Sophie looked down with a difficult expression as she tried to hide her frown. Whenever the matter of their separation gets mentioned, she would feel a sour taste in her mouth. Even when she had already made up with Talon, the lingering pain it left behind wasn't going to vanish that easily.
Meanwhile, Hyun-Jae took her plate and started eating as if it wasn't her business. In reality, the matter between Talon and Sophie was something that she didn't really care much about. Beyond the fact that she felt jealous at first, she quickly realized that it would be pointless to fret over it when she could simply overwrite it with her own story.
She wanted Talon for herself and that was a clear fact at this point. Focusing on petty emotions like jealousy or anxiety would only make her lose track of what's important and that is Talon himself. He was and will always be the most important thing to her, no exceptions.
On the other hand, however, Lucas quickly realized the mistake he made as he awkwardly coughed. "Well, ehem, let's eat then before the food gets cold."
With nothing to say, the group started eating their food silently. To ignore the tension, Talon decided to simply watch Acrypha who was floating around him idly. Just a glimpse of her ethereal beauty was more than enough to make him forget about everything else.
As he was like that, he suddenly heard someone put their spoon down. Looking to his side, he noticed Evan had stopped eating.
"To be honest, Lucas. Now that you mentioned that matter, I want to say something." He said in a serious tone.
"Hm? What is it?"
"It's about what happened years ago."
His words caught everyone's attention, especially Talon who stopped eating and stared at him.
"Dad?" Sophie interjected when she realized what her dad was going to say.
Evan shook his head at his daughter before he looked at Lucas. "What do you think is the reason for that? Their separation, I mean."
"I don't know. I thought they just didn't get along as well and things didn't work out." Lucas replied as he scratched the back of his head confusedly.
Even though he gave that possibility, he knew that it was wrong. His son and Sophie were so perfect that he assumed they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. He had never seen them fight or even argue since they shared the same tastes in basically everything. They were soulmates in every sense of the word.
Still, that was the only thing he could come up with at that moment, faced with a sudden question.
"No, that's wrong." Evan shook his head.
"Oh, so you know the reason for it?" Evan asked.
"Ok, this topic is over." At that moment, Talon put his hand on the table as he spoke in an authoritative tone. His presence made Lucas and Evan go silent. It was akin to hearing a king speak. "We are here to eat food and enjoy the evening. Such talks should be left for another time."
'Especially when the two subjects mentioned are literally sitting next to you.' He added in his head as he forced a smile.
"What is going on?" Sophie was by far the most confused. "Do you know something, dad?" She asked.
In fact, he felt a huge weight slowly dropping from his shoulders that he carried for far too long.
"... Why?" Sophie, as shellshocked as she was, asked her father.
"Because, I thought that with how far you were going, he wouldn't be good enough for you. I had thought that if I allowed him to be in your life, it would only hinder your dream... I'm sorry."
Looking up for a moment, Evan stared into his daughter's eyes and his heart stopped for a second. All he could see in her eyes was anger, shock, and betrayal all mixed together. His heart squeezed with pain for a moment.
"I'm really sorry... I didn't know that I was doing something stupid at the time. I'm genuinely sorry." He apologized again and again as he looked down shamefully. "I'm really sorry, Sophie."
But, the girl shook her head faintly as her eyes shifted to Talon. The moment her eyes fell on him, the anger vanished instantly, leaving confusion behind.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.
"I didn't want your relationship with your dad to break. He is the last parent you have. What he said did hurt me, but I know he did it for your sake, or that was at least what he thought." Talon replied.
As much as it affected him and as much as he wanted to break Evan's face for doing it, he still understood why he did it. Evan was a father, a very protective father. After losing his wife, his focus fell on his daughter and she became his entire world. After that trauma, he didn't want her to feel pain again in her life.
When Talon and Sophie met, Evan noticed that his daughter started regaining her past self again. She started smiling more, laughing more, and living her life. Her dream of becoming a world-famous actress came back stronger than ever.
Things were going well, but, when the opportunity for Sophie to achieve her dream came, Evan found himself in a dilemma. Between pushing for his daughter's career or for her love life. He assumed that her dream was once in a lifetime opportunity while love could fade and come back.
So, he decided to push for her career instead. Even when he knew that she decided to stay in South Korea, he still stepped on his heart and did the opposite. For her sake.
Yet, he never realized that was his biggest mistake.
Slowly standing up, Sophie looked down with a downcast expression. "I'm going to excuse myself."
Then, without waiting, she left the restaurant in a hurry, ignoring her dad's calls.
Talon exhaled a small breath as he rested his back against the chair. "You really didn't have to do that, you know?" He said to Evan. "I have gone out of my way to keep Sophie happy. Now, you ruined it. She could've gone her entire life without knowing the truth."
"Possibly. But, I know for certain that I can't go my entire life without telling her. The guilt I felt was too much... I can't." Smiling bitterly, Evan wiped his eyes.
Talon looked to the side for a second before he turned around to leave. "I'm gonna get her back." He said.
But, surprisingly, someone stopped him at that moment. "No, let me do that."
The one who spoke was Hyun-Jae.
A//N: If you enjoyed reading, don't forget to support the book with GT and PS. Thank you!