JOOYEON POV

“Uncle, Mom was the one who killed Hyori….”

His expression immediately changed, I could see tears threatening to come out of his eyes, and could tell he was struggling to hold them back. He let go of my wrist and took a deep breath, before saying

“Well…I’m not surprised. Guess we should go talk to your mother now huh? We both need closure and the only person who can give us that is her.”

 He stood up and began walking heavy footsteps to his car. I trailed behind him observing his details. The man I’m looking at now is a complete different man from the one I always saw. The one I saw hid away his hurt, by burying himself in work and would never leave his office.  Occasionally it would show every once in a while but he’d always mask it away , but this man…his footsteps look as if it’s too weak to even walk, his back slightly slumped indicating that inside his heart was heavy and hurt. It pained me to see my uncle like this, especially when my own mother was the cause of it. I pulled the car door open and sat down waiting for my uncle to get in. When he got in his eyes were filled with sorrow, slightly watery, but still being pushed back from falling. He twisted the keys and the engine, and took a deep sigh. I turned to him when I noticed something.

“Uncle, don’t forget your seatbelt.” He looked down and realized that he forgot to put it on. Once it clicked, he began to drive. The drive back home was quiet, until he broke it.

“Jooyeon, thank you I appreciate it that you told me the truth instead of hiding it from me.”

I turned to him, showing a slightly small smile. “Uncle, I’m really sorry, I’m sorry that my mom did this to you, sorry that she lied, sorry that she always yelled at you, sorry that she took away what was most important to you.”

He shook his head and reached one of his arms and stoked my hair. “It’s ok Jooyeon, none of this is your fault, you were just caught in the middle of it." He sighed "Is she treating N ok?”

And there from the quick moment I forgot about Nana, it all came rushing back, hitting me like a tidal wave. “Uncle…there’s something else you should know. N’s real name is Nana…”

He chuckled a bit, which caught me off guard. “Jooyeon, I already know. It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together for that, she looked too much like Hyori to not be able to think anything of it, plus she had the necklace of the letter N, which is the first letter of Nana, the name Hyori gave her daughter.”

“If you knew, why didn’t you say anything?”

“What is there to say about it? It’s not my place to say anything, her memory needed to come on its own.”

I sighed “That’s true.”

He turned to me, “I guess since you know her real name, her memories came back…you must be happy.”

I bit my lip fighting to hold back my tears from falling. “Yeah not really, uncle her main purpose for coming here was to get revenge on mom. So either way she used me. No matter if she lost her memory or not, I was being used, my family was going to be torn apart. But the thing is I don’t hate her for it, instead I’m hurt, and under all that hurt is still love for her…”

He sighed. “Jooyeon, maybe you should look at it from her point of view. Her mother was taken away from her at a very young age, and the people who did it are one of the richest people in Korea, I’m not saying that revenge was right, but she’s still a child herself she still doesn’t know what’s right and wrong, she’ll act upon her feelings. Don’t think too much about it…Youre mother took away the love of my life. Don’t let her take away yours as well.”

We arrived in front of our house. It looked like a train wreck. Outside the car we saw Nana’s cloth’s scattered all across the lawn, all her belongings tossed. My uncle and I quickly went outside, to find out what was going on.

BACK TO NANA POV (time when Jooyeon just left)

“Jooyeon…” I kept mumbling her name. I wanted to follow her, but my feet felt as if it were frozen and didn’t want to budge. How could I…how could I go this far…I hurt the one out of the two people in the world that I care about. The look on her face said it all. The way she yelled at me as if I were a monster, made me ache. I brought up my trembling hands and looked at them. I began to question myself…who am I? What have I become. Se Yi’s feet stepped in front of me pulling me out of my trance. I looked at her analyzing everything about her, I’ve turned into her…I’ve turned into my worst enemy, turned into the person I despise most.

She stared at me but yet I didn’t care, all I care about is Jooyeon. Where did she go? What is she feeling? Probably feeling hurt twice as much as I do, not only me but her mother lied to her as well. My thoughts were stopped by the contact of Se Yi’s hand to my face once again. But this time I didn’t do anything to stop it or I didn’t try to hit her back instead I looked at her and sighed and said, “I deserved that, not for you, but for Jooyeon.” She scoffed and said “Are you happy with what you’ve caused this family?”

“It’s not what I’ve caused your family it’s what you’ve done to it, the only thing I’ve done was help the truth come out.”

She slapped me again. This time causing blood to come out from the side of my mouth, “Beat me do whatever you want because no matter how much you hurt me, it will never hurt as much as the pain you’ve caused me internally.”

She pulled my wrists and said “GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE NOW!” I was already going to comply. My “work” here was done anyways. But then she went crazy and grabbed all my things and started throwing it out the window. I was still to hurt because I kept seeing Jooyeon in my head so I just sat there waiting for her to be finished. She threw everything out, everything but one thing, my necklace. She noticed my necklace on the dresser and she went for it. But before she could I stopped her.

“I let you throw everything out already, but this is the only thing I won’t.”

She clenched her fist. “Your mother has the same exact one which makes me hate it even more.” She pulled it from the chain causing it to cut my palm, and she walked over to the window and threw it out. Then she walked back over to me “Are you happy now, satisfied?” I asked. She clenched her teeth. “Why aren’t you doing anything?! You just sat there while literally I was throwing everything of yours out onto the lawn.”

I sighed, it seems like I’ve been sighing a lot lately “Because, I’m tired. I’m done Mrs. Lee I don’t want to do anything anymore. I did all this thinking somehow this would help me get closure for both my mother and me, but now that I look at it I didn’t get anything out of this. The only thing I’ve gotten from this was falling in love with your daughter but I’ve already hurt her, and I don’t want that again. I’m not going to fight you anymore. Call me a coward. Call me weak. Call me useless. Call me pathetic. I don’t care, because none of it will hurt me or faze me as much as it did when Jooyeon looked at me as if I were a monster.”

“Leave.” That’s all she said before going back and staring outside the window.

I turned towards the door when I saw two figures, one making my heart beat stop. Her eyes still filled with pain and hurt. Look at what I’ve caused you, it’s best if I leave. You probably see me as nothing now. I was about to leave when someone held my wrist. This feeling I know it can’t be anyone else stopping me other than her. I looked at her, yet she still doesn’t meet her eyes with mine. All she said was,

“Stay, you should hear this as well.”

I nodded my head and turned my gaze to Mr. Lee who looked as if his world had crumbled down. Guess he heard the news. He cleared his throat which caught Se Yi’s attention. She turned and looked at him and the way she looked at him I saw a bit of terrified mixed with worry in her. All he said was “Downstairs family room now.”  Then he turned and began walking downstairs. Jooyeon turned and walked away as well, I followed behind. Once we all arrive we sat down Se Yi in her own corner. Jooyeon next to her uncle and I was in my own corner. He cleared his throat before speaking “Now, Se Yi is what I heard true? Did you kill Hyori?”

She swallowed hard before answering. “Yes, I did.”

I saw him clench his fist and I saw Jooyeon rubbing his back to comfort him. “Care to explain why or how?!” his voice raised a bit making his sister flinch.

She cleared . “I don’t mind but does she have to stay here!” she turned her head towards me. I was about to walk away when Mr. Lee stopped me “Nana. Youre staying you need to hear this as well as all of us. She deserves to at least give you that because she took your mother away from you. Se Yi go speak….Now!”

She sighed “Well the thing is. I really didn’t mean to kill her. It was an accident. I overheard you talking to her on the phone and it made my blood boil to hear you being so weak in her trap again. I was just being a protective younger sister…maybe a bit overly protective. But I didn’t want her to hurt you again. So I waited at the airport for her and I followed her that day. It was raining hard so it was hard to see. I was just driving following her when I lost sight of her. I kept looking and looking when I turned the corner and I remember trying to break hearing her scream but it was too late I already had hit her with the car. I felt horrible, I couldn’t believe that I just did that, I rushed out and went to her, the blood was rushing out. She saw me and all she did was laugh before saying “Se Yi, I’m not surprised.” I told her I was sorry and I didn’t intend to hit her. She looked at me before saying “Please tell your brother I’m sorry.” I rushed her into my car and drove to the hospital. Once they took her to the emergency room. I left and never turned back. Seeing her had made me regret everything I had ever done to her. How she just laughed about it instead of yelling.

I have never lived a day where I’m not haunted by it. And I’m sorry, truthfully I am. I don’t expect you to forgive me but I didn’t mean to. And to Nana I am sorry I took your mother away from you, sorry I called her all those things, the only reason I treated you so badly is because you reminded me so much of Hyori, and it was like my biggest mistake was being brought back into my face. To my brother, I’m sorry I took away the love of your life. I was just being over protective of you because we only had each other growing up and I was threatened that she was taking you away from me. Jooyeon, I’m sorry your mom is a coward, sorry that you got caught in the middle of all this.” She began to softly sob while we all just absorbed everything.

I sighed. There was sincerity in her voice, while she was talking to us. Mr. Lee stood up. “Se Yi, I’m really disappointed in you, you should have told me everything instead of hiding it, and this all would have never happened if you had been honest. You should have told me how you felt starting in high school instead of doing all these things. You should have told me what happened the day she came here instead of lying. This whole time I blamed my fault for her death, not that I’m saying it’s your fault because you didn’t mean to but still. You know how much I hated myself. But I do want to thank you for telling me now, thank you for saying sorry. I’m really hurt, but that’s because I loved her so much.”

She shook her head. “Aren’t you going to lash out, yell at me or do something?”

He sighed. “Se Yi lashing out is not the answer to everything. It won’t solve your problems. I am an adult so I am going to act like one. I needed this. I needed closure. Now hearing the truth I got that. As much as I wish it wasn’t true, it is and there is nothing we can do about it now except feel sorry about it for the rest of our lives.”

She nodded “I understand. I will spend the rest of my life regretting and being sorry for this.”

I took a step forward. “I don’t really have anything to say other than thank you for telling the truth. I’m hurt really hurt that my mother died because of your childish feelings. But as much as it kills me to say this, my mother would have forgiven you as well so I forgive you. But I will never forget what you did.”

She nodded her head. “Thank you, I’m sorry again. I know I can’t bring your mother back and for that I’m sorry. I don’t expect you to forget what I did, I know I haven’t.”

Jooyeon suddenly stood up and walked out the door without a word. We all sighed. Then her uncle spoke “Just give her some time, out of all of us she’s hurting too, in her own way. She just needs some space.”

I went outside to see all my stuff scattered on the floor. I began picking up everything when Mr. Lee and Se Yi came and helped me pick it up. Se Yi walked over to me and said “I feel really horrible about everything I did to you and your mother. I will spend every day of my life paying for it. Can I help you get cleaned up please?” She then dragged me to the first aid kit and began to wipe the blood off of my lip and then she looked at the gash on my hand and some tears fell as she began cleaning it “I’m sorry, I know I keep saying it, it’s because I don’t know what else to say I’ve been so horrible to you when really I should have been nice to you for what I did to your mother instead I did the opposite not only did I hurt you I hurt my daughter.”

Watching her clean my cuts was a strange feeling. She was so careful, as if she really didn’t want to hurt me now. I never experienced this feeling before. Is this what it’s like when your mother takes care of you? “It’s ok, because either way when I think about it, all this revenge led to me finding your daughter and falling in love with her. But now I’m worried she’ll never forgive me.”

“She will...don’t worry…she needs time, and for the mean time why don’t you just stay here. She’d probably want to see you when she gets back.”

“I don’t think she would.”

“Well, just stay. I know my daughter. She’d want to see you.”

JOOYEON POV

I walked inside the house and my uncle and I went up to Nana’s room where we heard mom yelling. “Why aren’t you doing anything?! You just sat there while literally I was throwing everything of yours out onto the lawn.”

My uncle held my wrist and said “Shhhh, let’s hear what Nana has to say.”

I nodded and heard her sigh. “Because I’m tired. I’m done Mrs. Lee I don’t want to do anything anymore. I did all this thinking somehow this would help me get closure for both my mother and me, but now that I look at it I didn’t get anything out of this. The only thing I’ve gotten from this was falling in love with your daughter but I’ve already hurt her, and I don’t want that again. I’m not going to fight you anymore. Call me a coward. Call me weak. Call me useless. Call me pathetic. I don’t care, because none of it will hurt me or phase me as much as it did when Jooyeon looked at me as if I were a monster.”

I stood there. So she really does love me…

Thats when my uncle walked to the door and I followed behind him. Nana turned around and it made my heart tighten to see her. I saw blood dripping slightly from the side of , drops of blood fell from her hand. I wanted to run up to her and clean her up but for some reason I just stood there, looking at her. She tried to walk out but I held her wrist stopping her. “Stay.” That was the only word I managed to say, even though a million were running through my head. She deserved to hear the truth too.

After my mother finished telling the story I didn’t know what to do anymore. I was completely zoned out until I heard Nana speak “I don’t really have anything to say other than thank you for telling the truth. I’m hurt really hurt that my mother died because of your childish feelings. But as much as it kills me to say this, my mother would have forgiven you as well so I forgive you. But I will never forget what you did.”

I didn’t really have anything to say to anyone yet but there was something I wanted to do, so my body got up on its own and left without a word. I called a cab and went inside and told them my destination. I just thought about everything on the way there. Once I arrive I walked inside going straight to where I needed to go. “I’d like a ticket to America.”

HEY GUYS! TODAYS UPDATE WAS LONG HUH?!?! ITS A SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN A WHILE. ANYWAYS THIS STORY WILL BE ENDING SOON IN LIKE A CHAPTER OR 2. KEKEKE HOPE YOU LIKED TODAYS UPDATE. UNTIL NEXT TIME.