1 PROLOGUE

"Dinner is ready," Siri heard her mother call from the next room.

Picking up three-year-old Nathan, she made it to the dinner table just as her mother was putting the turkey on. Hearing the doorbell, she quickly placed her nephew on his chair and strapped him on with a smile threatening to wrinkle her face.

Every time he rang the doorbell, she was filled with happiness. The sight of him, the smell… he's here with her now, that's the only thing that matters.

"You made it," she gushed up at the man who made their wide front door seem small. He was not a giant muscled man in size but he was well proportioned. He was perfection in Siri's eyes. His dark brown hair that came down over his eye when wet was styled now in a side-parted style. Two-Block he told her was a traditional hairstyle for men in Korea, and he wore his on the longer scale, called men-bangs.

At first, she had laughed thinking he was joking but he wasn't. He told her that men took beauty and style just as seriously as women do, where he was from. And she believed him when she saw how passionate he was as she got to know him better. Even make-up touch-ups he had said but she hadn't seen him using it before so she figured he was joking about it. In all her life she never thought she would have to share a blow-dryer with the man she loved, either.

But Siri was happy.

She went on his tiptoes to kiss the man dressed in a black suit, as he bent his head down to receive it, planting a kiss of his own on her cheek, lightly. Just as quickly, he raised back his head and shrugged off his coat hanging it up on the coat rack to his left. He held out a bouquet of flowers to her and walked in with the other one for her mother.

"Lilly, Happy Thanksgiving. Hi, Nathan."

Timothy was always conservative, holding on to the 'non-display of public affections' when her parents were around. Once when he had kissed her and her parents walked in Tim was mortified. He could not stop apologizing even though her parents were not offended in any way. Their cultures were so different- Siri's American lifestyle taught them to speak their minds and be open but Tim's was to hold back and respect elders, whether you liked them or not- they were always right.

She watched her parents greet Tim as they would if he were their own son and even Nathan waved his hands at him excitedly. Dinner went smoothly with much love and laughter even when her brother was mentioned, her parents still smiled. They had accepted his death finally after almost three years. It was a difficult road for all of them but they had Nathan to be thankful for. And Siri knew that while things were happy for now it would get rough when Nathan started asking questions about his parents' death.

He would want to know why his parents died. Why did he live? Why was he raised by an aunt who was not married? He might question God and his selfishness. She hoped she and her parents had the answers he would accept.

"What's that ring about?" Siri's father asked Tim, looking at the man's hand that held the glass of wine. Not hearing an answer, he looked across at his daughter's boyfriend, on his left then back at Siri on the opposite side of her boyfriend and to his right.

Putting down his knife and fork silently, he wiped his mouth with his napkin and leaned back, looking now at his wife. No, he must be wrong- his daughter will not do this, he thinks as he looked at the man's finger again.

"Siri, what is going on?" he asked her.

His daughter looked at him and he did not like the look. It was one she used to have when she was small and did some mischievous thing and he asked her about it. He saw her bend her head and her hands lay frozen still holding a piece of pie she was feeding his grandson. His wife was looking at Tim's hand too.

"Bug?" he used her pet name, eyebrows in a furrow as he looked back to Tim waiting for an answer, feeling a hollowness in his stomach.

The young man rested down his glass and cleared his throat looking uncomfortable. His hands remained empty beside both sides of his plate and he too bent his head. He had so much respect for Tim, for he had seen how he treated his daughter. Siri was always smiling. And he liked how reserved the man had been, always respectful to him and his wife. Plus, he held a good position at work so he knew if Siri chose to marry him, she would not face any financial problems. But not this way.

"Did you guys get married and hid it from us?" he was so disappointed with his daughter. She had even hidden the ring from them? Why would she get married in secret, knowing they approved of Timothy since they started dating two years ago? Was it because she knew they could not afford a massive wedding?

If it was a fancy wedding she wanted, he would have taken a loan or something- anything for Siri for she deserved to be happy. She took care of her brother's child as if it were her own after he died along with his wife, who happened to be Siri's best friend.

"What?" Siri looked up at him and waved her hands in denial in front of her before she looked at her mother and then at Tim.

Tim had looked up at her when he heard her father's words and his eyes widened more. How could he have forgotten to take the ring off? He always took it off when he was with her. He must have forgotten in his rush to see her. After his flight, he had gone home and slept until two hours ago, when his friend, Harold, had awoken him. He had showered and changed quickly.

Siri had tears in her eyes. She had hoped this day would never come. How could he have been so foolish? Although Siri had accepted him, her parents never will.

Who would accept their daughter being with a married man?

Siri was thinking of her brother then, Rick, and her sister-in-law, Ashley, and what they would have said to her in this situation- she panicked…would her parents take Nathan away from her because of this?