3rd Person POV~

[FLASHBACK CONTINUED]

Mina looked at Mr. Kim, wondering what he had to say. He knew it was going to be a long talk, so he started to open the bags of food he had brought with him. 

“You look like you haven’t eaten for days,” he said and pulled out a box of food. “Let’s eat and chat. It’ll take awhile.”

Mina was feeling hungry, so she was quick to grab the box from him and dig in. Mr. Kim looked pleased to see her eating so well and he began to eat too. 

“About this friend of yours,” he started to talk after a few minutes, allowing her to take a few bites. Mina stopped chewing to look at him and listen. “He came to find me at the hospital some time ago.”

Mina in a gasp, which led her to choke on the food she was chewing. She coughed and Mr. Kim was quick to hand her water. He was prepared for the worst, but luckily it wasn’t as bad as her cough made it sound to be. She managed to get rid of the food in and heavily breathed. 

She should have worried about herself, but her life wasn’t important right now. She needed to know why Joohyun went to Mr. Kim. 

“W-why?” she asked with another cough. “Did you meet him? What did he say?”

Mr. Kim was relieved that she was safe and sat back down in his chair. He recalled his private interaction with Joohyun and his heart clenched remembering how beaten the young man was. It wasn’t something Baekhyun had done, someone else had beaten him. 

“He came to me for help,” Mr. Kim started to say and tapped his fingers on the polished, wooden table. “He was badly beaten, so I treated him-“

“No,” Mina gasped. “It...it wasn’t Baekhyun, was it?”

“If only you saw what I saw, you’d know it wasn’t Baekhyun,” Mr. Kim said and shook away the image of a bloodied Joohyun. “He was unrecognizable.”

Mina frowned. 

“Once I treated him, I was hesitant to ask him what happened, but he confessed to me first.”

He paused and looked at Mina with an apologetic look. 

“It was all your mother’s plan,” he said and Mina was furious, but for some reason, she couldn’t express it. She silently listened. 

“You are aware of his club in Hongdae, right?”

She nodded. 

“She had threaten to burn it down if he didn’t follow with her plan and he didn’t want that. So, he chose to go along with your mother’s plan, but he regretted that decision. He didn’t mean to hurt you-“

“Well, he did,” she retorted and felt her eyes burn with tears. She wanted to blame Joohyun. She wanted to ask why his club was more important than her life, but she knew she didn’t hold much importance in his life. He worked hard to get his license to own a club and to build it. She knew that. And, she couldn’t blame him for that. 

“That must have been why the club was shut down the past few days,” she whispered to herself. 

“He tried to return the check your mother wrote him for succeeding and said he’d reveal everything, but your mother must have been outraged and probably had someone cause the damage to his body. She wanted to shut him up,” he continued and shuddered at the thought of the wicked woman. “She’s hungry for more power and it’s getting out of hand.”

Mina swallowed hard and asked, “Do you know where he is right now?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t. Once he said what he wanted, he left and that was the end of it,” Mr. Kim answered. “But, he did leave me this.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a check, handing it to Mina. She looked at it and widened her eyes to see the amount Joohyun was given. 

“We could use this as evidence of her wrong doings,” Mr. Kim suggested, then she looked up at him with furrowed brows. 

She wondered why Mr. Kim wanted to help her. Why he wanted to drag his wife down. Didn’t he love her? So, why was he doing this?

“You’re not trying to use me, are you?” she asked, suspicious of him. He widened his eyes and shook his head to defend himself, “No. I would never use you!”

“Then, why?” she asked. “Why are you helping me on bringing your wife down? Why are you looking for justice...for me?”

Mr. Kim’s pulse raced out of guilt and shame. He couldn’t bring up her father’s death, not right now at least, but his intentions were pure. 

He let out a long sigh and folded his hands on top of the table, looking down at his hands. 

“I’ve lived as your mother’s puppet for too long,” he said and his chest pained. “I was deceived and manipulated by her. I was young and naive that I believed everything she said, but now...it’s too much for me.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything then?” she asked and Mr. Kim’s heart tightened. He only kept his mouth shut because of Mina’s father’s death...his murder. 

“I was too afraid...I was a pathetic coward,” he said in a powerless voice. Mina understood his pain because she was like that too. 

“But, things have gone too far. I would have never imagined she’d go this far to hurt and humiliate you. I always wondered why she did the things she did towards you, but I know she only did it because...”

He paused and Mina grew curious, straightening her posture to listen. He looked at her and took in a deep breath before revealing, “Because you were the one who was supposed to receive your father’s fortune.”

She couldn’t believe her ears. His fortune, she wondered. All his money, his businesses, everything was supposed to be Mina’s. But, she couldn’t believe it. 

“B-But...,” she tried to find the right words, but nothing made sense in her mind. She knitted her brows, confused. 

“I don’t know what happened, but you were the rightful owner of everything she has right now,” Mr. Kim continued and her head was starting to hurt. She was overwhelmed with the news. “And she tried to hide it from you by hurting you. To push you away from realizing the truth.”

She wondered why hurting her was any excuse to keep her away from her father’s fortune. She knew nothing about the business world; she would have eventually sold it off to someone more suitable. So, what kind of excuse was that? 

Mina frowned and let out an exhausted, yet frustrated sigh, “It’s no surprise that she hid the truth from me. But, she didn’t have to go that far...nor did she have to bring Baekhyun and his family into this.”

Mr. Kim looked at her saddened face. He knew she was blaming herself for what happened. 

“I’m doing all that I can to get rid of the news regarding Baekhyun and his family,” he assured her, but that wasn’t enough. “I have checked in with them too and they’re doing well.”

“But they didn’t deserve this,” she softly said and looked at him. “They didn’t need to be dragged into this mess. This is between me and my mother and yet...they were brought into this because of me.”

He listened to her; apologetic that he couldn’t do more. 

“I know she only wanted this marriage between Baekhyun and I to happen because she needed me for her own greed,” she continued and felt her heart slowly break. “She wanted to use me to get closer to Baekhyun, so she can steal his project because she knew she’d make a fortune out of it; I ended up hurting him because of her. Things weren’t going according to her plan and so she continued to harass me, which ended up making him worry and sad. All this time, I’ve only been hurting him while he’s been protecting me.”

Her eyes were burning with tears and a lump form in . She clenched her jaw and closed her eyes tight, letting a tear slip. 

“And here I am...unable to protect him,” she softly sniffled. Mr. Kim stood up from his seat and walked over to her. He was hesitant, but slowly placed his hand on her head. 

“I believe you’ll be able to protect him,” he encouraged with a fatherly voice. She wanted to believe his words, but she said, “I don’t know how to. I don’t even know where to start...I...I....”

She couldn’t continue and cried with her hands covering her face. Mr. Kim didn’t like seeing her cry and he patted her head. 

“We’ll start by getting what was rightfully yours,” he suggested and she hiccuped her cry, looking up at him with red, teary eyes. She wanted to know how that would help Baekhyun. 

Mr. Kim knelt down beside her, looking into her eyes and said, “Once you inherit your father’s fortune, your mother won’t be able to do anything to you or Baekhyun. Fabricating a will is illegal, so that would be enough to have your mother step down. And if that doesn’t work...then, I have another idea up my sleeve that would not only make her step down, but worse.”

Mina furrowed her brows, still quietly crying and swallowed hard. She wondered what he meant by “worse”. Why other idea did he have? 

“All the things she has done to you and others can easily turn the tables on her,” he continued. “And once she steps down and you get everything that belongs to you, you’ll be able to support Baekhyun. As you know, his project was put on hold due to investors dropping out on him, but with you alone, you could help him more than anyone else.”

That sounded impossible to Mina, but it also sounded like a good plan. Only thing is, she really didn’t know anything about business management. She also didn’t know where to start with her mother’s harassment. She just didn’t know.

“I won’t force you to do anything though,” he said as he truly meant that. He didn’t want to feel like he was manipulating her into doing something he, too, wanted: revenge. “I want you to find peace within yourself, so if what I suggested is too much for you, don’t do it. Do what you feel is right, Mina.”

She sniffled and turned away from his gaze to look out the window; it was snowing. The sun was setting, so the snow looked more beautiful. 

She thought about his words and she wanted revenge. She wanted to hurt and humiliate her mother; make her go through what she went through. She wanted to see her mother cry and beg on her knees to be saved. 

But, she knew she wouldn’t be happy if she had done it that way. She knew hurting her mother wouldn’t bring peace to her mind and heart. She knew hurting her mother would hurt her deceased father. He wouldn’t have wanted that...she wouldn’t have wanted that either. 

Mina stood up from her seat and walked over to the window, watching the snow gracefully fall. She placed a hand on the cold window and pressed her forehead against the glass. 

“You know, my father once told me that I shouldn’t become the person who hurt me,” she said as Mr. Kim stood up to listen. “He said it would cause more damage than it would do me any good.”

She felt a heavy weight on her chest, yet it didn’t hurt her like it usually would. 

“He said I should not lose hope...that I shouldn’t lose myself,” she continued and looked up to the sky colored with orange and red with a hint of purple. She couldn’t see the sun, but there was a bright light from a distance. “I should be a better than the one who hurt me.”

She slowly inhaled, held it in for three seconds, then exhaled. 

“I‘ll take back what was my father’s,” she said and looked over her shoulder to Mr. Kim with a determined look. “I’ll take what is mine and I’ll do it my way.”

He was relieved to hear her say that and he was happy for her, so he smiled, proudly. She wasn’t the little girl he met back then, she was now a strong woman.

“I don’t know where exactly to start, but I have you to help me,” she said and he was happier to hear that, yet that guilt came back. He knew he would have to reveal the truth of her father’s death soon, but he decided he would do that after she used him. He wouldn’t mind being hated by her as long as she won this battle. 

“I’d be happy to help you,” he smiled as she did too. 

[END OF FLASHBACK]

“Let’s end this,” Mina said and Baekhyun’s heart sunk. He felt like a heavy load of rocks just piled on top of him and he felt like he couldn’t breath or move. He wanted to shout at her and ask why she was doing this, but no words escaped his shut lips. 

Mina saw the hurt in his eyes and she hugged him, pulling him close. He didn’t hug her back and her heart broke, but she knew she couldn’t feel sad, not right now. 

“I have some things to do and I can’t drag you into it,” she said and Baekhyun frowned, gently pushing her away by the shoulder. He looked down at her with teary eyes. 

“What do you mean you have things to do? And why you can’t drag me in?” he asked, desperately hoping she would change her mind. She looked up at him and cupped his face in her hands. 

“My mother,” she said and that was all he needed to know. She was going to go against her mother. 

He placed his hands over hers and looked at her, worried. He didn’t know what was going to happen or what her plan was, but he felt like she didn’t need to end their relationship because of that. 

“Can’t you depend on me?” he asked and Mina was quick to shake her head. 

“No, this is something I have to do on my own-“

“Then let me support you,” he interrupted, almost pleading for her to stay. She in a breath and let it out into a long sigh. 

“Baekhyun, this is for the best,” she said and he felt a tear slip. He didn’t want them to end, not like this; not ever. “I’ve hurt you enough and I’m really hoping this is the last time. No, I’m going to make this the last time I hurt you. So please, please wait for me.”

He would have waited hundreds of years for her even if she didn’t ask, but he couldn’t answer at that moment. 

Mina grew anxious at the silence. She knew it was a selfish request and this decision was one-sided, but she believed what she was doing was right. She knew this was hard for him, but it was hard for her too. 

“I won’t let your efforts of changing me and loving me go to waste. I promise, once this is all over, I’ll come back to you,” she assured him as a tear slipped from her eyes too. “I love you, Baekhyun, but I really need to do this.”

Their hearts were hurting at the separation. He hated that she couldn’t find support from him or let him protect her, but he also knew this was something she had to do on her own.

Baekhyun closed his eyes and hugged her, burying his face in the curve of her neck.

“Don’t break your promise,” he softly said and the warmth of his breath hit her skin. Her heart clenched and she hugged him tight. “I’ll wait for you as long as you want me to. Do what you have to do, just know that I am with you.”

She nodded and sniffled. He pulled away, still holding the back of her waist and pecked her lips. 

“I love you, Mina,” he sweetly said through his soft cry and pecked her lips again. “Although I said I’d wait forever, just don’t take too long. I might have to kidnap you if you do.”

She knew he wanted to lighten up the mood, but she couldn’t smile. She kissed his cheek and said, “I’ll miss you.”

“I will too,” and he kissed her lips one last time. 

When morning came, all her belongings were gone and news of their cancelled engagement made headlines.