Whatever negative feelings that had lingered quickly disappeared as the three sat around the large mahogany dining table, having an ice-cream party. Unlike the ones that SooJin had been accustomed to whenever she got the chance to dine in the Jeguk Group Kim's household. She presumed that the smaller and the quainter table is one that was used by the family only. She felt a sudden feeling of privilege from being able to dine where most people could only dream of dining, and then followed by guilt as she remembered that this was all play pretend. 

The guilt made her sick to her stomach, and it ice-cream was probably not a good option in that moment. Meanwhile, the two brothers were arguing, or rather, Tan was doing most of the talking, about the kind of toppings that should be on an ice-cream. Won, true to his sophisticated and simplistic nature, had two scoops of vanilla ice-cream in his bowl, and that was it. The man took little bites with a little teaspoon as he listened to his brother's rambling. Tan, meanwhile, had a variety of different flavours in his bowl. For starters, he had chocolate, and that was the simplest flavour that he had. Apart from that, he also had birthday cake, red velvet, peanut butter and chocolate, smores, chocolate fudge brownies and even strawberry cheesecake. Needless to say, he had a bigger bowl between the three. He had to, what with the toppings that he had added in, including sprinkles, fruits, whipped cream and a cherry to top it all off. 

SooJin was honestly fascinated by the fridge that they had. And the fridge that had just gone into is the ice-cream freezer. The family had a separate fridge for fresh produce as well as for snacks. On one hand, the uncooked as well as leftover side dishes were placed in one fridge and there is another that is used as a freezer to place snacks that could melt such as candy and chocolates as well as drinks that are often imported. Apart from that, there is also a pantry where there are cereals covering the shelves that is covered from ceiling to floor in different types of cereals. And judging by the type, only the top shelf, filled with granola and healthy cereals belong to the entire familly. The rest must have belonged to Tan, considering the way that he was devouring his ice-cream. 

After a while, the guilt slowly disappeared and was replaced by amusement as SooJin listened in to their bickering. In her bowl, she had a scoop of strawberry ice cream and a scoop of rocky road with a topping of fruits. "Hyeong, everybody knows that ice-cream is a sweet treat from our childhood. " Tan said, as he kept stuffing his mouth with ice-cream. Won looked at him, unconvinced at what his brother was saying. In his opinion,it is a luxury treat that you don't have on the daily basis. And to him, if you are going to have a sweet treat that could potentially give you diabetes, might as well enjoy a gourmet version. 

Oblivious to all of this, Tan went on, "It should be enjoyed without any deep thought... You should get whatever flavour you want and add on anything that you want. " Only a particularly large scoop of ice-cream was effective in getting him to stop. 

"That's fine, but you need to think about how it'll affect your health someday." Won said calmly. 

Infuriated by his brother's consistent comment, Tan scoffed and said, "There you go again...Can't somebody enjoy their food in peace?" And on that note, Tan was back into his ranting session. A little smile came on SooJin's face as she watched the two. Out of nowhere it occurred to her that she did not mind waking up to this every day. As if catching herself in a sinful act, she shook her head slightly, snapping herself out of it. That is, she could be waking up to the sight everyday, given that she doesn't get herself kicked out first. And if she was being truthful, she had enjoyed Won's company while they were both staying at her house. It made her feel...safe.She had already lost count of how many times that she has been rescued from her ex boyfriend by her current fake one. 

Tan had taken a deep breath to continue on the latter part of his complaints on the availability of fat free ice cream when his eomma decided to waltz in the room, attracted by the chatter that was predominantly coming from her son. 

"Adeul..." She said lovingly, embracing Tan in a deathgrip. This slightly frightened SooJin as it was the exact opposite of the presumption that SooJin and probably every other person has had on the chairman's mistress based on her outward appearance. The way that she had came into the room even, if SooJin didn't know any better, she would have thought that the woman had just floated into the room with the absence of feet. 

It took a long moment of fussing over her son for her to realise that there are other human beings in the room. Tan was not happy at the amount of cheeks pinching and hair that his mother was imposing on him. He swatted at his mum's hand in increasin aggravation. This was the exact reason why his eomma got bored really quicly and turned his attention to anything else in the room. That just so happened to be SooJin and Won. 

"Oh!" She exclaimed and then her gaze fell on SooJin and she literally bounced off the floor as she made her way towards the new member of the family. "I see that everyone is here...well...everyone that is young that is..."She moved a hand up to lightly touch her face. She has been worried about the age lines that are slowly appearing across her face. 

Brushing the thought off, she turned towards her next victim after her son. "So." Her hands dug sharply into SooJin' s shoulder, effectively shaking her. "are you guys having a lot of fun?" She said gleefully. And for the first time, she had noticed the ice cream that was on the table. "Ah...." She grabbed the spoon right out of SooJin's hand. It has been sometime since the mistress has had any sweets. For the figure, she said. 

The mistress brought the spoon halfway to , tempted to take a bite. But then, she caught sight of SooJin and decided against it. Her tongue flicked just like a snake, as if hoping that through that she could taste the food without actually consuming the calories. 

"Mother...." Her adeul's voice grabbed her attention once more, although she never let go of SooJin. She turned towards her son with a questioning look. "How can we help you today?" Tan asked with a professional looking smile that you could see on most customer service employees. 

"Uri adeul...." His eomma gave him the sweetest, most fakest smile that she could muster. "Come on now,,, don't think I don't know you..." She said, referring to her son's sarcastic sense of humour. She starts laughing, which subsequently triggered her son's own funnybone. 

She gave her son a little smirk before addressing everyone in the room again. "Ooooohhhhh....it's just so fun to see all the young people all together... all the young bloods..." She said, on an envious note, remembering the days when she used to be that young and....beautiful. Subconsciously her hand went up to her face. 

Suddenly remembering that she was in a room full of other people, she cleared to regain her composure. "We old people just need to work a little harder for that glow that you young people have..." she gave SooJin a tight red lipped smile that SooJin could do little with but smile a little smile back. 

Won, on the other hand, who had been quiet the entire time, scoffed at his father's mistress's statement. He has always tuned out whenever she was talking. He never really liked the woman but he could tolerate her. 

Seeing his reaction, the woman clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Aigoo. aigoo, you were always the one to not respect me." And at this, she had relaxed her deathgrip on SooJin and had her hands on her hips. In response to her, Won shrugged his shoulders in the most nonchalant way which infuriated his father's mistress even more. "Aish chincha, look at this little brat..." She hissed, a hand raised ready to strike. SooJin wasn't used to any of this commotion but Tan was and he was so used to his eomma constantly threatening to hurt his hyeong that he wasn't even worried. Before the situation could escalate, Tan gave his mother a stern look and said "eomma..." in a kind of warning voice. This was not worth it. 

His mother cleared for the thousandth time that day as she slowly lowered her arm. To quell her own annoyance, the chairman's mistress turned her attention exclusively to SooJin, ignoring the death stares she was receiving from the Chairman's first born son. "SooJin ah..." Her honey sweet voice made SooJin's skin crawl. "Can I call you SooJin?" the mistress said belatedly, but then waved it off. She grabbed SooJin's spoon out of her hand again and this time she takes a big bite out of the ice cream that has already turned into a sloppy cold soup. "It's so great to finally have another woman around to hang out with." She squealed giving SooJin one of her death grip hugs.

For a second there, SooJin could barely breathe. "I mean, I have Eun Sang... but she's just a baby..." She gave SooJin another squeeze. 

Ultimately, it was Tan that saved SooJin from his mother. He felt slightly uncomfortable once they started talking about his girlfriend, especially when she isn't there. After everything tbat they have been through, it was a sensitive topic. His father was now merely tolerating their relationship or another phrase for it was that 'he does not care'. With that in mind, his mother's comment was not helping. "Eomma....Chaebal..." Tan growled, wiping the smile off of his mother's face.

"What?" She snapped at Tan. Her son on the other hand, was glaring at her and just begging for her to keep quiet. Disregarding this, she returned her attention to SooJin. "So, since we're going to be living together anyway...and you're dating our Won..." the mistress gave her one of those smile that made SooJin uncomfortable. And she wasn't the only one, Tan and Won was shifting in their seats waiting to see what she was going to do now. "....I think you can call me eomma." She said cheerfully while SooJin nearly choked on the air that she breathed. 

Even Tan and Won were shocked by this sudden request and resorted to just stare with their mouths wide open at the pair of women in front of them. But Tan's mother was clearly not affected by the reaction that she was getting. "Come on... try it out..." She gave SooJin another shake. 

SooJin on the other hand, was frozen and rooted to the spot. It took her sometime to realise that someone was talking to her. "Oh...." She said, as the chairman's mistress was waiting expectantly. "Oh...okay..." SooJin cleared . She hadn't called anyone that for quite sometime. And to just say it right now was so awkward without having three pairs of eyes on her right as she does it. "Oh...ummm....eo...mmm...aa." SooJin sounded like she has just learned the word and was looking at the woman hugging her for approval. It seems like she has gained that approval when Tan's mother squealed happily and gave her another hug. SooJin on the other hand, was making a mental note of something that she has to remember while she was living in the Kim's Playland. 

"Oh come on eomma....stop it...she's turning blue already..." Tan interjected, trying to get his mother to break her embrace. 

But what ultimately stopped the death embrace was the sharp click and clack sound of heels heading towards them. The other three, apart from SooJin instinctively recognised the sound and Tan started to straightened up a little, Won shifted in his seat to face away from whoever it might be and Tan's mother jumped away from SooJin as if she was made of lava. 

The Chairwoman entered the kitchen to a sea of confused and terrified faces. "Well, well, let's see who we have here..." She smirked at the crowd. As much as Tan's mother enjoyed her power in the house, she was still superior to the Chairwoman. And the Chairwoman knew the fear that Tan's mother had against her and it fueled her with more power. 

"The whole house is here it seems..." The smile remained on her face as she noticed SooJin, the new addition to the family. In these kinds of situation, Won tended to ignore his stepmother. It was a mutual understanding between the two as they almost only show affections whenever they were at official events or when they were out and about where the crowd could recognise them. 

"Even our newcomer..." The light touch of the Chairwoman is even more scarier than the hug from Tan's mother. "President Kim... I hope that you're feeling comfortable with our hospitality?" She asked. Her practised poise made it even more tense for SooJin, even when it is just a simple question. 

Almost belatedly SooJin answered. "Oh....yes....yes, of course. It's very comfortable...."  Despite answering, it made her uncomfortable that she couldn't see through the poker face that the Chairwoman has. After years of handling a company, the Chairwoman has mastered the art of masking her emotions and she presumed it is the same for the Chairman. 

She giggled in the most graceful manner, and said "Good. Good. I'm glad to hear that." She grasped onto both of SooJin's shoulder like a hawk. SooJin felt like she would not let anybody touch her anymore after what she had to go through with both Tan's mother and the Chairwoman. 

Seeing just how the chairwoman took to SooJin like fish to water, she couldn't help but feel the surge of jealousy within her. She cleared and grasped both of SooJin's arms, effectively repulsing the Chairwoman away. The chairwoman almost hissed like a snake at the hands of the mistress almost touching her own. 

"SooJin ah... You're going to go shopping with eomma later on right?" She brushed a strand of stray hair away from her face. This revelation from her husband's mistress wiped the smile from the Chairwoman's face. Instead, it was replaced by a neutral sort of face, that was usually reserved for job interviews and difficult business partners. It scared SooJin but thankfully enough the mask of pleasantry went back up and the Chairwoman was smiling down at SooJin again. And within this time, SooJin wondered what the hell the two Kim brothers were doing. 

A peek told her that this was a regular occurence in the house where one of the brother could still be eating away while the other stared into the glass of water that he had gotten for himself in the short time that she hadn't been paying attention. This relaxed behaviour in the midst of a total storm brewing indicated that they had seen this enough to know it wasn't anything dangerous yet. 

Eomma cleared , knowing when to back down when she needed to. And the chairman regained somewhat of a composure. The two knew better than to cause a commotion in vicinity of the chairman. "Anyway...that's a promise..."Eomma gave SooJin a little pat on the shoulder, her red lipped smile as tight as ever. 

It didn't occur to SooJin that she was suppossed to answer until all eyes were on her and she didn't feel eomma's grip start loosening. "Oh...promise..." She sputtered finally. She heard her friends constantly complain about their mother in laws. Well, just imagine having two, both with their own intense personalities. 

"Good!" Eomma exclaimed excitedly, making the english word sound more like goot than anything. After a light tap on the shoulder, and she was off, in what SooJin assumed was her usual lofty, aloof style. 

The Chairwoman wasn't impressed, then again who would, if your husband so openly displays his mistress, although by the looks of it, the chairwoman doesn't care all that much anyway. She proved this point by doing nothing other than shake her head in disapproval at the younger woman's retracting frame and she muttered something that sounded way too similar to a female dog. 

The silence that followed was something that SooJin never wanted to experience at her in laws' if she ever decided to get married, and yet here she was...on her first day too. This why married couples should get their own place. She looked over to Won who was still inspecting his now empty glass and she had to wondered what it was that was so interesting to him in that glass that he couldn't even come up with an excuse to get them out of there. 

It took another minute for them to finally be saved....not by the bell, but by the beep of the cellphone. The chairwoman took one brief look at the screen and announced her departure. "Oh! Chairwoman Jang requested a meeting about the shares we have offshore, I should go." She turned to include her sons into the conversation. "Children, have fun and don't do anything stupid." 

She didn't stop to wait for an answer but Tan gave an answer of his own anyway, "You think everything we do is dumb." 

It was only then that SooJin felt her shoulders slump with relief. And tactfully, Won decided it was the right moment to step into the lead role again. "I think we better get going too." He rounded the table and with a hand on the little of her back, he swept her away again. This time, the two ventured into the outer domains of the humble abode. 

Apart from both a tennis court and a basketball court, there was also an observatory style gym, located in a glass dome that is right next to the olympic sized pool. The view from both of these facilities is that of the vast concrete jungles of Seoul. So, whether you choose to do your morning workout in the gym or you choose to swim instead and later decide to relax at the patio, the superb view will always be there to keep you company. 

SooJin had never imagined herself to be in this situation, even when she often had little sneak peeks into the lifestyle when she was little. After her mum died, that abruptly stopped and ever since then, all she had to supply her was the stories that WooHyun told her. But pretty soon, she lost interest anyway. Why pay care about people that have forgotten you all together? That is, until they found out you have something they need. 

Won had been silently watching SooJin throughout the entire tour and he decided that he didn't like the blank stare that she had on the entire time. He couldn't read what was going through her head and she looked so broken and lost. He wished he could tell her he wanted that clumsy, panicked and confident SooJin back, but he couldn't. And he didn't know how to cheer her up either. If only he could overcome his brooding heir self. 

He decided what better place to conclude the tour in than the gazebo that his stepmother had insisted be installed, to give the pool area a more elegant feel rather than just a plain olympic style pool. It was a great place to come and clear the mind and think. Silence is one thing you don't get often even if it was in a mansion when your family life is a little crazy. He had hoped that she could find the same solace and clarity he always felt whenever he went out there. 

He watched as she leaned over the edge, closing her eyes as she did, letting the breeze carress her cheeks as her hair billowed in the chilly wind. As cold as it was, he felt this weird kind of warmth, a good kind of warmth while he was there with her. He started twitching with a strange urge and what's even crazier, he felt the irregular thump thump thump thu thump in his chest again. It was like his mind had ceased to work apart from the craving to just...touch. Without even knowing it, he reached a hand out, almost feeling her soft, fragile hands in his and imagining how warm and good it would feel in his. How would they fit together? Would he feel something new, something exciting?

Mere inches away, he could already feel it but before his hand met hers, the spell was broken by a chesty cough coming towards them. 

The two jolted apart, even though Won was the one who physically moved back. The Chairman had no knowledge and definitely no care of what he had interrupted. "I hope everything is up to par or else I will be forced to summon all staff members." The slant of a smile suggested that the old man was only joking. 

Won lowered his head  a little at his father; an acquired habit. 

"Kurae kurae..." He could feel the weakened touch of his father and he furrowed as he moved so that his father could stand in between him and his girlfriend. Girlfriend. That needed some getting used to. He choked on nothing but air at the thought and decided the best thing to do was to keep his head low and mind his own business for a little while. 

"It's good to see you're enjoying the place." The chairman gestured to the scenery sprawled out in front of them. 

"Yes, it is wonderful." SooJin replied curtly. 

"Ah... do not be so formal. We are after all, like family now." He smiled kindly, already thinking past the rank of his son's girlfriend to that of daughter in law. 

"Family..." No matter how many times she uttered the word, she still couldn't get used to it. If the chairman were to request that she called him abuji, she thought that maybe she would have collapsed right then and there. But all the chairman did was to send his son away, which scared SooJin even more. It took everything in her to stop herself from wrapping her arms around him and begged him to stay when he turned to walk away. 

As soon as Won was out of earshot was the moment that the Chairman turned to his true agenda. "Fragile child, he is. No matter the facade he puts upfront, he still sulks and stomps his feet like a child." He chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. The Chairman has always loved both of his sons. And he has been sorry to both of them too. Tan didn't have the attention that he should have given, busy with everything else. Won, well, he sometimes wondered if every little thing that he did, to move on from  his mother hurt him a little more and broke him a little more on the inside each time. 

Of course, there was no good way of answering for someone who quite literally has just been thrown into the family tree. No way of agreeing or denying it. No right, is more like it. And she didn't know why he was bringing this up to her. "A child that he was, he still has that innocence about him. I don't believe I'll ever be ready to let my sons go, no matter how much I push them." 

SooJin flinched when the chairman turned to face her. "Be gentle." There was an assertiveness in his voice. What else could she do but nod; a display of weakness in front of the true alpha. Necessary of course, if you want to survive in a tight knit pack. No matter what the family situation is, that is exactly what they are, a pack. 

"I know it's a lot to ask. But I've never seen my son so... himself in a long time." SooJin didn't understand, but the Chairman didn't expect her to. There was no way she could see the way that his son now seemed to have a spark in him, instead of the get by glassed over state he was fueled on right up until he ran away and stayed over at SooJin's house. He couldn't explain it, but having the two together, made him feel at ease.