A/N: This chapter is short, but I'm about to go on vacation, and I wanted to post something before I leave. Next update will probably be in two weeks after I get back. :)

The red numbers on the digital clock by the TV bled together, spilling out of their incandescent glass enclosure and into Yi Jeong's glazed, unfocused eyes. Woo Bin sat next to him on the couch, muttering how fucked up everything had gotten in so little time, while Yi Jeong sipped the strong coffee Woo Bin had made over an hour ago.

It was cold now.

What it came down to, Woo Bin continued, was that he was focusing on the wrong things. He'd seen the disastrous results of his grandfather's doings right in front of him, personified by his father and So Ri. By building such a scandal around Ga Eul, his grandfather had definitely meant to make her look bad, but he'd also meant to distract Yi Jeong from the real enemy by straining his relationship with her. It didn't mean anything. They knew Ga Eul. They knew Ga Eul's character. Remember what happened with Jan Di when she was drugged? Why the hell was his grandfather having Ga Eul followed at that time anyway?

Was Yi Jeong even listening to him?

"Bro? You there?"

"What?"

"You spaced out there."

"Oh...I was just...trying to figure out what I'm going to say to her." Yi Jeong stood up and set his handmade earthen coffee mug down on the coffee table in front of them. An X-box controller lay next to it, taunting him with the memories of their reckless younger days. Yi Jeong let out a heavy sigh and drove his fingers through his hair.

"Only I can't think anymore. I can't...aish, it's too much!" he exclaimed. "Why couldn't he leave it alone?" He turned to Woo Bin, who stayed seated. "What does he want from me? That I sit when he says sit and stand when he says stand?! Maybe he made that museum what it is, but I've made my fair share too. It's not like I was sitting around like a lazy bum all these years. And I stayed. I stayed! Even after Il Hyun left, I stayed. I worked my ass off for him here and in Sweden, even with this stupid hand, and for what? To be his prized puppet? Just like my father. I'm sick of it! And he can take those pots from the exhibition, and shove it up his—"

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Who's that?" Woo Bin sat up straighter and looked over at the front door.

Yi Jeong slid his gaze back to the clock.

3:34 AM, it read.

"I'll get it."

"No. I'll go." Woo Bin jumped up and was at the door before Yi Jeong could protest.

Swinging it open, he greeted the person on the other side familiarly, and then Yi Jeong heard the unmistakable timber of his father's voice echo back.

A moment later, the aging ladies' man stepped into the apartment and fixed his thoughtful gaze on Yi Jeong, greeting him warmly as if they always dropped by each other's living spaces for a friendly chat.

In the wee hours of the morning.

He also looked more determined about something than Yi Jeong had seen him in years.

"What are you doing here?" Yi Jeong asked, skipping the pleasantries.

"I made a mistake."

"A mistake? Just one?" Yi Jeong scoffed. "Is that what you call your first son? Or no. I thought we were all mistakes."

"Bro, just listen to him," Woo Bin replied.

"Did you tell him to come here?" Yi Jeong shot him a look.

Woo Bin held up his hands defensively.

"Yi Jeong, I've been where you are right now, almost thirty years ago," his father continued. "You listened to me tell you all the wrong things for so long. Please let me tell you the truth now."

"Why?" Yi Jeong narrowed his eyes.

"Because I have too much to regret and too little to show for what I gave up."

Glancing between the two of them, Yi Jeong tamped down the urge to take out his frustration on his father. In the absence of his grandfather, he'd like to rail at him, to blame him for not being man enough, but in truth Yi Jeong had begun to understand his struggles. If only because they had both been wounded by the same party, he finally lowered himself back down to the couch and muttered, "So talk."

A moment later, the couch dipped under the weight of Woo Bin sitting back down next to him. Following after Woo Bin, Yi Jeong's father pulled up a bar stool on the opposite side of the coffee table separating them.

Yi Jeong stared at the fine ridges engraved in the edge of the table.

"Then...shall we start at the beginning?"