AFTER Jong Hyun had finished taking shower, he went to kitchen to get some snacks as he planned to watch a movie night later. He then remembered the jar of chocolate chips cookies that Mi Na had given to him this evening. So he went to get it inside the cabinet and brought it to living room along with two packets of potato crisp inside his grip.

        When he placed all of them on the coffee table, he saw the paper bagwhich Mi Na had told him that she put her favorite music box inside there. Jong Hyun peeked inside the paper bagbefore he took out a ruby red heart-shaped music box and placed it on the table. She told him to keep it safely with him and put it back inside her room when he visited her at home next time.

        "What a lovely music box," Jong Hyun flipped open the lid and smile on his face instantly faded away and had been replaced with a frown on his face as he read the engraved words on the inner part of the lid. ALWAYS. This word was closed to his heart, and he thought that this word probably was there when Ah Young bought this for her daughter.

        Jong Hyun smiled as he watched a pair of lovely doves twirled around while the background music was playing and somehow this music box had bring back the old memories that he had been sharing with Ah Young. He then pulled the small drawer of the box and noticed there was a gold necklace with a ring inside it. Mi Na must have forgotten to take this necklace with her before she passed this music box to him.

        However his heart temporarily stopped beating the moment he placed that necklace on his palm to take a better look. He remembered that ring so well and he did not believe that it was coincident this time. So he removed the necklace on his neck and compared with the ring on Mi Na's necklace. The design was exactly the same except the size of the rings because they were specially designed for a couple.

        "Why Mi Na has this ring with her?" Jong Hyun remembered of losing one of the rings and he did ask Ah Young about these rings on the last day they saw each other but she denied seeing any of it. Jong Hyun was thinking so many things right now and one of it was the possibility that Mi Na was his daughter with Ah Young.

        But how she could get pregnant with his child? Jong Hyun had to stop assuming because he did not have any proof to claim Mi Na as his daughter but regarding this ring, Jong Hyun had to get the explanation from Ah Young. However when Ah Young visited his apartment late at night just to take this music box with her, from that moment Jong Hyun knew that Mi Na was his daughter.

        "I'm here to take back the thing that Mi Na gave to you this morning,"

        "You mean music box? It is on the coffee table in living room,"

        "Have you seen what is inside it?"

        "No. Mind to show it me?" he lied because he wanted to know how she played her game.

        "I'm sorry for disturbing you but I have to leave now. Mi Na can't sleep without this music box,"

        "I'm sorry. Is the music box is only the reason you are here? Nothing else?" Jong Hyun stopped Ah Young from leaving because at that moment he felt like asking her on everything about Mi Na and that ring but he immediately reminded himself to be more patience. For just now he just needed to play along with Ah Young's game and see how long she wanted to deceive him about Mi Na.

************

"WHAT kind of nonsense are you talking about? Are you drunk?" said Ah Young after she managed to release her arm from Jong Hyun' grip and stepped away from him. Jong Hyun fumed with anger because instead of telling the truth, Ah Young chose to deny it. Anyway Jong Hyun was expecting this kind of situation, so he had prepared something for her.

         Ah Young watched Jong Hyun headed to another room which probably his working station and came out few minutes later with a blue file in his hand. He then shoved the file to her and waited for her to check the content inside it. Ah Young's heart skipped a beat the moment she realized that the document inside was the paternity DNA test result.

        "Now I have a proof to claim that Mi Na is my daughter. What are you going to do now? Are you still going to deny it?" Ah Young was speechless and there was nothing she could say to cover the truth regarding Mi Na's biological father.

        "If Mi Na didn't give her music box to me and I didn't accidentally find the necklace inside the drawer, tell me Ah Young for how long you are going to keep this secret from me? Tell me for how long you and your family are planning to deceive me? Tell me!" Ah Young flinched in surprise when Jong Hyun' voice became as loud as thunder, and her tears started to stream down on her face.

************

"UNCLE JONG HYUN!" Mi Na excitedly ran towards Jong Hyun, and he caught her in his arms before he lifted her on his shoulders. When the teacher told her that Jong Hyun was waiting for her at the playground, she refused to believe it until she saw him with her own eyes.

"What's bringing you here, Uncle," asked her when Jong Hyun put her feet on the ground back.

        "I forget to tell you yesterday that I'm going back to my hometown tomorrow for few weeks. So I want to meet you before I'm flying back to Seoul," Mi Na whined sadly after she received that news, but Jong Hyun promised her that he would take her out for date after he returned to Hong Kong.

        "Are you going back because my Mama scolded you last night?" she said in guilty because she knew Ah Young went to Jong Hyun' apartment last night to take back her music box.

        "Did she tell you that scolded me last night?"

       "No but I assumed she did scold you. She didn't even talk to me this morning," she sighed and headed to the tree bench and Jong Hyun just followed her from behind.

        "She probably would not get mad if I didn't forget to take out my lucky charm," she continued after sitting on the bench and from her face, Jong Hyun knew that Mi Na felt so guilty but she was just 5-year-old kid and Ah Young should not be too harsh on Mi Na when she was mad at her daughter.

        "Your lucky charm?" Jong Hyun pretended not knowing anything because he was on the mission right now. That was why he chose to meet Mi Na at her kindergarten during recess because her family members were not around.

        "It's a necklace with a ring on it. It was from my Papa," Jong Hyun clenched his fist because Ah Young had told so much lies to Mi Na.

        "Your Mama said it was from Papa Sung Joon?" Mi Na suddenly gave him a weird look like he had said something absurd to her.

       "What are you talking about, Uncle Jong Hyun? Papa Sung Joon is my Uncle, Mama's step-brother. I thought you had known about it," she chuckled in amuse while Jong Hyun just froze in his place as he did not expect to receive another surprising news for today. In all these years, he had believed that Ah Young had married Sung Joon and that was one of the reasons why he did not go look for her after he found out that she was living in Hong Kong.

        Jong Hyun could not believe that the whole family members had fooled him yesterday after the innocent Mi Na blurted out everything to him. Sung Joon did not lie when Sung Joon told Jae Rim few years ago that he was married but not with Ah Young. His wife was Jin Kyung who claimed to be Sung Joon's sister yesterday. So what did Ah Young tell everyone about Mi Na's biological father?

       "Then where is your real father?" Jong Hyun asked curiously since Mi Na knew that Sung Joon was not her biological father and she addressed him as "Papa" because she did not have one since baby.

      "I don't know. Probably somewhere in Korea because Mama was staying there before she moves here. Can I have one lollipop?" Mi Na suddenly changed the topic and Jong Hyun looked at the pocket of his shirt where she pointed at few sticks of lollipop that were popping out from there. He got too carried away with her story until he forgot that he had brought these lollipops along with him so he could get Mi Na's saliva for DNA test later.

       "Sure. So have you seen you father before?" Jong Hyun saw Mi Na shook her head as she removed the plastic cover and shoved the lollipop inside . She few times before pulling the stick out with a 'pop' sound.

       "No, but I could imagine that he must have light brown eyes, sharp nose and fair skin like me," she smiled before again that candy. Jong Hyun did not understand why Ah Young refused to tell Mi Na anything about him.

        "Aren't you curious?"

        "Of course I am but Uncle Woo Bin had once told me the reason why Mama never told Papa about me is she doesn't want to ruin Papa's happiness. Papa is happily married now," Jong Hyun felt tears pricked his eyes, but he immediately blinked back because he did not want Mi Na to get suspicious on him.

        "But Uncle Jong Hyun, I had a thought that you are my Papa when we first met because you shared a same name with my Papa and we both have the same color of eyes, but Uncle Woo Bin told me that you are not my Papa. You are just my Mama's old friend," Jong Hyun recalled the memory when they first met in shopping mall.

        During that time Woo Bin was looking after Mi Na when he had a personal conversation with Ah Young. Jong Hyun had never thought that Ah Young could be pregnant with his child because the last time they had was when they were in Jeju for her birthday and she had her menses on the next day. So there was only one possibility left, and Jong Hyun was very sure that they did have on that night.