Pay With Your Heart

"Ho...ney?" Song-Hee whispered out in shock. Her eyes carefully rifling the man in front of her in shocked surprise.

She took a subconscious step towards him and the more she drew closer the more she couldn't believe it. Was he really there?

Her heart pounded ferociously behind her ribs, and her fingers trembled as she cautiously reached to touch him, to confirm she wasn't seeing a ghost.

Tears streamed down her eyes when she touched his hand and he felt real. He...was real. He was truly real!!

"It's you." She muttered between gasps of disbelief as more tears trickled down her face and her hand trembled even more to reach his face. This moment was surreal.

She had just been sprawled on her sofa watching the news when her mind suddenly thought about him and she had quickly kicked it out. But never would she had thought he'd suddenly manifest in front of her.

She froze when the man took a step back, obviously not wanting to be touched by her.

"Hon-"

"Song-Hee." He softly called her name, but his voice hid a certain anger and displeasure in it.

They both gazed at each other for a while. Song-Hee looked far different from the woman he married twenty-six years ago. When he had met her, she was in the prime of her youth. She was fair to look upon and at a glance she made hearts skip, his included. She was all he could think about for weeks, and he was restless till he married her. Sixteen years was he married to her, showering her with his love as well as their child, but who knew it was all a lie. His love, sacrifice and commitment were seen as a joke, so much he was lied to for 15 good years!. How cruel!!

He had lived under her deceit for years and she had showed no remorse, no fear, no guilt for wronging him in such a way. Looking at her now, he didn't know if ever knew her. She was so lean, disheveled, old and even a junkie. She reeked of alcohol and drugs.

His eyes travelled across the apartment and he couldn't believe the horrible state of the place. A pigsty had she turned it into.

This house which held so many happy memories was now a place he recurled stepping into. Standing there repulsed him to the bone. He returned his gaze to her, and he noticed the way she was staring at him.

"You should up clean up your house more often." He said as he took a walk around the place with her eyes keenly following him. She was still in a daze.

He saw a nylon of white substance and he scoffed. He looked at her again, and all he felt was more disgust and anger. How could the person he once loved and cherished suddenly become the person who irritated him to the core? He thought he had let go of his anger and pain of betrayal after ten years, but it seemed only a glance at her would bring them back to him.

It was sad all the years he put into loving someone could be turned into this hate.

He turned to her and pulled out a cigarette from his pocket. A sardonic chuckle rolled out his lips when he observed her gaze of disbelief on him.

"Don't be an hypocrite." He said and lit up the cigarette.

Song-Hee who still couldn't believe the scene in front of her swallowed in reaction to the cigarette, but the current situation drowned out her urges. She had so many questions she wanted to ask, like where had he been, why was he only returning now, did he still hate her that much, was he ever going to forgive her? All these questions she wanted to ask, but she couldn't bring herself to, so all she said was;

"Are you back?" He could see the anxiety in the anxiety in her eyes as she gazed at him.

He sighed and took a drag of his cigarette and asked, "Back to what?"

Song-Hee was stunned by his question. What did he mean by back to what? Back to her, of course! He had left her for such a long time and he was asking such a question?

"Are you still angry? It's been ten years and a lot has changed."

"Obviously." He replied giving her a once over. "You changed to something worse." He took another drag of his cigarette and continued, "And so have I." They have both changed to people they hadn't imagined they would be ten years ago.

People say meeting the right person would bring the best out of you, but in their own case they brought the worst out of each other.

Nothing hurt more than being taken for granted after giving your all.

Song-Hee didn't know what to think of his reaction towards her. Was he still mad?

"I'm sorry I betrayed you, but I have sent her away. Can't we try again?" She asked.

The man chuckled when he heard the pathetic things she had just spewed out of her mouth.

Try again? Send her away? Was she crazy?!

He looked at her like she was nut. Of course she was. She was crazy to think he'd return after so long to pick up the pieces of their ruined marriage. But nothing angered him as much as her statement of sending Eun-sun away.

"And where did you send her to?" He asked, his gaze focused on her in an uncomfortable way.

Song-Hee sighed. "I don't know." She replied making him chuckle.

"I would have called you irresponsible, but that would be hypocritical. I left my family because I was hurt, but you...you sent her away knowing she had no one. No family. You didn't even give her a clue of the hole you brought her from."

"I did my best for her. I'm this way because of her! We're this way because of her!" She snapped.

"No. You're this way because you chose to. You chose to lie. You chose to deceive the entire family! You denied me the right of mourning my own child by bringing another child home."

"Why are you here?" She suddenly asked. It was obvious he wasn't here because he missed home.

Looking at her, he took the last drag of his cigarette and stubbed it. "I want you to go tell her where you took her from. For all she did for you, she deserves that. I'd tell her if I know, but I don't. So for once in your life do what's right and let her find her family."

Ear deafening silence echoed across the room as they both held each other's gaze.

"And what if I don't know." She asked.

"Then find out. It's the least you can do. What she endured from you, from us, I doubt our own child would have endured such." He said and turned away from her towards the door.

"Wait!" She called, halting him on his heel.

"Is this all you've come to say?" She anxiously asked. She had thought he had come from them.

Without looking at her, he coldly replied. "Yes," and walked away.

Mr Park paused the moment he walked out of the house. He looked at her via the window and sighed.

As much as he had loved his family, he couldn't look past her betrayal. It was one thing to know you lost your child years after you did, and it was another thing to know the Child you've been raising all your life isn't even yours. Did leaving make him a bad person, yes. But he couldn't handle the pain.

He had wronged Eun-sun by leaving her alone even though he had loved her like his own, and he can never make up for it.. But with this, he hoped Song-Hee does the right thing and give Eun-sun the family she truly needs.