Chapter Twenty-Six

The Epilogue

A/N: Yes, it's the epilogue. This fic is coming to a close, since I'm going on a temporary hiatus soon. 

After Kai randomly confronted his father and Secretary Park, Sungmi wasn't exactly sure how to feel. In a way, he had indirectly asked her out, which made Sungmi quite happy, but she wished he could've told her what he planned on doing before dropping her in a situation like that. Meeting Kai's father in such a harried way was not what Sungmi wanted, no matter how much Kai despised the man. If she had had time to prepare and look presentable, then maybe he wouldn't have been so harsh.

But no matter. Everything was done and over with. 

By the time the two weeks of vacation in China ended, Luhan, Sungmi and her brother were to meet at Beijing Airport for departure to Seoul. Sungmi hadn't seen Luhan ever since he set her up for the blind date with Kris a week ago, and when she had called him to ask, Luhan had simply given a snarky answer somewhere along the lines of, "I'm visiting family, so you just enjoy your time with your precious oppa, okay?" And immediately after, he had emitted a hearty cackle that made her turn redder than a beet. Everything then clicked in her head: why Luhan had wanted her to come to China, why he had coincidentally set her up on a blind date with Kris in the same restaurant that Kai happened to be in, and why he hadn't been hanging around as much as he had been after she and Kai made up. Hearing Luhan's cackle had made Sungmi want to squash him to a pulp and take back anything nice she had ever said about him, even though deep down inside she was grateful for his help. One day, she would make it up to him somehow. 

And maybe it was a good thing that Luhan disappeared when Kai reentered the picture anyway, since the two males would no doubt have a brawl before she could blink an eye.  

But when Kai insisted on taking her to the airport early this morning, Sungmi knew that she wouldn't be able to avoid their inevitable meeting even if she wanted to. 

As soon as the two of them entered the airport and located the correct waiting area, Luhan and Sungmin immediately spotted them and hurried over. Sungmin's eyes widened to see Kai, while Luhan only smirked, taking his time to leisurely approach the pair. 

"Mr. Kim? What are you doing here?" Sungmin asked in disbelief. His eyes drifted down to where Kai had linked his hand with Sungmi's, and they nearly popped out of his skull. 

Kai released his other hand from the handle of Sungmi's suitcase and extended it to Sungmin. "You're Sungmi's brother, right? Just call me Kai, then." 

That only made the other more confused. "Uhh..." 

"We're dating," Kai added. 

If Sungmin had been shocked before, now he looked as if he was ready to puke. At this sight, Luhan doubled over with a loud guffaw that attracted a few questioning glances. 

Kai, who hadn't taken notice of the Chinese man before, now shifted his attention to Luhan with an annoyed glare. "What are you doing here, too?" 

Luhan suppressed his laughter and choked, "Did she not tell you? We came here together. I took her everywhere around Beijing, from morning til night, and we took so many pictures and had so much fun alone and--"

"Sungmi, why didn't you tell me about this?!" Kai demanded, letting go of her hand and folding his arms while tapping his left foot on the floor in irritation. 

She merely shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. He was my tour guide." 

"Tour guide?" 

"Yeah, because he's from Beijing and he took me around to visit attractions. That's all." 

"Nothing happened, right?" 

"Of course not."

"Are you sure?" 

Sungmi gave him a bored look. "He's just a friend. You don't need to hate him, Kai. Who am I going out with after all?" 

Kai was still skeptical. He opened his mouth to say something else when a loud cough interrupted their conversation. 

"Sorry to interrupt the lovers' quarrel, but it's time to leave," Luhan announced, looking down at his watch. He came forward and grabbed Sungmi's arm. Leaning down close to her ear, he whispered, "Might want to explain everything to your brother. He seems to have turned into a statue." 

And indeed he did. Sungmin was still staring straight ahead at nothing, his mouth hanging ajar with a dumbfounded expression. He seemed to have zoned out everything happening around him. 

But before Sungmi could reply to Luhan, they were forcefully wrenched apart. 

Kai knew that Luhan was probably provoking him on purpose, but he still couldn't help the bubble of fury that came over him at the sight of Sungmi being so close to the other. He growled. 

Chuckling in amusement, Luhan pulled away and put up his hands. "Alright fine, you can have your girlfriend all to yourself. Just make sure she gets to the gate in five minutes." He picked up his suitcase and dragged a frozen Sungmin along with his other arm, leaving the couple alone to themselves. 

When the two males were out of earshot, Kai turned to Sungmi. "Call me when you get to Korea, okay?" he asked. 

She nodded. "Don't worry. And don't stress yourself out too much. Are you going to be okay with your father?" 

Kai scoffed at the question. "That old man knows he can't do anything right now. He needs me in the company and the contract's already been cancelled. At most, he could kick me out again, but I'll just stay at your house like before." He gave her a broad, cheesy smile. 

Sungmi laughed. "Alright. Finish your work and come back soon," she said. 

Kai leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the forehead. "Of course. Just stay away from Luhan for me...or any other guy for that matter," he said. While his tone was teasing, there was an edge of seriousness in his words. 

Kai was seriously a jealous prick. 

When Sungmi joined the other two inside the gate, she found them sitting idly in the row of chairs facing a McDonald's chain store. Sungmin had snapped out of his daze by now, and when she approached the seats, he fixed her with an angry look. 

"You have a lot to explain to me, missy. How did you go from the lazy bum that spent all of her Saturdays eating to dating the heir of Kim Corps? What did I miss out on?" he questioned.

Luhan scoffed. "A lot, Sungmin. A lot."

Sungmin didn't look very happy at the moment. His brotherly instincts had taken over, and not knowing Kai personally, he wasn't exactly comfortable with the thought of his sweet, little sister dating such a man. If he was the reason why Sungmi was such a crying mess when he came back to Korea, then there were a lot of things to be skeptical about. 

Sungmi plopped down in the chair next to her brother and sighed. "It's going to be a long story."

"We have time," Sungmin quipped. 

She wrung her hands together before beginning. No doubt the version of the story that Sungmin would be hearing was going to be edited, but she would give him a brief overview with the main points.

"So, what happened was..." 

Three Months Later

Kai hated to walk inside his parents' room. Every time he stepped inside the vast, luxurious suite, Kai would be vividly reminded of a certain incident that occurred many years ago. He had been bouncing around, trying to search for one of his books that he had misplaced when he accidentally stumbled in on his father with another woman who was most definitely not his mother. His father had promptly kicked him out of the room and threatened to beat him if he ever told his mother, and Kai had immediately fled with the mental scarring of seeing one of his parents doing it with another who was not the actual spouse. Because of this reason, he had given the master bedroom a wide berth for many years.

Now, as he approached his parents' wing of the mansion, the door at which his mother had stood and cussed at him in front of Sungmi so many nights ago, Kai sweated bullets