~Chapter Song: Bii 'We Are Walking in Love'~

Early in the morning Jin-Goo woke up at dawn like he usually did. He took a shower, dressed himself in a crisp navy suit and made a cup of black coffee for his breakfast. He hadn’t been satisfying his sweet tooth for a few months now and he had strangely gotten used to the bitter taste of the dark liquid.

When he got to his office, he put on his tie and waited for his halmeoni to arrive. He had called her for an unofficial meeting last night. Jin-Goo wasn’t stupid, he knew what people were saying about him coming into the company by means of nepotism but despite that he still had power. With said power he had particular people around him keep an eye on his halmeoni's activities and reporting them to him.

She wasn’t the only one that could pull strings in the company.

He hadn’t heard anything particularly displeasing besides her usual meddling, that was until yesterday.

Five out of the higher officials had come to Jin-Goo, with evidence, as to how his halmeoni had been planning to overthrow his harabeoji’s position by turning the other members of the board against him with very hefty bribes. Upon hearing the news all that Jin-Goo could do was sigh. Why she would choose to do such baffled him, because at the end of the day the ownership of the company would eventually be passed down to him and not even a thousand lawyers from his halmeoni’s backing could stop that.

He sat in his chair with eyes closed and fingers intertwined against his chest. When his door opened without even a knock he wasn’t surprised, he simply listened as she limped inside and sat on the chair. Opening his eyes he could see that her secretary was by the door not knowing whether to come in, so Jin-Goo motioned for him to stay outside.

Standing up, he moved to the front of his desk and leaned on it slightly so that he could get a clearer look at his halmeoni. His halmeoni. His own flesh and blood.

“Halmeoni… I really am tired of all of this now.” He said with his voice low. He didn’t have the energy to keep getting angry each time he confronted her anymore.

“You’ve barely been in this company five minutes, you don’t know what tired is.” She sneered, her eyes not meeting his. “Well I guess… If it’s too hard for you then, I'm willing to take over. Help you out a bit.”

Jin-Goo stared at her side profile, not understanding what truly went on in that mind of hers.

“Halmeoni, you know… I heard a lot of things about revenge. I’ve heard that it’s best served cold, I’ve also heard that it’s sweet and satisfying.” He stepped closer, his eyes slowly b with tears. “At first, I really wasn’t interested in revenge, because personally, I think some things in this world take care of themselves. I thought that was what I needed, what I craved even but do you know what? I had to realise on my own that what I wanted wasn’t revenge. It was justice.”

He ignored her incredulous expression, continuing, “Justice for the two lives that you took but expected to get away with. Justice for leaving me an orphan and dragging me through hell. D-do you even know how hard it is to live like that? Do you even know what it feels like to truly live in constant agony?”

“Why wouldn’t I know?” Her voice raised and tears now equally filling in her eyes. This would be the first time he had ever seen her on the verge of crying. “I lost my son too! He wasn’t meant to die that night! Stop sounding like a broken record and move on.”

Jin-Goo stood still, a single tear travelling down his cheek and he couldn’t help but think that the younger him would have been shaken up by the way his halmeoni looked right now. When he spoke his words came out in a broken whisper, “Stop with the same old crap. Your son wasn’t meant to die that night, but my mother was? Your daughter in law – the woman that your son loved?”

“She wasn’t worthy of my son nor was she worthy of being the company president’s wife.” She spat, her own tears falling down her face. “She was uselessly smart and tolerant. There was no other way, even if there was she would have found a way to ruin me. To ruin this family.” She explained, but her words were coming out in rambles, almost as if she was paranoid.

He scoffed. “I pray that I never become like you, I can’t believe I even thought of giving you another chance. Yah Kim Min-Jae!” He called.

Immediately his secretary, Min-Jae, burst through the doors with police officers and what seemed to be a lawyer. “Yes, Mr Yeo.”

“Deal with it please.” He said silently, turning away from the scene he closed his eyes at the sound of the door slamming. As the sound of her voice grew distant he opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling. He gazed as if he could see through the brick layering and into the heavens above.

“Father… Mother… I did it. I’m sorry.”

I’ll live better from now on.

^^^^

The next day, Jin-Goo decided to take a break from playing CEO and go back to being the friend to So-Hyun he needed to be. They went to the cinema, he took her out for lunch and returned to her home for the dinner that her mother made. Her mother’s orders of course.

As soon as they finished eating, he helped her mother with the dishes, hung out with Da-Reum for a while and now he had stepped outside for some fresh air. He placed himself on the curb just in front of So-Hyun’s gate.

He reminisced on their day, letting out a tiny chuckle at the thought that being with So-Hyun, her mother and Da-Reum was the closest thing he had felt to family since his parent’s had died.

It left him feeling strange, yet grateful to have been able to meet her again. He couldn’t imagine what he would have turned out like if he hadn’t reunited with her. Would he have been living the same idle and suffocating life that he was living as his grandmother’s tool?

At the sound of footsteps behind him, Jin-Goo turned around and saw So-Hyun approaching. He slid a little to the left, allowing room for her. Once she sat down, they were both quiet staring into the sky as the clouds started to disappear and stars formed.

“So you’re really getting married huh?” Jin-Goo broke the silence turning to look at So-Hyun who lifted the diamond on her finger shyly.

“I’m getting married.” She confirmed.

Jin-Goo nodded, slightly overwhelmed and happy for his friend. “You know you mean everything to me, right? Even after all the crap I did, I know you probably still hate me a little deep down, but… You mean everything to me.”

So-Hyun shifted so that she could get a clear look of Jin-Goo. He looked like a completely different version of the goofy boy she had bumped into on her first day of University. He looked tired, worn out even. She wished he didn’t have to go through the things he did, but there were just some things you couldn’t shelter people from and unfortunately, she didn’t have control over who his family was.

“Don’t think so lowly of me… I’ve thrown all that happened away. I’m genuinely worried about you, are you sure you’re going to be okay? The corporation is a mess after the news coverage on your halmeoni.”

“Don’t worry about me or any of that. I kept my promise, I did my best to protect you from her So-Hyun-ah-”

“Even though I didn’t ask for it.” She cut in giving him a scolding look. “I know you did so thanks for that. I want to thank you for always caring for me, you may not know it, but you played quite a big part in helping shape who I am today. You were the first person to smash a hammer at the wall that I spent so many years building.”

“Someone else would have done it, maybe professor Seung-Ho.” He brushed it off and So-Hyun nodded agreeably.

“Probably, but matter of fact is that it you came first.” Tears started to form in her eyes and she had enough of crying, so she decided to move past this conversation. “Either way that’s all the past now all we have is the future… Let’s do well this time, okay? Let’s strive to better people, okay?”

“Okay.” He confirmed, pulling her into a hug.

^^^^

“I can truly say I feel old now.” So-Hyun sighed. They were currently at Ga-Young’s baby shower, she took the time to look at the decorations and the cake with the little baby on top. She found it interesting how quickly her friend had managed to pick herself up and move on with preparing for the baby. The change was so instant, that Ga-Young had set the baby shower months earlier than it was traditionally done.

Her friend was never one to follow the standard ways anyway. So-Hun had of course been at the forefront of the preparations and being around baby balloons to the point where she saw them in her sleep, she felt emotional. She still couldn’t believe that Ga-Young was going to have a baby that she was going to be the aunt of, but she couldn’t be prouder of her friend for being brave.

“What does that make me?” Seung-Ho chimed, “If your old then I’m ancient.”

“At least you know.” She returned playfully, “It’s more of the feeling of ah people around me are already having babies and getting married.” She explained.

“You’re not that different either, you’ll be getting married soon.” Seung-Ho tried to tease but flinched when So-Hyun hushed him to be quieter.

She was trying to be careful because she hadn’t told Ga-Young yet. It hadn’t been that long, and she just couldn’t find the found the right time amidst all the preparations for the baby nor did she didn’t want to ruin her special day, but she would do it soon. Before the baby arrived of course.

Seung-Ho gave her a sceptical look, lifting her hand to inspect her finger to find that she wasn’t wearing the ring. “Where’s the ring?”

So-Hyun suddenly felt guilty realising that she should have run the idea with Seung-Ho first. “Ah, I