Ren's POV

"You." The woman before me has a smile on her face, but her eyes and aura tell me that she's not exactly happy. Just curious and

slightly insecure, she examines me with that fake expression.

"You've...grown." She states calmly, and her gaze rests on me, though she doesn't meet my glance. Almost as if she'd look right

through me, as if I was invisible- or something too repelling to look at directly. Because I know that Mr. Kim is still watching, I need to

watch my mouth. Which turns out harder than expected.

" Of course. Every child does." Instead of replying, she keeps staring at me with her big green eyes. It irritates me. What is she looking

at so intimately? I tense up and clench my fists to stay calm, ignoring the nervous feeling slowly taking over me, glaring back at her

intensely.

"If you'd excuse me, Helena - I want to give you two some alone time." Mr. Kim breaks the tense silence, obviously having noticed the

tension building up between me and her. Why does he call her by her first name though? I don't think they are very close- no, they

can't be. Yet maybe there are things not even I know of, things going on behind my back even though they concern me firsthand.

Something strikes me at that point, but I decide to ask that question later. First I need to know why she's here. As soon as the door

closes behind Mr. Kim and I'm sure we aren't being overheard, I spit:

"Why are you here? To torture me again? To hurt me like back then? Or maybe to laugh at me?" I hear my own ironic laugh, a cold and

ugly one, and see her flinch under the sharpness of my words. Then she slowly shakes her head, and her smile turns hurtful.

"Is it wrong to have the urge to check on one's child? I just wanted to see how you're doing. after I heard that you ran away-"

"Well thanks for your concern, it comes pretty early." I snap at her, voice reeking of sarcasm, but despite feeling helpless, another

emotion takes its hold on me- anger. Fury. Rage. The things I've always wanted to tell that woman- the accusations, the pain I

experienced because of her, she needs to know of it, feel it, too.

"Listen, Minki-ya, I feel bad- I want to apologize-" I don't let her finish.

"Apologize, you? As if. You don't even know what it felt like when you left. When you abandoned me. Life here was hell!" Helena

doesn't even make another attempt to justify herself, her lips have formed a stiff line and her gaze has averted. Her eyes are slightly

glassy, but I honestly don't care, neither do I pity her. I don't feel sorry at all. My feet bring me closer to her, just a few steps, and I feel

my body tremble. "You left me in the care of scientists. Educated people, right? Yeah. My creators? Yeah. But all they saw- no, rather

see me as, is some kind of test subject. Did you know that?" My volume rises with every sentence. "I bet you didn't. But hey, you didn't

care either, right? What does it matter to you if they don't see me as a human? Since you didn't want me either." By now, I'm shouting.

Letting it out feels good and bad at once. Pictures of my past I'd rather forget flash through my mind, pictures of a horribly dark room

without windows, pictures of hands reaching out for me, holding me. And then, the pain. In all forms possible. Needles, scalpels- I don't

know what. I close my mouth to catch my breath, and my throat starts to ache- Must be because I never talked that much in such a

short amount of time, especially not that loud. But I have not yet finished, even though she starts sobbing before me. That's what I

wanted, right? I continue with a whisper. "I came to see myself as something inhuman, until I couldn't take it anymore. Then I ran. They

must've told you that. After that, I lived on the streets. Alone. But it was better than this place." I, too, suddenly feel like crying.

"Minki-ya..." She mutters, hardly understandable since her voice is broken from silently crying. Before the tears fight their way through,

I flash a sad smile at her, probably the first sincere smile she's ever seen from me.

"But you know what?" I ask, and her glance finds mine, expectation and hope shining through the sadness in her eyes. A faint glimmer

I'm about to destroy. "Back then, I loved you." She smiles. "I don't anymore." The smile fades and another wave of sobs takes over her,

and eventually me. Sobs that aren't only caused by this meeting, tears that have another origin. A more recent one. Being left for the

second time by a person I love. It takes me a while to get a hold of myself. As Helena stumbles towards me, arms reaching out for me

to pull me into a motherly hug, I back away until I bump into the desk behind me.

"Stop it! Why do you care now?! Go back to your daughter and be happy together, I don't need you!" I need JR.  She freezes in her

movement, a surprised look on her tear-stained face.

"H-How do you know? " Helena looks shocked, I know she's thinking hard, and I didn't intend to bring this topic up this way- but it's out

now, so I can as well dig deeper. Her answer tells me that my guess has been right either way.

"I saw her. Same hair, same face. But her eyes are brown rather than green. She should be around 16 now- maybe 17? A foreigner

like you. And her name was-" I enjoy the troubled look on her face, the way her reddened eyes widen. "Vani, if I am correct." She

lowers her glance, stunned.

"Why is she- she can't be here." She mumbles, totally forgetting about my presence upon thinking of her daughter. It's a shame, that

'Vani' seemed nice. What kind of sick coincidence is this, her being the real daughter of the woman that left me behind? Maybe even

because of her...? I shake my head to get rid of those thoughts and am glad to have control over my emotions once again. In contrary

to Helena.

"Tell me how it's possible. How come you have a daughter that is around my age? I've never seen a glance of her. And I bet your

'husband' hasn't, either."

"It- Ah I can as well tell you." Looking so vulnerable, she needs to collect herself before explaining. "You probably won't remember, but

when you were young, there was a time I left Korea- for about seven months." I indeed don't remember, but I patiently wait for her to go

on. "Originally, I lived in America. I had a husband there. We never had children though, thought it to be impossible. And so- our

relationship somehow...crumbled. And I left him after receiving a job offer in Korea. I didn't think much- I just wanted to leave America

behind, I suppose." She sniffles, now is her turn to be haunted by the past. "I met your 'father' there. It was love at first sight. But since I

thought I was unable to get pregnant, we got you. I was so happy when I saw you for the first time." How come she smiles telling me

that story? "But it didn't work out as planned. I found out I was pregnant after all- by my former husband. So I in order to keep it from

my boyfriend, I had to fly back to America. That's where I stayed during my absence. Till I gave birth to her, my girl... And had to leave

her in the care of my former husband. She never saw much of me, never got to know me- I still regret it. Yet back then, everything was

so complicated and I saw no other way out. Who would've known I'd lose you, too?" Technically, you didn't lose me, but left me, I think,

but keep it to myself. So Vani being in Korea now must be fate- or bad luck. Knowing all that, I feel sorry for Vani. At least she's got

Baekho now. I want my boyfriend back, too... All of a sudden, my legs grow terribly weak, and my vision blurs. Maybe this was too much

for me to handle. I slide onto the ground and barely see Helena hurrying towards me, but the men dressed in white keep her away-

then the well known darkness comes. I appreciate it. It takes away all worries, swallowing them in a whole.

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You guuuys~ ;3; I'm sorry. This is so- too much information, yet I hope it's understandable? Ren's reaction- I can understand him, but do you think so, too? >.< I have no idea if I've written this dramatically enough hahaha

I just noticed- we draw near the end. Really, there isn't much of story happening anymore. Hm. I think I'm glad when I finish this- since it's so hard for me to finish stories. At the same time I'll miss writing this ;3; .... well there are still some chapters to go, so I won't think about that anymore.

Alsooooo~

Your comments are amazing. Seriously. I'm so happy whenever I read how you try to understand both Ren's and JR's position. :') It's difficult, right? And them being seperated- bear with it a bit longer! After this ends, I might do a little extra filled with Jren moments? cooking ehem.  ♥ ♥ ♥

Love you all, silent readers and commenters :3 ♥