(Read A/N)

2 hours ago

 "Sang Hee? Sweetheart? What are you doing here?"

Sang Hee smiled sheepishly at her mom when she open the door to find her daughter standing in front of her with a duffle bag at her feet.

"I just…I missed you guys." Her voice cracked as her hands trembled.

Her mother's face softened and held her arms out, "Oh sweetheart, we missed you too, come in and I'll make you something warm to drink. You should've called, me and your father would've picked you up."

Sang Hee bit down on her quivering lip before nodding, taking in a deep breath of her mother's perfume. She let go and picked up her bag before walking into the house.

"Honey who was it?" Her father's voice echoed from the stairs.

Sang Hee's mother dragged her into the kitchen while calling out, "Sang Hee's here!"

Footsteps boomed down the stairs as her father jogged towards her, "Offspring!"

"Father!" Sang Hee joked as she ran up to him and hugged him, laughing as he lifted her up and spun her around.

He set her down and smoothed down her hair with his hands, "Your old dad can still carry you, after all these years he's still got it."

Sang Hee rolled her eyes and wrapped her hands around her dad's arm, "Yeah, yeah."

"So what is my pretty daughter doing here? Don't you have work?" He asked as they sat at the dining table while her mother the kettle to make tea.

Sang Hee shrugged, ignoring the sinking feeling in her gut whenever work was brought up. "Not today. I just came to…visit."

Her father's smile faltered and his eyes narrowed as he inspected her, "You're acting weird."

"Living room!" Her mother called out while carrying a tray of tea cups. Sang Hee shot her dad a quick smile before trailing after her mother, plopping down on the couch before curling into her mother's side.

Her father sat next to her, watching her face carefully as Sang Hee stretched her legs over his lap.

"How's work? Have you gotten any closer to finding out about your parents?" Her mother asked while threading her fingers through her hair.

"You're my parents." Sang Hee grumbled while hugging her mother's waist.

Her father chuckled and tapped her calves with his hand, "You know what we mean."

"No, I didn't get any closer. Honestly, I just haven't had enough time since I have actual cases to work on but I've been asking around and no one seems to think Woon is capable of anything bad." She mumbled.

Her mother tapped on her lip, "What about that lawyer?"

"Hong? No, he's a snake, but he seems to think that Woon is shady." She said in thought.

Her father hummed, "Then go talk to him."

"That's like high treason in the 565." Sang Hee whined while wiggling her toes.

As her parents' laughter died down, a calm silence fell over them as they sipped on tea while Sang Hee laid on top of them comfortably.

She had forgotten how safe it was at home with her parents. No one could touch her, no one could hurt her and no one could leave her.

She was loved.

She almost forgot what that feeling was like and to be honest, she wasn't sure she was ready to leave this safe haven and go back to her other home.

"Dad, when you realized that you loved mom, what did you do?" She asked softly while staring at the ceiling.

Her father let out a booming laugh as he adjusting his glasses, "What did I do? I blurted it out when we went out for ice cream and your mother almost choked to death in surprise."

"It was so sudden!"Her mom said defensively, "I asked him if we should get another cup and he just looked at me like he saw a ghost and yelled I LOVE YOU in the middle of store."

A smile worked up Sang Hee's lips as her mother gently shoved at her father's arm. "So…you never shut mom out?"

Her father blinked at her in surprise, "Well sure, when we got into fights, but I had been with your mom for long and I had a crush on her for years before, that I was never scared to be with her once she agreed to go on a date with me. I never shut her out on purpose. I didn't want to risk losing her."

Her mother watched Sang Hee's lips twist with a frown while nodding. Her mother set her cup down and fiddled with her daughter's hair, "Sweetheart, does this have anything to do with Himchan?"

"Wh-what? Why would you say that?" Sang Hee said was hastily sitting up.

Her mother's face fell serious, "You've been dating him for a few months now and you haven't really said much ever since I asked you to invite him out with us, is everything okay?"

"O-Oh right, um, yeah, things are…good." Sang Hee said while letting out deep breaths to ignore the weight in her chest.

"Sang Hee?" Her father's voice was simple, with no hidden emotions, but the softness in his tone had closing up.

She rubbed her face, "Things are weird between us. We were doing really well and we were getting close but then he started acting weird and distant. A-And it…it--"

"Hurt?" Her mother prodded.

Sang Hee swallowed the lump in and looked down," A lot more than it should have."

"Wait, was this before or after you found out he was your Channie?" Her father asked in confusion.

"After, way after. He actually seemed really happy about that so I don't know why he suddenly freaked out."

Her mom sighed while watching her daughter's eyes glaze, the hardest thing to do as a parent was watching your child fall in love, because no matter what you do or say, they will fall in love and no matter how much you protect and warn them, they will get hurt.

There was no stopping it.

It was a part of life.

Her mother laced her fingers together and placed them on her lap, "Did something happen between you two?"

Sang Hee wanted to laugh because yeah something happened, but she couldn't exactly explain to her parents, of all people, that her and Himchan weren't dating in real life but then he kissed her and had with her a day ago and then left her alone.

"No." She whispered thickly.

"The heart is like a turtle." Her father said softly while her head, "It's slow and takes it time finding what it wants and going where it needs to go, but when it's afraid of getting hurt and when it thinks it's in danger, it'll hide back in its shell, so that no one can get close enough to hurt it. But eventually, slow and steady, it'll get where it needs to."

Her mother hummed, "When I spoke to Himchan, I could tell that he went through a lot, with his parents passing away and not being adopted. In his perspective he's always had to fend for himself, so people like him learn to survive by setting up walls when they feel like they're going to get hurt."

Sang Hee covered her face, trying to get her thoughts together. She liked Himchan. She liked, liked Himchan and that terrified her because she wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean for the two of them.

Or if it was to mean anything at all.

If, by any chance, he felt the same way, it was against policy and their personalities were so conflicting and it was bound not to last.

So wouldn't it just be easier to forget about it and save the messy breakup, hurt feelings and ruined business relationship and just solider on?

Now

"Sang Hee?"

She snapped out of her dazed and looked back at her parents who were yawning from their bedroom.

"It's Eun Ah…Himchan's sister…and her newborn son."

Her mother came scurrying over and looked at the other woman, "Oh dear, he's so small and tired, come in, come in."

Eun Ah smiled gratefully before shooting Sang Hee a look and entering the house.

Sang Hee's father wiped his glasses and set them on his nose, "I can't believe this, my daughter and her boyfriend's sister at my house all in 2 hours. What a day."

"Your boyfrien--"

"Just play along." Sang Hee muttered with a frown while taking Eun Ah's baby bag from her.

Eun Ah blinked at the girl before beaming at her parents, "Yes, it's nice to meet you all."

"What a cute baby!" Her mother cooed while smiling at Min Juk.

Sang Hee took Eun Ah's wrist and tugged her up the stairs, "We'll be in my room if you need us."

Before her parents could ask anything more, the two girls, with a baby in tow, raced up the stairs followed by the sound of Sang Hee's door being slammed shut.

"It's like she sixteen all over again…minus the baby." Her father said with a chuckle, leading his wife back to their room.

------

"How did you know where my parents live?" Sang Hee breathed out as the two of them entered her room.

Eun Ah's eyes roamed over the girl's bedroom before they landed back on her, "I went to your guys' apartment and when no one answered the door I went to Chin Hwae's apartment and he told me that he drove you to your parents house so I asked him to drive me here."

Sang Hee snorted dryly and watched from her desk as Eun Ah take her son out of the car seat and set him down on the bed before sitting next to him.

"What are you doing here? I mean, it's nice to see you and all, but really? You had to come to my parents house?" She deadpanned.

Eun Ah gave her a sheepish smile and it reminded her so much of Himchan that Sang Hee had to look away.

"I wanted to talk to you really badly and I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't really think my plan through."

Sang Hee sighed and took a seat in her chair, "What was so pressing? Did something happen?"

"Actually yes."

Suddenly Sang Hee's eyes widened and her heart started racing in panic, "N-Not to Himchan right? Or your husband and daughter or--"

"No, everyone's fine." Eun Ah said frantically, stopping the girl before her thoughts got too crazy, "It's actually you that I was talking about."

"Me?"

Eun Ah took a deep breath, "I heard about what happened with Himchan."

"Stop." Sang Hee said abruptly, standing up, "I'm sorry you had to come all this way, but I really don't want to talk about my relationship and life with his sister."

"I know, I know. I'm the last person you want to talk to, but I know Himchan the best and I just want you to hear me out. I'm not trying to convince to you do anything. I just want to tell you a story." Eun Ah said desperately.

Sang Hee stared Eun Ah in the eye, reading the woman's face as fast as she could before she slowly sat back down.

Seeing that she wasn't kicking her out, Eun Ah rocked her son in her arms and looked right above Sang Hee's head.

"There once was a little boy, this little boy who was abandoned as soon as he was given a name, for his safety. He was a precious secret that no one in the world knew about except the people that gave birth to him. His parents loved him more than their own lives and wanted to keep him away from the people who wanted to hurt him. He was this hidden treasure but the boy didn't realize how precious he was. No, instead he thought he was trash, because only trash gets thrown away like he did."

Sang Hee sunk in her chair, her fingers shaking as she fisted them in her lap and with every word out of Eun Ah's mouth, her nee