Sophie’s POV

I wake up and blink my eyes a couple of times to get used to my surroundings. “Sophie, you’re up,” a voice says and as I look closer I see that it’s Lay. Where’s L.Joe? Where am I?

“Where am I?” I ask as I attempt to sit up, but Lay’s hand stops me.

“Don’t, just rest, lay down,” he commands.

“Where am I?” I ask again as I listen to him and go back down on my back. I take in some more of my surrounds and don’t recognize this as the house. Am I somewhere other than the house?

“You’re in a hospital right now,” Lay explains.

“A hospital?” I ask.

“You fainted before and we brought you here,” he explains as he gets up from his seat. “I’m going to go tell the doctor that you’re wake.”

“Where’s L.Joe?” I ask.

“He went to go get some snacks to eat.”

“Snacks?” I ask.

“Yeah, he should be back soon, you were out for a couple of hours.”

“Was I?” I ask turning to look at him, but he’s already out of the door. I then think back to what happened before everything went black. My mother and other people came to the house. My mother, it sounds foreign. The mother that I know is dead. This person…is she even my mother?

Everything is clouding my mind, everything is happening too fast. Are these people really related to me? They said that Lay is my brother and that that woman is my mother, then who are the other people? Are they related to me, too? If I’m related to them, then why was I put up for adoption in the first place if they were simply going to come back and find me anyway?

But if Lay is my brother, Lay is Chinese, which means that I’m Chinese, I’m not Korean. Then why was I told that I’m Korean? Suddenly the word that was said before I fell unconscious hits me. Kidnapped. Was I really kidnapped? Did the people that I trust with my whole life kidnap me?

“Oh look, you’re up,” L.Joe says as he comes into the room. “How are you feeling?”

“Good, I guess,” I say giving him a smile.

“It’s good to know that you’re okay,” he says coming over to me and kissing me on the forehead as he takes Lay’s spot. “I was worried sick about you.”

“Lay told me you went to go get snacks,” I say as I look at the bag in his hand.

“Yeah,” he says as he scratches the back of his neck. “I was hungry and I didn’t want hospital food, so I put Lay in charge of you while I stepped out for a bit.”

“That’s alright.”

“Speaking of Lay, where is he?”

“He went to go get the doctor,” I say as I look towards the door as Lay and the doctor come in.

They both start speaking Chinese and I don’t know what’s going on. L.Joe doesn’t know either until Lay turns to me. “He’s just going to perform some simple tests to see if you’re alright,” Lay says as the doctor nods his head. “Don’t worry, it won’t be anything bad, just checking to make sure that your brain is still working properly and that you didn’t receive any damage, we’ll be in here the whole time.”

The doctor does his tests and quickly finishes up leaving the room after he explains some things to Lay. “What did he say?” I ask.

“He said that everything seems fine and you’ll be able to be released today, but we’re going to have another test done.”

“Why another test?” I ask.

“My mom and I think that you wouldn’t believe us if we said that you are related to us, hence we’re going to get a DNA test done and expedite it so we can prove to you that we are related to you.”

“Oh,” I quietly say.

“Will you agree to it?” he asks. “We have to get your permission first.”

I think about it. Even if it would mean facing an uncomfortable and hurtful truth, I want to know. “I’ll do it,” I tell him. “I think it’s time that I finally learned the truth about everything.” I take a quick glance at L.Joe and he gives me a supportive smile. I hope I’m doing the right thing.

Daehyun’s POV

It’s starting to get dark as Jieun and I walk along a busy street where the neon lights are lighting and people are out to have fun. “This is so exciting,” Jieun says as we walk down the street hand in hand. I guess this trip has made us a bit more comfortable with each other than we were before. How much comfortable I’m not entirely sure, but it doesn’t matter. Because she is my wife, I’ll respect her, even if I do still love Sophie.

“Yeah, it is,” I admit as I look everywhere. The shining lights and everyone in the street have a familiarity of being in Korea, yet I know that it’s different, it’s a different experience here and for a moment, I forget about the whole purpose of why I’m here. I’m supposed to find Zhang Yixing or Lay and the building of the orphanage. For one night, though, they can wait.

“Let’s go there,” Jieun says pointing to what appears like a club.

“You want me to go into a club?” I ask her in disbelief. “I’m now the King of Korea, if I go into a club, it could be quite a scandal.”

“People don’t know you’re here,” she says lightly hitting me. “Let’s just have one night of fun, please?”

I look at her. I guess after all of this time I owe her at least one night of fun, plus I’ve never been in a club before, it somehow makes me nervous, but I’m still excited. “Sure,” I say finally giving in. “Let’s do it.”

Surprisingly, without a problem, Jieun and I enter the club. Music is blaring everywhere and there are a bunch of people inside, nothing that makes it any different from any other club. Finding a seat somewhere near the back, Jieun and I sit down.

“This is exactly how I imagined a club,” Jieun says, a little loudly since the music is going.

“Really?” I ask surprised that she would even imagine going into a club.

“Really, I always wanted to experience going into a club at least once,” Jieun said nodding her head.

“Well, in your imagination you probably imagined a guy getting drinks, so I’ll be back, but we’re not going to drink anything alcoholic, okay?” Jieun nods her head in agreement without even uttering a word of disapproval. I guess she was just planning on drinking soda.

“Hey, what would you like?” the bartender says in English, he probably speaks in English anyway since he knows that customers would probably not be able to speak in Chinese.

“Just two sodas,” I say holding up my fingers.

Without asking any questions, the bartender gets the two sodas ready and hands it to me. I hand him some money and walk away back to Jieun. “Thank you,” she says getting the soda.

We sit there in silence just looking at each other. “So…” I awkwardly begin, “is this how you envisioned your first time in a club to be?”

“Not exactly,” she says with a light laugh as she stares at the drink in her hand. “I also never thought that I’d be married.”

“Then why did you get married?” I seriously ask her. “Why did you decide to get married to me?”

“I thought that you’re cute,” she admits after a long silence. “And I thought that being married to you wasn’t going to be that bad, not that it is bad, but I mean…”

“I know what you mean,” I say interrupting her before she can fumble over her words again. “But it’s alright with you if I love someone else?” I hesitantly ask knowing that this might be a sensitive topic.

“Even that,” she says nodding her head, surprisingly taking it well. “I knew that in an arranged marriage not everyone would be happy and I figured that you already had feelings for her back when you were still Daejae,” she says laughing at the nicknames that we had made up for each other. “You both walked in together and I already thought that you were a couple and I thought that you two were very cute together.”

“Oh,” I say remembering the time that Sophie and I first came to the school. “You really didn’t recognize me then?”

“I really didn’t,” she says with a smile. “I thought you were just some strange kid coming in with your girlfriend from the States. Of course, I did wonder why your sudden appearance was there.”

“Then how did you know that I was the prince?” I curiously ask.

“A couple of days later,” she admits. “It was when my parents and your parents had begun talking about an arranged marriage. They showed me your photo and I already knew even if I acted surprised.”

“Oh,” I say looking down at the ground and taking a deep breath. “Jieun, why don’t we dance?” I suggest holding out my hand. It’s not that I’m a big dancer, but I just want to change the subject.

Sophie’s POV

“You should go get some rest,” Lay tells me as we walk into the house. “It’s late.”

“Here, I’ll keep you company,” L.Joe says following me into my room as I climb into my bed.

“I’m not tired, though,” I complain as I cross my legs.

“Just rest, though, you’ve had a long day. Here, I’ll lay down with you,” L.Joe suggests. “Go get changed into your pajamas and I’ll get changed into mine, okay?”

“I guess,” I say sighing.

“Okay, I’ll be back,” L.Joe says leaving my room to go to his.

I change into my pajamas and climb back onto the bed and play with my phone a little. All of this stuff just makes me stressed. It’s the first time that I’ve actually felt this stressed since coming here. I felt stressed when my parents passed away and now I feel stressed again because of the appearance of my supposedly biological parents and them introducing a theory of kidnapping to me. Was I really kidnapped?

“Sorry,” L.Joe says coming into my room wearing a pair of basketball shorts and a simple t-shirt. “Did I take long?”

“No,” I say giving him a smile. “You were perfectly fine.”

“Alright,” he says laughing as he climbs next to me in bed.

“Do we really have to sleep next to one another?” I ask him.

“We already have before,” he jokes. “What makes it different today?”

“I don’t know,” I say shrugging my shoulders. “Why do you want to be in here anyway?”

“To keep you company,” he replies. “You’ve had a long day,” he quietly continues, “and I just figured that you would want someone to keep you company and to talk to if you needed to.”

“L.Joe,” I whisper as I look at him and get closer to his body. He actually invites me in and opens his arm wide so I can lie against his chest.

“I understand if you don’t want to say anything right now because everything might be too confusing, but just know that I’m your boyfriend and I will always be here for you, no matter what,” he says as he wraps his arms around me tighter and kisses the top of my head.

“It’s not that I don’t want to say anything about it,” I begin as I stare straight ahead at the wall. “It’s just that…what if it was a bad idea agreeing to the DNA test?”

“Are you regretting it already?” he asks.

“I’m not necessarily regretting it,” I begin, “I just don’t know what to feel. What if it turns out that these people are my family or what happens if they got the wrong girl?”

“You’re afraid of being disappointed,” L.Joe mutters.

“You could say,” I say sighing. “But what about you?”

“What do you mean what about me?” he asks moving his head so that he’s looking at me.

“I don’t know.”

“Are you worried about what will happen to us if this isn’t your actual family or if this is?” I slowly nod my head. “I’m always going to like you, okay? I’m always going to love you, Sophie, never doubt me for a second.”

“L.Joe,” I say getting off of him and staring at him.

“Yeah,” he says giving a slightly awkward chuckle. “I love you, Sophie. I wanted to say those words for quite a while now, but I never knew the right timing or way to say them. So, I’m saying them now and not because of the situation that we’re in but because I feel like this is the best timing. I love you, Sophie.”

What do I say in a moment like this? What am I supposed to feel? This day has been a rollercoaster of emotions that I can’t understand. Do I love L.Joe? That is the question at hand. After a month, my thoughts of Daehyun slowly disappeared and thoughts of L.Joe kept coming in. Whenever I would see him at the school with someone else I would begin getting jealous, is this the feeling of love? Of appreciation and care?

“Sophie, you don’t have to say anything,” L.Joe says interrupting my thoughts. “I just wanted you to know that I love you and I always will.”

“It’s alright,” I say giving him a smile. “It’s alright because I love you, too. I mean it, I love you.” After hearing those words, L.Joe slowly leans his head down so that he gently kisses me. Without saying anything, we pull apart from each other and gently drift off to sleep.

Daehyun’s POV

“I’m going out today,” I announce to Jieun in the morning. “Are you going to be alright by yourself?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she says giving me a smile.

“Sorry about leaving you alone, but I have to do it.”

“I understand, you want answers that no one seems to be giving you. Go, find your way.”

“Alright,” I say as I pull my jacket on. “Thank you.”

I quickly exit the hotel and make my way onto the street. I don’t know what Jieun is actually going to do for the day, but I’m going to go find the orphanage first. I’m going to go see if they know a person by the nickname of Lay or any people related to him. I’m going to solve this mystery revolving around Sophie as quickly as possible.

Hailing a taxi, I show them the paper that I had messily attempted to write down the address on, but ended up printing it out off of the computer after I typed it onto the computer. It didn’t take that long to get the house, probably about ten minutes. Is this even classified as a house or an orphanage? It looks more like someone lives here. Was it more of an orphanage years ago when Sophie was here? If that’s the case, then it probably means that it’s no longer an orphanage now.

Mustering up all of my courage, I go to the front door and knock to have some guy come answer. He doesn’t look that much older than me. I hesitate to speak since I don’t know any Chinese and he surely doesn’t look like he knows any Korean. Could we possibly speak through English? The guy standing there probably senses my hesitation because he speaks first. “I speak English,” he says.

“Oh,” I say with an awkward laugh. “I wasn’t sure.”

“Yeah, most people are never sure that come here.”

“A lot of people come here?” I ask.

“Sometimes,” he says shrugging. “Why?”

“I was just wondering,” I admit.

“Well, come in,” he says opening the door for me to come in. “We can talk more in here, I bet that that’s why you’ve come, right?”

“Ah, yeah,” I say.

Slowly, I enter the house and I see two bags sitting on the counter in the kitchen. “Ah, those are just schoolbags,” the guy says as he sees me staring at them.

“People are still here?” I ask.

“What do you mean?” he asks confused.

“I mean, this is an orphanage, right?” I ask.

“It once was in the past, but now it’s simply a house that my family bought.”

“Oh, well then I probably am at the wrong place,” I say. So my prediction was right, it was an orphanage in the past and now it’s a place where a family lives. I was wrong. How am I ever going to find Sophie and L.Joe now?

“Do you have the address? Let me see it.”

“Well, I showed the guy in the taxi,” I say finding the piece of paper with all of the information on it. “And he brought me here.”

“Hmm,” the guy says as he looks at the paper. “This is the right address, but this name.”

“What about the name? Do you know the guy?”

“Actually,” he began to say when a voice interrupted him.

“Lay, why didn’t you wake us up, we’re going to be late!” an all too familiar voice said running into the living room.

“Sophie,” I say as I stare right at her.

“Lay, why didn’t you wake L.Joe and me up?”

“I didn’t know if you wanted to go to school today,” Lay simply says. So he’s Lay, the person I’m looking for.

“Sophie, you forgot your notebook,” L.Joe says coming out of the room when he looks at me. “Daehyun?” he asks. “What are you doing here?”

Sophie’s POV

At the name of Daehyun, I immediately turn around and am faced with Daehyun sitting there on the couch. “Daehyun,” I whisper. “Sorry, we have to get going.” I grab L.Joe’s hand and grab the two bags that are on the counter before walking right out the door.

“Sophie, L.Joe, wait,” I hear Daehyun say.

Immediately I start running away from him. Why am I so afraid of meeting and seeing him again after one month? “Sophie, Sophie slow down,” L.Joe says behind me as he pants. I don’t see Daehyun anywhere behind us.

“Okay,” I say as we continue walking the way to school. “I…I thought we’d be late to school.”

“We still have ten minutes,” L.Joe says looking at his watch. “It only takes about four more minutes to get there after running,” he chuckles. “But that’s not why you were running, right?”

“What?” I ask pretending like I can’t hear him.

“Nothing,” he says shaking his head. I know that he knows the reason why I was running and that he probably just doesn’t want to say anything about it.

“Oh, okay,” I say as we quietly walk the rest of the way to school.

Daehyun is on my mind the whole time. Not that I necessarily want him to be, but it’s just inescapable knowing that he’s in China after all of this time. What force compelled him to be here? Why even is he here? He should be living a nice life with Jieun right now instead of coming to China.

The whole school day went right before my eyes and I find myself at L.Joe’s locker after school as he finishes putting his books in. “I don’t want to go home,” I mutter.

“Is it because Daehyun might be there?” he asks.

“Well…” I begin not knowing how else to explain it. “It’s not that he’s there, it’s just that…I don’t know why he’s here or what he’s doing here. He shouldn’t be here.”

“I know, I know,” L.Joe says as he closes his locker and comes to wrap his arms around my shoulder. “Let’s just go home. We’re going to have to face this sometime.”

“But I don’t want to face it any time soon,” I complain as he drags me along.

“Let’s make a deal,” L.Joe proposes as we’re already halfway home.

“A deal?” I ask.

“Yeah, a deal,” he says nodding his head.

“Well, what’s the deal?”

“If you’re good around Daehyun, then I’ll reward you by taking you out.”

“Don’t you do that anyway?” I ask him. “And you’re making it seem like I’m a little girl,” I pout.

“Aww, is someone upset? I didn’t mean to get you mad.”

“That’s alright,” I say sighing. “But seriously, you make it sound like I’m a little girl.”

“Fine, then I just won’t take you out,” L.Joe says quickening his pace so that he’s in front of me.

“Wait,” I say going up and grabbing onto his arm. “Maybe taking me out wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”

“I knew it,” he says with a laugh as he puts his arm back around me. “Let’s go home.”

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Will Daehyun be back at the house? How will Daehyun react to finding Sophie and Lay? What will the DNA test results say? Will Sophie and Daehyun even find out the truth?

Here is Chapter 24. Hope you enjoyed :D