**Sunshine's POV — Monday, 5:00 AM**
The alarm rang.
I was already awake.
Staring at the ceiling.
Thinking about everything.
The weekend had come and gone in a blur.
But not quietly. Not peacefully. Not forgettably.
The photos.
That was all anyone could talk about.
The photos from Friday's shoot had gone live Saturday morning, and somehow, they had blown up overnight.
Comments everywhere.
*"Their chemistry is insane."*
*"Are they dating for real?"*
*"This doesn't look like acting…"*
I had seen all of them. Every single one.
Tried not to care.
Failed completely.
Because every picture had captured something real. Something I hadn't even realized we were showing in that moment.
And Kael hadn't said much about it over the weekend. But he had stayed close. Texted more than usual. Called once just to hear my voice and then pretended he had a reason for calling.
I had let him pretend.
Now it was Monday.
Interrogation day.
Everything felt heavier. The air. My chest. Even my own thoughts.
I got out of bed and walked to the mirror.
My reflection stared back at me.
Calm on the outside.
My eyes gave everything away.
I exhaled slowly.
"Focus," I whispered.
Today wasn't about feelings.
It was about control.
By 5:40 AM, I was outside calling a cab.
Funny how things shift without you noticing. A few months ago, it was buses and counting change. Now it was cabs and trying not to think too hard about a man who looked at me like that in front of a camera.
KDX had changed a lot of things.
By 6:46 AM, I was already in the lobby.
The moment I stepped in, I felt it.
Tension.
Staff whispering. Phones buzzing. Everyone pretended to work, and no one was actually working.
Because today was the day.
I walked to my desk. Steady. Calm. Professional.
"Good morning," I said.
Min-ah nodded quickly. "Morning…"
Her eyes said everything her voice didn't.
"Sunshine."
I turned.
Kael stood a few steps away. Already dressed. Already prepared. Looking like he had been ready for hours but hadn't slept a single one of them.
His eyes found mine and something in them settled.
Just slightly.
"Good morning," I said.
Gentle. Not cold. Not distant. Just careful.
"Morning," he replied.
And for a moment that was enough.
---
**Kael's POV — 7:15 AM**
Father arrived at KDX at exactly 7:15.
I watched him walk in from across the lobby.
Suit immaculate. Expression closed.
Kim Dong-hyun did not show fear. Not in public. Not ever.
Attorney Kim was already at his side before I could reach them.
"We leave in thirty minutes," Attorney Jung said. "The questioning begins at nine."
Father looked at me.
"You're coming."
"Yes," I said.
Something passed between us. Not warmth. We had never been good at warmth.
But something.
He nodded once.
That was all.
I turned, and Sunshine was behind me. She had appeared quietly the way she always did, holding a printed schedule and a coffee she was pretending was for herself.
She held it out to me without a word.
I took it.
"You should eat something before you go," she said.
"I'm fine."
She gave me a look that said she didn't believe that at all.
"There's food in the meeting room. You have twenty minutes."
I almost smiled.
"You organized that."
"Someone has to."
And there it was. That quiet way she took care of things without making it feel like pity. Without making it feel like charity.
Just care.
Steady and real.
"Sunshine," I said.
She looked up.
"Thank you."
She held my gaze for a moment and then looked away.
"Go eat, Kael."
---
**Sunshine's POV — 8:50 AM**
I stood in the KDX lobby and watched them leave.
Kael. His father. Attorney Kim.
Three men walking into something none of them could fully control.
The car pulled out.
And I stood there longer than I should have.
Min-ah appeared beside me. "They'll be okay."
"I know," I said.
I didn't know.
I went back upstairs.
Sat at my desk.
Opened my system.
And tried very hard not to check my phone every five minutes.
I failed at that too.
---
**Kael's POV — Seoul Metropolitan Police Headquarters, 9:00 AM**
The building was exactly as cold and institutional as the last time.
Grey walls. Fluorescent lights. The particular silence of a place that had heard too many hard things.
Detective Park met us at the door.
"Chairman Kim. Thank you for coming in." She looked at me briefly. "Mr. Devereaux. You're welcome to wait down the hall."
I looked at my father.
He straightened. Gave me one firm nod.
Then, he walked through the door with Attorney Kim and did not look back.
The door closed.
And I was alone in the corridor.
I found the waiting area. Sat down. The chairs were hard, and the lighting was the kind that made everyone look like they had something to hide.
I checked my phone.
Nothing yet.
I leaned back and waited.
---
An hour and a half.
I had checked my phone more times than I could count. Walked to the water dispenser twice without drinking anything. Read the same notification three times without understanding a single word.
The door down the corridor hadn't moved.
Still inside.
"Oppa."
I looked up.
Hana was walking down the corridor toward me.
Heels. Perfect hair. That expression she wore when she wanted to look both concerned and composed.
I stood slowly.
"What are you doing here?"
"I heard about the interrogation." She stopped in front of me. "I wanted to be here."
"I didn't ask you to come."
"I know." She sat down beside me like she planned to stay. "But you shouldn't be alone right now."
I looked at her for a moment then sat back down because I didn't have the energy to argue in a police station hallway.
She was quiet for a while. Which was unusual for her.
Then she said, "He's going to be okay."
"You don't know that."
"Your father is one of the most calculated men I have ever met." Almost a compliment. "He didn't build KDX by crumbling under pressure."
"This is different."
She looked at me carefully. "Is it?"
My phone rang.
Director Han.
"How far?" she asked immediately.
"Still inside. Going on two hours."
A sharp exhale. "Two hours. That's longer than Attorney Kim projected."
"I know."
"Call me the moment they come out," she said firmly.
She hung up.
Hana was watching me when I lowered the phone.
She leaned forward slightly. Her voice dropped. "Kael. Whatever happens today I want you to know I'm not going anywhere. I know I left. I know I handled things badly. But I am here now." She held my gaze steady. "And I am not leaving again."
I looked at her.
She meant every word.
But meaning something and being the right thing were not always the same.
"Hana—"
The door at the end of the corridor opened.
We both looked up.
Attorney Kim came out first.
I was on my feet before he reached me.
His face said everything before his mouth did.
Father appeared in the doorway behind him. Still straight. Still composed. Still carrying himself like a man who had never lost anything.
But his eyes when they found mine told a different story entirely.
Attorney Kim stopped in front of me and lowered his voice.
"They're charging him."
The corridor went very quiet.
"The financial records were more extensive than we anticipated. Payments spanning four years. Specific documentation. Witness names. Exact amounts." He exhaled carefully. "They came today prepared. Obstruction of justice. Bribery. Witness tampering."
I heard every word.
Felt them land one by one.
Father reached us.
He looked at me without speaking for a long moment.
Then he said, "I did what I had to do. You were my son. You were fifteen years old."
My throat tightened.
"Dad—"
"I am not apologizing for it." His voice was steady. "I would do it again."
An officer appeared at his shoulder.
Father straightened.
His hand reached out and gripped my arm. Firm. Brief. Real.
"Handle the company," he said quietly. "Don't let it fall."
Then he turned and walked with the officer down the corridor.
And I stood there watching him go.
And something in my chest started coming apart.
Slowly at first.
Then all at once.
Sunshine's POV
I was in the middle of reviewing the Lotte brief when Min-ah appeared at my desk.
Her face stopped me before she said a single word.
"What happened," I said. Not a question.
"It's Kael." Her voice was careful. Low. "He's at the hospital."
I was on my feet.
"His father was charged," she said quickly, following me. "When they came out of the interrogation Kael just — Min-ji said he started shaking. Couldn't speak. Couldn't stand properly. Hana and the driver got him into the car but by the time they reached KDX it was bad enough that Hana made the call to go to the hospital instead."
I was already at the elevator.
"Which one," I said.
She gave me the name.
I was out of the building in four minutes.
The hospital corridor smelled like antiseptic and recycled air and every step I took toward his room felt longer than the last.
A nurse at the station gave me directions without asking too many questions. Apparently I wasn't the first person to arrive for him today.
I understood why when I reached the room.
The door was slightly open.
I pushed it gently.
Hana was already there.
Sitting beside his bed. Back straight. Hands folded in her lap. She had clearly been there long enough to have settled in and made herself part of the room.
She looked up when I walked in.
And for a moment neither of us said anything.
We just looked at each other. Two women in the same room for the same reason and both of us knowing it.
Worried. Both of us just worried.
Then we both turned to look at him.
Kael lay against the pillows. Eyes open but distant. An IV line in his arm. The kind of stillness that didn't come from rest but from a body that had simply run out of road.
A hospital psychologist had been in earlier, the nurse had told me. He was stable. But the shock of the charges combined with everything that had been building for weeks had triggered a severe anxiety episode. They wanted to keep him for observation until evening.
I pulled a chair to the other side of his bed and sat down.
Neither Hana nor I spoke.
The monitor beeped steadily.
Outside the window Seoul moved on the way it always did. Indifferent. Busy. Unbothered.
I thought about everything Zenith Entertainment had set into motion. The leaked files. The investigation. The deliberate surfacing of something that had been buried for twelve years. I had been around KDX long enough now to understand that none of this had been accidental. This had been architected. Carefully. Patiently. Piece by piece until the whole structure came down on one family.
And now here was Kael. In a hospital bed. His father in police custody. His company under threat.
It felt exactly like what it was.
Like someone winning.
Like everything had gone exactly according to plan.
And the worst part was I still didn't fully know whose plan it was.
Kael's eyes moved slowly and found mine.
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then he looked at Hana.
Then back at me.
And something passed across his face that I couldn't fully read.
Exhaustion. Gratitude. Something heavier underneath both.
His mouth opened slightly.
Before he could speak, his phone on the bedside table lit up.
We all looked at it
And almost screamed.
**END OF CHAPTER 24**