Sara and Cixi went back home in the early evenings. Cixi had not taken any clothes with her when she left the house but she needed to check out of the hotel room. After a long conversation between both women, they went back home with Cixi hiding behind Sara.

"You should apologize to Dad and Miss Changyu. I know it was pretty easy for me because I did not lose much—only grew up without a mother but you and dad made up for that and I did not feel the absence of a mother. But on the otherhand, dad was lonely the entire time. Miss Changyu had also been lonely. Even if what you did in the past had been the right thing, they would need someone to put the blame on. And unfortunately, that person is you. So please Aunt, go home with me. And tell them how really sorry you are for everything because 25 years isn't a joke."

Sara had said to Cixi while they were still both in the field.

Now, Jianjun and Changyu looked at Cixi with no one saying anything.

Joreen was also very excited to see her mother but she was smart enough to know that this was not the time to go embrace her.

"Brother Jun...." Cixi called like a little girl as she looked at her brother guiltily.

She was still standing behind Sara because she feared he might want to hit her or do something he had never done before just to show how angry he was at her.

She looked at Changyu whose lips were pursed. But thankfully, she was not glaring at her.

"Aunt. It's going to be fine. Just apologize okay?" Sara turned to whisper to her before taking Joreen with her inside the room so they could give the adults privacy.

She had explained everything to Cixi. She told her all Changyu had told her about her birth. So Cixi knew now that Changyu had not abandoned them, neither did she abandon the young Sara. Everything had been her parent's doing.

After the two younger generation went inside, Cixi lowered her knees till it touched the cold floor.

"I do not know what to say to make you see how sorry I am to the both of you."

As she thought of the words to use, tears began to slowly drop from her eyes.

"I was wrong. I was selfish and filled with hate. And I do not deserve to even be forgiven by you both because even right now, my apology would not undo the past. But I want you to know how sorry I really am for everything. I won't blame it on my age because they are even younger people who would have chosen a better option unlike the one I chose. But please..."

She broke down and began to cry.

"I am sorry brother Jun. I am sorry Changyu. I am really sorry for everything. I wasted your lives because of my stupidity."

Jianjun turned to look at Changyu who was just looking at Cixi emotionlessly.

He moved closer to Cixi and when she thought he might hit her, he gently pulled her up.

"The floor is cold. You should go freshen up" He said dismissively but in a gentle tone.

Changyu was rather straightforward. She did not like to beat around the bush so she said out

"I am sorry too because I cannot forgive you. The pains you caused are quite deep now. And every wasted year deepend it even more. And even though I have found my daughter, I still can't bring myself to easily forgive you for everything. But when I know I can, I'll let you know"

After saying that, she walked back inside Jianjun's room which she now possessed and had refused to return to her house.

Cixi looked at her retreating figure and her brother with sad eyes.

'Did she think they would easily forgive her after everything they had both gone through?'

She had not also been sure. But she really wanted to apologize to them.

"You should rest now. I'm glad you are home. I'll make you something to eat"

Jianjun said before leaving her there to go get some clothes to change into before getting busy in the kitchen.

Cixi sighed and began to slowly sob again as she stood there in the quiet sitting room.

When Jianjun entered inside his room, he saw Changyu lying on the bed with her face buried in the pillow.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Don't you knock before entering someone's room?" She sat up and scolded angrily.

His voice had startled her because she did not know he had entered so she blew up at him.

"Someone? Someone's room?" Jianjun asked with a look of disbelief.

"Isn't this my room?" He asked himself again because it seemed he now had partial amnesia and was probably in the wrong room.

"Don't you think it's time you go back home? Don't you have business to attend to?"

"Go outside! Can't you see I'm thinking? And call Sara for me when you leave"

"Hey! Who do you think you are ordering about?"

"You! It's you I'm ordering about." Changyu shot back.

"What's wrong with your attitude? Are you already on menopause?"

He could not understand women. One time they were normal, the next, they were not.

Changyu lay back on the bed and buried her head on the pillow.

As he was about leaving, he began to hear gentle sobs like she was crying.

"You're crying? I didn't mean that." He moved closer to sit on the bed and began to pat her back as he sincerely apologized for saying she was on menopause.

"Why does a simple sorry need to fix everything?" She sat up and asked him sadly.

She suffered for 25years. 25 good years! Cixi had not been the main cause but she had contributed greatly.

Now, she was compelled to forgive her because of Sara, Joreen, and Jianjun who loved Cixi.

Why did a little Sorry have to fix everything?

Jianjun felt the same way. But he thought it was easier to forgive. That way, they could all easily move forward.

"Because sorry is one of the strongest words. It shows you are humble, responsible and you admit your faults"

"I don't care about any of that! It would have been significant if she had said that a long time ago. We wouldn't have been like this now. We probably would have been married with more kids."

Jianjun looked at her in shock and confusion. Why was she always so forward and direct? Did he tell her he would have married her?

Her tears were not much, but it still hurt him that she was crying.

"It's okay. You don't have to pressure yourself to forgive. I am sure with time you would come around"

"You are so comfortable with the whole thing. It's as if you did not lose much. Didn't you miss me?" She asked angrily as she continued to accuse him of not feeling as much pain as she did.

Jianjun thought of the best way to shut her up because she was already being too loud to the point where the others might hear her.

He did not buy the idea that first popped into his mind but he had to do it anyway.

He looked at her awkwardly before taking an Apple from a plate beside her bed and tried to force it inside her mouth like it happened in the movies.

He expected that she would bite on the Apple and keep shut but unfortunately, the reality was quite different.

He used the Apple to hit her on the lips, making her give him the stink eye after she cried out.

"Oh.. I'm sorry" He apologized hurriedly and began to use his hands to fan her lips awkwardly.

"What was that for? Did you just hit me because you think I am saying nonsense?"

She began another round of nagging and he thought about leaving but her face looked really cute as she complained so he stayed and listened.

"Very dumb" She said before using her hands to drag down his head to meet hers and before he knew it, their lips were already locked in a kiss.

His eyes shone and for a few seconds, he sat there limply like a robot whose battery was down.

She slowly pulled away and said "That's how to shut me up."

She smirked at his widened eyes and shocked look.

'Still as dense as ever' She thought.

But she did not move far away before she felt his hand on her nape as he pulled her closer in a deeper kiss.

This time, it was her whose eyes widened.

'When did he become this bold?' She asked herself in surprise.

The Jianjun she knew would have just stared blankly like that the whole day. But shit! He had kissed her back. She did not fail to deepen the kiss.

The kiss, his breath, his hard body close to hers, reminded her of the past and what she had missed in years.

'Thank God I didn't die back then' She was sure she would have said that out if the kiss was not so deep right now. She had even draped her hands around his neck.

Too bad their little moment was cut short when Sara suddenly opened the door thinking her parent's had been fighting.

"What is wro—" Before she could say 'wrong', Sara's eyes widened and on impulse, she quickly ran back outside and slammed the door.

"Seriously daughter?" Changyu asked loudly as she continued to pant for breath.

Immediately the door opened, they had both pushed each other away and it had been so obvious that anyone who saw them would have known that something had been up.

Jianjun smiled shyly and stood up from the bed. "What would you like to have for dinner?"

Changyu arranged her hair with her hand before mouthing "Ramen"1

Jianjun did not get that it was a Korean slang for sexual intercourse. Instead, he frowned and began to give her a long lecture about how Ramen was bad for the health.

"Just leave my room already" She threw a pillow at him out of frustration.

Sara smiled sheepishly as she returned to her room.

"Ah! Jianjun Wang. I didn't know you were that naughty" She said to herself and began to giggle.

Her Aunt had just come out from the shower and was getting dressed when Sara saw the cardigan her aunt had been wearing neatly folded and placed on top of the bed.

"Did you buy this?"

Joreen stopped talking to Cixi and also looked at the Cardigan when Sara asked.

Sara noticed the sad look still plastered on her aunt's face but said nothing about that. She did not want to butt in.

"I didn't" Cixi told them truthfully.

"Oh...Someone gave it to you? A man?" Sara probed.

She had always liked to tease her aunt whenever she came home with something new, which she was sure her aunt did not buy herself.

But she had not expected this one to actually be from a man.

"Yes." When Cixi affirmed it, even Joreen's eyes widened.

"You slept in a man's place?" Joreen asked in horror.

Cixi had not been in the mood to laugh, but she could not help laughing when she saw the two girls' expressions.

"Jo, you don't only sleep in a man's house before he offers you his jacket or Cardigan. Could have been an incident or accident that occurred to make him give it to you"

Joreen nodded but Sara continued to smile sheepishly to show she did not believe that story.

She gave Cixi the universal 'I am watching you' sign before leaving the room to go check the kitchen timetable for what her father was going to prepare for dinner since Muchen was coming over.

She had wanted to meet Jin Cherry, Cearo's sister. But going to meet her aunt had taken her time so she could no longer meet Cherry and Muchen was supposed to come over soon so she had to tell her father so they could prepare an healthy meal since he had a weak stomach.

It was what she had come to tell him before and that was when she heard them 'quarrelling'.

She only hoped they were done now so she could tease her father a bit.

Didn't he say he did not like her?

Busted!

Korean slang for sex invitation