Jiyong opened the door, carrying 4 heavy albums and a notebook-sized one on top. His arms were already starting to feel numb when he closed the door using his foot and he 'carefully' slammed down the books on the floor since his arms picked a great time for giving out. 

Dami stopped talking as soon as he opened the door. The air was incredibly thick and he knows that it was Dara that's doing that. Usually when she remembers  little things like always wearing flats or what not, she would treat it as no big deal. But when it's something big, she goes silent and melancholic as if she was carrying the weight of the world.

His sister was sitting on his bed while Dara was sitting on the far corner of the room near where his old desk was. He guessed that his sister still couldn't see where she was but judging from the tension in the air, Dami may have sat away from her purposefully.  

Jiyong stretched, making some of his joints pop. He moaned contentedly and sat on the chair in his desk. He sat there casually, acting as if a depressing ghost wasn't a few inches away from his bare feet. His eyes studied her as she looked at the ground unblinkingly, her small hands on her bent knees and her face devoid of emotion. This brought a shudder in him. He was never good with dealing with so called 'elephants in the room'. 

With his subtlety, he poked her with his foot as if his hand wasn't worthy for her. She looked up but didn't say a word. He scowled at this, hoping it would get the bubbly pain in the back. But all she did was look up at him with her innocent doe eyes that clearly showed something more that he couldn't make out. 

"What did you guys talk about?" He chimed in, breaking the awkward atmosphere. 

"I tried to talk to her about what she remembered but she's not saying anything. At all." Dami sighed then chuckled. "I'm beginning to think that she's not here but I could definitely feel her presence."

"Don't worry. She's like that last time too." 

They talked as if Dara wasn't there. But in fact, she was and she was listening to everything they were saying with a sealed mouth. 

A vague and blurry memory appeared in her head when she saw his parents hugging Jiyong as if they're life depended on his warmth. There was a woman dressed in dark clothing. Her face was fuzzy but her tears were evident. Her voice was sounded muffled even though she saw that wasn't covered by anything. Another person was beside her. A shadow with long hair. There were people surrounding them and a figure that stepped out from the rest. The woman suddenly hugged her and the shadowed girl. When the figure went closer to them, the lady let go and whispered something to them before running off to a vague white nothingness. 

She didn't understand what she just remembered but she knows it was from when she was young because she had to look up to meet the lady's blurred face. They were speaking, yes, but it would either come off as muddled or intelligible--as if they were speaking something alien. 

She vowed to relive the days she had missed. To live life as if it were her last. If you think about it, she was already passed that. But she was given another chance and she's planning to make the most of it. 

Although something was holding her back. Something was pulling her. 

She could hear things in her head almost everyday however she didn't understand. She couldn't understand. She asked Dami about this when they talked alone in her 'office' and Dami guesses that they were small tidbits from the past. Like little jigsaw puzzles that needed to be combined to make one big picture, the voices in her head come out with different topics. Some as mundane as asking her the time and others as random as telling her to wear socks. They were all different voices, some guys and some girls. Although there's one voice that seemed more prominent than the others. But what they say would always come out muffled. 

For the past few weeks, Dami has been recording everything that Dara hears or at least can hear. The psychic would also write down any small memories that she recalls in hopes that they may help in piecing the puzzle that was Dara. 

Dara was thankful for her. Every time that they would talk alone, she would always thank her before they leave the room. She knows how much effort Dami was doing for her just so that she can rest in peace. But not only that, she was grateful for Jiyong too. He might act like she was the biggest piece of he's ever encountered but she knows that he was willing to help out too. Under all that hatred and annoyance was a caring guy that would put others first even though he might get a hernia because of it. 

"Can you leave us alone for a while, noona?" That sentence snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see him looking at her. She saw Dami nod and then went for the door, leaving the both of them in the cramped room. 

Jiyong got up from his seat and then crouched down in front of her. They were both just silently looking at each other. He suddenly held out his hand while Dara looked at it with a raised brow. After a few minutes of his hand just hanging in the air, he waved it violently while grunting in the process. Dara laughed and finally took it. She noticed the coldness of his fingertips as he gently pulled her up and guided her to his bead where his sister put the albums. 

"You're hand's cold." Dara mused. 

"And who's fault is that?" Jiyong arched his brows, his tone accusing and somewhat immature. 

She laughed again and was about to grab Vladimir from the edge of the bed when Jiyong took it first and took a small swig of it. She could feel her energy pulsing back and she gave his arm a playful shove, feeling grateful once again. 

"Don't drink too much! I won't have anymore left, you alcoholic." 

"Mwo? Don't you dare put me in the same kind as you." He said, placing an album on his lap. "I needed it because we're about to enter a territory full of teenage mistakes and baby pictures." 

Dara didn't retaliate and just gazed on the first page of pictures which were all baby photos. And right from the bat, the first page was already filled with baby pictures just like he said. Jiyong groaned and flipped to the next page where another round of his ness appeared. Jiyong groaned again. 

"Sometimes I think my parents are erts for taking way too many pictures of me." He remarked, flipping through pages.

" that, dude. I wished they kept going with this theme because your body right now," Dara held his shoulder and made him look up at her, "is smoking. Well, not really smoking smoking but a tolerable smoking. You get me, Jiyong-ah?" 

Yeah, normal Dara was back. 

He gave his arm a pinch, earning him a shriek, before flipping to a page were he was all fully-clothed. He looked at those pages longer. It looked like he was around 5 or 6 at that time and some photos had his sister as well as Mihyun on it with the latter being more. Dara's finger traced a photo of him and Mihyun wearing pre-school uniforms. He glanced her side profile and saw her wearing an expressionless face once again. 

"You remember something?" He asked softly. 

Her answer was just pure silence. Jiyong continued to flip through pages, stopping whenever Dara would put her hand over the page to look at a picture. This went on for the other photo albums. Neither of them had spoken ever since he asked her that question. He could feel the tension rising back up and he's not liking one bit of it. He excused himself to the washroom and to hopefully breathe again since the air felt so thick in there. He saw her flipping through page after page, silent and in thought, as he softly closed the door behind him. 

His family was just chatting in the kitchen with his mom still cooking their 'feast'. However, the birthday girl was nowhere in sight. He scanned the living room and then his eyes darted to the open door that lead to the backyard. There, he saw Mihyun sitting cross-legged on the small deck that reached from either ends of their house. Her eyes were closed as if she was meditating and her hair would sway along with the light breeze that hit her skin. He sat beside her, holding on to her knee so that he could balance himself. Her eyes slowly opened and she tilted her head at him with a slight smile. 

"You look glum." she said, earning her a loud sigh. "What's wrong?" 

He shrugged. She was about to shut up, knowing what the shrug meant, but then he continued talking. "I don't know... I guess some people are hard to talk too."

That perked her ears up. "Care to elaborate?" she asked.

He sighed again as his head rested down on her shoulder. "How do you do it, Mimi?"

"Do what?" 

"How do you get people open up to you? You're like the town's therapist. I bet you keep more secrets than Jay hyung will ever have in his lifetime." 

The girl laughed and patted his knee. There was something about her that made people confide to her. This had been happening ever since he could remember. When he leaves her alone, he would just see someone talking to her while she quietly listens on. Sometimes she would tell her what they talk about but most of the time she keeps it to herself. 

"I don't know either, Yongie." she sighed too and put her head over his. "People know me too well so there's really no point in making them feel cautious around me." 

"Is that you're way of telling me to be like you?" he drawled. 

She shook her head and giggled. "I'm saying that you should gain their trust. Tell them something about you that only a few people might know. That shows that you're vulnerable in terms of giving them your trust that you'll keep that secret safe. And for me, I have nothing to hide. Everyone knows... even though I didn't want them to." 

Jiyong pressed his lips on her hair and held her hand reassuringly. Everyone knew what her father had done to her and he was punished for that. It's been years since then but the scar of her past was still healing. She was quiet when they first met back when the both of them were still 5. She never spoke and she never played with them whenever she would get invited. He sees it in her eyes that she wants to but she was holding herself back.

Only her father lived with her since her mother had left them when she was even younger. They seemed to be a normal single-parent family. They would come by during house party's and other social events. However, they would never make an effort to socialize or stand out in a crowd. They would always leave earlier than the rest and the people would go off about wondering about them. 

It was Jiyong who found out first and it was also him who stopped it. Even in his young age of 6 he knew that what he did to her was disgusting and condemning. No one should be treated like that. Especially if it's a 6 year old girl. Especially if it was his daughter. He was sent to Seoul and got jailed for so many years that Jiyong thinks that he would still be rotting there when he would get grandchildren. 

Mihyun changed. Although not drastically, she changed into a more outspoken and honest person. Her expressions may not say it but she was an open book. She would give the most honest answers whenever people would ask her and through the years, her sincerity has garnered her a good reputation. She still kept the house that haunted her childhood though she only set foot on it a few times a week just to clean and keep it up to shape. Everybody knew that she did this because she was still hoping, wishing, that her mother would come back. It had already been more than a decade and yet she still hadn't shown up.

Jiyong hugged her by the shoulder and continued to comfort her even though she didn't need it. She was perfect fine although she does appreciate th