Twenty One
Remnants Of The Heart
If silence could kill, they would have been both dead now. Dara was looking anywhere but Seunghyun. Even if he betrayed her, there’s just this part of her that was telling her she’ll forgive him straight away. She can’t do that right now. She can’t be vulnerable. It’s not just her life at stake here, but Jiyong’s as well. That guy, her mind snorted. Stupid guy.
Their string of fate seemed to be intertwined – hers, Jiyong and Seunghyun. She wasn’t being conceited or anything but she knew that no matter how evil, playful, sarcastic, rude, mean and everything else Jiyong could be, he’ll be there when times get rough. She smiled at that. She hated the guy’s guts most especially when he’s bullying her to the point where she always ends up crying but he can be really reliable at times like these.
“Dara. . .”
The sound of her name from Seunghyun’s mouth brought her out of her reverie. She blinked and glanced at him, regretting she did because she can feel her resolve going down in a speed of lighting. Grimacing at this, she looked away and sighed. She should at least hear his explanation, right? Jiyong would not allow her to be left alone if Seunghyun was one of the guys’ chasing after them, right?
“Why?” she then asked.
“It’s my fault. . .” he answered then heaved a sigh. She hated that sound but she didn’t say anything. “You have to understand, Dara. . .”
She waited but nothing came. “How am I going to understand if you’re not telling me what happened?”
“You know that I was adopted, right? We all were – you, me and Jiyong. Well, you and Jiyong got a bit lucky to be adopted by privileged people. I lived as a thief most of my life to help and support my sick mother. Then, we were offered a mission in exchange for a huge amount of money. I badly needed it because my mother was getting worse.”
“The mission was to kidnap me,” she answered.
“Yes,” he nodded in agreement.
“And you know what happened next. . .” he went on after a few minutes of silence. He heaved a sigh again and it was definitely testing Dara’s patience. “When I went to visit my mother in the hospital, they came. Dara, they threatened to kill my mother if I don’t tell them where you were. . .”
Dara almost ran to him and hug him when he heard his voice shook a little. He was hurting – she can clearly hear it from his voice. How could she not forgive him? She can’t blame him either. If she was in his position and his parents’ lives were at stake, then she would have probably done the same thing.
“I knew Jiyong would never let anything happen to you,” he went on. “That being a fact and with my mother’s life at stake, I. . . I betrayed you.”
She frowned. She felt bad for Seunghyun but she found herself feeling sorry for Jiyong as well. It was rather easy to give a reason why she felt bad for Seunghyun but she couldn’t come up with a logical reason as to why she felt sorry for Jiyong.
“But Dara, please believe me, I never intended and wanted you killed.”
She chose to ignore this. “How did Jiyong know?”
He looked lost for a moment. He obviously expected a different response from her. Nevertheless, he was quick enough to recover. “They thought they already hold a leash on me because of my mother so they had me tagging along with them. They brought me along where Jiyong was; let me watch them as they beat him up. It didn’t help with Jiyong being so sarcastic and rude to them, even throwing words of insults at them.”
Dara can’t help but smile at that. She could just imagine what those words were.
“I guess he owed them so much that they just went on beating him up almost everyday instead of killing him. It went on like that until one day, I received a call from a friend of mine saying that my mother’s already dead.”
Dara gasped. The smile she had in her face a while ago immediately disappeared. “I’m sorry. . .” she whispered.
“It wasn’t your fault, it’s no one’s fault,” he whispered, voice breaking again. “She just couldn’t make it anymore.”
“Oh Seunghyun,” she whispered and went to him, pulling him into a tight hug. He’d always been her protector, her defender, her shoulder to cry on, her knight in shining armor since they were kids. Habits die hard, she guessed. She just couldn’t stop herself from seeing him that way and it hurts seeing him so sad like this.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. . .” he whispered but Dara knew better. Judging from the tone of his voice, he was obviously trying to convince himself that he’s fine. Her heart squeezed painfully inside her chest. She can’t remember the last time she heard and saw Seunghyun cry but she can definitely say this wasn’t the first time. She hugged him tighter as she urged him to just let it all out, to just cry it all out. It was weird because it should be Seunghyun saying those words to her after all this time that she thought he betrayed her on purpose.
She shook off the thoughts inside her mind. No, she shouldn’t be calling what Seunghyun did as betrayal. He was just put into a tight spot that any normal human being would have to make a tough decision. She understood him fully well. He was after all, the Choi Seunghyun she knew from her younger years – her knight in shining armor.
After some time, Seunghyun finally calmed down. He chuckled awkwardly and pulled away from her. “Thank you,” he softly said. “But I believe you wanted to know how Jiyong knew that I’m still on your side?”
Dara gave him a sheepish smile.
“Right,” he said, taking a deep breath. “After that phone call, I knew they can no longer threat me with anything so I already informed the others to stay off the radar for a while. I then started thinking of ways on how to inform Jiyong about it because I didn’t really trust myself of being able to free him myself. I’m a thief yes and I was pretty good in escaping the badge guys but I can’t plan for other people. So when we went to where Jiyong was, I asked the others if they can let me beat him up since. . . well, since he was hitting on the girl I love.”
Dara blushed furiously and had to look away to hide it from him.
“They allowed me. I think I went a bit overboard. . .” he went on. “But during the time, I told him discreetly what happened and told him that we need to get you out of the sight of the public because. . . because the people who are trying to kill you are your parents’ relatives.”
Dara froze. “W-what?”
“Your father’s brothers, Chan Yeol and Bae Chul eventually found out that your adopted father planned on giving you everything once he dies. They went a bit berserk about it as you’re just an adopted daughter while them, Dong Shin’s own blood won’t be getting that much from him.”
She felt like the world has gone upside down, that her soul left her body – that she was nothing but an empty shell. “T-t-that’s. . . .” she stuttered, finding it hard to breathe.
“Aish… I told him it’s too early to tell you.”
“It’s not. . .” she gasped again. It was really hard for her to breathe now, she thinks she’s already having a panic attack.
In just a few seconds, Seunghyun had her in his arms, trying to calm her down. He instructed her to breathe in and out slowly. At first, she seemed to not understand a word he was saying but after a while, she started following what he was asking her and started breathing in and out in a slow, steady manner.
“Tell me. . .” she said after she can normally breathe again.
There was a look of hesitation in Seunghyun’s eyes. “I don’t think it’ll be a good idea. . .”
“I want to know. . .” Dara said.
“Are you two not done yet?” a voice then joined in. “I already roamed the earth and came back and you’re still not done? What’s taking you so long?”
The sight of Jiyong suddenly boiled something in Dara. Frustrated, confused and shocked with the recent events, she started marching towards him and slapped him hard in the face.
“You did it on purpose, didn't you?!” she demanded. “You made me believe that Seunghyun abandoned me! You made me think that - !”
“So what if I did? It wouldn't change a thing, would it? I'm still the bad guy here! I've always been the bad guy to you!”
“Well, you could have at least told me the truth! You could have at least told me what happened!”
“Why is it such a big deal to you if I lied? I always lie, don’t I? I’m such a ing liar that nobody trust me, so why are so ed up about it? Aren’t you used to me lying? Don’t you see me as just a ing liar who loves pissing you off?!” he ranted back. “I lied to you, yes! But Seunghyun lied to you too! But why aren’t you ranting on him about it?”
Dara stood there, opening and closing .
“Jiyong. . .” Seunghyun softly called. “I don’t think it’s the right time for that right now. She just found out about her father’s brothers.”
“The hell I care!” he screamed. “Now what? Are you going to blame me for asking you to tell her the truth in exchange of me bringing her here? Fine, go ahead! I’m so damn tired of this! go on and be cuddly the both of you, I seriously don’t give a ing damn anymore!”
Dara stood there, blinking her tears back as she watched Jiyong turned around and started walking away. She took a step forward but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. “I got this,” Seunghyun smiled, squeezing her shoulder a little. “Go take a rest in the cave.”
She watched as Seunghyun followed Jiyong. She had this feeling that Jiyong isn’t really going to walk away just like that – after everything, he can’t walk away just like that. besides, how many times had he walk away but came back anyways? In all honesty, she wasn’t bothered about Jiyong walking away because she knew he’ll come back. What bothered her was the question Jiyong asked her that she failed to respond to. Oh scratch that, it wasn’t even the question that bothered her. It was the answer that formulated in her mind that bothered most. In a way, she was glad the words were trapped inside . She wasn’t sure what would have happened next if she was able to spill it out because it wasn’t the words she wanted to say and yet, the words just formulated in her mind.
Now that she was alone, she felt as if the words were now trying to force their way out from her mind. And so with a deep breath, she softly whispered, “It’s a bid deal to me because it hurts more knowing that you lied to me than him.”
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