Walking Slowly, Tripping Fast

At the kitchen, Lee Si-eun was preparing for breakfast with the housekeeper when Seo Ban entered and put his hands in her waist that suprised her.

"Gamjagya.." Si-eun exhaled before looking back at her husband, "You surprised me."

Ban smiled, "I just want to greet you in the morning."

She smiled before walking on the other side of the kitchen holding a plate of ingredients, "You can sleep a bit more. Why go down this early?"

"Ani, geunyang." He hovered the dish shelf.

"Coffee?"

"De."

"Let me do it." 

Not too long, Sa Pi-young also came down to help out on breakfast. "Omo, hyungnim, unni, you woke up early."

"Ye. I'm helping to prepare for breakfast." Si-eun replied.

"You don't have too. You should sleep a bit more so you can have more energy for office later."

"Ani. I slept better at night. Its just fine. Let me do it from time to time. Besides, the days are passing by faster than expected. I have been doing the job for 2 weeks now."

"You seemed to adapt quickly than expected."

"De. It helps that Choi Min-seok-ssi was there too."

"Choi Min-seok-ssi seemed a good man." Ban joined in, "He stayed with your family all these times."

"Ye. After his parents died, appa took him in and let him study. In exchange he stayed with my brother until now."

"Loyalty is something that everyone values in every family." Pi-young said. "Ah, unni, Hye-ryung-a is inviting us for lunch. Do you have time?"

"Hm, I have time for lunch."

"I wish I can join you." Seo Ban answered.

"Andwe, hyungnim." Si-eun and Pi-young chuckled. "Let us have our lunch time for ourselves today."

"Well, you guys can't see each other everyday now like you used to."

At lunch time, Sa Pi-young was the first at the meeting place. She made sure to tell the housekeeper and baby sitter all the things they should do before leaving the baby to them.

Boo Hye-ryoung came in next and sat down next to Pi-young, "Is jagganim still not here?"

"De. She must be on the way tho. She never really go late to her meetings."

"How is shee holding up as a chairmwoman? She must have been overwhelmed. This must be new to her."

"I think she caught up quickly. She still have the idea of how their business was run. After all she still grew up in that family."

"I'm still in awe of how things turned out like that. Who would've thought that a simple woman as Lee Si-eun unni was a heiress? She surely hid it really well."

"I don't think she meant to hide it from us. We already heard about her situation before she married the professor. She sure just doesn't want to tell others about her family when they already severed ties with her."

Somewhere in the restaurant, two women came in looking for a table when they saw Hye-ryoung and Pi-young, "Unni, its Bok Hye-ryoung and Sa Pi-young unni." Ami recognized the two women from the afar. She was with Nam Ga Bin.

"Where?" Ami pointed with her lips.

"Lets say hi." They walked across the restaurant towards Sa Pi-young and Bu Hye-ryoung. "Unni!" she greeted.

"Oh." Pi-young looked up.

"Anyeonghasaeyo." Nam Ga Bin greeted too.

"Anyeong. Are you having lunch too?"

"De." They then greeted Hye-ryoung.

"Anyeong." Hye-ryoung replied, "How are you?" she was asking Nam Ga Bin.

"Right, she was the one you asked to sang on your wedding." Pi-young said.

"De. I didn't know you knew each other." Hye-ryoung looked at Ami.

"Ye. Song Won unni was one of us too." Ami proudly said looking at Hye-ryoung with the look of wanting to annoy the latter.

Hye-ryoung and Pi-young looked at each other, "Jeong-bin eomma." Hye-ryoung said.

"Ah." Pi-young was dumbfounded hearing that and there was only one thing in her mind.Birds of the same feather flocks together. "Is that so?" Pi-young looked at Ga-bin and Ami. The two felt a little uncomfortable. But before they could say their goodbye, Lee Si-eun arrived. "Unni." Pi-young greeted.

Lee Si-eun was walking gently towards the table trying to recognize the women and she got a glimpse of Nam Ga-bin that somehow surprised her, but she didn't paid much attention once she reached the table, "Have you guys ordered?" she proceeded to sat down. She looked back at Nam Ga-bin and Ami without saying anything.

"Ah, she is Ami." Pi-young introduced, "She is Lee Si-eun-unni. She's also my sister-in-law."

"De?" Nam Ga-bin was surprised when she heard about it.

"Oppa didn't mention it." Ami said with a smile.

"Its not like something worth to mention to someone you haven't met." Lee Si-eun replied before sipping a bit on her water.

"We should go now." Nam Ga-bin quickly said and so they went on their way to get a table when they came acrossed Seo Ban. "Anyeong."

"Anyeong." He said.

"Nice to see you. Are you having lunch too?"

"Ye. I'm with my wife."

"De? Ah, so you got married too."

"De. I got married a week before Dong-ma."

"Ah, right."

Seo Ban immediately left the scene and proceeded to his wife and the group. Nam Ga-bin and Ami followed him by the eyes and saw how he gently touches Lee si-eun at the back. The two other women sat at an empty table where they can see the group of Sa Pi-young.

"Isn't he Seo Dong-ma-ssi's brother?" Ami asked. Nam Ga-bin nodded. "If Uram eomma's his wife and Pi-young unni and her are sisters-in-law, does it mean that Jia eomma married your ex-fiance?!"

Nam Ga-bin smiled faintly, "Lets order food."

"Hyung-nim, we didn't know that you are coming too." Pi-young greeted.

"He wanted to join us just like before, just the 4 of us. He picked me up at the office." Si-eun answered.

"Its my treat." Seo Ban replied.

The women chuckled, "By the way, Seo Ban-bujangnim," Hye-ryoung started, "Did you know Nam Ga-bin and Ami?"

"De? Ah," he looked at Si-eun, "Ye. But who's Ami?"

"The one with Nam Ga-bin. You greeted them." Pi-young replied.

"Ah, I met them with your ex-husband in the musical, right?"

"De. You really have a sharp memory."

"I am not demented."

"Unni, I think Pi-young unni and Uram eomma haven't really lost their charms as women." Ami said while they are having their lunch.

"What do you mean?" Nam Ga-bin asked dumbfounded.

"Look at them, they aren't as glamorous as that before. Most of all Uram eomma."

"Ah, de. Its surprising to see her wearing such expensive clothes and walking like a rich lady. When I first met her, she wears simple clothes like an ordinary housewife will. But looking at her now, I can see that she really just stock up her confidence because of her family."

"But what really was shocking to me is how brazen she is."

"What do you mean?"

"After what she had done to Song Won unni she can still be proud that she asked you to sing for her wedding with Jeong-bin appa."

"Its not like she knew that we were friend with Song Won. She just found out now."

"Hmp, I don't really like her personality and attitude at all. No wonder that Jeong-bin appa left her for Won unni. She just have a pretty face nothing more. Its surprising that Pi-young unni and Lee Si-eun-ssi were still friends with her. She's like a snake."

"Shh, its not like what we did to them was any better." Nam Ga-bin looked down on her plate embarassed before having a bite on her food.

The unsuspected women in that restaurant had their day end beautifully. The next day, the messy headlines had Pan household with a rough start. Calls started to come into the grandparents phone and Bu Hye-ryung manager woke her up with the bad news that already spread across the internet.

"What is this mess? That is not true! Why would I?" Hye-ryoung said loudly talking over the phone. Sa-hyeon can't do anything but to look worriedly at his wife.

"Sa-hyeon-a," his mother called and gave him a glass of water to give Bu Hye-ryoung while they are all in the living room trying to calm themselves down.

Hye-ryoung was already crying while talking to her manager, "How can i do a press conference now? I don't even know where that reporters got that news. Ani, I was just staying in our house. I was taking care of my son, why would I even do that?" She then ended the call.

"Calm down, Hye-ryoung-a." Her mother-in-law said.

"How eommoni? The news spread out like a wild fire. How am I going to proceed on my schedules? For sure all my sponsors are going to back out."

"We can file some cases against the reporters." Sa-hyeon said.

"Its not like they're going to back down when we tell them that? Sa-hyeon-ssi," her voice wavered before she broke down and cry. Sa-hyeon can't do anything but to hugged his wife.

"The thing is, who told them such lies?" The old man said.

"Unni," Pi-young started after Lee Si-eun picked up her call, "Have you seen thew news?"

"News? What news?" Si-eun replied while looking at her laptop at the office table.

"About Bu Hye-ryoung."

"De? Wait let me see." She searched the internet after closing her office file. She then found the headkine saying Bu Hye-ryoung stressed out her husband mistress causing it to die during delivery. "Ige moya?"

"I am sure that Hye-ryoung is really stress right now."

"Where did they get this kind of news? Hye-ryoung didn't even saw them after the divorce."

"That's what I'm saying. I wonder who even created this news."

"Have you called her?"

"Ani. I don't know what to tell her if I do."

"I'll come home early. Try to call Hye-ryoung."

"Okay, unni."

"Unni," Ami greeted Nam Ga-bin over the phone, "Have you seen the news?"

"De." Ga-bin sat down her couch troubled.

"Where did they got that news?"

"Do you think there were some reporter who overheard us somewhere yesterday?"

"I don't know. Either way, we didn't said that she was the caused of Song Won unni's death."

"Yes, but it could be interpreted like that. I am sure that Jeong-bin appa and halmeoni, harabeoji are now worried and stress about this news."

"Its not like its our fault. Besides, Bu Hye-ryoung really did Song Won wrong."

As usual, Seo Ban picked his wife fromthe office. In their car, Lee Si-eun sighed checking her phone hoping Bu Hye-ryoung had replied to her messages.

"Wae?" Seo Ban asked.

"Bu Hye-ryoung, I'm worried something might had happen to her."

"Is it about the news?"

"De. Have you read it?"

"De. Do you think Hye-ryoung knew who did it?"

"Ani. She was trying to conceive and cutting her schedules. She only goes us with us since she decided to be a wife and a mother. I doubt she would even tell anyone that she did that kind if thing."

"But she must have known that somehow its not good for a pregnant woman to be stressed."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nam Ga-bin-ssi and Jia appa's wife told me that Bu Hye-ryoung was the one who asked for divorce and asked a lot from Chairman Pan. They said Sa-hyeon and Hye-ryoung embraced each other one last time before their split up. But Hye-ryoung told a different story in her press conference."

Lee Si-eun can't believe what she heard, but she is sure about one thing, that Hye-ryoung would really be the one to asked for divorce, "But to blame Bu Hye-ryoung upon the death of Jeong-bin's mother is ridiculous. She doesn't even care about them anymore until she heard from Pan Sa-hyeon's parents."

"Are you upset?"

"Who would be happy about this? Its not like they didn't put Hye-ryoung in hell when they cheated on her. And now they are blaming her for a death that she didn't wished to happen."

"But she shouldn't have done the press conference too."

"Do you know the woman?"

Seo Ban looked at his wife brieftly, "De. I met her as a Chinese language teacher. A hoobae introduced her to me."

"And?"

"She seemed nice and well spoken. She didn't strike me as a woman that Bu Hye-ryiung talked about."

"No nice woman would sleep with another woman's husband." Si-eun exhaled with conviction and seemingly angry before checking her phone again.

Seo Ban felt that he had disappointed Les Si-eun with his answer and so he didn't talked back again.

After dinner, Sa Pi-young and Lee Si-eun talked about the situation that Hye-ryoung got in in the study.

"Have you had a fight with your husband?" Pi-young asked.

"Ani. I'm just annoyed, thats all."

Pi-young chuckled, "Unni, this the first time I saw you sulk since you got married with hyungnim."

Si-eun smiled, "Ay, don't tease me."

"What are you annoyed at?"

"Seo Ban-ssi said he had met Ami and Nam Ga-bin at the funeral of Jeong-bin's eomma. They told him that everything Hye-ryoung told at the press conference were all lies. They even washed their friend's name as if she didn't do anything to Hye-ryoung at all."

"Hye-ryoung might be selfish at times, but she suffered alone during those times. She even vomit blood and she still wouldn't tell us what made her too stress."

"She was always saying its just about getting pregnant." Si-eun sighed, "Now, here she is, getting pulled in the mud despite all her efforts to build their family."

"I think she was right when she said she has rough luck."

"She still hasn't reply or call back."

At the Pan residence, everyone was still stressed out because of the news. Bu Hye-ryoung can't even calm down and take a rest thinking about her career, but more importanrly Jeong-bin.

"Hye-ryoung-a, please eat even just a little. It won't do you any good if you starve yourself during this times." Her mother-in-law said.

"Yeobo, eat a little, will you? You might get sick if you stay like this. You havent even had anything but water." Sa-hyeon said worriedly. He didn't go to work just to stay by his wife's side.

"Its just me I am worried about. What about Jeong-bin? What about our future children if they are going to read these kind of articles?"

Chairman Pan with his wife and Sa-hyeon were surprised at what Hye-ryoung said. Its really unlike Bu Hye-ryoung. She really had changed. They understand the consequences of this kind of news in the future and that is one of their worries. Hearing that, the Chairman decided to try and find who did that to his daughter-in-law.

"What are you thinking so deeply about?" Sin Yu-shin asked his wife Ami who was looking at nowhere while sitting at the couch.

"De? Ah, nothing. Have you had dinner?"

"I did."

"Okay. Do you like to have a hot bath?"

"Please."

"Okay. I'll ready the bathtub."

A/N: always used shift+enter if you are going to do or make a new paragraph... let the credits remain...just pm me for the code that is if you want to use this one...

layout by: mambokinoki