The 4 of them stood frozen in the room. Each one of them a bit confused on what to do, how to react at the moment.

‘Step mother?’ Eun Hye thought as she stared at the woman behind her father.

Then her eyes landed on her father, the man that brought her up with her mother, her real mother, not this ty thing in the room.

“When?” Eun Hye asked, trying to push down the hatred boiling in her chest.

“When what sweetheart?” Her father answered, his voice was sweet and soft as if that would suppress the anger that he knew his daughter was feeling.

“When did you get married? When I was away?” Eun Hye asked, though her voice is not getting any softer.

Hearing his wife’s voice start to rise, Seung Hyun stood up from his seat; knowing that if he did nothing than a less than pretty fight would break out.

“We should sit first before talking, please father sit.” Seung Hyun ushered his father in law who nodded thankfully and sat down at the table, his new wife right beside him.

“Jagi… kaja.” Seung Hyun said quietly in his wife’s ear, tugging her hand to pull her to the seat beside him.

Eun Hye did so, but she was not done, her questions haven’t been answered yet.

“Father, answer me.” Eun Hye said to her father, the man she loves the most in the world.

Her father turned to her and gave her a small smile. “Patience dear, let’s eat first before discussing… matters.”

Eun Hye took a deep breath, pushing down the urge to yell at her father.

Seung Hyun seeing his wife’s reaction to things slipped his hands to her lap, entangling their hands together.

Eun Hye looked at him and Seung Hyun shot a small, barely noticeable smile at her who gave a sad smile in return before facing the food that has been placed on the table in front of her.

He knew why his wife was so hurt, why she was being so mad at her own father. Sure, their stories were different but Seung Hyun could relate to Eun Hye about losing a mother.

Well, he could imagine it anyway… he never really felt like he ever had a mother in the first place.

Seung Hyun saw it though. He saw his wife still mourning over her mother’s death that happened exactly a decade ago…

It was May 15^th, Eun Hye’s mother’s death anniversary. Seung Hyun had just begun to uncover things about his girlfriend and he was sad to find out just how sad Eun Hye is about her dead mother.

Sure, Seung Hyun last saw his mother at the age of 19 but at least that’s 4 more years he had with his mother than Eun Hye had with hers.

After the empty appetizer plates were carried out the main course was finally laid in front of the 4 people; a large plate of what looks like snails, a big pot of boiling beef stew, and another bowl of red rice.

‘What is he trying to do?’ Eun Hye mentally spat at her father seeing the familiar dishes that brought so many memories of her mother in front of her.

Eun Hye remembered these dishes. They were her mother’s specialties.

Despite the fact that their family had a private chef in the kitchen, Eun Hye could still remember seeing her mother in the kitchen, cooking these exact dishes like a pro. She was truly the best mother in the world, Eun Hye thought.

“Eun Hye, try these. I specifically asked Chef Lee cook them… like Eun Ah did.” Her father said a tinge of sadness as he said the name of his deceased wife.

Eun Hye merely nodded. She didn’t know how to respond, she didn’t want to respond. She’s afraid that she’ll break down if she did.

“How’s business father?” Seunghyun asked, trying to create small talk, away from the sensitive subjects of mothers.

“Oh, everything is doing fine.” Mr. Lee responded with a smile in relief at the small talk his son in law is making. “Sales are high this time of year, thank god.”

‘Father, you should thank god that I haven’t punched you in the face by now.’ Eun Hye thought bitterly as she quietly stuffed spoonfuls of red rice into .

Suddenly Eun Hye shivered. She didn’t know why, she didn’t know how but she felt all the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she felt she was surrounded by a dark aura.

Eun Hye looked up to find Mi Sook looking at her; a smile was on her pretty (yet old) face though the smile had no sign of friendliness what so ever.

‘Something’s not right,’ Eun Hye thought as Mi Sook nodded in her way before continuing to eat. ‘Something’s not right about her.’

“Eun Hye dear, I heard that you’re a fashion designer.” Mi Sook said after a while, catching the attention of Eun Hye who was busy playing with her unappetizing dessert.

Eun Hye looked up at Mi Sook who was looking at her curiously and at her father who was silently begging her to answer. She sent a cold look towards both of them.

“Yes,” Eun Hye finally said. “I work at my mother’s boutique.”

Mi Sook nodded in understanding and smiled. “You know, I run my own line of women’s clothing in Paris; I saw your designs dear, I would love it if you would come and work for me.”

Eun Hye scoffed loudly. “No thank you, I’d like to keep my mother’s memory alive through her line.” She answered, glancing sideways at her father who looked frozen in his seat.

“Jagiya…” Seunghyun whispered, trying to calm his wife who had just reached her limits on being in the same room with… them.

She stood up abruptly, surprising the other 3 people sitting at the table.

“I’m tired, I have work tomorrow,” Eun Hye said emotionlessly flinging her bag around her shoulder, walking away without another word.

Mi Sook just sat there, not totally surprised by Eun Hye’s actions…

Seunghyun bowed to her father and new mother in law before chasing after his wife…

Eun Hye’s father on the other hand was looking down at his lap, his fists curled, his anger reached his limit. He did not raise Eun Hye to be like this…

He stood up and ran to catch up to his daughter who was already near the front door.

“Yoon Eun Hye, you stop right there.” Mr. Yoon commanded his daughter in his tough voice, a total 180 from his usual tone of voice.

Eun Hye stopped in her tracks, only hearing that voice once before from her father. But despite it being the only 2^nd time she heard that voice, she knew what it meant: he was mad.

Sadly Eun Hye didn’t care. She was too angry to care.

“What is it father?” Eun Hye asked her father rather rudely.

“Why are you acting this way?” Her father asked firmly. “This is not you Eun Hye.”

Eun Hye looked at her father through her now tear filled eyes.

“How could you this?” She asked her voice much quieter, much sadder too.

Mr. Lee looked at his daughter, his heart breaking as he finally realized the topic of their argument have come too.

“How could you try to replace mom? HOW COULD YOU?” Eun Hye yelled out, streams of tears trailing down her beautiful face.

“E-Eun Hye, I’m not trying too…”

“NOT TRYING TO WHAT? ERASE HER?” Eun Hye yelled out again, not letting her father speak.

The room was silent, only the sound of their heavy breathing was heard.

“Eun Hye… please listen…”

“No dad,” Eun Hye said sternly, looking down at her feet. “You could’ve talked to me, you could’ve just told me and everything would be fine. But no, you just went through with this without me…”

“Please Eun Hye…” Her father begged this time, his chest tightening up seeing his daughter look so sad.

“I-I need time.” That was all Eun Hye said before giving a slight head bow to her dead, turning around and leaving.

Seunghyun stood there near the open door his wife just walked through, frozen, not knowing what to do anymore.

“Seunghyun,” Mr. Lee said, as he wiped the small tears from his eyes.

“Yes, father?” Seunghyun asked.

Mr. Lee smiled and gave his son in law a pat on the shoulder. “Go after her, make sure she’s ok.”

Seunghyun nodded. “I’ll call you when she calms down.”

Mr. Lee gave Seunghyun a small smile and nodded, urging the boy to go ahead and accompany his wife.

He watched Seunghyun chase after Eun Hye and smiled. To be honest he wasn’t a hundred percent sure of Seunghyun at first. He thought that he was a bit much for his beloved Eun Hye but he was wrong, Seunghyun was just right for her, his one and only daughter.

Back in the car Eun Hye was pulling on the handles furiously, as if by pulling harder she’ll be able to open the locked car door.

“Baby…” Seunghyun said as he approached his frustrated wife closer.

Eun Hye stopped trying to pull open the door and just stood there, crying.

Knowing that Eun Hye had stopped her violent stage of anger, Seunghyun moved closer and wrapped his arms around his wife’s small waist before kissing her on the cheek.

“Everything’s gonna be alright… It’s ok…” he cooed in her ear knowing that the action would calm her down.

Eun Hye turned around and hugged Seunghyun, burying her head in his chest, crying her heart out not caring that she’s getting her tears all over his thousand dollar dress shirt.

Nevertheless Seunghyun hugged her back, wrapping his arms more securely around his fragile lover.

“You ok babe?” Seunghyun whispered after a while of letting his wife cry on his shirt.

Eun Hye nodded and wiped her tear stained face. Her eyes landed on his husband’s shirt and frowned.

She touched the stain and looked up at Seunghyun. “Mianhae...” she said but her apology wasn’t only for her husband’s mess of a shirt but for… well everything.

Seunghyun smiled seeing the normal sweet Eun Hye back and pecked her lips. “It’s ok, c’mon, let’s go home, hm?”

The couple boarded their car and drove out of the elite mansion and into the streets of Seoul. Eun Hye looked out of her window and wondered: why is this suddenly happening?

It felt just like yesterday that the happiest moment of her life, her marriage happened. But why now? Why after she finally found happiness that this Mi Sook person appeared? Was this just a small problem or was it gonna get bigger?

She sighed, silently calling out to her deceased mother to watch over her over this time having a bad feeling about her life ahead.

Sorry for the late update... I will start updating more normally in May ^^