The time stopped, the world stopped going around and around. The lungs stopped breathing, the heart stopped beating. The place was the same, the people had not changed, but everything about it looked so different to her. It was as if she was watching a movie, everything moving in slow motion as she laid down, watching from another dimension. It was so foreign for her, so unfamiliar, yet nothing changed, and everything was extremely familiar to her. Chaerin slowly stood up as Jiyong and Jonghyun fought on how they would move.

For always it had been so familiar, and watching them both together, fighting and talking so close, made her wonder how much more alike those two were. It was almost as watching twins talking to each other, fraternal twins as that, one with silvery blonde hair, the other one with recently dyed dark hair. One with facial structures as strong as a rock, the other with ones soft as cotton. It was impressive, yet frightening. And as she looked at them, she couldn’t help but notice a few changes on her beloved Jiyong, and that was what was so unfamiliar to her. His face was hollow, his cheekbones made shadows on his cheeks, his skin looked pale and thin, she could almost see the patterns of his veins under his skin. For the first time since she had met him, he looked terribly weak, even if his behavior showed how strong he was. She stood there, watching his every movement, his every breathing and every blink of his eyes.

And there she saw it, pain, he flinched momentarily as he told Jonghyun how fast they had to move, gesturing with his hands, moving them from side to side. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, suddenly looking all weak again. Chaerin narrowed her eyes as she even noticed Jonghyun’s slight fear on his own eyes. She couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. They have kept her on the sideway for too long, now it was time for her to know everything.

“Jiyong.” She said softly. Nobody seemed to notice her as they continued talking after Jiyong’s face recovered, so fast it was almost as a blink of an eye. Jonghyun grabbed a luggage and started to fill it with Chaerin’s clothes, Jiyong was telling him something about going to his villa, and Jonghyun kept telling him how that was a very stupid idea.

“If it’s so stupid, why don’t you say something, smartass?” Jiyong said, his voice completely drained, but its strength never dissipated.

“I’m not saying it’s utterly stupid, I’m just trying to let you know Woochoong knows about it. We have to find a place he doesn’t know about.” Jonghyun countered. Chaerin noticed how Jiyong’s eyes twitched, then he grabbed another luggage and started to fill it with Chaerin’s guns and daggers.

“Then we have to think more, where can we set ourselves?” Jiyong said, now his voice sounded a bit more serene, more forced.

“Jiyong,” Chaerin said again, and finally, he looked at her. His eyes wide and alert, his hollow face confused as he slowly smiled at her.

“What’s wrong babe?” He said, his voice filled with love and tenderness. Chaerin gulped as she tried to avoid screaming at him.

“What’s happening to you?” She said, and as she said it, Jonghyun stopped to look at her. Jiyong’s face turn from the confused expression to an alert one.

“What do you mean?” He said as he chuckled, and Chaerin could easily tell he was trying to soften whatever he was hiding.

“What do I mean? Did you really mean that?” She said. Jonghyun continued packing as if he wasn’t there, Jiyong, on the other hand, put the luggage aside and walked towards her. His smiling face looking at her with such tenderness she felt completely absorbed by it.

“Babe, everything’s fine. We just have to move quickly, do you have any suggestions?” He said and Chaerin quickly shook her head.

“Stop lying.” She said out of breath. Jiyong put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her forehead.

“I haven’t lied to you…”

“Yes you have! What’s wrong with you! Just take a look at you, your face, your skin, your body… You looked terrible! You’re not like that! And that pain, your face shows it, what’s going on with you?” She said again, and for a moment, she saw a flicker of pain on his eyes, but not physical pain, more like emotional pain. He took a deep breath and put his hand on her cheeks, smiling at her.

“Babe, apparently I just woke up from a long nap. It’s obvious I’m going to look like a mess, it was five days long. And obviously I’m in pain, my body’s sore from the long sleep. It’s my muscles, but I’ll survive, I swear.” He said. His face looked serious, his tone even more. Chaerin nodded, her eyes narrow. She was sure there was something else, but the conviction of his voice made her forget about it, he was probably right and she was just imagining things.

“You promise?” She said and Jiyong smiled wider and kissed her lips, slow, tenderly, filled with love and desire.

“With all my heart, my soul and my life.” He murmured on her lips, and she smiled, pecking him once more before he let go and continued filling her luggage with her belongings. She could let that one go, for now.

Everyone stood in the living room, all dressed in black, all ready to fight. Chaerin was at her father’s side, her delicate figure dressed in fighting clothes, and even then, even if her body looked frail, she still looked menacing, dangerous. Jiyong was speaking to Seunghyun and Youngbae, the three of them with gun in hand as they arranged how they would escape the house. Close to the stairs was Key, James and Dami, she looked terrible gorgeous, dressed in black leathered pants and a white tank top fixed to her slim body. Jonghyun kept looking at her, trying to find any resemblance, he had grown knowing she was an adopted sibling, but never in his life thought they’ll come out to be actual siblings. Life was definitely strange for him.

“So we will be moving to Minho’s house in Daegu, how long of a ride is that?” Youngbae said. Taemin sat on a chair, looking at them with his legs crossed.

“If I’m driving, 30 minutes long, but we're going to require two different cars, we're too many.” He said. Everyone nodded at him.

"We can easily arrange that, I can drive the other one. I can easily keep on your heels." James said and Taemin nodded, his face still as strong and composed as ever.

“Are you guys completely sure Woochoong has no idea of that house?” Jiyong asked, his voice filled with his discomfort and disbelieve.

“We are, Minho bought that house under his girlfriend’s name. Woochoong can’t have any idea of it.” Key explained.

“As he wouldn’t know about your house?” James said. Key quickly glared at him, his intense feline eyes almost lighting up in flames.

“He didn’t knew about this. It was Chaerin’s fault.” Key said, and Jiyong quickly stood up, glaring at him.

“It wasn’t, if she had known about it, she would have spared us the trouble.” Jonghyun said and Jiyong looked at him with narrow eyes.

“Yes, she wouldn’t be so careless to get us in trouble.” Jiyong refuted.

“We shouldn’t spend our time fighting against each other. We’re all on this together, so please, bear with this for a few more days.” Bom said.

“Yeah, I doubt Woochoong will be so smart to actually come here so soon.” Dara said. Everyone nodded, but Kijin stood up, walking slowly towards the window, his hands deep in his pockets.

“I wouldn’t doubt his skills, if I were you.” Kijin said. Everyone stopped to look at him. Kijin was standing now next to the front window, his face narrow and his hands balled into fist. Jonghyun went over him too look over the window, and his eyes widened in surprise.

“Everyone, back off!” He yelled and grabbed Kijin’s shoulder and jumped back, just then, an explosion was heard on the wall, breaking in into a million pieces. Jonghyun tried to cover Kijin with his body, receiving a good amount of injuries. He looked up, the place was filled with cement powder, pieces of concrete and shards of crystals, everyone covering their heads as the pieces continued to fall. Unconsciously he looked towards Chaerin, who, to his relieve, was under Jiyong’s protective arms. Jonghyun tried to drag himself forward along with Kijin, who was coughing out.

Jonghyun managed to reach Jiyong, who was looking around frantically. “Find Dami!” Jiyong yelled and Jonghyun looked up. He finally managed to stand up, slowly but steady. He noticed a pain on his side, and when he looked, he saw a shard of crystal sticking to his skin. He whimpered as he took it out, pressing his palm on his injury. In front of him, James was standing up, lifting Dami on his arms. She was unconscious, a piece of concrete had fallen on her head, and a thin line of scarlet blood fell from her forehead.

“Is she alright?” Jonghyun said, to which James shrugged.

“She’s still breathing.” James said. Next to James was Dara, already dusting her petite body, she didn’t looked like she got any injuries. He was going to walk over Dami but Chaerin’s whimpers caught his attention. Next to him, Jiyong was inserting his fingers into her arm, a few shards of crystal got into her skin. Jonghyun flinched as he saw her skin tearing by Jiyong’s fingers. He quickly looked away, and as he did, he saw a few shadows walking up the stairs. He quickly got alert, and so did everyone in the house. He noticed Jiyong taking out a dagger from Chaerin’s belt and handing it to her, she grabbed it with her left arm and stood up, and so did Jiyong with gun in hand.

“Good evening, fellow enemies.” A voice said from what was left of the main door. Jonghyun squinted his eyes, the dust flying in air mixed with the lights of the day made it almost impossible to see, but that voice was extremely familiar to him. It was Woochoong.

“Father…” Jonghyun murmured. Next to him, Jiyong pointed his gun forward, and Woochoong lift a hand, and just then, Jonghyun noticed a red dot on Jiyong’s forehead.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Woochoong said. Jonghyun took a step forward, looking sternly at his father.

“What are you doing here, father?” He said, his voice filled with anger, even if his question was absolutely idiotic.

“Jonghyun, my son, interesting…” Woochoong said, though his face didn’t showed any disappointment. “Why is it that I’m not impressed to see you here?” Jonghyun didn’t said anything, just balled his hands into fists. He saw by the corner of his eyes the waking figure of Dami. Woochoong smirked as she opened her eyes, besides Woochoong, Kikwang was watching her.

“Honey, come.” Kikwang said. Dami grabbed her head and blink a few times, her hand coming off blood. She looked up, her eyes adjusting to the lights. She tried to take a step forward, but James forbid her to do so.

“Let her go,” Woochoong said. James glared at him.

“No.” He said. Dami tried to fight him, but James quickly grabbed her neck and made her kneel, securing her body with his. “See how he does not cares about you Dami, open up your eyes.” James told her. Dami fought again, and Woochoong started laughing.

“Come, my daughter.” He said, Dami tried to move to no avail. Jonghyun couldn’t take it any longer and went over to his father, punching his face. Woochoong’s face moved to the side, then he looked at Jonghyun with a smirk on his face. “Fine, I’ve raised a bunch of useless kids. Kill them all.” Woochoong said, and everyone started to fight. Woochoong tried to leave but Jonghyun ran after him. He got stopped by Kikwang, who had a katana on his hand. Jonghyun quickly grabbed his own dagger and started to fight him. With swift movements, he dodged and attacked, but never touched Kikwang, he was too fast, too strong.

“Tell me, brother in law, how does it feels to be misplaced by a complete stranger?” Kikwang said as he punched Jonghyun’s face. Jonghyun fell on the floor, spitting blood. He quickly stood up and glared at Kikwang.

“You’re not a stranger at all.” Jonghyun said and threw a rock to his head. Kikwang dodge it easily and launched himself again. This time, Jonghyun evaded his hit, and quickly turned around, facing Kikwang’s back. He kicked him, and Kikwang fell to his knees. When Jonghyun tried to grab his head, Kikwang rolled and stood, then jumped quickly. Jonghyun saw his figure lifting on the air, and hesitated for a moment. When he tried to dodge, a slim figure stood in front of him. Kikwang’s movement were so fast it was almost impossible to see. He drove the dagger towards Jonghyun, but the person in front of him got the hit.

Jonghyun’s eyes widened as he realized who she was. “Dami…” Jonghyun murmured. Dami coughed out blood as she looked at Kikwang, who had his eyes wide. He quickly pulled out the Katana and grabbed Dami’s face on his hands.

“Dami, babe why did you do that?” Kikwang said. Dami coughed again and fell on her knees. Jonghyun quickly assisted her, but Kikwang pushed him aside.

“Because we’re fighting for the wrong reasons.” 

Gily's Notes: I'm so sorry for this very late update. I have been damn busy all week long and haven't had the time to even turn on my laptop, that and my damn charger still doesn't arrives! 

I'm still trying to find time to actually sit and write, for now, this will be it, quite long chapter I might add.

I hope you enjoy it, I'm writting next chapter and hopefully, can update anytime on the week. Wish me luck!

Happy Reading ~

Gily ♥