That evening @ Chairman Lee's mansion

CHAIRMAN LEE signed a proposal paperwork and hand down the company's seal: Jaeguk Group Holdings. He grabbed his walking stick and walked out of the study room. He had called Young Hee to come over for dinner but Young Hee said that she could not make it, but will come to visit him for a short while. His wife had come into his room earlier to tell him that Young hee has arrived. He had not seen the girl for such a long time. If he doesn't call, she wouldn't have come. He knew his one and only daughter resented him and blamed him for her mother's death, and also his marriage with Jung Ah, his current wife. They were not really in good terms ever since. He had always waited for her to grow up and be a matured person so that she would understand why was he doing all the things that he did. 

He walked down the stairs and saw Young Hee sitting comfortably on the couch while waiting for him. 

"Did you just arrive?" he asked. Young Hee stood up and bowed in respect.

"Yes, father." she replied.

"Sit down." he instructed and rests himself on the sofa too. He looked at his daughter and studied just how much she has grown up. That girl had never listened to him ever since her mother passed away. He had asked her to follow him to Pennsylvania hoping to make their relationship works and so that she could forget all of her bitter memories but it just didn't work. She still resented him and treat him coldly. And today, he wanted her to come over because he has something to say to her.

"Good thing you came although you can't stay for dinner. There's something I need to talk to you about." he said.

"Yes, please proceed, father." she spoke using honorifics.

"You are in your final year,am I right?"

"Yes, father."

"I have fulfilled your wish to major in English. Now, I want you to complete your Bachelor's Degree in English and study for Business Management in the US." he said.

"I'm sorry, father, but I don't have any intention to do that, nor do I have any interest in business." she declined.

"Are you not going to listen to your father? Then who's going to take over Jaeguk Group Holdings?"

"I'm sorry father, but I believe the company is already doing well as for now. I look forward to see continuous developments in the company but it's  not going to be under my leadership." she explained.

"I'm asking you, who will take care of it when I died?" he started to raise his voice. He was angered at how stubborn his daughter that she even refused to listen to him.

"Father, my dream is to major in English and be a novelist. I never intend to have my life being programmed against my own will by someone who never understands me and never know what I really want in my life. There's only one person who understands me the most," she paused. "That person is my mum." 

"You ungrateful child!" he was really angered now that his daughter now dares to talk back at him like this. He tried to control himself. 

"I have provided you with comfort and luxury, is that how you treat me? Are you not going to listen to me?!" he yelled.

"Comfort you say? Ever since mom died, I've never been in comfort. Just because I'm your daughter does that mean you can order me around?! How can you treat your own child like a dog?!" she yelled back, tears now rolling down her cheeks. She tried to suppress her sobbing so that she could finish her words. 

"For giving me the chance to choose my own path, I thank you for that. For once, I thought you're doing it as what a father would do to their child. For once, I thought you're treating me like a child. But if you want something in return for that then I'm sorry, Father. This isn't the life that I want. Now if you'll excuse me. I need to go now." she stood up and bowed in respect before she stormed out of the mansion. 

She was very angry and disappointed with her life when it comes to family. Home sweet home? That has ended a long time ago. She cried running away from the mansion when she was stopped by her stepmother, Jung Ah who was in the garden. 

"Young Hee-ah!" she tried to hold Young Hee's arms, begging her to listen to her. 

"Young Hee, please don't do this to your father!" she pleaded. She whirled around and glared at her stepmother. She never liked her stepmother. She is like the devil in the house who gets to control everything- even her father. She was the one who has made Ahjumma quit her job. She tortured Ahjumma and made Ahjumma feels like she's living in hell. Young Hee grabbed Jung Ah's hands that hold hers and pushed them down roughly.

"Don't touch me. Move." she commanded. But Jung Ah held Young Hee's arms once again.

"Young Hee-ah, your father has gone through a lot, can't you listen to him this once?" she pleaded again. 

Tch. Two faced devil. She was just acting nice in front of me and she thinks I'm that foolish to not know her true colour? She thought.

She pushed past her and was about to run away when Jung Ah said something that caught her attention.

"Young Hee-ah, your father is going to reveal your identity if you continue to behave like this. That's why I'm asking you, please listen to your father. Don't make him angry. You know what he's capable of if you keep on going against his order." She explained.

Young Hee held her fist, angered with everything that happened. Why does she has to go through this? This isn't the life she wanted. Life is unfair. She just wants to live her own life, she wants her own freedom, the freedom to do everything without being controlled. Why can't she be like others? She tried to hold back her tears.

"I got it." she said and left.

That night @ a restaurant in samseong-dong

KIM SOO HYUN twisted the last remaining pasta on his plate with a fork as he was immersed in deep thoughts. He was having a late night dinner with his best friends, Kim Hyun Joong and Kim Bum. He was eating with Hyun Joong while waiting for Kim Bum. Kim Bum had informed them that he was going to be late and would rush there right after he finished off his stakeout duty for that night. Eating with Hyun Joong has always been like this; quiet and silent. Even when they have a conversation, both of them would converse maturely compared to when Kim Bum was around. Kim Bum is rather cheerful and outgoing person; Kim Bum likes to joke around and not taking anything seriously. While Hyun Joong is a bit more serious and Soo Hyun always look for him for advice as he is more matured. He could always rely on Hyun Joong on everything. He felt that both he and Hyun Joong shared the same personality - both of them don't talk too much. 

"Is there anything happen today?" Hyun Joong broke the silence. Soo Hyun realized that he was caught in deep thoughts again. 

"Ani. Wae?" 

"Just asking. You looked troubled since earlier." he said while struggling to play with the ice in the mango juice that he just had with a straw.

"Do I?" Soo Hyun asked while the remaining orange juice.

"Oh." he nodded. "But you're always like that anyway." he said while chewing ice in his mouth.

He gave a long silent thought, and heaved a long sigh. 

"I know, right."

"Indeed you are. Both of you are." replied a familiar voice. Soo Hyun turned to where the voice came from. That guy was approaching them. Yes, that carefree guy named Kim Bum. Kim Bum is quite younger considering the fact that both he and Hyun Joong were his seniors back in high school, and Kim Bum was a hoobae. That was when they became best friends some time later. He now  works as a detective at Seoul Police Department, but he loves to play truant in the middle of the day and have lunch with them.

"Why are you so late? I've almost finished eating my food." Hyun Joong asked.

"Told ya I had to do a stakeout." he simply replied while taking the menu list from the waitress and made his order. "Kamsahamnida." he smiled at the waitress.

"You're gonna pay this for me right?" he asked.

"Tch. Who do you think we are? Your parents?" Soo Hyun smacked his head.

"Yah jinja appo! Aish this stingy brat!" he whined.

"Yah Soo Hyun, take it easy, man. Hasn't he always been like this?" Hyun Joong laughing while messing up with Kim Bum's hair.

"Sunbae hajima! Why are you guys treating me like a kid?! There's people watching!" he pleaded, trying to stop Hyun Joong from messing with his hair.

"Because you really are a kid, kiddo. Don't you realize that?" Soo Hyun flicked his forehead. It just feels good to mess around with him.

"Ouch! Seriously Sunbae! Not again?!"

"Bum-ah, thanks to you I can finally hear him talk. Your Sunbae-nim has been quiet since he got here. I feel like I've been talking to the wall." whined Hyun Joong in frustration.

"All the more reason for you sunbaenims to treat me this time around." he joked. They laughed a little before everything got into silence again. Kim Bum then broke the silence with a more serious talk. 

"Sunbae, how long has it been? Can't you let her go already?" he began to ask. Soo Hyun looked at him for a while and smiled as he looked down, stirring the straw in his glass which had no juice left. 

"Tell me, how can I? I couldn't help myself." Soo Hyun said in a sad tone. Kim Bum sighed as he began eating. Soo Hyun felt a pat on his back by Hyun Joong. He knew Hyun Joong and Kim Bum had always been there for him, wanting to help him out; it's just that he was the only one who couldn't let go. 

"A girl who just left without a word. If I were you sunbae, even if she suddenly appears in front of me begging that she wants me back, I wouldn't give her another chance." Kim Bum said with food in his mouth.

"Aish, dirty fella, can you do one thing at a time? Don't talk while you're eating!" Hyun Joong whined. 

"Why? Why did you say that?" Soo Hyun asked.

"Because she's not worth it. She's not worth a second chance. Leaving without a word is enough to give a pain in the heart. How can you simply accept her after all those pain? She may not even feel anything." he said.

"Is this some kind of a revenge? Like you want her to feel how you feel? Like playing hard to get just to get even?" Soo Hyun asked again.

"It's not revenge, sunbae. And it's not playing hard to get." he paused while chewing his food before swallowed it all in one go. "Why would you wait for someone who just left without a word? Why would you wait for someone whom you're not even sure if she's gonna come back? She's the reason why you go through that pain and she might not even know. She's the one who put you through this. If she ever come back, how could you accept her and forgive her easily? And trust her again? Love her again? Do you want to go through that pain again?" somehow his words knocked some sense in Soo Hyun. 

"If she's capable of hurting you one time, she might be able to do it another time cause she knows you're that easy in forgiving people. Some people don't deserve second chances, sunbae, especially those who leave. For me, that's betrayal." he added again.

Soo Hyun could not deny what had been said by his best friend. Although Kim Bum does not always take things seriously, when it comes to opinion, his words are always from his heart. It may be from experience or it may be what he feels about something. And this time around, Kim Bum was right. That person has wounded him enough to make his heart break into pieces. After spending years struggling to mend his broken heart on his own, how could he still wait and hope for her to return? 

"That noona shouldn't do this to you. She could have just end everything, leave and never come back. Why did she keep it hanging, leaving you waiting and hoping and make things hard for you?" Kim Bum nagged again.

He was right.

Why are you doing this to me? Why are you torturing me like this?

Young Hee's residence @  9.30PM

LEE YOUNG HEE spent an hour looking at the ceiling of his room. The celing which has stars that glows in the dark. It was still early before her usual time to sleep but she already turned off the lights and watch the stars on the ceiling glowing in the darkness. When she was little, she had gone through a lot of hard time especially when her mum had just passed away at that time but she could still smile looking at the stars on the ceiling at night..in the dark. When she was little, her mother had just passed away and no one could replace her mother singing a lullaby and reading a story for her in order to put her to sleep. It was her maid which she addressed as Ahjumma who gave her the stars after her mother passed away. She would remember all the hurting moments of her mother dying for the day and the pain would be gone by night when she looked at the glowing stars. Even when she remembers it again the next day, she would forget about it by night after looking at the stars. Ahjumma is no longer staying with her as she is very old now and had to take care of her grandchildren. After Ahjumma left her father's mansion, she was a grown up by then. She decided to leave the mansion and live on her own because there is no point staying at the mansion. Her father and her step-mom did not say anything about her leaving the mansion. When she lives on her own in a small attic house which she is currently leaving now, she brought along the stars and pasted in on the ceiling in her room. She could not look at the stars without being reminded of her past bitter and painful memories which ease away by just looking at the stars. It works like magic.  She had no idea how does that works with her. But somehow it gives her the faith that even in the darkest place, she can still see the light. The light which will drive away the pain she has had for the day.

And right now, she is staring at the stars, hoping that it will help ease the pain that she has been suffering throughout the day. She checked her phone for one last time and set her alarm at 7.30AM before she doze off, hoping for a better day tomorrow.