Beginning

"Please, just open your eyes." Jung-Ho lightly pats Sook-Ja's cheek. The young girl, whose lifeless body is next to him, and he is kneeling.

He is to blame for her current state. While returning from work, she was involved in an accident. He cries out, "Open your eyes," as his own eyes begin to blur. His skull is bruised, and tears are running down his face. He moves his fingers lightly to stroke the side of her cheek. When his hand accidentally bumps against a brand-new wound, he struggles to contain his sobs. It aches worse than anything I've ever experienced, which makes the suffering unbearable. The car is on fire and the flames are rising high into the sky.

He can't help but wonder what will happen to him now as he stares at Sook-Ja's lifeless face. He shouts, "Don't leave me Sook-Ja!" but then collapses next to her out of weakness.

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"Hey Sook-Ja, what's up between you and Mr Gwan these days?" Excitedly asking, Gue-Roo "Shh, Gue-Roo. Suppose someone overhears you. He is our CEO, and I am in a relationship, therefore there is nothing going on between the two of us." "OK, I know you want more than that, Sook-Ja, but yeah, sure." Gue-Roo rolls her eyes at her friend as she sighs and returns to work. Sook-Ja peers through the glass window and observes the people moving about the structure. "It seems to be getting late." She looks at the time and realises it is almost 6:30. She decides to go home, gathers her belongings, and then leaves with her bag slung over her shoulder.

**************************************

As she walks towards her home, her phone buzzes making her jump, she takes a quick look at the screen. She smiles widely, as she reads the text "I'M HOME!" Then quickly puts her phone away. She reaches for the key in her pocket and then stops abruptly, "there is another one! Why did I forget to put them in!" she panics, then goes back and opens the door. There are some flowers inside the apartment. "Who got this?" she says being curious, but then puts the flowers on the table next to the door. As she was closing the door behind her, she suddenly hears a strange noise coming from behind her "Sook-Ja?!", someone grabs her from behind and pulls her into a back hug. "I missed you baby." Sook-Ja lets out a sigh as she hears Do-Yun's voice in her ears. He is her boyfriend. They have known each other since high school when they started dating after college ended. They met online, and their connection became deeper when he started helping her with her job and then he asked her to be his girlfriend. And as much as she wants to push his arms away, she does not. She enjoys his affection which makes her feel happy. "Hi," she whispers while trying to catch her breath. "Did you miss me? "He says, pulling away from the hug. "Of course, I missed you, you jerk" she laughs as she punches his arm, Do-Yun grins and leans in to give her a sweet kiss. "Ya, don't I stink." He smiles "Okay, go and freshen up." Sook-Ja nods her head and goes to her room.

************************************

Jung-Ho Gwan enters his house after an exhausting day. Mrs. Choi sighs in relief as he walks through the door, relieved to see him home. She has been expecting him back hours since he left earlier.

“Mr. Gwan! Welcome back! How was your day?” She asks. He shrugs and makes his way over to her. “It was alright I guess… What are you cooking?”

She smiles at him. “Lasagna for dinner tonight, you like lasagna right?”

He nods. “Yeah, I really do. And I’m starving so I’m gonna go take a shower and then we can eat. ”

Mrs. Choi watches him walk upstairs, leaving her alone in the kitchen.

~*~

She hears him descend the stairs once more after nearly an hour of waiting. He is quiet as usual as Mrs. Choi feeds him food. "Thank you, Mrs. Choi."

Mrs. Choi bows to him and then says, "No problem dear."

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"Okay, Grandpa, I will send the money soon," Sook-Ja says on the phone as she is talking to her grandpa about her brother's school fees. "Love you, bye." She then hangs up and sighs in relief, "You should tell him that you are having some financial problems here." Do-Yun says before passing her a plate of food.

Sook-Ja nods "I will. But first, let's talk to your mother." she says looking at the man. Do-Yun's smile drops for a moment, but he quickly goes back to his smiling self when he realises that Sook-Ja can't see it. "We will Sook-Ja soon." "You always have excuses right? Sook-Ja adds. Do-Yun doesn't say anything, he just nods and continues eating their dinner.

~*~*~*~

"Ye-Rim, have you seen my file which I was working on?" Gue-Roo inquires as she enters her sister's room. "No, I haven't," she shouts into the bathroom. "Okay," Gue-Roo says, she makes her way out of Ye-Rim's room and suddenly her eyes catch attention on something which is lying on the bed. She walks over and picks it up and looks at it curiously it's a picture of Do-Yun and Ye-Rim. Her eyes widened in shock. She doesn't believe what her eyes are telling her but she puts the picture down on the bed and starts rummaging through her room but before she can do so she hears footsteps behind her. Turning around, she sees her sister standing there with a curious face.

"Are you done with your work or did you need some more time? I didn't want to interrupt." Ye-Rim asks. Gue-Roo shakes her head quickly trying to shake off the thoughts that have begun to form in her mind. "Oh yeah, I'm good now," Gue-Roo replies as she picks up her bag and rushes out of the room without another word to her sister. "Hope she won't tell Sook-Ja about it." She murmurs to herself.

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Sook-Ja rubs her eyes as she finally wakes up. She glances around the room and glances beside her. She smiles as her eyes land on Do-Yun, who is still sound asleep next to her on the bed. The sun is starting to rise outside of the window and she can hear the birds outside starting singing their morning song.

She carefully climbs out from her bed and walks quietly to the bathroom, taking care not to disturb Do-Yun. After brushing her teeth, she dresses herself and goes back to the bedroom. She places a kiss on Do-Yun’s forehead.

“I need to go, you sleep some more. I will be back early, love,” she whispers.

Do-Yun grunts in response. Sook-Ja giggles and kisses his forehead again before heading out of the house for the office.

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As Sook-Ja enters the huge building of her office, a tall man with curly dark hair is standing near the reception desk, talking to someone who looks like his friend. The tall guy turns around as she walks in and greets her with a big smile on his face.

“Hey Sook-Ja," Sook-Ja smiles and greets him back. "Mr. Gwan is in a bad mood." The man tells her. Sook-Ja nods and they both walk into the elevators. They both stand in silence for what feels like hours before the elevator arrives at their floor. They both step out of it and walk down the hall. As they reach Mr. Gwan's office, they stop right in front of the door.

"I hope he will not shout," Sook-Ja says before going inside to see Mr. Gwan.

~*~*~*~*~

The room has large windows facing the cityscape. It looks really nice. Mr. Gwan is sitting at his desk writing on a stack of papers when Sook-Ja comes in. Mr. Gwan looks up from his work and gives her a small smile.

"Sook-Ja, how are you?" he asks.

"I'm good, sir. How are you?" She replies.

"I'm doing well. I have some new information about the project that we need to discuss." He says.

"Alright." Sook-Ja sits down on one of the chairs in front of his desk.

After another brief conversation about work, they go over all the details regarding the project. They then move on to another business talk.