"Stabirabirabstabstabiraa~ Love you love you love you my love~", you crooned softly along to the song playing on your Iphone. The wind blew past you steadily, pushing the tendrils of your chocolate brown hair away from your face. Smiling wistfully at the pale blue sky, you quickly looked ahead again as you pedaled swiftly. Steering your bicycle away from the crowd of primary students that were just dismissed from school, you made a mental note to stop by your favourite place. Life was good. It was the school holidays for you, meaning you finally had some "me" time. Maybe you could even head down to the Han River to take some pictures. These were the kind of things you enjoyed. Freedom. You smiled lightly, thinking of the many days ahead that you would spend finishing up that drawing of the neighbourhood park you started yesterday. "Anyeonghasayo Halmonie! The usual dokbukki!", you exclaimed politely as you arrived in front of the roadside stall you always patronized. Her spicy rice cakes are the bestt . just thinking of the piping hot rice cakes made your mouth water; they were indeed comfort food in its truest sense. Living life at its simplest brought endless joy to you. Sure, your dad had passed away when you were five, leaving your mother as the family's sole breadwinner. It was just the both of you in the medium-sized apartment he had left you guys. Life could be much worse you know. The smile of contentment that had crept up on your pale face only widened as you were handed a familiar black plastic bag. "Careful Agashi! It's hot", the grandmother reminded with a loving smile on her wrinkled face. You proceeded to place the black bag safely in the front basket of your bicycle when your phone suddenly rang.
"Yeobosayo?", you asked cheerfully, happiness from the anticipation of savouring the dokbukki overflowing into your gentle voice.
"Mi Young. Where are you? Could you please head home now? It's urgent", your mother's usual playful banter was replaced with noticeable seriousness.
"Oh. Deh!", you replied albeit slightly bewildered at your mother's demeanor. Shrugging it off as one of those moody-once-in-a-month-days, you headed towards home in rushed but careful pedals.

In ten minutes, you turned a familiar corner into the neighbourhood you had lived in for the past 13 years. It was a small, cozy and quiet area. That was what you loved most about it. Swiftly, you dismounted your bicycle and pushed it towards the entrance of your apartment building. woahh, fancy car. Someone has some fancy guests.You thought upon seeing the expensive Benz Limousine parked in the front parking lot. Slowly, the elevator travelled up to the 11^th floor. As the lift doors opened, you immediately noticed that your house door was wide open. What the..
“omma! I’m home! Why is the door-” You were immediately interrupted by the solemn atmosphere and the sight of two intimidating looking men dressed in black. Upon hearing your voice, the two men turned to face you and bowed ninety degrees. “It’s good to see you, Ms Lee”, one of them said with intimidating presence. Who.. are.. they? You turned desperately to your mom for answers. Instead, you noticed that her fragile face was stained with tears. “What’s going on?”, you asked in a small timid voice as you parked yourself on the sofa beside her. Her trembling, cold hands found yours, holding them tightly as she looked straight into your eyes.
“Mi Young, Listen to me. Listen to Omma.. Your father, he’s not dead. He’d always been alive, but I wanted to keep it from you and to protect you. Your father, he’s actually one of Korea’s richest men. Our families objected to us being together, and back then I was already pregnant with you. We never got married even though we loved each other. In the end, your father was married to someone else betrothed to him. Now, he’s sick. He’s been diagnosed with stage three cancer, and.. and.. he wants to meet you”, she said before breaking into sobs.
You were absolutely stunned. Immediately, rejection crossed your mind. “Why would he want to see me?! He never wanted us! He never wanted me!”, you shouted as tears clouded your vision. Mother then embraced you lovingly, her voice breaking as she said: “Shhh. He’s still your father after all. I already promised to send you to him, but only until his sickness gets better. It’s hard for me too, but when I look at you I’m always reminded of your father. You have his eyes, eyes that are almond shaped and brown.” The pain in your mother’s eyes was mingled with feelings of longing, and at that moment you knew what your duty was. Slowly, you nodded your head in understanding as your mother gave you a loving smile.

Exactly an hour later, you stepped out of a shiny limousine. Your eyes were slightly puffy from crying, and you felt extremely lost. Who am I? I don’t even know anymore.A single tear rolled down your cheek before a hand stretched out, gesturing at you with a piece of tissue. “Don’t cry anymore miss, we’ll take good care of you.” One of the men in black said to you kindly, attempting to comfort you. Smiling slightly, you wiped your tear away.
“Thank you”, you whispered. Taking a good look at your surroundings, you realized that you were in front of a huge-or should I say magnificent looking house. In that instance, you literally felt yourself shrink at the sight of such splendor. You stayed frozen to the same spot, too unsure to move. “Come on Miss”, the same man encouraged as he ushered you to the front door. With agile hands, he pressed the doorbell whilst carrying your luggage. The hollow ring of the doorbell seemed to resound for a long time, before the door opened to reveal a slender, beautiful and kind looking woman. “You must be Mi Young? Come in Dear”, she said with an affectionate smile whilst leading you into the house. You felt yourself nod unsurely in response. Is she my stepmother? I thought all stepmothers were supposed to be mean and unfriendly?! Suddenly, the lady enveloped you in a gentle hug that instantly reminded you of your mother. “I’m so sorry that you had to leave home Mi Young, but your father really wants to see you. And I honestly don’t know how much time.. he..has..left..”, she started to sniff as tears fell down her rosy cheeks. Now, you were definitely sorry at how you expected her to be! Mean, spendthrift, I bet she only married him because of his money. You were ashamed for doubting her love for your father. It was clear that she truly loved him, and from that moment you knew that you would always like this stepmother of yours. “Aunty, Don’t cry! We must all have faith in him”, you managed to say. Nodding in agreement, Mrs. Lee led you up a series of stairs and hallways towards a private room. “He’s inside”, she whispered encouragingly. Gulping, you didn’t know what to expect. How would you face this father of yours that was supposed to be dead? Taking a deep, controlled breath, you slowly pushed the door open. The expanse of the room was enough to distract you, until you laid eyes on a sleeping figure on the King sized bed. “Mi Young? Is that you? Come closer”, a familiar warm voice filled the air. With unsteady steps, you prodded over to the bedside whilst keeping your eyes on the floor. When you felt a cold, big and secure hand envelope yours, you dared to look up. The father before you was similar in some aspects to your memories of him. His warm big hands that held yours, his brown almond eyes that you inherited, as well as dimples that danced around whenever he was happy. However, in comparison to the photos you had of him, the man before you looked so much wearier. He’s cheeks had grown sunken and his rosy face was now a pale, blue colour. His hands were hooked up to a intimidating IV machine that was pumping a transparent fluid into his bloodstream. You were overwhelmed again. You wanted to hate him, hate him for leaving you and your mother behind. However, seeing him in this state only left your heart with pain and pity for him. How could you hate him now? You were controlling the tears that threatened to erupt from the unfairness of it all, when your father started to explain himself. After talking for half an hour, you felt so emotionally drained. Apologies, promises and lost time; things you never even thought of dealing with until this day. When the doctors came into the room to remind your father that he needed to rest, you took it as a cue to leave. Just as you were about to go, his warm hand grabbed yours again as he whispered for the umpteenth time: “I’m sorry”.

Upon exiting the room, you glanced wearily at an old antique clock down the hallway. It’s five only. I feel like it’s been a whole day. Before you could collapse from physical and emotional fatigue, an attendant appeared to guide you to your room. “Young mistress, this way”, she would say politely despite the fact that she looked almost your age. “You can just call me Mi Young you know”, you added playfully. For a quick moment, you swore she was smiling. At least, before she caught herself and replied, “Oh no Young Mistress, I wouldn’t dare”. I am so not used to this. You made a mental note to correct her every single time she called you that. With heavy footsteps, you entered a room that overwhelmed you entirely. The room was huge, and painted in your favourite colours-Turqoise and Golden. Suddenly, you caught sight of a big easel stand in the corner of the room. Propped against it were multiple canvases, and under it were bottles of acrylic paint and oil. Flabbergasted, your eyes fell on a post-it stuck to the easel. (You always loved painting , love dad) Touched, you ran a finger across the familiar rough surface of the canvas. Thank you, Dad.

Hi everyone (: I'm back with a second fanfic, which is about btob this time! They're my new craze ahha and are on the way to my ultimate bias group list. Anyways thanks so much to everyone who subscribed! I'm truly touched since it's only been less than a year since i started writing! please leave me comments to improve or even ideas on where you want the story to go! I promise that minhyuk will appear in the next chapter! take