AFTER Amanda discovered the truth regarding her biological father, Song Qian’s world turned 360 degree. Everything came out at once, and Song Qian had the hard time to handle those problems especially when her daughter was still mad at her. Actually Amanda was mad at everyone in the family for deceiving her all this time and to make the problem less complicated, Song Qian had to allow Nichkhun to visit Amanda at anytime he wished to.
To earn the forgiveness from her daughter, Song Qian had to say ‘Yes’ when it comes to the matter of Nichkhun. Suddenly Nichkhun had become a part of the family where seeing him joining them for breakfast was no longer the strange sight for them because he had stayed over night at their house for couple of times now since two weeks ago. Song Qian had to admit that she was starting to get used over Nichkhun’ presence in this house, and she did not like it.
As a mother, Song Qian wished nothing but the happiness for Amanda yet she could not help to feel like Nichkhun had slowly taken Amanda away from her. She now liked to spend more time with Nichkhun and when he was not around, she would keep asking for him and Song Qian had to conceal the hurt on her face every time Amanda chose Nichkhun over her. Was she jealous of Nichkhun for having all Amanda’s attention?
Song Qian glanced at the clock wall and it was the time to pick Amanda from kindergarten, but Song Qian was still siting on her office chair because it had become Nichkhun’ responsibility to fetch their daughter from school. Sometimes Song Qian had the hard time to believe that her daughter was finally living on her dream, and she did tell Song Qian that she was just happy that Nichkhun was her biological father. Song Qian put the pen on the table and the sigh escaped from as she leaned her back against the chair.
“Knock! Knock!” Song Qian did not reply immediately as she took the time to stretch her stiff and sore muscles first. However the visitor was impatient and entered Song Qian’s office without the permission.
“I heard you have been skipping lunch lately,” said the visitor as he ignored Song Qian’s sharp glare over him. Anyway she was too tired to nag the visitor about respecting people’s personal space and time so she just grabbed the lunch box that he had brought for her and opened it. Song Qian almost drooled over the smell of chicken rice and suddenly she was so hungry and could not wait to eat the food that Joshua had cooked for her.
“I guess I’ve come at the right time,” he smirked as he watched Song Qian hungrily ate the food, and she did not stop even though she was pissed with him for mocking her. Honestly Song Qian did not decent meals lately because she was overwhelmed with her personal issues and problems at work. She might having the hard time, but Joshua knew his sister better than anyone and she would get through these. Song Qian had always been a strong woman, and he believed that she had become stronger than six years ago.
Now the truth had been disclosed, and Nichkhun finally had learned about their new family. The man that Nichkhun had always thought as Song Qian’s husband was turned out to be their step-brother and believe it or not, Mrs. Rosella and Lee Mei Xui was the same person who had abandoned them since they were small. After she went missing almost 14 years, she suddenly showed up in front of him few weeks before his 18th birthday. Even though Joshua was to small to remember any memories he had shared with her, he would never forget the face of the person who had abandoned them and ran away with some other guy for a better life.
“Joshua..,” Joshua moved away when Mrs. Rose tried to touch him, and he did not even care that he might hurt her feeling because right now, she deserved it. For the past few weeks, Joshua had received the expensive lunchboxes and gifts from the anonymous. At first he had the thought that they were from Nichkhun but he could not confirmed it with Song Qian since she had no idea that he had discovered her dark secret. Yesterday Joshua had forced the deliveryman to take everything back with him and returned them to the owner and probably it was the main reason Mrs. Rose decided to show herself in front of Joshua.
“Joshua, please forgive me. I was too ambitious back then and I was blinded by my dream. I know I had committed the big sins for leaving my children but believe me I had been punished for that,” Mrs. Rose told that she had been deceived by the guy who had promised her the better life in China but then she was forced to work as maid there and had been abused by her employee. It was Mr. Richard who had saved her when after she managed to escape from that hell.
“Wow, are you expecting me to feel impress and move by your story?” he asked sarcastically while trying to hold back the tears.
“At least you are living a good now but do you have any idea how we make a living after you left us? GrandMa Ning was trying hard to raise me and Noona by herself and we were once happy even though we did not have many things with us. But then everything changed. While you are living a good life with your new husband and son, I was suffering from depression and nearly cut myself after I lost one of my legs,” said Joshua as he slightly pulled up his trouser to show his prosthetic leg.
“While you are living your dream in Hong Kong, Noona has to work so hard to feed me and GrandMa N ing. While you were happy with your new family, we were mourned over death of GrandMa Ning. Right now you probably seeing me living a good life but do you ever know how I manage to get into this school?” Joshua had to pause because he had difficulty to continue his words. There was heaviness inside his chest that made him difficult to breathe, but he had to tell Mrs. Rose how life had been cruelled to them especially to Song Qian.
“Noona has chosen to live as a mistress in order to bring me to Seoul and get the treatment here!” Joshua said in frustration and he felt that he was the one that should be blamed to. If it was not for him, she would not choose to live that kind of life. Because he had known from the beginning that Peter was trying to approach Song Qian and made the job offer in the Hong Kong, he was being rude to him when they met again at the bus station.
Honestly Joshua had a thought of disclosing the truth regarding Song Qian’s secret to her when they went to Daegu for vacation but he had to withhold the idea after Nichkhun suddenly showed up at their hometown. He had the feeling that Nichkhun would not looking for his sister in Daegu if he did not have any feelings for her. That was why he chose to act and play along their games. He was being observant throughout their trip and from the way Song Qian stole the glance at Nichkhun whenever he was looking at other direction or from the way she looked after Nichkhun, he knew that she was in love with Nichkhun.
The night where they played ‘Truth or Dare’ game and get wasted later, Joshua was pretending to be drunk. The truth was he had seen everything that night including the kissed they had shared beside the bonfire. After Song Qian passed out on Nichkhun’ chest, he saw how careful Nichkhun was holding his sister as if she was a fragile glass and after he placed her inside the tent that was opposite his tent, Nichkhun kissed Song Qian again before he lied down beside her.
He thought that he loved her, and that was the main reason he did not stop Song Qian from seeing Nichkhun. Even though he had known that Nichkhun had a girlfriend, he believed that Nichkhun would choose Song Qian later because he could see the happiness on Song Qian’s face every time they met after they returned to Seoul. It was different kind of happiness. She looked glowing and madly in love but one day, that happiness was replaced by tears and sadness.
At that time he had decided to bring Song Qian away from this country, so he accepted Peter and Mrs. Rose’s offer to start in new life in Hong Kong. Song Qian refused to follow along because she still could not forgive Mrs. Rose but she agreed at the end after Joshua managed to persuade her. Few days before they left for Hong Kong, he found out that Nichkhun once again had broke Song Qian’s heart. So he decided to meet Nichkhun for the last time and he gave Nichkhun a hard punch on face as the last gift from him.
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NICHKHUN glanced at the wrist watch before he looked at Amanda’s pouted face and honestly to say, he almost died from her cuteness. He was trying hard to supress the smile by pulling a pouty face. They had ordered the foods but Amanda refused to eat first as she wanted to wait for Song Qian who had been late for their dinner for almost one hour now. Few minutes later, their waiting was finally over. Nichkhun could see the guiltiness all over her face as she rushed entering the shop, and she did not take much time to find their table.
“Honey, I’m sorry for being late,” Song Qian apologized after she kissed Amanda’s cheek, but the pout still remained on her face. She was caught up in works and forgot about their dinner. She did not even notice that her phone had run out of battery. Nichkhun could see that Song Qian rolled her eyes in frustration because Amanda decided to continue being sulky with her. She probably was tired and not in mood to coax Amanda, so she started to eat the cold French fries on the table.
“Amanda, stop being sulky. Your Mama is here now,” said Nichkhun softly but he could see that Amanda refused to drop the act. She became pissed off because Song Qian just ate