CHAPTER 25

NORMAL POV

Jessica caught up to Yuri when he finally stopped walking. For someone who earlier today had a fever that could send anyone to their beds for days, Yuri was able to handle himself quite well. The brunette had to take a few seconds to take in a breather just so she could speak.

“How can you walk so fast..?” Jessica felt her chest burn up. It didn’t help at all that their neighborhood was practically on a hill so the roads were a bit steep.

“More reasons for you to accept my offer and stay over for dinner.” Yuri said as she ruffled Jessica’s hair enough to mess it up quite a bit.

At this point Jessica was just point blank speechless. Seeing this expression of hers, Yuri went ahead and entered his complex, having full confidence that Jessica would follow him and she did.

“Good Afternoon, Mr. Kwon.” The doorman greeted them as soon as he saw Yuri enter the premises. His expression changed when she saw Jessica, mainly because he hasn’t seen her before.

“It’s okay. She’s with me.” Yuri said calmly.

The doorman only bowed and greeted Jessica. The two then proceeded to catch the elevator. Fortunately no one was inside and so for the nth time, they were once again alone in each other’s presence.

Jessica’s thoughts were all over the place. This would be the first time she would be entering someone else’s house besides Tiffany’s, her best friend. And it wasn’t just anyone’s place, it was a boy’s house. She tried to think of anything to talk about to make the atmosphere between them less awkward (to her at least).

“How long have you been living here? In this neighborhood, I mean.”  Jessica casually asks.

“Not for long. A few years, I guess.” Yuri answers without looking at her. His eyes were fixated on the LED panel that displayed the floors of the building.

Just then the elevator chimed and opened its doors. They stopped at the 8^th floor. Yuri got out first, followed by Jessica. The hall was completely quiet, almost as if it was a crime to make even the slightest sound. Yuri took a right and walked all the way to the end of the hall.

Yuri entered his passcode onto the door, it made a soft beeping sound, signaling that the door was now open. Yuri opened the door wide and gestured Jessica to get in first. The latter entered and was surprised to see an adequate sized apartment. She was half-expecting to see something like an executive suite at a 5 star hotel or just a massive amount of space but no. What she saw was an ordinary well-kept apartment.

Jessica stood by the couch at Yuri’s living room as she waited for him to enter as well.

“I’ll be lying if I said that I wasn’t expecting something bigger. Not that there’s anything wrong with your house. It’s just that your background and all…being rich, I mean.” Jessica continued to talk in an awkwardly fashion which caught Yuri’s attention however he didn’t say anything about, mainly because he found it endearing.

“I live alone so I don’t see why I should need more space.” Yuri replies as he put away his shoes on the cabinet near the door.

“...feel free to look around if you want. I need to change my bandages and clothes.” He continued, pertaining to his hand that he used to punch the mirror, the previous night.

Jessica was now left alone. She wasn’t exactly sure how she ended up agreeing to come all the way here. Inside her little mind, she blames Yuri’s way of talking and even his words. It had an effect on her that she didn’t quite understand. Nevertheless, the brunette did try and look around. Jessica walked around Yuri’s living room, there was nothing really out of the ordinary. There was a TV set, a coffee table, a couch and at the very corner a bookshelf. The selection of books available varied quite a lot, in different languages too. There were some in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Judging from what she saw, she figured, Yuri could probably speak fluently in those 4 languages. She continued to look at the books that Yuri had when something at the lower part of the shelf caught her eye. It was a box with two framed pictures in it and a few stationary supplies. She bent down and took the one on top.

It was a picture of a man and woman holding a bouquet of roses. Jessica thought that maybe the two were Yuri’s parents. It didn’t look like a recent photo, the two looked young and it was possibly taken during their college days, considering the woman on the photo was wearing a toga.  

Jessica couldn’t help but gawk at the woman whom she assumes is Yuri’s mother. She was extremely beautiful. From her eyes to her smile, Jessica thought they resembled Yuri’s quite a lot. And the man on the left wasn’t bad himself either. He stood tall and looked very dignified. It became clear to Jessica how Yuri became so good-looking, it all came from his parents’ superior genes. She then decided to look at the other framed picture inside the box. Jessica wasn’t usually the nosy type but since she was extremely curious about Yuri, she couldn’t help but act out of her usual ways.

The next picture was of Yuri and Taeyeon. It looked like it was taken in Whimoon, probably a few years back, maybe in their freshmen year. Yuri was sitting down nonchalantly while Taeyeon was standing beside him. A cake was in front of them that had “Congratulations, CHAMPIONS!” written on it. Jessica found the picture extremely cute, Taeyeon had a big and bright smile while Yuri just sat there, looking at the camera with his usual blank expression, almost as if he was forced to take the picture in the first place.

Suddenly she heard a door-opening, startling her a bit. Jessica hurriedly put back the two pictures inside the box and sat herself casually on the couch. Incoming footsteps could be heard and soon, Yuri appeared in front of her in the most casual way he has ever seen him. Yuri wore a plain white shirt and a pair of black board shorts.

“I’m happy to still see you here. I was half-expecting to for you to make the run for it while I was gone.” He says, as he sits down with Jessica.

“I wasted most of my energy chasing after you so might as well stay.” Jessica says as her eyes looked around the apartment.

“…You have a nice house, by the way.” Jessica continued to say. She still couldn’t shake off the awkwardness she felt at the pit of her stomach.

“Thank you. Anyways, do you want to eat anything particular? If I have the ingredients for it, I’ll make it.”

“You’re really gonna cook? Like for real? Do you know how?” Jessica asked. She had to ask this because from what she has seen, there has yet to be something Yuri can’t do. He was too perfect in her eyes, there has to be some kind of flaw. Discarding the fact that he acts in such a different way than others, she was looking for something more on the technical side.

“I’ve cooked for myself for quite a while now and I haven’t died from it so far. Does that answer your question?” Yuri answers with a speck of playfulness.

“Haven’t died but got sent to the hospital, a few times, I assume?’

“Maybe. Maybe not. You’ll have to find out. Well, if you don’t want anything then I’ll just have to do whatever I can. Just sit back here and wait. Here, you can watch TV if you want.” Yuri says as he reaches for the remote and clicks open the TV. He hands the remote to Jessica and leaves for the kitchen.

“Hey! I can help if you want!” Jessica suggests. Behind that confidence lies the fact that Jessica didn’t know anything about cooking. The most she can do were pancakes and that is as far as her cooking skills can go.

“You’ve done a lot for me today. Just wait here.” Yuri says in a slightly raised voice as he talked from the kitchen.

Jessica, without any choice, sat back down and decided to watch TV. She switched in between channels but found nothing interesting and so she ended up turning the TV off. Jessica stood up from the couch and went towards the kitchen but stopped near Yuri’s dining table. From where she stood, Jessica had a perfect view of Yuri. It wasn’t much but somehow something that simple made her heart flutter like never before.

It wasn’t something she could control, that she knew but she can’t help but wonder just exactly what is it about Yuri that she finds so admirable to the point of wanting to trust again. All of these feelings came rushing down to her in a matter of days. Jessica was the one who approached Yuri first, she was the one who broke her rules without even knowing it till it hit her big time but that didn’t seem to bother her now.

Working silently, Yuri cooked. He wasn’t a good cook but he wasn’t bad either. He knew the basics of cooking so preparing meals wasn’t that hard for him. He was far too much concentrated in what he was doing to even notice that Jessica was practically burning a hole in him, with the way she stared at him. Eventually, she approached him and entered the kitchen.

“Are you sure there’s nothing I could do?” Jessica peeks in from the corner.

“You could quietly wait at that corner.” Yuri pointed at the bar stool of sorts at one corner at the kitchen.

Jessica sighs and does what she was told, except for one part.

“What are you making anyway?” She asks as she hops on the chair she was asked to sit on.

“Kimchi stew and fried fish. Nothing special, really. Unfortunately, I didn’t wake up this morning with the idea of cooking for you. If I did, I would’ve prepared something a bit better.” Yuri says as puts all the ingredients for the stew onto the pot.

“Then you should think about me more oft—. “ Jessica cut her words short. “… I mean… I uhm…” the brunette didn’t know how to save herself from the pits of eternal embarrassment. It was a slip up, that’s what it is. She wasn’t sure if she meant it but the bottom line is, she still said it, out loud.

Yuri looked in her direction and showed her that small smile of his.

“On the contrary, I actually think about you quite a lot. I don’t know why, I just do which is kind of convenient for me since it helps in blocking certain thoughts.” Yuri says before going back to focusing on the stew he was cooking.

It’s one of those times where Yuri suddenly is able to speak his mind freely. More often than not, it’s constricted because of his nature of wanting to keep things to himself but with Jessica there are times when he could truly speak without worrying about anything.

Jessica didn’t know how to reply to that. All she could hear was the boiling sounds coming from the pot and her steady beating heart that was gaining its pace.

“Have you called Kris?” Yuri asks to alleviate the sudden drop of the playful atmosphere.

“Huh? Oh uhm. No, it’s okay. I told him I’d come home a bit late anyway.”

“Are you sure? Shouldn’t you be calling him?”

Jessica shakes her head and says “Nope. I’m pretty sure he can get by without me for a while.”

Yuri only nodded. The reason why he was so adamant on Jessica calling Kris was because he didn’t want to worry Kris. The last thing he wanted to be on was Kris’ bad side. He cares for Jessica and vice-versa so it wouldn’t be too good if he ended up not liking him, he thought. Yuri decided to let Jessica set the table since the brunette refused to sit still. Yuri moved swiftly around the kitchen and soon enough he was finished cooking. He then carefully brought the dishes to the table, amazing Jessica in the process. The dishes served were simple but somehow it felt more than what they were, to Jessica.

“Eat.” Yuri says he grabs his chopsticks and starts doing it himself.

Jessica, after seeing Yuri was fine unlike that time they ate at the canteen, started eating as well.

“Before… when we went ate at that restaurant you brought me, you told me that I made you remember how to enjoy a meal. What’d you mean by that?” Jessica asks. This was just one of the many things that she was dead curious about. And now felt like an ‘okay’ time to start asking.

“I didn’t like eating with other people before. It makes my taste turn sour for some reason though I’m sure it’s just in my head. I’m not sure why but when we ate together that time, it made me remember the feeling of eating with my family which was weird because I can’t really remember a time when my family and I ate together in one table. Maybe there was but I just don’t remember it.”  Yuri explained it in a way, making it seem like it was just normal for him to be like that.

“Dr. Kim told me that you lost some of your memories….”

Yuri only nodded and continued eating.

“And that you’ve been seeing him to remember them, amongst other things, right?”

Again, Yuri just nods and doesn’t say a word.

“Have you remembered anything yet?”

Yuri shakes his in disagreement.

Jessica found it a bit strange that Yuri hasn’t remembered anything yet. She was expecting a bit of progress but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“What exactly do you do? I mean when you’re with Dr. Kim.” She instigates further

Yuri stopped eating and looked at Jessica. The question itself made Yuri stop and really think about his sessions with Dr. Kim. He’s been seeing him since summer but there has yet to be a development regarding his problem.

“We… talk.” Yuri felt a bit uncomfortable with the questions Jessica was asking.

“Talk about?”

"He asks me questions then I answer them.”  

“That’s all? Have you guys tried anything different to make you remember?” Yuri’s answers took Jessica’s curiosity levels to the sky. She found it a bit strange that the former hasn’t remembered anything yet. Yuri was smart on his own with the help of someone like Dr. Kim, Jessica expected that Yuri must’ve recovered some of his memories by now but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

"We have but nothing has worked so far. I sometimes ask him about certain things that normal people would obviously know but other than that, our sessions are mostly silent with me trying to remember things.”

“You told me that you don’t tell Dr. Kim everything, right? Do you think you could tell what those are?” Jessica knew that the only she was gonna be able to help Yuri is if he was completely honest with her about everything.

“There’s not a whole lot though. I kept them to myself because I don’t see how it is connected to me remembering anything.” Yuri replied.

“Could you tell me now? If it’s okay with you, I mean. You don’t have to if you don’t feel like it.” Jessica was threading on a thin line. She didn’t want to break Yuri’s trust at all, she just wanted to help him get better.

“Let’s just talk about it tomorrow.”

With that said, the two enjoyed a silent yet warm dinner together. When they were finished, Jessica volunteered to do the dishes while Yuri sat and watched her. Now it was Yuri’s turn to observe Jessica, he felt happy because of many reasons despite the hurricane of problems that were bestowed upon him. Everything gets better with Jessica, he thought. It was in that moment that he wished that he could fix himself faster because he knew that he could never be with Jessica otherwise.

“Done!” Jessica cheers which made Yuri wake up from his thoughts.

“Thank you for today.” Yuri says with a smile

“Thank you too, for the delicious meal.” Jessica smiles back

The two headed for the living room. Jessica grabbed her bag from the couch and faced Yuri.

“Ready to go?” He asks her

Jessica stayed silent for a minute or two. She was thinking of asking Yuri for one more thing.

“Yuri… that necklace, you showed me before? Do you still have it?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Can I borrow it?” One of Jessica’s philosophies was that everything happens for a reason. That necklace that was placed inside Yuri’s locker was there for a reason. Whoever sent it, clearly was trying to get a message across. With Yuri’s current condition, it was close to impossible to ever understand that message so she thought she could lend a helping hand.

Yuri wasn’t sure why Jessica wanted the necklace but following his earlier declaration of not letting himself think too much, even just for today, he went to his room and grabbed the object of interest and handed it over to Jessica.

“I’ll return this to you tomorrow, okay?”

Yuri only nodded and led Jessica out of his apartment. They went down to the lobby and once again, the doorman greeted them both before heading out. Not long after, they reached Jessica’s apartment complex.

“Thank you again for the meal!” Jessica bowed.

“Thank you for today as well. Good night.” Yuri said, making Jessica go inside first. When he saw Jessica get inside, he started walking back to his own house.

--

Dr. Kim was inside his car. He was parked at a vacant lot that was used by the adjacent building as a parking space for its employees. The night grew darker and darker and with it, the cars parked along with him decreased. By nature, Dr. Kim was an extremely patient person and so he didn’t mind the wait at all. When the time was right, he was able to spot a figure approaching the empty car he has been watching all night. Before the person could even enter the car, Dr. Kim got out of his and made his way to the other person.

“Good Evening.” Dr. Kim greeted with his usual bright smile.

The person he approached was a woman who was definitely not glad to see him. Instead of letting her fear show, the woman put an act on but unfortunately for her, Dr. Kim saw right through it.

“And who might you be?” the woman asked, still clinging onto her act.

Seeing the woman act made Dr. Kim laugh. He found it annoying yet amusing at the same time.

“Let’s not play that game. I’m not in the mood.” Dr. Kim replied

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mister. Now if you would please excuse me. I need to get home.” The woman attempted to walk past Dr. Kim but the latter grabbed her hand and pulled her back quite too roughly.

“I told you, right? I’m not in the mood for games, Yoon Eunhye. Or should I call you Grace now?” Dr. Kim tightly held Grace’s wrist and made sure to send the message across. The moment Grace heard her former name, she felt the real sense of danger she was really in. She swallowed the lump in and tried to speak as loud as she can

“Let go of me!” Grace struggled under Dr. Kim’s grip which for reasons, made Dr. Kim more amused than ever.  Being the bigger person and obviously stronger, Dr. Kim was able to push and pin Grace against her own car and cover .

“I wouldn’t have found out you were back if you hadn’t sent that package. And now we’re here. Do you see how this is your fault?” Dr. Kim asked mockingly, still having his smile on him. He took his hand off of to allow her to speak. Grace ran out of options. There was no use in denying it anymore. She dropped her act and stared right at Dr. Kim’s eyes.

“You and that wretched family might have fooled the entire world but not me. My brother didn’t kill himself. He’s not like that.” Grace hissed. She felt the sudden rise of anger within her as she remembered her precious brother that had passed away.

Dr. Kim let go of Grace and took a step away from her. Yet again he found himself laughing at Grace’s words.

“What do you think happened then?”

“That other boy… Kwon Yuri. He must have had something to do with everything. He was friends with my brother but now he lives his life as if nothing happened. What do you expect me to feel?!” Grace shouted.

“Your brother’s real name was Jung Taekwoon right? That was his name before your family adopted him. Maybe your parents didn’t tell you but Taekwoon was schizophrenic amongst other things, they were aware of this before they even made the decision to adopt him. He lived in his fantasies and without thinking, he took your father’s gun and killed himself with it at the tender age of 8. Kwon Yuri, the other boy, was just there to witness it.”  

Grace was speechless. Her brother, although they weren’t related by blood, was immensely precious to her. Even though they weren’t able to spend a long time with each other, nothing stopped her from grieving when her brother died. This was the first time he was hearing all of this and so naturally she was in a state of shock. Yuri's involvement in the case was not included in the case filehowever through digging here and there, she was able to find out that young Yuri was present during the time her brother alledgedly killed himself.

“You met Yuri recently, am I not right? During KGC’s anniversary party. I’m sure you were surprised as to why he didn’t recognize you. Seeing his friend and more importantly a person who he treated like an older brother, kill himself in front of him was a lot to take on for a 6 year old so his young intricate mind made sure to repress any memory that was related to Taekwoon, including you.”

The receiving end of all this information, Grace, couldn’t take it anymore. Her legs gave up and so she ended up sitting down on the ground.

“You wanted the truth right? You should’ve prepared yourself to hear it instead of doing pathetic things like threatening me and my patient.” Dr. Kim was aware of everything that has happened to Yuri over the past few days. Including the incident where in his car was trashed, he wasn't sure who was responsible for it until he recevied that strange package the other day. He had access to these information because he had connections with the people who worked for the Kwon family.

“I’m sure Soon-Il saw you at that party as well but he didn’t do anything because he was afraid that you might lash out and cause a scene on the spot. If you want to respect your brother’s memory then I suggest you stop all of this nonsense.” Dr. Kim left a distraught Grace, sitting down on the ground. He went back to his car and drove away into the night.

With all that was said tonight, with every word, the truth still remained a secret. A secret that only Dr. Kim knows.

--

HELLO ALL! 

NOTE: Jung Taekwoon = VIXX' LEO (Jung Taekwoon is his real name in real life. Leo is his stage name)

Yoon Grace/Eunhye = YOON EUNHYE, THE ACTRESS. (The one from Princess Hours! The lead actress)

I'm sure a lot of you are confused because in the earlier chapters it was explained that Dr. Kim had no idea about what happened to Yuri's case but low and behold, TADA! A PLOT TWIST! but seriously if you guys read the chapter "The Dark Side" I tried to leave a subtle hint about this lol

"The human mind is full of secrets. Whether we are conscious of it or not, dark thoughts lurk around our heads. It’s part of what makes us human. We are after all just imperfect beings trying to live out day after day."  <-- This was written in that chapter.

Also it is important to note that on the foreword I wrote that this is: "A story about the struggle between Reality and Expectations, Truth and Lies and of course the usual Good and Evil."

I've left several hints in this chapter, hopefully someone gets them haha if not then everyone will just have to wait for the other chapters :D 

Hope you guys enjoyed this update! Till the next one! 

WELCOME NEW SUBSCRIBERS! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT EVERYONE <3

As always, please do leave some comments :D

peace! -ymllama