January 21st

When Na Seo Hee came back, it was half past seven. Based on her face expression, Jiwoo knew there was something wrong. Something related to her.

"How is he?", she stood up, attempting to act like worried wife, which made her mother's face turn pale. "Mom? What's wrong?"

Woman reached one hand in her pocket, pulled out two pill bottles and threw them on desk. Jiwoo's face completely changed when she recognized tags.

"It was you, wasn't it?", her mother's voice was distant and unrecognizable.

"Mom, I..."

"Thirteen to fifteen Oxycontin painkillers and ten Eszopiclone sleeping pills."

Young woman almost lost her balance, using nearest chair as support. She felt strange buzzing in ears as her vision started to blur and her heart skip beats. Strong hand grabbed her bicep and pulled her up.

"Now's not the time to lose consciousness, Jiwoo."

Na Seo Hee looked deeply in her daughter's eyes. She tried to reassure herself it couldn't be her and hoped this was all an accident or just a really bad dream. Jiwoo was always great example of how high class child and heir should act and to think someone like that would willingly dirt their hands was near to impossible.

"It wasn't you who did it, was it?", she repeated her question, this time gripping her palms and looking at her desperately. When Jiwoo nodded her head, she almost screamed. "But why would you do something like that? You were both so happy for two years, so why would something like this happen?!"

Her daughter's answer completely devastated her.

"It wasn't us who were happy. It was just you and Dad."

- Present day -

There were many things Jiwoo avoided telling Taehyung. Like how her mother practically begged her to get divorce, or how she went to motel in Sokcho that same morning, to get CCTV footage and bribe whole staff so they wouldn't speak about someone else being in hotel other than her daughter and son-in-law that weekend.

Jiwoo went out, to give Taehyung time to think about what just happened and to give a call to her mother.

Just as she was about to dial a number, someone called out her name. Hearing Korean accent, Jiwoo raised her head and saw familiar face. It was no one other but Detective Park. He wore the same blue shirt every time they met and he clearly hasn't shaved in a few days. There were dark circles under his eyes, like he just went through 48 hours of no sleep.

"Detective Park? What are you doing here?", she turned off her phone almost immediately.

"When you're in job as tough as mine, you're not allowed to be limited to one country.", seeing how she raised her eyebrows in confusion, he tried to simplify. "One of our key suspects in recent case made his way out of Korea."

"Why didn't you just let local police take care of it?"

"Perhaps that's the biggest problem I have. Place just doesn't hold me. I want to make sure he faces justice."

He looked like at least ten years younger when he spoke like that, which made Jiwoo snicker.

"If I may ask, what were you doing here?", he asked with caution but also without trying to suppress natural curiosity. She had two options: telling him it's none of his business or making up something.

"Just some college preparations..."

"Ah, of course," he nodded. Education money is not that big of a problem to rich people. For a moment, he thought about his daughter. Besides his full time job, his wife's been working as private tutor, wanting to bring more money to their house. But even after all their labor, Eun Bi was just not interested in getting knowledge, and she quickly turned in gold digger, worrying both of her parents.

"So, when are you starting?", he asked woman in front of him, covering his worries with slight smile.

"Sometime during next month, but I'm probably going to move here next week."

"So, we will either see each other a few more times or never."

She nodded, not giving special meaning to his words. "Good luck with catching the suspect."

Jiwoo was about to leave when his words stopped her in track. "Where were you on the night between 20th and 21st January?"

"The case is closed, Detective. You have no legal power or right to question me anymore," she opposed him as soon as she felt where this was going. "Besides, you have my testimony."

"Well I've seen more than two witnesses who tried to get away by lying."

"You can go and look for non-existent evidences, but they will all just prove that I'm innocent. And if you try to do this in the middle of public place, I'll be forced to call police. Now if you'll excuse me," she tried going around him, but he followed her each step.

"I'm still allowed to question you in police station, right?"

"Goodbye, Mr Park.", she said shortly and started walking the other way, towards the exit in the back.

First thing Jiwoo did when she finally made her way out was getting to the nearest bakery which, luckily, turned out to be open 24 hours a-day. The place was lit by very few lights, but that's what made atmosphere warmer, more intimidating and peaceful, which was just what she needed. There were only three more customers sitting inside when she entered. Jiwoo asked a woman behind the counter if she could use one of the tables all night. They made a deal pretty easily when she added a little bigger tip to full price of the croissant, apple pie and lemonade that she had ordered.

Jiwoo spent that given time with her laptop, replying to emails, calling her and Taehyung's parents. In the end, she decided to reply positively to Manhattan College's offer and was officially going to start semester in March, majoring in Business Analytics.

She stared blankly at the 'send' button in the corner of her screen for a while. Truth to be told, she never liked anything that had to do with company leading, meetings, mathematics or numbers at all. But that's exactly what she was about to make her lifetime career, only in purpose of helping Taehyung once he gets to the CEO position.

What upset her the most was the fact that everything she did in her life was for someone else.

Act noble because of Dad, her mother would say this one time their hospital almost hit rock bottom. She was sixteen at the time.

This lady is one really important man's wife, so be nice with her son, she told her during one of formal balls. She was only nine years old. That boy ended up telling her she's ugly and fat, leaving the girl self-conscious. But it was easy to him - he didn't have to be nice against his own will.

She was never given the choice to choose - she was just following orders.

By the time Jiwoo closed her computer, it was 7 am. After buying two coffees to go, she went to exit when she suddenly bumped into someone.

"Long time no see, Miss Jeon."

Upon seeing the face above, two paper cups fell out of her trembling hands.