She was waking up in the middle of the night and getting off from her bed. Hugging her doll, she went out from her room and walked to her mom’s room. Thinking that her mom was in her room as the door was slightly opened, she pushed the door wider. But her smile quickly dropped as she saw that the room was empty. Where is mommy, she thought then walked on the corridor and headed downstairs, thinking that her mom might be in the kitchen.

When she arrived on the lower level, she heard people talking behind the door on the left side of the stairs. It was her father’s workshop. Out of her curiosity, she went to the door. It was slightly opened. So she could take a peek.

There were some people there along with her mother. As she could see, there were two men in suit, an old lady with glasses who sat on a single sofa and a younger one with neat and classy hair style. Both of the ladies seemed to be in control. She could feel their intimidating aura even though she was just a kid.

The old lady waved her hand and the man on her right took out a brown envelope; he put it down on the table surface in front of her mother. Then the old lady talked something about going out of the country. Her mother pushed the envelope back to the old lady, apologizing and telling her that she couldn’t comply. The younger lady seemed to be angry after hearing what her mother had said. She shot up from her seat and slapped her mother so hard, saying that her mother was a shameless woman who had taken her husband away. Her mother explained that she couldn’t separate him from his daughter. But it seemed that what she said had made the younger lady angrier. The younger lady grabbed her mother’s hair and slapped her again, yelling at her and calling her in inappropriate words. And another slap came after another slap.

To see her mother was being beaten, she could only tremble in fear. She might be young. But she knew that started from that moment, her life would be so hard. The days after were like a living hell for her and her mother. They were forced to leave the country against their will because someone had put a ban to her and her mother for entering the country. Her mother’s family was also kicking them out in the middle of the harsh winter, leaving them to live on the street like beggars.

And the moment when she was dragging across the airport, being pushed out of her grandparent’s house or being beaten because she was accused of stealing bread, those moments were always haunting her as nightmares. It was better when she grew older. But now, those moments of her childhood were coming back again to her on her sleep, causing her to wake up in the middle of the night; jolting up to sit with cold sweats on her face and her breathe was panting.

Ling looked around and realized that she was on her bed. She buried her face on her palms and heaved in relief. Those nightmares seemed to return again ever since she had met the person that she feared the most.

That time, she was lucky that Luhan arrived with his car before anything could happen. Ling bowed to the woman, excusing herself then entered the car. Luhan had asked her who the lady was, in which Ling had answered that she was just an old acquaintance; she couldn’t tell him who the woman really was. She didn’t want Luhan to know who she really was. She was worried about how he would think of her if he knew and if he would behave differently.

Then, a sound of her phone ringing surprised her.

Ling turned to her bed’s table side where she put her phone. It was in the middle of the night. So who was calling her? She took the phone and saw the name.

Kim Joonmyeon calling…

Somehow, a wave of relief washed over her upon seeing the name. She slid her thumb across the glossy surface and pressed the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Oh, I thought you won’t pick up since it’s already late there. I didn’t wake you up, did I?” A familiar gentle voice came up from the other side, bringing a smile on her face. Somehow, his voice had washed away all of her worries, comforting her in the strangest way.

Ah, right. Suho was in Thailand for a business trip. He couldn’t avoid this one since he would need to see the company there and decided whether Wu Enterprise would buy it or not. It was a major decision so he would need to go.

“No. I just happened to wake up. How’s the company there? Is it good?”

A heave was heard. “I don’t know. I’m still reviewing their reports. You know how expensive this company is, right? If I make a wrong decision, we can lose so much.” Ling chuckled slightly. Her business education background had made her understand the matter perfectly. “Yes, I understand.” “So tell me how your day is today?”

It was a cue for Ling to tell her day. There was actually nothing much to tell him since her day was revolved between office and home but Sehun took her out for lunch today out of his habit. It was kinda weird for her since Sehun seemed to be keeping his distance with her. Luhan ended up to come along with them; Chanyeol and Baekhyun tagged along afterward. As he chuckled and replied her, she could hear a hint of relief on his voice. Perhaps, he felt relief to know that his friend could become close with her now.

“Ling,” he stopped her speech. “Yes?” “I miss you.”

Something melted inside her heart to hear it. She missed him too. A day of being apart from him was kinda hard for her; she has used to see him around her every day. And she didn’t know how she would spend the next four days without him. Right, Suho would be spending a week in Thailand and there was nothing that she could do to bring him back from his business trip.

“Me too, Joonmyeon.”

On the next following day, Ling worked a usual. Because Suho was currently away, Luhan took over some of his job. So Ling was going back and fro to his place for some urgent matters and delivering some documents. She also went to meet a client to seal a deal because Suho told her to. But when she went to her car, a black sedan stopped in front of her. Then, a man stepped out from the car and came to her side.

“Miss Yoori,” he said in polite yet stern manner.

To hear the man calling her by her real name, Ling could only guess one thing; that Madam Park had finally come to see her. Due to her fear, she turned and wanted to go away. But the man quickly grabbed her arm and brought her back to face the car. The tinted window of the back seat rolled down and revealed a woman who sat there. Just as Ling had thought; it was Madam Park, her father’s wife. She was wearing a sunglasses. But Ling could still feel her hateful gaze.

Madam Park scoffed cynically. “I don’t know how Li Fei had taught you. But I guess, she never teach you how to respect your elders.” She paused for a moment. “Get her into the car.”

The man pulled Ling to the other side and opened the door before pushing her in. The door closed behind her. With Madam Park in front of her and the guarded door behind her, she had nowhere to escape. Ling lifted her gaze to see the woman. She saw her glaring down at her. Ling gasped inwardly and quickly dropped her gaze.

“It seems that you have done well in Wu Enterprise.”

Ling gulped and softly bit her lower lip to hear the speech. The woman’s voice was full of hate and cold, making her fear grew. Then she saw her opening her bag and took out an envelope then handed it to Ling. “Take it and leave the country,” she said sternly.

Ling only looked at the envelope. Somehow, the memory of seeing her mother beaten up was coming back to her mind.

Seeing the girl didn’t take the envelope, Madam Park turned to see her. “Is it not enough for you?” she asked then scoffed cynically again. “Li Fei is really shameless, right? Teaching her daughter to be haughty in front of money.” She took out another pack of money and handed them all to Ling. “There. I give you more than I have ever given to your mother.”

Ling looked at the money. Grabbing tightly onto her folder, she raised her gaze to the woman. “I-I’m so sorry. I can’t take your money. I have never wanted them.”

It seemed that Ling’s reply had made her angry. She threw the money to Ling, causing the girl to flinch in fear and to protect herself. “Then what do you want, huh?” She raised her voice at her. “Coming back to Seoul after all of these years. Do you want to re-claim your place in our family? Don’t ever dream to do it. An illegitimate child like you have no right within our family—“

“I don’t come to Seoul for claiming my right,” Ling interjected her. “I-I came here only to support my good friend with his work.” She dropped her gaze. “I don’t have the thought of appearing in front of you or your family. Not even once.”

“And you expect me to believe in you?”

Ling bit down her lower lip to hear the remark.

“You have dared to come back. How can you ensure me that you will never be showing up in front of our family?” The older woman’s voice rose again. “Leave this country immediately.”

“I can’t,” she said. She had reasons not to leave.

The woman grabbed her arm tightly, making her flinch in pain. “Leave. This. Country.” She repeated her words in threatening tone. “I will give you enough amount of money to start your life somewhere else. I also will give you an airplane ticket to wherever you want. But just leave this country. I never want to see you again within this country.”

“Why do you hate me so much? Even though I’m already here in this country, I’ve never done anything to bother your family.”

For a moment, Madam Park looked at her. “I hate everything about you and your mother. I despise your existence. And I will never accept you as part of Park family.”

Ling’s phone rang suddenly, interrupting the tension that happened between them. Madam Park released her arm and moved back.

“I warn you. If you’re not leaving this country by the end of this week, you can expect me to do everything for making you leave.”

When she finished her words, Ling took it as a cue to leave the car. She quickly turned and went out of the car. She moved away, seeing the man entering the car and drove it away. Ling heaved to calm herself after the car left. She looked down to her phone. It was Luhan who called her. She heaved again and answered the call.

“Yes, Ge?” “What takes you so long to answer my call?” he scolded her.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized and she heard him heaving a sigh. “Nevermind. How’s the meeting?”

“It’s going well. I’ve managed to seal the deal. I’ll tell you later. I’m coming back to the office right now.”

“Okay, drive carefully. I’ll be waiting.”

Ling ended the call and heaved another sigh as she lowered her phone. She turned her gaze to the direction that the car had taken. Somehow, she was afraid of what the woman could do to get her out from the country. But she couldn’t leave the country so easily. She had many things that she couldn’t leave behind right now. There was her job, her responsibilities to Wu Enterprise.

And Luhan, she couldn’t leave him just like that. He could be angry at her. And he might be nagging later if she left him behind without any explanations. Ling couldn’t tell him the truth about her as an illegitimate child.

And Suho…

Probably he held the biggest reason on why she couldn’t leave. It might be easier if she had never met him and fallen for him. But because she had fallen for him, her heart ached to think that she had to leave him. She always wanted to be with him.

So what would she do?

Ling shook her head. Instead of worrying herself right now, she had many things that she should do and worry about for Wu Enterprise. Yes, she got works to do. Ling heaved another sigh before turning and going to her car.

Seoul, Friday Afternoon.

Suho walked across the front yard of Wu Enterprise building and entered the lobby, replying the employees’ greeting with light manner as he passed. Some of employees quickly moved to clear the way when they saw their boss coming. Some of them seemed wondering why the CEO was there because they knew that he supposed to be in Thailand.

Well, he had managed to seal the deal for the new branch in Thailand and could return to Seoul faster than he had expected. He caught the early flight back to Seoul today. So he could come to Wu Enterprise in the afternoon and ready to work.

Actually, he knew that he could have taken a day break and came back to office on Monday. He also realized that he had some things to take care of at the office although he knew that he could postpone it till Monday. But he was somewhat excited to show up on the office as soon as possible.

Why?

The reason was there on the top floor of Wu Enterprise building.

As he arrived on the executive floor, he didn’t directly go to his room. Instead, he turned and went to Ling’s office. As usual, the EPA office’s door was slightly opened. Ling had a habit not to close it properly unless if she had important and private matters. He had asked her why once and she only replied that the open door could make her easier to look at people who was coming.

Suho took a peek and saw Ling reading a report before got interrupted by her phone. She took her phone and answered it with her soft yet professional voice. It always made him proud to see her able to draw a line between her professional and personal life.

“Ah, it’s fine, Mr. Do. I’m not that busy. What can I help you?”

So it was Kyungsoo who called her. Ling went silent to hear his request. She stood up and turned to the drawer cabinet. “Okay. Just a moment, Sir,” she pulled out a certain drawer and seemed to look for a file there.

Suho took the moment when she turned her back from the door to slip into the room and sneaked to her back. Her expression became lighter then took out a binder file. “I find it, Sir. Which document that you need?” Using the opened drawer as a platform and placing the binder on it, she opened the binder.

“Hmmm.” He heard her humming while turning the pages. “But I guess I’ll need to check whether the document that you requested is here or not. Can you give me a moment, Sir? I’ll call you again if I found it.” An upward curve appeared on her face. “Yes. I won’t be long.”

She hung up the phone afterward and looked for the said document. Suho only looked at her. She seemed not to realize that he had been there, behind her. A sly naughty smirk came into his face. Then, he rounded his arms around her waist and leaned forward.

“Did you miss me?” he said, surprising her.

Ling jolted and gasped when she felt arms rounding her waist and heard the familiar gentle voice. She quickly whipped her head around to see who it was. Her eyes widened and a wide smile formed when she saw him.

“Joonmyeon.” She almost squealed, mentioning the guy’s name and slung her arms around his neck. “Oh gosh. I miss you.”

Suho only smiled to hear it. He tightened his arms around her and dropped his face on the crook of her neck, inhaling the sweet scent of her. This was what he had missed during his trip, having her in his arms.

“Wait.” She seemed to realize something then broke the hug and pushed herself a little apart from him. “Are you supposed to come back tomorrow?”

“The deal can be done faster than I thought. So I caught a first flight back to Seoul today.”

But Ling pouted her lips. “But you know that you can take a day off and relax yourself there. I really think that you deserve a break.”

To see her pouting, Suho gave a peck on her lips. “Yes, I know,” he replied. “But I really prefer to go back.”

Another smile bloomed on her lips. “You really miss me, don’t you?”

Suho smirked and slightly leaned forward. “How can I not? Next time, remind me to bring you along whenever I decide to have a business trip.”

Ling chuckled to hear it. “I think it’s not mine to decide. You’re the boss. If you say that I can come with you, then I’ll go along.”

Suho lowered his hands and rested them on her waist. “So, it’s decided. You’ll come along on my next business trip onward.” He planted another quick kiss on her lips before moving away and handed her a document folder; his act as her boss had returned. “Anyway, this is the documents for the Thailand’s new branch. Please make two copies of them for me and put them in a file. And while you’re delivering Kyungsoo’s requested document, give a copy to Chen. He knows what he needs to do.”

She nodded and received the folder. “Okay, Sir. And there are some files on your desk that you really need to check.” “Thanks. I’ll be in my office then.” Suho winked his eye and smiled playfully before turning to leave the room.

“Joonmyeon.”

The call stopped him when he reached the door. He turned and saw her smiling gently at him.

“Welcome back. I’m glad that you’re here.”

Suho smiled to hear it. “Me too.”

Later at night, Ling stepped out from the four-walled compartment that had brought her to the lower ground level of the building. Suho followed behind her while talking with Chen and Xiumin. They wanted to go out since Suho decided to have a little celebration party with his friends for the new branch’s deal. And because Ling thought that Suho might be still tired from his trip, she insisted to drive the car.

Ling stepped down from the higher platform and walked across the street to Suho’s car. As she walked, she heard car’s tires skidded from her left side. She decided to ignore it, thinking that it might be an echo. But strangely, the voice was getting closer. She turned, only to find a car speeding toward her.

In a flash, she heard Suho yelling out her name and saw him running toward her. She felt herself being pushed away from the road. And a moment later, she had banged a car across and fell beside the car.

She heard a loud crashing voice and the car skidded to halt. She turned to look at the place where she was stood earlier. Her eyes widened due to realization and her heart started to beat faster. In a flash, her memories with Kim Joonmyeon were replaying in her mind. Until finally, the memory of seeing him pushing her away from the car’s way came onto her mind.

On that moment, her heart seemed to stop beating.

“No…”

It was the first word that slipped through her lips when she could find her voice.

“No.”

She wanted to stand up but her feet seemed to give up as certain image came into her mind; an image of Suho laying on the concrete floor with fresh blood around him. It terrified her.

“JOONMYEON!”

Just because he's gorgeous and I'm in love with him so much :P

Anyway... this is the real chapter 20. I hope you enjoy reading it. For your info, this chapter is still un-beta-ed. Wanna help me with this one? Just PM me if you're interested.

Thank you so much for all the readers, the subscribers, the upvoters. I won't say much here. So, see you in the next chapter.

Toodles~ *waves*

Sincerely,

Alize Sakura (@AFFalize_sakura and alizesakura @ instagram)

And for these following upvoters, thank you so much.

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