“You can cry if you want,”

-Kang JiWoon

[BREAKING NEWS: LEE SAEHYUN MEETING WITH SEOUL SUPERWOMAN – THE SAGA CONTINUES]

[Reporter]: Ladies and gentleman, as of right now, I am standing in front of the café where Mr. Lee SaeHyun is said to be meeting with Miss Kim SooJin, our Seoul Superwoman. Our source said that Miss Kim is meeting with Mr. Lee SaeHyun to talk about the incident which had caused Mr. Kwon MooWon to end up in the hospital. Another source was saying that Mr. Lee wanted to meet with Miss Kim to ask about his daughter. However, none of this can be confirmed. Our source in the café told us that the meeting was looking quite intense. Mr. Kwon MinWoo and Miss Lee EunJae still remain to be seen at the scene and the outcome of this meeting still remains a mystery. We’ll update you with more news. That is all for now. Back to the studio.

29| Farewell

Once upon a time, I did the stupidest thing ever known to mankind. I kid you not; I think it might have gone down in history if I had told anyone about it but of course I didn’t tell anyone. Mind you, I only did the stupidest thing in the world but I was not the stupidest person in the world. That coveted title would always belong to my brother, that dumb. SungMin. Who can defeat his stupidity of answering “Only God knows” to every question in his final Math essay test? Yes, ladies and gentleman, SungMin is very stupid no doubt about it but even he didn’t do this stupid thing that I did.

So what did I do, you might ask.

This is what I did. During the winter 3 years ago, my hands were so cold that I thought that I might freeze to death and that was when I thought of the stupid idea.

I put my hands into a pot of boiling water.

I put my hands into the boiling super-hot water, thinking that I will feel more comfortable with the heat. The only things I ended up with were scalded hands and a bruised ego. When the doctor at the hospital where Appa had taken me to asked me why I did what I did, I had lamely answered that I didn’t know that the water was boiling.

“You didn’t notice that the water was boiling,” the doctor had pondered, “so you just decided to put both hands into the pot? What is that for?”

I think he already thought that I was the stupidest person on the planet. I simply could not let him think that. That should always be my brother, not me.

“I wanted to wash my hands,” was my curt reply. It was the only logical answer I could think of at the moment.

The doctor scratched his head. “Do you do this often?” he had asked, “Do you often wash your hands with the water in the pot in which your mother is making a stew with?”

I blinked.

I could the feel the fiery stare Umma was giving me. Sh.1t. What do I do? I remember thinking answering no would mean I was making it all up and answering yes would mean I would be tortured by Umma. I mean, do you think Umma will let me go once she found out that I washed my hands in her stew that she would serve to everyone in the household? However, I then decided that getting killed by Umma is far less damaging. You know, I could always call the Child Protection Service for protection should she decide to kill me even though I was not really a child anymore.

I was wrong.

I was dead wrong.

The moment I had answered ‘Yes’ to that question, I remember regretting my decision-- I had even prayed for a time machine.

We had turned the whole hospital upside down due to my answer. What happened was; I ran away because Umma had started to chase after me. Then, the doctor was chasing after us because he wanted to treat the burn on my hands and wanted me to get back into the procedure room. Then, the guards were chasing after us three because the doctor was chasing after us, thinking that we were patients on the run (technically they were right). When my father saw this, he started to join in the run so that he could ask for us to stop since it was causing too much of a scene (and he wanted to protect his good image in the village-- like he had a good image to begin with). When my dumba.ss brother SungMin saw us running - he being the stupid dumba.ss that he was- started to join in the run because he thought that it looked like fun to run around the hospital.

Yes, like I said, my brother is the stupidest person on the planet.

Due to this incident, we were known as the family who washed our hands in a pot of boiling water (they thought that we-- no, I-- did it voluntarily as a septic precaution) and was then possessed by the Hospital Ghost. And my Appa had never brought us back to the hospital again, no matter what ailments we were suffering.

So, even though I did the stupidest thing on the planet back then, I think asking for this meeting was on par with the stupidity level of heating my hands in a pot of boiling water.

I did not come prepared.

It was like going to a gunfight bringing only water gun to fight with the opponent. From the smug smile Lee SaeHyun was giving me, I think he also knew that I was not prepared.

“What do you want to talk to me about, Miss Kim?” the devil had spoken.

Okay, okay, calling him the devil might be a tad bit childish but he totally deserved it for causing Haraboji’s heart attack. I would never ever forgive him for that.

“I, uh, I want to know what did you say to Haraboji that caused him to collapse?” I was stuttering but tried to shrug it off by looking at him straight in the eye.

Don’t be afraid of him, SooJin. If he tries to do anything, just bite him. Think of him like a piece of meat. Don’t be afraid!

Lee SaeHyun raised an eyebrow, as though he did not know what I was talking about. “Would you like something to drink, Miss Kim?” he asked instead. “I can’t talk without my caffeine”.

He was dodging the question!

Before I could even answer, he raised his hand for the waiter and ordered two café lattes for us. When the waiter had put down the cups of coffees on the table, the tantalizing aroma of the coffee reached my nostril and I reached out to take a huge gulp.

Lee SaeHyun nodded-- probably he was appreciating our common affection for coffee. He too reached out to take the cup and took a small sip of the coffee before putting it down. He slightly fidgeted in his seat before clearing his throat.

“Do you know that I have a daughter, Miss Kim?” he asked instead of answering my question, “Her name is EunJae. In fact, she is my only child.”

I fought hard the urge to roll my eyes.  Whoever still refers to a 25 years old lady as a child, anyways?

“I know,” I said, fighting hard the urge to roll my eyes, “In case you have forgotten, I have met her before more than once.”

Lee SaeHyun looked surprise to hear that. “Really?” he inquired, “You met her other than the time when she went to your college? Where?”

“She came to Haraboji’s house. She also came to the park,” I said.

‘And left when she saw us kissing’ I wanted to add but decided against it. What good will it bring to give that kind of information to this devil anyway?

“Ah, I see,” Lee SaeHyun nodded, and reached out to sip his coffee again, “She probably went to beg for you to leave Mr. Kwon MinWoo.”

I blinked. How did he know that?

Aish, forget about his daughter. I did not have an ounce of care for her. All I wanted to do was to get justice for Haraboji.

“You still haven’t answered me,” I reminded him, “What did you say to Haraboji?”

“I did not say anything,” he shrugged, “I only told him the truth.”

Truth?

What kind of truth will bring a heart attack to an old man I wonder.

Unless it is a really out-of-this-world revelation—like SungMin is actually the world’s smartest person—that I think Haraboji would suffer from a heart attack. Other than that, I think his heart would do just fine.

“It’s the truth about you and MinWoo,” he continued, as if reading my mind, “I know that you two are not real.”

My mouth gaped open.

How in the world did the devil find out?!

Seeing that I was at loss for words, Lee SaeHyun flashed me a smug smile. “You know your wannabe rockstar ex housemate? I think her name is J. Blige. The one who threw you out?” he asked and I nodded glumly, “She was not that hard to buy. I only paid her a little and she had told me all about your pretend engagement with him. She even told me about your unique family members, namely your mother.”

Why that traitor goth-wannabe!!

Then it hit me. Does that mean that this devil—

“You mean you told Haraboji that MinWoo and I are not real?” I asked, secretly expecting him to say no to that question. To my horror, Lee SaeHyun nodded.

So I was actually the cause of Haraboji’s heart attack?

Suddenly I found it hard to even breathe.

“Why?” I asked, my voice quivering, “Why do you have to do that? Why do you have to be so cruel?”

“Cruel?!” he scoffed like he was mocking me for calling him that. A look of disgust was apparent on his grim face. “If anyone is cruel, it will be your dear Haraboji.”

I blinked. How dare he call sweet Haraboji the cruel one?!

“Your Haraboji, because he was the most powerful man in business, he treated me like a fool!” Lee SaeHyun continued, “He promised to strengthen my father’s company with marriage to his daughter when he knew that his daughter was in love with another man. Everything is business for him. When the whole thing did not get through, he abandoned the promise of helping my father’s company. We had to fend off for ourselves. All those angry shareholders when the marriage did not work out, the fallen stocks, the employees that we had to lay off. I thought that the company was going bankrupt,” his balled his fists tight as though he was about to smash the table before looking at me straight in the eye. “This is all because of your precious Haraboji, Miss Kim!”

“But—but--,” I tried to say but I could not find a word. I did not know what to think when I heard his side of the story; I did not know what to think when the bad guy did not turn up to be bad.

“That is why I hated your Haraboji so much, Miss Kim. I had to rebuild the company’s reputation to save my father’s hard work,” Lee SaeHyun said, “That’s why I had to get revenge for my father.”

“So you used your own daughter for revenge by asking her to seduce MinWoo?” I asked, “Even when you know that she has really fallen in love with him, you decided that revenge is still more important that your own daughter’s love life?” I shook my head. “Mr. Lee SaeHyun, you are not different from Haraboji.”

These two men were so messed up that I was wondering how in the world they could be in power of their respective companies.

Lee SaeHyun looked at me; something indescribable was in his eyes, as though he was hurt—or angered-- by my words.

“I love my daughter very much, Miss Kim,” he said after some time, his voice trembling like it was hard for him to talk, “That’s why I came back because I want her to come home.” He looked out of the window and massaged his forehead, “But I just didn’t have it in me to accept her being with Kwon MooWon’s grandson. I just hate him so much.”

“So that’s why you decided that the best revenge is to let him know about our fake engagement?” I asked. “Did it make you happy seeing Haraboji collapsed like that?”

There was no denying the anger that I felt. Maybe I was angry at myself more than the devil in front of me—angry because Haraboji had found out the truth from someone else before I could even confess.

Lee SaeHyun shook his head. “No, Miss Kim. I only wanted EunJae to come home to me,” he said, “When we met, I asked Kwon MooWon whether he knew where EunJae was and he didn’t want to tell me. Even when I begged for him to tell me, he didn’t budge. That’s why I decided to tell the truth about you and Kwon MinWoo. I wanted to bruise his huge ego.”

He leaned forward, resting his palms on the table and gave me a no-nonsense look.. “Believe me, Miss Kim. I didn’t expect for him to collapse,” he looked thoughtful, “I guess I underestimated his love for you. I just wanted to humiliate him, to let him know that his own precious grandson was lying to him.”

His love for you.

It felt weird to hear that from someone other than the Kwon family. My insides were churning; the guilt was eating me alive again.

“Miss Kim,” Lee SaeHyun called, breaking my train of thoughts, “If you meet EunJae, please ask her to meet me. I miss her so much.”

I heaved a deep sigh.

Sitting there in front of me was-- instead of the devil that I once thought he was-- a father who deeply misses and worries about his daughter.

I contemplated on the best way to resolve all this madness. I decided that for the benefits of all, I should do what any noble woman would do.

I will back off.

“Mr. Lee SaeHyun, EunJae truly loves MinWoo,” I said, fighting back the tears that had been flo