"I'm fine..." Lisa waved her hand at him; she then brushed her teeth and came out from the bathroom.
She walked right up to the couch and fell into it...
"You made Korean medicine?" Jungkook had a really sharp nose.
"Yeah." Lisa nodded in admission.
"What's wrong? Are you not feeling well?" Jungkook touched her head, but she wasn't burning up.
"I went to see a traditional Korean medicine doctor today... He said that I had a cold womb, and it was hard for me to get pregnant. So, I thought I should drink some Korean medicine and condition my body," Lisa said nonchalantly.
"You can eat more dates and brown sugar, it works the same. Why would you drink Korean medicine?"
"It's too slow... I need to get better as soon as possible," Lisa said stubbornly.
Heartbroken, Jungkook hugged her. "Doll, don't be like that, really. I won't blame you, even if we never have children... I'm happy as is."
"But I'd feel unsettled, I want a baby," Lisa said, depressed.
At that moment the kitchen timer dinged, and Lisa went into the kitchen and poured herself another bowl of Korean medicine.
Then, while Jungkook looked at her, she didn't even frown before downing the entire bowl of it.
Then, she covered her mouth, trying not to throw up...
Upon seeing Lisa so stubborn, Jungkook's heart ached for her...
However, he knew Lisa well and was aware that as long as she made up her mind to do something, she would do it, no matter what.
Therefore, he didn't stop her. Instead, he walked into the kitchen and took out a peach, cutting it up into small slices.
Then, he handed the plate of sliced peach to her. "Eat this, you'll feel better."
Lisa placed a slice into her mouth. Then, she smiled, "Kook, you're home so early today."
"My dad's home, and he asked us to come home for dinner."
"Tonight...?"
"Yeah, what's up? Do you need to be somewhere?"
"Yeah... Sehun told me to go back to the Oh Mansion tonight, I'm guessing something's going to happen there."
"I'll go with you then."
Jungkook didn't want Lisa to spend so much time alone with Sehun, so he immediately offered to go with her.
"What about your Dad?" Lisa felt bad.
"It's okay, we'll go another day," Jungkook said slowly.
Lisa nodded...
- The Jeon Manor -
Thinking that Jungkook and Lisa would be home for dinner, the maid prepared a dozen dishes. However, Jungkook suddenly called to say that he wasn't coming.
Mr. Jeon turned around and told the maid, "Let's eat, we don't have to wait for them."
"Kook's not coming?" Mrs. Jeon wasn't so happy.
"Yeah, they're busy."
"What are they busy with? He doesn't even have time to come home for dinner?" Mrs. Jeon furiously asked.
He thought that they were coming back, so Mr. Jeon didn't even ask Tzuyu to come, in fear that there would be misunderstandings between them and her daughter-in-law.
Too bad they didn't come...
"Kook said something's going on in the Oh Family, so they're going there."
"What? He'd rather go to the Oh Family than ours? I bet it's Lisa's idea... I told you I hated her, did you see? She's doing this to me on purpose." Mrs. Jeon immediately lost her cool.
"Something's going on in her family, what are you getting so worked up about?" Mr. Oh didn't like it when his wife acted out.
He, Jungkook, and Lisa all thought that she was going through a midlife crisis.
"What can be going on in her twisted family? It's the 21st century, but the wife and mistress are living under the same roof. High-class people all laugh at their situation. Mr. Oh is so thick-faced, he really should watch his behavior."
"Forget it, let's eat. That's their business."
Mr. Oh became impatient; he ignored his wife and walked right up to the dining table...
On the other side of city, Lisa and Jungkook arrived in his Maybach right on time.
- 6:30 PM -
Mr. Oh was pleasantly surprised to see Jungkook and Lisa.
"Why didn't you call to say you guys were coming? Let me ask the kitchen to make some more dishes." Mr. Oh was ecstatic.
"No, it's okay, we're only staying for a little while," Lisa said faintly.
Even though neither of them liked the Oh Family, they still had to be polite. Therefore, Jungkook bough Mr. Oh some expensive supplements before they came.
When they arrived, everyone was there.
Lisa hadn't seen Mrs. Oh in a while, and the latter was extremely happy to see her.
"I haven't seen you in such a long time, you look more and more pretty each time I look at you." Mrs. Oh smiled.
"Thank you, Mrs. Oh." Lisa kept a safe distance from everyone in their family.
"I knew my dear sister Lisa, would be the most punctual one, I told her 6:30 PM, and here she is." Sehun walked downstairs. Jungkook's hair stood up in disgust when he heard Sehun call her 'Lisa'.
"You invited Lisa?" Mr. Oh asked in surprise.
"Yes, Mother came back today, and we don't do family reunions that often."
Soon, everyone was seated at the table. Hyunjae had his head down and spoke of nothing. For the past couple of days, he had been home, too afraid to go out.
Since his resignation, Mr. Oh had cut off his allowance. He was officially grounded and was supposed to be reflecting on what he did.
"President Jeon, this is your first time at our house, isn't it?" Nancy sounded rather enthusiastic and initiated a conversation with Jungkook.
"Yes," Jungkook answered coldly.
"You look much better in person! I heard JC Film and Television is doing very well," Nancy continued.
Jungkook looked at her slightly and didn't know how to answer. Everything she said was unimportant.
"Thanks for your concern, JC Film and Television has been doing pretty well," Lisa smiled and answered in lieu of him.
Nancy ignored Lisa and continued to stare at Jungkook dreamily. "Can I visit the company when I have time? I really like Joy, she's really pretty and is a very good actress."
"None of our celebrities are at the company, they are all working out of town," Jungkook politely declined.
"I see... Can you get me an autograph or something?" Nancy continued to ask in a very thick-skinned manner.
"Have you ever seen any company owners ask their employees for autographs?" Lisa asked, amused.
"Nancy, it's not good for someone like Jungkook to do something like that. Stop thinking about irrelevant things," Sooyoung said.
"Lisa, I heard you're a doctor now," Mrs. Oh's information was rather up-to-date.
"Yes."
"I've reviewed the Oh Foundation's accounts. There's been no mistakes, and not a penny went missing. You're doing a great job!"
"Thank you, I'm just doing my job."
When faced with Mrs. Oh's compliments, Lisa didn't appear slightly pleased at all. She knew it just small talk and would never take it to heart.
"Jungkook, about that land that we spoke about...?"
"The project won't begin until next year. Perhaps after the New Year," Jungkook said.
"Oh, okay. As long as you remember what I said," Mr. Oh said. He had a thick face and still remembered that he wanted a share of the pie.
"You two have been married for a while now, any good news to share?" Sooyoung asked with a smile.
Lisa knew that Sooyoung was asking intentionally because she wanted to embarrass her.
But before she could answer, Jungkook answered, "Lisa is still young, we're not in a hurry. We're planning to wait."
"Oh, I see." Sooyoung raised her brows and nodded.
Lisa wrapped her hands around Jungkook's hand tightly under the table. She felt safe beside him. He's always in front of her, protecting her...
"Lisa is rather young. Kids can wait, right? What if Lisa grows tired of Jungkook? Having no kids will make divorce a simple one, you guys won't?need to fight for custody."
Everyone's jaw fell open as they heard Sehun finish...
"Ha, I'm kidding. They're so in love, why would that ever happen?" he continued.
Jungkook glanced over at Sehun with a slight smirk at the corner of his mouth, "No point in having these jokes. Lisa is my bottom line, I do not tolerate any jokes related to her," he said defiantly.
"Okay, my bad. President Jeon, don't be upset!" Sehun continued to joke as if nothing was wrong.
"Never mind him, Sehun likes to joke around," Mrs. Oh said in an attempt to mediate.
"There's been gossip on some forums recently that's rather funny, do you guys want to hear them?" Sehun asked as he held a tablet in his hand.
No one responded since they didn't know what to say.
"I'll read it to you guys, it's an interesting story. I guarantee you guys will like it," he continued.
Excitement glimmered in his eyes, and Lisa knew the show was about to begin...
Everyone remained in silence. All six of them watched Sehun unfold the story on his own. It seemed obvious what was happening, except to Mr. Oh and his little groupie.
Lisa knew that Sehun had a tough card in his deck, and as soon as he revealed it, it will be all over for Sooyoung. Oh, how he loved to kick a dog that was down. It was perfect timing since Sooyoung had just bled out 400 million.
Sehun continued slowly, "The forum says a not so well-known celebrity was secretly going out with a millionaire. Except, the millionaire already had a wife, so she chose to be his mistress. In order to get what she wanted, she gave birth to a child and finally got her foot through the door."
Sooyoung frowned as she heard the story play out; she understood Sehun's intention.
"What's so interesting about this? In today's day and age, what's wrong with being a mistress? It means the woman's got skills! How else would the man fall in love with her? It's a society run by the law of the jungle! Just because the wife lost, she can't possibly blame everything onto the mistress. If she's capable of anything, then there wouldn't be any third wheel or fourth wheel in the first place!" Nancy attempted to stick up for her mother in a rather unclever way.
Lisa kept her silence and waited for the climax of the story to unfold...
Sehun smiled and read on, "The millionaire spoiled the mistress and that child, and provided them with whatever they wanted. But what's funny is the fact that the millionaire never questioned the identity of the child. The child was never his to begin with, it was the mistress and her previous lover's child. What the millionaire also didn't know was that his beloved mistress had been cheating on him with that old lover of hers for all these years. Oh boy, the cuckolding is real."
Lisa made the connection and dawn of realization suddenly hit her. She stared at Sooyoung in disbelief.
She's got a man on the side? One of her children was not Mr. Oh's? That's bloody dramatic.
Sooyoung's face grew pale as fear crept into her eyes...
"Auntie Sooyoung, is this story entertaining or what?" Sehun smiled and asked Sooyoung.
"Sehun! What's your point! Are you implying something about my mother?" Nancy asked impatiently.
"I'm not implying anything, why would you think that?" Sehun smiled.
Mrs. Oh kept her silence and sipped tea; she seemed to already be in on this.
"These stories are bogus, are you questioning whether I'm my dad's daughter? You're hilarious," Nancy rolled her eyes and arrogantly countered Sehun. Her blood test had shown she was the same blood type as Mr. Oh, and she had also sweetly offered to donate blood to her father whenever he was sick. So, of course, Sehun was just bullshitting and making things out of nothing. Nancy rolled her eyes some more.
"You're getting ahead of yourself. The forum wasn't speaking of you, the mistress's child was a boy," as Sehun spoke, he glanced over at Hyunjae profoundly.
Mr. Oh was old, but he hadn't lost his mind yet. He understood Sehun's implications.
"Sehun, you shouldn't be focusing on these kinds of gossip. They're mostly untrue and are there to make people's lives difficult," Mr. Oh said.
"That's true, but Dad, I found out a very interesting secret."
"What secret?" startled, Mr. Oh asked.
Sehun pulled out his phone and began playing a video. He then handed his phone over to his father.
Mr. Oh's face grew pale as he grew restless, almost frantic...
"Where, where did you get this??" He was flabbergasted.
"A friend of mine that works at a news company filmed it by coincidence and sent it to me. I bought it for three million, or it would have been on the news."
"What kind of video costs three million?" Mrs. Oh chuckled intentionally and asked.
Liaa and Jungkook exchanged glances; they both understood what was about to happen.
Mr. Oh tossed the phone in front of Sooyoung and bellowed, "See for yourself!"
As the video played itself out, Sooyoung's face grew increasingly pale. By the end of it, she looked like a ghost...
Sooyoung felt cold and weak as if she was going to black out any second. The video took place at the end of last month when Mr. Oh was on a business trip, and in the video were her and her lover. It wasn't in high definition, but it was clear that she was kissing someone passionately in the video. Unlike photos, she couldn't use the excuse that it was photoshopped.
Sooyoung was so scared she knelt to the floor and begged, "honey, I made a mistake..."
Without letting her finish, Mr. Oh raised his hand and slapped her across the face. She fell to the side immediately.
"Mom!" Hyunjae and Nancy panicked and attempted to help her up.
"Don't touch her!" Mr. Oh roared. Nancy and Hyunjae pulled back their shaky hands immediately.
"Mom, what's going on, what's this video about?" Nancy asked anxiously.
"Nothing too special, just a video about your mother and a man having an affair in an apartment under her name while your father was on a business trip," Mrs. Oh ridiculed.
Nancy and Hyunjae looked dumbstruck, while Mr. Oh's face grew darker...
"Sooyoung, I would never have dreamt that you would cheat on me. Brilliant. You're quite brave you know? Have I not treated you well all these years? How dare you? How dare you?"
When confronted with Sooyoung's betrayal, Mr. Oh was not only outraged; he felt extremely hurt.
It was true that he was a selfish man, and sometimes he would play around with other girls as well. But, when questioned, he always said that he loved Sooyoung. He had tried his best to protect their son and daughter, he gave them not only his money but also his love.
He always thought Sooyoung loved him deeply and never expected her to cuckold him.
"Who's the man?" Mr. Oh finally asked icily.
"Honey, I'm sorry! Please forgive me this time. I will never do it again, I will never see him again, okay? Please, please believe me." Sooyoung crawled over to Mr. Oh, but he only kicked her away.
"Don't touch me, you cunt," Mr. Oh swore.
"Dad, I've already investigated the man. His name owns a restaurant, and he's also got a family of his own. According to the reports, he and Auntie Sooyoung were junior high classmates and used to date. Oh, wait, no, they've been dating all these years. It turns out they've kept in touch all these years and are pretty good at hiding their tracks. Too bad that the reporters nowadays have better technology," Sehun explained slowly.
"I see, junior high classmates. Was he your first love? Sooyoung, I've provided for you all these years and you had the audacity to nurture a lover on the side?"
"No, he's lying! We haven't contacted each other for years! It was only recently, I went to a class reunion and drank too much. I'm sorry, I promise I won't do it again! Honey, please, believe me, I love you!"
With the confrontation, the usual level-headed Sooyoung panicked. She had no idea what she was saying, all she did was cry and beg on the floor...
Lisa watched as Sooyoung knelt to the floor and begged Mr. Oh with her hands around his leg. In order to keep her place in this glamorous world, she had chosen to forgo her dignity...
"Dad, I'm sure Mom has her reasons..." Hyunjae attempted to explain and help his mother. Mr. Oh lifted his free leg that wasn't tangled by Sooyoung and gave Hyunjae a kick and watched coldly as he fell towards the floor.
"Get the hell out..."
"Oh, also, Hyunjae, you shouldn't be calling him 'Dad' anymore. I've sent your hair sample for testing, and your DNA is completely different from Dad's. I'm guessing you're that man's son. But of course, that's assuming that your mother only had one man on the side."
"You're bullshiting!" Hyunjae cursed as he pointed his finger at Sehun.
Mr. Oh looked at Sehun with shock written all over this face. "What... did you say?"
"Dad... I'm sorry. You may not want to hear the truth, but I still have to tell you that Hyunjae isn't your son... Here's the DNA report, you can take a look at it. Of course, if you don't believe me, you can do another test. However, the good news is, Nancy is your daughter..."
Mr. Oh felt thunderstruck as he took the DNA test from Sehun.
All these years, he had suspected everyone, but never once suspected that Hyunjae wasn't his own.
Therefore, he never did a paternity test on him because he felt like it was an insult to Sooyoung.
However, his one, tiny careless mistake brewed into a catastrophe.
Sooyoung was so scared that she didn't dare say anything; she never thought that her lie would one day be exposed.
Back then, she accidentally became pregnant with Hyunjae while having an affair. Terrified, she even thought about getting an abortion.
However, she was in a hurry to give birth to a son for the Oh Family and therefore, decided to take a risk.
She didn't think that anyone would suspect her; yet, Sehun decided to investigate her.
"Sooyoung!" Mr. Oh ran up to her like crazy and put his hands around her neck.
He strangled her as if he wanted to kill her...
Nancy ran up to save her mother, but his father kicked her to the side... smashing her into the wall.
"Dad... please don't act rashly. You can't change what happened even if you kill her," Sehun consoled...
Just as Sooyoung thought that she was going to die, Mr. Oh suddenly let go of her.
"Dinner is over, Lisa... go home with Jungkook. I need to take care of things at home."
"Okay then, we'll head out now." Jungkook and Lisa got up and left awkwardly.
As soon as they left, Mr. Oh pulled Sooyoung upstairs and immediately beat her half-to-death.
Her screams echoed the mansion...
Nancy and Hyunjae kept crying; neither of them knew what to do...
"It's all your fault, you did this... why are you so evil?" Hyunjae ran up to Sehun, in an attempt to hit him.
However, the latter grabbed his hand and threw him onto the ground, like a piece of trash...
After beating Sooyoung up, Mr. Oh came downstairs...
"No one is allowed to leave this house until I thoroughly investigate this."
After he calmed down, Mr. Oh decided to do another DNA test.
If what Sehun said was true, and Hyunjae really wasn't his son, then he would need to draw up a new will.
"Okay, Dad, we'll wait for your results." Sehun smiled on the couch, crossing his arms.
"I feel bad for you... You raised someone else's son for more than 20 years..." Mrs. Oh said mockingly.
"Everyone shut up..."
Then, Mr. Oh covered his chest with his hand... and fell unconscious to the ground.
*
After Lisa and Jungkook left the Oh Mansion, they went straight back to South Hill Manor.
It was early winter, and cold at night...
The two of them held hands as they sat down by the edge of the fountain...
"Doll... did you enjoy watching the show at Oh Family just now?"
"What about you?"
"I enjoyed it. Mr. Oh has done too much evil in his lifetime, this is karma... but Sehun sure is ruthless, I bet he knew about it a long time ago but decided only to drop this bomb after bleeding 400 million out of Sooyoung, hitting her when she's down... I think, it doesn't matter if Nancy is Mr. Oh's biological daughter... he will never forgive Sooyoung, and the three of them will never be able to recover from this incident."
"Yeah, that's how Sehun does things... He's very cruel." Jungkook never liked him.
"Right, Kook, I wanted to ask you about something."
"What?"
"Next Friday is Jimin's birthday; he invited me, do you think I should go?" Lisa didn't want to hide things from Jungkook, so she decided to ask in advance.
"What about you? Do you want to go?" Jungkook asked gently.
"Do you want to hear the truth?"
"I do." Jungkook nodded.
"I don't want to go since Jimin and I aren't close enough to celebrate each other's birthday. I don't know why he invited me, but even if I don't go, I still have to. Because... he gave me something on my birthday, and I want to give it back to him."
"What did he give you?" Jungkook froze for a second.
Lisa never mentioned this to him; was she afraid that he would get jealous?
Lisa took out the bullet from her handbag...
"He gave you this?" Jungkook picked up the bullet and examined it; there wasn't anything special about it.
"Yeah, he stopped my car on my way home and gave this to me. He told me that it represented a wish. He said that if I ever needed him to do something for me, I could go find him with this, and he'll help me no matter what."
"He sure is generous..." Jungkook sounded a bit sour.
Lisa smiled as she leaned on Jungkook's shoulder. "Hey, are you jealous?"
"Would you believe me if I said I wasn't?"
"Nope."
"I guess I am then." Jungkook lovingly stroked her head.
"I knew how important this present is, so I've been looking for an opportunity to give it back to him, when better than his birthday? It's what I've been wanting to do."
"Sounds good, but there's something you need to pay attention to," Jungkook gently reminded her.
"What?" Confused, Lisa looked at Jungkook.
"The entire city's eyes are on Jimin. There's going to be a lot of media outlets at his birthday party... Don't give anyone the chance to make groundless accusations, it'll be bad if someone blows things out of proportion. Plus, my dad's really thin-faced... If our personal matters affect the company, it might dampen his opinion of you..."
Jungkook was very serious; he wasn't being unreasonable nor pretentious...
Not only had Mr. Jeon's attitude towards Lisa gotten much better, he even accepted her as his daughter-in-law. However, if negative news erupted from this event, the old man's attitude towards her might change. Jungkook didn't have to care about his mother, but he had to care about his father. After all, Jungkook respected him.
Lisa completely understood what he was trying to say – she could go to his birthday party and enjoy a meal here.
But, don't let the media catch her doing anything out of line. If they magnified it, it would be bad for everyone's reputation.
After all, they were all public figures, and JC Film and Television was BigHit's competitor.
"I understand." Lisa nodded.
– The next morning –
As soon as Lisa got to the hospital, she received a phone call from Soobin's agent. The latter told her that Soobin was acting up and asked her to check up on him.
Lisa quickly put on her white lab coat and black-rimmed glasses. Upon reaching the top floor, she bumped into Soobin, who was in casual wear and ready to head out.
"Where are you going, dressed like this?"
"Lisa noona, perfect timing. I've been feeling suffocated and want to go out for a walk."
"No." Lisa blocked his way.
"Noona... I can't believe you won't sympathize with me." Soobin was a little surprised.
"It's not that, I have to be responsible towards you..."
"So, are you telling me or not? What's my illness? If you don't tell me, then I want to be discharged, I don't want to stay here anymore... I'm going crazy, I don't like doctors, I want to go home."
His agent looked like she was struggling and didn't want to tell him...
Lisa fell silent as well...
"Why, are you going to keep me in the dark forever? Tell me, I'm not scared, even if I have cancer... I've had enough of this life anyway... Just tell me, don't hide things from me like I'm a child, I'll find out anyways before the surgery. You won't be able to forge my signature."
Soobin had a bad feeling these days; he felt like the nurses and doctors were being too careful around him.
His agent has been in a bad mood, and Lisa checked up on him three times a day.
Indigestion? Would he really believe them?