A/N - Omo, just realized i never introduced the 'With tears' arc. It started at Chapter 22. Will go back and make amends, but yea, new arc people. This one will embody the painful tears that all the members have been hiding, thus it also reveals some key secrets and emotional moments. Yup, good fun this arc. Anyhoo, this chapter is a little less exciting than the previous two, but has some crucial informaiton. Regardless, enjoy~

@HanSang - Yup, correcto again. That was the dream. Okkie, long chapters it is~ (probs the better answer coz if i did short chapters this story wouldn't end till ch100+...lol...)

@ImaVIPbaby - oh yeah, you take the words right outta my mouth~

Thanks to kekekekeke (i think i wrote it with the right number of 'ke's) for subscribing!!!

Chapter 24 – With tears, they misunderstand

G.O POV

I was shocked. Never before had I seen Hyo Jin give such a revengeful look. Her eyes had narrowed and glittered as she looked at Cheondoong. She looked like a hunter, hell-bent on killing a predator who had just attacked family. Her gaze was utterly merciless.

“Hyo Jin?” I managed to say. “What was that all about? His fault? In the car?” 

She turned her face to look at me. “He was there that day,” she said distantly. “He was driving the car that hit me. I remember his face so well. And the sound…”

“Driving? Sound?” My head was too confused to compute.

“The dripping sound. Now I realize what it was. The sound of dripping blood.” She said, swaying slightly. I grabbed her shoulders to steady her and lowered her back onto the bed.

“He was the one who was driving. And he – ah, it hurts to think.” She moaned.

“Shhhh,” I soothed her. “Sleep now, sleep.”

She nodded at me and closed her eyes slowly. The even breathing moments later told me she was asleep. I looked up at Dara and my bandmates who had the same bewildered expression that I had.

“Cheondoong…in a car crash?” I asked. I looked to the nurse. “Did anyone else get admitted to the hospital when Hyo Jin was?”

She shook her head. “Hyo Jin-ssi was only admitted here because that was how her family requested. I believe it was because this hospital has better facilities and is closer to central Seoul so that Cheolyong-ssi could visit her. However, prior to this hospital, she was first admitted elsewhere. Somewhere closer to the scene of the accident, so I couldn’t tell you if other people got admitted to that hospital.”

I digested this information. “Can you find out?”

The nurse pursed her lips. “It might breach some privacy barriers, but I should be able to find out.”  She exited the room, muttering under her breath.

I leaned back in my seat. Could Cheondoong, our visual maknae, really be the cause of Hyo Jin’s accident? But I had never seen him visit her; he hadn’t even looked guilty when entering the room. He couldn’t be the cause…could he?

“Dara,” Seungho said gently to his girlfriend. “Did Cheondoong – Sanghyun – ever get into any car accidents?”

Dara bit her lip. Then shook her head. “Not that I know of.” She said.

I tried to tell myself that there was no way Cheondoong could be the culprit. But then the nurse came back into the room with eyes so firm I couldn’t help but wonder what it would take to break that woman.

On the other hand I broke much more easily.

“On January the 4^th 2009, four people were admitted to XXX hospital after being extracted from a car accident.” She cleared . “One was Hyo-Jin-ssi and the other…was Park Sanghyun.”

Seungho POV

My heart shattered in that instance. Cheondoong had been hiding yet another secret.

Sure we had never asked him, heck we didn’t even know anything, but the fact he had never divulged that information told me enough. He didn’t trust us. He was probably stashing secrets the way a dragon sits on top a gold mine.

Beside me, Dara’s knees gave out and she crumpled to the floor, wrapping her arms around her knees and leaning back against the white-washed walls.

“Sanghyun was in an accident.” She whispered in disbelief. “And he never told me! Family!” It was true. More shocking than not telling us, his bandmates, Cheondoong hadn’t even told his own family. What secret was so big that he couldn’t even tell the people closest to his heart?

Joon POV

We all scurried out of Hyo Jin’s hospital room soon after we had recovered from our shock. It was partly because we felt like we shouldn’t just stand around and partly because the nurse was giving us a serious death stare. We all let G.O have one last moment with Hyo Jin and stood, waiting, outside.

“We need to find out what Cheondoong is hiding.” Seungho said suddenly, breaking the stolid air. “We can’t let this wild goose chase for answers game continue.”

I found myself nodding. Even I was getting irritated with Cheondoong’s hiding game and the constant secrets that we had to continue unearthing. The IU visits, the stomach wound and now the car crash incident – enough for enough.

I stepped forwards. “I agree, we have to do what we must.”

Everyone looked to me. Then Dara spoke. “So what do you suggest?” her voice was brittle.

I took in a deep breath. “We follow him.”

Seungho POV

We took turns following Cheondoong night after night. I voted first slot with G.O. Joon and Mir would go the next night and so on. However, I quickly shot down Dara’s decision to tag along, mostly because I knew her emotions would get in the way, but more because I didn’t want her on the streets at night. I had to satisfy her with nightly updates.

Night #1:

Cheondoong slipped out the door and we were right behind him, dressed in black.

“People are going to think we’re terrorists.” G.O grumbled as we followed Cheondoong from a distance.

“So long as we don’t get caught.” I joked back.

All of a sudden, Cheondoong slipped around a corner. We hurried forwards, but when we peeked around the brick wall, he was gone.

Mir POV

Night #2

Tonight it was Joonie-hyung and my turn to follow Cheondoong. We watched him walk out of the door, letting it shut quietly and then nodded to ourselves. Joonie-hyung took one step forwards, but I stopped him quickly.

“What?” he hissed.

“You have to act sneakier.” I hissed back. “Like this.” I demonstrated by sinking to my knees, pressing my body to the wall and creeping forwards with light feet.

Joon’s face broke into a smile. “Good idea!” he whispered loudly back to me and pressed himself to the other wall. We both snuck towards the door and slid it open, craning our necks around the door to make sure he didn’t see us.

“Target’s flown the coop, target’s flown the coop!” I hissed in a conspiratorial whisper.

“Roger!” Joon murmured back. We both slipped out of the door and ninja-ran down the stairs to find-

-find Cheondoong driving away.

We both stared at the retreating car with wide open mouths. “Damn.” I muttered. “What do we do?”

“Maybe…let’s…stop this ninja playacting.” Joon coughed.

We both stared at ourselves, half crouched and dressed from head to tail in black. It was kind of embarrassing. We both coughed to fill the awkward silence and stood up straight.

“So…” I said, scuffing one foot on the ground. “What do we do now?”

Seungho POV

Night #3

We had all failed spectacularly for the last two days of trailing. The first time G.O and I lost sight of him and the second time our silly dongsaengs had been too ‘preoccupied’. So tonight, we all decided to tail him. We were all sitting in my car, waiting for the moment for Cheondoong to arrive.

Sure enough, there he was: sliding out of the door and looking from side to side shiftily.

“Bingo.” I couldn’t help whispering as we watched Cheondoong smoothly enter his car and start driving in one direction. I started the engine and followed him. We all held out breaths as I trailed from a distance, ensuring our car didn’t look suspicious.

We drove non-stop for two hours. It was long and tiring, but it all went well until all of sudden, Cheondoong stepped on the pedal and shot down the road. I growled angrily and followed suit, but suddenly a traffic light halted me.

“Damn!” I smacked the driving wheel angrily. “Did he see us?”

“I don’t think so.” G.O said, sitting next to me at shotgun position where he had the best view. “I think he was in a hurry or something, but let’s try our best to just catch up with him.”

I nodded and the minute the lights turned green, I gunned the engine and shot down the road. “Which way did he go?” I hissed.

“There!” Mir shouted, catching sight of Cheondoong’s dark blue car in the distance. “Turn left!”

I did so, quickly banking and just thanking God that at this time of night there were no other cars driving who would horn me, give me the finger or yell as I cut through three lanes to get to the left exit.

I heaved a sigh of relief as I halted the car next to Cheondoong’s. A quick glance affirmed that it was empty. At least we had survived this hellish journey without killing ourselves in the process. Gingerly, we all exited and I in a deep breath of the cool, night sky.

“Where is he?” Joon said aloud, searching around the reclusive location. Indeed the entire place was rather empty, filled with nothing but dust-blown highways and sun-scorched grass long turned brown. For miles around us there was nothing but the night sky and grass and…a resting spot a few meters away.

“Over there.” G.O’s eyes were also on the rest hut. It was, after all, the only spot here where Cheondoong might be. So we headed in that direction, trekking tiredly but determinedly. However it was empty.

“Damn.” I cursed as I saw nothing but a pitch black room.

Then Mir jumped with excitement. “Hyung!” he called, drawing our attention to the sandy floor outside. Footsteps. Deeply imprinted into the sand were several footsteps, leading further down into the darkness.

I squinted, trying to look at where these footsteps were leading to but all I could see was engorging darkness that swallowed up at chances at sight and hear the sound of crashing waves in the distance. It was definitely the seaside. Somehow we had arrived here…wherever here was. 

It was 2am at night, we had no freaking clue where we were and it was freezing cold, but maybe this was our last chance at finding out the truth with Cheondoong.

I had no need to ask my friends whether or not to go; I knew that they too wanted to find out the truth. So I just in a deep breath and took one step forwards, my foot sinking into the deep sand and said:

“Let’s go.”

A/N - Long chapter, not much going on either, i know. But the next one will be more exciting. Promise. 

Btw the pic for this chap had no relationship whatsoever, but I stumbled upon it and thought it was way to y to ignore~