Angie recalls her mother's final moments as she said that there were still so many things untold, unexplained. Her final words were an address. And the request that Angie would scatter her ashes at her hometown with the person she meets at that place. "He'll explain what I didn't have the chance to," she said before uttering the words "I love you" to her beloved daughter, then she closed her eyes and stopped fighting the pain. 

She let go, leaving her daughter alone in the dark street, covered in a pool of blood that was a mixture of her own but mostly her mother's. The ambulance's sirens were roaring but Angie could hear nothing but the sound of her breaking heart. She was alone. Alone in this dark, dark world with nothing to lead her out of this abyss but an address located in her mother's hometown. And now here she is. In the home that the address led her to.

They sit on the couch, facing the 25 year old man they had just met a few moments ago. Angie is visibly tense, continuously clasping her hands together as she watches Kris release a slow breath from the corner of her eye. Namjoon notices her anxiety and places his hand on top of hers, rubbing it soothingly. 

She snaps her head to the side at the sudden touch. Then she sees the shy and sincere expression on Namjoon's face as he stares at their intertwined hands, unable to look her in the eyes, and she relaxes for a moment just before her heart starts speeding up again. This time, it wasn't out of fear or anxiety.

Her heart skips a beat at the realisation and she contemplates whether or not to pull away. But his slender fingers against hers just feels so... right. She heaves a sigh and decides that just this once, she will give in with the excuse that she needs all the comfort she can get while listening to what this person who claims to be her brother has to say. The man takes a deep breath before tilting his head up to face them. He looks straight at Angie and begins retelling the tale of their late mother...

"Our mother... well, like all us humans, she wasn't perfect. She made her fair share of mistakes; as do we. When she was 16, she fell in love. She thought that he was the one. But unfortunately, he wasn't. She was just another victim who suffered the pain of losing a love that she had harped on for too long. They broke off a few months after mum turned 18. I know you probably already know this," Kris looks up to see Angie with tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. 

Kris sighs again. "You know who I'm talking about, then. But... what you don't know is that two months after they parted ways, mum found out that she was 3 months pregnant. At first, she refused to admit it. She refused to acknowledge the fact that she was holding that scumbag's child in her..."

Kris pauses and takes a deep breath to collect his thoughts.

"I was that child," he says after a moment.

"She threw a fit, tried to tell him about it, tell him about me. The idiot that I cannot bear to admit is my father never answered her calls nor her messages. Weeks later came the reply. Two words. 'Abort it.'

"But mum, being the compassionate person she is, had gotten attached to the little being that was growing inside of her. She couldn't bear the thought of murdering another that had grown in her womb, even though he was a 'mistake'. She decided not to go for abortion. She decided to give me the chance to live. 

"When I entered this world, a child clueless to his mother's predicament, it was love at first sight. When she held me in her arms, she decided to dedicate her life to me, to give me every ounce of her care and love. She thought nothing could come between her and her little one. Once again, she thought wrong.

"Halmuni (grandmother) entrusted me to a family friend when I was a mere 7 months old. Now, before you get angry at her, try to understand that what she did, she did with eomma's (mum) good will in mind. She didn't want a baby to burden the life of her teenage daughter and she didn't have the strength to take care of it herself. No, our grandmother is not a heartless person. It hurt her just as much as it would hurt giving your own child to another. But she had to do it so that mother could carry on with her life without having to worry about the mistake that is me."

By this time, both Kris and Angie are in tears. Angie gets up and shocks everyone, including herself, by wrapping her arms around her half-brother. Her soft whimpers can be heard as her body rises and falls in rhythm with them. Namjoon's heart warms at the sight. Even though she is in so much pain, her priority is still to comfort others.

Kris hugs his long-lost sister back and buries his head into her hair. All he can do is to keep uttering apology after apology, as though he is at fault for something. Once again, Namjoon, the bystander, is wrapped up in a cloak of confusion. Why is he apologizing? The siblings separate, slightly awkwardly since it was such an impromptu hug. They laugh as they wipe their tear stained faces. Namjoon gets up, planning to excuse himself as he feels that he shouldn't listen to their private conversation but Angie orders him to sit back down. "You deserve a proper explanation," is all she says.

Angie turns to Kris and he nods in understanding.

"Mother never forgave grandma for what she did. She was devastated that her baby had been taken away from her. She vowed to never fall in love again, so as to not put herself through all that pain once more. But then she met your father," Kris smiles softly at his sister. "And she had you. The two of you were the best things that have ever happened to her. But that scumbag had to come back and destroy that happiness..."

Kris buries his head in his hands, "that scumbag that is my father," he continues. "Was the bastard unsatisfied that she could carry on with her life happily without him? Was he angry because he still harboured feelings for her? I don't know. But what I do know is that what he did was inhumane," he pauses, and looks at Namjoon. He turns to his sister and she nods again, "that ing bastard killed her father," he explains to Namjoon. "Who was more of a father to me than that will ever be," Kris smiles at his sister, who is staring at him in shock.

"Mum never kept me a secret to your dad. When he knew of my existence, he immediately started searching for me. 2 years before he passed, he found me. He tried to explain but the 13 year old me wasn't able to accept it. My foster parents had hid the fact that I wasn't really their's. I didn't know what to think anymore. But your father was an understanding person. He reached out to me slowly, and I began to look at him as my own father. 

"But then he found him. I don't know how. He hunted your father down and... and made it seem like an accident. He made the most sinister homicide seem like an accident. He killed your father, and escaped. I knew. I tried to tell the police but they wouldn't listen to a crazy kid. No one believes what kids say," Angie leans on her brother's shoulder and closes her eyes to prevent the tears from falling.

"But a month ago, he came back. And you put him to justice," he smiles at his sister proudly. "Mum passing was unfortunate, and I'll never forgive that bastard for taking away both of your parents. But I have never been more proud of you for anything... I knew about you from the time your dad found me. And since he passed, mum had been keeping me updated about you. I watched you grow, from afar. Mum couldn't find it in her to tell you but she was planning to do so. She was planning to tell you about me on your birthday this year. But she never got the chance."

Kris balls his hands into fists, shaking as his eyes turn blood-red in anger. He can't believe that he has such a cruel person's blood running through his veins. And worst of all, he feels at fault. He feels responsible for his mother and step-father's deaths. He always has. "It's not your fault. Don't take it on yourself," says a soft voice beside him. 

He looks at Angie in shock; how did she know what he was thinking? "On her death bed, mother told me to tell the person I met here that none of what happened was his fault. It really isn't. That mother er wouldn't change his mother ing ways even if you didn't exist. In fact, you two aren't even related. My parents are yours. You don't have to call that bastard your father," she looks him in the eye to show that she means every word she says.

Namjoon (still the awkward bystander) smiles at her words. She really is one of a kind. But that still didn't explain her sudden headaches and split-personality. Now she turns to him, "before I turn bonkers again, I'll tell you what's wrong with me," she says.

Mentally unsound due to post-trauma from the unfortunate incidents. Something similar to a combination of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Bipolar Disorder. She developed two different mentalities, so to speak. One that has accepted all the past occurrences and lives with it; the her that knows that there's no way that that man can hurt her because he's locked behind bars and will soon face a trial that will most possibly confirm the end of his life. 

And then there's the other side of her. The one that lives in the perpetual fear that he is still out there, lurking in the dark corners of the streets, waiting to strike; to finish what he started. She fell into depression and would hyperventilate when caught off-guard by sudden relapses when the 'other' her would emerge. But in her subconscious, the real her is always aware of what is going on, simply unable to break out of the barrier set up by the part of her that is still afraid of the dark.

"I understand if you think I'm weird and you're welcome to walk through that door and leave," she says after the long explanation. There's a pause as her words linger in the air for a moment, making it tenser than it already was. Then Namjoon gets up and walks towards the door and she watches him, calmly. Kris observes the whole situation. He sees the tinge of sadness mixed with relief in his sister's eyes. He knows. Then Namjoon turns back. The siblings stare at him in confusion. He stares at Angie dead in the eye. 

"Just how much of an do you think I am? I'm not leaving, Angie," he walks towards her and reaches out to pull her into his embrace. But she backs away. "No, no. Please, I beg you. Don't make me fall," She runs into the first bedroom she sees and locks the door as she leans on it, the tears already spilling out of her eyes profusely. Why does he keep making it so hard? In the hall, Kris pats the dumbfounded Namjoon's back, getting him to sit down. Kris had gotten a letter from their grandmother. It contained all of Angie's medical reports with her psychiatrist prior to her leaving Australia for Korea. Kris hands one of the latest reports to Namjoon.

Patient is beginning to exhibit signs of recovery. Relapses are not as common and drastic as before. Requested permission for travel has been accepted as long as she returns after 4 days and seeing that patient is 18, no adult supervision is required. A few concerns to note: patient has expressed her fear of falling in love. Fear of the occurrence of something similar to the case of deceased mother is most likely the cause. Patient is afraid that feelings of affection may lead to painful and possibly harmful results. This will be looked into upon patient's return to Australia.

"I hope you can give her time," Kris speaks. He tells him that he is bringing Angie back to Australia the next morning. Namjoon nods and takes a moment to collect himself before walking towards the bedroom door and knocks on it. "I'm leaving. I'll see you tomorrow, and that'll be the last time, I promise," the last time before you get well. "Please just remember that it's not dangerous anymore. No one is after you, alright?" And it doesn't matter to me even if you're a lunatic. I want to get to know you better. But I guess that's not possible at this point in time.

With slow, hesitant steps, Namjoon leaves the house. He exchanges numbers with Kris who will inform him their flight details. As he walks out onto the streets, it begins to pour. He smiles bitterly as he hums to the slow melody in his head.

My head's under water

But I'm breathing fine

You're crazy and

I'm Out of my mind

-

She shakes his hand, gripping her backpack. "Thanks to you, I got to go to Busan and fulfill my mother's wishes," she says. After Namjoon left yesterday, Kris and Angie went to the highest hill in Busan to scatter their mother's ashes. Her mother was quite the symbolic person and "wanted what little remained of her to travel, carried by the winds of her birthplace." or whatnot.

Namjoon shakes her hand back and says, "friends?" She nods back enthusiastically. She seems to have forgotten all the drama yesterday. He smiles at her as he waves at the two siblings who walk into the boarding queue. As he turns around and walks away, his iPod's shuffle mode starts playing a song he has not listened to in a long while.

As soon as she leaves I say

I love you I love you

I love you I love you

Under my breath, yes I do Under my breath

-~-

(1 year later)

She stirs her cappuccino slowly as she stares out to the busy street, watching the cars whiz by. Suddenly, someone places an iced caramel macchiato on the table. "Is this seat taken?" Says a deep voice. She looks up and smiles. She watches as the dimpled smile she has come to miss appears on the man's face as he takes the seat across her's.

"Long time no see," they both say at the same time.

(End)

A/N: congratulations! You have finally come to the end of this 3 shot that i have become so attached to don't ask me why. I left the ending this way so you guys can imagine for yourselves, what happened in that year, and what will happen to the trio. Will Angie ever get over her fear of falling? Will Namjoon's feelings for her still hold? And will Kris ever stop blaming himself? It's all up to you. Let your imagination run wild. I apologize if there are any errors in the chapter. And as always, I love you!

A couple of bonus chapters up ahead.