Myungsoo’s POV

I wake up to the sound of movement and a sudden screaming. “No! Get off of me!” I immediately open my eyes and see Allie freaking out in bed.

“Allie, Allie,” I immediately say going over to her.

“Myungsoo?” she asks as she looks at me.

“Allie, what’s wrong. Was it a nightmare?” I look at her worriedly.

“Uh, nothing,” she says dismissing it and lying back onto the bed. It seems like her personality is back to normal, but then again, I could be wrong.

“You can tell me,” I tell her as I sit down on her bed and grab her hand, but she immediately pulls her hand away from mine. I stare down at my own hand. Does she really not want to say it?

“I’d rather not.”

“Why not?” I ask but refrain myself from getting angry. If she doesn’t want to say it then she shouldn’t say it. I shouldn’t be forcing her to do anything. “Okay, don’t tell me, but you should say something in the future when something is bothering you.”

“Okay.”

“Good, now do you know where you are?” I ask.

“I’m in a hospital, obviously,” she says rolling her eyes. I smile at the action. Even if it’s her rolling her eyes, she at least seems like she’s back to normal. What was she dreaming about?

“Do you remember how you got to the hospital?” I ask taking the questions a step at a time.

“I ran into you, didn’t I?” she asks unsure of herself. At least she remembers that part.

“Yes,” I say. As far as what happened before she ran into me, I’m not sure so even I can’t give her a clear cut answer. “Well, now you can rest. I’m going to go get the doctor, okay?”

I get off of her bed and step out of the room to go to the nurse’s station to ask where the doctor is. They direct me to his office. “Excuse me?” I ask knocking on his door.

“Ah, Mr. Kim, yes?” he asks.

“Allie woke up,” I tell him. “She remembers where she is and what happened to her, a little. It seems like her personality is back to normal.”

“That is great to hear, but we cannot say that just because she seems like her normal self that she is absolutely back to normal, but that is still good. She may have simply pushed her bad experiences down in an attempt to not remember them. Also, when the time rolls around for her to eat, I’d like to get your help in having her eat.”

“Is she not eating properly?” I worriedly ask.

“It appears as though she also fainted due to a lack of eating properly. We would like to make sure that she eats properly.”

“Of course,” I say. “I’ll do everything to help her get back to normal, but her personality going back to normal is a start, correct?”

“Correct, but she could always revert back. Now, you have said that she has woken up?”

“Yes,” I say as he gets up out of his desk and starts heading towards the door.

“We should go check to see if she’s alright. Maybe you’ll be able to take her home today.”

“Yes, sir,” I say as I follow him.

Allie’s POV

“Good news,” the doctor says after he’s done checking up on me. “I think you’re good enough to go home. You have a lovely boyfriend here. He’s willing to take care of you."

I don’t acknowledge the doctor or even look at Myungsoo. I just turn my head and look out the window. Is it already evening? The sun looks like it’s setting. The doctor leaves and it’s only Myungsoo and me in the room.

“Looks like you can leave, aren’t you excited?” Myungsoo asks.

“Um, sure,” I say looking at him.

“Let’s get ready to go, okay? The guys are dying to see you.”

“Why?” I ask. “It hasn’t even been that long that I’ve been in the hospital.”

“It was a day, so true, it wasn’t long,” Myungsoo says as he pulls out my bag and hands me some clothes. I stare at him. “You didn’t like the dress that you arrived in so I went back last night and got some clothes for you because I didn’t know how long you were going to stay.”

“Oh, thanks,” I say feeling slightly touched by the gesture.

After a while, Myungsoo and I finally arrive at his grandmother’s house. I don’t know what’s happened to me, but somehow, I feel better. And honestly, I’m starving. “I’m hungry,” I complain to Myungsoo.

“Wait a minute,” Myungsoo says. “Go up in our room and just lie down, you need all the rest you can get. I’ll get some food for you.”

“Okay,” I say and I think I saw a smile on his face when he heard I was hungry.

I do as I’m told and go up to the room and lie down on the bed after putting the bag that Myungsoo brought in a corner. There’s a sudden knock at the door and the door opens to reveal Cecelia.

“Unni, are you all better?” she asks walking into the room and climbing on my bed.

“Yup,” I say nodding my head. “I was just tired a little bit. Sorry if unni worried you.”

“No problem,” she says with a smile. “Choding-oppa kept me company.”

“You really like choding-oppa, don’t you,” I say tapping her on her nose. Cecelia excitedly nods her head yes.

“I wish choding-oppa was really my oppa,” she says.

“You don’t like unni?” I ask pretending to be hurt.

“I love unni,” Cecelia says laughing and hugging me.

Cecelia doesn’t say anything else; she doesn’t finish what she was thinking because I know what she was thinking as well. She misses our parents. She doesn’t really have a male figure around and I think she sees Sungyeol more as a father figure than as an older brother. He takes care of her and plays with her, everything that a father should do. She’s missing that in her life.

“Well, I’m going to go now,” Cecelia says getting down from the bed.

“So quickly?” I ask looking at her.

“Choding-oppa said that he was going to take me to the playground.”

“Okay,” I say a bit hesitant because of what happened the last time they went to the playground.

“Hoya-oppa is coming, too.” At least at the sound of his name I feel a little better.

“Remember, don’t forget to change into some of your play clothes before you leave, okay?”

“Okay,” she says as she leaves.

As Cecelia leaves, Myungsoo comes into the room. “Here you go,” he says placing a tray in front of me. I look at it and it’s filled with all of my favorite foods. There are strawberries there, sausage, pasta, eggs, oranges, juice, and a bunch of other things that I love to eat.

“Myungsoo,” I say looking at the food and looking at him. “How did you know?”

“Know what?” he asks innocently sitting on the bed.

“Never mind,” I say shaking my head. “Um, thanks for the food?” I begin eating and as I eat, Myungsoo only stares at me, nothing else. It slightly makes me self conscious when someone stares at me when I eat. “Is there something on my face?” I ask touching my cheek.

“No,” Myungsoo says shaking his head. “I was just wondering if you’re alright.”

“Of course I’m alright,” I say putting down my fork. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well because of…everything,” he says whispering the last part. I know exactly what he’s talking about, but that was simply a mess up on my part. I let everything get to me.

“No, I’m perfectly fine,” I say attempting to reassure him.

“Sure,” he says eyeing me. I’m pretty sure that Myungsoo doesn’t believe a word I’m saying and that he’s forcing himself to try to believe me. “Just know that if anything bothers you, I’m here for you.”

“I know,” I say as I begin eating again and not looking up at him.

“Okay. Well, I’m going to get going now,” Myungsoo says getting off of the bed. I don’t bid him farewell or even look up from the tray because I know he’ll be back later.

I’m just not ready to lean on anyone. I haven’t leaned on someone for the longest time, I’m not sure if I trust myself or the other person enough to do so. I just hope Myungsoo understands that I’m not ready to tell people. Even though it’s been a year, it’s still too fresh in my mind. I’m just not ready.

Myungsoo’s POV

I go downstairs into an office where Woohyun told me to meet him. After spending the day with Yuri, they should have found something and then they spent most of today there, too. I was at the hospital the whole time, my grandmother understands.

“Why doesn’t she lean on me?” I mutter to myself as I sit on the room waiting for Woohyun to show up. He’s the one that told me to meet him there yet he’s the one that’s running late. What could he possibly have to do in Japan? “I’m always there for her,” I continue muttering, “yet she doesn’t lean on me. Is there something wrong with me? At least she’s back to her old self, that’s good.”

“Worrying about Allie?” Woohyun’s voice asks. I look up and see Woohyun right in my face.

“Hyung!” I yell as I jump out of my skin.

“Sorry, Myungsoo. It’s just way too funny to do that when you’re in deep thought. What’s bothering you about Allie?”

“This isn’t about Allie, this is about Yuri,” I say trying to get back on topic. It’s more like trying to shift gears in my brain to stop thinking about Allie, but none of them work.

“Just remember, Myungsoo, if you make Allie cry, I’m taking her from you,” Woohyun says as a last plug to tell me his feelings for her. “Anyway, Yuri. She doesn’t seem that bad.”

“What?” I ask in disbelief.

“She doesn’t seem that bad,” Woohyun repeats. “We spent the whole day with her yesterday and most of today with her per your request. We found nothing that would point in her direction of doing any harm.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” I say. “She has to know something.”

“She said she’s your cousin by marriage. That’s probably how,” Woohyun says putting reason behind it, reason that I won’t believe. “Maybe you should sit down and have a talk with her.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because you’re looking for answers about Sunggyu, maybe she has them.”

“Maybe my grandmother has them,” I retort. “Look, I’m only going to trust things coming from my grandmother. I’m not going to trust anything coming from Yuri.”

“Suit yourself,” Woohyun says. “But she seems perfectly harmless.”

“And so did Sungjong,” I tell him. “But you saw what he did. Is that so harmless to you?”

After the wonderful conversation with Woohyun, I decided to find my grandmother. To my luck, she was sitting in her office. “Grandma,” I say immediately entering and standing across from her at her desk.

“Myungsoo,” she says her face lighting up to greet me. “What brings you here?”

“I want answers,” I say. I attempt to sound cool and awesome, but it ends up just coming out as a complaint.

“Answers?” she asks putting her glasses next to her on the desk. “What kind of answers?”

“Answers about Sunggyu. You knew this morning, why don’t you know now?” I ask. I didn’t mean for that last statement to come out, it just did. I stare my grandmother as she stares at me.

“I guess there’s no more hiding it from you, right?” she asks.

“Absolutely correct,” I say.

“Then I guess it’s finally time to tell you the truth. Sit down,” my grandmother says motioning to the seat in front of her. I do as I’m told.

Allie’s POV

I finish all of the food and just sit in the room. Puppy comes up and lies down next to me in a ball. “Hey Puppy,” I say whispering to it as I pet its fur. “Someone’s really cute.”

It’s already pretty late, but I know that Sungyeol, Cecelia, and Hoya came back safely because they made sure to tell me. The kidnapping thing must have freaked them all out. I look at the clock next to me as the numbers change to midnight and Myungsoo’s still not up here. Where did he go?

Slowly, I get out of bed and begin making my way downstairs to find him. He had to go somewhere, but why am I finding myself looking for him? What exactly has happened to my brain?

“Excuse me,” I say to one of the passing workers. They must have just gotten done doing whatever they were doing. “Do you know where Kim Myungsoo is?”

“Yes, he is in the study,” the woman responds.

“Do you happen to know where that is?” I ask.

“Yes. It is right down the hallway on your right at the end of the hallway, the very last door,” she responds, even pointing in the direction.

“Thank you,” I say bowing to her and letting her return to what she was doing, which was most likely going to rest or going home. I’m not sure if the maids stay in the house or if they have their own lives to attend to. How does that work?

Just like the directions that I was given, I go down the hallway and walk all the way to the end. To my surprise, it’s much bigger than I originally thought. “Who knew that someone could live in a place like this, and I thought Myungsoo’s house was big,” I say to myself in a whisper. Even though the place is very quiet, I’m still afraid of someone overhearing me.

Why did I even decide to come down here by myself anyway? I’m surely crazy. What if something happens to me while I’m down here alone? Why did I ever think to go down here? What if I get lost in this house?

A thousand questions go around my head as I finally reach the door at the very end of the hallway. The door is closed and I’m about to knock on it when I hear voices inside yelling at each other.

“How could you keep something like this from me?” the voice yells. I can identify it as Myungsoo’s.

“Because I knew that you would react like this. Your parents knew that you would react like this.” I can identify that voice as his grandmothers.

“Didn’t you think that I had a right to know? Didn’t you think that it was going to get around to me one day?” Myungsoo asks. What is he talking about?

“Your parents and I were sure that it was going to come one day. We just didn’t know that it would happen in such a fashion.”

“Don’t take pity on me.”

“But you got the answers you want, right?” his grandmother asks him. What answers was Myungsoo looking for? Is that the whole reason why he dragged us to Japan? If he wanted answers, why couldn’t he just come here and get them himself without dragging all of us and keeping Cecelia out of school?

“It doesn’t matter if I got the answers that I wanted,” Myungsoo says. “What matters to me is the fact that you did that. How could you do such a thing? Don’t you deem it cruel?”

“I did what was needed, Myungsoo. If you were in my position, you would’ve done the same thing.”

“No, I wouldn’t have done that. No wonder that guy is out to get me!” Myungsoo yells. Guy? What guy is out to get him?

“I see someone is up late,” I hear a voice whisper in my ear sending chills up my spine. I immediately turn around and hit the person with all my might right where it hurts. “Allie,” the voice chokes.

“Huh?” I ask. I blink a couple of times and see Woohyun on the ground.

“It was me,” he says still groaning from the pain that I’ve accidentally caused him.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I say helping him get up. “I didn’t know it was you. It was purely an act of self-defense.”

“That’s alright,” Woohyun says as he attempts to regain his composure. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you the same thing?” I ask.

“Well, Hoya went out, so I’m lonely,” Woohyun says doing aegyo. “I was looking for someone to keep me company and then I saw you.”

“Oh, okay,” I say nodding my head.

“Do you want to watch television or something since you’re already up?” he suggests.

“Sure,” I say nodding my head.

Right when we’re about to leave the hallway, the voices get louder. “What’s going on in there?” Woohyun asks pointing towards the door.

“I have absolutely no idea,” I say.

“Why can’t you justify the past?” Myungsoo yells.

“Why do I have to?” his grandmother asks.

“It’s not right for him to be treated that way; he’s a human being, too.” Just what in the world are they arguing about?

“I don’t care,” his grandmother says. So she has this side to her.

“He’s my brother!” Myungsoo yells. He has a brother? I thought that he was an only child.

“He’s your half-brother,” his grandmother corrects him. “Even still, he’s nothing to this family.”

“And I thought I was cruel,” Myungsoo says. “But what you’re doing is way worse.”

“I will never accept Kim Sunggyu as part of this family!” his grandmother yells.

At the mention of his name, my eyes go wide. I feel Woohyun’s eyes on me, but I can’t bring myself to look at him. Sunggyu, Kim Sunggyu, the one that broke Myungsoo and Uee apart and the one that was in charge of the kidnapping is Myungsoo’s half-brother?

Myungsoo’s POV

My grandmother makes me so angry. I thought she was a decent person, I thought she was good and kind, but she’s everything but. These aren’t the type of answers that I came here for, but it’s the answers that I got.

I give my grandmother one last glare before leaving the study, only to be faced with Woohyun and Allie on the other side. Did they hear everything?

“Um, hey guys,” I say attempting to try to start things safely. “What are you guys doing here?”

At that point, Allie takes off running. “She knows,” Woohyun says.

“She knows?” I ask not quite getting it.

“She heard it. She heard that Sunggyu is your brother.”

“Crap,” I mutter as I race down the hallway to catch up with her.

I finally catch her before she goes into the bedroom and before she can close the door, I manage to squeeze through. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Allie asks me as tears are running down her face. This can’t be good. If she’s still in her state, she could return back to it, just when I thought I had the old Allie back.

“I…I,” I begin, but nothing comes out. Why didn’t I tell Allie? Was it to protect her? Or maybe, was it to keep her with me longer? Was I afraid that she would find me frightening if she knew? I was surprised myself when I knew.

“How long have you known?” she asks throwing another question.

“Ever since the night of the kidnapping,” I confess. “He told me then, before he attempted to shoot me.”

Without even realizing what I’m doing, I go over to Allie and I hug her. She attempts to fight back and I let her. I deserve everything that she’s giving me, every punch to my chest. I deserve it because of everything that I’ve done from the past up until this moment. I deserve everything.

“You knew and you didn’t tell me,” Allie says through her tears.  “You knew and you didn’t tell me that you were related to that monster.”

“It’s okay to be angry at me,” I say. “It’s okay to hate me for life.”

Allie doesn’t say anything and just continues crying. I’ve put her in such a state again. How can I ever forgive myself if she goes unwell again?

We don’t say anything to each other. We simply stand there in a silent hug. Seeing Allie becoming like this again, it breaks my heart, but it probably hurts Allie more that I’ve kept the fact that I’m related to the man that ruined her life forever.

However, I came for the answers and I got them from my grandmother, no matter how unpleasant it was hearing them. I’m going to fix Allie’s life. I’m going to restore her life before she ever met me. Maybe it’s better for the both of us that way.

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What were the answers that Myungsoo's grandmother gave him? Is Yuri as innocent as she seems? How is Allie going to react now? How is Myungsoo going to fix Allie's life?

Chapter 23 is up. Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed :D