"Ah, already?"

Jungsoo could not trust his ears. He had to hear it wrong. It was impossible that his mother said—

"I thought he'd be leaving later."

There was not even a slight surprise he could sense from his mother's words. Everything sounded as if it were random chitchat. It almost felt like... Like his mother knew. But it could not be true. There were no plausible ideas on how Heechul's leaving was not news to her. He hesitantly checked on her, examining her expression and she looked strangely composed.

What was happening?

"Sit down. Let's have dinner."

Jungsoo was about to say something; he could not simply have dinner knowing the fact that his mother was holding the key to his biggest confession. But when she sent a signal, looking at Hyukjae as if telling him not to talk about anything in front of the kids, he got the idea.

"I miss Maw, Grandma."

Hyukjae muttered, playing with his fingers. It was enough to cut through Jungsoo's heart and sliced it in two.

"Aww, Grandma is sure Maw misses you too. Why don't you give him a call?"

Mrs. Park was taken aback when Hyukjae suddenly looked up at her with hopeful eyes that, honestly, looked so pitiful.

"Really? We can do that? Daddy said Maw is busy so we shouldn't bother him."

Jungsoo froze and had to look away when his mother gave him a lingering gaze.

»»————-　♡　————-««

"Please. Tell me anything and I beg you to say honestly."

Jungsoo grazed the mouth of his cup as he heard his mother's order. He stared at the dark liquid inside that would form circles moving away from the edge to the center every time his mother accidentally nudged the table for she had been walking back and forth in front of him. He was afraid; even after thinking about what he should say to his mother all this time, realizing it took his whole. Imagining the outcome from his confession was what he was not ready for.

"I love my job. I really do. So... When you said that I had to let go of my current profession if I failed to have a spouse, I was so frustrated. I couldn't do it... No... I still loved her. So I busted my head thinking about how to find a fake bride until someone filled the position in the company... It was my biggest fault, Mother. And I..."

Jungsoo choked on his tears, dropping his head to his palms.

"I— I'm truly sorry."

Mrs. Park breathed through , all the time clutching her chest. She was angry; she was beyond disappointed in her son. It was a painful slap right at her cheek knowing that Jungsoo had the heart to lie to her. Her son whom she loved so dearly had pulled a fast one on her. It shredded her heart into pieces.

However...

Seeing Jungsoo look so devastated yet again, she had to suppress her rage. Moreover, now that Jungsoo had said his reason, she was also at fault. She blamed herself for being too rushed about Jungsoo's love life. It was just the fact that his ex-wife cheated on him and left the family just like that angered the hell out of her. If she had not forced her son to find a new lover, this all would never have happened. Jungsoo would not have been brokenhearted once again. All she wanted was for her son to be happy and she thought Heechul was the one.

"I hope you know that I'm utterly sad that you lied something as crucial as this matter to me. I will be lying if I said I didn't cry the first time I knew the truth. But..."

Mrs. Park carefully approached her sobbing son and sat beside him. She reached out to hold his hands and hoped what she said next could comfort Jungsoo.

"I've forgiven you, Son. I... I realized that I was also wrong. I might have stressed you out about my demand. But you know I have my reason. I want you to be happy Jungsoo. I don't want you to waste your life crying over that woman. I want you to move on."

Jungsoo clutched his mother's hands desperately and tried to contain his emotions only to fail miserably. He wanted to tell his mother how broken he was after experiencing another leaving. He felt so worthless, horrible... It was sick.

"On Heechul's graduation day, I met Mrs. Han. She thanked me for your giving Heechul a job. I was confused about what she meant by giving a job... And a few days after, I went to the orphanage. I finally found out what was happening after I pressed Kyuhyun to open up. It turned out that Mrs. Han also didn't know. She also told me about Heechul's plan on leaving the town. I was oblivious to any of it."

"I'm sorry, Mother. I feel... I feel so bad for ever lying to you as well as... to Hyuk and Hae."

Mrs. Park curled her lips into a small smile. She rubbed Jungsoo's back soothingly and sighed.

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