“You. You better explain this.”

Miyoung flinched as her mother drummed her fingers on the marble countertop, she did not get the chance to escape the elders earlier. And now, here they were, inside the Chae household.

And Miyoung was alone, it was two against one.

Her eyes went to her stepfather; he had a small amused smile as he poked around the kitchen. Well, maybe it was just one against one.

“What is all this I hear, Hwang Miyoung? You’re married now?” Her mother demanded as she tapped her French manicured nails on the table again.

“Yes, I got married, eomma.”

“Wow, since when?” She hissed, Miyoung grimaced, her mother already knew. But the elder wanted to torture her more and have her blurt it out.

“A couple of..years ago.” She murmured, she saw how her mother closed her eyes briefly.

“Honey, just let her be. Miyoung’s home for her sister’s wedding. We should all be celebrating, right?”

Miyoung sent the elder a small grin, but her mother hissed at them both.

“Do you know how serious this is? She’s married to some stranger we don’t even know. We have no idea where his from! We aren’t even sure if he’s~”

Miyoung turned her head as she heard the door ring open, a familiar voice echoed, it seems like he was on the phone.

“Hyungwon-ah,” She spoke, still feeling her mother’s heavy gaze on her, she paused when Mr. Lee plopped next to her.

“I missed you, kid. It was boring without you.” He mused while nudging her shoulder.

“I missed you too, abeoji. But sitting here might cause you harm.” She whispered, the male chuckled at her.

“Hi, sorry I got caught in traffic,” Hyungwon stepped in and then he stopped as he noticed the two elders in the room.

“Hello,” He said with a polite bow, Miyoung looked at her mother; she was already assessing Hyungwon from the top of his head to his shoes.

“I didn’t know we had guests, should I call for food?” He asked in his usual calm ton, Miyoung narrowed her eyes at him.

“I’m sorry for not introducing myself, my name is Chae Hyungwon.” Hyungwon said as he stretched his palm to Miyoung’s mother, the lady was hesitant but she nodded back at him and took his hand.

“Nice to meet you.” He smiled before turning to the male beside Miyoung.

“Honey’s dad.” Miyoung mused; Hyungwon nodded and greeted the elder warmly.

“So, you work in New York.” Mrs. Lee began, Hyungwon shook off his coat and nodded.

“Mostly, yes.”

“Mostly.” Mrs. Lee repeated, Miyoung could hear the skepticism in her voice.

“We have offices in California too, and one in Seattle.”

The two elders glanced at each other; Miyoung scrunched her nose and looked away.

“You own your offices?”

“Yes, Miyoung and I, we pretty much run our operations together.” Hyungwon nodded with a smile, her mother’s brows went up.

“Hyungwon started H One Jewels, eomma. I’m sure~”

“H One? Oh my, you own that company? I’m still on the waitlist for your new collection.” Mrs. Lee said with a big smile as she clasped her hands together.

Miyoung puffed her cheeks, at least, she was in the clear for now.

“Well, that’s good. Our daughter married right, even though she couldn’t be bothered to tell us.”

Miyoung was about to talk when the front door opened again.

“Mommy, daddy! Uncle Honey and I are home!”

Minah exhaled and pressed her arms against her sides, she shook her head and faced the older male.

“Minah,”

“Answer me.”

Shownu paused, his forehead creasing.

“Sunbae, answer me. Tell me that you understand what I’m saying.” Minah pressed on, Shownu nodded back at her and stood up.

“I get it, Minah. I understand.” He softly said, the girl let out a sigh and she looked around his office.

Shownu watched as she made herself comfortable on the leather sofa, she paused when she realized that he didn’t join her.

“What are you doing, sunbae?” She asked him, Shownu tilted his head at her before speaking.

“Minah, this is the part where you start explaining what’s going on.” He told her, Minah paused and then her eyes widened.

“O—Oh, that. You said our level of friendship is already there. Like asking each other favors and all that.” She rambled, Shownu’s brows rose, and he sat down across her.

“So, you won’t allow me to be with Sera.” He reiterated, Minah nodded back and patted her pants down.

“Can I ask why? Or, may I know why?”

“Hey, when you request me to do things for you, I don’t ask questions.” Minah shot back at him.

“Those things are usually business things, Meens. What’s going on?” Shownu said, using her old nickname, the girl pursed her lips.

“Just something I think you should consider. Not her.”

“Oh, there’s room for consideration in this?” Shownu said, his tone teasing.

“No. If you still want to be friends, then you shouldn’t. But really, your choice.” She shrugged at him, playing it cool.

Shownu chuckled and nodded.

“Okay, I won’t ask questions. What brings you here, asides from that.”

Minah looked at her friend and her lips curled up.

“Nothing really, I just realized that….we haven’t chatted in a while. How are things? I feel bad for forcing you…to feel comfortable around my sister again. You don’t hate me, right?”

“Well, not yet.” Shownu replied, the girl rolled her eyes at him. Shownu stood up and walked to his desk again, he quickly gathered the documents on his table, his eyes went to the different copies of Eunyoung’s birth certificate, and he chucked them in his drawer.

“Good, because I think my parents just got back, and I’m not yet ready to face them. So, how about lunch?” Minah asked him, Shownu nodded back and picked up his coat.

“How are the preparations going?” He asked as they stepped out of his office, Minah smiled before talking.

“The party’s next week. I know things will go smoothly; it has to. I just…there’s this thing, that I just…kind of realized, sunbae.” She spoke as they got inside the elevator, Shownu nodded for her to continue.

“What?”

Minah leaned back; she her bottom lip before replying.

“I think I’ve made friends that..I shouldn’t have, something like that,” She shrugged, the doors opened again and the two stepped out.

“I hope I’m not one of those said friends.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare, Son Hyunwoo.” Minah said with a small smile, but deep inside, she was worried.

Sehun turned to the male and his eyes widened.

“What?”

“It..I got the call just a few minutes ago, sir.” His assistant spoke, he leaned back on his seat and nodded.

“So, what did they say?”

“It was just to inform us, you, that the president Chae is aware of you trying to dig into Mrs. Chae and her past in New York.”

“Who called you? His secretary?”

“No, it was president Chae himself. He asks if you would be okay in meeting him. Privately.”

“Chae Hyungwon.” Sehun let out a chuckle, he stood up and walked towards the windows.

“Sir, this seems~”

“We don’t have to worry about him. The fact that he wants to talk means he knows something. And he has questions.” Sehun crossed his arms

“What about the other miss Hwang, sir?”

Sehun pressed his lips together. Miyoung refused to talk about what really happened and it drove him crazy. He wanted to press her to talk, but he knew it wouldn’t work.

“Minah….I don’t think she’s ready..I’ll tell her once I understand what’s really going on. I don’t want to add to her stress right now.” Sehun murmured, he faced the male again.

“But, sir, I don’t think.....we should worry about president Chae,”

Sehun’s lips quirked up and he sat down on his seat again, he glanced at his computer screen before replying.

“Exactly. But, to cover up something this big, he’s probably protecting something too.” Sehun replied, his phone pinged, Minah had texted him.

“What do you mean, sir?”

I’m with Shownu sunbae. Meet us for coffee? -Minah

“He made Miyoung one of his company’s largest shareholders, this is reasonable because she’s his wife, right?”

His secretary nodded in reply and took a seat.

“Miyoung mentioned how they own properties around the country, but I noticed something odd.”

“What is it, sir?”

“Miyoung’s name does not even appear once in those land titles. It’s always under his name and the child’s. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

“Well, if he’s the one who bought~”

“I know that. But, it’s still so strange. So,”

Sehun cleared his throat and typed in a quick reply to his fiancé, he stood up and picked up his jacket.

“I’ll personally reach out to him later, keep this under the wraps for now.”

“Hmm, I didn’t know there was a child involved.” Mrs. Lee murmured as Eunyoung walked in the kitchen, the girl stopped, seeing two new faces with her parents. Jooheon halted by the doorway and his eyes widened.

“Eunyoung-ah, say hi. They are mommy’s parents, your grandparents.” Hyungwon spoke in his usual calm, Miyoung swallowed and puffed her cheeks.

Eunyoung nodded back at her father and turned to the elders, she gave them a polite bow before introducing herself.

“Nice to meet you, my name is Chae Eunyoung.” She said, Mr. Lee smiled and happily approached the toddler, Miyoung and Jooheon grimaced as Mrs. Lee gaze went to them.

“I see Honey knows.” She stated, Jooheon grew sheepish.

“They had me on gunpoint, eomma. I was not to tell~”

“Lee Jooheon.” Miyoung hissed at her brother, the latter winced. Mrs. Lee exhaled and looked at her daughter again.

“I…I will explain all these, eomma. Just..give me time. All I can say is that,”

Eunyoung laughed as Mr. Lee picked her up and twirled her around, Miyoung noticed how the look on her mother’s face softened.

“Eunyoung’s my daughter, and she’s five years old now.”

“My youngest daughter already has a daughter.” Mrs. Lee spoke, she let out a small sigh.

“We’re sorry for not telling you in advance, Miyoung…Miyoung wanted to settle down before reaching out to you.” Hyungwon softly said, Miyoung felt his palm on her back, trying to reassure her.

“Y—Yes, of course. It’s…been..a rough ride for all of us,” Mrs. Lee murmured, her forehead creased, unsure of what to say next.

“Halmeoni?” Eunyoung spoke, Mrs. Lee looked up, wide-eyed. And then she stretched her arms to the elder. Miyoung smiled and gave her mother a small nod.

“I guess she wants to say hi, eomma. Don’t worry, she’s very fluent in Korean, my husband made sure of that.”

Mrs. Lee shot her a look, but she was smiling as she approached Eunyoung. Miyoung let out a shaky breath and she felt Hyungwon’s fingers around her wrist.

“Surprise.” She said under her breath, his lips curled up before planting a small kiss on the back of her wrist.

“I am surprised.” He mused at her, Jooheon was already rummaging through their fridge.

“I should probably call to order some food, do they have any allergies?” He asked as he slid down from the stool.

“No. Thanks for doing this.” She said, Hyungwon winked at her before excusing himself. He made his way towards his home office and checked the message on his phone again. Sehun had texted him, and informed him that he wanted to meet sometime next week.

“He has questions too.” Hyungwon murmured to himself, he got inside the room and sent a quick text to his assistant, instructing him to order food.

Hyungwon was about to sit down when his phone started ringing.

“Yes?”

“Sir, this is about the thing you asked me to look into,”

“Go on.” Hyungwon murmured as he opened his laptop, he leaned back on his seat.

“It’s about Yoo Sera, sir.”

“What is it?”

“We just linked one of her offshore accounts, it was the same account that sent money to the man we spoke about. The same man who identified her.”

“The bungee jump place.” Hyungwon muttered back, his forehead creased and he slowly nodded.

“Okay, send me the documents, and,”

Hyungwon stood up and buried his hand in his pant pocket.

“Yes, sir?”

“Send a copy to vice president Oh Sehun of Korea Air too, I’m sure he’d love to know about this.”

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