He anxiously rubbed his legs as he sat in the leather seat. He looked at the clock on the wall and the watch on his wrist making sure there wasn’t a huge discrepancy between the two objects. After everything that happened with Aeyoung’s scandal to the mall shooting and the unfolding of his family’s secret, Moon Kyungjoo wanted to make sure he still had a business partner in Lee Wang. The morning after all the incidents, Kyungjoo wanted to approach Wang bright and early. 

His phone rang. He looked at the contact and let out an annoyed groan. Before he could even greet, the caller began the conversation first. 

“Daddy, it’s so hot! I don’t want to be picking up trash. It's so embarrassing! I’m going to get so dark doing this.”

Just hearing his daughter’s voice made his blood pressure go up. 

“Well, you know what,” he spat, “who was the dumb to be doing stupid , huh? Because of your dumb meat party, so many of our shareholders for XX withdrew. The company is a complete waste now because of that video that went viral.”

“Daddy please,” Aeyoung complained, “there has to be another way.”

Kyungjoo lowered his voice just in case someone could eavesdrop. “I’m trying to do something to fix this mess for you. Now shut up and be on your best behavior. Keep up the smile and make sure no one knows how much of a nasty attitude you have. I’ll have you scheduled for charity events for the entire year if I have to.”

Aeyoung gasped, “Daddy, no! Please don’t!”

“Shut up your whining, you spoiled brat. Had I known you would be the one to get us in such a mess I would have let the maid take over XX.”

He hung up the phone and shoved it in his pocket. Just within earshot, he heard the receptionist greet Wang. Kyungjoo foxed his attire then quickly met up with the man. 

“Ah, good morning, Lee Wang-sshi.”

“How unprofessional of you to follow me here.”

“Well, we’re family now and—”

“Cut that family bull,” Wang interjected. We both know we don’t care about our families; this partnership was all part of the agreement.

Kyungjoo let out a nervous chuckle, “Well, I thought maybe we can discuss the next steps. I mean what about the mall shooting? I can always arrange a way to help re-establish the integrity of the galleria.”

“The next steps of what?” Wang turned to him then gave him a condescending look. “I have it all taken care of. As far as I’m concerned, our contract has been fulfilled. It has been a pleasure working with the Moon Corporation.” Wang continued walking to his office and Kyungjoo persistently followed. 

“Surely our partnership doesn’t have to end here, right? I mean the mall is up but I’m sure we can continue to help each other in other projects.”

“I’ll be frank with you. This contract started and ended with the construction and opening of the RMG mall. There was a shooting and I got it taken care of completely. What went down with XX has shown me that you have the potential to bring my stocks down. I don’t need that. Therefore I will strictly follow the contract that is now terminated.”

“But my daughter,” Kyungjoo argued, “What about her?”

Upon hearing that, Wang couldn’t help but laugh. He released a hearty chuckle from the man’s pathetic excuse, “I’m not a fool, Moon Kyungjoo-sshi. You have never cared about her, to begin with. You never saw her as a daughter and you never will. I saw it in the waiting room and I still see it through your weak lie right now. Both of us clearly don’t care enough about our children to force them to marry someone they don’t know. Lucky for us they seem to enjoy each other’s company so I’ll leave it like that. Those two kids continuing their marriage do not offend the contract so it’s perfectly fine. Moving forward, our partnership ends here until further notice.” 

He opened his office door. 

“And don’t ever address me as ‘family’ ever again. Come to my office like this again and I’ll have you dragged out of her and banned from this entire building; all 63 floors.”

Lee Wang slammed his door shut. Kyungjoo could hear Wang tell his receptionist not to ever allow the man to ever step foot on the floor. Kyungjoo’s heart began to pound. Their family’s wealth was turning to a direction he never thought they’d ever been in. He had lost another high-impact financial partner.

Thirst. An intense need for hydration triggered her dry taste buds. Nayeon shifted in the bed struggled to produce a dry swallow. Jinki felt his wife shuffling around and the lamp. 

“Nayeon-ah,” he called. He checked her body, making sure she wasn’t bleeding or in pain. “Nayeon-ah, I’m here,” he consoled.

“Water,” she said with a raspy voice, “I need water.”

Jinki walked to the fridge in their room and handed her a cold bottle of water. He propped her up, careful to not distress her wound, then carefully helped pour the water in . After a couple of gulps, she gently pushed the water bottle away from her lips and opened her eyes.

“You’re up,” Jinki smiled, “I’m so relieved.”

“I survived,” she said looking in his eyes. She let out a weak laugh, “I’m 50 Cent.”

Jinki laughed and lightly tapped her head, “Man you are so hardcore.” She nodded then winced. Jinki’s eyes widened, “Did I hurt you?”

Nayeon shook her head, “It just hurts every now and then. Can you give me medicine?”

Jinki quickly went to the cabinet and grabbed her pain medication. He lifted her up a little then handed her the pills and a water bottle. She took her medication then sighed. She took a second to look at the room; it was different than their home. Different but familiar.

“We’re in Taipei,” she tenderly smiled, “you brought me to our place.”

Jinki nodded then held her hands, “I made sure the doctor gave me the okay before transporting you here.”

She closed her eyes in content, “I love this place.”

“I know, that’s why I thought you should heal here.”

Nayeon peaked out the window and saw the teal and burnt orange, twilight sky. She heard birds chirping outside but couldn’t tell if it was day or night. Her orientation of time was impaired.

“What day is it? How long have I been out?”

“It’s almost 5 in the morning,” Jinki notified, “you’ve been unconscious for five days now.”

“I can’t believe I was shot; twice,” she said in an amused tone.

“What does it feel like?”

“Like,” she inhaled as she thought of the sensation, “burning. Like there was a fire burning holes in my body. I seriously couldn’t breathe from the impact.” She tilted her head to look at her husband, “it was so intense. Hurt like hell.”

“I can imagine,” he sympathized. 

He paused, contemplating what he would tell her next. She noticed her husband’s hesitant behavior. 

“What is it? Tell me.”

“Nayeon-ah, there was some...news that was revealed recently.”

She inhaled and her face began to grimace. “I heard it all.”

Jinki held her in his arms, “I’m so sorry, Nayeon,” he whispered.

At the moment, her phone buzzed and light up from the drawer. Jinki told her to ignore it but she reached for it. The screen lit up and selected the most recent voicemail from her mother.

“If you get this message you better get here right ing now.”

She moved onto the next voicemail.

“I don’t give a what happened, we need to talk right now.”

“Do you want to go back?” Jinki asked, “To settle with your family?”

She mushed her lips and shook her head, “No. I don’t need to hear anything from them. I don’t need to discuss, to argue, to cry; nothing. It all makes sense now. I was never one of them and they made it clear. It was me that refused to let them go because I had nothing else in my life.” She cupped his face tenderly. Jinki grasped her hand and kissed it. “I don’t care if my blood is Choi or my name is Moon. I have you and you’re all I need. The pain they put me through, it all doesn’t matter anymore.” As she smiled, a tear slipped down her face. “You’re the only love and family I need in this world, Jinki.”

He enveloped her in a hug then kissed her forehead, “Then together we’ll be.”

She looked at her phone then dialed the number.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting my closure,” she told him. She sat on the foot of the bed with the phone by her ear. Before the woman on the line could speak, Nayeon began to spill her emotions.

“You listen to me,” she spat, “Your affair was because of you. Not me. You need to get that straight. You should’ve known that the moment you found out you were pregnant with me. Instead, you treated me with no love or sympathy whatsoever. I want you to know something. Choi Moogyu is half of me and you are half of me; but I am all of me. I am Moon Nayeon and I am strong all by myself. All my life you made me think that I was worthless and useless and just a catalyst to the family fortune. I was foolish to believe you, father, and Aeyoung’s malicious words; because I know now that none of your words, thoughts, or actions get to decide what kind of person I am. I am sorry that you didn’t see me as your own daughter and I’m sorry you chose to make our relationship like this. But I want to thank you and father for giving me such a loving husband to be able to make me feel the love I never received. And thank you for showing me how not to treat my children; I wish to never be like you.” 

Nayeon took a short breath, “Share this message with everyone: you all have treated me like an outsider all my life; so from now on I will cut all ties with you guys. I’ve earned my own name as a person. I don’t need you guys anymore.”

Before her mother could respond, she hung up the phone and blocked her number. She went through each of her family member’s contacts and blocked then deleted all of them. She stopped on Sangwon, waiting to press the block number but stopped herself. 

“He’s just as exhausted of them as I am.”

Nayeon shut off her phone and threw it across the bed. She laid down and laid on Jinki’s chest. She felt a calming sensation ease her pounding heart.

“Peace,” she whispered to herself, “finally at peace.”