"What I saw with my closed eyes
was the world that I had lost."

It was almost 6am when the car stopped in a parking lot that faced the ocean. Minah stirred in her sleep, she was getting uncomfortable from sleeping upright for almost 5 hours. Her mind was totally blank from what had happened last night. She remembered nothing, all except for getting to the club with Tao after being surrounded by paparazzi asking them questions. Those headlines would be released this morning and she knew it. Then of course, her family would be calling to yell at her for getting in a relationship with one of the Huang's. But all that was a lie anyways. She liked no one. She didn't want to date anyone. Minah couldn't even remember the last time she had a crush on someone.

The male watched Minah slowly open her dark eyes. He was glad that she was alright. She didn't look the greatest but he was just glad she was awake and didn't have alcohol poisoning or something along those lines. 

She looked around and noticed she was in a familiar car. Sehun's car to be exact. She could instantly recongnize his 2015 Range Rover that he got imported all the way from America. But when she looked over to see Sehun, she didn't.

The disheveled blonde hair still shocked her whenever she saw it. Jongin looked at her cautiously, he could tell she didn't remember.

"Minah? Do you know where you are?" he asked slowly and quietly, trying not to scare the girl.

She shook her head and looked out the window. They were in a parking lot that was right across from the beach. It was still dark out and she wondered why she was here. Minah then glanced at the clock and saw the time. She was so confused. Where was Sehun or Tao? 

"Okay." Jongin breathed slowly. "Last night you were at the club with your friend Tao. Sehun got a text messaged from him asking for help to come and get you. We were in the middle of a dance practice so we all decided to go and get you. So we took Sehun's car. And when we got to the club, all of us saw you with a bunch of different guys. When I saw you, I just had a feeling that I needed to protect you. I knew that something didn't go well with your father and that's why you were at the club like that. I had to get you to talk about it. So I asked Sehun if I could borrow his car for today to take you somewhere that relaxes me."

"I see." Minah tried to understand everything that he just said because of the pounding headache made it hard to hear anything. "So where is this special place?"

Jongin looked out the window to the ocean. The ends of curved up into a heartwarming smile. "The place where I grew up."

"It means a lot to me. I only lived here for a couple of years as a kid but it was the best years of my life. My mother was born and grew up here so her entire family is here while my dad's side is from Seoul." he continued. "So come on. Let's go before the sun starts to rise."

Jongin excitedly got out of the car then running around to Minah's side where he quickly opened the door and waited for her to come out. There was still another 45 minutes till the sun was going to peek over the horizon so they had to hurry to get to Jongin's spot.

The tired female slowly and cautiously got out of the expensive SUV and closed the door behind her.

Reaching his hand out for hers, Jongin gave her a reassuring smile. He wanted everything to be okay for her. He wanted her to trust him. To vent what was upsetting her because everytime he looked into her eyes he saw pain and fright. Jongin hated it because he was the same way.

Minah took his hand and interlocked their fingers together. He had warm hands, kind of sweaty but is was pleasant. Squeezing his hand, Minah let Jongin lead the way.

As they stepped onto the beach, neither of the two said anything. It was a comfortable silence. With the light emerging from the horizon, it was getting better to see everything and use all the senses to expierence what was happening. The salt water filled their noses and with the fall weather, the breeze off the ocean was cold for both of them.

It was just tranquil to Minah. No loud sounds of the city, no horns honking or screaming people. Just the waves crashing against the shore. Her headache was even starting to fade away slowly with each step they took on the sand.

Jongin led Minah to a small bench that was placed in the sand, it faced the ocean so it was the perfect spot to watch the sunrise.

"This was where my dad proposed to my mom." he spoke up, Minah turning to look at him. "They were both students are Busan University. They met freshmen year and quickly started dating after that. My grandmother told me that it was love at first sight. You know that feeling where you feel like your heart stops beating in your chest and your palms get sweaty just thinking about them. I loved whenever my grandmother told me the story of my mother first seeing my father for the first time. She said it was almost like the fairytales that she use to read to my mom when she was a kid. So at the end of their fourth and final year of university, my dad took my mom here before the sunrise and just when the sun lightened the sky and it just started coming over the horizon, he got down on one knee."

Minah quietly listened, almost jealous of how happy their family must have been. It was so full of love and happiness. While she was really born because of business.

"When my dad took my mom back to Seoul with him to introduce her to his family, everybody was so full of joy because they said they were the perfect couple. You could tell by the look of love in their eyes. After they got married, my mom quickly got pregnant with my older brother. It was perfect for them. A boy to take on the family name and family business. But they didn't care about the business when Jongdae was born, all they wanted was him to be happy and healthy. A year and a half later, my mom got pregnant with me. She was healthy until 3 weeks before her due date. Something unexpected happened. She went into an early labour. It turns out that the umbilical cord was caught around my neck and they only way I could have been born alive was if my mom had a C-section. The doctors reassured my dad and mom that I was going to be fine with this simple procedure. But when I was finally free from the umbilical cord, my mother started to have uncontrollable bleeding. No matter how many clamps they put in her, she just kept bleeding until her body finally gave in and her heart stopped beating. It was because of me that my mother died and my father never let me live it down. My mom wasn't the only one that died that day, my fathers love died as well." Jongin looked out to the ocean, it calmed him. Minah was shocked by everything and she didn't know what to saw.

"I-I'm so sorry." she said in a whisper.

Jongin waved it off. "It's okay. I never knew her. But my grandmother says I looked just like her. The dark skin, the big lips, and the heart full of wonder." he smiled down to the ground, kicking around some sand with his feet. "Jongdae was the gift sent from God. He was smart, got along with others, and just nice all around. My father adored him but to both of them, I was the monster that killed my own mother. I was sent here to live with my grandparents until I forced my dad to let me live with him. But no one was allowed to see me. I had to pretend that I was the head maids son when investers and shareholders came to the house. To them I was Kai, since the head maid was Japanese, she gave me that name. She said it means ocean."

"But one day, I was in the kitchen helping the staff make lunch for the meeting with shareholders when this boy around the same age wondered into the kitchen because he got lost. Turns out that this boy was smarter than I thought. He instantly knew I was the second son to Kim Jongwoo, just by the eyes. Want to know who that boy was?" Jongin leaned over and started chuckling.

Minah smiled and laughed as well. "Oh Sehun."

"Bingo!" he cheered, his eyes turning into crescents from laughing. 

"Jongin..." Minah lowered her voice after calming down from laughing. "How did you stay strong throughout the years?"

"I wasn't strong. When I moved to Seoul, the constant ridicule from my dad and my older brother was horrible. They pretty much treated me like I never existed. Which is what they told the press. My dad said that I died along with my mother. But I started finding the happiness that life has to offer. I went to an art academy where I started to dance and even try my hand at singing. I had dance classes after school with Sehun almost 3 times a week. And when I turned 16, my father made me move out and paid for the apartment so I would keep quiet. I met my old roommate Kyungsoo because he was a singer at the same academy as me, only he was a year older. I met Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Luhan during the beginning of university. And Yixing was a friend of Luhan's who really could dance. It was the 6 of us throughout their final years of university and my first and second year. I surrounded myself with friends, kept myself busy to take my mind off things, and just stayed positive." 

That was the one thing Minah never did. Positivity. But with what was happening to her, how exactly could she stay positive about that?

"Now tell me, Ms. Ahn... why were you blackout drunk last night? Was it because of your father? What did he say to you? I'm here if you have anything to say." he really tried to reassure her that he wasn't going anywhere. He was someone to be trusted and Minah knew that now. Maybe, just maybe could she tell me everything.