"Can you do something?"

He looks up from the bunch of paper on top of his desk as soon as the door opens to see who just barges inside his room. He lets out a sigh once he knows who's the culprit. "Good afternoon to you too, honey."

She clicked her tongue loudly, dissatisfied with his half-hearted greeting. She stood right in front of him, across his working desk to send him a signal that she wants his full attention. He let out another deep sigh, rested his pen above his desk, and had his full attention on her. Just like how she wanted. "Let's talk about your daughter."

"She's your daughter too," reminded him, but there's a frown on his forehead. "About what?"

"About how she never introduces someone to us," answered her, which prompted him to roll his eyes exasperatedly before he went back to the mountain of papers on his desk. "At this point, she will never get married."

"I don't see any problem over that," murmured him softly, but it was loud enough for her to listen. 

"Well, it's clearly not a problem for you because as long as she delivers with her job, nothing else is important for you," she spat venomously, prompting another defeated sigh to leave his throat. "Clearly, you don't care enough about the well-being of your daughter."

"Our daughter. And of course I care about her, but marriage is not something that I can just push to her," he defended himself, but she wasn't having any of it. "It's her choice if she ever wanted to get married or not, honey. We can do nothing about it. And after everything I did to her in the past, after we basically did not care about her well-being during her childhood, I don't think I deserve to even help her in controlling her own life. Even when we have tried to mend our broken relationship."

She bit her bottom lip, so hard it almost drew blood out from the flesh. She let out a groan loud enough to reverberate around the square room before she dropped herself on the couch. "I'm just tired of hearing tons of scandals about her sleeping with someone new every night! It took me tons to clear the news and save her name."

"It's not like she asked for you to clean her name," he chuckled before he felt sharp daggers stabbing on his body. He gulped all the jokes resting at the tip of his tongue to not frustrate her more. "She's still young, honey. Just let her be."

She huffed in annoyance over his response before silence grew on her. She ignored the questioning glance coming from him as she stared on the ceiling above. Thinking about someone that has been staying inside her mind for so long. "I just want her to finally be happy with her life and share her love with someone. Is it really that hard?"

He smiled softly, more like a reassurance for her. "The time will come, honey. For now, we just need to be patient and keep loving her."

---

"Your daughter had with her own secretary."

He was sipping on his tea when she barged inside his room unannounced once again and said that sentence so lightly, making him choked from the warm liquid and his throat burn awfully because of that. "Honey, please stop trying to kill me."

"Oh, please. Choking on a tea will not make you die," she rolled her eyes before she sat on the comfortable couch in his room. "And there is a more important thing we need to discuss."

He frowned. "And that is?"

She sighed impatiently. "Your daughter. ing with her own secretary."

"Ah," he nodded awkwardly, taking a sip of his tea and making sure he would not choke while drinking. "How do you know?"

"I visited her before I came here. When I made my presence known to them, she was simply greeting me lightly while her secretary looked like a mess," answered her as her mind recalled the event that happened minutes ago. "And before you accuse me of making up things, I know what a hickey looks like."

He can feel his face burn from the idea of her daughter having ual with someone. He cleared his throat to bring back his composure. "I see."

That's a bad reply and he knows it. But it was a safe choice when he still didn't know her opinion about this situation.

"What do you think about her?"

"Who?" he naturally asked. But when he sees her sharp gaze, he knows instantly who she meant. "Joohyun is nice, she's a good secretary. Sometimes she helps Mrs. Oh and I when we have certain difficulties."

She squinted her eyes. "Are you sure that was it?"

He raised his eyebrow, there's a mirth in his smirk. "Honey, if what you said is true—about our daughter having with her secretary—I don't think Joohyun will be interested in an old man like me."

She rolled her eyes from his teasing as she let out a loud sigh before staring on the ceiling above. She fell into silence, and he chose to bask in the short time of peace because he knows this conversation is far from over. "I like her too. She's kind, nice, a bit too serious for my liking but I can live with that. Being reminded that you are old whenever you meet each other is fun."

He chuckled, knowing how she hates it when people address her so formally, even when she has requested them to cut the formality. "I guess this is her first secretary you genuinely like?"

She pursed her lips and let the second ticks away before she turned her head to look at him. "I think they are something more than just a boss and her secretary. My informant told me that they have spent awfully lots of time together. Even during the weekend."

He was continuing his work when he abruptly stopped after listening to the words she just said. "Did you just admit you paid someone to follow our daughter?"

"Tons of brewing scandals are enough for you to prepare for what's going to come in the future," she shrugged as he could only shake his head in disbelief, knowing that not even him can stop her in doing this inappropriate breach of privacy. "What are you going to do if they are actually together?"

He frowned from the odd question. "Apart from work professionality, should I be concerned if they are together?"

"I mean, she's not one of us," she started as she listed the information she got about her daughter's secretary. "She's an orphan after her parents' accident and lives in an orphanage. Her family business is simply a modest grocery store in the city that got abandoned and sold by the senior member of her family after her parents passed away. The only thing she got is her family home and the fortune they left her to allow her to go to college. Nothing is even worthy about that house."

He squinted his eyes in suspicion. "How did you get that classified information?"

"I looked into her files."

"Remind me to fire the people who gave you that file after we had this talk," he sighed heavily, writing a note to himself so he can handle this fatal mistake with his own hands. "And I don't see anything wrong with her background."

"Marrying the rich is not a light matter, honey, especially for someone with a background like her. I have tons of obstacles I need to go through after you courted me back in the days, when I thought that I deserve to stand by your side because my father runs a successful company," explained her with such seriousness, and actually surprised him with the new information he just learned. "She would be torn and beaten mercilessly by those packs of wolves."

"I thought you wanted her to fall in love and get married?" he asked after the long rant as he raised his eyebrow.

"I do, but this is a serious matter."

He let out a soft hum as he finally put his whole attention to her. "Do you like her secretary?"

"Um," she frowned. "Yeah?"

"Do you think Seungwan likes her?"

"Probably?"

"Do you think Joohyun likes her?"

"Maybe?"

"Then just let them develop their relationship if there's indeed something between them," concluded him so easily before he went back to his work.

She blinked his eyes. "Do you approve of her?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "The only reason that would make me disapprove of her is if she in fact doesn't love our daughter."

"And her background?"

He raised his eyebrow. "I'm surprised you are that type of person."

"I'm not," she rolled her eyes. "I'm simply asking about your decision to not consider that. What if she had a bad intention?"

"Let's not accuse her more of something that I know she's not," he said sternly, while she merely shrugged her shoulders. He let out a sigh. "I just thought it's better if I don't intervene if this is concerning her feelings and the people she falls in love with. It's already a huge feat if she likes someone, much more wanting to marry them."

She begrudgingly groaned. "I suppose you are right. After all, I think Joohyun is strong enough to go against those nosy riches who would want her position beside Seungwan. Probably accusing her of being a money er."

He can't help but to chuckle from seeing her sour face for being defeated in this argument against him. "As far as I know, Joohyun doesn't care about money."

"Stop rubbing salt on my wound," she let out a warning hiss. "I got it the first time."

He lets himself laugh, and doesn't feel scared of her for even a slight amount. "I think they will make a good couple."

"I think so too!" she beamed excitedly. "God, I can't wait!"

He chuckled again, seeing the excitement back on her face. He shook his head playfully before he focused back on his work, waiting until she left the office to finally fire the people who are responsible for giving her classified information about her staff's background.

---

She happily hums as she applies night cream on her face. He doesn't remember the last time she was this happy as he slipped under the blanket of his bed. "You look oddly happy tonight. I don't remember the last time you were this bright when you were about to sleep with me."

He saw her roll her eyes from the reflection on the mirror. "They just announced their engagement to us, of course I'm happy. I knew they were dating!"

There's a frown on his forehead, an amused smirk on his lips. "I don't think they were dating."

"You know nothing about romance, honey," snorted her, while he just let her do that as he chuckled. "All you do is just work, work, and work. What do you know about relationships?"

"We dated, we got married, we have a family," he shrugged lightly. "That wasn't enough for a lesson about relationships?"

His smirk widened into a smile as he noticed her face turned red. He simply laughed when she threw him something, probably one of her skincare collection. He doesn't even try to evade as they land right above his covered legs.

"What? I just told you the facts!"

"Annoying fact, that is," she grumbled as she left her small throne of makeup, making her way towards her bed. He continued to chuckle and put the thrown makeup on the nightstand beside him as she positioned herself properly on the bed, getting ready to sleep. "You are right. They look good as a couple."

"I'm always right, honey," he grinned in pride, knowing it would just annoy her more as she threw him one of her pillows. He can only laugh, seeing her puff her cheeks in frustration before she turns her back on him. "Don't sleep yet. We are still not talking about their marriage plan and I really don't want to have this conversation as the first thing I talk about in the morning."

"Right!" she exclaimed, still in anger. But he was sure this was because of another thing. "They said they want to wait a year for the marriage! Can you believe it?"

"Well, I guess they still want to know each other first," he shrugged as he lay down properly on his bed. From the corner of his eyes, he saw her turning around to look at him again. "They were simply working partners before their engagement."

"And buddies," she rolled her eyes while he coughed awkwardly. It's still so weird knowing his grown-up daughter is having… ual needs. "We got married only a few months after we got engaged."

"Honey, it's different. We were dating for years before we got engaged," he sighed tiredly as he knew this fight will not be over until he finally succumbs to her argument. "Just let them be with their romance. As long as they will get married, we have no rights to meddling with the date of their wedding. I thought the most important thing is to see her loving someone and be loved back?"

This time, it was her who let out a loud and heavy sigh. There's only silence for a little while, and he thought she had already fallen asleep when she suddenly said something. "Do you recognize the look in her eyes?"

His gaze softened from the question. "Yeah."

"She's in love," she smiled as her brain recalled the things that happened during the dinner they had with the newly engaged couple. To see them interact in front of her eyes and really see their relationship as who they are. "They're both in love. So very much."

"I know," he mirrored her expression as he smiled. "I have never seen her so happy before."

"So, will you accept her choice?"

"Of course," he nodded without an ounce of doubt. "I guess it would be wise if we warn Joohyun about what will come at her. But beside that, she's the perfect pair for our daughter. If Seungwan is sure of her choice, then who am I to stop her?"

"I can't even think of someone better than her," she sighed, this time lightheartedly. "Our daughter really knows how to choose someone."

"Of course. I'm her father after all."

He laughed loudly as she groaned. "Give me back my pillow."

"You are the one who threw this yourself, honey. Do not blame me," he giggled as he passed her the pillow, which she took from his grasp quite harshly. He didn't mind though. She has always been like this ever since the first day he got to know her. It's one of the reasons why he wanted to grow old with her. "Let's go to sleep, honey. It's late."

"Oldie," she teased, he simply replied with a playful roll of his eyes as he fixed his position to be comfortable. "Good night, love."

His body froze from the sudden endearment. He doesn't remember when was the last time she called him using pet names, but whenever she did that, it always made his heart beat quickly. And he still welcomed that feeling, even until now as he smiled before he turned off the last light. 

"Good night, honey. Sweet dream."

---

so yeah... hi... uh... surprise?

look i'm supposed to upload THE PROPER NEXT CHAPTER during my birthday. but i have been busy now that i got a new responsibility, and it's also writing so yeah i think winding down after being stressed out with writing BY WRITING FANFICTION just didnt work jshfjskfhsfd 

but i feel like i want to give you something as a birthday present from me, so that's why i'm writing this.

it's nothing much, it's pretty short, but i think it's just nice to take you guys back to the past. i'm planning more intermezzo BUT SEEING HOW I STRUGGLE... i will not give you any promises. i just wanted to say thank you guys for supporting me. i'm sorry if i pissed you all off by not updating DKJADAKDK but well it is what it is

anyway, please leave a comment and let me know what you think about this story so i can use it as my motivation to start writing for the next one! if you want to interact with me, you can find me on twitter (just follow, i will accept)! feel free to also buy me a coffee!

i think that's all from me. thank you for reading, i hope you enjoy and like this, and see you in the next chapter!