Kang Hei Ryung looked around the place. It wasn't extravagant, the colours all white with modern furniture but the misplaced brown leather couch and the askew kitchen did tell that men lived here. There wasn't anything that told her women lived here although she had met two of them already.

The blue haired girl hadn't left a good impression on her, her clothes shabby in a way only normal people wore them. Hei Ryung would have commented on her choice of clothing if her similarly blue haired boyfriend hadn't interjected at the same time, leading her inside.

She had met the other girl there. Even if she was in the kitchen cooking something, it looked like she didn't know how to be organised or much less clean up. Hei Ryung had firmly refused to sit on the ugly couch and was made to sit in the backyard instead. Again, the plastic chairs and the simple foldable table didn't make her feel any good about the place. Yet, her only consolation was the green grass beneath her feet. She had been apprehensive about removing her shoes but seeing the trimmed natural grass made her feet itch.

Despite her upbringing and the way she liked things a certain way, she sometimes behaved like a normal person. It didn't mean she liked behaving that way, her father had always told her that she wasn't a normal person but sometimes, she ignored it and indulged in small things like these.

From the corner of her eye she could see some activity. She was content just sitting in the sun, her feet moving over the grass but she was curious and so, she looked inside. What she saw surprised her however.

She watched her daughter with that man who claimed to be her boyfriend. He was fussing about something to her, his brows drawn together in concern. He had a gentle but firm hold of her hand but the way Heejae smiled at him, it looked like she genuinely liked him. What surprised her further was how she stood on her tiptoes and silenced him with a long kiss.

When Heejae pulled back, she was grinning, a big one Hei Ryung hadn't seen on her face in ages. It made her heart twist strangely in her chest, her eyes stinging as she wondered how long it had been since she saw her little girl smiling that freely around her. When did things go so wrong? When did she mess up so bad?

“Miss Kang,” she snapped out of her thoughts and looked up, only to find her daughter standing in front of her. She didn't even bother calling her mother.

You can consider me dead from now on.

The words she had spoken a few weeks ago rang in her ear as she watched the young woman take a seat. Seeing her emotionless face and blank eyes, her heart squeezed painfully.

“You look good,” Hei Ryung started, trying to cut the thick tension. Heejae smiled wryly. “Thank you but I would appreciate it if you get to the point. I don't wish to be in the presence of a woman who has ill intentions against me and my child.” The woman let out a sigh, her eyes becoming sad as she gazed at her daughter. “I’m sorry, Heejae.”

The young woman felt her eyes widen and her jaw slacken. Never in her twenty something years of life, she had heard her mother apologising to anyone, much less to her children. She couldn't speak, she couldn't come up with any words. Heejae was rendered speechless by her mother.

“It was cruel of me,” Hei Ryung continued, “I wasn't thinking straight and I regret saying those words to you. I think… I think I forgot for a moment that I was your mother and not a businesswoman. I’m really sorry, my girl. I hope you find it in yourself to forgive me.”

“I can't,” came her quick reply, making the old woman tear up. “It is not the only thing you have to be forgiven for. There are more things and its years of piled up resentment. You can't just expect me to forgive you if you drop here out of nowhere like you care when you haven't in so many years. And how am I supposed to believe your apology is real? That there isn't a hidden agenda like blackmailing me yet again to quit my company and join you or better yet, leave Yoongi and marry a man of your choice? How do you expect me to trust you again?”

Hei Ryung took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she finished talking. She knew this was going to be difficult, she was her daughter after all but that didn't mean her words hurt any less. All her life she had taken only those decisions she thought were beneficial for Heejae but they were proving wrong. Her father had been wrong once upon a time as well.

“I know it's not easy, Heejae but just this once. Give me a final chance to become a mom you deserve, please,” she begged, her eyes teary while Heejae looked away sniffling. “I wont ask anything from you, I swear. I'll pass the company to your brother if he wants it or just donate everything. I wont bug you anymore about Hyunwoo either, you can stay with that rapper. Just let me back into your life. Let me support you through this, you need a mother and not young girls who know nothing about pregnancies.”

“I have been doing just fine till now,” Heejae interrupted her abruptly, glaring at her, “and Yoongi’s mom just went back yesterday after checking up on me, leaving us with instructions. You would be surprised to know but she has called me more times to check on me than you have ever since I left your house.”

Oh, that stung, Hei Ryung thought as she flinched at her words and the tone she used. She was left wondering who she got her sharp tongue from. It definitely wasn't her husband, he was far too soft.

“I can help you find the one who threatened you,” she declared, confidently staring into her daughter's eyes. “In fact, I already told my assistant to start looking into it. You know what I am capable of and you know private investigators work much better than the police. I have enough power over the media too, to find and destroy that person. So, just let me help and prove it to you that you can trust me.”

The offer was tempting and for a moment, Heejae fell for it. It was then that she remembered how not too long ago she had blackmailed her to do everything she said in exchange of getting clients for her studio. The reminder made her scoff.

"You are doing it again, you know? You are trying to negotiate your way into my life by offering me something you know I can't refuse. When will you—"

"Then what do I do?" Hei Ryung burst out suddenly, making her flinch at her abrupt change of volume. "What do I do to be your mom again? It's not like you are giving me an easy option. You don't want me to do anything but then what am I supposed to do for you as a mother. What do you exactly want from me?"

Heejae sighed, a tear rolling down her flush cheek. "Just accept me for who I am. Just say you love me and you are proud of what I've achieved on my own, despite everything. I'm not a child, mother; I don't hide in your shadow anymore. I'm Park Heejae and people know me as a director, film maker not your daughter and you have never acknowledged that even once. The day you say it genuinely and not out of obligation, I'll let you be a part of my life."

The old woman watched her daughter wipe her tears away, with her sniffles turning louder her lover came out as well. She watched the way he took her in his arms and held her and she wished, she was in his place. She was her mother after all.

She could handle it no more and so, she stood up clearing her throat. Heejae didn't look up, her head buried in the man's chest but Yoongi did. The sympathy in his eyes surprised her. Her first impression of the man was of an uninterested, emotionless person resembling a rock but as he looked at her now, her views changed.

Avoiding his eyes, she said, "I'll keep you two updated on the investigation. I won't stop looking for the person who dared threaten my daughter and grandchild. I'll get going now." With her head held high as always, Kang Hei Ryung walked out of the backyard and towards the front.

"Thank you for coming here today," a deep male voice stopped the woman from leaving the house. Taking a deep breath and trying to keep the moisture gathering in her eyes in control, she turned around.

"I know our first meeting wasn't that good, not that I care," Yoongi said, tilting his head towards the backyard, "but I care for her and what you said really hurt Heejae. She only wants you to accept her without demanding anything in return. From personal experience, no child can hate their parents. Just hang in there and show you are there for her and she'll come around. She'll forgive you someday."

Hei Ryung gave him a thin smile. "Thank you for taking care of her when I was unable to and I hope you don't run away because of her personality. I can tell she likes you very much."

The man chuckled, looking back at his girlfriend who now sat in the backyard with her eyes closed. "The feeling is mutual, so you don't have to worry about me running away." Nodding in understanding, the woman left the place.

Seated in the backseat of her car, she finally let go off all the emotions she was holding back. She cried for her wrong decisions, for making her ambitions weigh down on her children and for being the reason of the rift between them. She just wanted to right all of her wrongs from this moment forth, start anew. It's never too late anyways.