Mirae’s POV

“Jagi! There’s a letter for you here,” Luhan called. It had gone a week since we had slept in the same bed for the first time now, and the word ‘jagi’ was frequently used by the both of us, to both our delights. I sat in the kitchen with my morning coffee in my hand, trying to sort out our economical situation. Ever since Mr Lu had frozen Luhan’s assets, we weren’t sure of how much money we had left. And going from being one of the richest families in Seoul to almost bankrupt wasn’t a pleasant transition. Sehun also tried to help out as much as he could. It seemed both he and Luhan had gone business classes, so they both had a lot of knowledge in that department, much unlike me. Luhan laid the letter in front of me and shoved away all the papers.

“Hey! I needed to look at that,” I complained, pulling the stack of papers back towards me.

“What’s the point when you don’t understand it?” Luhan chuckled. “We’ll take care of it, jagi.” I glared at him. Not that I wasn’t used to being bossed around by men, but the idea of me not being able to be as good in economics – even though it stood clear that I wasn’t – as a man aggravated me. I determinedly pulled back the papers and went back to reading. “Honey...”

“No. I can also learn this piece of thing! I just have to read it again,” I established confidently. It was no use though, I realised that. To me, the papers only had letters and numbers on them. They didn’t tell me anything about what I could do to either improve it or worsen it. After a while I pushed the papers onto Sehun who smiled encouragingly and reached for the letter Luhan had brought instead. “What do you think they’ll say at the bank?” I asked while opening the letter.

“I don’t know. We’ll just have to hope it’s good news and not bad. Bad ones would be that our money won’t last till the end of the month, but your assets should be barely enough to last us two more months, if I’ve counted correctly,” Luhan replied. I sighed. Can this situation get worse? Apparently it could: the letter was from Jongin. I frowned and decided to read it in solitude. “Mirae?” Luhan called after me, but I ignored him and continued into the bedroom. Once I had settled down by the soft pillows, I unfolded the letter and began to read it thoroughly, word by word. With every word – false and bitter – my brother had written, I felt the lump in my throat grow. The tears collected behind my eyelids, but they wouldn’t come out until I read the last sentence: Love, Kim Jongin. I started breathing heavily as the tears ran down and the anger built up fast and ruthlessly. With a scream of frustration, I tore the letter into a thousand pieces and threw them on the floor. Naturally, Luhan and Sehun came rushing in, wondering what was going on.

“That ing bastard!” I yelled, throwing all the pillows I could get my hands on down on the floor. Then I felt Luhan’s hands take mine as he sat down next to me. I gasped for air and had to lay my head on Luhan’s shoulder to ensure that I wouldn’t fall. “That ing bastard,” I sobbed. “How dares he write that kind of a letter and then end with our ing family name!” I kept weeping for at least another five minutes, the thoughts flying around in all directions. Why has Jongin left me when I need him? Why did he write so formally when he knew it was for me? Why did he use our family name like that? How long will he be gone?

“Jagi...” Luhan softly said, interrupting my thoughts for a moment. “What did it say?” I tried to catch my breath, wanting to reply his question and help him understand. I wrapped my arms around him waist, crying into his chest. I couldn’t understand it, I just couldn’t. Nothing in Jongin’s letter made sense and even so, I knew he had written it. There was no way it could’ve been anyone else but him. I didn’t know if the latter fact was the one which hurt the most. Maybe it’s not so serious? Maybe dad really did force him? I shook my head. No, he would never do that. Forcing Jongin to work in Japan could result in a loss on his company’s side. If Jongin truly had gone to Japan, it had been by his own free will. But why now?

“He’s in Japan... Jongin,” I whispered into Luhan’s, now, wet shirt. “He l-left me...” I could feel Luhan’s grip tighten around me, holding me closer to him.

“Jagi, I’m here,” he breathed against my hair. “I’m here, okay?” I closed my eyes. Luhan’s deep breaths that came all the way up from the centre of his stomach washed over me and eased me. A sentence from Jongin’s letter popped up in my mind: I will not have to ask Lu Han to look after you in my place. Jongin had written it was because he thought I was capable of making the correct decisions on my own, but sitting here, next to Luhan and feeling his warmth, I knew it, for me, had nothing to do with that. Jongin wouldn’t have to ask Luhan to look after me becau