The unwanted memories.  The feeling of anger and resentment.  The fight.

It was all too much for her.

Amina couldn’t contain the small shudders that racked her body, nor could she hold back the flood of tears that ceased to never end as it continuously streamed down her ash stricken-face.  It mingled with the dewy rainfall that created a wet film over her cheeks and clung to her thick lashes.  She twisted her lips bitterly and leaned against the side of Hanna’s BMW while waiting in silence.

The popping sound of the door locks vibrated against the small of her back.

Turning around, Amina spied Hanna’s death glare aimed at her head and immediately wished she had taken the public transit home.  The last thing she needed was an inquisition from her older cousin.  And based by the look of fury that clouded her unnie’s features, Amina knew that Hanna the was about to unleash her attack.

She suddenly grew wary.

“Get in!” Hanna bit out, tossing her damp Hermes Birkin handbag in the back passenger seat.  She slammed the rear door and muttered something demonic under her breath before climbing into the driver’s side.  Her dark enraged eyes pinned Amina in her seat.  “What the hell is going on!” she screamed.

Amina flinched.

“It’s nothing.  I don’t want to talk about it,” Amina shook her head, feeling cornered.

“Well someone’s going to talk about it!” Hanna argued.  “I did NOT just ruin my $25,000 satchel just so I could stand in the rain to give your husband a chance to redeem himself!  Now tell me what the is going on!”

Amina felt close up as tears began to pool her vision.  Her chin trembled while she stared into Hanna’s face, but the words just wouldn’t come out.

“NOW!”

“Let’s go!” Jiyong urged, looking up into the darkening sky.  They were still standing at the same place on the sidewalk and were starting to draw a crowd.  “C’mon let’s go!”  He walked a few paces and tugged on Youngbae’s arm to get him moving.

They started walking towards the black Mercedes parked on the other side of the street.  From their angle, they had a clear view of Hanna’s car and could see her shouting at Amina inside.

Youngbae clenched his fist and paused mid-stride.

“Keep it moving!” Jiyong nudged him again from the back.  “You’re going to get us all run over!”  Sure enough, a few cars had yielded when Youngbae stopped in the middle of the road.  Jiyong held his hand up to the other vehicle as a motion of thanks until they made it safely across.  He noticed his friend’s preoccupation.

“Yah!”  Jiyong barked out.  “You had no problems yelling at her earlier.  Don’t like it when someone else does it, huh?”

The snarky remark broke Youngbae out of his distraction.  He swung his head around and glared at Jiyong.  His mouth worked to form words for all the thoughts that had been procreating inside his mind all morning.  But none of them seemed adequate enough.  He just had to settle for something simple and direct this time.

“Shut up!” he snapped.

Jiyong’s mouth curved into an open smile.  “Mwuh?  Did I hit a nerve?”

“Aish,” Youngbae muttered, unlocking the car doors.  He placed Boss in the back and pushed the driver’s seat back into place before easing himself in.  But he made no sudden movement to leave.  His eyes were still trained on the black M-5, a few yards away.

Jiyong didn’t say a word.  He was interested as well in seeing how long Hanna could last before her top blew off.

They could see Amina hunched forward in her seat, the top of her bun clearly visible from the passenger side.  She was cupping her forehead in her both hands and didn’t appear to be getting back up anytime soon.  Hanna was angled in her seat, her back pressed up against the driver window.  She was still going off, they could tell.  Her hands would wave erratically as she spoke, creating quick shadows through the back passenger window.

Youngbae’s grip tightened on the steering wheel as he watched.

Nearing ten minutes later, Hanna finally turned in her seat and faced forward.  There were no other movements in the car.

“C’mon man, I think they’re done.  We should go,” Jiyong coaxed.  “Nothing’s going to-“

At that exact moment, Hanna got out and slammed the car door, rocking the vehicle slightly with its force.  She started walking along the wet sidewalk, oblivious to the smattering of rain that was starting to come down.  Her hand was cupped against the lower half of her face, while the other hand rested on her hip.  She stopped about twenty yards away and stood there for the longest time.

It started to rain in earnest.

Jiyong grabbed the door handle, his intent obvious.

Youngbae glanced over, cocking his eyebrow at him.  “Where are you going?”

They stared at each other for a moment.

“I thought nothing’s going to happen,” Youngbae mocked.

“Aish…”

“Mwuh?” Youngbae taunted.  “Did I hit a nerve?”

Jiyong’s face closed up.

Youngbae shook his head in disbelief.  “Don’t tell me you actually like the she-devil?”

“She’s the distributor for my million dollar jewelry collection.  I have to make sure she’s alive for the meeting tomorrow.”

Youngbae grunted, still unconvinced.

“And she’s now your family, so you better make sure nothing happens to her,” Jiyong warned, still not liking the smug look on Youngbae’s face.  It grated on his nerves, made him spit venom.  “I’m sure Amina wouldn’t be able to withstand another blow in her life right now.”

Youngbae’s eyes glinted.  “See!  That’s the I’m talking about!  That’s what has me here in the first place,” he sneered, his finger pointed in Jiyong’s face.  “You think I don’t know?”  He lowered his hand.  “If I don’t know, it’s because you continue to keep from me!” His voice shook with rage.

Jiyong didn’t say a word.  But he could tell his friend had hit a breaking point.  It had been awhile since so many curse words had been strung together, sentence after sentence, from Youngbae's mouth.

“You! Daesung!  Why you guys gotta keep stuff from me?”  Youngbae bellowed, shaking his head in disgust.  He stared hard into Jiyong’s face.  “What else you hiding?”

From the corner of his eye, Jiyong could see Amina get out of the car.  He turned his head to watch, dragging Youngbae’s gaze with him.

They sat in silence as they watched Amina walk up to Hanna’s taller frame, both of them getting soaked by the pouring rain.  The girls shared a hug that lasted several long seconds before running back to the car.  After another long pause, the lights from Hanna’s BMW came on and they drove off.

Youngbae clenched his jaw in frustration as he swung his gaze back at Jiyong.  “Well?”

Jiyong stared hard at the spot the girls vacated, the torment in his eyes clearly visible.  He knew he had to give it up eventually.  Harboring the truth wasn’t doing anyone any good.  He turned to study Youngbae’s face in silence.  “I really don’t know anything…” Jiyong started.

“Cut the crap, man!” Youngbae stressed, his eyebrows furrowing in annoyance.  “I bet you knew about her birth date too, huh, didn’t you?”

“Why would I know that?”  Jiyong looked incredulously at his surroundings.  “Why the hell would I need to know?”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course I’m-” Jiyong broke off, his eyes narrowing on Youngbae’s face.  “Wae?  You didn’t know?”

“Mwuh?” Youngbae asked, suddenly confused by the turn of tables.

“You didn’t even know when her birthday was?” The truth was evident in his friend’s eyes.  Jiyong snickered.

Youngbae felt his ears burn.  “Ani,” he bit out, looking hard at the dashboard.  “Believe it or not, we weren’t together long enough the first time around for me to question her.”

Jiyong stared at his friend’s profile, a look of disbelief in his eyes.  “Isn’t that the first thing you ask someone on a date?  Their age?  Their birthday?”  He scoffed underneath his breath.

Youngbae felt his defenses pull up.  “We’ve only been on one date,” he quickly shot off but soon regretted it, after hearing how horrible that sounded even to his own ears.  “And whenever we were together we never asked those types of questions,” he explained.

“So what the hell did you guys talk about?” Jiyong raised his brow arrogantly.

Youngbae flushed and glanced away.

Jiyong immediately drew conclusions.  “See!  Now there’s your real problem!”  He narrowed his eyes as Youngbae swung his head over to face him.  “You’ve been thinking with that head,” he waved towards Youngbae’s lap, “instead of your other head.  That’s what got you in this mess in the first place!”

The elder of the two looked away again, feeling heat continuously creep up along his neck.  He couldn’t deny the words that were coming out of Jiyong’s mouth.  Of all the times he spent with Amina, Youngbae knew that the majority of their time was spent in bed or all over each other.  She never felt compelled to ask him the mundane dating questions people often talked about.  Probably because she already knew those things about him from the get go, he thought wryly.  And he never felt the urge to press any questions that revolved around her past because she always seemed sad or closed up about it.  That's how he missed the fact that she had a fiancé in the first place - an event that spiraled into the mess that they found themselves in today.  So because of that, he simply stopped asking questions about her past because it usually brought up the fact that her parents had cut her off and she no longer had a family.

Jiyong watched as Youngbae hung his forehead on the steering wheel, his mind lost in thought.  He felt bad that he called out his friend in such a manner, but there was no way in hell he was going to take all the blame for the lovebirds’ rocky relationship.

“Hey.”

Youngbae glanced towards him.

“Mianhae… I didn’t mean to call you out like that,” Jiyong confessed.  “I know your relationship… is different.”

Youngbae’s eyes sparkled with amusement as he watched Jiyong struggle to describe his and Amina’s relationship.  “Unique,” Youngbae asserted.

“One of a kind,” Jiyong cut in.

Youngbae grimaced.

“Mwuh?” Jiyong arched his brow.  “You prefer ‘rare’? ‘original’? ‘limited edition’? ‘exclusive’?  Or how about ‘bizarre’? ‘strange’? ‘unusual’?

“Alright, alright, alright,” Youngbae begged off, straightening up.  He gave a lop-sided grin.  “Let’s just stick to ‘different’.”

Jiyong chuckled, a quick smile in place.  “What I’m trying to say is, I shouldn’t have based your relationship on my own experiences.  I know you guys are going through a rough patch right now, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work.”

“I’m trying,” Youngbae spoke up.  “But you can’t deny… It’s hard when you have people interfering.  Or people who think they know what’s best for you… all without asking for your opinion.”

Jiyong nodded, his face full of remorse.  “Alright… I get it.  Mianhae.”

“From now on?”

Jiyong nodded again.  “I promise.  I’ll try not to interfere anymore.”

Youngbae narrowed his eyes.

“Mwuh?” Jiyong grinned.  “I can’t promise you I won’t.  I’m human too.  And you’re my friend.”  He smiled fondly at Youngbae.  “Just like you look out for me when I’m down, out, or can’t see… I’ll be there for you too.”

This was the closest thing to a promise that he was going to get and Youngbae knew it.  Which was fine by him, because it was exactly what he wanted to hear.  “Alright,” he nodded.  “We good then?”

“Ani,” Jiyong interjected, checking his hair in the passenger overhead mirror.  He the damp locks and gave Youngbae a side glance.  “You really screwed me over today when you married her.”

“Mwuh?” Youngbae creased his brows in confusion.

“Neh,” Jiyong popped the sun visor back in place.  “You were supposed to marry me.  I thought I was your one and only.”

“…” Youngbae grinned, inserting his key into the ignition.

Jiyong laughed out loud but then quickly sobered.  “But for real though, since we’re finally being honest with one another…”

“You mean, ‘since you’re finally being honest with me’?” Youngbae interrupted, a smile in place.

Jiyong nodded wistfully.  “Neh.”

The smile on Youngbae’s face slowly faded.  “What is it?”

“I have something to tell you.”

Youngbae could hear the serious tone in Jiyong’s voice and knew his friend wasn’t kidding around this time.  Suddenly, he felt cold inside.

Jiyong lowered his gaze, unsure of where to start.  But the black and white fur ball asleep in the backseat gave him his opening.  He jerked his head towards Boss.  “She needs him.”

Youngbae narrowed his eyes.

Jiyong looked up, his eyes full of contrite.  “She needs him to help her sleep at night.”  He slowly began explaining when he first came upon Amina’s unguarded confession and how it triggered the spiraling of events afterwards.  How he became involved and then later shoved Daesung into the mix.  A sharp pain throbbed at the pit of his stomach as he watched the hurt on Youngbae’s face turn to pure agony.  “I’m sorry man,” Jiyong ended.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Youngbae accused wearily.  Jiyong’s confession had drained him.  He no longer had the energy inside to feel angry.

“I didn’t realize she would become dependent upo