Chapter 1 – Roots

Cha Eun-Sang wasn't your regular chaebol daughter, the whole chaebol world could attest to that. Sure, she was a part-heir of one of the wealthiest organisations in South Korea, had a loving father, a socialite mother, over-protective older and younger brothers and the world's cutest younger sister her life hadn't always been that way, and as the 24-year old thought about the things she needed to look into once she started her new job as Chief Financial Officer of Jaeguk Group, she circled a date on the calendar app of her smart phone and wrote a single note:

Omma's death anniversary.

To understand the complexity of this young woman's life, however, one must understand her roots. This is the story as related to her by her father when she was 15.

It all starts with her father, the current president of Jaeguk Group, Kim Nam-Yoon, who, a year after losing his first wife during child birth decided to move to England with his infant son, where he would oversee the establishment of Jaeguk's London branch. Upon arriving in London he realised that his son Won, would need a full time nanny who was fluent in both Korean and English so that she could communicate with both him and the outside world efficiently enough to provide the best possible care for his little Wonnie.

Park Hee Nam, or Eun-Sang's omma, was a recently qualified English major and aspiring writer, whose parents owned a little traditional Korean Beef House in New Malden. Now being strapped for cash, as most unemployed graduates are, the young Hee-Nam couldn't thank her lucky stars enough when she came a across a baby-sitting job in the Classifieds that seemed to perfectly describe her…

Female…. "Yes"

Experience with handling young children… "I've been babysitting since I was 15, I'm 23 now… so. Yes"

Able to converse in fluent Korean and English… "Nae, dang-yoenhi…. Yes, naturally"

Able to cook Korean cuisine… " I've been learning since I was 12 "

And the job provided accommodation and paid well. So she'd finally be able to move out of her parents' house and after saving for a while, she'd get her own place.

Upon meeting her new employer and his adorable son, she was pleasantly surprised that they got on fairly well two the point where two years later, Hee-Nam was still working and living in Nam-Yoon's house and little Won, now 4-years old (Korean age) had begun to address her as "Omma". It was then that the two adults, against their better judgement, began an intimate, romantic relationship. A year later, Nam-Yoon, or the future Kim-sajangnim, went to Hee-Nam's parents to ask for her hand in marriage, her father however, refused and Hee-Nam being a filial daughter, chose to abide by her father's decision even if it meant separating herself from her beloved and the child she'd come to love as her own. So broken-hearted and dejected Nam-Yoon returned to Seoul, to find that, due to pressure from the board of directors who had learned of his relationship with Hee-Nam, his parents had arranged a marriage for him to his late wife's younger sister.

A month later Nam-Yoon's wedding preparations were well underway, while in England, Hee-Nam faced her own dilemma, she was 2 months pregnant and her father had just found out and kicked her out of the house. It was her mother's brother who took her in and convinced her to find Nam-Yoon and tell him about the child. When she arrived in Seoul, however, she found out that Nam-Yoon had remarried and despite trying multiple times, begging and pleading to different people, including his new wife, although she didn't know it at the time, she was never allowed to meet him. Feeling that she had burdened her uncle and his family too much, she chose to remain in South Korea, using what money she had left from her babysitting job, she rented a rooftop room and worked multiple jobs before finally landing a job as an English teacher at a middle school. When the time came Hee-Nam chose to give her daughter her uncle's last name as him and his family were the only people who supported her in her time of need. And So CHA EUN-SANG was born.

The stigma that came with being a single mother was much more pronounced in South Korea than in England and all Hee-Nam could do was guiltily comfort her little Eun-Sang the first time she came home from school in tears asking why she had no "appa" and "if he left because he didn't like Eun-Sangie?". That night and every other night afterwards Hee-Nam would tell her that her appa was a good person because he was very important it was difficult for omma to meet him and tell him to visit Eun-Sang.

The biggest change in Eun-Sang's life came when she was 7. It was a chilly morning in early winter that the recently appointed Kim-sajang saw a face he never expected to see again, plastered across the morning news was an image of Park Hee-Nam's face, his Hee-Nam, along with the faces of 7 seven children and a caption which read …

"Killed during a bus accident while on a school field trip to Busan."

It was as if Nam-Yoon's world had shut off momentarily, as tears welled in his eyes, he didn't hear the sound of this tea-cup shattering as it made contact with the marble floor or his wife Ki Ae's panicked shout of "OPPA!", what did catch his attention was the News anchor saying that while

"the school had voluntarily taken care of ENGLISH TEACHER PARK HEE NAM'S funeral, Hee-Nam's 7 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER would be placed in an orphanage until contact could be made with her relatives in England."

Once he had regained his wits, Kim-Sajang had marched to the phone, called his office and instructed his secretary to clear his schedule for the week, he then all but ran out of the house, got into his car and drove himself to the news station.

Three weeks later, after multiple meetings with Hee-Nam's uncle, the first of which resulted in Kim-sajang sporting a black eye, another in him almost firing every person that was still under his employ and had met Hee-Nam all those years ago, it was agreed that although Eun-Sang would not change her last name, she would remain in South Korea and live with her father. It was also decided that, she would be added to the family register and officially introduced to the public as his daughter and a rightful Jaeguk heir because as Kim-sajang declared to his mother, to Ki Ae and to the board of directors who opposed his decision "she has the blood of Kim Nam Yoon running through her veins, she is my daughter and deserves to be recognised as such! She will not be treated as a mistake because to me, she's my miracle!"

After the official press conference, Cha Eun-Sang walked through the doors of the Kim mansion, the place she refer to as "home" for years to come, for the first time, clutching the hand of her newly-found "Appa". Waiting in the parlour were all the maids and butlers of the household who bowed in greeting, and smiled slightly when Eun-Sang bowed back and introduced herself in a small shy voice: "Annyeonghaseyo, Cha Eun-Sang Ibnida."

To which her had father smiled gently and led her forward toward four people who were dressed differently from the helpers and were waiting at the end of the parlour. Two boys were standing in front of two women, an older looking woman who was standing and a younger, heavily pregnant lady was sitting The two boys stepped closer as she hid slightly behind her father's legs. The older of the two spoke first.

"Don't be afraid, Eun-Sang-ah" he had said. "I'm Kim Won, your big brother, but you can call me Wonnie oppa and this," he continued, pulling the younger boy forward by his hand "is our little brother Chan Young. Chan Young-ah, say hi to Noona." Little Chan Young had then pulled his thumb out of his mouth, waved excitedly and said "Annyeong Noona". And Eun-Sang had smiled, though uncertainly at first, and responded by waving back and saying "Annyeong Chan Young-ah, annyeong Oppa" causing Won and Kim-sajang to smile widely, while the older of the two woman smiled softly before moving toward the child and saying "Eun-Sang-ah, you can call me Halmeoni" to which the child nodded and replied "Nae, Halmeoni". Last came the introduction that Kim-Sajang had been most worried about, he sent a stern look to his wife who had been stony face during all the previous introductions, Ki Ae on her part tried to not look too pained as she forced herself to smile.

Won and Kim-sajang had each taken Eun-Sang by the hand and led her toward Ki-Ae who was sitting on an armchair, Kim-sajang had then spoken to Eun-sang in his gentlest voice and introduced Ki Ae as her "New Omma". The adults and Won, who was old enough to understand the situation and had been there before himself, were tensed as they watched the childs face intently and they had all held their breath when Eun-Sang had shyly looked up at Ki Ae and said "New Omma, can I please call you Eomeoni instead?". Everyone had then smiled, even Ki Ae, who caught herself smiling genuinely, as she nodded, for a split-second which was unacceptable as she had promised herself that although she had agreed to raise Eun-Sang, she would forever dislike this child, who had appeared to disrupt the lives of her nephew and children.

Although hesitant at first Eun-Sang had adapted well to the new environment, and as the weeks had passed it was not uncommon to hear the laughter of a little girl accompanying those of Won and Chan-Young as they ran through the house or chattered excitedly about whether they would get a new brother or sister. '

It was decided that Eun-sang would transfer to Jaeguk Elementary School after Christmas, and though she proved to be intelligent enough to cope with the coursework and showed a genuine acuity for English school life wasn't easy on her as once again she had to deal with bullying. This time, however, she wasn't alone, when he found out what was happening to her at school, Won had made it a point to walk her to her classroom every morning and collect her from there every afternoon, making sure to glare at anyone who he thought a danger to his sister. Their little sister Min-Young was born early January in the new year, to Eun-Sang, she was the prettiest thing in the world.

Twenty-four year-old Eun-Sang smiled as she tilted her seat backwards while thinking about her family. The last time she had seen them had been for Chan-young's wedding, that, had was a year ago. As she drifted off to sleep to the sound of Exo M's "Heart Attack" the last thought she had was

"I can't wait to be back home."