He stood tall. Taller than Mirae thought he would in contrast to her petite stature, however, she felt almost formidable to him. As if she could destroy her own father. He had flecks of gray hair in contrast to his pitch black hair, Mirae noticed, now closer up. Sun wrinkles were faintly contrasting to his face underneath the street lights. Snowflakes were dotting the ambient city which seemed to blur as her father was more in her focus. 

"Mirae.." He said, after a long pause. She could hear his voice quiver as if seeing her was something out f a dream. 

But she knew better.

He was the same monster who had left her and her mom and her baby brother. The same monster who went into hiding not even daring to show his face once while Mirae and her bother were growing up. No. Instead, he replaced her and her family with people he thought he deserved and were better. That, Mirae thought, was enough for her to cut off all ties with them. 

And here she was, all these years, going after her father whenever she could, without him knowing. But for what? Finding out he had another family, that woman....was enough. Mirae felt like she could throw up, disgusted with herself that she had wasted so much energy and time. She knew she would have to confront her father one day, but she never imagined it would be like this. 

"Heo Mirae?" Jungin said, reaching out his hand to touch her arm, as if making sure she wasn't a dream.

"Don't," she was surprised to hear herself snarl, "Don't you dare touch me."

Jungin recoiled back, as if she had slapped him hard across the face. Mirae felt herself shiver, but her face grew hotter. Tears were threatening to spill, but she held them back with all that she could. Her fists were clenched, ready to throw a punch directly at the man in front of her. 

"How...how have you been, Mirae?" Jungin said, almost in a whisper. 

"Fine." she said, through gritted teeth, "I've been fine." Jungin nodded, shifting a bit uncomfortably. "And your mother? How has Sojin been?"

"Don't you dare," Mirae growled, "Don't you dare bring up my mother like that. You have no right."

"Mirae, I'm truly sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"12 years." Mirae spat, "12 years since you walked out of our lives and never shown your face, and yet you still have the nerve to approach me? Do you realize how much you hurt my mom and my brother? I don't care if you think any lowly of me, but don't you dare think of showing up if front of them. You're as horrible as it is, you're filthy. You're a piece of crap and I hope you know that." Mirae felt hot tears streaming down her face at this point. Her vision was a bit blurred and the only thing that stopped her from screaming and wailing was the fact that people were staring as they walked by.

Jungin fell silent. He had no way to answer her. Why had he been absent for twelve years? He felt so ashamed of his alcoholism and at that time, when MIrae was child, he felt his life slipping away, but he couldn’t let her know that...He couldn't let his wife know that. He thought he would never get over his addiction, and the only way to hide it was to disappear from their lives forever. He didn't mean to hurt her, but evidently, it had. What he felt now was remorse. As severe as he had felt when he left his family. 

Nothing else, just remorse.

Although, how could he bring himself to tell her that? Like this...right now. Jungin opened his mouth to say something before he looked over at Mirae, who's head was jerked away from him in disgust. 

"I.." Jungin, hesitated, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shown up."

Mirae was stunned by his words. She was expecting for him to blow up at her, with the same amount of impact. She knew what she had said was rude, and it hurt her father. She watched as he turned his back and walked away. Mirae could do nothing but stare as she was overcome with nostalgia. She wanted to run up behind him and tell him she was sorry for everything that she said. She wanted to admit to that fact that even though he couldn't see her, she had kept a close eye on him. But she couldn't bring herself to d it. Fro some reason, it didn't feel right for her to do that, especially considering that she wasn't the one who should be sorry, but it should be her father. 

*      *      *

Mirae slugged her feet forward, swarming with useless thoughts to block her head out. She was still debating whether or not she should tell her mom about what had happened, but quickly eradicated the thought when she had gotten off the bus, knowing that her mother's entire trip to Jeju would have bee ruined. She felt so lost and hopeless, she had no one to turn to. She didn't even consider Ken, after all he had done for her, and the fact that she had hurt him, she felt like a burden. Hani wouldn't understand her anger because she never knew that Mirae had kept an eye on her father all these years after he had left. The only person who knew about that was..

Hongbin. She was surprised to see him at her doorstep. His tall lanky figure stood to the side, as he was preoccupied with kicking the snow that had fallen on the front steps. Mirae saw him shivering a bit, drawing his hands closer into his jacket pockets. How long has he been standing there for?

"Hongbin," Mirae called out to the boy. Hongbin turned around, smiling a faint smile before walking up to her. 

"I didn't know you would be back so soon." Hongbin cocked his head to the side, trying to study her. "Are you doing okay?"

Mirae shrugged, "Okay, I guess. There wasn't anything to say, really." she tried to sound nonchalant, but her voice wavered a bit. She hoped Hongbin didn't notice. "At any rate, the past is the past. If my father felt us, and never showed his face, it was for a reason. I understand now why he did it, to avoid hurting my family again." She casted her eyes away, watching some people walk across the street. "And for that I'm grateful."

"But Mirae...he's your father-" Hongbin began to protest.

"Not my father." Mirae interrupted, feeling the familiar sting before tears were going to spill. She hated crying, and especially in front of Hongbin."My mother is both my mother and father. She was the one who raised me and took care of my bother."

Hongbin bit his lip, deeply in thought at what she had said, "But don't you find it odd, Mirae?" he tugged at her sleeve, "There must have been a reason to why your father father left."

Mirae laughed, with no warmth in her voice. Her voice was just as icy as the whether. "I like to think that the reason why he left was because we were a growing burden to him. And he was a coward." the words stung inside Mirae's mouth. 

Hongbin nodded. "I guess." he shivered again, "I guess I'll be leaving now."

"Wait." Mirae stopped him before he could take a step, "You can come inside for a bit and warm down. There seems to be a snowfall coming in."

Hongbin smiled, and nodded. 

"Thank you."

*      *      *

"I can't believe you watch these kind of things," Mirae said, sipping a cup of steaming hot chocolate, "These shows look like something from the Joseon dynasty."

Hani opened to protest. Since Mirae had invited Hongbin in and so rudely woken her, she was a bit dazed from seeing a hallyu celebrity practically two feet away from her. 

"That's because you're watching the documentary channel." Hani sighed, getting off the couch to pick up her blanket. "Besides, this isn't even about the Joseon dynasty, its the Korean war."

Hongbin came in after he had resorted to the bathroom to wash his face, "Thanks for letting me borrow your face wash," he said to Hani, "I felt like my skin was going to peel from the dryness."

Hani nodded, "All good. We're just watching some television."

"What's the Korean war?" Mirae peered at the t.v., confused by a sign that read "38TH PARALLEL" 

Hani and Hongbin stared at Mirae like she was something that was growing underneath the sink. 

"What?" Mirae asked, bewildered.

"You're Korean, and you dare to ask what the Korean war is? Did you even pay attention in class or did you sleep your way through history class for the past seven years?" Hongbin asked with genuine concern. 

"I don't know, were there aliens involved?" Mirae asked. 

"That's it," Hani held up her hands, "It's too late to deal with you and your stupidity this late at night." she stood up, clutching her blanket in her hand, "I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight."

And with that, Hani walked out of the living room. Mirae watched her leave. "What's her damage?" she muttered, taking the remote and changing the channel to pororo. Hongbin chuckled. 

"This is better," Mirae nodded to herself in agreement. She saw Hongbin staring at her through the corner of her eyes, She turned to face him. "What?"

The boy laughed, shaking his head, "Nothing." was all he said, before turning to face the television as well. Mirae glanced at him through the corner of her eyes. He was unbelievably gorgeous, more than she had liked to admit. Also his laugh made her stomach flip, but at the same time, he was still the same Hongbin who had been a jerk to her when they first met. Now, he didn't seem like such a bad person. 

Mirae got bored real quick from the show, and thought of a better idea. She clicked the television off, before standing up. 

"Wait, where are you going?" Hongbin asked. 

"Hold up," she said before running to the dining room to retrieve her laptop. She sat on the couch, next to Hongbin, pulling up a live Park Hyoshin concert she had managed to get her hands on.

They both watched the man on screen in bewilderment. Enchanted by his very presence.

"Oh my gosh, how could he be so perfect?" Mirae whispered. Hongbin shook his head, "It should be illegal to be so perfect. My heart burns." he added. 

So all that night, they sat there, watching Park Hyoshin's concerts and music videos, completely entranced by him, and not giving a single thought to the events that had happened a few hours ago. As usual, Park Hyoshin's voice had gone and stitched up Mirae's wounded heart. She felt at ease having Hongbin there, beside her. A jolt of surprise came when she realized what she had thought. Hongbin? She felt at ease with Hongbin? 

She glanced towards the boy who's eyes were glazed as he was watching Park Hyoshin through Mirae's laptop screen. 

Mirae felt confused, immediately. Usually, she would have felt completely fine with just Park Hyoshin...but Hongbin..she couldn't seem to understand why he had also had some form of easing affect on her. As if, just his presence itself was enough for her to calm down. 

Hongbin noticed her staring, with a side smile, he turned towards her, "Aren't you going to watch?"

"Hmm?" Mirae didn't realize she was staring that hard at him, "Oh..yeah." she shifted her gaze back at the laptop screen, feeling a red flush coming over her. She mentally cursed herself. Great, now he was going to get the wrong idea that she liked him. Not that that was false, but she didn't want to lead him on like she did with Ken. Though it didn't hurt to try this time...

Mirae slowly brought her hand over to Hongbin's hand. She felt him jump slightly at surprise.

"Mirae?" he asked her questioningly.

"Just this once." Mirae said, quietly, while staring at the laptop screen, trying to hide the growing blush that had casted over her face. 

Hongbin smiled, his heart fluttering, madly. He intertwined his hands into Mirae's, which moulded perfectly with his.

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

A/N: Sigh, so when I promised that I would update soon, I didn't mean for it to be two months later OTL, but I'm trying T_T

Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter because it was really fun to write some fluffy stuff along with some angst, this chapter was just all over the place..heh.

Until next time!