Cheon Soo Kyung was sitting on his front porch holding an unlit cigarette when his wife came home an hour before dinner time. His face was unreadable, but Park Gwi Ja had been married to this man long enough to know that something was in his mind because despite having stopped smoking for more than two decades ago, he still felt the need to hold a cigarette whenever he was troubled. This was the second time this week he’d done this; the first time was after he’d learned about Ji Hyo’s problems with Baek Chang Joo.

Gwi Ja was immediately alert. She put all her shopping bags down and sat next to her husband, not bothering to go inside first. “What’s wrong?”

“Why do you think something is wrong? Can’t a man sit on his own porch in peace?” She gave him a look. “Your daughter.”

“Seong Im? What else now?” Gwi Ja moved to stand up to check on her daughter. “Did she leave? I told you that taking away her phone was over the top—she’s not a child anymore. You just wouldn’t listen.”

“Yah, you’re always jumping to conclusions! Who’s not listening now?” Soo Kyung seized his wife by the arm and told her to sit back down.

“So she’s still here?”

Soo Kyung nodded towards the house. “She’s been holing up in her room since Kim Jong Kook left this afternoon.”

“Kim Jong Kook?” She was surprised. “What did he come here for? How did he know Seong Im is here?”

He sighed tiredly as Gwi Ja bombarded him with questions, staring at the cigarette in his hand—suddenly wishing that he was still a smoker; the smoke and smell of tobacco would perhaps help him think clearly. Soo Kyung relayed the events from earlier this afternoon, stopping here and there because his wife would throw comments and questions at him. “I think Kim Jong Kook has a feeling for our daughter,” he ended his story.

“You think so?” Gwi Ja scoffed. Typical men. “I know so.”

“Oh?”

She rolled her eyes at him, swatting his arm. “How are men so daft? Even a blind woman can see that he is in love with Seong Im—no man would do that much for a woman unless he loves that woman. And from what Seong Im told you—and by proxy, me—there is no doubt about it.”

“I don’t think Seong Im know this,” Soo Kyung pointed out flatly.

Again, Gwi Ja throw him an and-your-point-is? look. “Your daughter is stupid,” she deadpanned before affectionately adding, “Often too stupid for her own good.” Her face fell when she remembered about Baek Chang Joo. “And she’s scared.”

“Ah… that,” Soo Kyung huffed. “I’ve asked around. That man is a piece of work—a small fish who thinks too highly of himself.” He threw his cigarette onto the grass and crushed it with the heel of his foot.

“You said Seong Im told you about his connection to some mafias. What connections does he have? Is he really capable of hurting her?”

“What mafia? He’s just a thug with smaller thugs at his disposal. The punk is taking advantage of Seong Im innocence to trick her into believing that he can do what he said he could.”

Park Gwi Ja wasn’t convinced. “Seong Im is really scared of him.”

“She needn’t have to be. He’s got nothing on her. I contacted a lawyer to go through her contract with the company to see what we can do about it.”

“Did she know that?”

“Of course not! Do you think I’m that stupid?”

The answer made Gwi Ja smile. No matter how hard Cheon Soo Kyung tried to show that he was an authoritarian father, she knew that beneath all that hard exterior he was wrapped around his daughters’ fingers—especially Ji Hyo’s. Their firstborn was the apple of his eyes and he wouldn’t do anything that would make her angry. “You’re very protective of her, you know?”

“How can I not, when she doesn’t seem to be able to protect herself and seems to be eager to shun the protection other people offer her?”

“You mean Kim Jong Kook.” It was a statement.

Soo Kyung nodded. “Yes,” he confirmed, “I mean Kim Jong Kook.”

***

When in doubt, go work yourself out till you saw double—that was one of Jong Kook’s mottos in life. And so that was what he did after leaving Ji Hyo’s house. He drove to the gym he frequented and started to work out.

It felt surreal, the conversation he’d had with Ji Hyo’s father, and as he was running on the treadmill, his mind wandered, recalling everything.

…

“Abonim, it was a misunderstanding. I wasn’t…” Jong Kook stopped talking immediately Ji Hyo’s father raised his forefinger at him, effectively silencing him. He waited until the older man closed the door to the study and sat down when gestured to. He was nervous—what did this man want to talk to him about? Did he think that Jong Kook was hurting his daughter? Was he going to throw Jong Kook out of their house and ban him from seeing Ji Hyo again? What could Jong Kook say to save the situation?

Whatever it was Jong Kook thought Ji Hyo’s father would do, bowing deeply at him was not one of them. Jong Kook sprang to his feet, startled that the older man would do such a thing. “Abonim!” He reached out and grabbed Soo Kyung’s elbow before the man got a chance to get on his knees. “Why suddenly…? Don’t do that!”

“I want to apologize on my daughter’s behalf,” Soo Kyung said, still trying to get on his knees. “Kim Jong Kook-ssi, it’s been hard on you.”

Jong Kook blushed; he insisted that it was he who should be apologizing for making things worse for Ji Hyo and not the other way around. He didn’t know how much Cheon Soo Kyung knew about what had happened, but judging from this reaction, probably Ji Hyo glossed over a lot of his stupidity.

It took Jong Kook a couple of minutes before Soo Kyung relented. Both of them forewent the chairs and sat cross-legged on the floor instead.

“Abonim,” Jong Kook started, “How much… do you know?”

“Huh?”

“About us—I mean, me and Ji...Seong Im?”

“Enough to know that you were there for her when I wasn’t,” he said. The older man sighed, looking at the ceiling contemplatively. For some time, he didn’t speak as he was trying to control his emotions. “Thank you, Jong Kook-ssi.”

Jong Kook swallowed hard. He didn’t deserve it—the deep gratitude conveyed by Soo Kyung. He was the one who created this mess; he deserved to be beaten black and blue instead of being thanked like this. He frowned when Soo Kyung chuckled.

“You spoke like a Joseon era’s guard who failed his duty,” the older man said, amused. “If anyone deserved to be beaten, it would be me. What kind of father I am—oblivious that his daughter is in trouble?” He cracked his knuckles as he thought about it. “I guess those people weren’t kidding when they said my daughter was such a good actress. She’s fooled even her own family.”

“She didn’t mean to lie to you. She just didn’t want you to worry about her.”

Soo Kyung raised his eyebrows that Jong Kook’s immediate response was to back Ji Hyo up. This man was something else, Soo Kyung thought. “Do you know about Baek Chang Joo?”

The mention of the name brought Jong Kook’s blood to a boil. “That bast—… ah! Sorry.”

“Aish, no need to censor yourself like that.” Soo Kyung dismissed the apology. “What do you think of him?”

“He’s a coward,” Jong Kook hissed. “I’d love to introduce him to my fist if only Ji Hyo would let me. And if only it wouldn’t make her feel guiltier.”

“Do you think he’s really capable of hurting her? Hurting the both of you?” Soo Kyung let the slip of Ji Hyo’s stage name slide.

“Frankly speaking? No. I’m sorry to say this, but I think he’s been bluffing all this time about what he’d do to us if Ji Hyo—I mean, Seong Im—didn’t do what he wanted. Our relationship has been going on for some time, and the only time he allegedly did something was with the prop lamp on the set. If he was that powerful, he’d done worse than that. Of course, not that I want it to happen.” Jong Kook looked at Soo Kyung in the eyes. “I think the only problem here is that he managed to scare Seong Im enough to believe that he’s out to get her. But again, that’s what I think.”

“I actually agree with you. What? Don’t look so surprised, Jong Kook-ssi. Do you think I haven’t done my homework? Right now I’m pursuing a legal path to terminate her contract with his company. That way he won’t have that much power over her or her career anymore.”

“Can it be done?”

“Let’s hope so. For her sake.” Soo Kyung took Jong Kook’s hand in his. “For both of your sakes.”

…

“Hyung, you’re going to kill yourself if you go on.”

Jong Kook was breathing hard on the treadmill, which had started to slow down before stopping completely. “Huh?”

HaHa was standing next to him; his hand was still holding the emergency brake of Jong Kook’s treadmill. “You need to stop.”

Shakily, Jong Kook stepped down. He accepted the bottle of water HaHa brought for him and chugged the water in big gulps, only now feeling how dry his mouth and throat had been. “I needed to think.”

“Then think, not run yourself to death,” HaHa commented dryly. He grabbed a towel and threw it over Jong Kook’s shoulders to keep him warm as the man he’d considered his brother sagged to the floor next to the treadmill. “What happened? Did you fight again with Ji Hyo?” When Jong Kook didn’t answer, he tried again. “Where is she, anyway? She’s been ignoring my messages. I mean, seriously, that woman—her problem is with you, not with the rest of us.”

“Why don’t you shut up?” Jong Kook snapped. He closed his eyes and leaned back, resting his head on the side of the treadmill.  

HaHa grumbled under his breath but stopped talking for a while. He sat next to Jong Kook and waited for the muscular man to start speaking again. When he didn’t, HaHa counted to ten and started formulating the question he’d been wanting to ask for a while now. “Hyung,” he began hesitantly. Jong Kook cracked an eye open. “Look, you’re going to kill me for this, but I’ve been dying to ask you this: is this really worth it? All this trouble for Ji Hyo—is she worth it?”

Jong Kook opened his eyes and looked straight into HaHa’s eyes. “I wouldn’t trade her for the world.”

A/N: I like it slow, and I wouldn't trade my story pace for anything in the world.