A solemn knock tapped on the door.
"Come in."
"Father, I want to ask you a favour." Kim Tan stood nervously in front of the head of Jeaguk group. He mustered up the last vestiges of love he had to bury his pride and bring forth his courage. He had never wanted anything from his father. But he could at least do this final act for Eun Sang. He won't tell her how he bows his head. He won't tell her how his knees ache in his pleading. "Father, please let Cha Eun Sang return to Jaeguk High School." Tan bowed further on his knees, awaiting an outburst from the man.
"Do you think I've gone senile? I do not want you anywhere near the harlot! If that is all you wanted to ask, then you can leave." The man returned to his book that rested in his lap.
"Father, please! I have never asked you for anything before, and I never will after this. I love Eun Sang, that's why I want her to go back to that school and get a good education. She can get into any university after she graduates from there, then have a good life for herself."
"And why would I want to help your girlfriend? So she can seduce her way into this family and ruin your future as head of Jeaguk?"
"Because she won't be my girlfriend and because I won't be part of her future."
"What do you mean?" The man was intrigued now and leaned forward in his chair.
"I know that you won't let her and I be together." Tan swallowed the lump in his throat while looking up at his father with reddened eyes. "I've accepted that fact. Please father, I'm begging you. I love her, let me do this one thing for her. If you do this, I'll marry anyone of your choosing. I won't protest. Please…" Tan's words broke off into whimpers. Kim Tan sat there on his knees, in front of his father who leaned back into his chair in contemplation. Only silence filled the air between them."
"You will not try to see Eun Sang in school, and when I find you a new fiancée you will cooperate."
Tan's eyes grew wide. He didn't know what to say. He croaked out a "Thank you father. Don't worry I'll do what you've asked." Tan left the room with a bow.
Sure his heart would ache every time he saw Eun Sang walk down the halls or caught her face in the corner of his in class. But he knew he was doing the right thing by her. She was smart and hardworking; she deserved to be at that school. He couldn't be with her, but at least he could return the opportunity he ruined. He was able to bear being engaged to a woman he didn't have feelings for once already, he could do it again Tan decided.
Eun Sang didn't much like the seaside but she was beginning to adjust. She got a new part-time job at a bookstore. Her mother found work as a cleaner at an office building. They were waiting on the transfer papers from Jaeguk so she could start at her new school. Her life was starting to resemble something normal again. So why did she still feel like something was missing? Eun Sang sat in contemplation while sipping a coffee in the break room at her work. Her phone started buzzing, a text from her mother. "Eun Sang, pack your things. We're moving" it read. She knew it. She knew that one of the Jaeguk chairman's men would have seen her and Kim Tan together. They probably think that Kim Tan and her are still a pair. Then worry started to set in. Does this mean they have to move to a different country. Eun Sang remembers the chairman's threat very clearly. He originally wanted to ship her and her mother off to South America, but showed a moment of mercy by allowing them to stay in Korea. This can't be happening, Eun Sang thought. How would they even live there? Her mother was mute and they only spoke Korean. Eun Sang stumbled her way through a couple of days in the US but how could she possibly survive in a place she knew nothing about and wouldn't have anyone to help her like Kim Tan. This is all his fault. All a result of his selfish desire, he didn't even consider what would happen to her and her mother's life. Kim Tan in California is the only version of him she could look back on fondly. Their relationship should have ended there. Worried about how her mother was coping, Eun Sang got one of her coworkers to take over the rest of her shift to head home.
"Omma!" Eun Sand cried into the tiny apartment as she saw the pile of boxes. "We can't move now. We were just starting to live a normal life again."
"We have to. Now pack your things, the moving truck is coming tomorrow." her mother signed back.
"No! Omma, we're not going to be pushed around by those people any longer." Eun Sang dashed for her drawer to grab her passport and start tearing it to shreads.
"What are you doing?"
"Omma" Eun Sang began teary eyed "We can't leave Korea. It's our home. You're already having a hard time hear, it'll be worse in a foreign country. I don't want you to struggle anymore."
"What do you mean? We're moving back to Seoul."
"What?" Eun Sang halted her tears. "How? I thought the chairman said…"
"Jaeguk high school is reinstating your scholarship. But the chairman forwarded a special message to you through the dean. Eun Sang…" she beckoned over he daughter "You and Kim Tan need to say away from each other. They're giving you a second chance because you're intelligent and deserve to be at that school. But if you see him again, that's it. We won't just be in a town by the yellow sea. You understand that, don't you Eun Sang?" Eun Sang simple hugged her mother while nodding in compliance.