"I have to tell you something about last night." Woo-Yeon replies, grasping onto his coffee mug, "It's about your husband." "What about my husband?" Minji asks.

"Well....I saw him walk out of his office
with that new secretary."

'New secretary?' Minji thought to herself, 'Who could've been the new secretary?' "Anything else?" "I followed them closely from the parking garage to a hotel." Woo-Yeon continues, "But he didn't look like himself." Just then, Minji receives a message from an anonymous person. "Who is this?" she asks herself, unlocking her phone. "Did someone text you?" Woo-yeon asks, glancing over. "It's a video message." Minji explains, facing her phone to Woo-Yeon, "But do you know this number?" Woo-Yeon takes her phone and immediately shook his head. "I don't know this number at all, Minji." Woo-Yeon explains, handing it back to her, "It could be a scam." Minji looks at the video message and hestiates what to do next. Just before she could bring herself to play the video, someone immediately grabs Minji's phone from her grasp. "Why didn't you tell me that you were seeing one of my employees?" Seokjin asks, sternly, "I know you two are friends, but—"

"But what about your relationship
with Kim Jisoo?" Woo-Yeon snaps, getting up from his seat.
"We aren't in a relationship, Mr. An." Seokjin retorts.
"But Minji's business is my business as well." he snaps,
"Her parents only trusted you with her because you had—"

"Mr. An," Hoseok replies, cutting him off, "we know that you and Minji are good friends, but Minji and Director Kim are husband and wife; there's a difference." "Then play that video on her phone." Woo-yeon insists, "Will that explain what happened to you and Kim Jisoo last night?" Seokjin looks at Minji's phone and sees the video link. "This video means nothing to me, An Woo-Yeon." Seokjin replies, handing it to Hoseok to delete it, "It doesn't affect me nor Minji." "It has been deleted, sir." Hosoek replies, passing it back.

"And I don't need someone to tell me
how to live my life."

Minji stands up from her seat and slaps Seokjin across the face. "Minji-sshi?" Hoseok asks, in shock. "Minji." Woo-Yeon says. "You were with Jisoo, weren't ya?" she asks. All of a sudden, all the other customers and even the staffs were focused on the scene. "You said you would come back before sunrise." Minji continues, "But you went to see your ex-girlfriend?!" Everyone gasps. He looks at Minji and says, "Let's talk about this at home." "Are you embarrassed?" Minji asks, "Why not answer me now?" Instantly, Seokjin grabs Minji's wrist and leads her out of the café with Hoseok following after them.

Returning back to the mansion, Seokjin gets out of the car, heads for the back seat to open the door and gestures Minji to come out. "I'm not leaving this car." she replies. "Then do you want to be forced out of the car?" Seokjin suggests, "Cause I'll be willing to do so." And so, Seokjin quickly unbuckles Minji's seatbelt and pulls onto Minji's arm in attempt to pull her out of the car and carry her bridal style into the mansion. "Seokjin-sshi—" she exclaims. "I don't want to hear another word from you until we get into the bedroom." he snaps, "Got it?" Minji sighs heavily at his simple request as he carries her to his bedroom. "What's happening, Hoseok?" Mrs. Chung asks, coming out of the kitchen. "Couple stuff, I guess." Hoseok replies, "But I can tell that Seokjin isn't happy with Minji." Once reaching the bedroom, Seokjin places Minji on the bed and locks the door to keep their privacy. "What did Woo-Yeon say to you?" Seokjin asks. "Why do I need to tell you?" Minji asks. "Because I am your husband, Kim Minji." he replies, turning to face her, "And as your husband—" "Don't use that on me, Seokjin." Minji replies, standing up from the bed, "I don't need you to tell me a million times."

"Minji-sshi, when have I ever—"
"Whatever Woo-Yeon told me today explained
for what ever happened last night between you and Jisoo."

"I was drugged by Jisoo, for your information." Seokjin explains, walking up to her, "She put something in my coffee last night and attempted to make a false tape about her and me." "Woo-Yeon said that—" she speaks. "Don't mention Woo-Yeon's name in this situation." he snaps. "Woo-Yeon said—" At that moment, Seokjin grabs Minji's face and forces a kiss upon her lips. She eventually pushes Seokjin away from her and immediately slaps him across the cheek. "Seokjin-sshi," Minji exclaims, "who do you think you are to treat me like this?" And just like that, Minji rushes out of his bedroom.

Running into her bedroom, she begins to pack her suitcase in attempt to leave the mansion; however, Seokjin comes rushing in. "Where are you going?" he asks, watching Minji pack her things. "I'm leaving this place." Minji replies, continuing to pack, "I can't stay here any longer."

"You can't leave because of the—"
"Forget about the damn contract!" she exclaims,
"It's nothing but a piece of paper!"

"And where are you going to live?" he asks, "You don't have anyone else to help you." "I can find my way, Seokjin-sshi." As she pushes Seokjin out of her way and heads for the front entrance, he follows after her again. Seokjin immediately grabs a hold of her wrist, stopping her from walking out of the mansion. "Do you even love me, Minji?" Seokjin asks, "Is my love just a joke to you?" Minji doesn't answer him. "Answer me, Kim Minji." he continues. Again, she doesn't answer.

"Fine; be that way then." Seokjin replies,
"Let's end the contract here."

He finally releases Minji's wrist and heads on upstairs, holding back his tears; along with Minji breaking down into tears herself. 'Pabo-ya,' she thought to herself, 'why can't you bring yourself to say you love him?' Seokjin walks back into his bedroom, heads over to his nightstand, opens the drawer to find a yellow envelope. He pulls it out from the drawer, sits on his bed and opens it to pull out their contract. 'Was it necessary to create this damn contract?' Seokjin thought to himself, 'Was it necessary to find Minji in the first place?' Out of frustration, Seokjin brought himself to destroy the contract into pieces and finally breaking down into tears himself. 

At Jisoo's place, she receives a call from CEO Kim. "Hello?" she answers. "I expected this break up to happen later," Seokjin's abeoji replies, on the other line, "but you made it happen instantly, Jisoo." "It was nothing, CEO Kim." Jisoo replies, "Such a simple task for a simple-minded human." "Well done," he explains, "be ready to receive your first check in 24 hours from now." "Wonderful." After hanging up on the phone, Jisoo tosses her phone on the bed and looks at herself in the vanity mirror. "Everything is going as planned, Kim Jisoo." she replies, "Now you're only one more step closer to your revenge."

Minji wipes her tears away with her hands and quietly leaves the mansion, leaving behind her luggage and carrying only her precious belongings out the door. Finally coming out of his bedroom, Seokjin walks back to the main entrance and before walking down the stairs, he sees the luggage, standing in front of the doors. 'Did she really leave?' he thought, with widen eyes. As he runs downstairs, he soon realizes that it's pouring rain outside. "Hoseok!" Seokjin exclaims, pacing back and forth, "Hoseok, where are you?!" "Yes, sir?" Hoseok asks, finally coming out of his hiding spot. "Get the car ready." he orders, "We're going to search for Minji."

"Did you two have a fight again?"
"Hoseok-sshi, if you don't get the car,
I will go find Minji myself."
"Doing it now, sire."

Soaked in the rain while waiting for the next bus, Minji couldn't help but comtemplate about her decision. 'It was the right decision, Kim Minji,' she thought to herself, 'There's no point of turning back now.' Once the bus came to a stop, Minji doesn't hesitate to get on, scans her transporation card and takes one of the window seats on the right-hand side of the bus, heading back to her real home. Searching for hours in the rain, Seokjin and Hoseok has not made any progess in finding Minji; so they decide to head back to mansion for a better plan. "Where else would Minji be?" Hoseok asks, as they settle in the living room, "She couldn't have gone that far." "She doesn't have the money to book a flight anywhere else, Hoseok." Seokjin explains. "So think of the places that she might've gone to." Hoseok suggests, "It shouldn't be that hard, right?"

"The only place that I know is—"

"Why did Minji run away, Seokjin?!" exclaims his omma, interrupting their conversation. "Omma...." "You didn't do anything to her, did you?" she asks, "Well, did you?" "Omma," Seokjin replies, "it's nothing like that at all; she and I—" "Had a small misunderstanding, m'lady." Hoseok replies, finishing Seokjin's sentence.

"If it's such a small misunderstanding, then why
would she run out of the house?"
"I don't know, omma." Seokjin replies, "I don't know."

Seokjin's omma sighs and says, "Your father said some things to Minji as well; they weren't nice things though." "Omma?" "It happened last night." she explains, "I guess she took his words too seriously as well."

Minji eventually gets off the bus; however, didn't realize that she would end up in her own neighborhood. "Minji?" Woo-Yeon asks, coming up the hill, "What are you doing here?" "Wooyeon-sshi...." she replies. Settling in Woo-yeon's living room while drying herself from the rain, Woo-yeon comes out of a room and hands Minji some new clothes. "They're my younger sister's." he explains, "She's away for the weekend with her boyfriend; she won't mind." "Thank you, Woo-yeon." she replies, taking it, "I'll go change." As Minji heads into the bathroom, Woo-yeon decides to change out of his clothes as well. Five minutes later, Woo-yeon comes out in a gray, knitted sweater and blue denim skinny jeans with small rips on the legs. He walks to the bathroom, knocking on the door and asks, "Minji, are you alright in there?" As he turns the door knob, Woo-yeon realizes that it was unlocked the whole time and upon opening the door, he sees Minji, sitting on the floor with her legs up against her body and her arms wrapped around them.

"Minji," Woo-yeon asks, catching her attention,
"did something happen between you and—"

Then, there was a knock at the door. "Get change." he replies, "I'll answer the door." Rushing to open the front door, Woo-yeon is greeted by Seokjin and Hoseok. "Director Kim?" "Is Minji here?" Hoseok asks, "We're here to bring her home." Minji eventually comes out of the bathroom and replies, "I'm not going." "You are my—" Seokjin replies.

"We've already ended the contract. We are nothing
to each other now."

"Is that true, sir?" Hoseok whispers. "Whether or not we still have the contract," Seokjin continues, walking into the house, "you are carrying the bloodline of my family and I demand you to come home this instant." "Prince Seokjin," Minji retorts, "you can't order me to—" She begins to feel dizzy and eventually blackouts in front of them.

Waiting for the positive results from the doctor, Woo-yeon receives a phone call from Jisoo. He immediately leaves the scene, hoping to get away from Seokjin and Hoseok, to answer it. "Hello?" he asks. "How is everything going, Wooyeon-sshi?" Jisoo asks.

"Minji is still in the ER; we're still waiting
for the results."
"What do you mean by we?" she asks, "Don't
tell me that Seokjin-sshi—"

"Don't worry about Director Kim, Jisoo." Woo-yeon explains, "Minji doesn't even want to live with Seokjin anymore; she rather go back to her old life."

"That's wonderful; now all you have to do is to
tell Seokjin that you are the right one for Minji and
he'll eventually let her go."
"You make it sound so simple, Jisoo-sshi;
but what if he doesn't budge?"

"Keep pushing his buttons until he finds his fault in their relationship." Jisoo explains, "Simple as that."

Woo-yeon ends the call with Jisoo and walks back to confront Seokjin as he is told. "Can I speak with you, as man to man?" he asks. "Director Kim does—" "It's alright, Hoseok." Seokjin replies, "Can you wait outside for me?" "But—" "That's an order." Hoseok eventually walks off, disappearing around the corner; as for Seokjin, he stood up from his seat and asks, "What is it that you wanted to talk about?" "I don't know how long Minji has known you, Director Kim." Woo-yeon replies, "But I think it's best if you let her go now." "I cannot do that, Mr. An." Seokjin replies, "She is pregnant with my child and I cannot let her live with another man." "Have you ever taken care of Minji, Director Kim?" he asks, "Have you ever taken the time to spend time with her and your unborn child?"

"I-I do take the time to—"
"Cause if you can't," Woo-yeon replies,
"Then I will take care of her in your place."

'Who does he think he is?' Seokjin thought, 'He is Minji's friend, not her husband.' "Minji deserves a better life." Woo-yeon continues, "And if you can't provide her that, then I—" "I don't need someone outside to tell me how to handle my life, Mr. An." he snaps, "And I don't need to let some friend come and ruin our relationship." One of the nurses come out of the ER and asks, "Which one of you is the patient's husband?" "That would be me." Seokjin replies, shoving Woo-yeon out of the way.

"And you know that she's pregnant, correct?"
"Yes, I do."

"Well, make sure she takes her daily supplements every single day from now on." she explains, "Also, make sure to keep her in a good mood; any saddness or anger could cause trouble for the baby." Seokjin nods and thank the nurse as she heads back inside.

An hour later, Minji eventually wakes up and find herself in a VIP hospital room. 'Did I blackout again?' As she repositions herself up on the bed, Hoseok comes into the room and asks, "How are you feeling, Minji-sshi?" "Hoseok-sshi?" Minji asks, "H-how did I....w-why are you...." "You fainted at Woo-yeon's house." he explains, walking over the bed, "Nothing too serious though."

"I see."
"Come back home with Seokjin, Minji;
you know that you can't survive—"

"We already decided." Minji replies, cutting him off, "We already decided to not stay together."

"But—"
"There are many single mothers out there,
Hoseok-sshi; and I can do the same thing for myself."
"That's because—"

"Let me talk with her, Hoseok." Seokjin replies, coming into the room. Minji turns her eyes away from Seokjin, indicating that she isn't ready to talk to him yet. "Wait for us outside, Hoseok." Seokjin explains, "And close the door behind you as well." Hoseok nods his head and walks out of the room, closing the door just as Seokjin had ordered. He walks up to the bed, places both of his hands on either of the bedsides and leans in close to Minji's face. "If you're not going to talk, then should I stay like this until you're ready to speak?" Seokjin asks. She doesn't answer his question; and so, Seokjin moves in even closer. 'Doesn't he get the picture here?' Minji thought, 'He said it himself that we would end the contract.'

Just then, he quickly steals a kiss from Minji's right cheek, which surprises her. "Seokjin-sshi!" she exclaims, turning to face him. "I thought you weren't going to talk at all." Seokjin teases, moving away.

"But you—"
"I didn't cheat at all."

'That was definitely cheating.' Minji scoffs at his response and replies, "I'm still not going home with you, though." "I didn't say anything about taking you home." he explains. "What do you mean?" she asks. "You'll find out soon." Once checking out of the hospital, Woo-yeon waits for them at the entrance. "Wooyeon-sshi?" Minji asks, "You are here too?" "You still have your wet clothes at my place." he explains, "When do you want me to—" "That won't be necessary, Mr. An." Seokjin replies, "I will have Hoseok head over there to pick them up himself."

As they are driving on the road, Minji can't seem to get the idea of Seokjin not accepting the truth between them. 'The contract is over and he still wants to help me raise this child.' she thought, 'But then again, the child isn't even born yet.' "We're here." Seokjin replies. "W-what do you mean by here?" Minji asks, "Who's house are we—" "It's halmeoni's house." he explains, "She came to the mansion earlier because she heard that you ran away and told me to bring you here from now on." Entering halmeoni's home, she kindly greets Seokjin and Minji with a hug and replies, "I'm glad you two could come; my servants already prepared your bedroom for you." Minji looks at Seokjin and then back at halmeoni.

"Halmeoni—" Minji replies.
"Seokjin already told me about the contract." she explains,
"But I don't believe that a contract should be the reason you two
are brought together; it should be my great-grandchild in your womb, Minji-ah."
"But—"

"Halmeoni," Seokjin replies, butting in, "Minji is tired from the long drive, so I think we'll talk about everything tomorrow if that's alright with you." "Oh yes." Seokjin's halmeoni says, "I'm getting ahead of myself; silly old me." She soon leads Seokjin and Minji to their private bedroom on the main floor.

Getting ready for bed, Minji began to ponder about her love for Seokjin. "I can't fall in love with him." she told herself, "I'm only here until the child is born." "Why do you say that?" Seokjin asks, startling Minji, "Did you not want—"

"You know that your abeoji won't—"
"That's why we have to fight together to prove him." Seokjin replies,
walking up to her, "We have to fight to prove our love for him."

"I don't know."
"I know you've been through so much, Minji-ah;
but don't carry them by yourself, give some of your troubles to me."

"And about Kim Jisoo?" she asks. "She and I have nothing else left." Seokjin reassures, "She and I are over; she was the one to call it off."

"But—"
"You are the only one in this heart, Minji;
no one else can replace you."

He gently pulls Minji into a hug and began to caress her long hair. "Don't hide your true feelings from me." Seokjin confesses, "It hurts to know that I'm not loved by you, Minji." That's when she began to break down into tears, knowing that she's been hiding her feelings for Seokjin since the beginning. "When you are ready to tell me how you truly feel," he replies, "I will accept your answer no matter what."

"Seokjin-sshi...."
"I'm sorry for not being a good husband." he replies, tighten the hug,
"I'm sorry for not being a good dad for our child."

'It hurts to know that you're suffering as well, Seokjin-sshi.' Minji thought to herself, 'It hurts to see you think like this.' Seokjin eventually releases Minji from the hug and holds her hands in his. "Since we're staying with halmeoni," he replies, with a smile, "no one can come and tell us what to do." "What did the doctor say about my condition?" Minji asks, "Why did I faint earlier?" "Well, we haven't purchase any supplements and vitamins for your pregnancy." Seokjin explains, "Tomorrow, I will tell Hoseok to pick them up for you." "Okay." Then Seokjin guides Minji to the bed, making her sit down as he kneels down in front of her. Before she could question him, Seokjin wraps one of his arms around her waist with the other one holding her stomach as he lean his ears onto her stomach, hoping to hear the baby. Meanwhile, sneaking a peek from the bedroom door, Seokjin's halmeoni watches them with a bright smile on her face. 'Like parent, like child.' she thought, before walking off for bed.

• • [ end of chapter fourteen ] • •