Hello everyone! I'm sorry this is a bit late... I actually got distracted watching House Hunters International, lol, such a fake show but it's so addictive! LOL... anyway!

Thanks for reading and thanks to Sandy-belle for always helping me!

To jkim1: Hi! Thanks for that, I just checked the terminology very superficially and it sounded okay, since I don't really know how the Korean legal system works. So thanks.

Chapter SEVEN

Present Day

The office of Park Soon Deok was a little messy and a lot charming, kind of like its owner. Hae Soo liked both immediately. Soon Deok was a couple of years younger than Soo and had recently graduated from law school. Soon Deok had rejected all job offers and elected to start her own small firm.

So's cousin Eun had actually been her first client when he decided to start his own game manufacturing company. So knew she was competent, and having known her almost all her life, he also knew she was trustworthy.

"Soon Deok-ah is Park So Kyung's daughter, head of the company's legal department."

"Oh."

"But don't worry, Unnie." Soon Deok said, correctly guessing the destination of her thoughts. "As your daughter's attorney, my function is to make sure she gets what she needs. I don't take sides other than hers."

"Ok," Soo said with a little more conviction, taking the seat So was holding out for her.

"Okay, good!" Soon Deok clapped her hands and settled back into her seat across from them. She opened a big folder and turned on an old-fashioned recorder. "So, first things first. I would recommend we start with a paternity test."

"I'm not contesting paternity," So said firmly. "I'm claiming it."

"Oh, I know. It's not for that. But you had mentioned on the phone that you wanted to rewrite your will as well."

"Yes, I want Seol to get everything if something happens to me."

"That's it exactly. You know how Chaebol families are like, So-Oppa. If something happened to you, your family could argue she's not yours try to take your assets. If Soo-Unnie wanted to fight it, they wouldn't get away with it, but why go through all that trouble if we can settle it now?"

"Good point," So agreed. He didn't think his brothers would do something like that... but his mother and father? He couldn't be sure; they weren't on the best of terms.

Soon Deok handed him a list of laboratories that specialized in paternity tests. "Do you want me to rewrite your will too, Unnie?"

"I don't have one," Soo admitted. "Not really swimming in assets."

Soon Deok didn't blink. "You can still set guidelines for how and who you want to have a say in your daughter's upbringing if something happens to you. I can draft the standard outline and you can just tell me which people you want involved next time."

Over the next hour, Soon Deok brought up issues Soo hadn't even thought of and steered them into compromises on how they would work toward shared custody once Seol grew used to him. Soo didn't want child support but agreed to let So pay for health insurance and school fees once a spot opened up.

"I think this is a very good start," Soon Deok said eventually, noticing they both looked a bit tired. "I'll get working on these agreements and we can review them in a week. I'll also get started on changing the birth certificate before Seol starts school so there are no issues later on."

They both thanked her and agreed to meet in a week to review the agreements they had reached and see if anything else cropped up.

"She's really nice," Soo commented as they walked back toward his car.

"She is."

"I remember seeing her around the office in her high school uniform years ago."

"She has always been very close to Park So Kyung. Ever since her grandmother died, it has been just the two of them."

"How come she's not working for her father, then?"

"She didn't want to. Says she wants to do some good in this world rather than help rich people get richer. Soon Deok-ah said that to my father's face when he offered a job at her graduation dinner."

Soo laughed. "That must have gone over well."

"Park So Kyung scolded her, but he's really proud as can be," So said with a grin. The look on his father's face had been priceless. "Anyway, do you want to have lunch? I didn't know how long the meeting would last so I cleared all my morning appointments."

"Um, sure," Soo said. "Wasn't that BBQ place we liked around here?"

"Yeah, we can see if they're still open."

…

Hae Soo thought it would be awkward to eat with So at one of their old favorite places, especially without Seol to act as a buffer. But it was surprisingly easy to spend time together. They weren't talking as they used to, but it wasn't uncomfortable.

"Which schools are you considering for Seol?" So asked as they sat down.

Soo named the three schools she was waiting to hear back from and then added: "They said they'll call me if a spot opens up, but that we still have to go through an interview to see if they'll take her."

"I'll make a few calls to see if I can speed things up," So said, making a note in his phone. At Soo's glare he asked, "What?"

"What makes you think they'll give us an appointment if you call?"

So blinked. "I'm rich, remember?"

Soo actually smacked him with the paper menu in her hands. "Just for that, I'm getting beef. The pricey kind. And you're paying."

So laughed. "Get whatever you want."

…00…

Wang Yo knew this had to stop. His life was in enough turmoil without him adding unnecessary complications. But the truth was that, whenever she called, he invariably answered. Yo didn't even know why at this point. There had been nothing between them for years.

"I'm sorry, Mun Seong," He found himself saying. "I'm swamped at the office. So's attitude lately has been causing plenty of extra work." Well done, Yo, he thought to himself, blame it on your younger brother.

"It's alright, I understand," his fiancée answered. "At least you called before I started cooking the meat. That's progress!" She added, trying to sound upbeat.

"Yeah, I'm not that bad," Yo complained, smiling despite himself and enjoying her small chuckle until…

"Should I wait up for you?" Mun Seong asked softly. Technically, Yo lived at the Wang Estate with his parents and brothers. Both he and So had given up their apartments when Wang Geon had that heart attack five years before but ever since then—which coincided with the time when they began being intimate—he often stayed at her place.

Yo looked down at the whiskey in front of him. "I think I might be very late, so I'll just go home tonight. Plus, I really need to check on Jung in the morning. He isn't taking So's moving out very well."

Great, now he was also bringing his baby brother into it.

"All right. Lunch tomorrow?"

"I think-" I have a meeting he began to say but he could already hear her dejected sigh. "...that's fine, if you don't mind if it's a little late. Say 1:30?"

It would be more like 2:00 pm, and he would have to shuffle many things around, but that's what he got for being a lying bastard.

"That's okay. I'll meet you at your office," Mun Seong said more cheerfully, "Don't overwork yourself. And text me when you get home."

"You'll be asleep."

"But when I wake up, I'll know you're fine."

"All right, I will. Sweet dreams."

As the call ended, Yo took a big swig of his drink, and set his phone on the bar. He was too old for this shit.

"Oppa," a flirtatious voice said as a delicate hand settled on his shoulder, her perfume all around him.

He turned to face her. There she was, gorgeous as ever. "So, you're back."

Hwangbo Yeon Hwa smiled. "I'm back."

-0-

Nine Years Before

In the back of his mind, sometimes Wang Yo wondered if it was all right that he was dating Hwangbo Yeon Hwa as he was not a free man technically. Thanks to his mother's meddling, he was engaged to some girl from the Kang Family who was still in high school—why his mother chose someone so much younger than him, he didn't know.

Since his fiancée was still a minor, he had been pretty much free to do as he pleased with his romantic life up until now. His little fiancé would be of age soon and he would have to end things with Yeon Hwa.

Often, Yo wished that his mother had picked someone like the Hwangbo heiress for him. Yeon Hwa was exactly his type: beautiful, refined, sophisticated and with very few inhibitions in the bedroom. Not to mention, closer to his own age.

In contrast, all he knew about Kang Mun Seong was that she had neat handwriting, as she had written to him a few times when he had been doing his conscription. The letters had been a bit boring, filled with teenage-girl nonsense, but at least they had distracted him at the time. He had even been a little miffed when she stopped as abruptly as she had started.

"Oppa! Are you even listening to me?" Yeon Hwa complained, bringing him out of his reverie.

"I'm sorry, princess, I spaced out." Yo answered with a charming smile that usually made her panties drop.

Yeon Hwa pouted. "I was asking if you wanted to come to my parents' vacation home this weekend since it will be empty, but I guess you don't want to..."

"Of course, I want to," Yo said easily while he poured her more wine.

Yes, he would have to end this relationship sooner rather than later, but there was no reason why he couldn't have fun while it lasted.

-00-

Present day

Kang Mun Seong sighed, looking down at the mess she had made in her kitchen, and the slabs of meat she was going to put on the grill.

But not tonight.

She should have learned by now not to make real plans with him. Yo had been so stressed lately; she didn't want to add to it.

"You are an idiot, Mun Seong," She admonished herself. "Like a home cooked meal would have really helped him."

With a sigh, she began to clean up and put away the food. She might as well make herself a cup of noodles if she was going to eat alone.

She was in the process of getting a pot from the cupboard when her phone beeped again. Excited, Mun Seong reached for it, thinking maybe Yo had a change of plans and decided to come over after all, but instead it was just a text from her older sister, Mun Gong.

Did you see this? - MG

That was all the text said, next to a link which, against her better judgement, Mun Seong clicked. It took her to the 'Society' section of the Seoul Times' digital edition.

"Heiress Hwangbo Yeon Hwa spotted arriving in Seoul this afternoon." Mun Seong read, her heart sinking.

Idiot that she was, Mun Seong reached back to steady herself, too late to remember that the hot grill on the stove took forever to cool off even though she had turned it off already.

Mun Seong yelped and pulled her hand back, looking at the angry red marks all over her palm and the side of her left hand. Great, now she'd have to go to the hospital.

This night kept getting better and better.

For a moment, Mun Seong considered asking her sister to drive her. But that would mean discussing Yo and Yeon Hwa, and Mun Gong would enjoy sinking that knife. Almost twenty years later, and Mun Gong still resented that Yo's mother hadn't picked her to marry Yo, and instead (inexplicably) asked for Mun Seong.

To be honest, she was just as clueless as to why.

Either way, that didn't change the fact that—no matter how good their relationship was now—for Yo, Hwangbo Yeon Hwa was the one who got away. The one he had to give up in order to keep the contract their parents had entered them into.

Mun Seong still remembered the first time she had seen them together when she was eighteen and a senior in high school. Yo had been twenty five and she hadn't known him very well. Mun Seong wasn't even invited to his birthday parties—not to the one with his friends, nor to the one with his parents and relatives—though her parents always sent a gift on her behalf, and often did go to the formal dinner his mother hosted for him.

Mun Seong had tried writing to him during his military service but her letters usually went unanswered for weeks. And when answers did come, they were short and polite, so she stopped after a few months and he didn't seem to mind.

That day, she had gone to the movies with all the girls from her track and field team to celebrate the end of the season. The father of one of her teammates owned a trendy new restaurant in Gangnam and had treated them to lunch there.

She hadn't even seen him until one of her teammates pointed him out, sitting at a private booth with her. Hwangbo Yeon Hwa. They had been laughing and flirting, drinking wine while Mun Seong chewed on the straw of her soft drink, unable to look away.

Yeon Hwa was beautiful, with dark brown hair blown dried to perfection, fair skin and a dimple on her chin when she smiled. Her designer clothes fit her like a glove, striking a balance between ladylike and sexy, while Mun Seong sat there in her school uniform feeling inadequate.

Mun Seong tried to rationalize the whole thing, telling herself it was only natural he had a girlfriend. He was attractive, rich, and even if he was engaged to her, it was not like they could be together while she was still a minor and they had only penned a few letters in the past.

So yes, it was totally logic and rational. But it also struck Mun Seong how incredibly unfair it was. She would never have that: flirting with a handsome guy as they got to know each other, wondering where that path would take them.

And in that moment, Mun Seong had envied them, quickly and quietly, in a way she had never envied anyone before.

She was the daughter of a very high-ranking politician, went to one of the best schools in the country, was engaged to a scion of a powerful family… her whole life was already resolved. Had been resolved for her years ago. But in that moment, she felt small and worthless and trapped.

She had hated them both for it.

Mun Seong had turned her back to them and pretended to have a good time, trying to salvage whatever dignity her teenage-self had. And it almost worked… until she had bumped into him on the way out of the stupid restaurant.

He hadn't recognized her. At all.

To this day he still asked her why she claimed to hate that restaurant and refused to go when he liked the place and she had never even been there. Mun Seong would never tell him, of course, but that didn't change her reality. She now had to deal with a burnt hand and the torment of knowing Yeon Hwa was back in town.

From next chapter:

"I didn't sleep, I might have gotten Sunbae in trouble with your cousin and I need you to eat cupcakes with me."
Eun smiled, "Do you want some milk with that?"
"Chocolate if you have any." Soon Deok answered, feeling better already as she watched Eun pull out a frosty chocolate milk from the mini-fridge behind his desk.