Natalie’s POV:

I sprinted towards the door and busted it open.

“YONGGUK!” I grinned from ear to ear, bursting with happiness only to be disappointed when I realized I had the wrong person. Embarrassed, I smiled sheepishly and apologized to the deliveryman standing at my doorstep, remembering that I had ordered pizza earlier.

“That’ll be 10,000 won, miss,” he told me. I nodded as I went back inside to retrieve my purse to pay him. After handing over what I owed, the man passed me the pizza box and thanked me before leaving.

I closed the door, letting out a sigh of disappointment. Hunger soon took over my mind along with the sensational aroma of cheese and pepperoni, and so I decided to forget about everything else and worry about my empty stomach first.

Before I could bite down into my first slice of pizza, the doorbell rang again. I grabbed my purse, assuming that I had given the man the wrong amount of money.

As I opened the door, I began rummaging through my purse for some change.

“Sorry, did I give you the wrong amount? How much was it again?” I mumbled, frowning when I was unable to find any coins.

“1,000,000 won,” the man repeated.

“1,000,000 won… Wait, what? Yah—I’m being serious here. I don’t have—“ I looked up to find Bang Yongguk on my doorstep with two full bags of food in his hands.

“W-What…. You… H-H…” I blabbered uncontrollably as I felt my cheeks flush up in embarrassment. Before I could say anything that actually made sense, Yongguk sent me a wink that for some strange reason, made my heart flutter.

“Did you miss me?” he asked teasingly.

Without any self-control, I tackled him with a hug—laughing when I heard him he let out a grunt of surprise as he dropped his bags.

“I missed you.”   

Yongguk’s POV:

I placed the bags of food onto Natalie’s kitchen counter, hoping that she’d rummage through them later when she felt hungry again. Plopping down on the couch beside her, I watched her eat her pizza tastefully. She offered me some, but I declined.

It was then that I noticed how worn out and tired she looked. Her eyes were swollen and bit flushed, and she seemed to have grown paler from the last time I saw her.

“Nat, did you cry last night…?” I inquired worriedly.

She froze for a split second before she continued to eat.
 

“Oh, n-no. I’m fine,” she fibbed. Although I could see right through her without a doubt, I knew she wasn’t in the mood to be interrogated, so I dropped it. “How have you been?” she turned the tables and placed the question on me.

“Jin’s back,” I told her truthfully, quickly regretting it afterwards when I noticed her shoulders stiffen. I gave it a light squeeze before continuing. “He’s been on the look out for the backslider recently, so it has been hard. He just sent half the gang on a mission, so until they’re finished, I’ll be having some free time to myself. How’s your grandfather?”

“The same,” she muttered hopelessly as she finished up her last slice of pizza. “They told me his condition wasn’t improving at all. They won’t be able to do much until he wakes up…” she looked at me with sad eyes.

“Recently…” she continued, “I’ve been to the cemetery.”

My heart dropped.

She found out.

“No one could’ve done such a thing except for Jin… My parents’ graves were completely destroyed. Their bodies were dug up and out of the ground and it… It was just horrible,” she told me as she bit back her tears. “Did you know about this?” she asked out of the blue.

I didn’t know what to tell her, so I kept quiet.

“Yongguk… Did you know about this?” she repeated, raising her voice an octave higher.

I nodded.

“You didn’t take part in it right…?” she questioned hopefully, looking at me with pleading eyes. I couldn’t bear to hurt her with the truth, but I also couldn’t bear to tell her a lie either. Once again, I kept quiet.

“Oh no… You…You too…?” she looked away, hurt.

“Mianhae, Natalie. I had no choice...”

We sat there in silence. Natalie kept her eyes focused on the ground, never daring to look back up at me.

“Sorry, I’ll leave now,” I announced quietly after a long while before getting up and walking towards the door.

Suddenly, a set of warm fingers grasped around my wrist and pulled me back. I turned to find Natalie looking at me. “Don’t worry. It’s not your fault. It’s fine,” she reassured, although I felt as if she was still resentful and hurt towards me on the inside. “Come with me,” she requested as she began leading me towards the basement.

Once we were down in the hidden room, she pulled out the small wooden chest box that was lying in the corner of the room the other day. She took out a white piece of paper and handed it to me.

“I went down here a few days ago and found this box. The first I noticed was this blank piece of paper. Do you have any idea why my parents left it in here? It doesn’t have any written on it,” she questioned curiously as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

I flipped the piece of paper back and forth and as sure as it was, it was completely blank. It was just an ordinary piece of paper, but based off of what I knew about Natalie’s parents, they were not the type of people that would leave behind something as useless as this. I began brainstorming, and suddenly, it hit me.

“Mrs. Lee, what are you doing?” I asked innocently as I watched her glaze a blank piece of paper over a small candle.

“Ah, I’m reading a message,” she smiled down at me as she ruffled my hair.

“But how come I don’t see anything on it?” I frowned at the white piece of paper, still puzzled.

She laughed heartily at me before guiding me into the kitchen. After pulling out a bottle of vinegar from the cabinet, she led me back into the living room.

“Yongguk-ah, this is something you should know. It will be very useful in the future when you need it. If you ever need to send someone a secret message, you can use vinegar to write on the paper because it will be invisible. Back in the ancient times, this was a very common method for people who interacted in secrecy,” she explained carefully as she dipped her index finger into the bottle and began writing something onto a blank piece of paper. “Now, look at it. Do you see anything? Were you able to read what I just wrote?” she handed the paper to me. I looked at it carefully, but was unable to find anything.

“Alright. Now, to decode the message, you simply place it over the fire and move it back and forth like this. It’s like magic,” she analyzed before demonstrating it for me to see.

Just as she claimed, the letters began to show up as the heat reached the paper. Mrs. Lee handed the paper to me once more and allowed me to read what was on it.

Written on the previously blank canvas was my name, “Yongguk.”

“Natalie, I found the answer. I don’t know if it’ll work for sure since it’s been so long, but let’s give it a try,” I informed as I watched her eyes light up in excitement.

“Hold this,” I instructed as I handed her my lighter. She held it steadily and watched as I gently glazed the piece of paper over the flame. Her eyes—along with mine—slowly began to widen in shock as the letters and words began to faintly appear on the paper. I was surprised—but glad—that this had worked. It had been so long that I assumed the vinegar had already evaporated, but the tightly sealed box must’ve prevented it from happening.

“H-How did you know?” Natalie asked in disbelief.

“Your mother taught me,” I told her proudly. “Read it. What does it say?”

“Natalie, it times of trouble, resort to the house we left behind in JeJu Island for you. The address is written below,” she read aloud before turning to look at me.

We nodded simultaneously at each other, understanding exactly what one another was thinking.