Song inserted in this chap: Love Takes Time by Mariah Carey. (credit to owner)

“When you are kissing me like this… can you differentiate who is who?”

As soon as the sentence came out from , a tear fell from the corner of Park Shin Hye’s eye and rolled down her cheek. She slowly opened her eyes when she felt Min Ho pulled back slightly, stopping what he was doing just now. Their eyes met and he was totally stunned with what she said.

“Can you recognize who is me and who is my sister?” She asked again.

Min Ho gasped out a breath and swallowed hard. “Don’t…”

Shin Hye smiled weakly. “When you were holding me like this, were you thinking about me… or her?”

“Please stop…” He begged and closed his eyes.

“When you sleep with us, will you compare who make you feel better or…”

“I said stop!” Min Ho growled, opened his eyes and glared at her. When he saw the tears flowing down her eyes uncontrollably, his gaze instantly softened. She was in so much pain and he was the one who caused it.

“Please stop. I’m sorry.” He pleads and pressed his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry…”

Neither of them says another word for a long while. Both needs a moment to calm their painful heart and breathed some air into their suffocated lungs.

“Can you understand now?” Shin Hye finally broke the deafening silence. “It’s going to be like this no matter how hard you try to keep me by your side.” She paused and looked into his eyes as he pulled back slightly and gazed down at her. “Even if I forgive you, do you think we could forget what has happened between us?” She shook her head. “No. We could never forget about it. No matter how much you love me, how much I love you, this relationship, this marriage, this love… it was broken.”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪ ♫

I had it all
But I let it slip away
Couldn't see I treated you wrong
Now I wander around
Feeling down and cold
Trying to believe that you're gone

♩ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪ ♫

Min Ho clenched his jaw tightly, trying to stifle and hide his tears but it still escaped slowly, dropping on her face, mixing with hers. She was right. His greediness, his selfishness broke the love that he thought he would never lost it. He thought his apology could heal her pain but it was just another selfish thinking.

“Please don’t use So Won to threaten me.” Shin Hye begged softly as she bit her lip from trembling. “If you really love me like what you said, please don’t use So Won to hurt me. You were right. If you want to fight with me, I will not be able to win. You know I have nothing. All the things that I’m having now were given by you, belongs to you. So Won is the only one that is truly mine. If you really feel sorry for me, please… please don’t take her away from me.” She sobbed and more tears flowing down her eyes. “I can’t lose her… but I can’t stay with you either. I really can’t. So, please… please let me go.”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪ ♫

Love takes time
To heal when you're hurting so much
Couldn't see that I was blind
To let you go
I can't escape the pain
Inside
'Cause love takes time
I don't wanna be here
I don't wanna be here alone

♩ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪ ♫

Sniffling harshly, Min Ho let go of her waist, slowly moved his hands upward and cupped her face. Gently wiping her tears away with his thumbs, he inhaled a sharp breath. “I didn’t lie when I said I remembered the promises I made on the day we got married. I promised to love you and care for you… but all these years, I neglected you and left you alone to face everything. I promised you to love you more each day… but instead of doing that, I let my heart wavered for another woman. I promised to be a loyal husband to you… but I chose to cheat on you. I promised to love you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together… but at the end, I broke your heart and broke the trust you have for me.” He paused as their teary eyes locked at each other.

“I never once mistaken you as her or compare you with her. I lied, I cheated but I never forget who is my priority and whom I want to spend my life with. It might be an excuse to you but my love for you and her is different. You are the love of my life and I want to give you everything. For her, I felt thankful, guilty and wanted to protect her for everything she has sacrificed for me. But I know it still couldn’t change the fact that I did wrong and hurt both of you.” He breathed in and caressed her cheeks very softly, very tenderly, like it would be the last time he could do so. “I regret, I really do. If I could turn back time, I would not choose the same path.”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪ ♫

Losing my mind
From this hollow in my heart
Suddenly I'm so incomplete
Lord I'm needing you now
Tell me how to stop the rain
Tears are falling down endlessly
♩ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪ ♫

“But we both know it’s not possible to turn back the time, right?” Shin Hye said, still looking at him. “Nothing will be the same again.” She added and a sad smile slowly formed on her lips. “I finally understand what it means when my mother told me these words twenty years ago when So Ra came to our house. The home, the family that she worked so hard to protect was completely destroyed when my father chose to betray her love for him.” She inhaled a deep breath and her tears never stop leaking from her eyes. She looked into his eyes with a gaze of no hatred, no disappointment, no blame… but just sadness. “It hurts, it really do. The pain is torturing and suffocating. There is a moment when I just want to give up everything and run away from all of this but I know I can’t. I need to pretend to be okay in front of So Won. I need to stay strong because I have a responsible that a mother could not escape. And in order to do that before I completely break down, I have to stay away from you. I need space, I need time… to heal.”    

♩ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪ ♫

Love takes time
To heal when you're hurting so much
Couldn't see that I was blind
To let you go
I can't escape the pain
Inside
'Cause love takes time
I don't wanna be here
I don't wanna be here alone

♩ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪ ♫

Min Ho closed his eyes briefly and heaved a deep breath before he got up into a sitting position and pulled Shin Hye up together with him. Before she could turn away, he wrapped his arms around her, bringing her into his tight embrace. She didn’t struggle or give him any response. She just stays in his arms quietly.

Burying his face in the crook of her neck, he inhaled her sweet scent again and again. He knows this will be the last time he could hold her like that. Nobody could tell what will happen in the future but as for now he understand that he will lose her.

“I know it’s meaningless to say that again but I really want you to know… I’m very sorry.” He closed his eyes and tightened his arms around her. “I’ll let you go.” He let those words out from his throat forcefully. “But promise me. Don’t run away without a word. Don’t disappear and don’t hide from me. Take care of yourself and don’t hesitate to come to me if you need anything. You have to remember that no matter what happened, nothing could cut the ties that bind us together. I’m So Won’s father and nothing could change that.”

He inhaled deeply, pressing his lips against her soft neck, not willing to let her go. “I’ll let you go… for now. If one day, when you think you could forgive and forget, I promise that I’ll still be here… waiting for you.”

♩ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪ ♫

You might say that it's over
You might say that you don't care
You might say you don't miss me
You don't need me
But I know that you do
And I feel that you do
Inside
♩ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪ ♫

A soft cries slowly breaking through Shin Hye’s lips as she wrapped her hands around his waist, hugging him back. It’s so painful to let him go too because deep inside her heart, she love this man, love him a lot. But her heart is completely shattered. She wasn’t sure she is still capable to love anyone anymore. The wound was so deep that she doesn’t even know how to heal it and stop herself from hurting. She is lost. She fell into a dark, a deep hole that she couldn’t find a way out no matter how hard she tried.   

Divorce is just a procedure to end this relationship by name. Like what he said, it will not cut off the ties between them. It will not help to ease the pain away. So Won who have both of their bloods flowing in her body will always be the one to connect them together. She can leave him but she can’t take So Won out of his life completely. Was this the reason why her mother chose the most painful way to protect her? But she is not as strong as her mother. All she wants to do now is to escape and run away from all this. She doesn’t hate him. She just hate herself for not be able to make him stay stronger and stay loyal for their love.

“I’ll not take So Won away from you. You are her father and she needs you too. You can always come to see her whenever you want.” She said.

Min Ho nodded. “Thank you.”

“Give me some time and when I’m ready, we will talk to So Won and try to make her understand. But I promise you, I’ll take care of her.” Shin Hye said, biting her lip hard.

“I know you will take good care of her. You always do.” He said again in a shaky voice. He knows it’s coming. The time for the separation is coming.

Shin Hye closed her eyes, let herself to feel his warmth for the one last time before she pulled away from him, stood up and ran to the door without looking back.

“Shin Hye-ah…”

She stopped, gripping tightly onto the doorknob.

Min Ho turned to her, looking at the sad view of her back. “Jeongmal mianhae.”

--------------------------------------------------------------   

“Eomma…”

Shin Hye looked at her daughter and let out a weak smile. “Yes?” She asked as she pulled the comforter up to cover her tiny body.

“Why are we staying in halmeoni’s house? Why didn’t we go back to our house? Where is appa? It has been a week since I discharged from the hospital. Why didn’t appa come to pick us up?” So Won asked with a lot of questions floating in her eyes. She doesn’t understand why they didn’t go home. Although her father used to go for a lot of business trip but it has never been so long before. And since she came out from the hospital, she never see her mother smile at all. It’s weird but she doesn’t understand why.

Shin Hye pursed her lips and looked at her helplessly. She doesn’t know how to explain to her. “You don’t like to stay with halmeoni?”

So Won shook her head. “I like to stay with halmeoni but I like to stay with eomma and appa more. I miss my beary boy at home.”

Shin Hye smiled slightly. She forgot to bring her favourite teddy bear over before she left the house that night.

“Where is appa?” So Won asked again.

Another deep sigh escaped from her lips. She brought her hand to So Won’s chubby cheeks and caressed it softly. “You miss appa?”

So Won nodded. “I miss appa. When can we go home and see appa?”

Tears started to well in her eyes. She took a deep breath, got up from the chair and sit on the bed. She gently pulled So Won up and embraced her tightly in her arms. “We… we can’t go home anymore.”

“Why?” So Won asked, looking up at her mother in confusion.

Shin Hye leaned down and plant a soft kiss on her forehead. She her hair soothingly and held her gaze. “So Won-ah, I know you are very confuse right now but there is a lot of things that it’s very hard for eomma to explain to you now. You are still young and won’t understand what is happening.” Looking at her daughter reminds her about herself twenty years ago. She was also as confused as So Won now.

So Won’s brows creased a little and looked at Shin Hye with another confusion gaze. Her mother is crying again. She is not like that last time. She likes to smile but now she always cry. She lifted her tiny hand up and wiped her mother’s tears away with her small palm.

“Did appa break his promise and make eomma angry with him again? If yes, So Won will help eomma to punish him. I will pinch his nose and don’t want to talk to him. She makes eomma’s angry, So Won will be angry too. Eomma don’t cry. So Won love eomma, okay?” So Won said childishly, hoping that her mother will stop crying.  

Shin Hye sobbed painfully as she pulled her back into her arms and rested her chin on her head. “Eomma love you. And appa loves you too. No matter what happened, nothing could change that and he will always be your appa. Don’t be angry with him. It’s not his fault. It’s eomma’s fault. Eomma doesn’t have the ability to make appa love us more.” If she could do better, if she could make him love them more, his heart will not wavered because of another woman.

“Appa… doesn’t love us anymore?” So Won asked.

“Of course he does.”

Both Shin Hye and So Won turned to the door when they heard Jin Kyung’s voice. The older woman looked at her granddaughter and gave her a warm smile. She slowly walked into the room and sat down beside the bed. She took So Won’s hand and caressed it softly.

“All the parents love their children in this world. Your eomma love you, your appa love you too. I know you miss your appa but he is very busy lately. Once he is done with his work, he will come to see you.” Jin Kyung said, trying to comfort her granddaughter.

So Won nodded before looking at her mother. “Eomma, you heard what halmeoni said? Appa is just busy. He still loves eomma and So Won. He will come to see us very soon. Eomma don’t cry anymore, arasso?”

Shin Hye sniffed and forced herself to nod.

Jin Kyung smiled and pulled her granddaughter away from Shin Hye. “So Won is a good girl. But it’s late now and you have to sleep. You just had a surgery not long ago and you need more rest. You can’t sleep so late, arasso?”

So Won nodded with a sweet smile. “Arasso. So Won will sleep now.” She then turn to Shin Hye and gave her mother a kiss on her cheek. “So Won need to sleep now. Eomma need to sleep early too.”

Jin Kyung held Shin Hye hand and pulled her up together with her. She helped So Won to lie down on the bed before covering her with the comforter. “Good night, sweetie.”

“Good night, halmeoni. Good night, eomma.” So Won said as she closed her eyes.

Jin Kyung turned to her daughter and sighed softly. “Let’s go out and talk outside.”

Shin Hye nodded.

Shin Hye followed her mother and went into her room. Jin Kyung let out a deep sigh, holding Shin Hye’s hand tightly when both of them were sitting down on her bed.

“I know you are sad but you can’t talk like that to So Won. She is still a kid and wouldn’t understand.” Jin Kyung said.

Tears started to fall down endlessly. Shin Hye gasped deeply and looked at her mother. “Eomma, am I doing the right thing? So Won is only 7 years old and she needs her father. Am I being selfish to decide everything without thinking about her? I should have endure it and forgive him. I should have think about So Won first and give her a healthy family to grow up. I should have be like you, like how you sacrificed everything for me. I’m so weak, so useless.” She cried painfully.

Jin Kyung shook her head and it hurt her heart seeing her daughter like that. She understands the pain she is suffering now. She gone through the same heartbreak but it was worse this time because the one who betrayed her is not only her husband but her sister too.

“This is not weak. You are not useless. You did the right thing that I didn’t dare to do in the past.” She said.

Shin Hye cried and threw herself into her mother’s arms. “How can it be right when my heart is bleeding so badly inside? Every night when I tried to close my eyes, the picture of him hugging So Ra will keep appearing in my head. Eomma… how can I stop the pain? It’s so painful that I could barely breathe.”

Jin Kyung wrapped her arms protectively around her daughter as her eyes reddened.  “Let go.” She said softly. “Let go of him and let go of yourself. Free yourself from all the misery they brought to you. Don’t lock yourself in the pain like me.”

“If I really let him go, what about So Won? You heard what she said just now. She loves her father and missed him so much. I can’t be so selfish, right? She is innocent. I don’t want her to grow up in a broken family.” Shin Hye said, resting her head against her mother’s shoulder. It felt so warm, so safe. How she wished that everything were still the same like her childhood time. When she faced any problems or when she was sad, her mother will hug her like this, and tell her everything will be alright.

Jin Kyung gently her back and sighed softly. “This is not selfish. This is just giving yourself another chance to have a new life. So Won love you too. She might not understand now but she will slowly understand as she grows up.” She paused and pulled back slightly. She wiped Shin Hye’s tears away and her hair. “Don’t follow eomma’s footstep. Don’t force yourself into a broken marriage just because you want to protect your daughter. That is not protecting. That is just a self-deception. I thought I could forget and as long as your father is being with me, I’ll be happy. But I was wrong. Because of the wrong choice I made, I have never been happy in my entire life. I thought I can protect you too in the past but I didn’t. I suffered from your father’s betrayal and let you grew up under the shadow of my pain.”

She looked into Shin Hye’s eyes and cupped her face. “You are still young. It’s not late yet to find back your own dream. As long as you are willing to let go, put down the burden, you can still start all over again. No matter what happen to you and Min Ho, So Won will not lose her parents. Min Ho and you will always be her father and mother.”

Shin Hye bit her lip and nodded slowly.

Jin Kyung smiled and pulled her daughter back into her arms. “You are not alone. Eomma will always be here to support you.”

------------------------------------------------------------

“Come in.” Min Ho said when someone knocked on his door. He closed his eyes and massaged his temples. When he heard the door opened closed and footsteps moving towards him, he opened his eyes again and looked up.

“I checked with your secretary and she said you are free now.” Chang Wook said as he took a seat in front of him. He put the file he was holding on his table before meeting his gaze.

Min Ho glanced at the file and sighed. “She ask you to give this to me?”

Chang Wook inhaled deeply and nodded. “I’m representing her to handle the separation between both of you.” He paused and looked at him. “She told me that you agreed to sign the paper. You are a lawyer too. I think you don’t need me to explain to you how is this work. As you know, Shin Hye already signed. Once you sign on it, I’ll submit to matrimonial office.”

Min Ho took the file and opened it. Another deep sigh escaped his lips when he saw Shin Hye’s signature. He slowly looked up at Chang Wook again. “Have you prepare the divorce settlement agreement? If you haven’t I’ll give you a list of things I want you to include in it. I’ll transfer half of my assets under her name and the alimony amount…”

“She said she doesn’t want anything from you.” Chang Wook cut him off. “She just need you to pay for So Won’s education expenses and the rest… she will take care of it.”

“What?” Min Ho widened his eyes. “How is she going to take care of it? She has no job and no earning. Even if she wants to look for a job now, what can she do? She doesn’t have any working experience. She married to me when she was only 19 years old and just graduated from high school. She has never connects to the outside world before.”

Chang Wook inhaled another deep breath. Of course he understand what Min Ho is worried about. He has already prepared the amount of alimony that Min Ho need to pay her for their living but she is very stubborn. “She said the money that you gave her all this while will