Look her up, storm her castle, tear down her gates, wave my adoption papers in front of her face, scream why why why over and over again. “I don’t know.”

Disappointment flashes through the other woman’s eyes, but her tone is calm, friendly even, when she speaks again. “The paper I have given you has her name, her work address, her home address, and KakaoTalk profile. You have everything you need to contact her. Your friend is coming.” Kwon Hyeun stands and swings an expensive Chanel bag over her shoulder, but she doesn’t leave. She plants a hand on the table and leans down to stare at me, and this time her eyes are swimming in emotion. She’s been holding back all this time, trying not to break down in front of me.

Her voice thick, she says, “If you were my daughter and I had the means, I would’ve spent anything to track you down instead of avoiding you as if you weren’t the most important thing to me.” She reaches out to press a finger against my face. “I would not have given you up. I would have fought my parents for you. I would have fought King Sejong for you. Remember that when you meet Choi Wansu.” Something—bitterness, regret, pain—twists Kwon Hyeun’s mouth. Her finger falls away, leaving a burning sensation where she touched me. Then, as if she can’t hold back the flood of tears, she hurries off. I don’t try to stop her. I can’t even move. Her words have hammered me into my chair.

Boyoung approaches with concern on her face. “Was that . . . Kwon Hyeun?”

I manage a nod but no words. Choi Wansu . . . a poor woman who married money . . . who is into adoption causes. It’s a coincidence. It has to be a coincidence. This is a country with fifty million people. Choi isn’t an uncommon last name. There have to be hundreds of thousands of Chois here in Seoul. I turn the paper over and over in my hands. A coincidence. I jump to my feet, rush past a bewildered Boyoung, and take the steps two at a time, but Kwon Hyeun is gone when I reach the street.

I grab my neck and squeeze it to prevent the scream of frustration that is building at the base of my throat. I drop my hand to my purse and pluck out my phone. My text to Yujun is half-written when I stop.

What if he knows and this is all a huge setup? What if he knew I was coming? Although how unless Choi Wansu and Lee Jonghyung plotted this together? Except Lee died and Choi decided she didn’t want to get to know her daughter after all. That’s a ridiculous plot. Ridiculous! I shout in my head because why would they want to set me up in the first place? The thing to do would be to ignore me. Maybe Lee Jonghyung wanted to meet me but Choi Wansu did not, and Yujun doesn’t want me to find my mother because that would mean some of his inheritance would go to me.