Chapter 11

~Next day; 2^nd Part of Interview~

“So yesterday, during the end of our talk, we got left with the question of what happened 9 years ago.” HyeSu says. “I was wondering if it was okay for me to ask what happened?” she asks. The others look at Samona, who nods. “Yeah it’s okay.” she says.

“Now, of course we tried doing research, but we didn’t get too far.” HyeSu says.

“Yeah, that’s because of the state Samona was in, our Dad used connections so that the whole incident wouldn’t be publicized.” Minako says.

“Yeah, he didn’t want to make things worse than it already was.” Raina says. HyeSu nods. “So is it okay for me to ask you to relive that moment and tell us what happened, Samona?” she asks.

“It’s okay.” Samona says.

“I don’t want to force you, it’s your choice.” HyeSu says.

“Yeah, I know. But as I told the others yesterday, it’s finally time for me to tell everyone what happened. I don’t want people to misunderstand things when they don’t know the whole story. So I’ll tell my side.” Samona says.

(Flashback Begins)

~9 Years Ago~

A thirteen year old Samona runs down the stairs and into the living room. A boy with black hair sat on the couch next to Minako, reading a book. “Hey Minako, Myung Ki.” Samona greets as she sits down on the other side of her brother. “Is it almost time to go?” she asks.  Myung Ki nods. “Yeah, in a few. Mom is talking with Dad.” Minako says.

Myung Ki looks up from his book and at Samona. “What? Off the phone with your lover boy already?” he asks. Samona blushes and slaps his arm lightly. “Henry is not my lover boy.” she says. Minako and Myung Ki laugh as Samona puffs out her cheeks.

“Oh, where’s Raina?” Samona asks looking around. Minako points up. “She’s still sleeping.” she says. Samona tilts her head. “Still? Guess after school practice got to her.” she says. Myung Ki nods. “Yeah, she’ll be up in a couple of minutes though. She set an alarm.” he says. “You have after school practices too. You should have slept too.” he says.

Samona shakes her head. “I can’t because you’re finally back from Seoul to visit us.” she says. “I don’t want to miss a second of spending time with you.” she adds. Minako shakes his head. “Yeah except when Henry calls.” she says. Myung Ki nods. “Yeah I know right? He’s not even here in person but she rushes to the phone when he calls. Talk about love.” he says making Minako laugh.

Samona grabs her brother’s arm and shakes him. “I’m not in love with him.” she says. She stops shaking him when a woman with long black hair walks into the room followed by their dad. “Of course you love him.” the woman says. Samona puffs out her cheeks. “Umma, why do you always join in on the teasing?” she asks.

“MiYoung, why are you trying to give our daughter away already?” Dad asks. MiYoung smiles. “But puppy love is so cute.” she says. Samona sighs as the other three family members laugh. “Such a family of meanie.” she says.

“Am I being included even though I haven’t said anything?” the four turn to see Raina walking into the room. Samona shakes her head. “Did you get a good rest?” Dad asks. Raina nods. “Yep, I’m fine now.” she says. She then looks at Samona. “You know, it’s okay to reveal that you love Henry. We’re family, we know.” she says making the others laugh.

“Okay, now you’re included as a meanie.” Samona says. Raina shrugs. “Yeah, I’m fine with that as long as you admit to your feelings.” she says before walking toward the kitchen. Samona sighs and shakes her head. “Oh honey, dinner isn’t ready yet. We’re about to go to the store now. If you want, you can snack on something, but don’t eat too much.” Mom says.

“Okay.”Raina voice calls. MiYoung then turns to Samona and Myung Ki. “Ready to go to the market?” she asks. The two nods and stands up. The three then walk over to the door and slide on their shoes. “We’ll see you guys in a bit.” MiYoung says following Samona and Myung Ki out the door. The three then begins walking down the street.

This was an event that happened weekly. Whenever Myung Ki was home visiting, every Friday evening he would walk with Samona, and Mom to the store to buy things that they would need for the weekend. While every Monday, Minako, Raina, and Dad would go to the store and buy things they’ll need up until Friday morning. And it was always like that.

“Ah, so glad we’re all able to go along to the store again.” Samona says. Myung Ki smiles. “You say that every time I come back.” he says. Samona shrugs. “Because I’m glad that we can send time together again.” she says. MiYoung smiles. “Myung Ki, you must remember that Samona has been attached to you since she was a baby.” she says.

Samona nods. “Yep, because my brother’s the best.” she says smiles. “Just like you’re the best mom.” she says. The two lets out small laughs. “Thank you dear.” MiYoung says. Myung Ki nods. “Yeah, oh, so when will you all be planning to come back to Seoul to visit?” he asks. The two girls shrug.

“Actually, if things work out right, and your father is able to get off work, soon. We were thinking about going with you when you go back.” MiYoung says. Myung Ki nods. “Oh that’ll be great.” he says. Samona nods. “Yeah it would. Then we can see the others again sooner.” she says. She then takes one of her Mom’s and her brother’s hands. “And even more time we can spend together.”

The three halt in their walking as a man jumps out from the alley they were about to walk past. He was dressed in dark clothing from head to toe, his face covered by the hood on his sweater. MiYoung take a small step forward and lets go of Samona’s hand. “Do you need something?” she asks the man.

“Give me everything you have, right now.” the man says taking a step forward. MiYoung shakes her head. “No.” she simply replies. “Why should I give you something that I worked hard for? Why are you robbing anyways? Is there really a good cause for that?” she asks.

She then looks behind her at her kids. “Myung Ki, take Samona and run.” she orders. Myung Ki shakes his head. “But Mom, we can’t leave you here.” he says. MiYoung looks at him. “It’s okay, Mom can handle this. Just get your sister away from here and to safety.” she says.

Not liking the fact that he was being ignored, the robber immediately rushes forward. Rushing past MiYoung, he grabs Samona’s arm pulling her from Myung Ki’s reach as he moves away again to his spot before. He then twists and pulls one of Samona’s arms behind her back, making her cry out.

“Samona!” MiYoung and MyungKi call out. Samona tries to struggle out the man’s grasp but it only made it tighter. “Help me.” she cries. Looking at her mom, Samona sees MiYoung’s expression change immediately from shock to sadness to anger. “Let go of my daughter.” she growls out. The robber lets out a small laugh. “Why should I? It seems that I know have the upper hand. Maybe I should just take her and sell her off somewhere.” he says.

The look on MiYoung’s face darkens. “I said let her go!” she shouts rushing forward. Token back a little by MiYoung’s actions, the robber’s grip looses a little on Samona’s arm. Seeing this as an opportunity, Samona pulls away roughly, releasing herself from the hold. “Damn it.” the robber says as Samona moves from his hold.

Before he could reach for her, a solid strike was made to his stomach causing him to cry out and fall to the ground. “Don’t you dare try to harm one of my kids.” MiYoung says, her hand still clutched in a fist. The robber growls at the woman standing in front of him. “You .” he swears, rushing at her.

After getting out of the robber’s hold, Samona immediately runs to her brother. “Samona, you’re okay right?” he asks taking Samona’s arm and examining it to see if there were any marks. Samona nods. “I’m fine. But what about Mom?” she asks. Myung Ki shakes his head. “We should just do what she says. You know how tough Mom is. She can handle herself.” he says taking Samona’s hand.

Just as Myung Ki was about to pull Samona away, a loud boom sound echoed around them. Turning back toward their Mom and the robber, they see that both of them had stopped. A second later MiYoung falls to the ground. “Mom?” Samona calls out. She then looks toward the robber to see a gun in his hand.

Outraged, Myung Ki rushes toward the robber. “You bastard!” he shouts attacking him. Samona looks toward her brother fighting before looking at her mom. She then rushes to her mom, dropping next to her. “Mom?” she asks. Taking hold of MiYoung’s shoulder, Samona moves her until she could see her Mom’s face.

“Samona… honey… you have to run away.” MiYoung slowly breathes out. Samona looks down at her Mom’s shirt to see blood soaking though it. “But Mom, what about you? I can’t leave you here.” she says. MiYoung slightly shakes her head. “Just go get help okay.” she says. Nodding, Samona stands up.

As she begins to run away, Samona looks back toward her brother and the robber just as another shot sounded off. Samona freezes as her brother slumps over. With one last struggle, Myung Ki is able to grab the gun from the robber and throw it away from them before he, himself, drops to the ground.

Shocked, Samona stands there, not knowing what to do. “You’re the only one last to get rid of.” Samona eyes widen as the robber being walking toward her. “Samona! Run!” Samona looks back toward her brother to see him trying to lift himself up.

She couldn’t. Even though her mind was telling her to turn and run, Samona’s body wouldn’t react. She couldn’t do anything but stand there, watching as the robber advances toward her. Why wouldn’t her body react? She had to get away from here. She had to go get help before it was too late for her mom and brother.

The robber grabs Samoan’s arm, jolting her from her frozen state. “Let me go!” she shouts as she tries to pull herself the man’s grip. Fighting against him, Samona is able to push him away and onto the ground. As she was about to turn to run away, the robber grabs her ankle and yanks her down.

Falling, Samona lets out a cry as she hits the ground, the side of her head hitting the concrete. “You’re the only one I need to get rid of.” the robber says as he moves over Samona.  He then wraps his hands around Samona’s neck.  Crying out as his grip begins to tighten, Samona thrashes underneath him trying to push him off.

Out the counter of her eyes, Samona could see her brother and mom. As breathing becomes harder, Samona’s eyes being to tear up. She couldn’t let herself die. She had to go get help for them. She can’t let them die.

Stopping in her effort to push the robber away, Samona reaches out her hands, trying to find something to help her get the man off her. Patting around, Samona stops when her fingers touch some type of metal. As her eyesight begins to blacken, Samona presses the weapon against the robber’s stomach and pulls the lever that was on it.

As a shot sounds off, the robber freezes. His grip on Samona’s neck looses before he falls to the side. Samona gasps out as she is able to breathe again. She then immediately crawls away from the robber. Wide eyed, Samona looks down at the gun in her hand. She drops the gun as she brings her hand to her head that started to pound even worse.

Feeling something wet, Samona brings her hand down to see red. “Blood?” she asks. She then immediately looks up toward her Mom and brother. “Mom! Myung Ki!” she shouts out standing up. She instantly finds herself falling back down as she begins to feel dizzy. Breathing heavily, Samona crawls over to her Mom and brother.

“Mom?” Samona asks as she stops next to her. MiYoung’s eyes were now closed. Taking her arm, Samona shakes her lightly. “Mom, h-hey, you h-have to stay c-conscious.” she says. She then turns to her brother, who with his last strength, crawled closer to his Mom. “Hey M-Myung Ki, y-you have to s-stay conscious too.” she says.

The tears in Samona’s eyes begin to fall as neither of them answered. “Come on, j-just wait. I’ll g-go get help o-okay. P-please don’t l-leave me.” she cries. As she begins to stand up, Samona’s eye sight starts to blacken again. “No p-please. I h-have to g-go get h-help.” she cries. As she takes a step forward, her sight darkens completely and she loses conscious as she falls to the ground.

Moments later the sound of sirens fills the air.

~End of Flashback~

Trying to hold back her tears, Samona looks down at her hands. “They’re the reason why I’m in the entertainment business.” she says. “When we were younger, they always made sure that I practiced. The morning of that same day, my mom told me, ‘If you love what you do, then don’t let anything get in your way and stop you. No matter what you always have me, the rest of the family, your friends, and all the fans you’ll gain, to back you up.’ They both told me no matter what, keep going because that’s what they knew I wanted to do.”

Unable to hold them back longer, Samona lets her tears roll down her face. “Now look at where we are and I can’t even show them how much I improved and how far I’ve come.” she cries. The others couldn’t do anything but look at the ground. There was nothing that they could say.

Unable to take it, Henry stands up. Moving his chair back, he moves over to Samona. “Sorry.” he says taking the mic, Samona was holding, out of her hand and giving it to Siwon, who sat on the other side of her. Taking Samona’s hand, he pulls her up. He then pulls her off the set.

Once they were away from the noise, Henry turns toward Samona and pulls her into a hug. Burying her face in his shirt, Samona wraps her arms around him, gripping the back of his shirt tightly. “I miss them so much.” she cries. Henry nods slightly, holding her tighter. “I know. It’s okay.” he whispers.

On set, Raina lets out a breathy sigh. “After all this happened, Samona fell into a deep depression. She had to go to the therapist two times a day, four days out of the week. She stopped going to school. She actually stopped doing everything. She didn’t eat, she had insomnia, and she even stopped talking. Someone had to be with her 24/7. It was like she didn’t care anymore, like she didn’t want to be in this world anymore.” she says.

“So how did Samoan come out of this state?” HyeSu asks. Minako raises her hand and points around at the boys. “The day of their debut, they called us and asked us to watch. Even though it was night in America, we still stayed up to watch. As we watched, something got to Samona. There on a stage performing was four of our friends along with eight other people dancing and singing.” she says.

“Twelve people on one stage performing in sync. With so many of them it took a lot of effort for all of them to perform together. It reminded Samona how she used to want to perform like that. How much she used to work and practice so that she could perform like that one day. It reminded her of what our Mom and brother used to tell her.” Raina says.

Minako nods. “I think she felt that the way she was, she was letting them down. After that, Samona slowly changed back to normal. She started resting and eating more. She started back her practices. She would get up early in the morning to practice before school. She picked up after school activities. After those, she would practice again for hours.” she says.

“Yeah, we even started traveling back here because Grandpa SooSoo… I mean President Lee wanted to see how much Samona has improved.” Raina says. Minako nods. “It was nice seeing Samona enjoying herself. She was back to her regular self. Her dedication even got me and Raina caught up in the hype and we started doing training with her.” she says.

“Wow, that’s great.” HyeSu says. “Glad that she was able to get back to her normal self otherwise this entertainment industry would be missing a great person.” she says. The others smile and nod.

~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~

A.N.: And that’s chapter 11.

Sorry for the sadness T_T

But anyways that's chapter 11. Next chapter marks the event that leads to the of the story. So be ready.

~Samona