Hearts in Seoul ✧

xlii

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happy 1k reads everyone!

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Within weeks, Lucas was able to recuperate, being more open and accepting to his new-found family, although the obvious tension between Hans and Lucas was still there. Lucas had been able to go to campus and catch up with the missed lectures, especially in Systems Nanotechnology, which he had found quite difficult to understand. He caught up in no time, with both his father and Hans helping him as he prepared for his end of year exams, which was only a few weeks away. By the time it was mere weeks until the exam season approached, he was more than ready, bouncing in excitement and confidence.

On the other band, while Kayleigh prepared for her final exams, pacing back and forth as she tried to memorise that one line she could not the night before and then running from one professor to another as she completed her requirements, she noticed that she had been the only one stressing. The rest of the sophomores were either distracted or preoccupied with something that seemed to be very interesting. She took a quick glance at the crowd, realising that it was revolved around two people — two particular people that she knew very well — who were seemingly talking to Mr Jeremy Park. He was a good friend of theirs , and she'd remember how they worked together to break apart the illicit love affair between Levi and her in the past.

"Look, Miguel," her mum pointed at her. "There she is."

"Mum, Dad. Why are you here?" To be perfectly honest, Kayleigh had somewhat expected them to come to Seoul after declining the marriage arrangement, just not this early.

"Well, first, I'd like to congratulate you on cementing yourself here at the campus for... embarrassing reasons. Thank you for bringing humiliation to our once-pristine name," her mum sarcastically remarked. The crowd around them doubled in size.

Kayleigh was about to answer when Roisin came running to her, catching her breath as she interrupted Kayleigh. "Kayleigh! Oh God, I've been looking for you... have you finished your thesis?" Roisin caught her eye which was filled with worry. Roisin then looked at Kayleigh's parents, as they eyed her suspiciously. "Oh. Hello, Uncle and Aunt."

"Hello, Roisin. Nice to see you thrive. Our daughter here seemed to not have taken the cue," her mum chided.

Her father attempted to convince her mum to stop. "Aine, let's not do this here."

Her mum shook him off.. "Oh no. Let's do this here. The whole world deserves to know," she glared. "Kayleigh, I've been speaking to students here and to my good friend here, Jeremy, who has been our friend when they visited the Philippines once. They told us what you've been doing Kayleigh. You've become a girl I never thought you would. I thought I raised you well."

"Well, obviously not. Cut to the chase, mum," she pressed. "What is it?"

"Exactly. You're no longer the Kayleigh I raised," Aine said. "You've been hanging out with men, Kayleigh, and according to some sources, you've been too preoccupied flirting with them that you even ended dating the leader of a gang, the J-Alpha. Don't even know who they are but, surely, he cannot be better than Juan. You replaced Juan, a nice, smart and kind man for this gangster, Kayleigh. Are you crazy?"

"Maybe I am, Mum. And yes, I have replaced Juan. When will you ever understand that I don't love him, and I will not marry him?"

The crowd now tripled in size, clouding all the direction of the open field. "Marriage is not all about love, Kayleigh. And yes you don't love him and I'd understand if it was someone better, but you've ended up with a gangster? A gangster of all men?"

"For your information, Mum, Lucas is not just a gangster," Kayleigh defended. "He's the son of the CEO of Hyun Airlines, isn't that the airline you used to come here and chase after me? And just to clarify, I initially wanted to avoid the J-Alpha. I'm sorry if this may sound conceited, but they continued to annoy me."

"Oh? You think your some damsel in distress?"

Roisin cleared her throat before speaking on behalf of Kayleigh. "Aunty Aine, what Kayleigh said was true, she initially wanted to avoid them and didn't want to involve herself with them, but Lucas actually ran after her and chased her until she finally agreed to be his girlfriend," Roisin defended. "As a matter of fact, I'm dating one of Lucas' friends too, also a member of the gang, Noah."

"Thank you, Roisin for clarifying. But that is still not enough to decline Juan's proposal. Do you know what's at stake here? You have the potential to bring our law firm to greater heights, and if you marry Juan you'll end up merging ours with Juan's. Our law firm would be unbeatable."

"I know, Mum. But as I said, I won't marry someone I am not in love with. I'd never."

Before her mother spoke, the six boys and He-Jin stood beside them, ready to defend Kayleigh and Roisin from her mother. Jacob began. "Ma'am, Kayleigh never intended to go against your wishes, but with what I'm hearing, she had no choice but to. My parents are lawyers too and are successful in practice, and we are very much aware of the power you yield. Merging it with the Dela Cuesta won't make any sense, and will drive smaller and growing firms out of the market. I'm sorry, Ma'am but to me that is unethical."

Lucas came as well, sighing heavily before speaking. "Ma'am, sir, nice to meet you. I'm Lucas, Kayleigh's boyfriend. Before you bite my head off, I'd just like to clarify and confirm that Kayleigh did not do anything wrong and whoever told you that is probably jealous of her. In fact, she wanted to avoid me for a long time. However, I made her fall in love with me; I forced her into not ignoring me, without the knowledge that she had been engaged to a man. But I'd just like to clarify that I love your daughter so much, and she gave me purpose and redirection. What she's done to me is far more powerful than anyone has ever done to me in this world, and I am thankful for her. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love your daughter, she made me realise that I should be thankful for my family and friends and all the opportunities I've been given, which other children do not have. So please, if you'd let me love her for a million more years, I promise I won't disappoint."

"Aine..." her father tugged her mother's arm.

Aine dragged her daughter by her wrist, squeezing it as she shut the door to their car. "No. Kayleigh, come with me. We're leaving." Kayleigh could only look at Lucas.

Meanwhile, Alexander struggled to find his son. The woman he'd slept with owned a music school in Switzerland and had died of an unfortunate car accident, causing an abrupt end to her life. She had left a son of twenty-two, who grew up without the love of a father.

Within the weeks, he hired the best private investigator of South Korea, asking him to find his missing son. One day, while he'd been trying to look at photos of his possible son, a knock on his door brought him back to reality.

"Sir. Here's the file you've been looking for," the investigator said, dropping a crisp manila folder on his desk. "Your son's name is Sato Hiromitsu, also known as Joseph Edward Sato."

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