True to Dara’s prediction, her Press Conference made it to the headlines overriding the previous news of Jiyong visiting their house. The media was in a frenzy. And it’s not about how Dara is planning to turn over her shares, her company, to Lee Donghae but how she dumped the two men being linked to her after she had used them. Dara had to fight the urge to scream. Just what is with this people! Why are they so fixated on her lovelife?? Can’t they focus on the fact that she is now leaving her business to her husband whom she is now divorcing? But no. She guessed it was too much to ask. There were a lot of speculation on her decisions and none even came close to the truth. Some are so exaggerated Dara could only laugh bitterly. It’s only been a day after that press con and the news is now spreading like fire, passing from one mouth to another, a story getting changed by each retelling.

Her social pages is now filled with hate comments and threats from Jiyong’s fans saying the same thing over and over.

How could you use Jiyong oppa?

You’re a monster. I hope you die.

Leave our country! We are better off without you. Jiyong oppa would be better off without you. !

I hope you get run over by a 10 wheeler truck and squashed to death!

She deactivated her social page not wanting to see anymore. She decided not to open the company’s site as she is very positive thousands of hate comments are waiting for her there. The only good thing is, they left Donghae out of it. She is now in the center of their loathing. That is the one thing Dara felt better about.

She already met up with her lawyer earlier that morning to discuss the arrangements of the divorce and her terms made her lawyer gawk in incredulity. If she wasn’t so heartbroken, she would’ve laughed at the expression on his face as she told him what she wanted –or what she does not want for that matter— on the divorce.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” Her lawyer asked again for the 4th time. “I’ve seen the news but…”

Dara took a sip of her hot chocolate as she nodded her head. They were inside the coffee shop and the scant number of people made Dara feel at ease.

“Yes, this is what I want,” she affirmed.

“Because we could ask for assets division,” her lawyer tried one more time. “You could have the house, we could fight for it. You could have 50% of his shares… we can agree to a settlement…” His voice trailed off as Dara shook her head.

“I don’t want any of that. I don’t want….” She sighed. I only want him. But obviously she can’t have that. “I want this done as soon as possible. I want to turn over the company to Lee Donghae, relinquish my rights to SP. My shares. If there’s anything I need to sign, send it to my office. I want everything settled before I leave for New York. I want everything to be done with before I leave for good.”

Her lawyer nodded after seeing her determined face. “Seems like I couldn’t change your mind, then I’ll process it immediately. I’ll get in contact with your husband’s lawyer to discuss your terms.”

Dara nodded as she watched her lawyer put all the papers she had signed inside the envelope and put it in his briefcase.

“I’ll send you all the documents to be signed probably this afternoon.” He closed his briefcase with a snap. “Just call me if you change your mind because we can still fight for a settlement.”

Dara chuckled. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Her lawyer nodded and stood up and Dara remembered something. “Wait,” she said and her lawyer looked at her. “Actually, there’s one thing I want.”

Her lawyer sat down again and looked at her expectantly.

“There’s only one thing i want from Lee Donghae.” She looked at her lawyer in the eye. “I want him to take care of Sakuragi.”

Her lawyer frowned in puzzlement. “Sakuragi?”

“The puppy,” Dara clarified. “I don’t want the puppy to be put in an animal institution or… wherever. I want Donghae to take of her himself. ”

Her lawyer looked at her, his mouth open slightly, as she stated her term and then sighed heavily. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll add that one. Is there anything else you want?”

Dara shook her head. “That is the only term I want.”

Her lawyer nodded again before standing up and walking out of the coffee shop leaving Dara staring at the wall.

Now, she sat at the conference room at the 5th floor of SP building, still staring at the wall as she thought about how swift things had changed. Has it just been 4 days ago when Donghae had hugged her in Lotte Word? Has it only been 4 days when she had told him she loves him at the Namsan Tower? It seems like it had happened in another lifetime. She only hoped that things would get better in Donghae’s life when she’s already out of the picture. She hoped that his father would withdraw his vote on Kim Junmyeon and support his son. She hoped that it’s still wouldn’t be too late.

She looked away from the wall when some of her staff entered the room. She straightened up as she  nodded to them as they went in one by one. Some looked a little skeptic, others standing timidly, avoiding her eye. She had called for a staff meeting, all the team leads in every department to come for her announcement.

“Sit down,” Dara said.

The team leads all sat down hesitantly around the big conference table but some were left standing as the chairs weren’t enough to accommodate all of them. Dara began after seeing everybody settled.

“Thank you for coming,” she started. “You don’t have any other choice, anyway.”

There were soft chuckles and Dara went on. “I’m sure you all know about the conference I did yesterday. And I’m positive you now know that I will be resigning my position.”

There were silence and some avoided her eye. Dara concluded it was because they were relieved at the news and she smiled bitterly. “Thank you for not cheering on that in my face.”

Soft titters. Dara cleared before continuing. “I want to thank you all… for bearing with me all these years. Some of you may not have been here long enough to fully experience the reign of my terror but to those who did…. And still stayed… I thank you. I know… actually I’ve just realized it… that working with me… under me… had been hell for you guys. And I’m sorry.” She addressed the 4 of her very first employees. “Jae Wook, Hee Jung, Han Byul, Kim Jung,… you’ve been here for as long as I remember. Though, I know there were times—I lot, if I’m not mistaken— that you wanted to kill me in my sleep… but you still stayed and… SP wouldn’t be where it is right now without you guys. And I thank you. All of you. SP wouldn’t be SP without all your hard work. And I’m sorry if… I wasn’t able to show how important you guys are in this company. How important you guys are to me.”

She looked around at their faces who are now looking back at her. “I’m just… sorry that I took you guys for granted. All those times. I wanted to apologize to all of you and I would really appreciate it if you would tell your team that i’m sorry. To those whom I’ve… thrown coffee at because… I wanted hot chocolate… please tell them I’m sorry. To those whom I’ve humiliated in front of the entire team… to those whom I’ve worked to the bone because I wanted the reports in less than 24 hours… to those whom I’ve fired because of being human for making a mistake—wait, they’re no longer here. But… please tell them  I’m sorry. I know it won’t ever be enough but… I just… I don’t know what to say except… I’m sorry.”

“You guys are the best team there is. The best. And you guys deserve someone who actually deserves you. I apologize if I announced my decision to the press first… guess I wasn’t really thinking. But to reiterate, SP would be turned over to Lee Donghae. After every documents had been signed, you would now be working under Hits Entertainment. SP would still be SP but… if Donghae decided to remove that name then… you guys would be Hits Entertainment.”

“Will we lose our job?” One of them had asked.

Crap. She should’ve added that to her terms but she’s pretty sure Donghae wouldn’t fire anybody. “Donghae isn’t as heartless as I was. I don’t even think he’s got any hate in him to ever fire anybody. But… I’ll make sure to… talk to him…. about it.”

“Is it true then that you’re leaving the country?”

“Yes. I’m pretty sure that’s one thing you’re glad about,” she joked with a smile.

The girl who had asked looked slightly uncomfortable but smiled reluctantly when she saw Dara smiling.

“Thank you… you guys had been part of making my dream come true. Even though I know it’s a night mare on your part but I hope that… my leaving would start a new beginning for you. I can assure you that Donghae would treat you like his family. The way he treat his people at Hits.” Then she smiled. “Now, to commemorate your freedom, we are going to have an end of the year party. Tomorrow night, actually, at around seven? You can bring your family, your girlfriend, whoever you want to bring.”

Some of them clapped, now smiling broadly. “I have already instructed Lee Hi to organize the party. I know it’s short notice so If you have any ideas, you can tell Lee Hi.” Besides, she wanted to at least spend a day in the company she had built before she left for the states the morning after. Her mom had already agreed to leave on the first after she reasoned that leaving at the very first day of the new year symbolizes new beginning. A new life. She felt sad that she only had a day but she doesn’t want to spend another week torturing herself, stopping herself from going over to Donghae. She might be able to breathe if she’s miles away from him. Maybe she wouldn’t miss him that much. Which she really doubt. 

“Thank you all,” Dara repeated her gratitude again. “If you have any questions, you can just walk up to my office and ask me.”

The team leads murmured their thanks before standing up and leaving the conference room. Dara’s smile faded and she tried to keep the sadness overwhelm her too much. She had the best team. But they’ve had the worst boss. She’s the worst of anything to everybody.  She looked around at the conference room. The place where she spent almost all of her career yelling, throwing papers, ripping hard-worked reports, criticizing, belittling whoever she had called. This is her staff’s personal hell. With her as the devil administering unjust punishment. No wonder they all look so relieved when she confirmed her plan of resignation. Not even a word of sympathy. Or empathy.

She must’ve been thoroughly hated that her staff couldn’t even fake it.

Donghae read the IT report a thousand times but still couldn’t believe it. He dropped the folder on his desk, brushed his face with his hand before standing up and going over to the window, his brows creasing.

Eunhyuk had entered his office with a grim look on this face earlier that morning holding the folder. And without a word, gave it to him. It took a moment before the contents of the report finally registered on his brain.

He heard a knock on the door and he turned to see Clara stepping inside his office. She smiled. “You’re looking so serious. What’s up?”

Donghae didn’t answer. He just looked at her, like seeing her for the first time. Clara’s forehead wrinkled and she laughed at the serious expression of Donghae staring at her. “Okay, I admit i wasn’t done with the project for that new singer but I’m getting to it. Don’t worry. I mean seriously, you called me here just for that? You could’ve just called me on the phone.”

“How long have you been doing that?” Donghae asked quietly, his eyes piercing.

“You only gave me that yesterday,” Clara defended herself rolling her eyes.  “I don’t have superpowers, you know, but I promise I’ll get—“

“How long have you been hacking into SP?”

Clara stopped mid-sentence as she looked at Donghae’s unnerving stare. “Ww..what?”

Donghae didn’t answer and just stared at the woman he had known all his life. It had never occurred to him she would be behind all this hacking fiasco. She was a genius in computers when they were in high school. Always the one who can figure out exactly the complication of a computer command. But she would be the last person he would suspect. The last person he would ever think of to actually betray him.

But the IT report tracked down the IP addresses used on the hacking since last year. They have checked all the security cameras at the times the hacking took place. The IT team had almost lost hope as the videos seems tampered or deleted. But a video was caught at one time Clara was the only one who had entered a facility room at exactly the time and the day the hacking was captured. The facility had two security cameras, one has already been deleted. And it might’ve been sheer luck that the other wasn’t. Probably because she didn’t know there was another security camera stationed at the far side of the room, partially hidden by a long row of boards reserved for props.

Clara tried to laugh. “What are you talking about?”

Donghae went over to his desk and picked up the folder, waving it in front of him. “You were caught on camera. At the exact time the hacking was recorded. You went there alone. In the facility room. You were seen turning on the computer—“ He dropped the folder in his desk. “How could you do this?”

“That’s bull Donghae!” Clara vehemently denied. “Why the hell would I want to hack SP?”

“You tell me,” Donghae said.

Clara huffed a breath. “I can’t believe this. Do you know how long it would take for someone to hack a corporation? It would take hours or even days. I don’t have time for that! I can’t believe you’re actually suspecting me.”

“Then what were you doing in the facility room, Clara?”

“How should I remember? God, that was last year. How can I remember why I went there?”

Donghae stared her down. “The mere fact that you remember you went there last year is pretty damning. You didn’t even asked me when it happened.”

Clara opened but no words came out. She closed , wetting her lips, blinking furiously. Donghae looked down at his desk unable to look at her.

“All the confidential files, the songs… you gave them all. Handed over to different companies like some kind of offering,” Donghae said in a quiet voice.

“Donghae—“

“They’ve also tracked down one of the hosts on the hacking that happened just a couple of weeks ago.” He looked up again and met Clara’s eye. “The web host was in Paris.”

Clara swalllowed hard looking down, avoiding his stare looking like she wanted to cry.

“The week when you went there,” Donghae added. Clara didn’t speak. Just looking down, blinking several times. “Why?”

Clara was silent and Donghae pressed on. “You’re one of my best friends. And I trusted you. Why?”

“Because I hate her,” Clara said in a quiet