I'm (not) OK [SeulYong]

Chapter 23

"Hey. You alright?" Youngho held her shoulder as Milly breathed in and out, trying to relax herself.

"I'm fine. Just need to relax a bit." she fans herself to cool down, and takes off her sunglasses, waiting for the right time and signal. She looks down to the paper in her hands and scans through them again and again. Suddenly, something snaked around her waist, and she felt relieved for some reason, as if she was shielded from danger.

"Stay calm. I'm here with you." Joon placed his head in the crook of her neck and whispered into her ear. She smiled and held his hands, then turned around to hug him. After a while, Youngho came in with Minchae, holding hands.

"It's time." he hugged her before walking out of the backstage room to the stage. The three watched as he climbed the stairs and made way to the stand, adjusting the mic to speak. Minchae held Milly's hand tight in hers, and darted her eyes to the audience. Both Milly and Joon saw who she was pointing out, and Joon was relieved that the two main people invited for this unknown conference were here.

"I should go now. I'll be waiting." Joon pecked Milly's cheek before leaving for somewhere, and the two girls silently waited. After some time, the lights in the auditorium turned off, and Youngho suddenly went from the collaboration proposal to something else as the screen behind him turned on. This was Minchae's signal. She went out of the room, sneaking in and sitting amongst the crowd. Milly stood there, listening to Youngho.

"I'm actually here today to talk about something else. As some of you can see, we have with us today the press and some court officers sitting amongst you. The reason, well... It involves an old friend of mine, who is suffering because of someone among you, and KiTech is here today to expose these people, and hopefully stop any more of such acts in the future." this was her signal. Putting her sunglasses back on, Milly took brave steps as she walked out of the room and showed herself in front of the crowd as she climbed the stairs to the stage. She heard many gasps and whispers among the audience, and took a peek through the side of the glasses. After spotting two others hiding them selves among the crowd in their own sunglasses, she let out sigh of relief, and finally took off hers, revealing her face, earning many shocked gasps from the audience.

"Good afternoon everyone. As you may know me, I am Hwang Mina. But at the same time, I am actually Milly Peréz Kim." journalists started scribbling into their notebooks, cameras started to flash, and Milly could see two people looking at her in disbelief and anger.

"I'm mainly here today to tell you all a story, about how you should not trust even your own parent at certain times." she peeked up, and saw a woman try to stand up, but a man stopping her. Milly decided to continue.

"She was only eighteen when her mother sold her life, using financial troubles and her own divorce as an excuse. But, she hid the fact that the father had passed away, and the daughter had inherited all her father's money, enough to get her through the next six years. Why, you may ask? To live a good life herself. And, with the help of a modelling agency's CEO, they used her to their own pleasures, the mother for money, and the man for his... public image." Milly gulped, too nervous to continue the speech anymore. But she knew she had to keep going, for herself, for Joon, and most importantly, for their child. She touched her tummy, and gained enough courage to continue.

"The girl left her life, and more importantly, her friends and family, to keep her mother from sending her to an orphanage overseas. But, at one point she was tired and depressed, and wanted to give up on living any longer." Joon pulled his glasses higher to hide the tears forming in his eyes. He didn't know this much of her back story, and it hurt him to see her like this. He always stopped her from remembering any of her feelings back then to keep her happy, but hearing them now was painful. He looked around, and Minchae was looking at the ceiling to stop her tears from falling at all. On the other side, he could see the two burning with anger.

"Her family and friends did whatever they could to find her, but never succeeded, until just recently. As her twenty-eighth birthday came, she begged the CEO to let her endorse a company of her choice, and, after a lot of begging and false promises, he did. She chose her best friend's company, not only to endorse it, but as an apology, and a cry for help. And she knew that, even if her family won't hear her out, he would. Lucky enough, he found out soon who she was and brought the girl closer to him. Now, she lives a secret life other than her career as... her... true self, with him and her new family. She was able to reconnect with her family from both sides, and everyone else she had left behind." people gasped and whispered more as they wrote down whatever they could, and Milly could see the officers getting ready for something.

"You may all wonder why she didn't break the contract, or why she didn't leave once the seven years were over. Well, her's was an illegal one, signed by her mother. She had to serve for as long as the CEO and her mother lived, and would be left at a shelter if she ever tried to escape." the projector showed a paper, contract to be more exact. It was signed by Milly's mother and Kang Cheol, causing many to be shocked. What caused them more shock was the next slide, the next page of the contract, with Milly's name in it, as Hwang Mina. Milly looked back to the crowd from the screen, then at Youngho who was changing the screens. He motioned her to continue, and she did.

"As you can see, this is an illegal contract made between CEO Kang Cheol and the woman who is unfortunately my mother, Hwang Minji. Since I was still underage at the time, she had the right to the contract regarding me. But she signed one that allows her to control me for the rest of my life..." the screen changed again, and Milly shut her eyes facing down as she knew what was being shown. Her bruised back.

"YAH HWANG MINA!" two voices roared and over powered the audience's whispers, and reporters were quick to take videos of two people running towards the stage, and police officers and security running towards them holding them back. They pinned the man, who easily gave up, but the woman released herself and ran up the stage, grabbing Milly by the hair, hitting her.

"DO YOU THINK I'LL LET YOU GO? YOU USELESS PIECE OF S****! YOU UNWORTHY CHILD! HOW DARE YOU..."

"EMO!" amidst the commotion, all turned to the voice, and Minji was shocked to see someone she never expected to. Minchae walked down the stairs taking off her sunglasses, glaring at the woman, as if she could burn holes into her. Youngho quickly grabbed Milly from behind and pushed her behind him, blocking her from the old woman.

"Do you think no one knew? Do you think you were able to hide everything for the past ten years? Well guess what? Appa knew, and so did we, and her family in Spain. How do you think we got enough evidence for your arrest? A simple story wouldn't have been enough to get you out of our lives." Minchae spoke as if she was spitting out fire. Police came and grabbed Minji from behind, not only handcuffing her, but strapping her up for extra security. After taking them away, the reporters started clearing up, thinking it was all over.

But, it wasn't.
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