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"Aww, look who's here," Monalyn announced with a smirk before approaching me, her confident steps and intimidating presence all reminded me of the way she treated me back then. Time seemed to slow down as my ears caught the echoes of her footsteps. I wanted to run. But my feet were planted firmly on the ground.

Upon seeing me, a flustered Min-ho rushed to my side and introduced us to each other despite whatever humiliation he heard from the old lady. "Miss Lee, she's Madam Mona from New York." He stood between us, the way the visitor and I stared at each other intensely barely marked his perception. "...and this is Lee Shanshan, our CEO."

"CEO?" my stepmother lifted her snaky eyebrow and suddenly burst with laughter, causing Min-ho to cover an ear and shrink his shoulders.

"Wow," Monalyn clapped in mockery. "You call yourself a CEO with this small structure you have?! You never wanted to inherit your father's business, yet you are here running your own little shop."

"Why are you here?" I knitted my eyebrows in disgust, not moving an inch from my spot. "Okay, Lee Shanshan. Whatever happens, don't get scared... don't get nervous."

With an unsparing smile, she crossed her arms and spoke with one corner of her lips raised, "Do you think you can hide from us just because you changed your identity, Ji Hyo-ah?"

An audible gasp was heard from Min-ho after figuring out what was happening, yet he recovered quickly and moved next to me, gaping at the guest and her two big escorts in silence. I looked at him briefly before withdrawing a hot breath because of how pitiful he looked. "Poor Min-ho. I'm sorry for coming late."

Even though my legs seemed to knock off from fear, I let anger overcome my emotion and forced myself to stand my ground. "I'm impressed that you found me at once, but if you came here just to insult us, I need you to step out of here with your damn bodyguards right before I call the authorities!"

I made sure to sound bold and unafraid, yet in front of my conspicuous stepmother, I was just nothing but a small vulnerable girl. She did not show fear but belittled me instead.

"I'm not leaving until I had enough touring around your ridiculous little company..." she sighed, looking around the hall with an ironic pity. "Or maybe I should buy one first to show it to your father. He would surely be shocked to know that his daughter is doing arts."

"I said get out!" I yelled, my trembling voice echoing in the hall and catching the attention of everyone in the building but I didn't care.

"How can you shout at your client?" Monalyn laughed. Getting tired of my actions, she gave up playing around and got to the point, going back to her typical face and displaying dominance. "Your father needs you back in the company. Stop making these stupid arts and come back to our family."

What she told me made me scoff with disgust. "Family, my butt. I am never going back, and I have nothing to do with your nasty family!"

Monalyn's face quickly changed as I suddenly felt a sting on my cheek. Her palm reached my face, not just once... but twice.

"Miss Lee!" Min-ho screamed, but the bodyguards dragged him steps far from us. "Don't hurt her, you evil witch!"

As Min-ho struggled to get away from my stepmother's men, she stared at him before looking at me. "What did he say? Hey," she bickered, "You curse well in your language, but you can't even speak straight in English!"

Despite feeling my cheeks burn from the pain, my stiff hand harshly shoved her right shoulder, pushing her a step backward and catching her by surprise.

"Wow wow, what was that?" She reacted, an unpleasant smile creeping her face while she rubbed her long fingers on her shoulder. "And now you know how to fight back, huh?"

"Let him go!" I shouted but all of a sudden she grabbed me by the jaw with one hand and pulled me close to her face. My eyes blinked quickly in discomfort as I groaned from the pain.

"No!" Min-ho screamed again. "Someone call the police!!" He called out, his head quickly pointing towards the corner where the reception area could hear him. "Call the-!"

The body guard punched his stomach, alerting me as he fell to the ground with his hands desperately clutching on it with painful grunts.

Monalyn turned to her men and ordered, "Kill anyone who attempts to call the authorities." The two men nodded and clutched on their side to bring out their weapons as they attempted to leave for the receptionists.

"N-no..." I choked as I tapped her hand weakly. "Don't...hurt...them," I begged breathlessly. "Why does every time it comes to this woman, I tremble on my knees? Why do I lose my guts each time I face her?"

She made a smirk and signaled them to stop before shifting her vicious stare on me. "Should I reveal to you something to make you leave this country for good?" She spoke in a low voice as she held me with full strength. "You should have stayed a good girl and stayed by your father's side."

I grasped her hand with both of my hands, trying to get away, but she dug her long nails deeper on my skin, which brought more pain to my jaw, reminding me of how she tortured me every time. While I desperately asked to be released, she stood with no conscience and spoke in a sultry way.

"You know... you are just being a danger to the person you love the most. Your father is the reason why his family almost died from poverty. They perished through that way," she whispered in my ear, trickling me with disgust.

Her firm grasp blurred my mind, unable to understand well what she was talking about. I continued to glare at her as heavy breathes come out of my nostrils.

"And one more thing, his dad almost died because of your father. Lee Jung In planned to kill him by running his car over your childhood friend's father, yet he failed. Fortunately, their family is doing well today because of one of their sons who rose to fame. What's his name again? Jeon Jungkook?"

"What?! Jungkook..." My body weakened but she lifted me up by the neck, letting tears trickle down my face and reaching her hand that wrapped around my neck. Shocked by the words I could not afford to believe, my eyes began to blur with dizziness. "Was that the real reason why my father argued to leave for New York? My father almost murdered JK's father! He's a murderer!"

"You are... evil!" I growled, my eyes letting out more tears as I spoke. "You are all evil!"

She just smirked down at me, her face leaving me horrified as she warned me. "How can you still have the gut to run back to your innocent childhood friendship when you are careless about your family's past? You're so dumb and pathetic. Before your idol friend could discover about your real identity and ruin your father's business reputation, pack your things and leave this country with me immediately!"

"I would rather die than go back to your cursed family. JUST KILL ME!"

"Is that what you want? Fine!" She shoved me on the ground.

My hand rushed to caress my throat as I clasped on the floor, gasping desperately for air.

"Miss Lee..." Min-ho coughed while making an effort to stand but he was held back to the ground by one of my stepmother's men.

"You wanted it the easy way, but why would I kill someone useful to us in the future?" She knelt in front of me while she rubbed my hair gently.

"Why can't I stop tearing up? My body is shaking. I can't fight this woman..."

"Come back, darling," she spoke sweetly. "Show us how useful you are by marrying the man we found suitable for you to marry. Forget Korea and live happily with him in New York. You won't do anything, just obey your father and you will be treated like a queen."

I wept silently as I listened to her in defeat.

Suddenly, she pulled my hair, forcing me to look at her venomous eyes. "We are setting a dinner date with his family next month. I hope you won't disappoint us, or else you won't ever see your best friend and your precious assistant again." She eyed Min-ho before looking back at me. "Clear?"

I slowly nodded unwillingly, although it was painful and hard for me to submit myself to her again. "I thought I gained my freedom. When will I ever be free?"

"Good girl," my stepmom commented before standing and motioning his men that they were leaving.

As soon as the guards let go of Min-ho, he scampered to me and helped me up, my trembling body almost stumbling on him.

"Are you okay?" He asked, scanning the red marks on my face and crescent lines along my neck.

Looking at him, he was the first one to ask if I was fine. "Are you okay?" I teared up.

"Yes Ma'am. This is nothing." He answered. "Don't worry. They're leaving for sure."

I nodded, but then my lips quivered as tears began to flow nonstop on my cheeks. "I want to... I want to go home," I sobbed and leaned my head on him while Min-ho calmly comforted me with a hug.

"Why did I have to hear it just now? Why did I not know about it before?!"

I cried audibly, finally coming to understand everything that happened as I recalled the conversation I had with Jungkook during our camping.

"Tell me, how did you become an artist at a very young age?" I curiously asked while picking a stick to play with the flickering fire.

"I didn't plan to audition that early, but poverty forced me to help my parents feed our family. Until now, I can't forget that year... when a series of tragic things happened to us."

"What year is he talking about?" I wondered. "What happened?" I asked again as I wrapped my arms around my folded legs while continuing to enjoy the warmth of the bonfire.

He leaned back on the ground, supporting his weight with his arms behind him. "My father met an accident, my childhood best friend left me, and we got scammed."

I turned to him in confusion. He was focused on the fire while sipping from his can of beer. Now I remembered. He was talking about the year I left South Korea, but a week before that, his father met an accident. My father and his dad were co-workers before. They used to go to work and arrived home together, and it was during that day his father was alone when he met an accident.

But the scam... I haven't heard of it. "How did your family get scammed?"

"Uhh... my father said that someone borrowed a large amount of money from us, they promised they would pay it back, but they ran away with it, leaving us poor."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "How could someone do that to your family?!" I reacted as I beat the stick to the ground. I should have known about it.

Jungkook just let out a chuckle. "At an early age, I got very mad too! Especially that those were saved by my parents for me and my brother's education."

"Whoa! Those shameless people! How could they trick your family like that?! And did you report it to the police?"

He shook his head. "My parents told me that there must be a reason that they did that. They reminded me to learn how to forgive them and forget what happened. Although I didn't know who they were. I was full of anger and could not understand why people did that to us."

I was getting mad for him and his family. But I calmed myself down.

"My father could not work for months because of his injury, so it was all up to my mother to handle things alone, but as days passed, it was getting harder for her. She could not pay for all the things we needed. That was when I thought of going for auditions, hoping that I could somehow help my mom. And when I thought debuting would get us through poverty, the start of my career was very challenging. I came to learn the harsh reality of the world. But I'm still glad that I was able to help my family."

I pitied him so much. We both grew up living a difficult teenage life. But no matter how terrible I suffered before, he must have been suffering too... alone. He was forced to work and face countless criticisms and harmful threats from the public at a young age. If only I was there for him...

I just stared at the fire while feeding myself with lonely thoughts.

"Why do you seem frozen there?" He asked, distracting me away. "Are you cold? Wanna share?" He lifted the blanket from his shoulders and scooted towards me.

I just let him drape the cloth over us as he pretended to shudder from the cold and leaned his head on my shoulder. "I'm just laying my head on your shoulder. I won't do anything to you," he claimed, just because he didn't want to be called a pervert with his actions again.

I just smiled softly at him and let him do what he wanted. His dark locks fell under my jaw as I smelled the sweet scent of his shampoo. Tears fell from my eye, but it was okay because my best friend couldn't see it. I was hurting... poor JK. He had gone through a lot of things without me.