WHEN THE MARRIAGE COLLAPSE

thirty-seven - "Why is this happening to me?"

Yeonbyul turned to another page of the family album, seeing her stepfather smiling with his children. There were pictures of their third newborn. Her mother was smiling weakly on the hospital bed, holding the baby carefully. She didn't have any baby pictures with her mother since she was raised without her. Her mother left when she just gave birth to her so the only people in the family album was her and Mr Park.

She saw a picture of her mother and stepfather's wedding. She took it out from the album and looked behind it, there was 'Kang+Seo' written behind it. She sighed and put it back.

Her mother, Mrs Seo walked in with a cup of hot chocolate, her daughter's favourite drink. She exhaled as she took the photo albums away from her daughter, "Didn't expect you to see that."

"I don't care. As long as you're happy then I'm fine."

Mrs Seo smiled softly and held her hand, "I know you don't like your stepfather that much but he's a good man. He tries his best to win your heart as a father. Even when you don't accept him as part of your family, please treat him like a friend."

"We'll see."

Her mother smiled and put back the albums on the rack. The door opened slowly and Yeonbyul's half-blooded brother walked in shyly, "Mom, can we go out?"

"Minhwan-ah, I thought you wanted to stay at home and play games?"

Yeonbyul watched as their conversation went on. The mother and the son reminded her of her father.

Dad, I realised that I can't run away from being like my mother. I'm her daughter after all. I may be like her, but trust me, I need to find my happiness. My life doesn't depend on Heeseung only. I am me. I own myself.

"Can I come?" Yeonbyul spoke up, earning Mrs Seo and Minhwan by surprise. The older woman couldn't hide her happiness, "Sure. I'll go get ready. In the meantime, can you take care of Minhwan for a while?"

Yeonbyul wasn't expecting that she would be taking care of her little brother. She looked at the little human in front of her, "So your name is Minhwan?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Don't call me that. I'm not a Queen anymore."

"Pardon me, Your- I mean... Umm, what should I call you?"

"Just Yeonbyul."

The boy nodded and stood there awkwardly. He knew his mother and his big sister's relationship wasn't great before so it would be awkward for her if he suddenly acts nice to her.

"I'm sorry if I made you hate my mother. But please don't hate her. Hate me instead. My mother did nothing wrong."

Yeonbyul looked away, "Who says I hate her? That was before. I'm trying to fix the relationship here so you shouldn't judge me instantly."

Minhwan smiled and pulled her into a sudden hug, "Thank you, Yeonbyul!"

She wanted to push him away but her heart melted at the sudden contact. Cute, she thought to herself.

On the other side of the room, Mr Kang who was watching them secretly behind the wall smiled, seeing Minhwan and Yeonbyul's bond finally increasing. He knew he couldn't force her to love their family immediately but he hoped to see their bonding progress.

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Yeonbyul followed Minhwan and Mrs Seo from behind, burying her hands into the pockets of her blazer. She looked around, examining the luxury stores and restaurants. Minhwan was pointing to the stores, laughing with his mother about random things.

Yeonbyul stopped walking when she saw an ice skating rink in front of her. People were skating happily with their friends and family. Seeing them reminded her of her first time skating with Sunghoon. She wondered about him all the time.

How is he?

Is he still single?

Does he already have a future wife?

Is he still in love with me?

"Yeonbyul," her mother called. Yeonbyul hummed in response and walked towards them. Mrs Seo pointed at an ice cream shop, "Want to go get ice cream?"

"No thanks. I want to walk around first. I'll meet you at the restaurant later."

She left her mother and walked around, seeing clothes that were displayed on statues.

I've been hiding from everyone that I forgot how it feels like to go out and have some fun.

She looked around until her eyes landed on a familiar male figure. Her heart pounded immediately when she saw Sunghoon walking with Jake while looking at the stores. She stared at him for a while, still in disbelief.

People around him bowed to greet him. Some of them whispered to each other and the girls were fangirling over him, squealing at how handsome he was. She turned around and exhaled slowly before running away. She didn't want him to see her. She wanted him to forget her. She didn't know why but she felt like she needed to be away from him.

She didn't want to be involved in the royal world. She was happy living as Park Yeonbyul, a normal girl who lived in a house away from the big city. She walked in a rush until her shoulders bumped into a person. The person yelped as she fell to the floor.

They both made eye contact and how shocked she was to see Haesun there.

"You!" Haesun pointed at her, earning attention from the people around them.

This is a bad day for me.

Yeonbyul was about to run away but Haesun grabbed her arm roughly, "Do you think you can run away?"

"Wow, I can't believe I would see you here, Park Yeonbyul. Didn't know your life could be worse like this. So pathetic. You act all mighty when you were a queen and now you're just a pathetic girl living and hiding from the real world."

Yeonbyul couldn't hold back and slapped her hard in the face. Haesun pushed her, "How dare you!"

Guards around her grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her away from the mall. Haesun smirked, "I believe I must punish her for harming the future Queen of the South Kingdom."