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Church

Seoul, South Korea

         When Father Shim opened the door, he had seen Jung Su crying because he had been waiting for someone to come back to him, only to find out she wasn't coming at all. He didn’t want to see anyone. He believes that everything that was happening is his own fault. I am inadequate, without worth. I might as well be dead.

The old man slowly tried to console him. “Did you realize that at that time you were a mere boy? That she was an innocent girl? You were young-”

“Then what am I now! Tell me, as I stand before you, five years of war, what am I now!” he screamed directly at Father Shim. He grasped his badge on his chest and forcefully detached it, ripping his uniform and threw it on the ground.“It was real, I need her to tell me that it is real for her too because I felt it, and I feel it now, Oh God...” he cried.

"Do you know how it feels to love someone you know you can never be with? I had spent five years, five long years in vain. I was alone and I thought that once I'll be back, I could be with her. You know, Father. Out of everything else, she had seen me. She had greeted me in the eye; do you know how happy I was at that moment? Where her sight had surpassed every pain that I felt, and all I could do was cry for her. I'm so overwhelmed despite having her not recognize who I was. I'm just-"

"I am sorry to see you hurting like this," he hushed.

"I love her so much. So much," he sobbed.

"Enough now…”

Father Shim tried to make him forget but Jung Su could never do that.

Park Residences

Seoul, South Korea

"Mother."

Her eyes immediately grew misty as she caressed his face and met with his eyes.

"Oh..." she cried and went to embraced the tall man, as if it has been ages since they've met. It had been.

"Mum I- I'm so, so sorry... I..."

"Jung Su. They told me you..." she choked and shook her head. "You were wronged, you don't have to apologize." The way a mother holds her son, every touch had made him ache with tenderness. How loved he felt with every graze.

“Father Shim told me all about you these passing years. Also, of Kim Taeyeon?”

His heart quivered at the mention of her name, "She, she means nothing to me." How could he have said that?

"You know you can't lie to me when you cross your fingers."

          Mrs Park unfolded his hands and brought him into the house. He could still recall seeing his late sister sitting by the barstool of their counter, her warm smile and laugh inhibiting the room. His parents had led one of the leading companies in South Korea and fostered a great amount of love throughout his life for him and his sister.

Park Jung Su was different; he never enjoyed the luxury and wanted to pursue another goal, to become a writer. His older sister, Park In Young had been supportive of him and constantly looked out for him. Being the heir to a prosperous company, instead he preferred to lead a dissimilar lifestyle, never insisting on a personal chauffeur, took onto casual dressing and disdained the occasional family dinners with the rest of his classy relatives. It only had been a matter of time when swindlers that often despised the rich began to take advantage of his humility.

Even now, Jung Su could never forgive himself for being oblivious to them all. His sister has been held as ransom, how virtueless they had been to further take advantage of her body and when he came, she had been left to die in a fire. The scar left upon his cheeks became a reminder of how he broke the family. As he woke up, his sister was gone and his parents never looked him in the eye. He was the disappointment. They banished him away to recuperate on his own under the care of his sole pastor to Jeonju. Instead, he met a woman, with all the beauty and love she ever gave him; he had fallen in love with her.

           Mr and Mrs Park never blamed him for anything however they always hoped for him to lead the company in the future. They noticed the change in him and closeness he shared only between his sibling and pastor. Wasn’t it their fault to never take a chance and confront his interests? They know that he will return someday but after spending years in surgery, their son undertook the responsibility of fighting in the army soon after. The years have drifted them apart but there had always been the routine to check up on him every few weeks, they watched after him, learned of his passion, his gratitude towards the Lee family and regarding his pure love with a blind woman. His parents had known everything about him.

“I am staying with the Lee’s until Dong Wook’s engagement,” he softly spoke. His mother nodded and respected how independent he preferred. She thought of all the trials he went through and how he would never forget his elders. “The woman, she is now his fiancé isn’t she?” Mrs Park asked, seeing his forlorn expression. She hugged him and kissed his cheeks as he teared.

“Why don’t you tell her that you love her, Jung Su?”

“I don’t have it in me, Mum- I can’t,” he sobbed. He immediately swallowed his cries and smiled for her. “I am fine, I am happy. Being here, with you and Dad and In Young. It is enough,” he nodded continuously to ascertain her concerns.

         That night itself, he went back to the mansion feeling more distressed than the moment he left it.