chapter forty five- suffering together.

Haeun glanced at her watch and sighed. Still seven more hours till she landed in Korea.

Time, for some reason, had been going really slowly. It had been only three hours since she boarded on the plane from Los Angeles to Seoul, but it felt as if it had already been seven hours.

Since she got the message from Jungah, she was feeling restless. Ever since she had seen poor Jonghyun, at seven years old, affected by the trauma of his father dying, she had felt that something was wrong with the incident.

She was young, back then, but she knew, definitely, that an old man, who had a secret lover and son, a company two children and a wife, in his right mind, won’t simply commit suicide because of stress.

Sure, he would have a lot of stress. But he wouldn’t commit suicide because of it. At least not when everything was going simply perfect with his company, his wife settling down after his lover moved away, his youngest daughter becoming one of the brightest, his son getting accepted into the same company as Nell and Epik High.

She knew something was wrong with the incident. She knew it had something to do with that of a wife of his. Jungah simply refused to believe this. She said, she felt, no matter how evil Yoora might be, she would definitely not kill her own husband, for even she had feelings for him.

But in the end, that was what happened. She killed him because she had feelings for him.

About time you believe me!  wanted to shout at Jungah but was able to calm herself down by getting a ticket to Korea that very moment. She had never been that excited in her whole life.

And it was about a case. Not about seeing her annoying younger brother after three years, but about a case. She could imagine the look and Minki’s face and inwardly laughed.

Minki and his friends were all younger brothers to her. It was funny. She was a well respected lawyer, her younger brother a gangster. Not a real gangster, more like a troublemaker, but still.

She was proud of him, nonetheless. He had gotten himself a reputation, good or bad, and he was doing a good job preserving it.

She grinned to herself.

At first, she was planning on going to Korea on the following day, to get Jonghyun his rights as Sunho’s son. But now, things got more interesting. She was actually, finally, going to be able to get Yoora where she deserved to be.

And she won’t stop until she was there.

-

“Princess?”

Woohyun oppa’s soft voice was music to my ears when he opened my room’s door and poked his head in. “Can I come in? Yuri?”

I lifted my head from the pillow that I had it buried in and nodded at him. Sitting up, I leaned against the headboard of the bed, hugging one of my stuffed teddy bears as Woohyun oppa came and sat next to me.

“Feeling sick?” he asked, placing his hand on my forehead.

“No,” I shook my head. “Just a little headache.”

Minhyun’s voice, telling me that I’d get a headache if I cried too much, echoed in my head. My face flared up.

“Did you take medicine?” he asked.

I nodded. “Where were you? With Jonghyun oppa?”

He seemed to hesitate, but he sighed and nodded.

“Is he mad?”

“Why would he be?”

“I ignored him.”

“He thinks you are mad at him.”

“Oh…”

We sat in silence for a while.

“I’m not mad at him. I’m happy. Just betrayed. And I’ll just need a month or two to get over it. I can’t imagine life without oppa anymore.”

Woohyun oppa smiled. “That’s what I told him. He wouldn’t listen, that kid. Always taking rash actions.”

I looked up at Woohyun oppa. “What did oppa do?”

“He said he’s going to leave to LA.”

-

“Are you insane?” Minhyun shouted, grabbing Jonghyun’s shirt. His mother was there, the rest of NU’EST was there, but he just couldn’t stop himself.

“You’re just going to leave all of us in this mess and run away? Are you that cowardly, Jonghuyn, huh? Since when did you become so cowardly?!” Minhyun shouted. Jonghyun just stared at him and when he didn’t get an answer, Minhyun dropped Jonghyun onto the chair and kicked the chair with all his might.

“Answer me, dammit!”

“Calm down, Minhyun.” Baekho walked up to him and tried to calm him down only to get swatted away by Minhyun.

“You know what, Jonghyun? Yuri was in my arms, crying so much that I could feel her head throbbing against my chest, scared about what kind of selfish actions you’d take. Are you really going to leave her like that? In the mess she is, for her to suffer alone?!”

“She won’t suffer alone, she has you.”

“She has me, my foot!” Minhyun had never screamed like that. Even Jungah started to get worried. “She wants you, Jonghyun. She wants her ing brother! No, she doesn’t want her brother, she needs her brother. Are you really going to leave her when she needs you most?!”

“Min-”

“Y-You know what? Shut up. Leave it. Leave her, leave me, leave all of us! See if I give a .” Glaring at him, Minhyun turned away and grabbed his jacket which was on the couch before turning towards the door.

“Where are you going?” Minki called after him, getting replied by a door slamming shut.

Jonghyun sighed. “I knew that was going to happen.”

“Why are you leaving, Jonghyun? Yuri, at some point, will forgive you, that is, of she’s even mad at you.” Aron said, frowning.

“I don’t want to give her that chance.” Jonghyun admitted. “While she’s angry at me, I want her to remain angry at me. That’s the best it can be for both of us.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m selfish.”

-

Six more hours…

-

Minhyun sighed and turned away after the fifth attempt of trying to ring Yuri’s house doorbell. Why?

One of the reasons was he couldn’t really believe he was actually there. What had happened between both of them that had made her the one whom he could retreat to at any time? He found the sudden progress in their relationship hard to digest. But nonetheless, even he believed that it was actually a good change.

But still, she was a girl, a sensitive girl. He couldn’t completely rely on her for his escape. She needed an escape too. Him, going to her, only made it harder to her.

After a few moments of thinking, he finally made up his mind to leave. He had gotten much calmer than he was when he was back at home. Even the thought of her presence, it seemed, calmed him down. How mysterious.

Just as he turned around to walk away, he heard a click from behind him. He turned around to see Yuri poke her head out of the front door. She smiled. “Hey.”

-

They sat on the front porch without saying anything, just enjoying the silence, the peace it brought to them.

“What brought you here?” Yuri asked, after a while.

Minhyun picked up a pebble from underneath his feet and threw it the furthest he could. “Jonghyun.” He replied with a single word.

Yuri chuckled lightly. “Woohyun oppa told me. I exploded on him. Though he didn’t have any fault.”

“I almost hit Jonghyun. I’ve let him hit me, but I’ve never hit him. I threw him, literally.”

“I wonder what he’s thinking.”

“Whatever it is, he clearly isn’t in his right mind.”

“Well said.”

They, once again, remained in silence as Minhyun continued to throw pebbles.

“I’m not mad at him. I can never be, he’s my savoir, my light.” Yuri said. “I don’t know what made him think I’d be mad at him.”

“It’s not that flattering to know that your brother, who knew all along was your brother, who tried to get close to you for only your father’s sake at first, kept it as a secret and didn’t tell, just because he wanted to keep you for himself.”

“You would have gotten mad?”

“No doubt about it.”

“But would have calmed down.”

“There’s a reason for everything.”

“If only Jonghyun oppa thought like that.” There was more silence. “If I talked to him, will he change his mind? This...happenings will probably affect you more than anyone else.”

“He’s gotten selfish. Nothing anyone says can change his mind. He wants to stay away from you, to stay away from trouble.”

“I don’t blame him.”

“He’s usually the troublemaker, you know.”

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t blame him for getting scared.”

There was more silence. The sun was setting. The day, after all the happenings, seemed to have rushed by.

“Want to go for a walk?” Minhyun asked standing up and offering Yuri his hand. “Through Seoul, and we can take a cab back home if it gets too late.”

Yuri looked at him for a while. “What do you have in mind?”

“To get away from here. From all this pressure.”

Yuri smiled and took his hand. “You are no better than Jonghyun oppa.”

“Only difference is that I won’t let my sister suffer alone.”

shotuout!

been a while c':
enjoy the update, loves <3