Flashback

A few months after Eunsoo had given birth, Jaehwa had gone back to Korea alone, to settle things with his family. He wanted to take his new family back home, but he wanted to make sure that they weren’t faced with too many problems. Since he had already registered their marriage before he’d asked her to marry him and had been married for a good three months, both their families couldn’t do much other than approve after hearing the news, to save face.

Eunsoo’s family hadn’t been as more opposed to their already marriage than the Jeons, but that was to be expected. The Jeons were power and money hungry lots and although it had been established from the beginning that Jaehwa would follow into his grandfather and father’s footsteps, there were still some relatives that disapproved this. Relatives that didn’t deem him good enough to lead a whole corporation in the future and him bedding Eunsoo had not made it any better in their eyes.

But his grandfather, who was still the chairman and the voice of the family—his grandmother had the final word, but that was another story—had been ecstatic of the news. He’d overlooked the fact that Jaehwa had messed around and gotten caught and rewarded him for giving him a great-grandson, - a legitimate at that.

One could say whatever they wanted, but the Jeon bloodline was being continued and on top of all, he had managed to marry into one of the blueblood households. Jaehwa’s grandparents had always wanted a close relationship with the Go’s, but when they’d married off their first daughter to the Parks and betrothed their youngest daughter to the Kim’s, he’d been bitter about it, but now, he had an inseparable bond with the family whether they liked it or not.

Jaehwa had given his grandparents two of the things they wanted the most and to them that made him more worthy of the corporation than anyone else. They’d demanded to see their great-grandson and daughter-in-law.

Both families decided that they couldn’t front over spilt milk and decided to get closer, much to the Jeons’ pleasure. Eunsoo and Jae-Eun (they’d given their son both of their names) returned to Korea as well, where an official grand wedding took place for the couple.

For the Jeons, it was not just a wedding, but more of their way to display their new addition to the family. Eunsoo and her son became Jaehwa’s grandparents’ favorite family members, even Jaehwa’s father, who was a cold-hearted most of the time seemed to have taken a liking to the pair.

Unfortunately, the rest of the Jeon family members weren’t as pleased with the new addition as well. Some saw Jaehwa as a greedy bastard who had used Eunsoo and a baby to gain his grandparents' favor. They went so far as to accuse Eunsoo of committing adultery while still promised to Sanghoon.

Some announced their distrust towards her because she didn’t seem to value loyalty in any way. She had been promised to someone else but had ended up getting pregnant with someone else. What assured them that she would be faithful to Jaehwa?

Jaehwa fought back and reminded them that Sanghoon was the one who had broken their engagement, the one who had gone and married someone else—yes, he was a douche for not telling the whole truth, but he had no right to spill tea that wasn’t his. He reminded them that the agreement between the Kim’s and Go’s had long been null, just not officially and he had been waiting until everything was official to announce his relationship with Eunsoo to everyone.

This did not mean that his relatives looked at him and his new family any different, if not; he became an even bigger threat for most because now he had a son. He had fulfilled two of the duties as a Jeon and now only had to worry about taking over the family business and the others wouldn’t make it easier for him.

His relatives had already been fighting amongst each other; threatening, corrupting, stealing stocks and employees from each other. They even went so far as to sabotage each other’s during business deals by using any means possible—some harsher than the other. Rumor has it that in the past they’d even ended each other’s lives; a Jeon family tradition to fight till the end, which was death when you’re a mortal.

To say that Jaehwa was not too happy about introducing Eunsoo and their son to such people was an understatement; now he didn’t just have to worry about his life, but also about the other two.

+

Mi Yeon’s reunion with Sanghoon wasn’t as joyful as her Unni’s had been. Sanghoon had been livid; he couldn’t even look at her or sit in the same room as her without saying something mean. And she had understood him; she had taken all the insults until she snapped.

“You’ve been playing the ing victim for far too long don’t you think?” she seethed condescendingly.

He raised his brows at her, perplexed that she’d spoken to him like that. Mi Yeon had been cheeky, flirty and even gotten mad at him, but she had never spoken to him like that. She had never looked at him so much venom. He felt his already racing heart pick up when he took in the way her eyes were watching him, like a predator hunting its prey. It almost reminded him of the way she used to look at him across the room during parties or events; almost.

“I would be playing except that I am a victim here! I’m not the one who faked being pregnant to get a guy to marry me,” he spat back and she flinched, just subtly. He could tell that he was hurting her, but that was the aim.

“I could’ve married whoever I wanted, I didn’t have to fake being pregnant,” she threw at him.

He knew she was right. Mi Yeon had been admired by many, - Sanghoon included, but he couldn’t help the words from escaping his mouth. “History proves you otherwise.”

She exhaled tiredly, her soft features hardening at him as she spoke. “I’m sorry I thought faking to be pregnant would stop you from around. I was trying to save your soul.”

He laughed at this. His voice sounded foreign and broken to his ears, but he laughed until tears escaped. “At least I admit to my affairs,” he fixed his eyes on her, eyes running up and down her sitting form. “Tell me, wife, how many guys did you entertain?”

“One,” came the curt answer, leaving him with goosebumps.

Sanghoon had assumed that Mi Yeon had been messing around with a few guys. There had been so many nights he’d run into her in the lift or lobby of their apartment and she’d be on her way out. Other times, he’d see her in a café with some guy; he’d seen the many Oppas in her phone one night when she’d slept over and he’d told himself that he wasn’t much more than another Oppa on the speed dial.

But now, her telling him that all the guys she’d been meeting up with were just friends, that she had only been with him all this time was messing with his head.

“One?” he prompted. “One, - because none of them wanted to be your fake baby daddy?”

“One, because unlike you, I wasn’t into the humpy dumpy .” She strongly reminded him of Eunsoo; speaking to him as if he was a small child that needed reprimanding.

That was obviously what she was doing, she had let him express his anger and now she was going to chastise him for crossing the line, but he didn’t care. He was still mad and was going to make sure she knew that.

“Now you’re going to tell me that you did it because you loved me?!” He laughed bitterly, ignoring the way her hands balled in her lap or how she flinched at the sound of his laugh.

Instead of going back to Korea with the new couple they’re remained behind to settle a few things. In other words, to decide about their future; whether they were to remain together or separate.

“I did it because Unni needed help and I’d do it a second time,” she told him. What she didn’t tell him was because it was him; she’d marry him again even if she had to lie to him in order to do so.

His heart sank at her words. Maybe he had been expecting for her to tell him that yes, she was in love with him and had done it out of love. That she had been greedy and had wanted him all to herself. Maybe he would have forgiven her, but she was saying all the wrong things. Making him feel like a fool who had blindly followed a wolf to the slaughterhouse; the sad thing is that he’d also do it a second time although knowing the outcome.

“Why me?” he said. “Why did it have to be me of all people?” He demanded, bracing himself for the harsh answer. Somehow he knew that whatever she’d answer would be mean because that was how she was. Mi Yeon had a tendency to hurt him without much effort. It was something she’d always been good at since high school.

“Because you were easy; you would do anything for me,” she said. “You told Eunsoo that you were your own person, even tried to prove to your parents and yourself, but like a puppy listening to its master you always crawled back to me.”

She was heartless and they both knew that. Mi Yeon had never shown him this side of her, but he assumed that she’d always been this cold, just never towards him. He felt betrayed; as if he didn’t know the woman he had fallen in love with and gotten to marry.

Even if Mi Yeon had not lied to him about expecting, Sanghoon would have found a way to marry her. He would have looked for every loophole he could find to make sure that she remained by his side.

“You told me that you wanted to choose your own future. Is this, what you meant?” He gestured at the space between them. “Was all this just a game for you?”

“You said no-strings-attached.”

“We’re ing married! the strings!” he snapped, standing up from his seat and started to pace around the living room cursing. Her eyes followed him from where she sat.

He hated that she was so composed and calm while he felt like his whole world was falling apart. She was evil.

He came to stand a few feet in front of her. “I got disowned for you! I fought my family for our future, for our non-existent child!” He frowned at her. “My father hit me for the first time because of you,” he muttered as if realising just now.

“You were looking for a way to get out of the contract with the Go’s and I gave you one,” she simply said, ignoring his previous words. She knew what he’d gone through and she had known, but there was nothing she could say to make things better.

“OH!” he mocked. “Thank you, it almost escaped my knowledge that you helped me to break my engagement with your best friend by pretending to be pregnant and marrying you. My bad,” he was still mad and looking at her made him even madder.

“I already told you that I’m sorry, I really am, I swear.” This was the first time that night that she had spoken to him softly. Her eyes were soft and voice sweet that he almost dropped in front of her feet to cup her face and tell her that there was nothing to apologise for.

To tell her that he understood and that he would have done the same had he been in her shoes, but her previous words refrained him. He was like a puppy to her.

“Feeling sorry isn’t enough,” he said, voice laced with fury, as he went to settle back into his previous chair across from her.

She nodded as if she’d expected this from him and this had angered him more. He realised that there were a lot of things that he didn’t know about her, but she knew him inside and out. He realised that all this time he’d been one of the many pieces on her chessboard and although he had become aware of this, it didn’t mean that he could win against her.

He felt how his stomach turned in alarm; as if it was warning him of something, - what, he didn’t know. All he knew was that he couldn’t go back to Korea with her; he didn’t know if he could spend another hour with her, let alone, a lifetime.

“I’m going back home, alone,” he told her, watching her expression shift slightly. He ran a hand through his messy locks. “I’ll tell everyone that you got sick and lost the baby.” His eyes trailed to at her stomach, lingering there for a moment and she subconsciously placed an arm on her belly, before pulling it away.

The lie was believable since the whole reason Sanghoon came to visit her was so he could witness their child’s birth. Eunsoo had also told them that she’d tell their parents that Mi Yeon was ill and couldn’t make the long trip. Wh