Warning: foul language.

Taehyung was too late.

He excelled in science but he was never good at anything else. He thought he was in control of his feelings but he was dead wrong. That night when Minah kissed him on the cheek, he freaked out and ran away. He never imagined Minah would have feelings for him. He never imagined how confused he would get to receive that type of affection from someone he thought was a good friend.

And most importantly, it was never in his plan that Minah would fall for him nor the possibility that he felt the same would surface.

Taehyung spent the first few days after running away with alcohol at night. He knew it wouldn't help sort his emotions out, but he couldn't stand thinking about Minah all the time. At least drinking helped him forget about his messy state for a short while and he thought it was the best option he had.

But eventually, Yoongi started showing clearly that he was angry at Taehyung for going back late at night and disturbing his sleep. As someone who had no other place to go, Taehyung had no other choice but to stop relying on alcohol.

It was not like he could keep avoiding this whole ordeal anyway. He had to face his own feelings.

To be frank, he didn't dislike the kiss. Scratch that, he kept thinking back about it. He even tried to imagine what it would feel like to have her lips on his own.

But it was probably just hormones doing their petty work, he hoped.

Minah was only a good friend, he reasoned. He never believed in those dramas and fictions portraying every pair of opposite people cohabitating only to have them fall in love every single time. That was too cliched. He hated clichés.

He refused to think he liked Minah as a woman.

But he missed living under the same roof with Minah. That he couldn't deny.

He texted Minah saying he was to come back and ask her clearly what her kiss meant, before he could decide what to do with it.

But he was late.

His plan was ruined.

He couldn't return to her house anymore. She was getting married to a person that ironically, he wanted her to marry in the first place.

His original plan was successful. He was getting a new apartment as per his parents' promise.

But it was weird. He was supposed to feel happy but he was not.

It was like he lost something. He lost Minah. It wasn't true, but he felt like he just lost a good friend. They were indeed classified as friends then, but their relationship was definitely not entirely friendship. Friends would be able to contact each other all the time, but if they were to separate, there was scarcely a reason to meet up anymore.

His family received a wedding invitation card from Minah shortly after Taehyung went back to his parents'. His parents were delighted that their friend's daughter was actually getting married, and most importantly, their son was free.

They would be attending her wedding and that was the last item off the checklist that Mr. Bang probably wanted them to do.

It was probably the last time they would meet again, Taehyung thought. He wanted to think he was looking forward to it as he would be completely free after that.

But it was somewhat unpleasant to him when he actually set his foot on the wedding location.

It was a lot bigger than the place they held their fake wedding. Taehyung thought he would keep feeling envious of the entire event, but he felt anxious as he found out from listening from the guests that the groom's father was a CEO of a rising company.

"Taehyung." His dad held his elbow as soon as they sat themselves on a table for guests, lowering his voice enough and leaning over Taehyung so his wife wouldn't be able to hear him, "she's getting married to a CEO's son. Isn't that what her dad warned us about? Why did you let her?"

Taehyung thought hard about what he would say next. It was news to him as well. He believed it when Minah told him Seungyoon's parents were just regular workers. He was distracted by his own mixed feelings as well. A part of him thought that this marriage was arranged which meant Minah was never in love with Seungyoon. But for the most part, he was alerted. He started to have doubts about Seungyoon's intentions. Why did he say he didn't want Minah to know he liked her and reciprocate his feelings?

"I met the groom a couple of times, dad. I know he loves Minah. There's no ill intentions." Taehyung said, trying to reassure himself with his words. He sure didn't know Seungyoon well, but he was sure Seungyoon gave off trust-worthy vibes. He then excused himself out, "I realized I forgot to bring my phone. I'll be right back."

He had to get the USB as it was what Minah's dad told him to, regardless if he chose to trust Seungyoon or not.

He came back later just to find out the wedding vows were over and the guests were then dining. It was not hard to spot Minah among the crowds. She looked stunning with nice make-up and a beautiful wedding dress. She was walking alongside Seungyoon to greet the guests. He was snapped out of his own little world of staring at the bride when his parents noticed he had arrived and called him from afar.

He got an answer from his mother that Minah and Seungyoon had not walked to them yet. That worked out great. He was wondering how he could approach Minah.

It took them a longer time than Taehyung expected. He thought he would enjoy the food like his parents were but his mind was clouded with worry the longer he had to wait to even ease his hunger.

When it was finally their table that the newlyweds approached, Minah greeted his parents first while Seungyoon greeted him.

"How are you doing, Taehyung-ssi?" Seungyoon called as he slightly tapped Taehyung's shoulder to get his attention. The groom looked bright and friendly as he always did, so it was natural for Taehyung to return the same expression, forgetting about his concerns for Minah for a moment. "Thanks for coming."

"Great to see you again." Taehyung forced out a cheerful reply, much like himself in his normal days of carefree-ness. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." Seungyoon's smile stretched out further as he raised a glass of wine that was in his hand. He did the same and their glasses clinked on each other. A thought flashed his mind as he wondered if Seungyoon linked his arm with Minah to drink from the glasses like in movies, and it quickly transformed into the thought of them kissing.

He didn't get to see them kiss.

He wanted to see it but at the same time he didn't. What was wrong with him today, getting all distracted with unorganized thoughts and ideas? That wasn't like him at all.

His parents' chatting with Minah pulled him out from his train of thoughts before he could do it himself and try to think of something to talk about with Seungyoon.

"Taehyung has changed so much and we both think it was thanks to your influence." His mother said, smiling warmly at Minah. "He's a lot more organized now and he rarely makes a mess out of his own room anymore."

Taehyung confused himself as he didn't cut his mom off like usual whenever she bragged about him to anyone else. Instead, he gulped and watched Minah's reaction.

"He also started to care about us more." His mother continued with enthusiasm, "the other day, he asked us to go and do a complete health checkup for the very first time."

"Mom." Okay, that was enough. He leaned in to his mother to gently remind, "they have to greet other guests too."

Thankfully, his mother listened to him and the talk was shortly put to an end where his parents wished her a happy married life and well-being as did Minah. He called Minah after almost attempting to reach out for her forearm like he used to get her attention. Old habits die hard.

"Could I see you sometime later today?" His rushed sentence upon the attention that the other guests in their table were going him came out curt with his unreadable face. He couldn't care what he looked like at that moment because their eyes were locking.

"Surely." Minah looked obviously confused but her quick reply made him strangely satisfied. He smiled meekly at her and she did the same. As they were fixing their gaze on each other for a couple of seconds, he missed the confused and scandalized look that the surrounding spectators were giving them.

All he did afterwards was anticipating a little meet up with Minah and thankfully, he didn't have to wait long as his phone buzzed a text message from Minah to meet her at a secluded place near the main wedding hall once Minah and Seungyoon had gone over every guest table there was.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting." Minah began first as Taehyung closed the door behind him once he entered a small room that she was in. He shook his head as he smiled back at her.

It had been long since they were last together alone, but something in the atmosphere had changed. Minah was fidgeting, and he was feeling conscious.

"No problem." Taehyung simply replied, feeling himself lost. He usually talked more but somehow he found it hard to form a good sentence for a moment.

"Was the food not good? You weren't eating much." Minah asked, her eyes searched for him in concern. Taehyung was caught off guard by the question. She was probably observing him and that made him smile again.

"Everything was good," he quickly assured, making up an excuse, "I ate a lot on the way here."

"I see." She replied as her lips pressed into a thin smile, nodding in understanding but she drifted her eyes downcast, avoiding his gaze again. Taehyung felt the urge to tell her to look at him, but he figured he should talk to her about why he asked her to see him first.

"Oh, right," Taehyung began, reaching into the right pocket of his dress pants and took out Mr. Bang's USB, "your dad told me to give you this if you happen to marry someone who's a CEO's son."

As expected, Minah looked confused at his words.

"I'm not entirely sure what he meant by that either." Taehyung shrugged, "he didn't tell me much. Except for that this is not something he wanted to let you know unless the situation gets to this."

Minah only wrinkled her forehead harder though she was nodding slowly as she took a look at the foreign object in her hand.

"I know Seungyoon-ssi loves you," Taehyung added as he felt necessary, "but he used to tell me he was hoping you didn't love him back. I'm wondering if this has anything to do with whatever is stored inside the USB."

He figured Minah was getting surprised on top of being already confused.

"He told you so?"

"Yeah. But it was a while ago," Taehyung stressed, hoping Minah's face would relax, "I guess he changed his mind and accepted your love."

Minah bit her lips as if she had something to say but wouldn't.

"Again, I'm just as clueless as you are right now," Taehyung continued after Minah didn't seem to have anything to say, "I hope I made the right choice to let you know about the USB."

"I guess there's some secret he hid from me." Minah said with difficulty and chuckled nervously, "thank you Taehyung, I'll check it out as soon as I get home."

He flinched when he remembered the word home used to be referred by them to the same place a few weeks ago.

"Oh by the way, I brought something else," Taehyung reached into the pocket of his jacket and showed Minah the self-defense 'pen' that he refilled, his bottom lip before he continued, "if you still want it, that is."

"If that's okay with you," Minah smiled at the sight of it and Taehyung found himself returning the same expressions.

"I guess that's all from me." Taehyung said, sighing softly out of satisfaction, "Let's head back now. Seungyoon-ssi is probably waiting."

"Seungyoon," Minah nudged her friend (as she would still like to address him that way) as soon as they headed to the Kangs mansion. They didn't have a honeymoon as per Seungyoon's request to his parents to let Minah focus her time on her university work and Seungyoon on his regular health check-up and work at the company. "I'm heading to my study room. Let me know if I'm needed."

"Sure, noona." Seungyoon answered, smiling at her. Minah couldn't return as much brightness from the fact she just found out from Taehyung. But she couldn't pay much attention to Seungyoon's affairs right then. All that she could think off was what her father left for her.

She got to the study room that was assigned for herself in the big mansion and the laptop that was on the desk at the far end of the room. She plugged in the USB and typed in the password. Dad's favorite dish.

There were two audio files named in numbers, 01 and 02.

Her heart started to thump out of curiosity as she double-clicked on 01. Her dad's voice was filled in the formerly silent room and Minah found herself emotional as she got to hear his voice again after so long. But the feeling soon died down and was replaced by utter shock. She had to pause, rewind, and pause again just so she was sure what she heard was correct.

"Hello, my daughter. Your dad hopes you are doing well. I know you are.

"I hesitated a lot upon recording this message. I'm sure it's not necessary for you to know, but I can't help worrying that you are in the hands of bad people at the point that you are listening to this. Hence, I'm telling you the truth about your identity.

"Me and your mother... No, me and my wife had been happily married for 5 years back then. Despite our many attempts, my wife could not be pregnant. We went to the hospital and she was diagnosed with infertility. As you already know, she left me when she got in a car accident. But the thing was, she was talking with me on the phone and telling me about the bad news she got from the doctor. She was obviously crying and most likely, she didn't pay enough attention to stop at the red lights. The rest of it, you already know.

"I was pursuing her about adopting a child during that call, and she seemed fond of the idea. A few months after she passed away, even though people around me told me to take another step, I couldn't move on. I found myself wanting to just settle and adopt a child.

"Then, I found you. A little baby that seemed too polite and poised for a two-year-old. But she was the most adorable among other kids I could see. She spoke in broken Korean but she wasn't afraid of being corrected or laughed at by the grown-ups. I wished I took a lot of videos of you back then. But my dear, I couldn't with my rusty phone.

"As someone who valued the truth, I decided one day I would tell you that you were adopted. But when you were in high school, a man came to me saying he was your biological father. I really hoped he was a blatant liar, but I got no other clue to disprove he wasn't. As much as I would like to think it was just a lie, I'll leave it to your interpretation and I trust that whatever you choose to do with this information, I support you whole-heartedly. I know you can handle it.

"I took the chance to record that man's conversation with me because I thought I could refer back to it, so if you see the other file that comes in pair with this recording, that's the one.

"Remember, I have always loved you and seen you as my true daughter. You are the best gift to my life after my beloved wife. The fact that you are not my blood does none to change that fact. I hope you feel the same way.

"Goodbye Minah. Your dad loves you always."

She didn't get to the second audio recording until she rewound every positive part her father left for her, until she had memorized them all. She wiped the tears that fell down her cheeks from when she couldn't remember and sniffed as she played the second recording. There were two voices, her dad's and a man with a croaky voice. She was too preoccupied by the whole ordeal as she couldn't fathom how familiar that croaky voice was to her. She braced herself as she listened on.

"Please have some water." Her dad told the other man as there was a slight sound of a water bottle being handled around.

"I'm good, thank you." The other man simply replied, his tone was unpleasantly sly as he continued. "We are all busy here so I'll cut to the business."

"Yes, please continue." Her dad answered after a moment.

"So as I just told you, I'm Minah's biological father." The other man started, "I'm not here to claim her back so you don't have to worry,"

"What else are you here if not for that?" Her dad sounded a bit harsher this time.

"Well, I already told you I'm here for business." The other man scoffed before he continued, "a good one at that."

"Okay." Her dad curtly replied, his tone clearly annoyed.

"I came here to tell you my brilliant plan. Hear me out." The other man sounded childishly excited as he spoke. "I left Minah's mother when we were dating. You know, I got bored of her, that's all. But as you can see, I left her shortly after Minah was born. I never expected she would give Minah to an orphanage."

The other man paused to cackle out loud by himself. "And you know why? Because she found herself a huge goldmine! A CEO of a rising company!

"Good for her. My life has been a lot tougher on the other hand. My business failed and I just filed for bankruptcy last month. ing hell, I met her by chance at a bank, along with her rich husband! Imagine her reaction when I approached her. God! It was ing hilarious, I can't stop laughing every time I recall that horrified face!

"Then she dragged me to a corner before I could mention our love child. That's when I found out the filthy woman dumped Minah to clear her past in order to be with that clueless man. Poor my child. She didn't deserve such treatment!

"It's been a few months since I've been blackmailing her about that fact. Because it could get suspicious, she could only withdraw small amounts each month. This is of course not good enough for all that she's been receiving from her rich husband. I can't just settle with that!

"So she offered me a good deal. God forbids, her husband happened to have a son with his deceased ex-wife! Luck was by my side at long last! That son is diagnosed with some rare disease and he's due probably when he turns 25. That's like eight years from now, just so you know.

"Minah can get married to that son and she would get all his heritage for me after he died. Rest assured, I'm here to offer you a portion of that heritage. I swear it would be worth more than this house alone for you.

"What do you think?" The other man finished triumphantly after his long speech.

But there was a loud thud shortly after and a shrieking yelp from the man came almost simultaneously.

" off! I don't want you to show up in front of me ever again! If you dare to talk to my daughter or even approach her by any means, I swear it's gonna be your last day to live!"

"What the ?" The other man growled but his voice got smaller as he continued, "Are you retarded? I was just trying to help."

Then there was a slam of the door, and her dad's heavy breathing for a few seconds before the audio file ended.

Minah felt her heart racing. Her whole body heated up but she was shaking like she was in the middle of a snow storm. She had to cup to muffle her sobs. She had never felt such strong emotions taking over her at the same time. She missed her dad, she hated the fact that she wasn't his real daughter, and she hated it a lot more how her supposedly biological parents had wronged her, especially the man who visited her dad.

After what felt like forever, she stopped sobbing and calmed herself down.

Think. She had to think. She had to digest all the information she just got, and think for her dad's sake, and for hers.

She had to confirm that the voice she heard from the audio recording matched that of a person she was thinking about.

She had a hard time adjusting the mouse cursor to rewind the parts that played his voice, but she still did it. And she became sure of it.

She dialed the phone number that was saved in her phone for the past few months. The person was fast to pick up his phone.

"Oh, my daughter! Is it payday already?"

Tears streamed down her cheeks again upon the indistinguishable resemblance between the two voices.

Author's Note: there aren't a lot of characters in this fic so you probably know who that guy is right? ^^' I hope the revelation was shocking still!