Chapter 35

[The Point of No Return]

Despite the years of mannerism training, Heechul did not think a polite manner was necessary for her.

“What are you doing here?” he said when he found her sitting on the Kim’s estate living room.

Jessica lifted up her head to face Heechul. The distance was made. He could instantly see that the young Jung was frowning, and he wondered mildly whether that was the expression she loved to wear the most. It seemed to be so, because her frown only deepened.

“I’m not here to see you,” she informed him.

“You’re still in my house. I have the right to question your existence here,” he argued.

The frown was momentarily gone, replaced by a tired expression. Huffing a deep sigh, Jessica then answered, “I’m here to see Kibum. I’ve contacted him and he told me to wait here.”

Heechul swore that despite whatever that Jessica and him had gone through together, the Jung girl would always remain as one of the girls he would not enjoy having the presence around. But nonetheless, her words intrigued him. He had nothing else better to do anyway (and besides, it was his house, he completely had the authority in it), so he assumed it was safe to engage her more in what he tried to be a docile conversation.

“What business do you have with my cousin?”

“It’s none of your concern.”

If it could be described in a metaphorical sense, Heechul thought he would have a vein popped on his temple. Jessica seemed to love irking him. Sarcasm was evident when he delivered his next words, “You are in the Kim’s estate, oh dear honorable Miss Jung. I suppose you know what it means.”

“What? You’re going to call your security guards to shoo me away? I’m not your guest anyway. I’m your cousin’s guest. So please, let us not bother each other,” she replied, equally as stubborn.

It was Heechul’s turn to sigh. He was tempted to force her out, and he was really about to approach her, drag her by the arm and pulled her to the door, but the door to the Kim’s estate was suddenly swung opened. Momentarily forgetting his earlier intention, Heechul turned his head to look at the door’s way, only to find that one of his uncles had come home.

Ryeowook’s father, Kim Hyungseung.

“Uncle,” he murmured softly as he approached the older man in worry. It was still late in the afternoon –his uncle was supposed to be in the office. Heechul knew that Kim Hyungseung, albeit his contradictive sweet cynicism, was one of the most hardworking one among the Kims in his generation. To see him at house in an office hour, and further, to see him swinging in almost the replica of the late Kangin’s drunken movement, Heechul was hesitant to do anything.

In the end, Heechul tried to support the man’s limp body with his stronger arms. “You’re alright, Uncle?’ the oldest heir of the Kim asked.

Hyungseung refused to answer, refused the arms that were offered to him. Instead, he shoved Heechul aside in his hazy walk, as he invited himself deeper into the main Kim’s estate. Heechul followed him from behind, not really knowing what the appropriate action to do towards his drunken uncle. And worst came to worst, Hyungseung noticed Jessica’s presence.

The drunken eyes lit up. Ah, he had another line to deliver to his nephew.

“Another , Heechul? You could never have enough of a good , eh?”

The comment horrified Heechul. He knew that he would never be able to fully oppose his uncle, and truth be told, it wasn’t the first time that Kim Hyungseung accused him of randomly having with inappropriate woman. Heechul would not have cared in the first place, but this was not just a mere girl that his uncle was insulting. Heechul was not afraid of how his uncle would insult Jessica (in all honesty, Heechul could care less), but he was rather worried of how the Jung girl would react.

And his fear was not without reason. Jessica sharply turned her head to stare at the newcomer, an icy stare was ready as she opened , “For your information, Sir. I am not –“

Afraid of how Jessica’s wrath would affect his uncle (and that his uncle would later blame it all on him), Heechul quickly took action. “Uncle, it’s not like that. This is Jessica from the Jung family. She’s a respectful woman and she’s just here to visit Kibum.” Oh, Heechul had never thought he would come to the point of saying a well-mannered comment about Jessica, but he knew it was necessary.

“The Jung?” Hyungseung echoed as he looked up to the ceiling as if trying to remember something. “Jung…Jung…the Jung…ah! I remember!” he said as he finally focused his attention to Jessica. A smile made its way to his face.

But Jessica did not feel the sincerity of it. If anything, she was disgusted with the smile. It was as if the man was having a thought that she did not want to know.

Hyungseung’s grin did not disappear. “You’re as pretty as your dead mother. She was a fool for not choosing me. Had she done so, probably she would still be alive now,” he said with a laugh.

Jessica’s eyes widened. Hyungseung delivered more vulgar words (something about inviting her to his room), Heechul tried to stop his uncle, but none of those mattered. Jessica’s lips were parted open but now words came out of . Her shoulders shook with something she could not really place: a seething anger, a painful curiosity, memory of the wounded, a choking reality…

Before she could control everything, her body moved on its own accord. Standing up abruptly, forgetting anything about her gender, her position, her weakness, Jessica then grabbed Hyungseung’s shirt and clenched it tight, almost as tight as she gritted her teeth.

“What did you say?” she growled dangerously.

Hyungseung was not deterred. Drunken man rarely did anyway. “Ah, kitten has claws, eh? Like mother like daughter,” he said with a chuckle.

Her grip around his shirt tightened more, if possible. “What do you know about my mother’s death?”

“Your mother’s death? You mean, your mother’s murder?”

Little murderer, look at what you’ve done…

Despite her earlier violence, Jessica slowly let go of her grip around Hyungseung’s shirt. But her glaring eyes never left his mocking ones. Sequences were played inside her head, and she found herself nearly having a breathing difficulty.

Their car sped up through the late afternoon of Seoul’s highway –the cars behind them were restless in trailing them down. The tires made screeching sound as they had frictions with the bumpy road. But it could not stop. It could not stop as long as it was chased. They could only run, it was the only viable option.

“Dear, please just stop the car! We’ll talk to them! We have Jessica here! We can’t risk anything!”

“We’ll die if we stop!”

“But Jessica –“

The little girl frowned as she questioned her mother, “Is that the bad guy chasing us, Mother?”

“It’s going to be alright, Darling. It’s going to be alright…” Jessica’s mother assured her.

And nothing ever made sense after that night.

A hit.

One of the black cars behind them tried to change the lane too, but in doing so, it accidentally hit Jessica’s car, sending it spinning in the road.

Dong Wook momentarily lost control over the car.

Another unsuspecting car hit Dong Wook’s car as it spinned.

The sharp turns.

“Dear!”

The car broke through the barrier.

The free falling, and everything that suffocated Jessica (gravity, pull them down, down, and down), that blinded her (something hit her eyes, she could not see well in the dark), that deafened her (her mother’s scream, her father’s cursing…) –that would make her traumatized for the rest of her life.

And void.

All void, but a voice.

When she found it hard to move her limbs, when she found it hard to look at her mother’s dead eyes or her father’s bloody face, it was only a reality that she remembered.

Look at what you’ve done, Little Murderer…

It felt nostalgic, in a worst way possible.

The way she could not feel herself breathing, the way everything sounded like an old broken record, the way her tears blurred her visions, the way she was always unable to do anything…

She could not do anything. She did not remember that a scream had escaped , that Hyungseung only glanced at her in the mixture of amusement and bewilderment, that a strong arm was encircled around her body, and she was lifted up, carried somewhere, somewhere that she did not know.

She felt like no oxygen entered her lungs, she felt like she could not see anything even when her eyes were opened wide, she felt like thousands of needles pierced her skin, as if imaginary blood rushed out of every pores of her skin –because perhaps that was the only reason why she felt the pain all over her body.

She whimpered, she cried, she screamed, she clawed, she cursed…

Jung Jessica was broken, again.

Heechul did not always calculate things. He did not always predict the outcome, he did not always know what would happen, or even what would he do himself.

The moment Jessica began to scream (and worse, dug her nails to his uncle’s face), Heechul grabbed the girl’s thin wrist –tried to separate her away from his uncle. The girl fought with much resistance. Angered, Jessica kicked and slapped Heechul instead. But despite the pain she caused him, Heechul tried to hold his own wrath, because for the first time, he felt like he deserved Jessica’s treatment.

She cursed and wailed as he dragged her out of his uncle’s sight.

“Bastard! Let me go!” she screamed.

He quieted down. He let her nails scratched his pale skin instead. The resistance came at full force. Her struggling never ceased as he dragged her to one of the room in the Kim’s manor. Her wails, her kicks, her