“Make it quick, I’m tired.” I grunted harshly as I took a seat on the sofa opposite my father in his spacious in-home office.

He sighed at me for the nth time and for the first time in a long while, I could see how tired he was. The lines beside his eyes were deeper and his hair was full of visible grey hairs. It almost made me feel bad for him. Almost.

“Taeyeon-ah…” He leaned forward, rubbing his hands together nervously and I frowned at him, knowing it wasn’t like him to seem to hesitant.

“What is it?” I answered calmly, still observing his actions.

He chuckled at me and I narrowed my eyes at him threateningly. Did he just bring me in here to play with me?

He smiled at me and I could sense sadness in his eyes, “Sorry, you just remind me so much of your mother.”

Immediately, my eyes darkened and I leaned backwards on the chair and crossed my legs in a defensive manner. My father rarely brought up my mother in conversations and it made me feel uncomfortable whenever he did.

“I didn’t come in here for you to talk about my mother who you neglected and ruined.” I snapped and he smiled bitterly.

“I did ruin her didn’t I...” he agreed tiredly and my eyebrows furrowed together but I didn’t say anything else, encouraging him to continue on.

“You may not believe me but I did love her once upon a time.” I scoffed at him but I still didn’t interrupt, wanting to hear the rest of what he had to say to me. It seemed interesting.

“You’re not the only one that was hurt when she passed Taeyeon,” He started sadly, “ I just wished I could rewind to that time so I could’ve helped you. I knew you were troubled but I was too scared to approach you and...I regret that to this day.”

My jaw tightened.

“Why are you saying this to me now?” I interjected, my eyes b with tears.

“Your mother always wanted you to be involved with the company but I always opposed the idea because I wanted you to grow up and not have to stress about stuff like work but unfortunately…that can’t happen anymore.”

I smiled bitterly to myself. I thought for once he was actually going to talk to me like his own daughter for once but it turns out the only reason he brought up my mom was to convince me to run the company. How stupid of me to think he actually had a heart.

“As you know, your brother is… dying and he won’t last very much longer. You’re the only heiress left Taeyeon. I need you to start to familiarize yourself with the company because you will be leading it once I’m gone.”

I narrowed my eyes a little, pondering thoroughly. A light bulb switched on in my head as a possible negotiation sparked light in my eyes.

“Fine.”

“Fine?” He frowned.

“On one condition though.” I smiled evilly as I leaned forward and clasped my hands together and he laughed at me.

“I knew you’d make a good business woman the moment you learned to smile like that.” He said happily but I ignored his comment.

“I want you to stop the chairwoman from interfering with my personal life. You probably know by now that shes been stalking me. I want an end to it.” I demanded and he sighed, leaning back with his arms crossed.

“That’s a tough one but I’ll try my best.” He nodded and the curves of my lip tugged upwards.

“That’s a deal then. I’ll start working at the company and do the tasks you want me to but you have to restrain that evil woman.” I stood up and he followed right after.

“I’m actually quite worried for the people who’ll have to do business with you. You are one scary little girl.”

I giggled at his comment before we clasped our hands together, sealing the deal.

“So...when do I start?” I asked and he pondered for a second.

“Hmm…You can start when it’s the holidays; I know you won’t have much to do anyways.”

I nodded at him and he squeezed my hands reassuringly.

I was actually quite excited because I’ve always been restrained to even enter our company headquarters by my brother but I’m finally going to be able to get my hands on work and business. It’s quite sad too, knowing I’d have to replace my ill brother who put all of his hard work onto the company. Also because working meant I’d have less time to hang out with Jessica.

-A Few Days Later-

It was after school and we were all pumped because it was the last day until Christmas holidays, meaning no school for two weeks. Of course, that didn’t mean we didn’t have piles of homework to do, I was a senior after all.

I was holding Jessica’s hand as we were walking the halls to her locker hallway with a comfortable silence looming over us. I really wanted to go on our third date already so that I could officially call her mine.

As I thought of different date ideas, her phone started ringing and I grabbed her books that she was holding so that she wouldn’t struggle balancing them as she was on the phone. She smiled a toothy smile and my heart swelled.

“Hello? Yeah, I know. I’ll be there soon. Okay, bye. I love you.”

I could only hear one side of the conversation even though I picked up some words here and there but I frowned when she ended the call by confessing her love to some unknown person.

Jessica looked over at me to get her books back but she laughed heartily when she saw my expression.

“Yah! Are you jealous?” She teased and I puffed my cheeks up.

“Jealous of who?” I averted my eyes from her and she pinched my cheeks.

“Aigoo, you’re too cute!”

“Who was it?” I grumbled, waving her hands off of my face.

“It was my dad pabo.” She giggled, finishing up with her locker and I blushed.

“Oh..”

She snickered at me before grabbing my hand and leading me out of the school. I followed her to her car and gestured for Tony who was waiting for me nearby to wait a minute.

“Where are you going?” I asked curiously and her smile disappeared from her face.

“Just…somewhere.”

“A-ah..okay. I’ll see you during the holidays though right?” I changed the subject swiftly and her smile returned, making me sigh satisfyingly on the inside.

“Of course I’ll see you!” She cheered and I grinned at her, waving her off as her car drove off.

“Miss Kim?” Tony called as I approached him silently.

“Follow her car.”  I ordered and he nodded, instructing the driver.

---

I sagged down into my bean bag chair and rubbed my temples gently to try to rid myself of my terrible migraine.

“Would you like some Tylenol Miss Kim?” Tony proposed, holding a small red pill on one hand and a glass of cool water on the other.

“Yeah…” I sighed as I mouthed down the water after popping the pill in my mouth.

“Are you okay?” he asked after giving one of my maids the empty glass of water.

“I’m…confused.”

He nodded before taking a seat on the edge of my bed across from me. He motioned me to continue on with my sentence, knowing there was a lot more than confusion residing in my heart.

“I’m also a little scared too.” I confessed, my mind fixated on possible reasons as to why Jessica would go to that place. Just looking at the place made me feel like .

That’s the place I hate the most after all.

“That’s understandable but I do believe you should confront her about it rather than overthink it. You never know Taeyeon.” He said softly and I smiled at him.

He would only use my name to talk to me whenever he was worried about me or if he was angry with me. It made me a little happy to hear him call me that.

“I don’t know Tony…I think I’ll just keep this to myself for now. I already have a lot of things on my mind about the company.”

He nodded at me before standing and retrieving my guitar from its stand on the corner of my room. He handed it to me and I smiled softly before taking the instrument from his hands.

He always knew how to make me feel better.

“Play. I know that’s the best way to make you feel a little better, even if it’s temporary.”

I caressed the 2 letters on my guitar before strumming it a couple of times, getting into the feel of the music. Soon enough, I became lost in the notes and the way the music flowed.

I sang about how the only reason I’ve survived for so long was because the fire in my heart was much stronger than the fire surrounding me. I wondered what would happen if the person who was lighting the fire in my heart would just suddenly…disappear.

Would I still be able to survive?

I then started to sing about her, about my fears.

I sang my heart out.

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