Once morning hit, Boryun knew she had to go thank Goeun herself for bringing her son home safely. In her hands, she had a small gift basket of ginseng and other herbs to help strengthen and detoxify her body. Before the servant at the Jung residence could even welcome her inside the home, she brushed them aside.

“I’ll go to her myself.”

She walked up the stairs and to the hallway. Not knowing which room was Goeun’s she figured she would instinctively find the girl herself.

“Goeun-ah,” she called, “are you awake?”

She came out of the bathroom. Her hair was wrapped in a towel as she wore a white bathrobe.

“Ah, Goeun-ah.”

Boryun turned her around then gasped.

“Im Mani?”

Mani looked at her family’s benefactor; her heart dropped from the unexpected encounter.

“Madam,” she called lowly.

Suddenly the feeling of agitation overcame her. She dropped her basket and roughly pulled the towel off her hair then pushed her to the room she was entering.

“What are you doing here you devil woman?” she hissed at the younger girl.

Mani shoved her hands away. “Look around.” she insisted.

Boryun saw how the room was personally decorated with pictures of her and her family.

“You hired me, didn’t you?” Mani mockingly jeered, “And now I also work for the Jungs.”

“You—”

The older woman sprung to the younger but was quickly dodged. Boryun tripped on the white mini carpet. Mani looked over her.

“I won’t be your victim anymore. And don’t worry, I’ll make the wedding beautiful; I always will.”

“You ,” Boryun sneered, “you better stay away from Yongguk.”

“I don’t know about that,” Mani crossed her arms, “it seems like he can’t take his hands off of me.”

As if by fate, Mani’s doors opened.

“Mani, we need to talk.” Yongguk loudly announced.

Boryun’s eyes widened.

“Yongguk-ah!” she exclaimed.

“M-Mom!” he quickly helped his mother up. “What are you doing here with Mani?” He looked at Mani and saw how she was still in her bathrobe.

Mani had an idea to tick this woman off even more. She opened the cleavage to her robe a little bit more.

“Yongguk-ah,” she pouted, grabbing him by the arm, “I was just getting ready for you but I guess Madam beat you to it.”

Boryun gasped and pulled her son away from Mani.

“I come here to thank Goeun kindly for bringing Yongguk back home safely and I get greeted with this !”

“How foolish,” Mani laughed, “it was me all along. But I will accept your gratitude.”

“Yongguk,” she turned to her son, “tell me this isn’t true.”

“I—yes it’s true.” He couldn’t lie to his own mother. “It’s true mom, Mani brought me home last night.”

Upon hearing her son’s explanation, Boryun dragged him down the stairs and out of the home.

A servant ran into Mani’s room, “Is everything okay?”

Mani crossed her arms to cover her cleavage, “Yes, don’t worry.”

She knew it was bold of her to act like that with Madam, but she knew she needed to stand her ground. She meant it when she said she wasn’t going to be a victim anymore.

“You just can’t go into someone’s home and pick fights with them, mom!”

“You just can’t go into some woman’s room when you’re just months away from a marriage, Yongguk!” She shouted back to him. “Tell me, have you been seeing Im Mani?”

He opened his mouth to respond, but Yongguk knew he couldn’t lie to his mother. He bit his lower lip then looked away.

“So you have.”

Boryun spitefully chuckled then glared at her son.

“It’s nothing serious!” He exclaimed, trying to defend himself.

In a fit of rage, Boryun rose her hand and struck her son across the face.

“Never,” she slowly started, voice shaking from anger, “have I been so disappointed in you, my son. How dare you even think about being disloyal to Goeun moments before your wedding.”

“Mom, please listen to me.” Yongguk begged.

“No!” Boryun shouted, “Get out,” she said through jagged breaths, finger pointing to the door. “Get out right now!” she shouted, getting louder and louder, “Do you hear me? Get out right now!”

Yongguk looked at his mother then grabbed his keys and left the house.

Boryun threw her body over the sink, shaking from immense anger.

“That snake, that , that—that !” She watched her son enter his own car and drive away from the house. She inhaled a deep breath from her nose and grabbed her phone and dialed. After a few dial tones, the person on the other line picked up.

“Well what do you know, it’s—”

“Shut up.” she snapped, “She’s back and I need you to get rid of her.”

“Wow, so quick for the favors. I don’t even get a ‘How are you?’ ‘Have you eaten already?’ ‘What have you been up to?’ like regular sons.”

“Well it’s because you’re not a regular son, Yongnam; we both know this.”

Yongnam laughed, “Aigoo mom, you really know me too well.”

“Get Mani taken care of and I’ll give you a million.”

“Two.”

“One-hundred, thousand!”