Pay With Your Heart

Sitting in his car, Dan-Han looked out the window as he thought about Eun-sun's request. 

Dan-Han need not be told why Eun-sun needed to find her parents, but she didn't know it yet, and he wanted her to figure it out on her own.

He had hoped she'd someday ask him to help her find them, but now that she did, he wasn't sure he wanted to. Her answer has not convinced him. Instead, her answer was why he was now sceptical in finding them.

"I want to find my parents." She had said. His brows furrowed on their own accord as he stared at her. If he could remember vividly, she had shown her disinterest in locating them when he asked her to, and when he had tried to coax her into finding them by making a deal with her before they had embarked on their trip, and even then, she had not inclined to that idea. So what has changed?

"Are you sure?" His intent gaze was fixed on her as he observed every emotion that flickered through her eyes. 

"Yes." She answered with certainty, but Dan-Han wasn't buying it.

"Because of my father, right?" He asked. She wants to fight for their relationship by not giving his father something to hold her down. He was sure this was the case. 

Slightly shaking her head, Eun-sun replied, "That's not true." 

"Then why?" He inquired. The hesitation in her eyes was evident to him, and he could tell she was trying to gather her words.

"I...I want to know why they gave me up." She said, making him frown. She continued. "I want to know why I was given away to someone who didn't want me and could easily discard me as soon as a challenge came their way. And...I also want your father to stop looking down on me and blackmailing me." She sincerely told him. 

A few seconds of silence reigned between them before Dan-Han spoke up.

"And you think that would stop my father from harassing and blackmailing you?" He raised a brow at her while she pondered on his question. She looked at him, not sure of what to say. 

He hissed as he lovingly brushed his hand through her hair. He wondered how someone so strong could be so naive. How could she think something like this would stop his father?

Maybe it was because she hadn't met an opponent such as his father before. Looking for her parents for his sake wasn't going to change his mind; he'd only look for more reasons to tear them apart or cause problems for her birth parents. And how sure was she that her biological parents wouldn't be as bad as her foster ones, or maybe worse? 

"How sure are you they won't be as worse your foster parents?" He asked, making her still with fear. 

He sighed when he noticed her reaction. He didn't mean to scare her, but he wanted to open her eyes to all the possibilities and challenges she might encounter if she should embark on this quest. 

 "Eun-sun, you should know why you truly want to find your parents and prepare yourself for whatever you might encounter. Do not let my father push you into rushing into something that might break your heart more." He told her.

Break her heart more? 

Eun-sun feared to admit that he was right. She had thought about this possibility before now, but she had not deliberately pondered on it. Finding her parents should be something she should be truly prepared for. What if they told her why they gave her up, and it was more horrible than all the things she had ever heard? What if they told her they still didn't want her? Was she prepared for another rollercoaster of heart wrecking emotions? She didn't think so.

"I.."

"The only reason you should find your parents should be because you want to, and not because someone is making you to. But if you want me to, then I'll help you." He told her.

Eun-sun didn't know what else to say, so she could only look at him. Maybe she might have to give this much thought. 

Dan-Han pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. She has gone through so much, and he didn't want her to see any more challenges or experience any more heartbreak.

"I don't want you fighting or protecting me, but if you want to, then you have to stay strong and stop letting people use you or manipulate you. And it would be best if you stopped looking down on yourself. Your family won't complete you or give you the sense of worth that you can't give yourself. Even I can't do that for you. There are so many battles you'll have to fight, emotional and physical, and how you win them depends solely on you, not on anyone else." He told her as he kept hugging her. 

They both remained that way for a while before he tried coaxing her to sleep, but she refused. She looked like she lacked enough rest, but the girl was too stubborn.

He promised to return after his meeting so they could spend the day together before leaving the house. 

He picked up his phone and called Tae-Ho. 

"Boss." The man greeted with a bow as if Dan-Han could see him.

"Anything yet on the Kim's?" He asked.

"No," Tae-Ho replied. Dan-Han fell into thought for a while. He was wasting so much time looking into the man, but it seemed the man was meticulous and wasn't sloppy to make a flop. He had to make a direct approach.

"Fix a meeting with him for tonight." He said.

"Okay, boss."

"And also..." He paused and closed his eyes as he thought about what he was about to do. "Find Eun-sun's mother, the one she lived it. We'll be paying her a visit tonight." He ordered.

He wasn't sure what Eun-sun's decision would be, but he could already take a guess. And if she truly wanted to look for her parents, then he'd help her, but first, he'll have to confirm if they were worth knowing.. She had suffered too much in the hands of those she called family, and he didn't want more for her.