— Two days later —

Wednesday, December 16, 2020.

11:30 am.

"Daddy," I go down the stairs while reading a message on my phone, heading towards my dad who is in the kitchen. "Yes, honey?" he answers me, and I reach him. "Look," I stand by his side and gaze up at him, showing him my phone and what a man sent me. Once he takes his hands off of the bowl and leans closer to me to read, I stare at his face to check his reaction.

"Who the hell is that?" he dries his hands and grabs my phone, not liking what he sees. "I don't know. I published a photo to show my makeup, but this man that I don't know sent me this stuff."

"If you don't want attention, why do you post a picture of yourself?" my mother chimes in after keeping quiet, but I only glance at her without caring about her opinion. "She has the right to publish pictures of herself, that doesn't mean disgusting perverts have to send such messages. What is wrong with you to say that to your own daughter?" my dad speaks up for me, hating her behavior and remarks.

She fixes her eyes on him, but he maintains eye contact with sternness. "Do you even know what kind of picture she posted? We already taught her not to do that."

"It was just a picture of my face after I was done with my makeup, nothing bad," I respond to show her this was not something inappropriate. "Makeup is made for whor—"

"Do not dare to end your sentence," my dad steps forth and points his finger at her to cut her off. He clenches his jaw as she's remaining soundless, but he turns towards me and places his hands on my arms. "Let's get in the other room," he brings me to the living room and leaves her alone. 

"Don't listen to her, honey. Your makeup is cute, all right?" he smiles at me and holds my face, speaking in a soft voice. I nod to him, and he presses a kiss on my forehead to reassure me. "About that man," he gets his attention back on my phone and does something, so I inch closer to his build and take a look at what he's doing. "I delete this disgusting stuff, and I block him. Maybe you should try to share your pictures with your friends only, hm? I don't want this to happen again."

"All right," I agree and take my phone that he handed me. "I know I shouldn't post any pictures, but it was just for a special occasion. I liked the way I did my makeup..."

"I understand, honey. This is not your fault, so don't worry," he gently comforts me after I was almost insulted by my mother. Now that this problem is solved, I put my phone in a pocket of my shorts and wrap my arms around him. "What should I do to make her love me?"

"Honey..." he hugs me back and places one hand in the back of my head. "She loves you," he whispers to avoid her from hearing us. "We both love—" the doorbell interrupts him. He removes his fingers from my hair and steps back. "Wait here," he smiles and moves to the front door on my left. I do as told but still let my curiosity take over me, once he opens the door, I peek at the person who bothered us.

"Hello," my dad greets the people, but I frown at the sight of the men in a police uniform. "Hello, we're looking for Mister Sang, is that you?"

"Uhm, yes, I'm Mister Sang. Why are you here?" he holds the door as some fear appeared inside of me, but the two men enter the house without any permission and get some handcuffs out. "Mister Sang, I'm arresting you on suspicion of sexual assault and pedophilia on your daughter," he handcuffs my dad, his words causing a burst of fright into me. My heart starts to beat faster, and I step towards them to stand before my dad. "What are you doing? You're mistaking right now, he's never done anything."

The policeman looks at me but does not express any positive emotion. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you," he pronounces the Miranda rights in front of us, chackling my dad but making my entire body shake from fright. "Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?”

"Sir, I think there is a problem. I haven't hurt or done anything to anyone," my dad states the truth and glances at them both with a look of apprehension that I have never seen in his eyes. "You'll say that to—"

"No!" I stop him right when he moves forth while holding my father's wrists. "What are you doing?! He never hurt me! I'm his daughter! I know what I'm saying!" some tears flood in my eyes to rapidly roll down my face. My heartbeat is so strong and swift that I cannot breathe or stand on my feet. "Honey, everything's all right," he tries to reassure me and prevent a panic attack from happening again. "I'm—"

"No, nothing is all right, they're going to take you away from me!" my voice breaks under all the pressure, but he stares into my teary eyes, not knowing how to respond to this exactly. I do not care about what the men said, I move forth and wrap my arms around him to not let him go, terrified by this situation and how this might end.

"Sir, we're going to ask you to make your daughter step away and let us do our job," the policeman does not care at all, believing that my dad is a bad person. "Honey..." he bends his head forth and speaks to me in a whispering voice, with his cheek against my temple. "Listen to me, I'm going to come back once I'm done talking to them. I'll tell them the truth, and this will be fine, okay? There's no need to be scared."

"Stop saying that, I can't..." I snivel and shake my head, not standing this and trembling on my spot. "Mister, let me talk to her for a minute. I just need a minute, she suffers from serious panic attacks, and she might end up in a hospital," he asks for a few minutes, almost begging them. "We cannot let you do that, Sir. We have to go."

"Take her instead!" I shout and throw my hand up towards the woman, who, for sure, made this happen. She looks at us without any bother, without any care. She is the one who accused him. "This woman is the one who hates us and mistreats me all the time, I'm scared of her! My dad never did anything wrong!"

"Miss, if you do not cooperate, we will have to take you away from your father, so let us simply bring him to the car without hurting you," he talks to me without taking into consideration what I told them, and I look up at him. My dad gazes into my eyes, my heart aching and stinging on repeat.

"Daddy..." I sob in front of him, feeling like I'm dying. "Honey...everything's going to be all right. Listen to me, I promise I'm coming home soon, hm?" he fakes a smile to not deepen the pain, but I look at the officer. "Can I go with you...? Please..."

"No, Miss. You cannot be with him," he refuses, so I give my dad one last hug and cry my eyes out. I know his wife is the one who did this, no one else but her could accuse him of such a thing, I hate her more than anything.

"Call Haneul and stay with him," he speaks in my ear, and I nod but step away. "I love you..." I keep my eyes fixed on him, his chestnut eyes do not reflect what they do usually, but he forces a smile once more. "I love you too."

Once he speaks those last, meaningful words, the man brings him out and drags him to the car, making me fall onto my knees and barely feel my body. I cover my face to let sleeves soak my tears, and the door closes right before me, the painful coldness of his absence hits me twice harder than it does when this is for a good reason.

Since I know who's the cause of this, I glance up at my right and see her standing there. "This is your fault! How the fuck can you do that to him?!" I yell at her and get up on my feet, but she does not flinch or blink as if this did not even affect her. "You know he never did anything wrong!" I push her away.

"I know what you're trying to do," she responds in a steady voice. "And now he cares more about you than he does with me, only because you're his little, fucking princess to who he cannot ever say no. You dress like a fucking slut to get his attention, you always ask him to touch you, to be close to you, and then you pretend not to know how a teenage girl behaves with her father just because you were mistreated in the past? You're just fucking fake! He spends many nights with you, and you think I don't know what happens when I'm not here?! You ruined us! He does not even give a fuck about me since you started all those fake panic attacks, he only cares about the fucking whore you are!"

"You're fucking sick in your head..." I let out, not believing that she could think like that when she's supposed to be an adult. This is beyond disgusting. "Why the hell would I fake something like that?! What is wrong with you?!"

"Because you are an attention-seeker. Do not try to make me believe that you consider him as a father, you only see him as my husband, and you just did everything possible to have him all for yourself. If your father really traumatized you so badly when you were a kid, how the hell can you be so close to him? Seeing him beat your mother up and do the same to you was not enough, I guess? Your mother probably knew right at the beginning that you would be such a disgusting girl, that's why she abandoned you. Why do you think no one ever adopted you before us?"

The tears in my eyes never stop flowing and dripping on the ground as she's now going way too far. I did not know someone else could be that gross and heartless. "I hate you...I hate you so fucking much, you're a horrible person," I go away to not have to face her anymore and leave the house. I take my phone out to dial Haneul's number but feel the anxiety take over me, just the way it usually does once I'm on the verge of fainting, of having a panic attack that can make me sink deep into an unconscious state.

"Y/n?" the only one I can count on at this moment answers, but I collapse on the ground right after passing the gate of my house. "Haneul...I need you to come pick me up..." I choke up on my words without trying to hide my despair and dread. "I'm coming right away, baby. Tell me what is happening," the rush and concern slip through his voice, my shaking body becoming weaker and weaker the more I'm doing my best not to lose consciousness. "My dad...the police arrested him...I don't know what to do...I'm so scared..."

"I'm—I'm gonna be here in a few minutes, okay? Try to calm down, I know this is hard but listen to me, no matter what is happening right now, everything is going to be okay because I'm going to take care of it, hm? Just focus on my voice, what I'm telling you and how you're going to feel once I'll be holding you, do you hear me, baby?"

"Yes..." I answer in a shuddering voice full of sobs. "Take deep breaths like we usually do together, in and out, you go slowly," he helps me to relieve the agonizing stress and pain inside of me, but my heart does not agree with that, it keeps on pounding me in the chest and causes some stronger dizziness. "I can't..." I lose it, resting against a wall and struggling to catch my breath, lacking of air as my lungs cannot be filled with it any longer.

"Y/n, do not say that. I know you can do it, we both know it," he contradicts my words, hearing me have a hard time. "I'm going to count, and I want you to inhale from one to five, you stop once I tell you, then once I start to count again, you exhale, all right?"

"All right," I listen to him and start to do it as I do not want to faint and worry him even more.

10 minutes later...

"My baby," he rushes towards me after hanging up and managing to soothe me. I stand up, and he hurries to take me in his arms to let me break down again. "I'm here, everything's okay," he tells me lies, but I take them and pray for him to be right. I hug him back, one of his hands holding the back of my head that rests against his chest. He plants a kiss on the crown of it and rubs my back. "We're going to solve this together. Do not be scared of anything, your dad will be back very soon once the police leave him alone. Nothing is going to happen to him, he's safe, so don't be scared," he presses another kiss on my ear and speaks into it, making me take this moment to relieve all the pressure.

"Why didn't you wait for me inside?" he brushes some strands of my hair back, keeping his face against mine to soothe me with a tender voice. "She's there...I hate this fucking woman..." I mumble in his chest, soaking his hoodie with my tears. "What did she say or do to you?" he wipes some of the wetness away from my cheek that he has within sight, but I hold him even tighter. "She's the one who accused him of those things...and then she said I was just a slut...that I never considered him as a dad...that seeing my biological one beat my mother up and me was not enough..." my body still shakes at the memories of the effects those words had.

"What a fucking bitch," he sighs and raises his chin up. "I'm gonna talk to her, but I'm gonna call Alex and ask for him to stay with you a little. Okay?"

"No...Just stay with me, I don't want you to talk to her..." I refuse to let him go there. I just want him to hold me. "Baby, I cannot let her talk to you like that, and I know your dad would have gone nuts if he knew about this."

"I just want to see him..." mentioning him brings back the pain again. "Can't we go to the police station...?" I gaze up at him with my teary and puffy eyes. One of his hands caresses my wet cheek to erase the grief, and he nods. "Yes, but I cannot guarantee you that we'll have the right to see or talk to him, so do not be even more worried or sad, all right?"

"All right," I give him my word, and he takes his phone without breaking the hug. He makes a call to ask for Alex to come, and I remain silent, wondering how my dad is doing, how he's feeling, and what they're doing to him at this right moment.

"See you in some minutes," he hangs up and puts his phone back in his pocket. "He'll be here soon, okay?" he warns me about it to maybe always make sure I don't stay too focused on my thoughts. "Okay."

His lips press a comforting kiss on my forehead, and I keep my head still to feel their warmth on my skin. "What if he feels bad after those accusations...?" I snivel but open my eyes to look up at him. "What has the police said?"

"They said that he was charged with...sexual assault...and pedophilia..." the tears come back anew, hearing those words for the second time is torture for my mind. "Gosh..." he glances away, surely not believing what is happening. "Listen...they have no proof, okay? So do not be concerned. I'll be here to talk if needed, and I'll let them know that your dad is not the problem."

"Yeah..." I trust him, hoping for everything to be fine soon.

•••

12:50 pm.

"Miss Sang?" a man goes out of an office and raises his eyes up from a piece of paper. I glance up at him but suddenly feel stressed out, my hand almost squeezing Haneul's one. "Yes?"

"We would like to interrogate you, would you follow me?"