The next day, the CEO and his secretary had arrived in front of a regular cafe for their business meeting. Yoon Min opened the door for him and he entered grandly, although hardly anyone noticed his presence. Seokjin walked inside, keeping his shoulders back and head high to find their seat. His secretary already reserved their place in the centre so he made himself sit, pulling one leg over another and leaning against the chair. While she sat beside him and placed the flies, documents on the clothed table.

They engaged themselves in an official conversation, Mr. Eric and his secretary entered inside the cafe after a few minutes. Yoon Min was the one who noticed them first so she immediately stood up, signaling the other as he stood up as well, buttoning his suit and stood in a polite manner.

While the two of them were approaching them, Seokjin heard his secretary's own murmurs,

“God, he's handsome.”

Somehow she thinking other men as good-looking burned his heart always. It was getting extra recently. He seemed to not control his own feelings.

With a fake smile plastered on his face, he whispered back, “He's like your father's age, Secretary Song.”

“So what?” she whined silently. “Look, his lips are like yours.”

“Shut it.” Seokjin scolded her once the businessman was closer to their table and he knew it won't be good for their nonsensical conversation to continue.

“Mr. Kim! So nice to meet you finally.” Eric Kim greeted in fluent English.

“It's an honour for me, Mr. Eric.” Seokjin answered himself.

The next few minutes continued with them exchanging formalities, business talks, deals, current offer to be taken etc. The secretaries only remained silent until they were needed to explain a few things and remind their bosses of something. The rest went smoothly.

“So do we have a deal now, Mr. Kim?” Eric Kim asked with an amusing smile, though he knew the answer.

Seokjin smiled back and offered his hand for a shake, “Yes, we have. Congratulations. You're now officially an affiliate of our company.”

The other shook his hand with a laugh as they finished their meeting within an hour.

The secretary of Eric Kim; Mr. Mark was nowhere to be seen so Yoon Min guessed his kind boss must've told him to stay put until the meeting was over. Her boss was the one who would pull her into every single thing, things that she didn’t have to even know. So she had to continue standing behind him politely while the businessmen were having a nice conversation along with having tea.

“I'm Korean by the way. I moved to Canada almost 20 years ago.”

Seokjin widened his eyes slightly and answered, “Ah, that must be why you look like one. Forgive me for not noticing earlier.”

Yoon Min mentally slapped him because she reminded him of this like 50 times. She let out a tiny breathless scoff.

“That's okay. Let's just talk in Korean. We will both feel comfortable.” Mr. Eric seemed like a sweet old guy.

He nodded with a smile.

They talked about other things then. After about a while, when Seokjin was sipping his tea, the man in front of him was staring at his face in a weird way. Like he was trying to scan his face somehow. This was noticed by none other than Yoon Min. Now she was getting suspicious.

“Do you have any family, Mr. Kim?”

Eric's question gave a mysterious tickle in the CEO's stomach. He had a goosebump out of nowhere and unfortunately, it was obvious that he wasn’t expecting a question like that.

Seokjin replied with a little smile, “Y-yes. Just my mother.”

It confused Yoon Min alone as to why he didn’t mention Jisoo. As his beloved girlfriend, he should've told him about her as well. He told her numeral times that Jisoo was a part of his family too.

The old man's head nodded automatically, after that he was silent for a long time. Usually, he was the one asking questions and stuff, but suddenly he remained silent. Which made Seokjin to take a glance from Yoon Min by turning around his neck. She showed the same reaction as him, confused and uneasy. He turned his head around to look at Eric Kim and asked gently, “Are you okay, Mr. Eric?”

The businessman looked puzzled by the question and answered quite quickly, “Yeah, I-I am.” His sudden change of mood was mixing up the others' suspicions.

Eric Kim asked after a few seconds hesitantly, “Do you perhaps know any Kim Hee Nam?”

Both Seokjin and Yoon Min had the same reaction, baffled and surprised. While her lips parted away, his lips remained tight but his eyes asked a million questions. This wasn’t ordinary. An unknown business partner happened to know his mother's name. No, it wasn’t normal.

With a few blinks, he replied, “She's my mother.”

The reaction of Eric Kim was unreadable. It was as if he knew the answer beforehand yet asked to be sure. Seokjin had a thousand thoughts running inside his mind and he needed to ask them. But he was controlling himself as best as he could. When he couldn’t take it anymore, he felt Yoon Min's hand on his shoulder from behind, massaging a certain area softly to calm him down. Without her attempt, he could've said something he shouldn’t had.

So Seokjin tried calming his heart and wait for the other to explain by himself. Before he could ask anything, he heard his secretary asking herself,

“Did you know his mother, Mr. Eric?” she sounded gentle though both of them knew how much eager they were to know the answer.

Unexpectedly and shockingly, Mr. Eric nodded his head slowly. Which left no doubt unanswered that what both Yoon Min and Seok Jin was thinking to be true. Especially, Yoon Min who had an idea of everything from the start when she saw the businessman for the first time. How was it that he looked an older version of her boss?

He couldn’t be...

“Seokjin...” Eric Kim suddenly called his name casually. The called person widened his eyes and his lips parted away. No, he couldn’t just call him like that though he was younger by many years. Seokjin was about to protest when he was cut off,

“I'm Kim Seo Joon. Your f-father.”

-------------

Yoon Min took out her phone and checked the time. She sighed and glanced inside the cafe. She was sitting outside with a mug of coffee while the men were still inside the cafe.

That man suddenly turning out to be Seokjin's father was a shock to her, so imagine how much shocked Seokjin himself was. She had no words to describe his reaction after hearing the confession. All she knew was he was badly shocked and needed to be taken care of. But she couldn’t do much back there anyway. So she excused herself from their gathering and gave the long-lost father-son some privacy to have a talk between themselves. Although she doubted if Seokjin would be exactly happy to see his father.

Meanwhile, Seokjin and his father was sitting together in the same spot with no words between them for the last few minutes. None of them expected this, they simply came here to sign a deal for their respective companies but who knew fate actually brought them together to meet again?

However, Seokjin wasn’t pleased to meet his father.

Father? He didn’t deserve to be called a father. He left him and his mother when he was really young. Responsibilities scared him like a coward, he gave up and left them alone. What right did he have to call himself his father?

If he could, he would happily get up and leave this place as soon as possible. But the feeling of always wanting to know why he left his family was the reason he still stayed.

After a long time, he heard Mr. Kim clearing his throat and asking hesitantly, “Is s-she your...” he didn’t even finish what he wanted to say.

Seokjin took a while to understand his question. Realizing it was regarding Yoon Min, he glanced outside to have a look at her. He saw her serene eyes waiting outside. Sighing, he returned back to his position and answered quietly, “No, she's just my secretary.”

How badly he wanted to call her something else...wait, now's not the time.

“Oh.” Mr. Kim said. “She seemed...quite caring towards you.”

He licked his lips and decided not to say anything about her. He himself had confusing thoughts about her.

Seokjin to change the topic asked a question now, “How did you... recognize me?”

It was important to know. There wasn’t any possible way he would recognize him by his face. Both of them aged a lot considering it's been 20 years since they last met.

Mr. Kim cleared his throat, “The faint mole on the left side of your nose. It runs in the family.”

Seokjin blinked, before sharpening his eyes to scan his father's face. Right, he had one too. Oh, he noticed that? Fair enough.

“How's your mother?”

He couldn’t speak about her. The only reason his mother was on her death bed all these years was because she overworked herself too much and met with an accident. If only his father didn’t abandon them, she would still be here with her son.

And it hurt and angered him to think this old man was asking about his wife whom he should've taken care of. She was his responsibility.

But he answered, “She's been in coma for the last 9 years.”

Mr. Kim was surprised as his eyes grew bigger and there was a change of expression in his face, fear and concern were visible. And he was starting to think if that expression was real or not.

“W-what? What happened to her?” He asked very worriedly.

Seokjin wanted to scoff at him but he didn’t. He controlled his emotions and asnwered straightforwardly, “Obvious, isn't it? You ran away from us, lived a happy life while we suffered every single moment.” He paused to see his father's reaction.

“You left us.”

Mr. Kim gulped down and he lowered his eyes. Hands clasping with each other, tightening them together, he remained silent for the time being. Seokjin didn’t want that. He wanted his father to explain what happened, to apologize, to admit he was guilty for everything; not to stay quiet.

But how could his father explain when there was absolutely nothing to explain?

“Nothing can change anything now, don't you think?” His father answered by asking a puzzling question. It was meant to tell him he had nothing to say about his horrible action.

He licked his lips and started to get mad slowly. Long, buried grudges were tearing apart his heart and making him lose his patience. He always knew if he ever met his father, he would get disappointed. The high hopes he had for him, that maybe his father left them for their own good; was never true actually.

His father was heartless, selfish, and irresponsible.

“I was five.” Seokjin still wished his father would say something at least. He just found it hard to believe he abandoned them without any valid reason. “I was just five when I heard Eomma wailing one night. I watched you taking your stuff and not give a damn about her pleads. You never looked at me even one time. And you left. You left that night, leaving your poor wife in a miserable state and your young son who barely had any idea of what was going on.”

Mr. Kim didn’t give any response. His lips were pressed together and his eyes were lowered. Was his regretting? Or perhaps ashamed? He didn’t figure out.

He asked, this time his voice came out trembling, “W-why did you do it?”

There was no answer for this, and both of them knew it. Mr. Kim couldn’t bear his own son being unanswered every single time so he began to tell what he could only tell,

“Seokjin, I understand you're upset. I know it's entirely my fault. After leaving you, I knew I committed a terrible sin so I sent money to your mother every month. I also understand why she didn’t accept any of them.” He paused, taking a breath. “I know what I did was wrong. And God did what He had to. He punished me painfully.”

“I'm diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.”

Somehow, Seokjin couldn’t speak or do anything more. He found that he was gone to frozen, his heart leaping to his throat and beginning to turn itself into a new knot of fear and terror. His father was looking at him with a faint, painful smile as if nothing happened. And that smile was clenching his heart in distress. Somehow, all hatred and anger towards him were vanishing and being replaced with concern and sadness.

Mr. Kim added, “I don't know, maybe a few months more, that's all I have.”

“I even planned to visit you and your mother for the last time. I decided I would apologize and tell you the truth. Looks like, God made it easier by bringing my son to me.” he let out a faint chuckle.

Seokjin lost words of what to say in this matter. His heart was sinking already in his caged tears and he felt himself unable to control his facial expression. Shock was visible in his eyes and tears were glittering like a diamond. He knew he couldn’t act strong in front  of him. Not after what he just heard.

Like that, he stood up from his chair, making his father go surprised. Without any goodbye or any glance, he took hasty steps to leave that place, to get away from him as much as possible. He was quick to come out of the cafe and he completely forgot his secretary was waiting for him outside.

He didn’t even look at her, just walked faster to ignore everything in the world for his own sake. Yoon Min got surprised by his action as she stood up and called his name. As expected, he didn’t reply and kept walking away. She looked back inside the cafe and saw his father still in his seat with a disappointing face. Without knowing what to do, she just listened to her brain and ran behind him to get a hold of him.

“Sir? Sir, wait! What happened?”

Yoon Min received no answer from him as he continued walking in a fast pace, as if he didn’t care about anything else in the world except for himself.

She sighed and walked behind him. “Can you at least tell me where you are going? The hotel's the opposite way for your information.” He was just walking nowhere and his attitude killed her for the hundredth time.

“CEO Kim? What happened back there?” She asked again after being able to walk faster like him. As always, no answer. Giving up being gentle, she sighed and ran a little to grab his arm. Grabbing it, she stopped him and her mouth opened to ask him again, but Seokjin flinched his arm away from her grip and shouted at her,

“Leave me alone, Secretary Song! Stop following me like a kid!”

As much as his words hurt her, she didn’t care the slightest. What she really cared was the blackened face of her boss, his beautiful, kind eyes were holding back tears, his red nose, and plump wet lips shivering out of sorrow. And she knew straightway, his heart had been stomped on cruelly.

Ignoring his words, she asked again, her throat being dry suddenly, “S-Sir?”

Seokjin didn’t even take a second before bursting out everything, “He's got cancer. Okay? He's gonna die like my mother. I almost lost both of my parents and now they're fighting between life and death. I-I'm just...I'm just too tired, you know? First he leaves us, now he's dying. Just like Eomma. I-I...he...I don't know why is this happening. I'm not supposed to care at all. He's the villain. Because of him, our life was ruined. But...but I-I...my heart's aching. I feel like crying. I shouldn’t cry for a jerk like him. B-But--”

One by one, the tears he locked inside rolled down his cheeks slowly. A melancholic urge pushed his tears out forcefully and he couldn’t help it. His lips trembled again as he bit them down to prevent any sounds from coming out. Yoon Min was left speechless. Her eyes never blinked nor did her heart stopped paining. She never saw him crying. Never. He was always so strong and confident in front of her. She never imagined she would see him break down.

“It feels so frustrating. I-I can't blame anyone. He's my father. At the end, he is my father, I'm his blood and that's why no matter how much I'm struggling not to feel sad, I just can't. I'm crying, see? Like an idiot, I'm crying! I-I feel so strange and I-I--”

Seokjin didn’t have to say anything further before he let out a silent gasp as the person in front of him wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head to rest on her shoulders. Right then, his cold heart that was producing all these painful tears began to warm up on its own and was in peace. The girl hugged him as if she was afraid she would lose him. He blinked his wet eyes once before not caring about anything else in the universe, and leaned into her hug as in accepting her sign of consolation.

Lightly holding her back merely for support, he closed his eyes and let his teardrops fall into the fabric of her body and took in the familiar scent of hers he always craved for. That was the moment he realized he was always been like this with Yoon Min. He was himself; strong, weak, handsome, ugly, confident, hopeless, mighty, broken, everything. She was the safe, comfort place of his life.

“It's okay. Don't blame yourself. I know you.” her voice was small, feeble and soft. As though she herself was crying secretly, feeling his pain.

Seokjin didn’t know when his arms were strong and secure around her body as well, pulling her so close to himself as if he needed her in every breath of his life. He just continued sobbing on her shoulder, holding her made it feel it less hard and painful. He felt her hand brush time to time and staying close to him just how he wanted.

He was supposed to be protecting her and all. But she was the one reaching beyond his expectational limits every single time.