She let Taecyon pat her back awkwardly as she wept; her tears rolled down her cheeks into the palms of her hands. 

She just couldn't take it. The pain, the hate, the sorrow, the anger, the resentment,...They were all too much, and she felt like if she didn't blindly blame someone she would explode. 

If only things were different. If only her Grandfather knew what she would go through as he prepared his last words. If only she didn't flatter herself with high hopes. If only the prospect of a future with Choi Sehunghyun didn't affect her that much.

She stared through the black veil that covered her face as the casket was lowered into the ground. She could still pictured his wrinkled old face smiling peacefully as if he was just drifting into a deep slumber and not descending into oblivion. She threw the rose on her hand onto the casket, and muttered a silent goodbye while she blinked back her tears.

When the ceremony was over, she turned and slowly walked away. Yet another dear person left her side, and she had never felt so desolate as she looked at the open blue sky. 

"Are you Park Bom?" She heard a voice, and turned to find a middle-aged woman looking at her. The woman was sophisticated-looking, and her sharp gaze made Bom anxious. 

"Yes." She answered politely, raking her brain to identify to woman to no avail. "Can I help you?"

"I believe you can." The woman pursed her lips in a disdainful manner, and she motioned for Bom to follow. Although curious and uncertain, she went along. 

A while later, she stepped out of the expensive car and marveled at the scene that unfolded in front of her. A mansion! It was grand and elegant, and it was everything that she could only dream of. The woman beckoned her inside, and she couldn't but feel self-conscious when the woman motioned for her to sit down in the beautiful living room.

The woman held out her hand, and a man standing nearby handed her a manila folder. Opening it, the woman held it towards her.

"You know this man, don't you?"

It was a photograph of grandfather. "Grandfather..." She uttered, to find the woman's face crinkled in displeasure.

"How shameless." The woman commented, sipping a cup of tea. "But then again I guess your mother never told you."

At the mention of her mother, Bom looked up. The woman held a disdainful expression, as if she couldn't tolerate her presence. 

"Told me what?"

"That she's your Grandfather's illegitimate child."

It was as if lightning struck, and her ears were feeling the vibrations of the aftermath. dropped, but no words formed. Her eyes blinked repeatedly, to assure herself that she didn't fall into a hallucination. 

"What?"

"It's the truth, unfortunate as it is." The woman stood up and crossed her arms. "Your Grandafather-my father-had your mother out of wedlock. He sent her away in shame, and it wasn't until she collapsed that he started taking care of you."

She tried to recall the day her mother collapsed, and how Grandfather suddenly bursted into the room with his worried expression. He introduced himself as the caretaker and that her mother entrusted her with him. She didn't really think about it much until the answer laid before her at that moment. Turned out the affectionate term "Grandfather" that she used to call him was ironic. 

Her fingers reached for the document inside the file. There were two photographs inside, one of her and one of a man she didn't recognize.

"That's Choi Sehunghyun." The woman leaned against the couch, her tone sharp and degrading. "My son."

"What does he have to do with this?" She questioned, looking at Choi Seunghyun for the first time. His eyes drew her the most; there was a playful yet gentle spark in them that comforted her.

As much as she didn't want to admit, he captured a little part of her heart at that moment.

The woman suddenly chuckled, and held out her hand as the man in the room handed her another folder. She put it in front of Bom, and everything started when the woman spoke again.

"Let's make a deal, shall we?"

------------------------------------------------

He wanted answers. And he wanted them now.

Never in his life had he feel so strongly and in doubt. Never in his life had he encounter this feeling of uncertainty, as if everything he knew would disappear in a blink of an eye to be replaced by reality. Never in his life had he feel like he was in the dark from his own family.

His mother definitely knew things. But of course she didn't say a word. Sometimes he thought that the woman was intimidating. There was a cold aura that was as uninviting as it was mysterious. 

If he wanted to find he answers he wanted, he was going to have to start with her.

He just couldn't ask her what the hell was going on, because he was sure he would never talk. He debated his options, and considered going back to the woman up in the hills to interrogate. But with her state, he doubted that the woman would say anything either.

Guilt