"Hello, dad," Ae Sook forced a smile as she placed Kai's arms down. Kai, taken aback, whipped his head to face her, seeing her face get paler than ever. Though she was pushing him away this time, he still went forward to interlock their fingers once more, but Ae Sook shrugged him away and he felt that burning sensation in the pit of his stomach once again, with his insides squeezing him and his head spinning.

Ae Sook didn't even take a moment to see his tear-stained face.

"Dad, welcome back," she let out, though Kai heard her struggling a bit just for those words to come out of . She was stuttering by now and he didn't even know why, but the moment he took a quick glance at him, he knew why she was a stuttering mess. Her dad shouldn't be glaring at her like at.

Glaring at him like that.

Feeling like it was the most embarrassing moment of his life, and thinking that it was just the perfect timing for Ae Sook's father to show up, Kai immediately wiped the tears away from his face and the evident frown that was plastered onto his face not a minute ago was instantly replaced with his megawatt smile, the kind of smile he'd give to Ae Sook - the kind he'd give to her mother.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Yoon," Kai walked his way to him and bowed, even offering his hand for a handshake, but a quick glance at him was what he got in return before Ae Sook's father swerved his way, away from Kai, to go to Ae Sook, his voice full of edge as he growled.

"Get in the car," he ordered her, and even before Kai could process and let a tiny bit of hurt get into his brain and his senses, he now looked back just to see Ae Sook being dragged away, her dad taking her by the arm. As Kai's eyes grew wide, he couldn't stand seeing her face contort in pain as she was being handled so roughly, open as she struggled to set her arm free from his tight grip, and she let out a horrified, "Father, what are you- Father, let go!"

Kai's color faded and he looked like a ghost as he was so pale, so dead, as his body couldn't move, as if he was built to stand there, like his feet were screwed into the ground, as if he was a robot, an emotionless robot - so useless, and just so dead. Everything seemed dead, and Kai felt like he was.

He was dead.

Ae Sook was getting dragged farther and farther away from him and that's when it completely dawned to him as he made his run for it; he was finally trying to stop him from dragging her away. His heart palpitated like the first time they made eye contact, like the first time he had kissed her - but this time, it was beating so fast because he was stopping her from being taken away from no other than the person who seemed like a challenge to him, who seemed to challenge him, who seemed to hate him - from a person who called himself as Ae Sook's father. Kai begged to differ.

While Kai was trying to pull her closer to him, her father just had to go the opposite direction, pulling her to him as well, as if they both needed her that much, as if they were fighting for her. But Kai didn't want any more tension to build up; he actually planned to go straight up to her father and tell him that he planned on spending his time and was willing enough to spend his time with his daughter, but not this way - he was going against him, going against his will, and Kai couldn't go against him any longer or else he'd really lose her.

But he had to.

Kai had to stop him, take her away from him because how could he stand her being taken away like that?

Ae Sook being taken away with her crying for him to stop?

How could Kai stand seeing that?

Ae Sook wasn't a prize, a medal, and he didn't want to win her over her dad because that would seem wrong, but he had to.

He had to.

"Ae Sook!" Kai screamed frantically, surprisingly, because all of him was being trapped inside his shell and now that he was really panic-stricken, he just had to scream. When he heard himself scream, he himself got scared because hell, what was happening? he said to himself. This time, he was swearing a lot and to hell with him trying to stop himself from swearing; this moment was oh so ty and he really needed a break. "Ae Sook!" he screamed once more, now gripping onto her other arm, but he lessened his grip once Ae Sook and her father stopped in their tracks. "Ae Sook," he said for the third time, now panting and catching his breath. The moment Ae Sook's father glared at him, he wanted the ground to swallow him up, and as he looked at Ae Sook's now bruised arm back to her face, he caught sight of her petrified expression, as if she wanted to be swallowed up by the ground, too. She looked like she wanted him to run away, escape, but he couldn't. Kai couldn't, and he didn't want to.

This was the first time he had ever caught glimpse of her f