Minju was having a hard time not to turn back her car and go back to her apartment but she knows that she promised Hyewon that she’ll go to her dinner. But it’s hard to, especially when she’s not entirely looking forward to it and that Hyewon is having one with her own parents – her parents that she has seen for the first time in years.

She thinks it’s a valid reason to not show up to her own dinner but she feels like her friends will kick her out of her own apartment if she ever did return, and she could imagine the disappointment looming on Hyewon’s face if she hears about it.

And so she didn’t, she continued to drive to her parent’s house. Hoping that it would end earlier than usual and that it would be a normal dinner for once – no business talk, but what would they be talking about? Minju could still clearly remember that their last lunch did not end on a good note, all thanks to her father.

No matter how distracted she was, how uneasy Minju’s feeling at the moment, she still went on her way.

Arriving at their driveway, she gets out of her car as soon she turns the engine off. Bowing her head out of respect to their caretakers, they’ve been working for them for a long time already and Minju have known them since she was young.

“Nice to see you again, Ms. Song,” Minju greeted softly the older woman, “Merry Christmas, I hope it was great.”

The woman smiles and bowed, “Merry Christmas, Ms. Kim, it’s nice to see you too.”

Minju nods her head and was about to walk away when she paused on her step, “Stop calling me Ms. Kim, I told you Minju is fine.” And it was the truth, she never saw the older woman as an employee or anything below that. In fact, she sees her as someone she can lean on.

But the older woman just smiles at her and Minju knows that she won’t do it – protocol and all that, which seems to be nonsense in all honesty. She shakes her head before throwing a small smile again before walking inside the house.

To say that she miss the house would be a lie, it was a great house with the way how intricately placed the furniture are. How everything was spotless and clean, it’s obvious that it was well taken care of but never in her life did she miss it.

Looking around, she could still see the pictures displayed and she couldn’t help but scoff. They were once a happy family, keyword: once. Tearing her gaze away, she walks toward the dining, knowing full well that her parents are already there.

Without missing a beat, Minju walked towards a chair just across her mother – smiling at the older woman as a greeting and only a nod for her father.

“Merry Christmas, sorry I’m a bit late.” Minju greeted the two, her tone neutral enough that wouldn’t come off as disrespectful. “Friends are in my apartment when I went out.”

Her mother smiles at her, sipping from her water before asking her. “By friends, you mean?”

Nodding her head, Minju confirms her mother assumption. “Yeah, Wonyoung is also there as well as Yujin.”

“And Hyewon?” A deep voice and Minju knows it’s coming from her father. She glances at him and she can see that she’s looking at her and she couldn’t pinpoint the way he’s looking at her – there’s just something there.

She shrugs her shoulder, “Dinner with her parents.” She said nonchalantly, she looks around wondering why the foods weren’t served yet and that’s when she noticed one vacant seat – plates and utensils all set up.

They’re waiting for someone.

Minju takes a deep breath, having an inkling to who they are waiting for, trying to control herself to not just storm out and ruin whatever family dinner they would have. In a strained voice, she asked her father, “Are we waiting for someone?”

So much for being a family dinner.

She noticed how her mother looked at her father, the disappointment pooling inside her eyes as if she wasn’t keen on the idea of another person joining. Minju then looks directly at her father, waiting for him to answer when they were disrupted by a loud voice.

It made Minju roll her eyes, For ’s sake.

Glaring at her father, she turns to see the source of the noise and as expected – it was Taeyong, arriving all suited up and that arrogant smile of his. Minju couldn’t even look at him a second longer before she tears her eyes away from him, how can she tolerate a whole dinner with him?

It’s unbelievable that her father decided to do this without even telling her, well she thinks he knows that once she tells her about this that she’ll ditch the dinner.

She thought that her father understood during their last lunch that never in her life would she marry someone, especially if that someone is Taeyong. But now, here she is having a supposedly family dinner with Taeyong who is obviously not – and never will be family.

“Merry Christmas, sorry I was late,” Taeyong smiled at them and occupying the seat, and much to Minju’s chagrin, it was a seat beside her. “I just did some important stuff.”

Minju watches her mother throwing a polite smile but she could feel how much her mother doesn’t want for Taeyong to be there, she decided to do her mother a favor.

“You should’ve taken your time; we can start without you.” She said coldly, not sparing a glance to the guy beside her and ignoring the way her father is glaring at her. Minju then look up, signaling that they would gladly eat now.

The sooner they start, the faster they can end this.

Everything was going well, and by well she means that it’s as boring as it could get. Minju would choose this rather than talking to Taeyong, she could drown out his voice with her thoughts – especially thoughts of Hyewon and how she’s worried about her.

She doesn’t know how her mother does it, to be civil enough to have a conversation with Taeyong. Minju takes it down to experience in this business, and she’s not that old enough to talk and be civilized with someone she’s clearly pissed off with.

Then everything shifted when Taeyong directed a question to her, something so out of the blue that Minju looked at him as if he was joking.

“So, I’ve heard that our wedding will be a year or two from now.” He said nonchalantly and looked at Taewook, “Isn’t that right, Mr. Kim?”

Before her father can answer, Minju beat him to it with a controlled voice as she looks at the now unappetizing food – which is her favorite by the way. “I think I didn’t make it clear that there’s no wedding or whatever you want is happening.”

She then looks at Taeyong, for the first time in the whole duration of their dinner, talking to him directly. “You should just stop pushing it because there’s nothing happening.”

But she didn’t expect a chuckle coming from the guy, as if what she just said didn’t irk him. Instead, Taeyong looked at Taewook, tilting his head at her father. “I don’t think that’s what your father wants.”

Taewook gripped his fork tightly, looking at the cunning guy adjacent to him. “This is not the right time, we will talk about thi – “

Minju looks at her father in disbelief, she just can’t seem to understand what her father is doing and deciding things for her own. “You can’t possibly tell me that you’re still going to do it?!” She exasperatedly asked and when she heard no answer, she looks at her mother for confirmation but the woman was looking at her husband disappointedly.

“Mom – “ She shakes her head and stares at her father hard, “I’m in a relationship, and it’s serious enough so this will be the last time that I’d be asking you to stop whatever this is.”

“No, I don’t think Mr. Kim thinks that Hyewon will be good for you.” Taeyong said as he continues to slice through his steak, ignoring the surprised look from Minju. She knows that she didn’t tell who she’s with, she’s aware of the fact that her father does not approve of Hyewon.

But for Taeyong to know it?

“I said stop!” Mr. Kim shouts with all of his might, that Minju thinks that the table shook for a little bit as he slammed his fist down. Glaring at Taeyong but the latter was just smirking at him.

Minju was startled at her father but the way Taeyong is acting, as if everything is happening in his favor – she started to feel nervous. She doesn’t know but with the way her father is glaring at Taeyong, she could feel that whatever the latter has on him is huge enough to ruin everything.

Like what?

Her mother started to ease the tension, “Taeyong, I think it would be better if you leave now.”

“Oh but Ms. Kim, I have a feeling that you don’t know it yet,” He smirks and looks at Minju, “Especially when it has something to do with our dear Minju here.”

Minju gulps, feeling nervous with everything – with how her father is stopping Taeyong for whatever they both know, and how it involves her. “W-what are you – “

But right before she can say anymore, her father’s chair was pushed backward to stand up. “I said stop, and you should leave now Taeyong or else – “

“Or else what?” Taeyong looks at him, not feeling any fear as he smiles and casually drinks his wine. “We both know that you need the partnership more than we do.”

Then Taewook looks away, from the stares that she got from his wife and daughter, feeling ashamed of himself and guilt from everything.

/

Taewook was silently staring at the document in his hand, reading it over and over again, thinking of a way to expand his company. He knows that there’s an easy way out, a partnership with the Lee’s but he immediately crossed that out. As soon as he saw how Minju is acting, he knows that controlling her is enough.

But Taeyong didn’t seem to think so, and Taewook knows this. The day he relayed that the partnership between the two of them won’t push through anymore, the guy threw a huge fit – threatening him about everything, and Taewook didn’t think much of it as he knows it was an empty threat.

Until it’s not.

Because when Taeyong entered his office that day, a smirk on his face as he holds out a brown envelope – it’s like he has won everything. Taewook looked at the guy in front of him, then at the evelope that was on his desk. “I told you that there will be – “

Taeyong laughs a little which surprised Taewook, “You might want to look at it first.” The younger man gestures for the envelope, raising an eyebrow at Taewook.

Then just like that, everything went still – photos after photos of that fateful night, all captured from a CCTV that he thought he already fixed. Taewook looks up, his hands shaking as he crumples the photos – a smirk was present on Taeyong’s face.

“How did you get this?” He asked, his voice getting deeper – out of anger, frustration, and most importantly, out of fear of what it might bring them.

Taeyong smiles innocently but Taewook knows it’s all but innocent, that’s when he realized he made a wrong decision from the start – he made a wrong decision and he was 3 years too late to realize it.

“I’ve been in the business long enough to know one thing,” He leans closer to Taewook, a cunning smile on his face as if wanting to slap the older man in the face of how he managed to turn the situation.

“People like us? We’re manipulative and evil as long as it is in our favor,” He said with a neutral voice, a low whisper that only the two of them could hear. “No matter how dirty it is, we’ll do it but one thing is for sure, we will always leave receipts at the deepest place possible.”

Leaning back, Taeyong fixes his suit and shrugs his shoulders. “People with the right resources are deemed worthy enough to see this dirty work, it’s a shame that I’m one of those people, right?”

Silence.

Taewook looking at every photo, a photo of two girls crossing the pedestrian lane, followed by a photo of a car – a car all too familiar to him, then just like that, he slammed it down. Glaring at Taeyong who doesn’t seem to care about it.

“Be careful, I won’t probably do anything if I were you.” He said in a sing-song voice, “Especially when it’s on the way to the Kangs, imagine what they would think?”

Taewook was about to talk when Taeyong said something that made him freeze.

“Imagine what would Minju think,” He says with a tone as if already planning everything out, and Taewook feels chills running down as he looks at the young man in front of him. “What would she feel when she realizes that you’ve manipulated everything?”

“Don’t you dare.” Taewook said in a cold tone, not wanting for everything to come out from him.

“Watch me then.”

“I shouldn’t have let this run for this long.”

“We always regret things in the end.”

“I won’t let you rui – “

“Do what I say and you won’t get on my bad side. Think carefully.” That’s the last thing that Taeyong said before he went out of his face, leaving Taewook to sit down on his chair – jaw clenched as he stares at every photo.

He needs to fix everything.

//

It was a video this time, and it is very clear on the video compared to the photos. How Minju was about to go out of the car only to faint before she could even step out of it, how Hyewon was shouting – and Taewook slams it shut.

Not bearing to look at it anymore, the damaged that it has caused him.

He should’ve remembered Hyewon from the first time he saw her at Minju’s apartment, but he couldn’t – not a trace of memory from the girl flashed inside his mind. That’s when he realized that Hyewon has concealed herself from every gathering that the Kangs have done – opting to stay out of attention, always lurking on the back.

Always behind her sister, Sora.

The only person that he could remember, a great violinist that her wife came to love because of their parents – but no matter how great she was, she is always accompanied by one pianist – just as great as she is.

“What’s that?”

He stood up quickly from his leather seat, slamming his laptop shut. “Nothing, just business.” He answered, earning a frown from the woman.

“I’m going to sleep now.”

“Yes, I’ll be right there.” He said, smiling and watching the woman walk out of his study room. He took a sharp intake of breath, pulling the flash drive out of his laptop. He stared at it for a moment before opening his drawer and throwing the small object inside, locking it inside the drawer.

Loosening his tie and ruffling his hair, he knows that he needs to fix the dirt he did. He couldn’t let them suffer any longer – and it was especially difficult since his hands are tied.

Decisions.

Decisions.

No matter what decision he makes, one is bound to suffer.

He needs time to think but he knows – time is ticking. Fast.

///

“What is he talking about?” Minju says, cold and stern voice coming out of her – but her eyes say it all, there’s fear in it, even as she’s looking at her mother. She could tell that the woman doesn’t know anything about it.

“I told you that there’s no wedding – “

Taeyong laughs at Minju, holding her hand only for it to be harshly pulled away by the girl – glaring at him at his audacity to touch her, but he ignores her and nonchalantly said, “Are you sure? When Hyewon is about to leave you?”

Then it’s like all Minju could feel is anger and all she could see is red, she stands up and stares down at Taeyong – her eyes cold that screams threat, a warning for the guy to stop whatever he’s planning. “What did you do?”

“Oh!” Taeyong claps his hands, chuckling and looking at every single person in the room. “What did I do? Minju, you should ask yourself that.”

Then Minju frowned, not understanding a thing from the guy.

“What did you do?” Taeyong asks lowly and then he was being pulled away from Minju by Taewook but it seems like his flimsy stature holds a bit of a strength as he managed to stand his ground, pulling away his arm from the man.

“I told you not to get on my bad side,” He then grabs his phone from his pocket, smirking as he presses something on the screen. “It’s funny how your mother just listens to your husband as if she doesn’t have a mind on her own.”

All of them glared at him at his statement but he continued, “But it’s much funnier that you really thought that this is the first time you met Hyewon.”

“Well, I think it’s understandable when it’s a traumatic event for you.” Taeyong said and looks at the purse of Minju, a muffled sound was heard. “I think you should look at that.”

Taewook then grabs the purse but Minju holds his wrist to stop him, her eyes trained on her own purse – not uttering a single word as she grabs her phone from it. A random email greeted her and before she could swipe it open, she was stopped by her father.

“Please, don’t.” Taewook begged, and this is the first time she heard her father beg – something just clicks inside Minju, and she pulls her hand away and opens it.

Her mother watching everything unfold, asking questions to her husband but the latter just avoiding her eyes. She’s worried for her daughter but most importantly, she hates how Taeyong is smirking at everything. What’s supposed to be a family dinner became a huge disaster, and up to what extent?

With shaky hands, Minju forces herself to hold her phone properly as she looks at the open file on her phone – a medical record, specifically hers, dated back 3 years ago. She knows it all, she remembers how she was hospitalized before, as it is the reason why there’s a constant pain with her foot – an ache that she got from an accident.

But there’s something unfamiliar to her, one thing that she reads over and over again.

Dissociative amnesia – traumatic event.

She reads it again and again, trying to make sense of everything – and it comes to her but it’s still not enough. Memory loss affecting specific areas, reason: traumatic event (car accident)

She looks up from her phone and she sees her father, she couldn’t understand anything. That’s when she decided to open another email, various photos welcoming her and she wants to vomit all of a sudden. She opens one, then another, then another, until she sees herself – until a video started playing.

And then everything just came like a tidal wave, like how she couldn’t even remember why she got into an accident that day, how a part of her was somehow blurry for her to remember – that all she could answer is that she was mostly studying that time.

It came crashing to her like never before, Minju drops to her seat as her phone drops to the floor – her mother grabbing it and she froze as well. Looking at her husband, she couldn’t contain herself anymore and slapped him.

“You told me that no one was involved!”

Taewook shakes his head, tears finally showing – regretting everything at what it has become, he couldn’t even blame Taeyong for all of his decisions. No matter how much he wants to, he couldn’t when it was all his doing just being shed some light for his family to know.

“I was trying to protect her!”

Yuna scoffed and glared at him, a look that he knows that he ed up everything – something that would take years to fix, or even more. “You were protecting your reputation, not our daughter.”

Then Minju started sobbing, not because of what she saw but became of what she’s remembering – memories that she didn’t know existed, sins that she didn’t know she have committed. She wants it to stop, to make everyone leave but she couldn’t speak – she doesn’t know if she’s screaming in pain but all she could feel is pain.

As if she’s living it all over again, the night the accident happened – the fateful night that took Sora away from Hyewon.

/

It was a small, and by small it means that only close family friends are present in the party – until it wasn’t because Minju could clearly see businessmen that she became familiar with. From all the articles she’s been reading, she is bound to know them, especially if they have close relations with their business and her father.

The moment her eyes fell on a huge business tycoon, big in a certain industry that Minju never bothered to dig onto, she knows that the party was being held to close some deals and maybe create new ones.

And it irks her.

It was a party that she never asked, a graduation party that she never dreamed of – maybe some would say that she’s too spoiled to be ungrateful for this kind of party, but they don’t know what it’s like. How Minju only wished for her father to acknowledge her achievement as she managed to graduate early with honors. A simple dinner with her parents, maybe a few extended ones like Wonyoung’s would be fine.

A simple life, that’s what she wanted – to feel her father’s care again instead, she got this huge party organized by his father for his own benefit. Not to congratulate Minju but to show off his wealth.

As she was walking around, mindlessly saying her thanks for the nth time for the people congratulating her – Minju could feel that they’re just saying it for the sake of it and just like that, she could see her father’s stare at her.

The kind of stare that she knows he’s asking for her presence, with a huff she just walked to his direction. She then noticed a young man, maybe around her age or slightly older than her but one this is for sure, she surely doesn’t like the way he’s looking at her.

Then she didn’t know that she could still be disappointed with her father as much as she’s feeling right now – to suddenly drop an information to her that she would be wedded to Taeyong, a man she clearly doesn’t know of. The son of the biggest partner her father has.

She looks at her father, asking if he was joking and she looks around to look for her mother – she couldn’t see her anywhere.

Everything was a mess and she doesn’t want to be there anymore, with all the alcohol she drank out of boredom and just to tolerate the party, Minju knows that she’s tipsy – maybe a little more than tipsy and she wants to get away as soon as possible.

The smirk coming from Taeyong, how much she wants to slap it away, the laughs surrounding her, she ignores it all and went out. She curses for the fact that Yujin was not there to accompany her because of some school work she needs to do. Wonyoung on the hand was busy preparing for a test – she hates how those two was not there maybe to alleviate it somehow.

Then as she walks out of the building, she saw their driver doing nothing but smoking making her roll her eyes. Without thinking, she walks towards him demanding for the keys – her father is doing things without even asking her, might as well do anything she wants.

“Give me the keys.” She said as she tries to find her footing, looking at her driver – thankful that she could look straight still.

The driver quickly threw his cigarette and looked at Minju, “Bu – but ma’am you don’t have – “

“Keys or you’re fired.” And that did it, he was reluctant to give it to her at first but Minju snatched it away and quickly went inside the car. She’s pretty sure that the driver would alert her parents, but she knows that it’s enough time for her to be far away from them.

Then when she started the engine and started driving, she didn’t know it was raining until she was completely out of the building. Minju shakes her head to clear her mind, she knows that she doesn’t have a license but it’s just a simple drive home – what else could go wrong?

She looks at the building, she’s not familiar with the road but she could remember the buildings that they’ve drove past earlier. But due to the rain and how hazy everything is because of the alcohol, it was a little bit of a blur for her, and yet she didn’t stop.

Not when Minju was fuming for her father’s audacity to use her as a pawn for his busines endeavors and to have an arrange marriage with with someone she doesn’t even know – heck, she doesn’t even bother to know Taeyong more because she already loathes him. But who even does that traditional controlling decision in this century?

Then in a moment, she heard her phone vibrating on the passenger seat and glancing at it, she could see that her mother is calling her. Rolling her eyes, she ignores the phone and just stepped on the gas even more but it still continued – with the loud pelting rain irritating her and getting into her, it annoyed her even more.

Turning left on the road, she glares at her phone and have the desire to turn it off but decided against it. Minju sighed in frustration grabbing it from the seat but there was some speed bump which made her lose her grip from the phone.

She hissed and cussed out, clenching her jaw with everything just getting into her. She then grabbed her phone from under the passenger’s seat, managing to answer it but when she looked up at the road, she was surprised to see a silhouette crossing the street.

She dropped her phone again as she tries to control the steering wheel, hoping to avoid the girl – it was a girl and Minju stepped on the brakes harder that she could think off, and everything stopped.

All she could feel was her legs hurting, she looks down and doesn’t see anything that could cause pain but she feels something trickling from the side of her head. Minju tried her best to open her eyes but she couldn’t, she could hear loud screams coming from outside and that’s when she remembered the girl.

“Sora! Look at me! Don’t ing close your eyes!”

She needs to look if she caused an accident, if she hit someone – she tried to get out of the car only managing to open the door until she fainted. The last thing she could hear was her mother’s voice from the phone, “Minju, where are you?!”

“No, don’t ing laugh! Look at me! Please, I’m sorry!”

And the shouts of someone that could pierce her heart.

“Don’t ing close your eyes Kang Sora!”

And Minju was consumed by nothing.

/

When Minju woke up, she was blinded by pretty bright lights making her squint a little bit to protect her eyes from its assault. She opens her eyes slowly only to see her parents looking at her, all worried which made her confuse. She looks around of the room only to realize that it was not hers.

The smell of medication and disinfectant suddenly hitting her, then she feels something on her arm and that’s when she realized. “Hospital…” She says and she could feel her dry throat, as if she has been there for days without remembering anything why she’s there in the first place.

She couldn’t remember anything, no matter how much she tries to think about it – all she could remember is the party, the rain, and then… nothing. That’s when she felt something on her head, she touches it only to feel a bandage.

“What happened?” Minju asks questioningly, she couldn’t remember anything and it’s probably best to just ask them. She watches them as they looked at one another, waiting for them to answer her which was done by her mother.

“You were involved in an accident.”

Minju frowns, trying her very damn best to make it make sense but all she could remember is the immense pain on her right leg and she could see it was in a cast. “Were other people involved? I can’t remember a thing, what happened?”

She started feeling scared, afraid that someone might be involved – someone that might be… no. She mentally shakes her head, suddenly feeling an ache forming when her father answered.

“No, you were also a victim. No one was involved, you were driving in front of someone who suddenly lost control of his car.” He said in a cold tone, not looking at Minju and his wife, “Don’t worry – “

But Minju frowns and cuts him off, “What happened, really?” She feels troubled, like something is not right or was it just the effect of how hazy her memories are. It was all a blur which frustrates her, she needs to remember – she wants to.

“Car accident.” Taewook answered and straightens his back, glancing at Minju’s foot. “You can’t take your driver’s exam because of your cast so we scheduled you for therapy.”

But it’s like that’s what actually happened and there’s no use of her asking it over and over again, “Oh, okay.” She nods her head slowly then continued.

“Can I walk with it?” She asked as she pertains to her foot, hoping that they have crutches, “My back is aching from all the laying down.”

Her mother nods her head as she helps her to sit