"You're going out?" her mother asked as soon as she saw her on front of the mirror, applying makeup on her face.

"Oh, hey, Mom! How was your day?" Jennie asked without turning around to face her mother. She would have wanted to ask why her mother came home early tonight, but stopped herself.

"It would've been much better if you were there and helping me," Mrs. Kim answered in an exhausted voice. She walked inside the large bedroom of Jennie and settled herself in the corner of Jennie's bed, staring at her beautiful daughter through the mirror.

"Please, don't start. Not tonight, Mom. I'm not in the mood to talk about the chairmanship or the company," Jennie said.

"I was just saying that today would have been a better day for me if you were there, darling," her mother said gently.

"You have all the right forces there, Mom. I won't be of much help had I been there," Jennie answered. "I would have been a liabity, more than anything."

Mrs. Kim shook her head and sighed. They've been through with this conversation a lot of times already. She thought that by now, Jennie would have already realized that her role in the company was the most vital.

"You still need to be there from time to time, Jennie. The chairmanship is yours. I'm just the interim," her mother said. "The board and shareholders are becoming restless lately. I'm afraid I can't keep them off bay any longer. They want to take away what's yours, darling. And they'll get it by all means. I just know."

Jennie acted too busy perfecting her look so that she have an excuse to not say anything anymore.

She knew what was happening in the company. Her late father's loyal secretary have been updating her daily, sending her e-mails and reports, even without her asking for it. She knew that their sales have dropped for a measly 3% globally. And she knew that some of the investors were already issuing threats to pull out from the company unless Jennie will personally sit and talk in front of them, and assure them that their money are still safe. And if she won't, then they would soon ask her to resign, demand even, by means of voting, and give up her chairmanship to Yi Eun's father. Who, Jennie was told, was more than willing to take over the company anytime.

"I didn't know Jisoo fancies a night life?" Mrs. Kim said after a while.

Jennie raised her brows and shook her head.

"I'm not going with Jisoo, Mom. She's staying with halmeonim tonight. I bet they'll be discussing the latest book that Chu reads or something," said Jennie while checking herself in the mirror. "And now that we're talking about Chu, I hope you'd stop asking her to spy on me, Mom. She's my bestfriend and I don't want you to ruin that for the both us."

"Well, looks like Jisoo was spying on me rather than she was on you, then," Mrs Kim said with a smile.

"She's not. She said you and her aren't even that close to be sharing intimate details and updates about how I waste my time nowadays," Jennie replied.

"Oh, well. That's good to hear, though. At least Jisoo has got your back no matter what. It's a relief on my part," said Mrs. Kim, who was still smiling but looked slightly offended. So she chose to swerve the topic and decided to appreciate her daughter's appearance. "Red really looks good on you, darling."

Jennie was wearing her favorite red Chanel jacket over her favorite oversized designer tee, with the words "The Beatles" printed on the front, and paired it with her fitted designer ripped jeans. The hem of her oversized tee was tucked inside her denim. She also decided to tie her hair into a tight bun above her head to emphasize her slender neck which she adorned with a black Chanel choker. And for tonight, she decided to wear her specs instead of contact lens. Everything about Jennie Kim spoke wealth and power, elegance and perfection. And even in an oversized tee, Jennie was exuding the power, intelligence and confidence that only a Kim possesses.

"Thank you," Jennie said.

"Anyway, I'm glad that you're back to socializing nowadays. God knows how much you've been keeping to yourself lately, Jen," Mrs. Kim nodded in approval. "So, who are you going with? Anyone special? Yi Eun, perhaps?" she inquired subtly.

"No one. I'm going out alone," replied Jennie as she sprayed perfume behind her ears. "And I hope you'd stop setting me up on a date with Yi Eun, Mom. I don't like him. I will never like him."

Mrs. Kim sighed in frustrations. She thought her daughter was slowly going back to her normal self.

Jennie was Mrs. Kim's replica. Her mini-me, minus the stubborness. Because Jennie got it from her father.

Jennie was beautiful, classy, stylish and elegant. She was an intelligent woman who was always first on her class and graduated with honors in one of the most prestigious university in the U.S. and became one of the brightest editor for a high fashion magazine in New York before she came back to Seoul because of her father.

When her father was diagnosed with cancer, Jennie gave up everything—her career, her freedom, her life and her dreams in New York, to be with her dying father. And when Chairman Kim finally laid to rest, it was Jennie who grieved the most and went away to Auckland to heal herself.

But she was not able to heal herself completely, especially after she was told that the future of the company that her father built would now depend on her and her capabilities to fulfill the chairmanship that was handed to her by the late Chairman Kim.

Jennie thought she was not ready and it was too much to bear. What does she know about running a company? Her father knew that she dreamed of working in the fashion industry someday. Hence, she begged and pleaded for her father to allow her to study abroad and fulfill her dreams. And when she was asked to gave everything up and returned to South Korea, Jennie thought they all robbed her her life.

So she decided to stay away from the company and from her mother as much as possible, to try to pick her broken pieces back together and heal herself. Healing one's self, she realized, was much harder than living alone in The Big Apple. She needed to find herself once again.

"You know very well that it's not safe for you to be wandering around at night, Jennie. Bring one bodyguard with you, so I can stop worrying," Mrs. Kim suggested.

Jennie tore her gaze away from her reflection in the mirror and stood up and faced her mother.

"Nobody is safe, Mom. Even if I will bring Jisoo's dad's whole company with me, I still won't be safe. I mean, look what happened to Dad? We all tried to keep him safe and well but he still had to die in the end," Jennie said bitterly. "Nothing is safe."

Agony shot through Mrs. Kim's usually passive face after hearing the pain and bitterness on her daughter's voice.

Mrs. Kim stood up and walked towards Jennie. She then took Jennie's hands and squeezed them gently and pulled Jennie closer to her.

"Darling, I know what you're feeling right now. You miss your dad. I miss him too so much. But there's nothing we can do about it anymore. We're still here, both of us. We need to move—,"

But Jennie shook her head furiously and took her hands from her mother's grip. She took a step backward, away from her mother, as if standing close to her mother might sting her.

"No, Mom! It's still too early to move on and move forward. I can't even imagine myself moving on and forget him! How could even say that? Don't you love him at all?"

Mrs. Kim looked shocked and hurt by Jennie's accusation. She, of all people? She, who gave up everything for Jennie's father? Jennie knew nothing about what love can do between two people, Mrs. Kim realized.

"I loved your father, Jennie. He was and still is the greatest love of my life. But he's gone and left me in this world with our greatest treasure as husband and wife. You. You're all I have now, darling. I have to take care of you for him. So that when I see him again, I can look him in the eyes proudly and tell him stories about you after he left," Mrs. Kim said.

"Mom, I didn't mean to--,"

"And I can't do that. Because you're shutting me out. You've been shutting me out eversince your father died. It almost feels like I lost you, too."

"Eomeoni..." was all Jennie could offer as she watched her mother succumbed to tears.

She wanted to hug her mother and cry her out heart to the woman who was working so hard ever since her father died. She wanted to tell her mother that she's having a hard time coping with reality. And that she's doubting herself about the chairmanship. But Jennie could only look at her weeping mother.

"I need you, darling. The company needs you. Please stop hurting yourself further. Let's be there for one another, you and I," said Mrs. Kim who was in tears.

Jennie blinked repeatedly to stop her tears from falling. Tonight was not the right time to have a heart to heart conversation with her mother. She didn't want to talk about the company or the pain. She didn't want to talk about their life without her father in it. She didn't want to talk about her life and the things she had given up forcibly. Because that will only make everything real. And she still wasn't ready to face the reality. Not yet. Not tonight.

Instead, Jennie headed towards the door after she kissed her dog, Kuma, in the nose.

"I'm going out. Please don't stay up and wait for me," she said, holding the door knob.

"I was thinking that maybe we could eat dinner together tonight, that's why I'm home early," Mrs. Kim said, drying her tears.

"Maybe some other time, Mom. I really have to go now," Jennie said.

"Can you at least tell me where you're heading?" her mother asked.

Jennie smiled faintly.

"I honestly don't have an idea, Mom. I just feel the need to get out of the house tonight. Away from Gangnam," she said and left her mother alone in the recluse of her bedroom.

She was speeding in Teherrano street, listening to her playlist and humming along with the songs, when her phone started buzzing against the garment of her jacket. She pressed the bluetooth speaker on of the car and Jisoo's livid voice filled the inside of the automobile.

"Ya! Jennie Kim! Will you act your age?! Only highschool girls with raging hormones walk away from home and want to stay out late in the night! What were you thinking going out tonight without a bodyguard?! Where are you?!"

Jennie slowed her speed down while rolling her eyes in exaggeration. She could almost see the back of her skull when she did so. Olaus Roemer was wrong when he said that the speed of light was 299 792 458 meter per second. Because clearly, words travel faster nowadays.

"First of all, I did not walk away from home, Jisoo-ssi. Second, I thought you said that you and my mother don't exchange updates about me? And to answer your last question, I'm still in Teherrano," Jenny said.

"Tut tut, Jendeukie! You don't go around accusing people without proof. And FYI, it was Young semsaeng, the head of security, who informed me that you went out alone at this time of the night. Where are you going? Do you want me to come and meet you?" Jisoo asked, now sounding calm and concern.

But Jennie could not un-pissed herself anymore. She was now closer to her boiling point.

"I have to orient Mr. Young first thing tomorrow then about minding his own business!" said Jennie, not hiding the irritation in her voice. "Anyway, don't bother, Chu. I can take care of myself. I want to be alone tonight," she added with conviction.

"You're always alone lately. Tonight shouldn't be any different. Aigoo!" Jisoo retorted.

"True. So, you have nothing to worry about, then. I'll be fine. Like you said earlier, I'm not a kid anymore. Goodnight, Chu! Say hi to halmeonim for me," Jennie said and pressed the button off before Jisoo could stop her. She then fished her phone from her pocket and turned the device off and threw it in the backseat.

Jennie knew that Jisoo and her mother and Mr. Young and everyone around her just wanted what's best for her. But after the conversation she had with her mother and Jisoo yelling at her over the phone, talking to her as if she was stupid for going out late without bodyguards tailing her wherever she goes, Jennie had enough of it for the day.

"Damn the rules!" Jennie screamed and stepped on the gas as hard as she could. Her Porsche was speeding fast along the street of Teherrano, blurring the tall buildings of Naver, Google, Daum and Hynix behind her.

Tonight shouldn't be any different.

Jisoo's words kept ringing on her ears. It made her more furious for some unknown reason.

"You're wrong, Chu. Tonight will be different!" Jennie said to herself and pressed the gas harder than she ever did, she was so furious she was already beating the red lights. "I'll make sure of that!"