The ride back was quiet but comfortable. Fany fell asleep until they arrived at Heechul’s huge home. The almost mansion looked fantastic, she didn’t know why but it matched really well with Jessica’s taste. It had a sophisticated and animalistic style to it; she was amazed. A butler kindly took care of Tiffany’s things while they walked inside, her eyes capturing every single corner they could catch. She closed her eyes and noticed the whole place smelling like vanilla reminding her about Jessi.

“Ms. Hwang, I’m glad you arrived well.” She opened her eyes to see a charming but tired looking Heechul. He didn’t age a bit still looking the same.

“Yeah, I’m sorry for the delay.” She smiled dearly and the guy cracked up.

“A 10-year delay but I’m glad that you’re finally here.” His eyes moved towards Seohyun who snickered at the interaction. “Sooo, I heard you went to see her.”

Tffany’s smile faltered a little. “Yeah, she looked so beautiful even as a tree. It was the most beautiful one out there.”

Heechul laughed so hard at her cheekiness followed by a not so amused Seohyun. “You’re still crazy in love with Sooyeon after all these years.”

Tiffany walked towards the man and pulled his ear playfully. “It never changed, I think that it never will. I’ll be a grandma and it’ll still be her.” He grunted but smiled in a childish way.

“She was happy Hee.” Seo spoke out of the blue making the guy turn to her in a blink with a confussed expression. “Sooyeon, she was so happy to see Tiffany there, you should’ve seen how happily her leaves were moving.”

Tiffany blushed and her eye smile began to show with the guy staring amused at her. “Well, it wouldn’t be her if she weren’t. It’s Tiffany Hwang after all; her first and last love.” That made the girl giggle while remembering the dancing tree, her Jessi was still as cute as ever. The guy stood up and walked towards the sofa motioning the woman to sit beside him with her complying. Seohyun walked towards the kitchen to hook up something good for lunch, she was always in charge of the cooking. The guy patted Tiffany’s head softly. “You were gone long enough and were extremely missed. Sooyeon, she wanted you to be the best you could be, to love the best you could love and to live the best life you could live. She wanted so many things for you, she also wanted to be part of them you know; to cheer up on your first day of college, to support you on those hard days where you couldn’t even get your own emotions on check, to give in on every single one of your cravings when you got your monthly woman's stuff and got all grumpy.” He gave her pair of kind eyes. “You were her all and I do believe that you still are.” That made the girl teary, her teeth biting her lower lip softly. “I’m glad to see that you’ve been doing well. It wasn’t easy for any of us, it was a death blow believe me. There were a lot of times when I wanted to give up, to follow her no matter where she was, I was certain that at the end I would find her. Seo wasn’t any better, she couldn’t smile for months; I would always find her crying and at times it was as if she was talking with her. It was sad to see that, I thought that her being the most matured one will take it better but I was wrong. She was destroyed to a point where I almost lost her as well until we remembered the reason why we had to keep on going. It took us some time but we finally got up once again, we did everything on our hands to help people who needed a miracle, who were looking for a second chance.” He sighed and cleaned Fany’s tears with his thumb. “Taeyeon was like a dead person, I’m glad that she finally opened up her heart to Baek, that poor guy had been chasing after her for so long taking the pain to see her suffer for Jessica, to hug her until she feel asleep while mumbling her name.” He snickered. “When she saw EunBi again she almost tackled her, it was such a shock but thank the heavens that she didn’t get knocked out by her. She still has those killer's reflexes you know.” He relaxed on the sofa and stared at the ceiling. “I still can’t believe that it’s been 10 years since she left, sometimes I feel like it was yesterday.”

Tiffany leaned onto the sofa’s armrest and her eyes softened. “I know right? There’re times when I feel like that but then I remembered that I can’t see her anymore, that I can’t text her and receive a cheesy text like I used to, that I can’t run all the way towards her house and expect her to open up the door for me with those loving eyes staring right at mine.” Her fingers tapping on her arm with rhythm, she had found out that by doing that she could calm herself  down. “It’s still hard but I’m coping with that, hoping that she sees that I’m doing my best and that she somehow feels proud of me, I ju-” Heechul put a finger on her lips, sealing them in a second.

“I do believe that what you were going to say next needs to be said to her.” He gave her a cheeky smile before Seo told them to get ready to eat. “You’ll be going tomorrow too, right?” He said while standing up and receiving a nod from her.

The dinner was delicious and the chat was pleasant, they spent the time telling stories about Sooyeon, most of them were about her bluntness and turned out to be funny. They also showed Fany a thick album with pictures of her, she was amazed as all of them showed a little Jessi, from the day she was born to her growing up. She was so cute; Tiffany was fangirling all over her girlfriend while the two other figures in the room looked at the crazy girl in love drooling all over the album. In those pictures were also her parents and her cute little sister, they looked like a happy little family although that didn’t last. Fany’s fingers caressed softly every picture as if her fingers would remember the touch, the image. “How did you get this?” She asked quietly, her eyes never leaving those pages.

“It was a gift.” He said, earning a questioning eyebrow from her. “That’s Jessica’s childhood, it’s funny how that girl’s face remained the same somehow after growing up.”

Tiffany hummed and noticed the happiness in her cute face, her beautiful pointy nose was there with her deep brown eyes who had a spark in both of them, her pouty but delicate lips formed a happy smile and she could almost hear her giggle. closed, her Jessi.

“It’s yours now.” That made the woman turn to them in shock. “We want you to have it and we’re pretty sure that she’ll want that too.” He said before excusing himself to attend a meeting.

Seo smiled and took her towards her room, it was big enough for 5 king size beds to fit without problem. The room looked a lot like Jessi’s room back then and she loved it. “Have a rest, you must be at the edge of blacking out. Tomorrow you have a long day for sure, sleep well.” Fany mouthed a thank you to Seo before throwing herself onto her bed, letting herself be hugged by the sleepiness with Jessi’s image on her mind.

The next day, she prepared herself to see her love again. She had received a text from Sunny sending her the link to her video but Fany thought that it could be fun to take a pair of speakers and play it for the both of them. She took her Ipod, prepared her backpack with everything that she needed before leaving and took a last glance on the mirror, she was looking beautiful with her hair flowing loose and her white dress showing her perfect skin and figure. She was ready to see her girl.

She saw the butler waiting for her at the entrance, Heechul and Seo had to leave early for a meeting with some of their partners but left everything ready for her.

The drive was silent, the girl had her earphones on while listening to Jessica’s songs. Her eyes kept on admiring the beautiful view, it was so pleasant.

She felt like they arrived in no time, one second she was barely getting into the car and the other one she was already seeing her fated tree a couple of meters away until she saw someone standing in front of it, that was weird. She was debating with herself whether or not to approach him but she saw no harm in it, maybe he knew Jessi as well.

As she got closer, the man began to look kind of familiar although she couldn’t pinpoint from where. It seemed like he felt her presence because he looked at her, he was handsome. She could see some white hair poking out but it only made him look mature and interesting. He was tall, more than 1.80 meters that’s for sure, he was dressed in a casual blue navy suit and his face, his face looked quite familiar. Tiffany was trying so hard to remember but she couldn’t.

“Hello, we see each other again.” His voice was like a bell ringing in her ears but confusion took over her face. The man realized it and gave her a smile. “We saw each other a long time ago.” Tiffany opened but no words came out. “A park. A picture. A last name.” She furrowed her eyebrows. “Jung.”

She almost gasped out of shock, it was him! The man she saw at the park that time when she was waiting for Jessica for their date. “Mr. Jung, how are you? What are you doing here?” Tiffany offered him a hand which he gladly shook before staring back at the imposing tree, the day was beautiful although it was cold. “I came to see someone, and you? This tree looks amazing; we are surrounded by a lot of them but this one somehow looks special.”

Tiffany noticed his actions and stared at the beautiful tree as well. “Because it is. The person that I told you about before became that tree.”

The man opened his eyes in shock but then gave her a sad smile. “I see, I’m sorry for that. You loved her so much.” His words trailed off.

“I still do.” That made the man turn to her with a strange stare that soon became warm. “Who did you came to see Mr. Jung? It really shocked me to see you here, last time I checked you were in Seoul.” Tiffany asked just to break the ice.

Mr. Jung hid one of his hands in his pocked before wetting his lips a little. “I came to see my daughter.” The woman was flabbergasted, what was his daughter doing there out of all the places in the world?

“You see, my daughter hated me and she had every right to do it.” His head moved up, closing his eyes to feel the cold gentle breeze on his face. “I destroyed her, I ruined her.”

She felt a pang in her heart, cold sweat began to form. “I had a beautiful family before; My wife and two daughters were my everything. I worked so hard to give them the best and I felt like I owned the world every time I came back home and saw their faces. But sometimes life is unjust, when I was feeling the happiest I was thrown harsh onto the ground with the news that my youngest daughter had a deadly sickness. I didn’t care about their prognostics I was certain that my baby was going to be okay, I just had to work twice as hard to get the money for her treatment.” Tears could be seen falling off his closed eyes. “But the expenses kept on rising and the money wasn’t enough anymore, I knew that she had to get a treatment right away to keep her alive and so I had to find another way. I had a friend back then who introduced me to a job that would let me earn the money to keep my daughter safe, when you are so desperate you’ll do anything and her life at risk was all that I needed to know that I would sell my own soul just for her to be okay. My job was to kill whoever was on my list, it wasn’t easy but they paid too well. When I killed for the first time I broke out in tears, I felt empty, I felt dirty, unworthy but seeing the bills getting paid off and my daughter receiving the treatment was enough for me to don't stop. In this world, if you have no power you get crushed, I saw it first hand when no one would help us when we had emptied our bank account.” His jaw clenched but he never stopped. “I saw too many horrors to the point where I felt my emotions go dry. You can’t have feelings when you’re involved in things like that, they become your worst enemy and your weakness. There’s no place there for the weak. I began to distance my self from them when I received the news that my baby had died.” A whimper left his lips and Tiffany was already crying, she knew who that man was, she was now certain.

“I felt miserable but I couldn’t show it, I needed to stay away; it was suffocating. I began to have constant fights with my wife, who was my everything, those almost always ended up in me leaving her behind. In my mind, I had done everything I could so it should be their fault; they didn’t take care of her enough. Then, the second shot was delivered, my other daughter had an even worse disease. She was dying but I could careless, all in my mind was my little Soojung.” He cleaned his tears with one hand and let out a sob while hearing the woman's cries. “That happened at the same time when the fights for the territory began so I kept myself busy fighting to find a better position and I did, with the help of my friend I got to be the boss of one of the biggest gangs in Korea. But that came with a price, when I noticed what I had been doing to my family I was lost. It was as if all this time I had been blind yet I was conscious, conscious of all those times were my wife came up to me crying and pleading me to help her pay for my daughter’s treatment, I was conscious but why was it that I barely noticed that she became thinner, that she looked tired.” He clenched his teeth. “I cried, I cried out of pain, out of anger, I was disappointed. I wanted to make everything better but I ran out of time. When I got back my wife had passed away, my daughter was dying and there wasn’t anything I could do. I wanted to hug her, I wanted to tell her how sorry I was, to kneel in front of her just to ask her for forgiveness. I knew she had been waiting for me the whole time yet I never did any of those things.”

Tiffany felt a mix of anger and sadness, this man in front her was the reason why the love of her life had been miserable.

“You can never show your suffering, you just can’t, if someone notices it then it’s the end. I had to leave her, I knew that Mr. Kim was looking for her and I let him find her because I was sure at that time that I couldn’t help her. Instead, I became busy leading a research team on my underground facilities to help me make something that could save my daughter’s life. I had to take care of the gang, the territory, all the dirty work and still I had to hurry the research. When we finally got a serum that could help her stop the cancer I took her away from Mr. Kim, I knew that he was furious but it was for her sake.” He took a couple of steps front and caressed the tree with his hands. “I didn’t care that it was hurting her, the only thing on my mind was to save her. I thought that I was leaving her in good hands with my friend but I was wrong.” His face contracted into a furious expression. “That ing bastard was hurting her! He was introducing her into a life that I never wished for her to see. I couldn’t know because I had to stay over seas preparing deals because we were thinking about expanding; I was too busy to realize just like before that it was me who was killing her. Before I got back I was notified of her being taken away by them, I decided to stay away to not stir things up in the meantime.

I kept an eye on her, I knew that I was hated by all of them and they had all the reasons for it but at least she was alive, my daughter was alive.” He turned to look at Tiffany and felt a pang in his heart, she had that almost murdering look on her eyes, totally different from the love-struck eyes from before. He held her gaze. “I kept an eye on her and noticed how much she changed; I knew it was my fault. My daughter looked like a dead corpse, it wasn’t my Sooyeon, it was as if someone else got inside of her. I was certain that they were afraid that I could take her away as well but for me she was better with them.” He sighed and his eyes softened making Fany turn her hands into fists. “Thank you Ms. Hwang, for making my daughter the happiest person until the end.” He smiled gratefully. “You and your friends made her feel alive again, made her feel loved and cared. You loved her truthfully with everything you had and I knew it the first time I got to talk to you, I wanted to know who you were somehow, believe me that I never expected you to make a conversation with me but I was glad you did, you showed me how amazing you are.” His hands moved slowly towards Tiffany’s and held them gently. “I know that you must hate me, that you despise me for all that I did because I hate myself as well but there isn’t a day that I don’t thank destiny for making my daughter meet you again.” He kneeled in front of her with his head hanging down. “I ask you to forgive me, it was never my intention to hurt you, it was all Dongwook’s fault. Thank God that Sooyeon was there to help you. I want you to know that I left all my past behind, I’m making the best of me for my family now.” He laughed weakly. “It’s so sad for me to think that I still have the rights to call them mine. I know that’s me who deserves to be dead but I couldn't die just yet, I’ve been managing under the shadows one of the biggest research teams in charge of finding the cures of the most deadliest sickness. I’ve also been supporting those families who can’t afford the treatment for their kids, that’s why Heechul didn’t kill me. I know that it isn’t enough to atone for my sins but I’m doing it because I can finally be my self, I can finally be Yoo Jung again. I lost myself for so long into the darkness and sometimes it isn’t easy to see the light again after that.” His head rose and their sights crossed. “I gave her life but you gave her love, and forgot how important that was.”

The silence reigned and Tiffany was trying to calm herself down. She felt his hand letting go slowly only for hers to held them in place. “What you did was wrong, you put everyone in pain just for your own selfishness. I could blame you for everything that she went through, for erasing the beautiful smile that she once had but it wouldn’t make any difference. My father also made mistakes but I forgave him because he realized what he did, just like you. You are helping people not to experience what all of you did in the past, you had your own reasons and your share of sufferings that drove down to all the outcomes. I hated you for a long time but now I have to move on, to let go of all the hatred because I just want to feel the love, the love that still lives within me and was all thanks to your daughter.” Tiffany smiled with her tears falling. “Because of you she existed, because of you I got to meet her and I’ll always be thankful for th