Victoria took a calming breath before she knocks at Miranda’s bedroom door. She waited for her cousin to invite her in before she pushed the door open; she paused by the doorway when she saw Krystal sprawled on the bed. “What’s up, Unnie?” Krystal asks without looking up from her iPad.

Miranda shakes her head with a smile as she looks at her youngest cousin, she looks up at Victoria, “Come on in, dearest. She wanted to show me her new designs.” She pats the spot next to her.

Victoria laughs and crawls on to the king size bed and plops down next to Miranda and wraps her arms around her cousin’s lap and used it as a pillow and wiggles her body to find a comfortable spot.

Miranda rubs her back, “Are you feeling better now? I got worried when Nichkhun called to say that you collapsed in his office, what happened?”

Victoria closed her eyes and sighs, “I haven’t been totally honest, Unnie.” She starts quietly. She chuckles despite herself when Krystal stops fiddling with her tablet and spun around to face them. Victoria sits up and positions herself in front of her cousins. The worried look in their faces made her feel so loved. She never had kept secrets from these two, never, until now and that made her feel so guilty. She gave them a small smile.

“I have been keeping a secret from you two, I was so worried you would get upset so Nichkhun and I decided to keep it to ourselves.” She starts, her face couldn’t help showing how guilty and sorry she was.

“Unnie.” Krystal whispers, her face horrified, “Are you telling us you’re pregnant?”

“Don’t talk nonsense, my love!” Miranda reprimands her firmly, “Let her finish.”

“No, of course not! I’m not pregnant, we haven’t, I mean, no I’m not!” she sends the youngest a glare but Krystal just shrugs, seemingly unaffected.

Miranda wraps her arms around her youngest cousin and warned her to be quiet, the girl nods.

Victoria can’t help but smile; she can possibly imagine her life without them. She clears .

“Okay here goes.” She takes a deep cleansing breath and starts. She told them everything, starting from the day Nichkhun introduced her to Tiffany at Wooyoung’s birthday and what happened at the Charity gala and she nervously told them about what Nichkhun had confessed to her the day he got back from Tokyo. She flinched when Miranda’s face hardened when she also confessed of forgiving him. Krystal wanted to rant but Miranda shushed her.

“Go on.” Miranda knew she was not finished.

Victoria nods and with great care told them what happened in the afternoon. When she finished she couldn’t look at Miranda straight in the eye. When silence ensued, she felt so uncomfortable she was about to start to squirm, she risks a glance at her eldest cousin and found the woman just staring at her, she looks at Krystal and her baby cousin had also clamped up.

They were staring at her for what seemed like forever, Victoria couldn’t stand it anymore.

“I’m sorry.” She weakly says, “But I can’t let him go, I love him so much.” She was pleading to them, asking them to understand.

“But Unnie, this is unfair!” Krystal exclaims but surprisingly she wasn’t screaming, she hissed out her frustration. “How could you allow him to do this to you? Have you no pride?!” she her voice going up a notch now, “I told him when he asked me to let him date you that he was going to be careful! I warned him about that ! I can’t believe this is happening! What a jerk!” her voice went back down, as if she didn’t think screaming was enough but she was her hands and she was red in the face; she was taking deep breaths, “You are a fool, Unnie. Break up with him, his words are just words, they mean crap!” tears are now falling from her eyes, she lets out a painful sob, “It’s my entire fault! I shouldn’t have allowed him to date you! I shouldn’t have listened to Se Young-unnie and Wooyoung-oppa!”

Victoria’s heart broke, she reached for her cousin, “No, sweetheart! It’s not your fault.” She gathers her in her embrace amidst her own tears, “Hush, my love. I’m sorry, I am the one who allowed this.” she wipes the tears away and pulls her back in her chest, “I’m sorry.”

Victoria was scared to look at Miranda, she doesn’t know what the other woman is thinking right now, what she knows is that all of this will not be taken lightly. To keep from looking up she concentrates in soothing Krystal to stop crying.

Krystal pulls away from Victoria, she turns to Miranda, “Unnie, say something!” she demanded, “Make her break up with him!” her eyes were angry, she avoids Victoria’s arms, “Unnie!”

Their eldest cousin, who they consider a parent, had just been quiet all this time, silently observing and listening.

Miranda reached out and cradled her cousin’s angry face, “Okay, but you have to calm down.” she says soothingly.

Victoria’s heart dropped down to her stomach, she grits her teeth and waited for the reprimand she is going to get. All her life she had been considered an obedient child, she always follows all the rules and never even once caused trouble, Miranda had always kept them both in line when she needs to, she was only two years older than her but she wields the complete authority in the family.

Miranda, with a look, made Krystal quietly sit on the bed next to her. She looks away for a moment and then takes a deep breath before looking at Victoria with a sad expression in her eyes.

“Come here.” She motions at Victoria. The latter obeys and sits directly in front of her.

“I am not going to decide for you, I am not going to tell you to do anything your heart is not up to.” She starts, she sends a warning look at Krystal who was starting to fuss next to her; she waited until the girl settles down before turning back to Victoria.

“I do not have the right to dictate your actions, I never have and never will for both of you.” She takes both of their hands in hers, she takes a breath to fight back her tears, “What I can do is support you both in anything you decide.” She clears , “But having said that, I wouldn’t want you to suffer either. So what can I do?” she gazed at Victoria tenderly.

“Unnie.” Victoria says guiltily, “I’m sorry.” Her tears won’t stop from flowing. She had failed her at her promise.

“I’m sorry too, dearest. I can’t possibly do anything to take away the hurt you are going through right now, this is your battle not mine.” She tilts up Victoria’s face, “What I can hope for is that you make the right decisions and stand by them, and when you need help you are not going to hesitate to ask for it.” She takes a breath and gathers them both close. She deposits a kiss on both their temples.

“I had wanted to keep you both from getting hurt like this but I can’t do it, no matter how I hard I try to protect you something is going to happen out of my reach and this happen to be one of them. I guess we all go through this to learn a lesson, to know the things worth fighting for and the things we have to reluctantly let go and when to let go. These experiences make us grow and make us wiser.” She shakes her head and smiles sadly at them, “I just want you both to promise that you will not wait to ask for my help, and know that I will drop everything to rush to your side. That I will promise. Now I want to hear that you are going to help me fulfill it.”

“I promise.” Krystal whispers in her embrace.

“Me too, Unnie, I promise.” Victoria says sincerely.

Miranda finally lets out a genuine smile, “Now, we don’t have to argue.” She turns to Krystal, “Our loyalty is to our family, my love.” She kissed her forehead, “So whatever it is that will make Unnie happy we help her, agreed?” she smiles at the frown she got.

Krystal mulls over it, she huffs and rolls her eyes simultaneously, “Fine!” she sits up and p