Will truth triumph over deception?

Minho made his way out of the club, feeling suddenly sober. Jinki followed him after telling the others that they have to leave.

“I’ll drive. You’re not in a very good condition to do it,” Jinki said, pulling Minho’s arm when he tried to open the door to the driver’s seat. Minho went around to the passenger seat, not bothering to argue. He had to get to Yonghwa as fast as he could. He could hardly wait.

It seemed like eternity before they reached Yonghwa’s and Joo Hyun’s house. It was torture for Minho to stand outside and wait for someone to open the door.

After what seemed like ages, when actually it had only been seconds, Yonghwa opened the door.

Minho tried to be calm and waited for Yonghwa to invite them inside, which the latter immediately did. He saw Yonghwa’s wife Joo Hyun seated on the couch with Yoogeun in her arms.

“Please take a seat,” Yonghwa offered.

When all of them were seated, Yonghwa began to speak. “Actually, we don’t have evidence of what we’re about to tell you, but we’re quite sure it’s true.”

“Do you know where my son is?” Minho immediately asked.

Yonghwa nodded.

“Where?”

“Right here,” Joo Hyun said softly, her eyes shining with tears.

Minho gaped at her. He was so shocked that he just sat there, unmoving.

“We’re sorry for not telling you or Krystal right away. I just knew this when you went here with her,” Joo Hyun took a deep breath.

Minho nodded. He stood up and slowly approached Joo Hyun. She carefully handed Minho the boy.

Yoogeun readily went to him. Minho looked at his son, amazement in his eyes. Then he hugged the bewildered child, and tears fell from his eyes.

“That’s why I was so fond of him the first time I saw him. That’s why I felt like I love him like my own child. He is really mine,” he said, awed.

The three other adults in the room looked on as Minho hugged and kissed Yoogeun. Joo Hyun was crying all the time, while Yonghwa and Jinki watched with solemn expressions on their faces. But the two almost cried when they saw Yoogeun looking at Minho and then wiping his tears with his little hands.

“Why is Minho appa crying?” he asked innocently.

“Appa is happy,” Minho answered, hugging the child again.

“Yoogeun-ah, he’s your real appa. Maybe you won’t understand now but you will someday,” Yonghwa said, ruffling Yoogeun’s hair. “From now on you will live with him, okay?”

Yoogeun just looked at Yonghwa, not really understanding what he meant.

“Be a good boy, okay?” Joo Hyun said.

“Umma, don’t cry,” Yoogeun told her.

But Joo Hyun just cried harder after hearing the child. She decided to turn away from Yoogeun, unable to keep more tears from falling.

“Minho-yah, take him home now,” Yonghwa said softly,  his eyes red with unshed tears. He handed Minho a bag that contains the child’s belongings.

“Wait,” Minho began. “How did you know I am Yoogeun’s father?”

“It’s not hard to figure out. Joo Hyun already knew Krystal through Jessica, and she knows Yoogeun is Krystal’s child. So when you showed up here with her and you told Joo Hyun Krystal was your girlfriend way back, Joo Hyun immediately knew. And that’s besides the fact that Yoogeun looks like you,” Yonghwa explained.

“Why did you choose to tell me first, instead of Krystal?”

Joo Hyun and Yonghwa exchanged odd looks.

“I meant to tell Krystal, but I wasn’t able to see her or talk to her when I went to their house,” Joo Hyun answered. “But now she will know through you, right?”

Minho didn’t answer right away. “We’re not together anymore.”

Somehow, Joo Hyun and Yonghwa weren’t surprised.

“It’s because of her fiancé, isn’t it?” Joo Hyun said.

“You know about Kyoung Jae?” Minho asked.

Joo Hyun nodded. “I met him the day I tried to talk to Krystal about Yoogeun.”

Minho’s brows furrowed. “Did you say anything about Yoogeun?”

“No,” Joo Hyun answered. “I meant to at first, when he said that they’ve been trying to search for Krystal’s lost son. He claimed he’s the father. But somehow, I didn’t really believe him. I don’t know anything about the three of you but I can sense that he doesn’t mean well.”

“Thanks, Joo Hyun-ah. You did the right thing,” Minho grew worried. “Do you think he knows about Yoogeun?”

Joo Hyun shrugged. “I don’t think he knows that Yoogeun is Krystal’s son and that he is with me. But he might know soon. I think he will be safer with you than with Krystal, Minho-yah.”

Minho’s face grew fierce. Bastard, he thought of Kyoung Jae. How is he going to get Krystal to talk to him?

....................

Krystal barely heard the door as it creaked open. She was awake, but she didn’t move. She continued to lie on her side, still curled up in a ball.

A hand touched her shoulder.

“Soojungie,” came her mother’s voice.

“Go away, umma,” she croaked.

“Soojung, I know how you feel. I understand. I’ve been there before. I love someone else but I was being forced to marry a man I don’t love.”

Krystal didn’t answer. She waited for her mother to continue.

“But I obeyed my parents. And your father turned out to be a good husband to me. He may be a hard man, but that’s just because he wants what’s best for his loved ones.”

Krystal slowly got up and faced her mother. “I know about your past with Minho’s dad, umma. You were best friends and you were in love with each other. And appa thinks Jessica unnie and I are not his children. He thinks Minho is my brother.”

Her mother shook her head and smiled. “No, sweetie, he had confessed that thought to me a long