Enjoy reading~

P.S  WARNING LENGTHY EXPLANATIONS AHEAD. ;D

Flashback

'For Bom'  A note was inserted with Chaerin's handwriting.

I hastily opened the box and discovered that a tablet was inside, I turned it on without second thoughts. To my surprise, a 3D laser scanner appeared and scanned my face. A few seconds after, the screen of the tablet turned green which indicates that my access is confirmed. 

The screen changed again into a different setting and a familiar face came into sight.

"Chae." 

"Bom unnie annyeong!" A gleeful waving Chaerin was displayed on the screen; she even got into her usual perfectionist and quirky self— complaining about how her hair and face were unfit for the camera and giving off some witty jokes.  But I should know better, her eyes were betraying her, she was so much hurt while recording this.

I was so caught up in noticing the sadness behind her smiles and the hurt behind her eyes that I did not notice that she already stopped talking and started breaking into tears.

She's crying.

Kwon Lee Chaerin vowed to never cry in front of people before. She never cried in front of us— her best friends. Nor did she even cry on her wedding day. I only saw her cry once and it was only during that private and intimate moment wherein she took Yeong gun in her arms for the first time. 

"Bom Unnie, you've always expressed how thankful you are for our friendship, you've always been grateful not only to me but to Jiyong as well for being there for you. But actually unnie, we are the ones who should be thankful. Personally, I've always been grateful that I met such a loving, supportive, and trustworthy person like you. You don't know how happy I am to become one of the Corn Queen's best friends, to become Park Bom's best friend." She smiled genuinely while sniffing tears.

Darn it. How could you Chae? Now, I'm crying even more.

"Aigoo. You must be cursing me right now because I know I'm making you cry. And I know by the time you are watching this, Jiyong and I already passed away."  What? So they've been preparing for this to happen? They know that they are going to die this soon?

"Bom unnie, I know you are confused right now. So I beg you to please keep calm and listen to my explanation.

Unnie, you know that you, Dara, Minzy, and Ahjumma are the only ones who knew about Yeong gun's real identity as our son right? You are the only ones who knew about my pregnancy as well.

Jiyong and I already gave you an explanation from the very start that it's for Yeong gun's sake, thus, we have to hide him. You asked us for the reason why and who we should hide him from, we briefly answered that we accepted a non‐business partnership from the government of South Korea before, not knowing that I was already carrying Yeong gun for 2 months and it was already too late to back out. Risks and dangers are inevitable in the said partnership so we have to hide him.

Unnie, we never got the chance to explain further but that non‐business partnership is in line with making a solution for the banking scandals of our motherland. A few months after my honeymoon with Jiyong, both of us were personally asked by the government for our expertise so that newly imposed law— I am sure you know and support it— that mitigates the bank issue scandals will be made more effective. They asked us to make an algorithm that will monitor and control bank transactions to its appropriate order.

The both of us did not have second thoughts in agreeing because we thought that it is our chance to help our country. We thought that it was our moral responsibility to share our expertise to make the citizens' lives better. We knew that there were risks but we still took it because of the moral obligation we strongly felt as well as the trust we had in the great vision of the government.

As soon as we knew that there's a life inside of me, Jiyong wanted me out of the partnership. I knew he was worried but I also knew he'll have a hard time without a partner and it would have taken him more years to finish. So, I begged him not to, hence, we agreed with the plan that he'll be the one to stay and I should just work with him from America. But he never really agreed to that plan unless you also agree to stay with me during the whole duration. Remember that time we begged you to just work from home?" Everything became clearer now as Chae explained.

"You also asked until when we are planning to hide Yeong gun. Unnie, it's supposed to be until he is a year older right? Because we thought that we will be able to ward off all risks with that given amount of time. But there is one threat we failed to watch out for, we failed to see the possibility of someone from the government betraying us. Some ing bastards want to sell the algorithm to the biggest black market in Seoul so that they could have the power over the banks.

Unfortunately, these traitors are still unidentified. But we cannot let them use our creation for their evil acts for it will surely jeopardize a lot of people including our loved ones. That's why Jiyong and I decided to go back home. It's not for a business trip like we told you.

It's for us to figure out whom to rightfully entrust the algorithm." Chae exhaled deeply before continuing and shifted closer to the camera.

"I know. You must be cursing us more for our decision of handling this personally but believe it or not, for the first time, we have no other choice but to do it unnie. We are aware of the impending dangers specifically death....so I am begging you two things unnie.

As your best friend and more importantly as a mother, I ask you two things for the very last time: Please continue to love and care for our Yeong gun. Please see to it that he will be safe and secured and that he will have a good future. We love him so much and it hurts to leave him this early!" Chaerin weeped again.

"I don't have much time anymore unnie. The next lines will be very important and I need you to please listen more carefully: Bom unnie, forgive us for not asking your consultation for this, but we manipulated Yeong gun's legal documents.

He is now known as Park Yeong gun, your son. 

I am so sorry we have to do it unnie. But it's the only way we know how they will never run after him. And more than any other person in the world, we know you have the capacity to love, care, and protect him like we did. Saranghae unnie. Thank you very much for everything." With the last sentence, I became number as the screen turned black.

"Yah! What the— " I rapidly ran to the balcony as fast as I could and gave a good throw of the tablet to the swimming pool below. After a few seconds, I heard an explosion and sloshing of water as the tablet self‐destructed.

End of Flashback

"Jinjja. So that is why we received a text message from you that says 'My son, Yeong gun and I are coming back home.' We got really worried by that you know." Dara pouted after my long narration of the video I received from Chae. The three of us were still in our sitting positions in the dining table earlier, the only difference is the noticeable hands under our chins.

"I just can't explain everything over the phone as it would be risky and I only followed what Minzy texted me to not talk about anything over the phone and that both of you received 'it' too. Speaking of which, how about the videos you received? What did Chae say? Did she sa