Onew sat on Danmi’s table with Eun Hyuk sitting on her seat. “So you meant to say you guys came from the same orphanage?” Changmin cleared. Both nodded their heads like this is one of the scenarios in their life they avoided from happening.

“I can’t believe it. She’s adopted” Jaejoong said particularly to no one. “She didn’t tell me.”

“She’ll never tell you.” Onew stated. “We don’t tell anybody.”

“Even Junsu only found out about it by accident.” Eun Hyuk glared at Junsu for a moment remembering how it all happened and the things he had to go through for punishment. He still has those psychological scars they nailed on his head.

“That place was really something. I still couldn’t forget the first time I stepped in there.” Junsu’s eyes became dreamy as if he was on that place again.

“Why?” Yunho asked. He’s no stranger to those kinds of places. His mother always visits orphanages and sometimes she would make him tag along.

Onew crossed his arms over his chest. “Because the Whammy House is different”

“We’re not your usual orphanage. The Whammy House only caters to children with exceptional abilities” Eun Hyuk added. “Be it mentally or physically the children of Whammy House see to it that we are trained and excel in our field.”

“Most of the time we are adopted by influential people or high profiled so we keep these things a secret” Onew added. “And the fact that we are telling you this now gets us in trouble already.”

They all sat in silence. Their minds processing the information they just learned. Shock would be an overstatement. Maybe surprised, but that doesn’t fit the situation either. Now they finally understood why Danmi acts like that towards her family. She acts like they’re not family at all, that’s because they weren’t.

 “I’m guessing one of you married my sister.” Eun Hyuk finally broke the silence. “I’m guessing it’s you.” He pointed to Yunho

“Not me, him” he pointed to Jaejoong.

“Oh, I thought it was you. You were more of her type.”

“Hyung we thought the same thing.” The two brothers smiled and high fived the other.

“It’s an arranged marriage.” Jaejoong felt offended. Really how can Danmi’s brothers be like that? They talk like he’s not there at all.

“So I’ve heard. Not really surprising though.” Eun Hyuk with his hands on his chin “those kinds of things are quite normal to some of us.”

Onew nodded for second emotion “noona didn’t tell us anything though. We just figured it out.”

“Don’t worry we don’t interfere with each other’s lives. We have a rule about that. Unless she asked for it or if you crossed over the line.”

“What if I crossed the line?” Jaejoong didn’t know why but he felt his blood boil. He’s a man and every man has that cell on their body that makes them want to pick up a fight.

Onew and Eun Hyuk smiling faces turn into that of the grim ripper. “Then you have to answer to us. You might not be intimidated by our presence. We’re not really the violent type but we could make arrangements. And the others” Eun Hyuk evilly chuckled. “Let’s say violent and brutal are too modest to describe them.”

Jaejoong flipped through their wedding pictures. There isn’t much since he wasn’t really that cooperative. Even the pictures during the reception were too scripted. It was either a poker face or a fake smile from him. Danmi on the other hand was smiling brightly. She was a blooming bride. Her makeup was done just right. Not too little but not too much either, just right. Her gown fitted her perfectly like a goddess from Olympus. He admits when she walked down the aisle his heart worked double time. She was really beautiful and the smile that decorated her face made her even more radiant. She was so beautiful walking down the aisle that Jaejoong’s lungs stopped working and he almost forgot to breath.

The next pictures were the ones where they took on the studio. He can’t help but laugh seeing how silly and carefree they looked. Danmi gets along with his friends very well. Having the status of a second generation chaebol they’re always careful of how they mingle with people, especially with the opposite . They avoid unnecessary complications and unwanted problems that’s why most of the girls that they hang around with are for ing, playing or business purposes only. She’s not their first female friend. Their personalities are not that rotten. But still, she’s one of the few friends they want to keep.

Jaejoong smiled widely seeing Danmi the famer giving Changmin the deer a piggy back ride. It seems they’re makhnae’s having the time of his life. Another picture was them kneeling on the ground and Danmi holding a sword. He remembered when took the picture. Danmi wanted to take them to the slaughter house. “ajushi, do you know where I can sell their skins. I’ll get a great deal for them. Their skins are really thick!” Jaejoong absent-mindedly chuckled. Danmi really is a force to reckon with.

 But the next picture made Jaejoong grimaced a little. Yunho the lion was carrying the farmer bride style; both were smiling widely from ear to ear. If it weren’t for the clothes and the barn like background Jaejoong would have though they’re the couple to be wed in this picture. He knows they’re just playing and fooling around but still Jaejoong doesn’t like it all. Yunho with Danmi doesn’t really sit too well with him. It just doesn’t seem right. Everybody knows that they are married but Danmi still kept friends with Arrghh! Fine, he knows Yunho’s like a brother to him and there are other three in the same position who is also close to her. But Yunho is different. They’re always together. They talk like they have their own little world where no one could enter, not even him. The way they look at each other makes him feel that they’re hiding something from him.

He didn’t miss their exchanged of look or even when their eyes would meet. And it pisses him to know that it only takes one look, a glace for them to know what’s on the others mind. Is he jealous of Yunho? Yeah right. Is he jealous of Danmi? Yunho used to be his best friend after all? Ok, let’s not go there. Bromance, yuck!

The next picture gave him mixed feelings. It was him and her sitting so far apart. Both faces void of any emotion. They just sat at both end of the picture staring at the camera not laughing, not even smiling.

How come it’s always like that between them? Danmi always smiles when she’s with other people; when she’s with her friends, when she’s with his friends. But when it comes to him she’s always emotionless. Always passive to whatever he does, to whatever he says. Idiot you’re the one who always pushes her away.

He leaned on the couch and rested his head memories of the past night playing on his head.

~Flash back~

After Eun Hyuk left and the other doing their own thing Jaejoong went back to Danmi’s office to get some quiet time alone. His Jaejoong moment was interrupted by Onew who knocked and came in with an unpaintable expression on. “hyung can I talk to you?”

Much as Jaejoong doesn’t want to, Onew’s a good kid and he belong to the very short list of people Jaejoong finds okay to hang with. “Sure, what’s up?”

“I’ve wanted to say this to you but now that you know about how noona and I were related I think I finally could.” Onew fumbled his hands as he took a stand in front of Jaejoong who was sitting on the couch.

“Relax and just spill it out.”

“Noona married you because that was the reason she was adopted in the first place.”

“Huh?”

“Seo only has one daughter, that In Young girl. And as you know having children is an advantage. That’s why they adopted her when she’s 13. They adopted her so she could be married off for financial purposes. But even after that she still comes to the Whammy House. Like we talked before the Whammy House is different with lots of kids with great talents. And out of all those other kids who are equally if not more talented and beautiful than her, she was the one adopted.”

“Why?”

Onew pursed his lip as if glad that he asked such question at the right moment. “Because out of all the other girls there Danmi noona was the most obedient. That’s why they chose her because she obeys like she has no soul at all. She does what people told her to do, how to do it, when to do it with no questions asked.”

Getting frustrated from all the explain Onew took a seat beside the elder. “She was forced to learn so many things that they say are essential to be called a Seo. She would come to us crying from all of the over bearing things they made her go through. Hyung, she had gone through mountains just so she could be your wife. Don’t blame her for not saying no. It wasn’t her fault. Don’t hate her. She was only doing what she’s supposed to do.”

Jaejoong leaned back on the chair, shock of the new information that he was trying so hard to process in his head. He didn’t know that. Actually he doesn’t know a lot of things about her but still he has the right to know all of these things.

“Hyung, as weird as it sounds I’m her brother. And as her brother I’m asking you not to hurt her. You don’t have love her like that Yuri girl but at least treat her right. Treat her how she’s supposed to be treated. Don’t see her as someone who ruined your life because just like you she didn’t have a choice.”

~end of flash back~

That explains it why she’s the way she is. The first time they met she acted like a puppet and now he knows that she actually is. Now he knows why she knows all sorts of weird things. He’s already panicking but she’s still so composed that he thought she put a Noh mask on (Japanese mask used in plays.)

“Ballet?”

“done”

“karate?”

“a third dan black belter. I’m also a black belter in taekwando and studied capoeira.”

“Swimming?”

“when I was 14.”

“Tea Ceremony?”

“12 years old.”

“Horseback riding?”

“When I was 15. Even fall of a horse a few times.”

“Surfing?”

As a second generation chaebol he too went to a few lessons. He knows its tiring and bothersome to go through that since kids at that age usually prefer to hangout or play around. He can’t help but feel pity toward her knowing she have gone through much more than that.

“What if they ask you? What if they ask if you want this marriage?”

“Don’t worry they won’t” she chuckled. “I’m not that bad though.” She crossed her arms on her chest like a professor in story telling time. “I’m rich, I’m smart, I’m not that bad looking if I may say and my personality is not that bad either. I’m not really hard to get along with. And you don’t have to go through hell and back if you just marry me.” She smiled at him as she finished.

Everything that she is was thought to her. She acted the way she is because that’s the way they made her ought to be. That’s why she never disobeyed her parents before because she knows she doesn’t have a say in the first place. Nobody asked for her opinion, she didn’t tell either because she knows it wouldn’t matter anyways.

Jaejoong slugged his last pint of wine. He never felt guiltier before in his life. He treated her so bad. He called her names, shouted at her and even went as far as physically and mentally abusing her. He did hit her or slapped her and he knows his grip and push whenever he’s drunk weren’t so subtle either. Staring her down and making her feel bad when she’s serving him his meal made him notice a few bruises on her body. She didn’t say anything at all. Not even once did he hear her complain.

She would act as if nothing happened. Act like she doesn’t see him kiss another girl. Act like she doesn’t hear him curse at her name. Just like a doll. “, How could I be such a jerk?!”

Lowest point of your life, Jaejoong’s probably experiencing that right now. He feels so low that he wondered if he can even pick himself up. He messed up. He ed up. He screwed up. He su—ok fine he get it. The list would go long but nothing would change he’s still be miserable and alone. But life must go on and the world would still kept spinning. People move on and so would he, eventually.