"A-ah!" Miyoung quickly put her head down into a formal 90-degree bow, "I'm Jin Miyoung, Sir, we met at the party!"

The older man nodded. Surely both the brothers took after their father. The old man was the spitting image of his sons, it was like looking into a time machine and seeing Baekhyun thirty years from now.

"Why are you in my house, Miss Jin?" Mr. Byun raised a furry grey eyebrow.

"Uh, well, you see," Miyoung stumbled over the words like trying to navigate through a dark room, "I had a small problem, and your son was kind enough to let me stay at your lovely home."

"Are you sleeping with my son?" the old man sat up, his eyes furious.

"No! Of course not!" Miyoung blushed bright red.

He looked her up and down once more, "Alright. So then why exactly are you here? What is your problem?"

Miyoung fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, trying to think of a believable lie to conceal her true identity. 

"My family doesn't have a home in the city," she said, straightening her spine to hide her fear, "we used to, but we wanted another summer home in Greece so we chose to sell the one here."

Baekhyun's father lifted an eyebrow, "Oh really? Where in Greece is your summer home?"

Miyoung's blood ran cold. "N-no where important," Miyoung sputtered, "it's a small coastal town. I couldn't be bothered with its name."

"Come now," the older man seemed to be enjoying himself now, a wicked grin spread on his face, "you must know what its called."

"I'm afraid I do not."

"Where do you come from again?"

"Far away."

"The name, dear, the name."

A list of names scrolled over the inside of Miyoung's eyes as she tried to choose a decent place.

"New York," she blurted the first big city that came to mind.

"You said you went to Harvard?"

Not to you, Miyoung thought, "Yes."

"Then you speak English?"

Miyoung didn't know a word of English, "Yes."

"Did you enjoy your time in harvard?" the English words rolled off Mr. Byun's tongue and were clogged in Miyoung's ears as simple nonsense.

Now she was shaking. What did he say? She smiled and nodded, hoping whatever he had said was a question, and that she answered it correctly.

"Why don't you speak, young lady?"

"Because she doesn't have to, father!" Baekbeom appeared through the doorway, wrapping an arm over Miyoung's shoulder. She quietly sighed with relief, he was always there to save her. "Stop antogonizing the poor thing."

"I see you two are acquainted as well."

"We are indeed," Baekbeom smiled at Miyoung then looked back at his father. Miyoung could see the older man was angry he had been foiled by his son. Clearly Baekhyun was not the only with bad blood with his father. Mr. Byun was just as angry at the older son for being rebellious.

"How do you know her?"

Baekbeom smiled casually at Miyoung, "her family owns a business that is profitable to ours," he looked back at his father, "why wouldn't I?"

"So she does," the older man sneered, "but I just cannot get her to tell me the name of that lovely business."

"Oh what does it matter, old man?" Baekbeom laughed, Miyoung wondered how he kept his calm, "We have so many shareholders, I doubt you can list all of them."

"Of course, of course," Mr. Byun nodded, "but I still would like to--"

"You don't need to know," Baekbeom interrupted.

"Why don't you let her speak for herself?" the conversation was quickly becoming a full blown argument with a mask of casual smiles. Miyoung flinched at the man's words, "she's obviously not a child!"

"Because she doesn't need to be tortured by you."

Darkness shadowed the older man's face, surrounding a cruel white smile, Miyoung cringed at what was to come. Baekbeom continued to smile brightly, now with raised eyebrows.

"How is Bora?" his father asked.

Baekbeom's smile died on the spot, replaced by a cold glare.

"What?"

"I know you saw her," the man smiled politely, "at the hospital. Nice, isn't it? To see an old flame again."

Baekbeom looked ready to lunge forward and kill the man.

"How do you know about that?"

"Please, boy, I'm the CEO of a huge company. You didn't think I couldn't even keep track of my own son, did you?"

"You had someone follow me?" Baekbeom snapped, Miyoung bit her lip to avoid in pain as Baekbeoms fingers dug into her shoulder. 

"I needed to know you weren't getting yourself into trouble," the old man massaged his forehead, "clearly you were. That girl was the worst thing that ever happened to you."

"Don't talk about her," the younger man's voice was low and threatening, a tone that even frightened Miyoung who was still attached to his side.

"It's too bad about her, why would she want to be a pediatrician of all things?" his father continued anyway, "She could have married you if she wanted to be a house wife. We don't need working women in this family. We just need pretty ones who are good at talking."

"Shut up," Baekbeom growled.

"But you had big ambitions too, didn't you? Doctors are all well and useful in the world, but not in this family. You knew that all along, and yet you clung to such childish daydreams."

"I said shut up."

"Always so disobedient," the man whined, "you even thought you could become a doctor! I let you have your fun, now you need to learn to be responsible."

"Like you are?" Baekbeom scoffed.

"If you're not interested, you can leave," the man shrugged, "take the girl with you. Better Baekhyun marry someone more on our level."

Miyoung flinched, was he talking about her? She felt Baekbeom grip on her shoulders tighten.

"If I do leave," Baekbeom snarled, "I'm taking Baekhyun with me. You, your company, and that woman can rot alone in hell."

Just as his father opened his mouth to counter, Baekbeom shot one last glare, "Good evening."

Baekbeom his heel, dragging Miyoung with him, and left the house. He got into the car and sat in the driver's seat, Miyoung stopped in place for a moment, watching the car. She wanted to see if he would leave. But nothing happened. He didn't put the keys in the ignition, the headlights didn't flare, the engine didn't roar. The car stayed perfectly still like a black metal beast frozen in place by a dark curse. 

Through the shadowed windows Baekbeom's figure barely moved. His head was down on the wheel with his arms, sitting frozen there like a statue. Cautiously Miyoung rapped her knuckles on the window, "Are you okay?" but he didn't move. She went around to the passenger side and tugged at the door. It was unlocked.

Without a word she slid into the seat beside him.

"Are you okay?" Miyoung asked again. She didn't dare look at the boy. She didn't have to, she could hear the soft shaky whimpers, the sniffles. She knew he was crying.

"I'm sorry," Baekbeom coughed, straightening up, "I'm sorry for what he said to you." Miyoung could hear the forced smile on his face as he said the next words, "it's been a pretty bad day huh?"

"I'm not worried about that," Miyoung looked at her lap and heard the older boy muffle a sob, "I'm worried about you."

She heard Baekbeom breath in deeply and felt the car shake as he wiped his tears on his sleeve and took a deep breath.

"I'm fine," he laughed dryly, "he's done worse."

"How do you live with him?" Miyoung asked quietly.

"I don't," Baekbeom leaned back into his seat, Miyoung turned her face to him and watched his eyes glue themselves to the ceiling, "I like to think that I'm just dead now."

"What?"

"I'm dead," Baekbeom laughed, causing Miyoung to flinch at the carefree sound coming with tragic words, "I died a long time ago. I've been buried, my will is written. I don't remember how to be alive."

"What are you talking about?" Miyoung pleaded, he was acting crazy. She reached forward and put a hand on his arm. Baekbeom set his hand gently over hers.

"I sound crazy, right? Probably because I am," Baekbeom smiled sadly at her, "Byun Baekbeom died two years ago. Along with his dreams and hopes for the future. This is the hell I've been forced into," he laughed at looked forward, removing his hand from hers, "I must've killed someone in a past life to deserve this."

"Don't say something like that," Miyoung scolded, "You're alive."

"Thanks for thinking that," he sighed, "sometimes I wish I could be."

"Idiot," Miyoung hit his head, "You're not dead. You're here! Right in front of me!"

"That's right," Baekbeom nodded, "I exist. That doesn't mean I'm alive.Do you know what the definition of life is?"

Miyoung shook her head.

"The ability to grow, to change, the experience of being alive, it's what seperates us from rocks and water and other non living things."

"And?"

"I haven't grown. Or changed, for that matter. I used to all the time, now I'm just frozen. Now I'm both water and rock. I'm just flowing forward, and standing still."

"Don't be that way," Miyoung begged, her eyes began to fill with tears, "if you're like this what about Baekhyun? He needs you."

"Oh Baekhyun," Baekbeom laughed dryly, "My sweet, sweet, younger brother. He wasn't always this way, you know. Not in the beginning."

"He was raised to run a company, like I was, taught that he was worth more than a thousand normal people. We lived richly. We enjoyed all the luxuries other children would die for."

Baekbeom shook his head, "You'd think that that would cause us to be spoiled and selfish, but for him that wasn't true. He loved to play and dream--Heck," He sighed, "he loved. And I mean everything. There were days I was studying free enterprise in my room and he'd come running in with a butterfly he caught in the garden."

The older boy clenched his fist, "I used to tell him to get the dirty things out, because I was busy," he laughed, "The idiot just kept coming and coming, even though I rejected him. But that all changed as we grew up. He wanted his mother to love him, he wanted his father to play with him. He wanted his one sided love for us to be recipricated. Even I couldn't give him what he wanted. I was far too busy with myself, with medical school, with life. I wasn't there when he needed me most, so like most things, he shut me out."

"He's not that way now."

"Oh but he was," Baekbeom looked at Miyoung, "He was a monster of our own creation. We ruined him. Then you came around, and he started looking for butterflies again, you're fixing him, Miyoung. You're undoing the damage we dealt."

"No I'm not," Miyoung whimpered, "I'm making it worse," she shivered even though she wasn't cold, "I can't fix him, not when I'm broken myself."

"But you can fix it, Miyoung," Now it was Baekbeom's turn to reach forward and set a hand on hers with a big-brotherly smile, "the two of you can fix each other. You can do what I couldn't."

As He withdrew his hand, Miyoung saw the faint outline of a scar peeking out from under his long sleeves. The sets of pink fleshy skin lay in rows too neat to be accidents. They weren't fresh, Miyoung could tell, but they were there regardless. In truth she had always known of his scars. Each day he wore long sleeves, even inside and to sleep. Miyoung had began to notice his pattern. His clever methods of hiding them were what gave him away. It caused her pain to know she could do nothing for him. Like he had said, he was gone. He hid the evidence of his weakness, the scars that had killed him. To Miyoung, Byun Baekbeom was a living ghost. 

Knock, knock.

Why won't he answer?

Knock, knock.

I'm sorry.

Knock, knock.

Miyoung couldn't open to call his name, but she rapped on the door again.

Please let me in.

The door opened gradually, revealing the boy inside. Thick eyelashes shadowed Baekhyun's deep brown eyes. They were down and empty like an abused dog.

"Can I come in?" the words nearly caught in .

He hesitated, scanning the floor for an answer. Then he took a quiet step back, opening the way for her.

Miyoung came inside and closed her eyes when she heard the door shut. Her heart beat wildly for fear of what she was about to do. It took all her courage to decide this. Along with the fear that a person who had become precious to her would turn out like the ghost man of earlier that day. She was terrified of the scars that could form on his wrists without her.

"Baekhyun, I'm sorry about..." she cleared , "about what happened in Busan. I was scared. When we k--," Miyoung took a deep breath, "When that happened an alarm went off in my head. It told me I didn't know you. And I thought about it a lot, and I don't. I don't know what your favorite food is, or when you learned to play the piano, or your favorite color, or what kind of things you like to do. I don't know any of it. I don't know you."

Miyoung swallowed hard and continued, "but I want to. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to know. What is your favorite food? Where do you like to go? What color is it that you like the most, and maybe I could buy you a shirt in that color for your birthday, but I don't know when that is either!" she closed her eyes, "I just want to know you, Baekhyun."

She felt his hand on her shoulder, now was the time.

In one swiveling movement she reached on her toes and shoved her lips against his. Her hands found their way onto his shoulders and she held him tightly so he couldn't get away. She kept her eyes tightly sealed, feeling her face grow hotter and hotter. 

Baekhyun was in shock. Miyoung's lips moved on his but he was frozen in confusion. Thoughts blazed through his head. What was she doing? What did this mean?

And then he realized he didn't care. It could mean what he wanted it to, or nothing at all. She could be drunk or sober, desperate or loving, none of it mattered. She was giving him what he had so desperately wanted. He closed his eyes and kissed her back, cupping her face with his hands and bringing her closer. 

He wanted to be closer, and closer still. He wanted their ribcages to open and their hearts to be sewn together. Her hands moved across his body feverishly, drinking him in. He pulled her back, wrapping her arms around her smaller body and pressing her into him so tightly it was hard to breathe. 

They kissed and kissed and time felt infinite and limited. Too much and too little. Too long and too short.

Then it was over, and Baekhyun was gasping for breath and grasping for Miyoung. She had pulled away too quickly, he wanted her back. He wanted her close again. Like a child, he wanted her love.

Miyoung stumbled back after pulling away, in air to get her breath back. She hadn't pulled away soon enough, it was too long. She was too desperate. Perhaps like this he would grow tired of her love.

"I just..I--," the words melted on her tongue before they could get out, "I just need to know one thing. The other things can come slowly, but there's one thing I need to know now."

Baekhyun stepped closer and took her hand, nodding. Anything. You name it.

"Are you him?"

Baekhyun knew exactly what the general question meant. Was he the image in her memories, was he the voice in her head and the person in her thoughts. Was he the traces that she found along the way.

He swallowed the fork in his throat. As slow and careful as a child taking its first steps, he nodded.

"It is you," Miyoung breathed with amazement. Her eyes widened.

He nodded again.

"It is you," her voice contained more excitement.

He nodded once more.

"Thank god! It's you!" She jumped into his arms with an elated smile, and Baekhyun was there to catch her. 

"I was so worried," Miyoung buried her face in his chest, he ran a comforting hand over her hair, "I was so worried it wasn't you. I thought I was doing something wrong," she whispered almost inaudibly.

Baekhyun rested his cheek on the top of her head and continued petting her hair, letting his other arm hold her against him.

"It's you," she repeated over and over like a broken record, "thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's you. Thank you."

Hot tears steamed Baekhyun's shirt from the girl crying into his chest. His hands continued to soothe her like a mother to her child.

"I'm sorry," she shook her head and clutched fistfuls of his shirt, "I'm so sorry, Baekhyun. It's all my fault."

How could it ever be your fault? Baekhyun squeezed her closer, and shut his eyes to keep his own tears from falling. It was all mine.

"Can I say something?" Miyoung felt like a ridiculous teenager again. Falling in love had become a foreign emotion.

He nodded.

"I like you."

Like a child recieving a new toy, Baekhyun's heart lept. It tripled in pace, fluttered like a bird, his world began to spin like a colorful top. He couldn't stop the smile from spreading on his lips like christmas morning.

"I can kiss you, right?" Miyoung bit her lip and hid her face in his chest, letting the shy words escape from .

Baekhyun smiled, Of course you stupid girl.

In a sudden movement Miyoung sprung her lips onto his, a moment too short for Baekhyun. Now that she'd given him what he wanted, he could feel himself becoming selfish. He would only want more and more. He would want her all the time, longer, constantly. The love flowed through his veins like a drug, or a nutrient he'd been deprived of his whole life. 

A feeling only she could supply.

Jajjang! It is done. Another chapter! Guess what everyone? I calculated about how many pages we have here, and it's over 73 now! That means if you're reading this, you have read SEVENTY THREE pages of this story! Thank you!

It also means I've written seventy three pages, which is crazy! 

I hope you'll continue to love the story and be more interested ^ _ ^

There will be more twists and turns from here on out!

To new readers: Thank you! I simply love all of you, the people who were with me right from the start, and the ones who came later. I'm so happy my writing could get this many readers. 

To everyone: I love hearing your opinions of the story, aside from simple things like begging me to update (I'm sorry T-T this week was finals and I was too busy!) if everyone could even leave one word like "good work!" I would feel so motivated(even though just getting new subscribers motivates me!)

Since I know some of you have trouble writing comments, I'll help you out, because yes I am desperate >_< So here are some easy prompts or questions I'd love to hear you guys answer!

1. Who's your favorite character so far? Why?

2. Baekhyun obviously feels guilty about something (if you haven't noticed by now), what is it?

3. What should happen next?

I'm so happy to hear your opinions and ideas, and what do you know, if I like your idea, i might just use it! 

Also I just made a fanfic trailer for this fic! I'm bad at that sort of thing, but I hope you'll watch it! The link is in the foreword!

Thanks again!

~Violet