jeongguk knew he had lived a sheltered life.

at the tender age of eight, jeongguk realized that he could conquer the world and had it all wrapped up in his little fingers. being the only son of the great businessmen namely ayame min and changyoon jeon, jeongguk grew up to be a child wonder, excelling in everything he has set his mind to, failing was never in his dictionary.

at such a young age, he was groomed to become the next heir of the jeon empire — training him with — beyond perfection and polishing his skills to be the best among the rest, he always stood triumphant in everything. young jeon jeongguk was ambitious, he made it his point to be that one person who could excel at anything — whether it be in academics or sports. he wanted all of the recognition and he craved for it. All of it.

although despite all of the trophies, medals and recognition he got . . . jeongguk still feels like an empty shell.

like a hole pierced inside his chest, jeongguk would feel the unfathomable loneliness worming his heart. it was dangerous and unsual, despite everything he has achieved . . . nothing ever makes him ecstatic and joyful.

he would sometimes wonder why, why there was a pang in his chest whenever he sees his classmates as their faces were painted with smiles, whenever their parents would come and fetch them. jeongguk wondered why his eyes would sting with tears or whenever he hears his classmates share the beautiful story of their family spending time. why does it hurt? how does it makes me feel this conflicted? what is this feeling?

ah, i'm— at the age of ten, everything just falls into place as he realizes what he was missing, coming back for almost the thousandth time at their palace-like-home, all alone. the halls seems too big for him, swallowing his little figure and having the vicinity all by himself.

i'm alone.

jeongguk realized that what makes him insatiable and incomplete wasn't because of what he hasn't achieved yet, but because he was nothing but an empty shell, walking alone.

it's just me, how funny that the star student jeon jeongguk has no friends, parents barely even home to keep me company.

yes, he's lucky. lucky enough to be born with all the wealth and privileges other people die to have, lucky enough to be living luxuriously and lucky enough to have everything he wanted in just a snap of fingers.

but having everything doesn't mean anything at all, when you're alone.

mama and papa. did he ever love his parents? well hell yes, he do. he has always considered them his most treasured persons in the whole wide world but as they get busier and busier as he grows up, the rarer they had time for him and thus, making their family bond to drift apart.

jeongguk was alone, until he met jiho.

kim jiho, the girl who had a heart as beautiful and pure as of an angel.

when jiho decided to befriend the young man, jeongguk was beyond scared, he was terrified of what was there to come when he lets jiho step inside his lonely self. being alone for almost all of his lifetime, he didn't know how to make everything work out for main reasons like: a.) he didn't have any friends, too awkward, shy and socially inept to start one and, b.) he didn't have any close relationship to his relatives, too skeptic and cautious to be-close them for the fear of using him against his parent's company.

all in all, jeongguk was a shy bean and ignorant to people, so he was scared – scared that if jiho comes too close to his liking, he wouldn't be able to take it when she leaves him too.

the thing is, jiho never left.

jiho never walked away and jeongguk had his whole life swept away to bring out the best.

the first time he introduced jiho to his parents as he was already determined to make the woman his wife, he knew that his mother was beyond pissed. for some unknown reason, ayame didn't warm up to jiho, unlike changyoon who loved jiho the first time the younger bowed 90 degrees infront of the parents but ayame begged to differ.

jeongguk knew how much his mother despised his marriage with jiho, but never . . . never in his life would he imagine his own mother doing something like this. how absurd of you, i can't believe how cruel you really are.

eyes snapping into reality as jeongguk let the weight of his son shift on the soft mattress, he let the small, weak and exhausted body rest on the sofa. the man couldn't find his urge to laze around with all the idleness and break into his main point, he wasn't here for dadadum unicorn parties. he was here to clear things up with his oh - so - beloved mother.

you've been such a strong boy, yeon . . . now papa will do his best from now on. with a new sense of determination running down his veins, the man left the boy to sleep on his own in the living room as he made way to the large manor's study area. the man's eyes lifted to his pocket watch as he read 18.15, he only had 45 minutes left and he must hurry.

jeongguk had one purpose for his arrival in this god forsaken pristine white halls – take the queen down and make her bow to her knees.

"why did you do that? who told you to do that? why the hell were you even there?!" cutting through the chase, the moment jeongguk found the person he had been looking for, he couldn't find it in himself to control the raging emotions that begged to erupt as he let everything, go.

"why?" the woman muttered, answering his bomb questions with another question as her fingers immediately stopped from pressing on the keys of her keyboard, standing up on her stool and marched towards jeongguk as the two shared a heated and dangerous gaze. "what I did was the right thing, she deserves that. she deserves to be humiliated in front of those people, she deserved that kind of treatment! i knew she was that kind of woman and yet you didn't listen to me! now, see what that slut—"

disbelieved, "shut up!" eyes flashing red as the final straw was pulled, jeongguk couldn't tame the words that escaped his lips the moment it opened on its own. slut? who's the slut?! "jiho is not a slut and never was!" the man inquired, his voice lowering a few octaves as a warning "my wife is more than that, she is way more than what you've said! why? why the hell did you do something like that when . . . when you don't even know the real story! why do you always do things as if you're all knowing when you clearly haven't have any single clue what was—"

the woman clutched jeongguk's collar, having enough of all his ranting. "that woman cheated on you! i saw it with my own two eyes how she—" the mother cut through, still unstoppable in proving her point even though it was already pointless as jeongguk had none of it.

"no! she didn't! she never cheated on me!" jeongguk refuted, clearly pissed off of how he could now see how shallow-minded his mother was. "jiho never cheated! it was me!" confessing his sin straight to his mother, he felt like there were thorns escaping on his tongue, tearing him inside-out. It hurt how foolish he had acted, how true his words were and how humiliating it was to finally say the truth rather than denying it.

"y—you. . " the mother was dumbfounded, eyes wide in shock as her lips quivered with unspoken words. ayame couldn't find it in herself to believe, she refused to believe as she let the words that escaped on jeongguk be thrown into abyss. the mother couldn't get why jeongguk would say such a thing. why would you do this? why would you cover up for her? why would you do this for that slut?!

anger boiling in the depths of ayame's own veins, the older held jeongguk's shoulder and shook it vigorously. "you're lying! i didn't raise you to become such a fool for the wrong person! why are you acting this way?! she lied to you! she's a whore—" as if wanting to let her son snap into reality, the woman screamed on top of her lungs. the woman wanted to make the man realize her point, when it was clearly her that needed one slap to jupiter to wake up.

"no!" jeongguk pleaded once more, peeling the hands off of his body as his voice staggered, this time a little too resigned as the pain in his eyes made his vision glossy. the man wanted her mother to see the truth, wanted ayame to realize that his wife wasn't the one to blame. "it was me . . . why, why won't you see that i'm saying the truth?"

"no—" having enough of all of his mother's denial, jeongguk couldn't take it anymore. "it was me! it was me who tore our family apart! it was me who hurt her, it was me who had never been faithful!" as those words escaped, he felt the tears rolling in his smooth skin. the words piercing straight to his heart, feeling so feeble as he let the words sink in.

"it was me! all of it was me! i was the one who threw our precious relationship into nothingness, it was me who had been so selfish. . ." remembering the way he had acted, cheated and lied to jiho made his heart tremble as an ugly sob escaped its way unto his lips. "y—you have no right to do what you did, you had no right to take yeon away from jiho! now . . . now my wife, my wife is about to die" he'd confessed as the floodgates opened and he had started sobbing on full with fat and angry tears.

lips quivering as the realization started sinking in unto the mother "n—no. it can't b—be" the woman whispered, clearly devastated as humiliation started seeping unto her body. remembering the way how she treated jiho, ayame never felt so worthless and cruel than before. "l—lilia. y–you're secreatry . . . said jiho cheated on you and i—"

l—lilia? brown orbs widening as his knees gave out to him, his mother seemed to copy his actions as the woman sat feebly in front of him with flood of tears.

"what do you—" on turmoil, the mother murmured "your secretary sh—showed me pictures and i—I thought it was the—"

putting two and two together as he couldn't help himself anymore but let everything lose, he shook his head in disbelief. "no, no, no! jiho . . . jiho could never do that. you knew jiho wasn't the type, yet why did you believe lilia? you go on believing other people's opinion when you could've first asked me about it!" he'd erupted, shaking her mother's body.

"jeongguk—" the mother tried to reason but jeongguk was close ears with hatred. "because of you! because of you and your rash decision my wife is dying! you act like you're the best mom when you're only good at pushing people away! you were never there for me when i was a child so don't act like you are a mother when you were never one! why do you even hate jiho?! she . . . she was the only one i had when neither you and papa were here!"

"—son, i—it wasn't me, it was your—" jeongguk couldn't bear his mother's excuses, "no! you humiliated jiho! you made my wife seem like the person she was not, just because. . . just because you were so against of her! you even had the audacity to take yeon from her, away?! what kind of mother are you to do that?!"

a sob escaping on the woman, "j—jeongguk"

"i hate you" the man spat as he stood, clearly done as the woman felt so vulnerable. "i don't ever want to be associated with this family anymore. forget that you even had a son, i don't want anything from the both of you! i don't want any of you and your sick relatives close to my family . . . cause if you do, i swear . . . even if you're the one who brought me in this world, i won't hesitate" the man spoke, determination in his eyes as he made it clear how he and his parents are done.

the woman was devastated, begging on her knees as jeongguk started leaving and she had desperately clung unto the younger's legs. "no! please, i'm sorry. i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm sorry, son! i'm sorry i believed in your secretary. i'm sorry i doubted your wife, i'm sorry for—"

peeling the hands away from his legs as if he was disgusted, "sorry won't fix anything, mrs. ayame min"

walking out of the pristine halls with yeon in his arms, never felt so rewarding as before.

────── ✧ ❅ ✦ ❅ ✧ ──────

19.30

eyes brimming to tears, lips quivering with shushed pleas as he held the cold and almost lifeless hands of his wife, jeongguk tried his best to look at the woman who slept peacefully on the pristine white room, the smell of air freshener lingering. jiho's body was filled with tubes to keep her breathing, the drop of IV that shouldn't be visible in the ears were like alarm that unables to calm jeongguk's nerves.

bringing the cold hands against his lips as he gave a chase kiss, the man wanted to share his warmth to the unconscious woman. what did i do to you? how could i do this? how could i be so cruel and heartless? My love.

"jeongguk-shii" cutting him through the train of his thoughts as a knock on the door pulls him from reality, jeongguk listened to the nurse on the other side of the door. "the doctor said that you have ten minutes to prepare for the surgery"

"yes, i'll be there" voice as soft as feather, jeongguk tried his best to pull himself together. begrudgingly letting go of the woman's hand, he leaned in to leave a tender kiss on top of her pale forehead before finally managing to leave and prepare for the operation.

"please. you don't need to do this, jeongguk" clad in the hospital's white gown as his teeth gritted in anger, red flashing in his eyes and blood boiling in his veins, the man could barely hold his madness. jeongguk stood in front of lilia as the woman wouldn't let him have a peace of his mind.

jeongguk barely had time.

"no" the man flat out spoke, almost about to leave when the woman grabbed his shoulder and he had enough of it as he slapped the woman's hand away from his skin. "get the fuck out of my way, i've had enough"

"wha—" dumbfounded, lilia couldn't find any words to speak.

"i—i should've done this a long time ago" the man shakily murmured as the events with his mother seemed to flash in his eyes. the web of lies and the way lilia set everything up, made jeongguk's stomach churn with disgust. "t—the moment the first time it happened, i should've done this. we're over, we're done. I—"

devastation clearly painting in the woman's feature, lilia couldn't believe jeongguk. "no, no, no. you're confused, you're just frustrated! you can't back down! tomorrow's the day, tomorrow's the final day and now that jiho has cancer why won't you just back out and—" brows furrowing as his anger reaches at the peak, jeongguk couldn't hold it in, anymore.

"can you even hear yourself?!" the man inquired, shaking his head in bewilderment as he couldn't imagine how he was so foolish to be decieved in being wrapped around the disgusting fingers of the woman in front of him.

"listen, jeongguk—" the woman tried to hold him once more but he had none of it. "no!"

"i—i can't. i don't . . . i don't love you" the man uttered, the fresh wounds of his betrayal to jiho opening once more as the same way he felt like being free. he knew he should've done this long long time ago.

tears a pool in his eyes, "i don't want to leave jiho" all the things he had done behind his wife's back is something he couldn't even forgive himself. all the lie, betrayal and infidelity acts he had done was starting to hurt his heart once more and this was the only way . . . the only way he could start on making it up to jiho. he would give up everything just to save his wife and family.

"fuck you! after all . . ." a whimper and a sob escaping on the other woman, jeongguk saw how lilia unravel. "after all those years, i was only just a booty call for you?! after everything i've done . . after getting jin and your mother to help me, this is all i'd get?!" the sense of remorse jeongguk initially had is now replaced with purely hatred and lilia seemed to get the point as the other gazed daggers against her. "i—jeongguk, no—"

"get lost. get lost and i don't ever want to see your face, ever again" voice deep with warning, lilia got the cue as she scrambled on her feet but . . . before she could get away, min yoongi cuffed her hands as jeongguk could barely hear, "you are under arrest. i've heard more than enough as a proof"