Jackson slowly ventures forward and begins to ask me, attempting, very subtle questions about me and my family. I knew he wouldn't wait long to do this, but I didn't think he would start so quickly. But it shows me that he is under pressure and wants results quickly.

At the same time, it means that he doesn't have much left to complete his investigation. And since he only asked me about me and my family, it means he actually already has enough against my mother to arrest her, but wants to find one last piece of unmistakable evidence against her.

I didn't tell him much. I said things like, I had a good childhood, my parents always tried hard, we never lacked for anything as kids, or that I loved it when we went for walks as a family or to the zoo. When he asked me about my mother's job, I told him the truth. I said, "Oh she's been a chief prosecutor for four years. But I don't know much about her job and I can't tell you anything about that."

Jackson was anything but pleased with my answers, it was clear to see. But he would not hear anything else from me.

After my duty at the police station, I went to the dorm to shower and change. And Seungyoun, who was off today, asked me to talk to him in private. We went to our room and he said to me, "Wooseok took a closer look at Jackson's background. He works as an investigator for the General Prosecutor's Office. He is a special agent yes, but not in an agency. At least we couldn't find anything about that."

"That means the General Prosecutor's Office, got a tip or?"

"Probably yes. This tip could have come from one of her colleagues. According to our information, there were several rumors about your mother, which have now been strengthened after many of Wen Xu's followers, got off without punishment."

"Mhm, I've come to that point too. I want to head to my father's house right away and talk to him about this."

"Your father has already been thoroughly informed. And he's taking care of it. Your mother will take a few days off first, and your father will try to sort it out for her during that time."

"That means he's bypassing the legal route?"

"Looks like it."

"Damn. Jackson has enough evidence by now. All he needs now is solid proof. If they catch my dad, they're both screwed."

"I know."

"I still need to talk to my dad. I'm about to leave. If it's not too late, I'll be back today. Otherwise, I'll see you tomorrow." I said and was almost running out of the apartment. Arriving downstairs at the car, Ran also tried to stop me. I knew they were trying to stall, but I didn't let them stop me and just claimed to Ran that I wanted to return the car to Zhan. And just like that, he let me drive off.

At the next opportunity I had, I checked the car for listening devices or a tracking device. I found both and removed them. I knew they were after Zhan!

The rest of the way home to my father, I kept trying to reach Zhan. I took the cell phone he had given me the night before. But it always went to voicemail. I was about to try with my cell phone when I remembered what Zhan's assistant told me about the supposedly tap-proof cell phones. So I let it go and went straight home.

Even before I unlocked the front door, I heard my parents arguing. I went inside and saw my father destroying all the evidence against my mother. I was really stunned. My mother was standing next to him yelling that he should calm down and that no one could harm her.

I was so angry that I just shouted out what I knew and what Zhan told me. I also told her that in all probabilities Jackson had gathered enough evidence against her as it was and that she should finally stop pretending that she was innocent.

Finally, my mother got down on her knees and cried. She had not wanted all this after all. It had just gotten out of hand at some point and she didn't know how to get out of it. As to why she started taking bribes in the first place, she said, "It was because of Hai Kuan. Someone knew that I was helping him and Meng Yao, and that person offered to keep quiet about it if I helped that person. And that's how it all started. At some point, I lost track. I felt powerful and couldn't get enough of exercising my power."

My father then told me to go to my old room and he would sort it out with my mother. I then sat around up there for about two hours, during that time trying to reach Zhan again and again. But it remained with the trying.

Then in the evening when dinner was served, I was allowed to come downstairs. My father said to me, "It's good that you're here today, I wanted to talk to you anyway."

"Okay. And about what?" I asked. My mother didn't even look at me, that made me think.

"I'm withdrawing you from your mission and sending you to another mission where you're needed more. Seungyoun, Wooseok and Ran have this under control in Yiling. You will only return once, get your things, and then you will go to Prague in the Czech Republic. You will accompany special agent Masu there. He will explain the details to you. As of now, you must also stop all contact with Xiao Zhan. We've been given an assignment and are investigating the entire Wen family."

"You can't just take me off my case!" I almost shouted.

"Yes I can. Remember. I'm not only your dad, I'm your supervisor, and what I say you'll do!"

"So that means what now? So that Mom can restore her reputation, you'll bust the Wen's and Mom will put them behind bars? Am I guessing that right? There's no client, is there? Who would that be?"

"None of that matters right now. This is about our family. And that comes first. Ran has gathered enough evidence by now to arrest the family. Stay out of this! No one needs to know about you and Xiao Zhan!"

"Dad! How can you do this? Mom fucked up and now Zhan has to go down for it? He has a daughter damn it!"

"So what do you expect me to say to that now? He's involved in illegal business despite his daughter, isn't he? And don't tell me anything wrong now. The Russians have controlled you. But they should have checked the restaurant for listening devices!"

"How did you know where we were?"

"What do you think Ran was doing all this time? Just sitting there twiddling his thumbs? Originally, we just wanted to have something in hand in case you got involved in anything. But now that our family is at stake, we have to use what we have and make sure your mother can keep her job and her freedom!"

"How did Ran get the evidence?"

"As I said before, there were enough wiretaps in the restaurant. Also, we have a video recording of the conversation. We'll just claim you were there because you were investigating the Wen's undercover. We say that your mother, because of the evidence, had no choice but to release the other suspects. Otherwise, Xiao Zhan's car had been bugged with a listening device for a long time. We heard everything. Ran was also in Xiao Zhan's office and copied all of his hard drives. I've always told you, there's no better special agent than Ran."

"I don't believe any of this! So you took advantage of me to get to Xiao Zhan and evidence?"

"In this case, we had no choice Yibo. Do you want your mother to be detained?"

"Of course not. But..."

"No Yibo. No buts!"

"So that's why you weren't against me spending time with Zhan and getting involved in the deal with him. You guessed we'd need something to be able to put him away, didn't you?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Now just do what I tell you. Don't call him, don't write him, don't go see him. And if you run into him, you don't know him!"

"I can't do that dad."

"Oh, and why not?"

"Because... because..."

"Because what? Did you fall in love with him after all?"

"No!"

"Then that shouldn't be a problem. It will be best if I ask Seungyoun to pack your things and bring them here."

"I still have Zhan's car."

"Someone from the agency will take care of that."

"That I want to do alone. I want to see Zhan one more time."

"No Yibo. We won't let you leave here either. I asked some of your colleagues to come here earlier, they're guarding the house so you can't run away. Believe me, I would choose another way to help your mother if there was another way. Think about our family. Your brother will be coming here in a few days too. You don't want me to have to tell him that your mother is in jail just because his brother doesn't want his bedfellow to be arrested."

"Why are you doing this? Why are you making me feel guilty? I don't want Mom to go to jail either. But likewise, I don't want Zhan to go to jail. If you filmed the business dinner and heard everything, you should know how this business is run, right? Besides, Zhan is just a middleman and they help children who have been trafficked to Russia."

"That's why Yibo and only because I know that, I also told you I'm sorry. And likewise I also know, even if you don't admit it, that you care about everything about Xiao Zhan and he doesn't just satisfy your desire for sex. But please Yibo, please just think about our family right now. Can you? I know it's hard. But this is about your mom."

"You guys don't give me a choice anyway." I said and went upstairs to my room without eating anything. I kept trying to reach him with Zhan's cell phone. But it was useless. I just couldn't reach him.

Already then I had a very bad feeling. I had a very uneasy feeling in my stomach. Not only would I not be able to warn Zhan, but I would also betray him. Just to save my mother from going to prison. I would like to prevent it, but this is about my family. I can't do anything but stand against Zhan.

And I feel anything but good about it. My stomach hurts and I feel sick. I told Zhan he can trust me. I told him I'm not investigating him. I told him I won't arrest him. And now? Now my father will say I investigated Zhan. He'll think I fooled him. Abused his trust just so I could arrest him.

When my mom knocked on my room door and asked if she could come in, I yelled for her to go away. I can't stand the sight of her now. I would love to make her pay for her mistakes.

I feel like everyone is conspiring against me right now. They've used me and lied to me. How will I ever be able to look in the mirror again?