Daehyun’s POV

I walked the streets. My mind was in a daze, I didn’t know what to think. What should I be thinking? Sophie is in China with L.Joe, they were in China this whole time and I didn’t know. I shouldn’t have been so stupid to realize it, but I was. The house address that Youngjae found is the address of the house she’s currently at and that Lay guy is her brother.

Brother. She has a brother; she has a family that has been looking for all this time. Lay explained to me how they were having a DNA test done to prove that she is related to them because they figured that Sophie wouldn’t be so accepting to the news.

I decided to not stick around and wait for Sophie to come home from school; instead I just left a note telling her to call me when she was ready. I’m not sure if she’ll ever call me, but I hope she does. I want to help her figure out everything that’s going on, but with her pushing me away before and then disappearing, it was hard. But now that I finally know where she is, hopefully I’ll be able to help her, unless she rejects me again and then I can’t do anything.

Then it hits me. It hits me while I’m walking down the street. I’m the King of Korea and Sophie’s parents apparently helped bring China and Korea together. I could ask the Chinese people about Sophie’s parents. Maybe they have some key in this, maybe they knew something that none of us know.

Hurriedly, I make a phone call to Jun. “Do you need something?” he asks.

“I want you to set up an appointment with me for whoever is in charge here in China,” I tell him.

“Why?” he asks.

“Because I found Sophie and I want to try to help her. I don’t care if she’ll accept my confession and I don’t care if she doesn’t want to see me for a thousand years, I want to help her.”

“Okay,” Jun says. “I’ll have that arranged as quickly as possible and text you all of the details.”

“Thank you,” I say as I hang up the phone and continue walking. There’s really no point in finding Jieun now. She might be off having fun with herself or maybe she found some new friends somehow. I don’t really know, but I do know that Jun might text me with the details of today’s later meeting at any time.

I look at my phone and see that the time reads almost three in the afternoon. I spent the majority of my day at the house talking with Lay and finding out more about what Sophie’s been doing here and why she was taken. Lay said that the reason that they both were taken was that because they needed Sophie and figured that Sophie wouldn’t trust them if they didn’t have L.Joe too. Lay also said that they needed to go to such measures because they were sure that Sophie wouldn’t go with them and that their family has been looking for her for years. It’s still somewhat fishy no matter how many times you look at it, but I guess it’s somewhat justifiable.

As I’m walking on one side of the street, I spot Sophie and L.Joe on the other side walking back to the house. They look like they’re having a good time with one another. It reminds me of when Sophie and I were in America and everything was fine. We had no trouble with parents and we had no mystery that needed to be solved, we were just living our lives. Sophie and I would always walk home from school and joke off with one another like her and L.Joe are doing now.

I stare at them some more as I want to call out to them, but I don’t. I can’t. I notice L.Joe’s arm around Sophie and see how Sophie looks so calm and peaceful around him. Are they dating? How long have they been dating? It seems like everything is going well for them and I shouldn’t interrupt it.

My thoughts are interrupted when my phone goes off. “I thought you were going to text me,” I jokingly say to Jun.

“Yeah well a phone call has never hurt anyone,” he retorts back.

“True, true,” I say. “So, were you able to get me in?”

“I was, you should be thankful, it would’ve been hard if you were a regular person.”

“Well I’m not a regular person,” I say with a slight laugh. “I’m Jung Daehyun.”

“Yeah, I know. So, your appointment.”

“When is it?” I ask.

“It’s in a half an hour, I’m already coming to pick you up.”

“But you don’t know where I am,” I say.

“I do, don’t worry. Anyway, it’s in a half an hour and I’m driving you to the building, that’s about all that you need to know.”

“Okay. Thanks Jun, you’re a big help and you mean a lot to me.”

“No problem, you’re Daehyun. I’d gladly to anything for you whether you are the king or not, you’re a good person for attempting to figure this out for her. She’ll appreciate it.”

Sophie’s POV

“He’s not here,” I say as I look around the empty house. “Lay’s not here either.”

“I guess he decided to not stick around,” L.Joe says as he wanders around the house too. “Here’s a note.”

I pick up the note and look at it and see Daehyun’s familiar handwriting. “He wants me to call him when I’m ready.”

“When you’re ready for what?” he asks as he leans over my shoulder.

“How am I supposed to know?” I ask.

“Right, sorry.”

“It’s probably something about me being ready to hear the truth or to talk with him, don’t you think so?”

“It probably is,” he says with a sigh. “Don’t you think it’s time to speak with Daehyun? You left because you didn’t want to hinder his marriage in the first place and then you were brought here to China with me. It was like your wish was granted of being away from him.”

“Yeah and then he had to show up.”

“Did you ever think of it from his perspective?”

“Huh?” I ask turning to look at L.Joe. “What do you mean?”

“First you left without any type of message or anything. You just got up and left. How do you think it made him feel? How do you think he felt knowing that the person he liked just left without a word, the person who said that they would stick by him just left him in the blink of an eye. He was probably hurt and betrayed by you.”

I stare at L.Joe. Everything he’s saying is probably true, but still…he’s the King of Korea, there’s nothing I can do. “He’s the King,” I simply reply. “I have no purpose in doing anything that would hinder the future of Korea.”

“I’m sure he knows what he’s doing, his parents were the previous King and Queen,” L.Joe reasons. “He was probably hurt knowing that you left him without an explanation, you should call him and talk to him.”

“But what if I don’t want to?” I ask.

“Then you won’t get your reward,” he simply says.

“I don’t need the reward,” I say crossing my arms and turning my back on him to go to my room. I almost reach the door when I feel arms wrap around me and L.Joe’s head on my shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Sophie, I didn’t mean to get you mad. It’s just that I think you should talk to him. I think you should hear him out for a little. I know that if I were in his situation, I’d probably be a mess, but Daehyun looks like he’s doing his best right now, too. Who knows, things could’ve changed within a month.”

“I guess,” I say. “But I’ll call him later, I’m too tired to do it now and he might be busy.”

“Alright, but call him in a reasonable amount of time, okay?” L.Joe asks as he spins me around to face him as he quickly kisses me on the lips.

“Fine, fine,” I say as I get out of his grasp. “I’m going to go to my room and start working on my homework.”

“Since when did you ever work on your homework early?’ L.Joe asks as he follows me and leans up against the doorframe.

“Since now,” I say as I put my backpack onto my desk.

“Ah, there’s the doorbell,” L.Joe says turning his head. “I’m going to go get it.” As he leaves, I quickly close the door so I can get changed into different clothes that don’t include the school uniform. As soon as I’m done changing, he knocks on the door. “Sophie, are you decent?”

“Yeah,” I say as I go over and open the bedroom door. “Who was ringing the doorbell?” I ask as I peek my head out to see, but there’s no one in the living room.

“It was the postage guy,” L.Joe says as he holds up a package.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” he says shrugging his shoulders. “But by the looks of it, it seems like it could be the DNA test results.”

“Already?” I ask.

“They had it expedited, remember? Sophie,” he quietly says. “Do you want to open it?”

Daehyun’s POV

I make my way into the building to see whoever the person that I’m supposed to see is. Right away, the people in the building already know who I am and I’m escorted up to some room where a person sits at the front desk.

“Are you the one that set up the appointment?” he asks looking at me. I begin to get this scary vibe from him. Maybe this is a place where teenagers shouldn’t be, but I’m the King and it’s my job to do this type of stuff.

“Actually, my assistant set it up, but yes, I’m Jung Daehyun. Hello, nice to meet you,” I say extending my hand and letting him shake it.

“Hello Jung Daehyun,” he says as he puts on a light smile. “I’m the representative that you are going to speak with, my name is Huang Zitao. Why don’t we take a seat?”

Hesitantly, I take a seat across from him and we both stare at each other for a while. “So, I was just wondering about some things regarding our past relations, the relations between China and Korea,” I begin attempting to sound formal like and also attempting to get rid of my nerves.

“Yes, what would you like to know?”

“The people who had done the relations are Mr. and Mrs. Karp,” I begin. “I was wondering f you had any information on them.”

“And why would you want information, sir?”

“I…I have a mystery that needs to be solved,” I begin. I’m not sure whether or not I should spill the whole story about Sophie and her parents, but I figure that it’ll be alright if I say something because he’s a representative, he’s supposed to be helping me get information so I can use it to figure out if my hunch is right or not. However, if my hunch is right, then that means that Sophie might hate me forever.

“What type of mystery?”

“Sophie Karp is a kidnapped child,” I begin. “Her adoptive parents are Mr. and Mrs. Karp, obviously, but it was just recent that her biological family came into play and I was wondering if anyone knew any information on how Sophie was kidnapped.”

“If we knew that, then you wouldn’t have a mystery on your hands.”

“Ah, I guess that’s true,” I say with a smile. “I know that you probably have looked into it, considering the kidnapping took place here in China. Her real name according to her biological brother is Taitao. Would you remember anything about that name?”

I intently watch the guy as he begins thinking and looking through a couple of files. He’s probably looking for something related to Taitao. Thankfully Lay told me the name earlier when he began telling me about his family and thankfully I was able to remember it. I don’t know what the guy is looking for, but somehow I’m afraid.

I have a hunch thinking that Sophie’s parents might have been involved with the kidnapping, but I’m not entirely sure how they are involved or even why they would be. By thinking about that kind of stuff, I start feeling betrayed. The people that I’ve known for quite a while and the people that Sophie has known her whole life turn out to be the bad guys in this situation.

“So if your friend Sophie is actually Taitao, there are many articles written about the kidnapping,” he says. “Some of the articles state that she was taken after a fire burned down the family home, which was possible if she was taken when there was confusion around because of the fire. The culprits of the fire are still unknown.”

“Is there anything else?” I ask.

“There are a couple of statements regarding her still being alive and some have said that she has passed away during the fire. Some other statements include her parents actually killing her and setting the fire themselves to cover up the murder, as you can see, all were thrown away or disregarded. Do you have something that you want me to research?”

“I just have a hunch, I’m not sure if this is right, so don’t quote me on it.”

“I won’t. Actually, the person who requested this meeting for you made sure that everything that we talk about today is completely confidential.” I thank Jun in my head. I’m definitely going to have to repay him later. “So, what is your hunch?”

“I think Mr. and Mrs. Karp stole Sophie, or in this case, they stole Taitao.”

“Are you positive?” he asks looking at me with a strange look.

“No, I’m not positive, but why now, eighteen years later, would it randomly come out that she is kidnapped? Why when she comes to Korea would they know about her being kidnapped?”

“Well, the case of Taitao was very famous,” he continues. “Almost everyone knows it. Perhaps she has a resemblance to the computerized version of how she would look at eighteen.”

“Can I see that?” I ask him.

Sophie’s POV

L.Joe and I sit beside each other on the bed with the envelope in my head as we hear the front door open. “It’s probably Lay, I’ll go get him,” L.Joe says as he gets up.

“Let’s go out together,” I say standing next to him as I hold onto his wrist.

It doesn’t matter that L.Joe and I don’t understand Chinese, the numbers were written there and we both saw the results. I’m related to him, that woman actually is my mother.

“Lay, we got the results today,” L.Joe says holding up the paper for him to see. “It looks like you guys are actually siblings.”

“Oh,” he says as he looks at me. I bet he’s waiting for some type of reaction from me, but I’ve had enough time spent looking at it that it doesn’t really have an effect on me anymore. “Well, I guess I should tell my mother about it.”

“I guess,” I quietly say as he takes out his phone. “I’ll be back in my room.”

I quickly turn to go away as I hear L.Joe coming after me. He’s probably wondering what’s going on, but I don’t even know what’s going on with myself. Why am I acting like this? Is it normal to be acting like this? I don’t understand the feelings that I’m feeling right now and I don’t know if I’ll ever understand them.

I throw myself onto the bed and bury my face into the pillow. It’s difficult…doing this. I don’t know why it’s difficult, but for some reason it is.

“Are you okay?” L.Joe asks as he comes into my room.

“I don’t know…should I be?” I ask as my face is still in the pillow.

“Sophie, if you don’t get out of your pillow, then you’re mumbling and I’ll never be able to understand you,” he says as he sits on the edge of my bed.

“Ah, I don’t know,” I say just burying my face deeper. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.”

L.Joe doesn’t say a word and I know that he’s still in the room since the bed near my foot is still sunk down. I turn over in bed with my head still on the pillow and see him sitting there as he turns to look at me. A smile forms on his face as he lies down right next to me. I move over so that there’s more room for him and he lies there as he faces me.

“You don’t have to say anything,” he whispers as he moves some of my hair. “You’re probably feeling confused right now, right? You’re probably confused and frustrated all of these feelings that you can’t understand.” How can he know me so well? “But just know that I’m going to be here for you no matter what. I’ll always be by your side.”

“Thank you,” I tell him as I touch his face. “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but I’m just thankful that you’re here with me today.”

“I’m always going to be with you, didn’t you just hear me?” he asks with a light laugh. “Always. I promise.” L.Joe sticks out his pinky and I wrap mine around his. “Are you hungry? Do you want to eat anything?”

“No thanks, I’m fine.” I find it amusing how we can be talking about one thing one second and then L.Joe is doing his best to get my mind off of the subject. “If you’re hungry you can go get food, I have to call Daehyun anyway.”

“Okay,” he says as he gets off of the bed and goes to the kitchen. “I’ll bring something back for you anyway.”

As soon as L.Joe leaves the room, I go over and pick up the note that I placed onto my desk and pick up my phone to dial his number. Would he answer? Would be angry at me for only getting back to him now? What would happen?

I wait for Daehyun to pick up the phone but he never does and it goes straight to voicemail. “Um…Daehyun…this is Sophie, obviously,” I say as I fiddle with the paper between my hands. “I was just calling you because you said that you wanted to talk to me? At least that’s what I got from the message. Anyway, you can call me back on this number.” Quickly, I hang up the phone and throw it onto the bed. Was calling Daehyun such a good idea?

“I’m back with food,” L.Joe announces as he comes into my room again holding a tray. “I know you said you aren’t hungry, but you never know. Plus you have to eat in order to maintain your health.”

“Where’s Lay?” I ask.

“He’s not home right now. I don’t know where he went. He didn’t leave a note.”

“Oh,” I say looking down. I don’t know why I’m suddenly worrying about him. It’s like I’ve been having a thousand mood swings in one day because of this sudden thing. He’s really my brother. If he’s really my brother, then does that mean that I was really kidnapped a child? He told the truth about the whole relation thing, so why wouldn’t he be telling the truth about that? But if I were kidnapped, then who took me. “L.Joe,” I say looking at him. “Do you really think I was kidnapped?”

Daehyun’s POV

The guy named Huang Zitao finds the picture that was computer generated to see Sophie when she was supposed to be eighteen, the age that she is right now. “This picture,” he says as he hands it to me, “it was made a couple of years ago.”

I take the picture from his hand and stare at it. It looks exactly like her. There are a couple of slight differences, but it looks like the same person, no doubt. No wonder people said that they knew about her besides her parents when the funeral took place.

“This picture, how long was it ever up for?”

“I’m not exactly sure, but everyone knows about it. Actually, I think if you want more information on Mr. and Mrs. Karp you can go to this address here,” he says quickly writing something down in Chinese and giving it to me. “Go to that address and ask for Kim Minseok.”

“But isn’t that a Korean name?” I ask.

“Yes, but he would be of great help to you.”

“How?”

“Just trust me, I know,” he says. “As for now, that’s all of the information that I can give you. You will have to go to him for more information.”

“Oh, thanks,” I say standing up and slightly bowing to him as I make my way out of the building to see Jun waiting for me. “Were you waiting for me the whole time?” I ask him.

“No, I went around to do some things, checked up on Jieun a little bit and then returned.”

“Where is she?” I ask.

“She’s resting in the hotel. Is there something else that you want to do? It’s about dinnertime right now.”

“There’s nothing I can think of,” I say shaking my head. “The guy in there gave me an address for me to go to for me to speak to another person if I want to find out more about Sophie’s parents.”

“So, is she the kidnapped child?”

“She is,” I say nodding my head. “She has to be, there’s no way that she’s not. I just don’t understand how her parents didn’t know about it if they were the ones that adopted her in the first place.”

“So you think that her parents had something more to do with it?”

“I don’t know,” I say shrugging my shoulders. “That’s why I have to go to this Minseok guy.”

“Oh, here,” Jun says throwing me something that I easily catch. “You left your phone in the car. It looks like you have a new voicemail.”

I play the voicemail and put the phone up to my ear. “Um…Daehyun…this is Sophie, obviously,” she says. “I was just calling you because you said that you wanted to talk to me? At least that’s what I got from the message. Anyway, you can call me back on this number.”

I get into the car and start thinking about my options. I could attempt to go see the Minseok guy tonight or I could talk with Sophie. If I were to talk with Sophie, though, I shouldn’t say anything about the possibility of her parents being behind her kidnapping. I have no proof and she probably wouldn’t want to believe me anyway, still, I want to talk to her, not about what’s happening now, but more about what happened in the past. I have questions that I want her to answer.

Hesitantly, I dial her phone number back as she answers it. “Daehyun?” she asks.

“Sophie,” I say. “Meet me outside of your house tonight at eight so we can talk. I’ll be there.”

“Okay, I’ll be waiting,” Sophie says before we both hang up the phone. What should I say to her?

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What information can Minseok offer Daehyun? What will Daehyun and Sophie talk about? Will Sophie be able to accept Lay as her brother? Who kidnapped Sophie?

Here is Chapter 25. Hope you enjoyed :D