Shin Hye and Jongsuk sat at the back of the funeral hall silently, both lost in thought. Although they were supposed to be at work, their boss Jaesuk had granted everyone a half day of leave so that they could be with Sora in her time of grief. Shin Hye;s thoughts returned to the day before as she remembered how Sora had reacted to Boyoung's question. She stared at Boyoung with scared, round eyes. "Who would want to murder my mother? There is no reason to kill a woman who was already dying, is there?" Before anyone could reply however, Sora had already worked out the answer in her head. "Perhaps...perhaps it has to do with what Omma told us about Park Jisung? He did threaten her with death before." 

She stared pointedly at Shin Hye, which made her feel increasingly uncomfortable and guilty. Sensing her discomfort, Jongsuk quickly glazed over it and dismissed it because Jisung was overseas. "In any case, we can't be sure until the cause of death is clearer. We don't have any evidence anyway so let's not argue about this prematurely." Sora didn't continue to pursue it that day, but now as Shin Hye watched the grieving Sora and her brother Minhyuk, the suspicion that her father was involved started niggling at her, getting more intense as time went by. The door to the funeral hall opened and Shin Hye looked up to see Jaesuk and Haneul enter. They carried a bouquet of white flowers and went to greet Sora solemnly. Jaesuk, in particular, looked unusually affected by Jiyoung's death. His face was haggard and when he bowed to Jiyoung's picture, he seemed to be shaking. 

Shin Hye suddenly felt very suffocated sitting in the hall and she abruptly stood up to leave. Jongsuk looked at her in alarm and quickly followed her out of the hall. Once outside, Shin Hye felt that it was easier to breathe as she wasn't so consumed with guilt. "What happened?" Jongsuk asked her, looking at her troubled face in concern. Shin Hye muttered that she wanted to be left alone and tried to walk off without him but he put his hand up on the wall behind them, cornering her. "Shin Hye ah, tell me what you're worried about so that I can help you get through it. We promised each other not to lie anymore right?" Shin Hye closed her eyes in defeat as she knew that what Jongsuk was saying was true. 

"Boyoung unnie...I feel that she's right about Jiyoung sshi's death being a murder. The doctors told us yesterday right, that she shouldn't have suffered a cardiac arrest because none of her ailments would have caused that. Although it may just be bad luck, I still feel that it was an unnatural death. Furthermore, I can only think of one person who would want her dead. Even though she already gave us her testimony, maybe there was something she possessed that would have made for more solid evidence...against him." Shin Hye couldn't look into Jongsuk's eyes as she said all this but Jongsuk tilted her head towards him when she had finished speaking. "Listen to me, what you're saying now is all valid and true, but there is no evidence that your father was involved in this as of yet. Even if he was, you shouldn't feel guilty about it because it has nothing to do with you. You didn't have anything to do with it. Promise me that you'll keep your head up high and that you will stop feeling guilty because of your father. Got it?" Shin Hye looked into Jongsuk's eyes uncertainly but when she saw the assurance in his eyes, she felt peaceful and slowly nodded." He broke out into a smile as he patted her head. "Good girl." 

The couple walked back into the room just as Jaesuk was stepping out. He looked startled to see them but smiled as they greeted him. "Hello President! You're leaving so soon?" Shin Hye asked casually. Jaesuk once again seemed to be caught off guard as he replied them a little nervously, "I have to...I have to get back to work." Jongsuk looked at him a little quizzically. "But the station is closed till 2pm today right?" Jaesuk looked rather frantic as he fumbled over his words. "Ah yes, I was mistaken, I meant that I had to go and fetch my son. I'll see you later." He quickly made his escape as the couple looked at him. "Something's up with him today." Shin Hye commented. 

Jaesuk left the funeral hall sweating profusely. As he got into his car and placed his hands on the steering wheel, he noticed that they were still shaking. The guilt and fear that he felt as he had paid his respects to Jiyoung was indescribable. Watching Sora and her younger brother grieve stabbed him in the heart, especially because he had caused it. Once he had caught sight of Minhyuk staring at him a little oddly, he had panicked so badly that he had left early. He hit his head in frustration as he thought of his family at home. If his kids found out that their dad was a murderer, what would they do? 

Sora bowed again to the family that had come to pay respects to her mother. As they left the funeral hall, Sora went back to her sitting place tiredly. Minhyuk tapped her on the shoulder once she sat down beside him. "Noona, I saw someone really familiar just now. Your president from the TV station, I saw him before." Sora looked at her brother curiously. "Where did you see him?" "Yesterday, actually, when I went to grab a coffee with Yonghwa, from the cafe just across the road from the hospital. He was alone and sitting in the corner reading a newspaper. I remembered him because he was on the phone most of the time and he kept staring in our direction." Sora nodded absentmindedly to her brother as she was distracted by another relative who had just entered. 

That evening, as the last visitor departed from the funeral hall, Sora began to clear up the place. She still had another long day to go the next day and was looking forward to going home. Minhyuk had already gone home earlier and Sora sighed as she looked at the funeral hall and the amount of litter the visitors had left behind. The sound of the door opening surprised her and a smile appeared on her face for the first time that day as she saw Jongsuk and Shin Hye. "You're back again?" She asked them. They nodded and helped her to collect the litter, which she appreciated very much. As they left the place together, Sora asked about work and they conversed animatedly until they reached the bus stop. 

"Did you know what my brother told me today? He told me that he met President Yoo at a coffee shop yesterday and that he was staring at my brother and his friend! I wonder where he found the time to hang out at a cafe." Sora mentioned this lightheartedly, but all of a sudden Jongsuk became silent and the smile left his face. In its place, a perplexed expression appeared. "President Yoo was out the entire day yesterday wasn't he? That's strange...I wonder what he was doing at the cafe. He was supposed to be at Jeju for a meeting or something wasn't he?" Shin Hye started to take interest in the conversation as she confirmed, "Yes he was, just now Haneul sunbae was talking about how President Yoo couldn't make it and sent our Vice President Ji instead."  

"He missed the conference but was at a cafe?" Sora raised the obvious question and a curious feeling started to develop in the three of them. For some reason, they felt convinced that this was somehow linked to Jiyoung's case. It could be pure coincidence for they she knew, but from Jaesuk's curious demeanor that afternoon at the funeral hall, they started to feel suspicious. 

A/N: Hey! Sorry for the long wait, school was really busy this week :( and it's only the first week /crey/ on a side note I finally followed Shin Hye's insta and she posted SOOO many pics of the adorable pinocchio cast!! <3 have a good week ahead everyone! :)