“I told you to take care of it before it became out of hand!” Yonghwa banged his fists on his desk. He was furious with his secretary and lawyers.

“Chef Jungnim, please. We are doing everything in our power to stop the media. But the pictures are circulating via SNS. And the Korean netizens are not letting this go.”

“The Korean netizens…” He scoffed at how ridiculous the Korean media could get over a simple matter. “they surely must be enjoying this. They never had any evidence of my personal life until now.”

“It always seems so. Even with other Korean celebrities.”

“Were you able to find out who was behind this? What about Viann Zhang? I knew not to trust her.”

“The hired private investigators are looking into it Chefnim.” His secretary positioned his head down while fidgeting with his fingers. “Geundae, was it necessary to go public with Park Shinhye ssi? I mean, this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t announced your relationship with her. Do you regret it?”

Yonghwa snickered. “How dare you ask such questions? I do not regret announcing to the world that Park Shinhye is mine. If anything, she’s the one who is hurt from all this nonsense. I don’t care about what this will do to my career. But her beautiful heart is hurting from it even though she doesn’t say much. I will do what I can to protect her and not let this hurt her more.”

“Joesonghaeyo chefnim.” His secretary bowed his head in embarrassment for saying such.

“You do everything you can from your side to eradicate these pictures and contact Viann Zhang. I will meet with her personally to stop this.” He roared.

“Chefnim, I don’t think it will be a great idea to meet with her as it will create more rumors and cause more problems.”

“Do you think I am stupid to meet with her alone?!” He closed his eyes and deeply exhaled. “You, the lawyers, and I will meet with her.”

“Ne, chefnim.”

“You may leave. I don’t want to hear about this anymore until you have found a way to abolish this.” He threw the pictures and stack of tabloids across his desk.

His secretary didn’t respond but quickly took everything and bowed before leaving the restaurant. Since the scandal, he had less people coming to his restaurant. The slammed media have labeled him a Casanova chef who used his passion of cooking to win the ladies. Many of his regular customers have judged him based on the scandal and didn’t want to acknowledge him as a passionate chef.

If anything, Yonghwa wanted to ignore the media and continue his life on his own terms. But he couldn’t because this affected his relationship with Shinhye. After both Yonghwa and Shinhye arrived back in Seoul from Japan, the frenzied media swarmed the airport waiting to get pictures of the couple. Minyoung and Yonghwa’s secretary ordered bodyguards to protect them from the media. Yonghwa recalled the conversation and gathering with Shinhye’s older sister that night.

A week ago at the Park residence...….….

“Casanova?! Are you kidding me?” Minyoung shouted after Yonghwa confessed to her his past. “Shinhye, did you know about this? Yet you still wanted a relationship with him?!”

“Eonni, of course I knew. Before we officially dated, Yonghwa confessed and confided in me to tell me about his past. No other man would even share that part of him. Yes, I was scared and surprised when he told me. But the days we’ve been together, he was always truthful and trustworthy.”

Minyoung shook her head. “How can you be so stupid Shinhye?! He has a past as a Casanova. He can always revert back to his past and leave you.” She directed her glaring eyes at Yonghwa, whom was sitting beside Shinhye.

Yonghwa could not take Minyoung’s scorn towards himself and Shinhye. He stood up. “Geumanhae! How can you say such distasteful words towards your own sister? I’ll accept all the insults you think of me and have said. But you don’t insult my girlfriend…..ever.”

“Jebal geumanhae! Yonghwa yah, Minyoung ah.” Jiwoo spoke up after hearing enough hurtful words being said. “Yonghwa yah, please sit back down. Minyoung ah, please calm down.”

“Geundae eomma, are you going to let such a player of a man continue to be in Shinhye’s life? He’s a liar and his past is ruining our company’s reputation! Our stocks decreased by twelve percent since the scandal was exposed. And Yonghwa ssi, what are you going to do to stop all this? You are hurting my sister!”

“Eonni! Geuman! I will speak for myself.” Shinhye finally spoke. “Eonni, you never cared about my best interests. You say you do but you just have eyes for the company and its reputation. Well, I’m tired of how you always want to control my life. Yonghwa is the man I love with all my heart. He’s the last man I ever want to be with. I never judged his past or his character. We both pushed his past behind us and started fresh with each other. We handled everything between us. That’s all that matters.” She grasped Yonghwa’s hands with hers and looked to Minyoung. “I love you eonni dearly. But if you can’t accept my relationship with Yonghwa and only care about the company, I will resign as CEO of the company.”

“Shin ah…..” Yonghwa squeezed her hand a little more.

“Shinhye….” Jiwoo quickly scooted herself to the edge of her chair. Minyoung became wide-eyed but didn’t say anything.

“Ani. The company doesn’t matter to me all that much. I’m grateful to Appa for thinking of me to co-run his company. He may be disappointed in me for giving it up. But I know, in my heart, that he wants me to be happy. I’m very happy with Yonghwa.” Tears were accumulating but she quickly held them back. “Eomma, mianhe. Yonghwa and I will leave now.”

Jiwoo stood up immediately and hugged her youngest daughter. “Shinhye, you don’t have to do this. You can-“ Shinhye immediately interrupted her mom.

“Eomma, gwaenchanha.” She smiled to her mom. “Don’t worry.”

“My sweet and fragile ddal. Everything will be fine.” Jiwoo tightly hugged her and kissed the top of her head. She released her hug and turned to Yonghwa. “You take care of my daughter. Let everything calm down. I trust you to protect my daughter from your past.”

“I will. I will take care of everything and resolve this issue.” Yonghwa bowed to Jiwoo while Jiwoo lightly tapped his upper arm. Minyoung sat there like a statue, not saying anything or apologizing for what happened.

Yonghwa placed his arm around Shinhye’s shoulder as he walked her out of the mansion. He had mixed emotions when he stared down at Shinhye. She still kept a small smile on her face. He felt worried for her yet he was mad at the decision she came to because of him.

“Do you wanna talk about what happened?” He offered her some comfort after getting situated in his town car.

“Let’s talk when we get back.” Shinhye sighed and leaned her head back against the head rest.

“You are staying with me tonight. No ifs, ands, or buts.” He tried to joke with her, which earned a chuckle from her.

“Arasseo.” She smiled to him as he reached for her hand and held it tight in his. They drove back to his condo in silence with them still holding each other’s hand.

“Shin, we’re here.” Yonghwa lightly brushed her cheeks to wake her up from her sudden doze.

“Mianhe. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” She looked a