It was pretty much clear that Minah had been shoehorned into her biological parents' plans. It took Minah a phone call to the loan shark the day she received her dad's USB from Taehyung, and the DNA test run on her and Seungyoon's stepmother's strand of hair now in her hands, to make sure of it.

Minah couldn't think of any other explanation as for Seungyoon's partake in this scheme, except for the fact that her friend was an unbeknownst tool all throughout. Seungyoon had been none but truthful to Minah. For instance, he didn't hesitate to tell her how he came to the orphanage.

"It was my mother's suggestion." Seungyoon told her when she asked him the other day with yet a bright, oblivious smile.

Mrs. Kang was the person who set him up to see her, that was clear. But the fact that Seungyoon could be close to her till this day had nothing to do with it, because they got along with each other well by themselves.

It was the fact that Mrs. Kang assumed Minah knew Seungyoon's background and approached him because of that that annoyed Minah.

"As you already know, Minah, Seungyoon will automatically leave his heritage behind to you now that he has had a wife." Mrs. Kang told her with a smile that Minah could no longer return.

"I have heard him talk about it, mother." Minah replied, feigning a weak smile back at her, waiting for the words she had guessed she would hear from her real mother next. And she was proven right.

"The thing is, my dear, I couldn't help but look into your background just to make sure Seungyoon is married to someone he truly could depend on." Mrs. Kang began, and Minah bit back the urge to laugh at the other's attempt to coerce Minah into giving what she wanted. It was the heritage so that she could give it to Minah's biological father. By using her fake marriage with Taehyung to blackmail her, Mrs. Kang surely was aiming to take most of the heritage that Seungyoon was to transfer to Minah upon his death.

"That's understandable, mother." Minah quickly replied, "but I would like to claim that I do not have any intentions to keep that heritage to myself."

She watched Mrs. Kang's facial expression change the way she anticipated. The older woman looked surprised. It seemed like she thought Minah was the one who made Seungyoon marry her in the first place.

"I'm planning to transfer it to you, mother. Every single penny." Minah stressed the last sentence while trying her best to mask her intense glare at her mother with a tight smile.

Mrs. Kang blinked as she was still speechless because it was obvious that Minah's words were not in her plan. Minah had to grin at her as she could not suppress the bitter laughter that was threatening to go out at any moment she spent with Mrs. Kang.

"I never intend to get money out of this marriage." Minah continued as she spoke the truth, "As you already know, I had been and am still loving someone else."

Mrs. Kang visibly gulped at Minah's honesty. She raised an eyebrow at Minah, signaling her to continue.

"It's a long story, but Seungyoon wanted to marry me to help me forget about that man I love. He's a great friend that I don't deserve. The heritage is out of the question here. I would like to transfer it all to you," Minah paused, finding the best excuse she could come up with, "as I think it will best be used to benefit younger brother Chanhee. He might find it useful for his future."

"Are you sure, Minah?" Mrs. Kang asked at last, obviously looking impressed and touched. Minah knew exactly where she would use that heritage for, and she never intended to make her mother grateful for her in any way. It was just that, she dreaded how ugly the conversation would turn out to be had she not interfered a moment ago.

"Yes, mother." Minah answered, forcing another smile that she never thought would be that hard to do, "I'm sorry for interfering with your original speech. Would you mind reminding me about it?"

"It's nothing, my dear," Mrs. Kang quickly replied as her eyes were casting downward for a moment, "I'm... relieved that you don't seem to have ill intentions in this marriage. That's great."

"I'm glad to hear." Minah replied, her lips pressing into a thin smile. Mrs. Kang was too focused on her own problems to call her out on Seungyoon and her fake marriage.

"Do you need anything at all? Or just a portion of the heritage to make do for something you are currently unable to afford." Mrs. Kang continued to ask, her tone definitely carried a firm belief that Minah had something she was struggling with. That made her a bit uncomfortable.

"None that I can think of at the moment," Minah answered right away, "but thank you for your concerns."

To be truthful, now that she found out about her identity, Minah had no intentions to let her mother continue using her as a tool to get Seungyoon's heritage without being suspicious of Mr. Kang. She was only staying because of her friend. Thanks to Taehyung, she came to know Seungyoon had feelings for her and that made her even more appreciative towards her friend. He never tried to make a move on Minah and acted like normal friends would when they were alone.

It would be an understatement to say Minah resented her mother. She resented her for abandoning her, for approaching her only when she was of use to her mother. She resented her for being able to act normal around Minah.

But Minah slowly came to the conclusion that she would close her eyes and let her mother take advantage of her while Seungyoon was still around. In her mind, her biological father was the one to blame. Judging from his manners, Minah was sure Mrs. Kang had it bad in the past. He was one who had shown the most that he did not care for his abandoned daughter at all. All he wanted was the money that he could benefit from using her.

She was bitter at first, but she slowly felt it amusing that she was glad she got to be with her dad in the end. She loved him even more for being a great father to her even though they were not blood-related.

She found it somehow easy to sympathize for her mother even in spite of what the latter had done to her. It might have been hard to raise a child in a society where people easily judge you if you do not have a husband yet you already have a child. Having observed how Mr. Kang was a prideful man, she was sure there would have been zero chance her mother would be able to come into such a successful man's life with a child from a different man in her arms.

It was best to blame all the faults on her birth father.

And most of all, she was still hung over the fact that the person she came to love already had someone else. Taehyung had flooded her mind every now and then whenever she had the chance to take a break from school and work.

As expected, after the wedding day, they never contacted each other. There was no reason to, Minah had to admit.

Until she got a call from Taehyung and scolded herself for thinking he had other intentions than to let her know the house was getting sold.

"Now we can finally breathe out in ease," Seokjin said, smiling brightly at Minah once they had finished with the paperwork, "for some reason, it took longer than I expected, but your house is finally getting its new owner. Congratulations, Minah-ssi."

"Thank you, Seokjin-ssi." Minah returned the smile and bowed again at the older male, feeling thankful for what he had done for her. "I don't know how I can repay you."

"That's nothing to worry about." Taehyung cut in and Seokjin faked a pout at the younger, "It's not like he's doing this for free."

"This ungrateful brat." Seokjin exclaimed as he kicked Taehyung playfully. "Well, you heard him, Minah-ssi. There's nothing to worry about. I'm glad I was able to help out. Now, if you excuse me." Seokjin bowed slightly at Minah to bid them goodbyes.

It was only her and Taehyung alone in the restaurant room they booked. There was an awkward silence before Taehyung spoke up again.

"Minah-noona, I can drive you back home if you want."

"That'd be great, Taehyung." Minah felt her cheeks blush as she was too quick to answer. She hoped he wouldn't notice her obvious giveaway she was displaying. Even though it was not necessary, Taehyung still showed up that day and Minah was happy because he did.

She just wanted to spend as much time with Taehyung as she could. Because after this meeting, there was really no other reason to meet up again.

She wanted to at least cherish the last moments with him while she could.

"Perfect." Taehyung said, beaming at her. "Can you give me the address?"

"So, is this the place?" Taehyung asked rhetorically as he tilted his head to peek through the museum they had arrived at. Minah hummed as she unbuckled her seatbelts to emerge from Taehyung's car.

She slipped a moment ago because she could not think properly, until Taehyung asked for the address did she remember she was supposed to go to the museum for her report assignment.

"Thank you so much, Tae. I'll be going now." Minah said, giving him one last glance as her hand was already at the door handle. "I hope you won't be late for your date because of me."

"I don't have any date?" Taehyung answered, genuinely confused at her.

"You don't? But your outfit..." Minah wondered aloud, looking at his appearance. He sure was dressing up compared to how she usually saw him, though of course he always dressed neatly. "Nevermind, then."

It seemed he sensed her gaze so he just cleared his throat and smiled shyly at her. Minah fondly smiled back before bidding him one last goodbye.

Taehyung was still in the back of her mind as she went into the museum but she was genuinely surprised to learn he might really not have a date after all, as she came face to face with Bae Joohyun, his supposed-to-be lover.

But it seemed like she was not Taehyung's girlfriend anymore.

She was too busy talking with a man she was with to notice Minah, or she assumed Joohyun had never actually seen her face anyway.

Minah decided to approach her. It was barely two months after that photo was sent. The fact that Joohyun seemed to be enjoying another person's company like that, hand in hand, would have to mean they were indeed dating. The sudden curiosity engulfed Minah as she stepped forward and put a hand on Joohyun's shoulder, desperate to find out about Taehyung's current dating status.

"Excuse me." Minah bowed at Joohyun as the latter looked perplexed. She seemed to really not recognize her at all. "Are you guys perhaps dating?"

"Yes, we are." The man beside her replied instead, his hand squeezing Joohyun's slightly, "and you are...?"

"Sorry to interrupt, but could I speak with Joohyun-ssi for a moment? I have something to ask about Taehyung."

Joohyun immediately widened her eyes and quickly told her boyfriend to go without her first before she led Minah to the opposite direction, far enough for her boyfriend not to overhear what they were going to say next.

"Are you not dating Taehyung anymore?" Minah asked as soon as Joohyun stopped on her feet.

"We aren't." Joohyun admitted but her eyes were diverted somewhere for a moment before meeting Minah's eyes again.

"When did you guys break up?" Minah asked again, raising her eyebrow as Joohyun looked like she was hiding something from her. And the way she looked so anxious even though there was really nothing to be embarrassed about.

"We- um..." Joohyun paused, narrowing her eyes as if trying to search for an answer to a math problem.

"It's okay. You don't need to tell me if you don't want to." Minah assured, pulling her phone out, "I can always ask Taehyung."

"No, don't!" Joohyun quickly exclaimed, "please don't... He can't know about this."

"What do you mean?" Minah questioned, growing more suspicious by the second. "You are not cheating, are you?"

"Of course not!" Joohyun exclaimed again, then looking at Minah apologetically, "It just did what I was told to."

The report assignment was pushed back till late at night when Minah could finally put her mind into it after what Joohyun told her back in the museum.

Joohyun showed her the chat history between her and Mrs. Kang, and a screenshot of the payment she received from texting Minah the lying message. It turned out Joohyun was Taehyung's ex-girlfriend but they broke up long ago and stayed friends. She took advantage when Taehyung was drunk and sent Minah the text message to make her guilty about the fake marriage.

It was originally Mrs. Kang's plan after all.

A/N: I am too lazy don't wanna drag some conversation too much so, hopefully the little summaries like the last paragraph works TvT

also here's the status bar for this story: [-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----] I'm so happy I'm only 2 chaps away omg. I envy those who write 100k+ word fiction addsgfghjkk how can they be so dedicated while I'm here trying to spew 2k words per week orz