Seoul, South Korea

 

Irene stands far, watching a large but not particularly unruly crowd milling around outside the prosecutors office. Two middle aged detectives struggles to walk through the crowd while dragging Tzuyu towards the van. The younger stops every few feet to look around, flinching very distinctly and ducking his head. There is terror in his eyes, fear, anxiety. He has a black cap and a mask. His hands are covered with a jacket.
 

Protestors gathers with a signboard demanding justice for the victim. It has been rumoured that Tzuyu might escape the capital punishment due to his background and this has angered the citizens. He's almost being heckled by the crowd surrounding him. The police officer has ordered them off the streets, however, stones are thrown, bags of rubbish. They continues to chant. Floating through the crowd are various members of the media. The television crews set their cameras on tripods about few feet away from him while the still photographers swarm around him.
 

Irene breathes in deeply. Her eyes defocus a moment as she recalls that memory in her mind's emotions, her mind and body. She get so lost in those memories that she could actually feel those feelings just like she felt them years ago.

 

"Stop! Why are you hitting my mother?! Why are you doing this to us!" The girl shouted, and ran to stand in front of her mother. She had her head bowed, letting all these people doing whatever they want. Not fighting back, she just kept quiet.
 

"Your whole family is disgusting. We don't feel safe having you here. For the safety of our child, leave this neighbourhood! Who knows what will you do? Leave!" They shouted. It was then followed by curse words. Eggs were thrown at us. The little girl gasped as they splash a bucket of fish blood. She waited for the impact but was pulled into a tight embrace. She opened her eyes, and saw her mother bathed in red all over her. The blood trailed her face.

 

"A familiar sight, isn't it?" Voice sounded close by,  bringing her back to present time.
 

Irene shakes her head and lifts her gaze, staring back to Tzuyu who enters the van, "He's innocent" she speaks to the man standing just right behind her. She's not surprise. She knows, he'll be here.
 

"Yes he is, just like your father"
 

"He didn't know anything. They are not responsible for what happened in the past"
 

"Did you know anything? Did you do anything wrong? You didn't. Were you responsible for what Son Heung Min did, you didn't. But you and your family suffered. You were a child and you lost your parents. Neither me nor you have the power to do anything about it. We were just kids, we knew nothing yet every night we questioned ourself what went wrong. Why all of this happened? Now, the Sons and the Myouis have the time to question it too; why it happened to them."
 

Listening, she wonders how much more he knows about her, why and what's his connection to the Son's and Myoui's. From what she has seen, he holds grudge towards the two family. Irene smiles, realizing that all this time, she is nothing but a pawn on his chessboard and she has never been completely free. Revenge had crossed her mind and she debunked the thought every single time. She wanted to seek justice for her family but she knows revenge is not the answer, "That doesn't make this right" she mumbles.
 

He leans closer. Out of the corner of her eye she can see his jaw tighten, "It's not about right, nor is it about justice. It's about fairness"
 

Irene's lips moves as if to speak, but she stays silent, unable to think of anything, "I wish to end all of this. What will you do? Are you going to kill me?"
 

"You returns, so I supposed you already made your choice. You are on your own starting from now. I wish you good luck" His footsteps fades away and she is all alone. Irene turns around and sees no one behind her. He disappears.



 

*     *     *     *

The weather has finally broken and the day are dark and stormy, with wind and rain howling and hammering along the street. Irene stands on the porch. Her hands rigid by her side, shuddering from the cold wind. Her eyes are empty as she blankly stares at the doorknobs. All her thoughts are slack and dull and she doesn't pursue it. If she does, she will run away and escape. She doesn't want that.
 

She closes her eyes as if gathering all the courage she has and walks inside. The entry hall is empty, dim and narrow. She shut the door behind her. The air feels oppressive and the silence hangs in the air like an index finger waiting to point in judgment. Through the darkness she sees a dim light. A light coming from the living room beckoned. She walks towards it and sees him. His back is to her as he stares into the stone fireplace.
 

"You're here" Chaeyoung finally speaks, breaking the silence. His voice are soft and calm, like he always been. He turns around and looks at her. In his hand is the sakura tree sculpture, beaded flower she gifted him four years ago. He hold it tightly on his lap.

 

"Chaeyoung-----" She trailes off as a lump unexpectedly rises into . She wonders whether her inability to form a word is because it is holds down by the gravity of a guilty conscience. Irene bows her head. She's wrong. It is because she's afraid to see the look of betrayal, disappointment and hatred on his face.
 

She feels his eyes on her and looks up. He is looking at her so kindly and patiently as if he's waiting for her and comforting her at the same time. Her eyes stings and she resists as long as she can, hiding her tears, hiding the quivering of her mouth, "I killed her. Lily, it was me who killed her. I drugged Mina and caused the baby death. I pretended to be innocent and kind but behind all that demenour I'm a cruel woman, Chaeyoung" The tears she holds in begin dripping off her face as she says word by word.
 

"Thank you for telling me the truth" Chaeyoung smiles. A drop of silent tear run down his left cheek. Eventhough he already knows about this, but hearing her own mouth admit, he feels like his heart has been stabbed viciously. Irene frowns, not understanding his response to her confession.
 

"I had suspicions" He draws a deep breath, "When I investigated Lily's death, Mina's doctor Miss Elly told me that they found drug in Mina's system. It wasn't from her medication nor her meals. I remembered seeing you put a white substances in Mina's drink four years ago. Back then, I didn't have much thought about it and just like you said, I believed that was an iron supplements. But when I looked through it, Mina's iron supplement was in liquid form not powder. Since then I had doubts on you and started to investigate your background and found a large sum of money transactions a