In the end, Soo Yeon was left alone with Taeyeon in the apartment. Yoona ran after Irene who took off after screaming hell at Taeyeon for abandoning her family. Tiffany and Yuri went along with Yoona while Sunny and Hyoyeon decided to leave the couple alone.

Soo Yeon didn’t speak a single word. She was all quiet but her eyes were blazing with fire as she glared at Taeyeon. Taeyeon’s eyes were on her but they were apologetic and remorseful.  The silence was killing Taeyeon. She wanted to open to say something but she couldn’t at all.

Instead, Soo Yeon was the first one to break it.

“How are you?”

Her voice was soft and gentle but there was a tinge of disappointment. It was like as though telling Taeyeon that this was wrong.

“I’m fine.”

“That’s all?”

“Soo Yeon.. I..”

“Maybe I should rephrase the question. What are you doing here?”

Taeyeon bit her lower lip. Soo Yeon was a little hostile now. But she couldn’t help but gaze at Soo Yeon’s beauty. She might be in her forties but Soo Yeon’s beauty is still as alluring; as sophisticated and she still stands out from all the ladies Taeyeon ever known of.

“Soo Yeon, I don’t know where I should start. There are just so much things I wanted to discuss with you but now I just cannot think properly anymore.”

“Why are you here? Why must you be here? Why must you appear when I have just begun learning to love someone else? Who are you to come in between us?”

“Soo Yeon, I..”

“You disappeared 20 years ago. You didn’t have the guts to admit your damn ing mistake. You didn’t even dare to look at me in the eye when I caught you with that . You held her in your arms so tightly. I could still remember every little thing that happened that night. It has been rewinding on my mind ever since the day you threw that ing at me!”

Those words were painful to listen. Taeyeon never really understood how painful it was until she heard it from Soo Yeon’s mouth. Taeyeon finally realized that the pain she was feeling all this while was nothing compared to Soo Yeon’s.

“I couldn’t look at Irene for years because of you. She looks like you; she behaves like you; she’s smart like you and everything just links to you. She’s good in Maths. She loves to sing. She’s weird sometimes that her thoughts and words were incoherent. She loves to mumble and she’s allergic to nuts. She’s everything like you, Taeyeon!”

Soo Yeon was breaking down. Taeyeon’s heart ached so badly.

“She’s mini Taeyeon. She grew up with me being apart from her all the time. I was never there to witness her first smile; her first word; her first step; her first expression because I just couldn’t be near her because of you! We have just begun to know a little bit of each other. I have wasted her childhood years and I don’t intend to waste the remaining anymore. I thought I’ve found the reason to live all over again when Yoona came into my life. I was looking forward to spend a whole lifetime with her but you... you have to spoil it for us!”

Soo Yeon screamed hysterically as she pulled out her hair in madness. Taeyeon looked on with tears rolling down her face.

“I’m in love with Yoona. I’ve given up on you. There’s no more for you in my life anymore. I told myself that you’re just a history that has faded over time.”

Soo Yeon was sobbing and Taeyeon was dying.

“You’re too late, Taeyeon. I cannot do anymore with you. I don’t want to hurt Yoona.”

Soo Yeon left quickly; leaving Taeyeon looked on in despair. She didn’t even get to say anything; it wasn’t because she couldn’t; but because she didn’t want to. And her daughter couldn’t even look at her in the eyes.

“I HATE YOU!”

Those were Irene’s last words for Taeyeon before the girl ran off.

It hurt like mad.

-

“IRENE, STOP!”

Irene ran and ran; without heeding the person behind her.

“IRENE JUNG! STOP!”

Irene refused to stop. She was broken.

How could this be?

Why must it be her?

How dare she return back and hoping to start all over again?

Who the hell she thinks she is?

There were just too many questions on Irene’s mind. And she was too distracted to notice a truck was coming her way from her left.  She stopped still right in the middle of the road when she heard the thunderous horn. Her eyes were horrified as the truck’s brakes screeched loudly. It was trying to avoid Irene who stood rooted to the ground.

Fortunately for her, someone managed to pull her to safety and Irene was embraced tightly.

“What are you doing?!”

Irene heard that person screamed at her and the latter slowly looked up. She was in Yoona’s arms. Perspiration was evident all over her face and Yoona was breathing harshly; probably from all the running.

“Are you alright?!”

Yoona was worried. Irene could feel Yoona’s warmth and sincerity from her gestures alone. She knew she didn’t make a mistake for letting Yoona into her world and her Mommy’s world.

“Irene? Are you okay, dear? You’re alright now. You’re fine. I’m here.”

Yoona pulled her closer and hugged her tightly. Tiffany and Yuri were just behind them. They, too, were too shocked for words when the truck was inching closer to Irene at a fast pace. Thank god for Yoona’s fast thinking moves.

Irene broke down immediately as she buried her face in Yoona’s neck. She wailed like a baby; ¼ terrified; ¼ horrified; ¼ confused and ¼ agitated – all her feelings embedded into one emotion.

Yoona was disheartened to see Irene struggled so hard with her feelings. She knew the girl was shocked to learn that Erika Kim is her real mother. Irene has always admired Erika and took her as her role model. So Yoona could understand how devastating this truth was for Irene.

“Why is she my mother?”

Irene muttered.

“I did fine not know the truth but why must it be her? I thought she was the most amazing woman in the world and I’ve always thought she was wiser than anyone else. But instead, she’s the coward that everyone has been talking about. She’s that one person who made my Mommy suffered so much over the last 20 years. She’s the reason why I grew up without Mommy by my side because everything of me reminded of her. This is so unfair!”

“Irene, sometimes things happened for a reason. Maybe this has an underlying meaning to something even bigger and better.”

“Something bigger and better would be my Mommy marrying you and we could live as a family together. I don’t need my real mother to come in between you and Mommy and then try to take responsibility of her daughter whom she didn’t care about in the first place!”

“Irene, how could you say that? She’s your mother whether you want to admit or not. She was the one who brought you into this world.”

“I never asked her to!”

“Irene..”

“She brought me into life but she didn’t bother about me! What took her so long to come back and take responsibility of me?! I’m already an adult! I don’t need her to try to be a good mother when I’m fine like this!”

“Jung Irene, have you forgotten what I’ve taught you?”

This time, it was Tiffany who spoke up. Tiffany’s heart was aching as well; it was so painful to watch her god-daughter disintegrated herself. But she knew Irene was not thinking rationally anymore.

“I know. You told me that I should not use my emotions to think because of the dire consequences. But she has never spared a thought for me or even Mommy!”

“Yes, she might be wrong in that sense. But your mother has suffered too. You heard what happened, right?”

“That doesn’t mean she can just swoop in and hope that I could forgive her and embrace her.”

“She’s not planning to do that. She just wanted to apologise for all the pain that you and your Mommy have went through.”

Irene stared at the ground and then scoffed.

“Well, I don’t need her to do that.”

“Irene..”

“I don’t care! She’s not my mother! I don’t have a mother! I only have one Mommy and she’s Jessica Jung, NOT JUNG SOO YEON!”

Irene took off again and this time, Yoona didn’t run after her. Irene needed some time alone to cool herself. But her last sentence made Yoona feel uneasy.

She has never seen Irene so emotional before. Tiffany and Yuri were surprised at how hot-tempered Irene could be. She was never like that before.

“Do we need to go after her?”

Yuri was awfully worried but Yoona shook her head.

“She’s in a shock and she’s probably not going to listen to anything we said. Let her be. But I’ll follow her from behind secretly. I’ll update you later.”

Yoona smiled and was about to walk away when Yuri grabbed her arm. Yoona was a little taken aback when her cousin stared at her.

“And you.”

“What’s with me?”

“Will you be fine?”

Yoona smiled as she gently pulled Yuri’s hand away.

“My main worry is Irene. She is not taking this too well.”

She turned to Tiffany.

“I think you need to be with Jessica for now.”

“Why not you?”

“I don’t want to mess up her mind further. She might need some time alone to think things through. I’ll be fine. I’ll just need to talk to Irene and make her understand why this is happening.”

“Okay. I’ll look after Jessica while you look out for Irene. Then Taeyeon?”

“I’ll ask Sunny-shi to look out for her. We all need to be there for them now. I think I’ll be fine with Irene.”

“Okay, let me know if you need help.”

Yuri assured Yoona. So Yoona followed Irene quietly while Tiffany was already calling Jessica to check on her. Yuri followed Tiffany.

“Jessica is at home. She said she needs me.”

“Let’s go home then.”

“Will they be okay?”

“I don’t know. But Yoona’s right. We just need to be there for Irene, Jessica and Taeyeon now.”

Tiffany nodded.

-

Irene wandered around aimlessly. Somehow she ended up at her university and there were still students lingering around the campus. She was hoping she didn’t see anyone she knew but she couldn’t avoid her professor. Professor Choi was in the vicinity and she happened to see Irene.

“Irene?”

Irene looked at her with a blank face.

“What are you doing here? Where is your jacket? It’s freezing cold here.”

Professor Choi took off her coat and put it over Irene’s shoulders. But the girl was still keeping silent.

“Irene, what’s wrong?”

“Erika Kim.”

“Huh?”

“Do you know her personally?”

“Yes, she’s my friend.”

“So did you purposely place me under her care so that she could be closer to me?”

Professor Choi was taken aback with Irene’s question. She wondered what happened and the girl was looking a little angry for some reason.

“Well, I wanted to create opportunities for you to learn something about marketing. You wanted to be just like your mother, remember?”

Irene kept silence.

“What did Erika do to you?”

“She’s a vicious and cunning woman.”

“What?”

“She used you to get closer to me.”

“Why? Did she do something bad to you?”

“She did something bad, alright. She did it 20 years ago.”

Professor Choi’s eyes grew larger. She may be confused but that last sentence has a subtle meaning to it.

“Wait, are you telling me you’re Erika’s daughter?”

“I don’t have a mother like her.”

“So it’s true!?”

“I told you, I DON’T HAVE A MOTHER LIKE HER! I DON’T WANT A MOTHER LIKE HER! I DON’T NEED A MOTHER LIKE HER! I DON’T NEED HER TO RETURN INTO MY LIFE BECAUSE I WAS PERFECTLY FINE WITHOUT HER!”

Irene screamed at the top of her lungs and everybody was stunned to see them. Whispers and mutters could be heard on the background but Irene couldn’t care less anymore. Professor Choi’s heart sank.

“I’m sorry, Irene. I didn’t know and I’m sure Erika doesn’t know either.”

Irene glared at Professor Choi for a second before taking off again. And Professor Choi couldn’t do anything. It must have been a rude shock for Irene.

Just then, someone appeared behind her.

“Soo Young unnie.”

“Hey, Yoona, what are you doing here?”

“I’m supposed to follow Irene.”

“You know her?”

“It’s a long complicated story. But something bad happened. Could you go over and check on Erika? She must be feeling really awful now.”

Professor Choi nodded. She understood that part.

“I will go now. But I think you need to watch out for Irene. She’s really emotional right now.”

“Yeah, I’m aware of that. I’ll go after her. Update me about Erika.”

Professor Choi nodded and Yoona made her move. Professor Choi sighed.

“This is bad. This is so bad.”

-

Jessica sat in the dark. Her eyes were red and swollen. Her heart was arching and her stomach was churning like mad. What the hell happened?

How could it happen like that?

Why did she have to return when Jessica has learnt to let her go?

And Yoona.

Why did she make her own decision without consulting Jessica?

What makes Yoona think that Jessica would go back to Taeyeon?

And then Jessica finally understood.

“Im Yoona, you’re so stupid.”

-

Irene sat on the bench. Her mind was blank and her anger was elevating as she thought of Erika Kim.

She wasn’t too sure if she hates Erika but the mention of her name irked her so much. She smashed her fist onto the bench. Her knuckles bled.

“Why are you hurting yourself?”

Irene didn’t turn. She already knew Yoona was the one who have been following her. She saw a glance of her when she realized someone was following. But she didn’t yell at Yoona to back off.

“Irene, you don’t have to hurt yourself.”

“It’s nothing compared to the pain I feel emotionally.”

“I understand.”

“It hurts for you too, right?”

“Yes, it does.”

“When does it hurt?”

“When I found out that your mother is Kim Taeyeon.”

“She’s not my mother.”

“Irene....”

“She’s just Erika Kim to me now.”

“You’re going to acknowledge her by her name?”

“She’s lucky that I’m still calling her Erika Kim.”

Yoona bit her tongue. She knew better not to provoke Irene again. It was evident that the girl was unforgiving this time. So she just nodded and sat next to Irene. The pair sat in silence with Irene staring up into the black sky and Yoona watched her facial expression.

“Mommy’s going to ignore me again.”

“No, she won’t.”

“She will. She has seen the evil herself. It would trigger many of her unhappiness moments and her horrible past which happened to be me.”

“You’re not her horrible past. She has never regretted having you.”

“I took so many years to get recognized by her; to get acknowledged by her. It took a lot of me as I struggled to work hard so that Mommy could notice me.”

“You’re a smart girl.”

“I’m not smart. I’m just hard working. I was so hard working. I diligently studied and did well during exams because of Mommy. I want her to be proud of me.”

“She’s proud of you.”

“But it took her long enough to acknowledge that! And it would just take seconds to destroy that and we would be back to square one all over again!”

“Is that the reason why you told Erika that you wouldn’t want to meet your real mother anymore?”

Irene stared into the dark sky. And her last words were harsh and cold.

“I rather not meet Erika Kim again. She’s my nightmare now.”

-

Taeyeon had a hard time to calm down. Soo Young was with her.

“Erika..? I heard what happened. Irene came to see me.”

“She told you everything?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. I didn’t know she’s your daughter.”

“I didn’t know either. And I was stupid enough.”

“Erika...”

“I saw my wife too. They were together when they stumbled upon this horrible truth.”

“Give them time to cool down, Erika.”

“It’s over, Soo Young. I don’t deserve any forgiveness.”

“Come on, don’t give up on them. It’s a rude shock for them right now but they’ll come around.”

“You think Irene will come around?”

Soo Young sighed.

“She almost blamed me for leading you to her but I guess she was just being emotional and irrational. Just give her time to think things over.”

Taeyeon nodded.

“Was she alone?”

“Yoona’s with her.”

“Okay.”

“So what are you going to do next?”

“I have no idea, Soo Young.”

Erika buried her face in her hands and prayed silently. She wanted to set things right. She was so desperate to change things around but she knew she had to do better than this.

“I want them to forgive me at least.”

Soo Young nodded.

“Then don’t give up. Don’t give up yet. You just need to work harder to gain their forgiveness. Trust me, they will relent.”

Taeyeon could only nod. She didn’t dare to have her hopes high.

-