“Life goes on… Whether you choose to move on and take a chance in the unknown. Or stay behind, locked in the past, thinking of what could’ve been…”

One month ago… (Min Ho’s Apartment)

“She is pregnant? How do you know she is pregnant?” Park Shin Hye asked in shock. She was looking at Song Joong Ki who came a while ago. “You called me this afternoon and said Chae Won’s bone marrow is 100% matches with So Won but you didn’t tell me she was pregnant.”

Joong Ki sighed as he looked at Shin Hye. “I was having a drink with friends in a pub just now.” He then turned to Min Ho. “Do you remember Doctor Han? Han Yoon Suh.”

Min Ho tilted his head before he nodded. “Chae Won’s best friend, the obstetrician in Jaseng Hospital. She was Chae Won’s roommate when we were studying in UK.”

Joong Ki nodded. “I bumped into her in the pub just now. She came and we chatted for a while. I think she drank a little and got hyped. She said she envied Chae Won so much because she found a good man like you and both of you are getting married soon. I was quite surprised that Chae Won didn’t tell her about both of you already broke up. So I told her that you two are not getting married. She was shocked and asked me to stop lying. She said Chae Won is already 4 weeks pregnant with you baby. She was the one who checked for her and confirmed it.”

Shin Hye bit her lip and looked at Joong Ki in disbelief. “But I thought patient’s medical report is something very private and confidential. Why did she tell you?”

Min Ho chuckled. “Because Doctor Han is very interested in him and admired him since we were studying in UK. She almost him during one of our prom night last time.”

Joong Ki smiled. “Thanks for her admiration I got the biggest news in town. No wonder she looked so tired and pale lately. We can now confirm that Chae Won is pregnant. But the next question is who is the father.”

Shin Hye turned to Min Ho and glared at him.

Min Ho felt uneasy. “What is that gaze? You think it’s mine?”

“I don’t know. She only dated you all these years and you are the only man that I know she love very much.” She said in a sour tone.

“Yah! I can swear to god that I have nothing to do with her pregnancy and I’m not related to the baby. I never ever touch her before. Not in the past, not in the present and will not be in the future.” Min Ho said in a very certain voice as he looked straight into Shin Hye’s eyes. He took her hand and put it on his chest. “You were the only one. You were my first and will definitely be my last. You have to trust me.”

Shin Hye felt her cheeks started to burn with blush but she couldn’t hide her smile.

Joong Ki cleared his throat and glared at them in frustration. “Yah! I know both of you are madly in love but can you two at least give me some respect. Although I have already moved on from your girlfriend but it still hurt me seeing both of you so lovey dovey, okay.” His lips pouted as he still glaring at Min Ho.

Shin Hye quickly pulled her hand away from Min Ho and looked down. “I’m sorry.”

Min Ho pulled her hand back and grasped it tightly. “Don’t bother him. He is just joking.”

“Aish…” Joong Ki scoffed. “Stop the nonsense and back to our discussion.” He sighed before looking at them again. “Since Chae Won is pregnant now, she cannot be a donor. At least for the next 10 to 12 months, she cannot donate her bone marrow to So Won until she give birth.”

Min Ho felt Shin Hye’s body tensed up and he squeezed her hand softly.

“Although convincing Chae Won to donate without accepting her deal will be difficult but I’m still happy because I thought we found a way to save So Won. But now it turned out to be a disappointment.” Shin Hye said.

Min Ho looked at Joong Ki. “Through your experience, how long do you think So Won can wait? Do you think she can wait for another year?”

Joong Ki sighed deeply. “Looking at her condition now, I would say it’s better not to wait for too long.” He paused before looking at them. “But to be frank, having Chae Won’s bone marrow for the transplantation have a high rejection risk too because Chae Won is consider as unrelated donor. It’s still not perfect.”

“You mean it will be better for the donor to have blood relation with So Won?” Shin Hye asked.

Joong Ki nodded. “Of course. If there are two donors, one blood related and another one unrelated, we will definitely choose the blood related one because the rejection percentage will be lower. For example Min Ho’s sister. If her bone marrow is compatible, then it will be better.”

“But do you think my sister’s bone marrow will be a match? I doubt it. None of mine and Shin Hye’s family is compatible. I think her chance to be a match is quite low.” Min Ho sighed as he tightened his grip on Shin Hye’s hand when he felt her hands started to tremble. “So, Chae Won is still our only hope at the moment.”

“Yes. It looks like it.” Joong Ki agreed. “But put aside So Won’s bone marrow transplantation, the next question is who is the father of her baby.”

Min Ho chuckled sarcastically. “Is that even our concern? She is an adult. She should be responsible with what she have done. She knew that she is pregnant but she still come out with that deal, giving me 3 months to married her. I might feel a slight bit of sorry for her if she do all this because she love me so much and really want to be with me so badly. ” He paused and looked at Joong Ki. “But you told me now that she is pregnant and she knew it. Do you know what does that mean? She was trying to make me to be the scapegoat.”  

Shin Hye caressed his hand that was still holding her tightly, trying to soothe him. She can feel his pain and frustration in him. She really hates herself for even have the thought of agreeing to Chae Won’s deal.

Joong Ki let out a deep sigh. “I understand. But 3 of us have been friends since we were kids. She might be very arrogant, self-centred and competitive but we know she is not a bad person.”

“Even threatening a kid’s life is not considered as a bad person? She knew she is pregnant and she still lied about it. She knew she couldn’t donate her bone marrow within these 3 months. She is just using this as an excuse to get me back and cover that pregnancy for her. She is very selfish.” Min Ho’s jaw tightened.

“I can’t deny that it was her fault in this part but you know her. She is so arrogant and egotistic. Do you think she will get herself pregnant before married and messed up her life? I’m sure there is something hiding behind all this.” Joong Ki said.

“What are you trying to say?” Shin Hye asked.

“I don’t know whether it has something to do with her pregnancy or not but I saw Kang Ji Hoon in the hospital with her few weeks ago. Do you remember him?” Joong Ki asked Min Ho.

Min Ho narrowed his gaze. “Kang Ji Hoon?”

“He is the son of Moon Chin Young’ driver. We played basketball with him before when we went to Chae Won’s house during our junior high school time. He is around our age but he was already dropped out from school at that time. You don’t remember him?” Joog Ki asked again.

Min Ho thinks for a while but still shook his head. “I can’t remember.”

“He has a scorpion tattoo on his arm.” Joong Ki said.

At this time, both Min Ho and Shin Hye widened their eyes in shock. Shin Hye squeezed Min Ho’s hand and looked at him. “Is it him?” She asked.

Min Ho turned back to Joong Ki. “What you say again? You saw him with Chae Won in the hospital?”

“Yes. Why? You two looked strange. I thought you said you don’t remember him.” Joong Ki asked in confusion. 

Min Ho inhaled deeply. “Do you remember I told you Shin Hye was drugged with aphrodisiac pill 9 years ago?”

Joong Ki nodded.

“That night Shin Hye received a message from my phone asking her to meet me up at After Seven. But I didn’t send any message to her because I was grounded at that time after breaking up with Chae Won. My phone was taken by my mother. And I don’t know what was the reason that she gave me back my phone at that time; it was a coincidence or she knew something about it, I’m not sure. If Shin Hye didn’t call me and I didn’t reach there on time, she was already being drag up to the motel by those 3 guys. And you don’t need me to tell you what will happen then. One of them had a scorpion tattoo on his left forearm.” Min Ho said through gritted teeth. He was even angry now knowing that this incident might have something to do with Chae Won.

Joong Ki’s face turned pale now. “You are trying to tell me that Chae Won have something to do with the drug incident? She was the one who instruct Kang Ji Hoon to drug Shin Hye?” He exhaled sharply. “This is something very serious. We still don’t know that we are talking about the same person or not.”

“I saw him in the hospital 2 months ago when I brought So Won to the hospital for blood transfusion. And I saw him again a day before So Won’s birthday in the shopping complex.” Shin Hye said very softly. Her hands were trembling and the incident that happened 9 years ago haunted her mind once again. Tears started to well in her eyes. She slowly looked up at Joong Ki.

“If it’s really him, and if it’s really Chae Won who instruct him to do it, do you think she is still a good person? Do you know what that incident had caused me? Because of that pill, we did something out of our control and I was pregnant when I was only 18 years old. I was dropped out from high school, I ran away from my parents, I ran away with a baby So Won who was then diagnose with a serious blood disease. I was all alone in a foreign place for 8 years with a sick daughter. I don’t mind all the hardship I have gone through because I made that decision to keep her but So Won is the victim for this whole incident. I brought her to this world to suffer. She grew up with so much pain and without a father.” Shin Hye took a deep breath to hold back her tears.

Min Ho sighed as he pulled her into his arms, her back, soothing her. He looked at Joong Ki and asked him. “What did you saw when you bump into them in the hospital?”

Joong Ki rubbed his forehead before looking back at Min Ho. “I heard Chae Won said she will kill him if he dares to mention about that night again. I think he was threatening her about whatever happened that night. He said something about showing her real face to the world. He was strangling her neck when I got in. Do you think ‘that night’ they were talking about is the night that Shin Hye got drugged? He is back now to threaten her about that.”

“Or… ‘that night’ was about something else and related to her pregnancy.” Min Ho added.

Shin Hye pulled away from Min Ho and looked at them. “We need to find out.”

Min Ho sighed. “Find out what?”

“Find out about their relationship and what exactly happened 9 years ago. I think I have the right to know what happened back then.” Shin Hye said.

Joong Ki nodded. “I agree. And at the same time, if we found out something fishy behind them, we can use it against Chae Won and she have to agree to donate her bone marrow without having a deal with you.”

Min Ho’s eyes narrowed. “You mean blackmailing her?”

“Of course not. I just think we will have more bullets to discuss with her if we know something about it. Although she couldn’t be a donor now but her bone marrow can be a backup in case we can’t find any matches by then. We can be the one who make a deal with her then.” Joong Ki said. “But the problem is how we are going to do that.”

“I have an idea.” Shin Hye said as both Min Ho and Joong Ki looked at her at the same time. Her gaze stopped at Min Ho. “You.”

Min Ho narrowed his eyes again and his heart doesn’t feel good. “What me? You want to sell me off again by accepting her deal?” He glared at her when she nodded her head.

“Not a real deal, but a fake one.” She said.

“I don’t understand.” Joong Ki looked at her confusedly.

“I mean…”

“What she meant is sending me over to Chae Won and be a spy there. Pretend to accept the deal, pretend that I’ll marry her, pretend that I don’t know she is pregnant and make her trust me. She is expecting me to be an undercover and find out the truth.” Min Ho cut Shin Hye off.

Joong Ki’s eyes widened as he clapped his hands. “You are indeed a smartass. She didn’t even say a word.”

“Exactly.” Shin Hye said, turning to Joong Ki. “I don’t need to say anything but he can find out each and everything I was hiding from him. You see, I don’t even need to say a word, he already can guess what I was thinking now. He is so smart and is the best person to do this job.”

Min Ho looked at her in disbelief. “Should I thank you for the compliment?” He asked sarcastically. He let out a deep sigh. “What can I do staying beside her? I rather use the time to find a way to save my daughter.”

“That one you can leave it to me. I’m sure I can do a better job. You just need to concentrate to do whatever your fiancée want you to do to your ex-fiancée.” Joong Ki smiled at Min Ho.

“How about So Won? She won’t understand all these ridiculous plans. She will think that I really going to married Chae Won and she will get hurt. She will hate me.” Min Ho tried to protest.

“You don’t need to worry about that. I can explain to her and she will understand.” Shin Hye said.

Just then, Min Ho’s phone beeped. He took out his phone and sighed when he saw the sender of the incoming message. He opened the message and put it on the coffee table to let Shin Hye and Joong Ki read.

'I believe by now your fiancée already told you about it. I’m still waiting for your call. If you have made up your mind, I’ll be waiting for you at the Imperial Palace Hotel. -Chae Won'

Min Ho looked at Shin Hye. “Do you still want me to become a spy now? She is asking me to meet her at the hotel. I think you know what is that mean, right?”

Shin Hye tongue-tied looking at the message. She inhaled deeply before looking back at Min Ho. “I-I’m confident that you could control and protect yourself.” She stuttered.

“Yah, Park Shin Hye.” Min Ho glared at her.

Shin Hye took a look at Joong Ki.

He cleared his throat and stood up. “I need to use the toilet.” He quickly made his way to the washroom, giving them some privacy time.

Shin Hye turned back to Min Ho and cupped his face. “I know it won’t be easy but we need a closure for all this, for what happened 9 years ago and a closure between you, me and her. If we go to ask Chae Won now, she won’t admit it and won’t tell us the truth. We have to find out ourselves and…” She looked into his eyes before she continued. “She is the only hope we have for So Won. Although we need to wait longer now but if we can make her agree to donate her bone marrow willingly, then So Won will be healthy again. All this might be useless but we should try. And don’t you want to know what happened on that night I got drugged? Moon Chae Won is the only person who can give us an answer.”

Min Ho sighed again before he pulled her into his arms. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled in her sweet scent to calm himself. “You have to promise me that you will trust me that all this isn’t real. You have to promise me that it won’t affect our relationship and I will stop immediately when it became out of control. Arasso?” He said into her ears.

Shin Hye nodded as she tightened her arms around him. “Thank you.”

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“How’s Chae Won?” Shin Hye asked, leaning her head on Min Ho’s shoulder as her hand was playing with her engagement ring.

Min Ho took the ring from her and slipped it onto her ring finger. “She looked pale but she is okay. The baby is okay too.” He said as he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it softly.

“Should I bring So Won to the hospital and apologize to her? It was still So Won’s fault for pushing her just now.” She said.

“