Byunghee took a deep breath after he stepped out of Mr. Oh's office in the hospital. He had just shown him the photo he had taken of Oh Sehun and Park Ara during their hug on the rooftop. Was it a good idea? Perhaps. The older male had reacted quite calmly, but Byunghee was sure that behind the cold expression lay shock and anger. Since Mr. Oh had requested Byunghee to send him the photo, the latter was quite sure, it would cause trouble. How much, he didn’t know. But right now that didn’t really matter because he had done everything he could. From now on, he would only watch. Watch and hopefully smirk in contentment at the result. 

-

Sehun gripped the steering wheel tightly, his body completely under tension. “How …?” Ara, sitting on the passenger seat, asked and she was just as tense as he. The two of them had immediately rushed out of the school, not bothering to inform any teachers at first. They were too shocked and worried to care about anything yet. Besides, two students from one class simultaneously reporting to be sick right after two others – Miyoung and Byunghee – had, would have been too suspicious.

“Probably Lee Byunghee. It can't be Miyoung; she fainted and she said that she really wouldn’t interfere anymore,” Sehun muttered, stepping on the gas. “Whatever. We need to get to my father soon. Having seen the photo, he probably already has a hunch. And he's impatient, so any more second with me not explaining will have bad consequences.”

He still sounded quite composed, much to Ara's surprise. And he himself was just as surprised. But then again, he had thought about the confrontation with his parents so much the last night that he felt as if he wasn’t all too unprepared. His plan, however, was now useless. Not wanting to contact his father before they'd meet in person, he called his driver, who was an assistant to him as well, to find out where his father was at the moment.

“At home?” Sehun spoke via Bluetooth. “Okay.” He then rounded the corner.

“He and my mother are both at home.” He breathed in deeply, his gaze focused on the street. “Since they have already seen the photo, I might as well tell them everything. I had wanted to, anyway. But my intention was to do it slowly. With that photo, though, slow is no option anymore.”

Ara gulped at what he said. Telling them everything. In her opinion, there was no other option anyway. It might be a big obstacle, but then again lying and running away had never been an option in Ara's life. She would face his parents, no matter what.

Not much later they arrived at the Oh mansion, which looked really prestigious, but Ara had no time nor the nerves to be awed by a building at the moment. She and Sehun quickly made their way inside. They walked past a few maids, but Sehun seemed to immersed in his thoughts to care about anything besides meeting his parents. And Ara was no different. Her mind was focused on gathering strength. No matter what, she would have to stand in front of them. She had to prepare herself for the worst. And for that she needed to be as confident as possible. No matter how intimidating their gazes, questions, statements would be, Ara would have to ooze with confidence. If there was one thing she had learned in the prestigious school she had always loathed so much, then it was no doubt that facing the elite could only be done with one thing: confidence. Giving in was no option. However, she really wondered, if she could be confident again in front of Sehun's father and now even his mother. She had a hunch that it was going to be utterly hard. Maybe even a tad too hard …

As the two entered his father's office after Sehun knocked, they were met with two people standing in the room. One was Sehun's father, whom Ara had once seen already. The other one was a relatively tall woman, her beauty still radiating despite her age. Both had one thing in common: authority in their eyes. Although Mr. Oh's gaze was much more intimidating, Mrs. Oh's had a little arrogant touch. Maybe it was her cold, beautiful features and her confidence, but she did look a tad arrogant.

All that reminded Ara that she couldn’t back off and so she lifted her chin and maintained eye-contact with the woman as she stepped inside. Although it was hard, she tried stare back as coldly as she was stared at. From the corner of her eye she saw Sehun's father already opening his mouth to say something, but Mrs. Oh was quicker.

“Oh Sehun!” The woman called out, her voice high but her tone firm. “It's this girl you're … hugging on the photo, isn’t she?” She continued, eying Ara from head to toe, as she literally spat the words. “Bad posture, disheveled hair,” she commented on the side before her gaze shot back to her son. Now her eyes were filling themselves with a kind of scolding worry. “Do you know how much you broke your poor mother's heart with that photo? My precious son hugging some girl.” Her voice was suddenly soft as she placed her right hand on her chest.

Sehun wanted to roll his eyes – his mother acting like this; he had seen it all too often. “Mom, let me–”

“No, Sehunnie, I want you to listen to your mother first. Doing something like this. Do you know how much my trust in you suffers from that–“

“Enough,” a deep voice interrupted – Mr. Oh's – and all heads turned to him. He had a kind of strict and authoritarian tone that one couldn’t help but listen. “It doesn’t matter whether you did something like that or not. I demand an explanation right now.”

Ara gulped at the finality in his tone and she unwillingly averted her gaze, letting it wander around the office. The atmosphere in the room was utterly uncomfortable, the tension so thick that it was almost tangible. Ara found it hard to keep her chin lifted. In fact, anybody would want to lower the gaze in this very moment.

“You want an explanation, Father?” Sehun said, and Ara could hear a clear difference between his tone when he spoke to his mother and when he spoke to his father. It was more distanced, but more reverent at the same time.

Mr. Oh didn’t answer, only nodded his head barely noticeably. Ara's gaze hushed to Sehun and she immediately noticed how stiff he was. She bit her lower lip, feeling bad that she couldn’t do anything to help him right now. Internally, she was wondering what he would say first. Would he really spill everything?

“The explanation is that she is my girlfriend.”

Ara's eyes widened mildly, but she remained composed. So, that was what he meant by saying everything. He didn’t bother to beat around the bush. However, the way he said it, Ara liked it. His voice had been loud, his tone clear and determined. Unwavering.

Whereas Mrs. Oh stared at her son with unbelieving eyes, Mr. Oh's expression didn’t seem to have changed. Maybe a little blink, but that was all.

“Oh Sehun! How dare you …? I-I thought you w-weren't like your brother! D-Dating … I would have let you date Miyoung, I even wanted you to, but you chose a girl like her?” Mrs. Oh, still shocked, stuttered and threw Ara a gaze as she remembered all the bad experience with her oldest son, whose fights with her mostly came from all the relationships with females he had. She shook her head. She had to stop thinking about that, or she might have a mental break down. Her eldest son's disappearance had caused her so much stress and even depression.

“Mom, I'm no where near Hyung in this area. Don’t make up things,” Sehun gave back, narrowing his eyes.

This time it was Mr. Oh who spoke, “It doesn’t matter. But I don’t want you to date anyone right now. I have plans with the Lee pharmacy line and their daughter.

“Father, on this I have something to say,” Sehun locked gazes with his father, “You yourself have told me that one cannot get all one desires because life is just like that. And I have understood that by now.”

Mr. Oh only nodded his head.

“I have realized that I cannot run away from my responsibilities and the burden lying on me. I cannot exactly have life flow the way I want. But I have accepted it. I have accepted the way you chose for me. The career. I am willing to take over the hospital, and I will work hard to live up to the title of being the CEO of the hospital,” Sehun said loudly and his voice was filled with a kind of determination that Mr. Oh couldn’t remember to have heard before.

The way his son was staring at him showed him that he wasn’t just a boy anymore. He had grown into a man. The corner of his lips twitched a tiny little bit as he nodded again, this time looking satisfied to hear such words from his son, who had always been so unmotivated and unwilling.

However,