and again?” She asked and inhaled a sharp breath.

“You are hopeless.” She said when Hae Jin doesn’t seem to bother what she said. She turned around and walked to the door.

“Wait.” Hae Jin called from behind.

Shin Hye stopped without turning around.

“Taec Yeon said he want to see you. You should know the reason he agreed to help me is because of you. I think you should at least see him personally to thank him.”

Without giving him a respond, Shin Hye just opened the door and left.

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DCM Corporation’s Office…

“This is the information that I got when I did an investigation on Mrs Lee’s family.” The private detective said as he put a file on Min Ho’s table. “Her brother, Park Hae Jin invested in some high-risk shares and ended up losing all the money. He even borrowed money from the loan shark and the amount is exactly the same amount of the money that Mrs Lee applied from the bank. One billion won.”

Min Ho opened the file and heaved a deep sigh. So it was her brother again and she was trying to get the money to help him. Stupid woman. Why didn’t she just ask it from him? One billion is nothing to him. She doesn’t even need to waste time for worrying about it.

But the conversation he had with her mother crossed his mind and it explained why she hides everything from him. She hates to rely on other people. That was why she rather gets a loan from the bank than asking him for help. All the anger and worry that clouding his mind in these two days was now slowly fading away.

“But…” The private detective spoke again and shook Min Ho off from his deep thought.

“But what?” Min Ho asked.

“The debts… have already settled.” The private detective said.

Min Ho raised his brows. “Settled? How?” He told the bank to hold her application. It’s not possible for her to get that much of money in a short period of time.

“I checked Park Hae Jin’s bank account. The money was transferred to him by another personal account and the owner of that account is Ok Taec Yeon.”

Min Ho’s face darkened instantly when he heard that name as the faded anger came rushing back to him again. All sort of suspicion floating in his head and it increased his anger tremendously. Did she call Ok Taec Yeon for help after her application from the bank was on hold? She rather takes the money from another man than asking him for help. Why? Was it because Ok Taec Yeon is more reliable than him? All the negative thinkings keeps flying inside his head and the more he think about it, the more it pissed him off.

His body heaved as he in a deep breath before looking back at the private detective. “Continue to monitor her whereabouts and keep watching her. I need to know each and every little thing she do. Call me immediately if she have any interaction with Ok Taec Yeon.”

“Noted.” The man replied. “But… there is something else that I think you might want to know too.”

Min Ho narrowed his gaze.

“It’s about the shares that Park Hae Jin invested.”

----------------------------------------------------------------

Bedroom…

After Shin Hye finished her dinner with Hyun Jun, she went back to her room and sat down on the couch mindlessly. After her brother told her about they money he got from Taec Yeon, she has been thinking whether to call him or not. She knows that she could just pretend that she doesn’t know about it but… she just can’t. One billion won is not a small amount of money. She already owed him a lot. She doesn’t want to owe him anymore.

Taking her phone in her freezing hand, she took a deep breath before she dialled Taec Yeon’s number. A familiar voice was heard after three rings.

“Yoboseyo…”

“It’s me… Shin Hye…” She said softly.

“I know. I still have your number in my phone.”

 There was a brief pause before he continued again.

“I was waiting for your call. I know you will call me.”

Shin Hye let out a soft sigh. “Hae Jin oppa told me that you want to see me.” She paused and bit her lip. “But even if you didn’t, I need to see you too. Are you free tomorrow?”

A soft chuckle was heard through the phone before he spoke.

“You must have forgotten about tomorrow. It’s my birthday.”

Shin Hye widened her eyes slightly as she felt a pang of guilt hit her chest. He was right. Because of all the problems that surrounding her lately, she has forgotten about his birthday completely. “I… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

An obvious disappointment was clearly heard in his voice.

“I will be having a birthday party with my friends tomorrow. If you want to see me, you can come to Hilton Hotel. I’ll be there.”

“Eo… then I think it will be better to meet another time. I don’t want to disturb your party. We can meet after your birthday.” She doesn’t want to meet him in a hotel and create any misunderstanding later.

“But I’ll be going to US the next day and will only come back after a month. I don’t think you want to drag that long. And furthermore… I hope to see you on my birthday.”

“I…” Shin Hye bit her lip harder and doesn’t know how to reject him.

“I’ll see you at Hilton Hotel tomorrow at 8pm.”

And before Shin Hye could protest, he has already ended the call. She put the phone down and heaved a deep sigh. He was right. She doesn’t want to drag any longer and hope to settle everything with him as soon as possible. But the problem is… how is she going to tell Min Ho that she need to go out tomorrow.

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Dining Room…

The next day, Shin Hye, Min Ho and Hyun Jun were having their breakfast in the dining room as usual. Shin Hye stole a sideway glance at Min Ho who was reading the newspaper. It was very late last night when he came back and she doesn’t have the chance to ask him about tonight. She need to meet up with Taec Yeon at 8pm tonight and now is the only chance she can ask him.

Taking a big sip of her orange juice, she turned to Min Ho with an awkward smile. “Oppa…”

Min Ho looked up from the newspaper and met her gaze. Her expression was obviously telling him that she have something to ask. “Yes?”

“Today…today after I visit my mother later, I need to go out for a while. I-I have an appointment with a friend to have dinner together tonight.” She said, trying hard to stay calm.

Min Ho put the newspaper down and looked at her with a sceptical gaze. “What friend? I didn’t know you have any friend in Seoul.”

“S-She… she is a friend from Busan. We study together in the same school last time. She came here for holiday and thought it would be a good time to meet up with me.” She lied. “It won’t be long. I promise I’ll come back as soon as I can.” 

Min Ho looked away and heaved a deep breath. Of all days, why must she choose today to go out? He knows today is Ok Taec Yeon’s birthday.

“Are you okay to be at home alone?” He asked Hyun Jun. “Eomma is going out to meet a friend and I’ll be back late also.”

Hyun Jun flashed a sweet smile as he nodded his head. “I’m okay. Hyun Jun is a big boy. I can take care of myself.” He said as he turned to Shin Hye. “Eomma don’t need to worry about me. I’ll listen to ahjuhma and will sleep early.”

Shin Hye looked at Hyun Jun and a wave of guilt washed over her. She was embarrassed with herself for lying.

“Hmmm…” She smiled slightly at him.

Min Ho noticed her weird expression and was even sure that she was lying. Taking another deep breath, he faked a smile at her. “I don’t know how long it will take for the meeting tonight. I might come back later than you. Enjoy the dinner with your friend.”

Shin Hye nodded with her eyes casted downwards, not daring to look at him.

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Hilton Hotel…

It was almost 8pm when Shin Hye arrived at the hotel that Taec Yeon was having his birthday celebration. There was a board placed at the lobby showing the direction to the ballroom where the party was held. But it won’t be appropriate for her to meet him inside. Although she wasn’t familiar wit