Despite the outside wind picking up, inside Soul Group, everything was unaffected and ordinary. While directors and Chaewon exchange last, meaningful words, Mr. Oh patiently waited until only he and Chaewon remains. When the last director departs, Mr. Oh quickly steps in to capture Chaewon’s undivided attention, “Miss Chaewon, I have a lot to thank you for but I don’t know where to start. You’ve helped me recover my self-esteem, pride, and self-respect and it’s a huge loss that you’ve chosen to resign. Soul Group could have used a CEO such as yourself and I was looking forward to being under your command. Although the votes are in, I hope you’d reconsider,”

Chaewon slides her hands into her pockets and slightly shakes her head, “I appreciate your words, Mr. Oh. Ever since I was twelve, I thought that Soul Group was the only place for me. However, Soul Group is only what it is today because of my dad and it will forever remain that way. I want to get away from him but unless I let go completely instead of clinging onto his success, I won’t be able to. Soul Group is a part of him and he is a part of Soul Group. I won’t have one or the other. I’m going to drop it all together,”

For a brief moment, Chaewon sees the old man’s eyes twinkle with a hint of proudness, “I hope Soul Group prosper under your supervision. No one knows, is more loyal, and hopes for a brighter future for Soul Group other than you,” Chaewon wears a small smile as she rests both hands onto the elder’s shoulders, “Although I will no longer be a young miss to you, I will be watching and rooting for you,”

With a firm smile, the old man pats Chaewon’s hand and nods, “You will forever be my Miss Chaewon. Until you return, I will protect Soul Group for you,” 

When Chaewon takes her first step, outside of Soul Group’s front doors, she hears and sees Goeun approaching her. The lass looks complete with a gentle beam as she stops before Chaewon. “So? Did you win the war?”

Chaewon smile weakly and hums, “Where are they?”

Goeun takes a step back, allowing Chaewon to see the rented car. Standing beside the vehicle’s back door were Eunbi, Hyewon, Hyewon’s Japanese friends Minami and Hitomi, and shockingly Wonyoung. Chaewon groans a little, exhausted when she spots the tallest of the bunch, “You called Wonyoung over too?”

With a small shrug, Goeun response drains Chaewon mentally and physically even more, “The best parties always involves having your exes in it,”

“Exes?”

Goeun nods, “Eunbi told us all about it. You confessed to her at the poolhouse earlier today and even said you had a thing for me? So wouldn’t it be exes since Wonyoung and I are here?”

Chaewon didn’t know what to say to that. The reason she withholds her affections for Goeun in the first place is that she wanted to respect Goeun’s preference. But now that the cat is out of the bag, she isn’t sure if she should be relief or annoyed. Yet, before she can choose how to react, they hear Wonyoung’s pitchy voice.

“Can we talk, Chaewon?”

Chaewon sigh. She has never felt so fatigued. And where were all these people wanting to talk to her coming from? On the only day that she gets no sleep, everyone wants to talk. Before Chaewon passes out from exhaustion, she and Wonyoung were left alone in the lass’s flashy car.

“Is it true you shifted ownership of Soul Group to someone else?” Wonyoung begins.

Chaewon hums.

“Why? I thought you had plans to enhance and expand the business? You won’t be able to that if you give it up now,”

Once again, Chaewon hums.

Until Wonyoung snaps, “Are you really fine with it? You should be running Soul Group not someone else,”

Calmly, Chaewon voices, “If you meant what you said back then, about me being different, I hope you’d accept and understand me again this time around. Although our time together was short, I’m really glad I got to meet you Wonyoung. I mean it. I hope you’ll find someone good to you, with or without wealth,” without waiting for Wonyoung’s approval, Chaewon gets out of the other’s car and shuts the door before she can be stopped.

When Chaewon finally joins the others, she felt so helplessly tired that she walks directly to Eunbi and uses the shorter as something to lean on before she passes out. Eunbi faltered in clumsy tiny steps before she steadies herself and becomes the pillar of support Chaewon needed for a short nap.

Hyewon becomes concerned until she sees the look on Goeun’s face. The latter is untroubled and wears a warm smile as she reaches out and rubs Chaewon’s back, “Sleep all you want. You did well today, Chaewon,” 

It’s the brink of dawn when Chaewon opens her eyes. And as she tries to figure out where and whose bed she’s lying on, she sees a familiar figure at the doorway.

It’s Lee Sian.

The lass has her arms crossed over her cheat and is leaning against the threshold. When she sees Chaewon’s lids flicker, the woman asks. “Are you awake?”

Chaewon slowly sits up and scans the tiny room. She is in Eunbi’s room and sleeping on Eunbi’s bed. Before Chaewon can make a sound, Sian quickly fills her in, “Your friend, Goeun and your sister, and her friends went to the convenience store to get some snacks as they were still hungry,” there’s a pause before Sian adds, “Eunbi is sleeping in my room. She just fell asleep. She looked after you all day and night long,”

Chaewon groans a little as her body ache all over. Then she removes the covers off of her and says, “I’m going to go check up on her—”

However, before she can get off the bed completely and finishes her sentence, Sian immediately cut her off, “Not yet. You can’t see her yet. Not until you answer me this: what are your feelings for Eunbi?”

Chaewon knew Sian was blunt but not this confrontational. To give Sian the truth and only the truth, Chaewon grows quiet for a minute.

In the meantime, Sian brings up another point, “Your phone kept ringing so I checked it late last night. In your texts, I saw a picture of Eunbi’s dad-or should I say her uncle? I don’t know why he was tied up and tortured but there’s no chance you didn’t know Eunbi has been looking for her dad. What’s the reason you’re keeping them apart?”

A short sigh escapes Chaewon’s lips as she carefully replies, “Hokjae is toxic. My father, Hyukjin has been hunting down Hokjae to retrieve some money my mother, Jisun, took and ran away with. Although the photo Hyukjin provided, showed only the side of Hokjae’s face and merely gave me much to work with, I pulled all sorts of strings and was able to find him. The bastard was surprisingly under our noses. But before I can act, Hyukjin sent me to Busan.

At the time I thought turning him over to Hyukjin would be the right thing to do, so I monitored Hokjae closely. However, if I revealed his location too early, Hyukjin would be curious about my sources and the people working with me. To protect their identities, after we’ve captured Hokjae, I had plans to personally present him to Hyukjin, but when Hyukjin told me about his plans for another marriage, I lost my mind.

I kept Hokjae at bay because after I arrived, Hyukjin revealed to me that he had learned Eunbi is Hokjae’s daughter and was living in Busan. Hokjae wasn’t in Busan, I knew that much so I was defenseless when approaching Eunbi. However, Hyukjin had no idea that Hokjae had no plans to return to Busan. Hokjae was in Seoul, following Hyewon.

Despite what Hyukjin wanted, I was sincere to Eunbi. I kept Hokjae away from her because I never knew when and if Hyukjin would confront her. Instead of putting her in a difficult position, and forcing her to lie and hide Hokjae, I figured it was better that she doesn’t know,”

“So you hid Hokjae to hide Eunbi from your dad?”

Chaewon nods at Sian’s candid summarization.

“How long are you going to hide him?” Sian asks although it sounded more like a statement. “What I mean is, if Hokjae is here now, will your dad be after him and Eunbi still,”

The younger can only shake her head in uncertainty, “He might later on, but for a while, he’s not going to,”

Sian blinks then in a lower voice asks, “If you’re saying he might look for them again later on, what are you going to do? Will you be beside Eunbi when he does?”

Chaewon is aware that Sian is trying to push out a confession out of her but she isn’t sure what to say. It’s also unhelpful to be thinking on an empty stomach. And her mind is as blank as the dull room. “I…”

“Eunbi told me you confessed but I don’t believe you truly like her. You may have developed some kind of emotions towards her as you were trying to protect her from your dad, but I don’t think you genuinely like her. At least not as much as she likes you. Am I wrong?”

“I,”

Sian her head to the side as she abruptly asks, “You see Eunbi as a prize don’t you?” there’s a short pause because Sian clicks her tongue and challenges, “Are you familiar with the game tug-of-war? Two opposite teams pulling on a rope until the other side lets go or piles behind the line they aren't supposed to cross. As I see it, Eunbi was someone coming in between you and your dad. Although you had no use for her, you didn’t want your dad to get her because then he might pull you or let go early. Your friend told me, you chose your dad over your mom. But as I see it, you hate your dad and only stayed around him because defeating him one day was your main goal. If you had gone with your mother, you wouldn’t even be given the chance to fight your father, the head of your family’s business. And after you’ve won, your feelings towards what you possessed during the fight feels blank and distant. There’s no attachment, is there? You were only attached to fighting,”

Chaewon scoffs a little, “I won’t say you’re wrong about me hating my dad but you have no idea how I feel about Eunbi,”

“Really?” Sian arches a brow, “Then how do you feel about her?”

“How I feel about her is how you feel about her but in a different way,”

Sian registers Chaewon’s one-line then furrows her brow, “You mean in an endearment way?”

Chaewon hums, “I love her,”

Outside of the room Goeun, Hyewon, Hitomi, Minami, Chaeyeon, Kaeun, Wonyoung, and Eunbi were all listening. With growing smiles, every one of them looks to Eunbi, who’s trying really hard to hold in her excitement and grin.

A second later, Chaewon sees Sian wearing the biggest smile she has ever seen. Then Sian peeks out of the room and a moment later, Chaewon hears Eunbi’s voice.

“I love you too, Kim Chaewon!”

A/N: There are only 1 (maybe 2) chapter left so look out for it! 

And I know I shouldn't be starting new stories but an idea came to me and I'd be a fool to let it fly xD I might have another Chaewon x Eunbi story out soon so look out for it. I did make a poster for it although I haven't officially set up the front page yet. 

It will feature Izone, Red Velvet, and Lovelyz. The main genres are historicalAU and fantasy. I promise there will be less drama in this one xD Fantasy isn't exactly my forte or go-to-genre when it comes to writing nor reading but I hope you guys will still check it out when it's posted. When I do post it, I won't be adding the link here just because I want it to "garner" its own readers. I feel I've tortured you guys enough and I don't want to do it again xD Thank you for loving Chaewon and Eunbi up until now. You guys are the best! <3