Baek Ha Rim

as i was instructed by hyungwon himself, i asked mr. chae to give me a tour around the house which he didn't mind at all.

on the other hand, his wife was back in the kitchen preparing some desserts after we ate a meal together. i had time to spare because we had to wait for hyungwon who was out to run errands before we get to share the last part of our meal.

"these are pictures of our family in frames. if you look in the shelves, you can find albums containing baby pictures of hyungwon." mr. chae showed.

the shelves took my interest as expected. carefully, i chose one album among all the others arranged into place as he recommended. it was a blue hardcover album noticeably bigger than the rest. as soon as i pulled it out, however, a few pictures inserted between the arranged albums came falling down the floor.

"oh.." i quickly knelt down to pick them up and place them back in the shelf where they belonged.

unexpectedly, however, i saw my own family on the pictures that fell.

i released a gasp as soon as i saw pictures of me and my family taken from a studio when i was a toddler.

"what are these pictures doing here?" i thought to myself in shock.

quickly shuffling through the other pictures, i found one where hyungwon's family and mine were captured together in that same picture taking studio. it only meant that at a young age, hyungwon and i had already met each other through our parents' affiliations.

moving along, i saw more pictures of my father and my mother taken in the land we once owned. seeing them two, i immediately felt my eyes tearing up and my vision started to become blurry.

my heart felt unexplainably heavy with the sight of them looking so happy only to be gone from me.

"ha rim-ssi, are you still looking at hyungwon's baby pictures?" mr. chae suddenly came close to me after noticing me frozen on the ground while hyungwon's album remained untouched.

quickly, i fixed the pictures in my hand and attempted to place them back in the shelves.

"what are those?" mr. chae asked and took the pictures i placed back in the shelves to see for himself.

as soon as he saw the people in the pictures, i noticed his face turn into a bitter frown which he tried to hide and control.

"who are those people, sir? their pictures are separated from the albums in these shelves." i asked, trying to seem the least suspicious.

"just family friends." he showed me a small smile.

"they have a daughter. was that kwon eun gyeol from a young age?" i asked again.

"ah, it's not. they're... it's nothing." he eventually brushed it off and starting fixing the albums back into place.

those words struck me hard like a dagger in the heart. we weren't nothing. my family wasn't nothing, and he couldn't even muster up the courage to talk about them.

i wanted to lash out at him for what he did, and he was shameless enough to keep our pictures in his house. at this point, i was filled with all the hatred and rage against the man who stood right beside me.

"mr. chae, could you show me the rooftop? hyungwon said it was his favorite place."

"ah yes, of course. this way, ha rim-ssi." we went ahead as he led the path going upstairs.

arriving at the rooftop of the house, a fresh blow of wind immediately hit our faces along with the hot rays of the sun that shone brightly.

mr. chae was standing a few feet away in front of me. his back was facing me as he gazed at the bright sky. unlike the rainy day that marked my loss of a family, i was afraid i just had to take his life on a sunny one.

slowly taking out my gun from my shoulder bag, i positioned it right behind me and walked a few steps closer to mr. chae.

"should i tell you a story about my family, sir?" i spoke.

he immediately turned to me and nodded his head to allow me to speak. i appreciated how he gave me attention, but the story i was going to tell wasn't going to be pleasant to hear at all.

"well, i'm afraid i can't ever introduce hyungwon to my real family, sir. they're already dead." i spoke bluntly.

in just a snap, i felt myself detaching and growing apathetic. the look on mr. chae's face, however, was filled with sympathy and bewilderment.

"i-i'm sorry to hear about that, ha rim-ssi. i didn't expect that at all." mr. chae hesitated.

it was an unusual conversation starter and i wanted to bother him as much as i could.

"back then, i lived with my mother, father, and nanny. my parents were land owners, and i had just turned 6 years old when i lost them both. one rainy day, men we didn't know came to our house and murdered them while i attempted to escape the house. unfortunately, i witnessed my nanny getting killed and took time to recover from the trauma." my gaze pierced into mr. chae's worried eyes as i spoke.

"thankfully, someone saved me and took me in. i learned how to fight so i could take revenge on the people who did this. i wanted to make their lives miserable and i lived up to my 24th year with this goal. it was my sole purpose of being alive."

"and actually, it continues to be." i added.

from this moment, i knew mr. chae was starting to notice how dark and twisted i was getting. slowly, i took one more step closer to him and tilted my head before my big revelation.

"does this story ring a bell, mr. chae?" i cornered him.

"...what?" his brows slowly formed a frown.

"it's me. seo ha rim." i finally uncovered my true identity to which his eyes widened.

"the man who helped me live was no other than baek myung joon. you know him, don't you?" i smirked.

"that's impossible... you're seo ha rim?" mr. baek started to tremble which i met with a scoff.

"you murderer." i spoke with all the hatred pent up inside of me and finally pointed my gun at him.

in shock of seeing my firearm, mr. chae started raising his arms trying to calm me down before i attempted to pull the trigger.

"ha rim-ssi, please.. put that down and let's talk. you have to hear me out, you don't know how long i've been searching for you since your parents' death. i didn't know you were alive."

"why did you do it, mr. chae? why did you kill my family? what did they ever do wrong?!" i screamed as tears starting flowing down my cheeks.

"ha rim-ssi, you're mistaken! i was just as devastated as you were when they were gone. you don't know how precious your family was to me!" mr. chae exclaimed.

"and you expect me to believe that? right after you said they were nothing?!" i kept my hand firm on the gun i was pointing at him.

"ha rim, i didn't want to talk about them because it would mean opening up past wounds. calm down, i'll tell you the truth." he pleaded.

"i didn't live up to this day to hear your excuses. you're not fooling me with that play of innocence."

"seo ha rim!!" i suddenly heard my name called.

looking sideways, i found hyungwon by the entrance to the rooftop looking like his mind was about to go blank with the scene he was witnessing. he looked at me in great disappointment and turned to look back at his father who was still cautious with his actions.

"so it's really you. did you approach me all for this?" he spoke feeling the bitterness of betrayal.

hyungwon finally knew.

i started to cry more tears on the spot as i looked at him silently. all the pain and internal conflict gets to me every single time i see hyungwon. it was a mistake to fall for him in the first place.

if only he stood out of this, if only he didn't appear. maybe it could have been much easier for me to handle.

"your father killed my parents." i spoke.

"and who told you that? baek myung joon? do you really think you could trust that man? you don't know how much my father mourned the loss of your family! we were there from the wake up until the burial. my father stayed!"

more tears escaped my eye as i listened to his revelation.

"chae hyungwon, i can't trust you." i shook my head in denial.

from hearing these words, his face fell like he was just torn apart into pieces.

"when you told me you trusted me too, was that all a lie? did you even like me at all?" he asked.

i looked away from hyungwon to process my thoughts and emotions. it was all a contradiction; i was a hypocrite. i liked him yet here i was hurting him and the people dearest to him.

"i've already attempted to kill you." i revealed.

"what?" he frowned.

"chae's couture's anniversary. you were almost attacked by someone wearing a staff's uniform. i managed to escape and i suffered the gunshot wound on my leg." i spoke.

"...how could you?" a tear escaped his eye as i revealed my betrayal.

"you told me on our date that i looked familiar with the mask on. so, do you remember now? that person and i were the same. i'm a threat to your safety, hyungwon-ssi."

hyungwon took a step back, unable to believe my words. i gave him this huge amount of shock all at once. at the same time, recalling it only goes to prove how unworthy i was to be with him.

i guess, there was no turning back now.

"baek ha rim, wait!" i suddenly heard changkyun's familiar voice stop me.

turning to see the person right beside hyungwon, i found him there, already short of breath. my eyes immediately widened as i didn't expect him to find me at all. i was confused as to how changkyun got here, and why he was suddenly interrupting my business when we've always wanted this to happen.

"changkyun? how did you get here?" i asked, puzzled by his sudden appearance.

"where's my mom? did she see you?" hyungwon asked.

changkyun managed to give a quick nod to affirm that mrs. chae was aware of what was happening. despite that, he was still catching his breath while having his eyes locked on me.

"ha rim, you need to stop! mr. chae isn't behind the death of your family!" he finally uncovered.

my lips slowly parted in shock and disbelief. being unable to process it, i slowly starting putting my arm down.

"...what do you mean?" i asked.

"it was all set up by kwon eun gyeol's father. he fed on the political rivalry between the chae and the baek families. he eventually persuaded mr. baek to kill your parents, and when they died, the land you owned were given to them. we failed to notice that he benefitted the most from this and had been attempting to marry eun gyeol with hyungwon." he explained.

hyungwon broke into a frown of realization while mr. chae began to look perplexed and unable to process the information.

with the truth hitting me like a truck, i suddenly fell to the ground as i felt my entire body grow weak. i was in shock and my mind was going blank. i felt like a stupid criminal who was almost about to kill an innocent man after being deceived for years.

i wanted to crumble into pieces, and because i couldn't do so, i had no choice but to cry all my frustrations out.

"ha rim-ah!" changkyun immediately rushed towards me and held me in an embrace.

warm tears flowed and i let myself cry my heart out in his chest. changkyun held me tight and shielded me from hyungwon and mr. chae who i both couldn't bear to face any longer. i was now too shaken by all these events.

most of all, i realized that i was hurting others because from carrying my past and present wounds, i was also hurting the most.

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a full baek ha rim chapter!

as an 11.11 gift (even though i'm going to upload this 12am of november 12 lmao) i am going to be double updating!

apparently, this next chapter is already the ending of this book guys.

thank you all for the support. i hope you enjoy reading and please don't forget to leave me a vote or to comment your thoughts! 🥺💖