Now, what will Hyomin do? /jengjengjenggggg~

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hyomin ran until she thought her heart would burst through her chest and her lungs hurt. All the way back to the patch of trees. And it was dark -- pitch black -- except there was the moon, full and bright, looking down benevolently at her standing, hugging herself at the entrance to the thicket. She didn't feel afraid. She knew now that everything was real. It had been the same for her mother. She couldn't pretend to herself anymore.

Hyomin watched the little wood, dark shapes flapping gracefully around the branches. Small birds, She craned her neck to see further in and concentrated on that tall, slender boy with milky skin and dark chocolate-brown eyes. Hyomin had to see him, if only one more time.

When an owl called softly, she turned her face up to the sky, gaining strength from it. Tiny, bright stars winked encouragingly -- and then she felt the faintest breeze, like sweet breath on her neck, and then, as she stood perfectly still, the breeze became warmer. And closer.

"Is this the end?" he whispered.

Hyomin didn't turn, she waited.

He put his hand on her shoulder and the feel of his fingertips was like home. Hyomin stretched her own hand up and put it over his, touching the fine hairs on his wrist. Finally, she found her voice.

"That girl ..." She began, faltering. "in the notebook ... It was my mother. It was her. She knows about us. Everything. Whatever happened to her ... to make her see your world ... it has come to me."

He said nothing, but he rested his chin in the curve of her shoulder. Like a human jigsaw. They felt like the perfect fit.

Hyomin took a breath before going on. "Jaejoong ... It won't work. How can we be friends? It's doomed ... Just as it was with my mother and Jihoon. I don't want you to be harmed in any way."

"But we're not in love," he spoke at last. "It's not the same." His words sounded hollow, though, without conviction.

"I should be with someone whose life does not hinge on the decision I make." She hardly believed how mature she sounded.

"Joon?" Jaejoong sighed.

She turned to face him. "Sunkyu came. Came to warn me off him, too." Hyomin smiled wryly. "Just what is it about him that worries you?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I need to show you ... There is something I have found back home. It may be nothing ... It may be a coincidence. But I don't think so."

"What?" She closed her fingers around his wrist." Tell me now."

"You need to see it for yourself. You won't believe me otherwise."

Back to Nissilum.

"But I can't go back." She told him. "You said ---"

"I know. But there is no other way. We will just need to be careful."

Hyomin looked back up the hill at her house. It must be dinner time. She needed to go back.

"Maybe tomorrow," she said, thinking that her mum would be on her guard now, "She's going to be watching my every move."

"Hyomin," Jaejoong was firm. "She will understand ... And i promise you I will get you back here so quickly you will hardly have been gone."

She still hesitated. Was that just because of her mother? Or was it the thought of what Jaejoong would show her in Nissilum? Hyomin couldn't not go. A part of her wanted to. Wanted to still be connected to it all. And there was only one way to reassure Jaejoong that Joon was a good guy. Not the shady character he was making him out to be.

"Okay," she sighed, with resignation. "Let's go."

Jaejoong didn't return her smile. The anxiety in him was still there. He took hold of her arms and pressed his forehead to hers.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Know that."

Hyomin frowned, not understanding. "Don't worry about it." She said. "You're just looking out for me."

----------------------------------------------

They arrived, oddly, in a place she didn't recognise at first. Hyomin had expected the soothing river of the Water Path. She had also expected night-time. But it was daylight still, and they were crouched by a pale stone wall.

"I had to use all my willpower and it is a little rusty," whispered Jaejoong. He made a gesture for her to keep silent and got cautiously to his feet, gripping the wall and peering over it.

He looked down and gave her his hand. "Come on," he said. "We are at the palace. It has been in my thoughts, lately, and so I suppose that's why I have brought myself -- us -- here."

Hyomin stood too, and looked over the wall to see the palace gleaming in the sunlight. A myriad of colourful roses packed the flowerbeds. Immaculate garden furniture was positioned in the middle of the well-kept lawn.

She looked questioningly at Jaejoong.

"We need to get into the palace." He looked me up and down. "But you can't go in like that .... Sunkyu is bringing you something to wear."

She looked down at her clothes. Scruffy jeans with a giant hole in one knee and a plain white tee her grandma had brought her back from a holiday in America a couple of years ago. She would stick out like the veritable sore thumb.

As if on cue, Sunkyu appeared through a gate in the yard further down. Seeing Hyomin, she gave her an i knew you'd be back kind of look and swung a canvas bag back and fourth as she walked quickly towards them. When she reached Jaejoong, she dropped it at his feet.

"I took a uniform," she said, shrugging at him. "One of Hyun's. It will be a little big," she said, staring blatantly at Hyomin's chest. "But it will do. And some slippers for her."

"Thank you," Jaejoong smiled at her. "You are a good sister."

"Hmmm." Sunkyu gave Hyomin a sidelong look, but her eyes were friendly. "Well, be careful. You know Changmin is having sport with his gruesome friends. You'd better be quick."

Jaejoong glanced at Hyomin. "She's right." He rubbed her shoulder. "Don't worry. It will be all right. You just need to get dressed."

Hyomin looked around her for somewhere more private to change. But there was nothing except acres of fields. The palace land stretched out for miles in front of them.

"I'll turn my back." Jaejoong nodded at Sunkyu. "And you better go home. Tell SeungAh I will be back in time for the evening meal."

A flicker of concern passed over Sunkyu's normal confident expression, but she touched his arm lightly and turned to walk back to the gate.

"She will go back through the palace," Jaejoong said, his back to her. "She's friendly with the servants. No one will think anything of it."

Hyomin picked up the canvas bag and lifted out the heavy white uniform. "but won't the servants know I'm an imposter?"

"They will be all in the kitchen," Jaejoong said. "Cooking, idling, joking. They will be busy in there for an hour at least."

She quickly took off her plimsolls and jeans, though she kept her t-shirt on. She'd need the extra padding from the looks of the dress. She pulled it up and buttoned it, feeling it loose and unflattering on her.

"Don't you dare laugh at me," she said, pushing the slippers on to her feet. "I look hideous."

Jaejoong turned, his lips twitching. "That is not possible," he said, catching hold of Hyomin's hair, which hung loose. "but you need to put this up. I'll help you."

Before she could protest, she felt him gently gather up her hair and twist it into a knot at her neck. His fingers brushing her skin made me close her eyes as she tingled at his touch.

"There," he said quietly. "That's better." As Hyomin turned to face him, she had the urge to hold him and never let go. But the sooner this was done, the sooner the drama would be over.

Hyomin was convinced that whatever Jaejoong felt compelled to show her would turn out to be insignificant. She couldn't think what it would be. But it was surely not anything to do with Joon.

She felt almost completely sure of that.

Hyomin stuffed her own clothes into the canvas bag.

"Here," he took the bag from her and pushed it into a convenient enclave in the wll. "It'll be safe here."

Hyomin felt in a dreamlike state. As though she was preparing to act in a period drama. This whole place, the Celestial Palace, was like one of those stately homes plumped in the middle of the English countryside. At any moment a busy-body in a bonnet would appear.

"Hyomin," Jaejoong cut into her thoughts. "This won't take long. And you'll be back home before you know it."

"Yes," She felt the finality in his words. "I know."

He took her hand and they walked casually to the gate.

"Keep a few paces behind me." He instructed as he turned the metal handle to walk thorugh to the garden. "Look as though you have some purpose."

"Yes, sir." she smiled. "Whatever you say, sir."

He grinned, then stepped ahead of her and they walked thorugh the tranquil space in front of the house, where she spotted a familiar door. It was where they had left last time. And Jaejoong had turned.

Hyomin shivered, remembering Narsha. She hoped she was nowhere in the vicinity.

Quietly, they moved inside the palace. Down the dark corridor and through the hall. Ahead of them was the grand staircase, flanked by the family portrait paintings.

"Up here," Jaejoong whispered. "If we come across anyone, keep your eyes down."

Two steps at a time they climbed up, and up, finally stepping inside the spectacular grand room at the top, with its imposing window and the view of endless green fields that seemed to stretch to the ends of the earth. Which perhaps they did.

Inside the room, Jaejoong went quickly to the dark wood chest on top of which was the abundance of photographs. He opened the drawer on the left hand side, and bent down, riffling as quickly as he could through the contents.

Hyomin stood by the door, listening for footsteps outside. She watched as he drew out a large book. It looked like one of the scrapbooks she played with when she was little. Newspaper clippings jutted from the pages.

Jaejoong glanced at the anonymous-looking cover before tucking it under his arm and closing the dawer. He looked over at Hyomin.

"We have to get out of here," he said. "Back to the way we came."

As they hurried down the stairs, a shape flitted across the hall and Jaejoong stopped, drawing Hyomin back behind him. The figure carried on, not noticing them where they stood with their hearts in their mouths, and disappeared through the door they were headed for.

Jaejoong frowned. "We'll have to go out of the front," he said. "It's very quiet. Gyuri and Seungho will be sitting in their private rooms. No one will take any notice of us."

She followed him out through the hall and, to her relief, saw that the door was already open. They moved through it, towards the guarded gates.

Jaejoong went ahead and spoke to the man waiting there, who glanced at Hyomin before nodding and gesturing for them to go through.

Finally, when they were some way from the gates and out of sight of the palace itself, Hyomin released her breath and stopped.

"That was an experience I never want to repeat," she said. Hyomin glanced at the scrapbook, which Jaejoong still had under his arm. "is this the incriminating evidence?"

He looked down at it. "Let's go back and collect your clothes. And then I will show you."

Once they had collected the canvas bag, they walked to the Water path, and only when she had changed back into her clothes and they were perched on the rocks, the water gurgling beside them, did Jaejoong place the book on his lap.

It looked so nondescript. She couldn't believe it could contain anything shocking. Jaejoong opened it to some blank card pages, until he came to the middle where a few newspaper cuttings were stuck, higgledy-piggledy.

"You have newspapers?" She said, twisting her head to look at one of the cuttings.

Jaejoong put his arm over it, obscuring her view. He looked up at her.

"We don't," he said. "Which is sort of the point."

"Jaejoong! Stop talking in riddles."

Jaejoong held her gaze for seconds longer before he drew his arm away and looked down.

"Gyuri found this ... I heard her talking to one of the servants when I was here yesterday. She thought it belonged to her ... She'd found it on Changsun's bed. Just lying there ..."

Hyomin raised an eyebrow and he went on quickly. "I was curious. So when Etta --the maid-- was cleaning the hall, I asked her about it. And after some persuasion she told me she had no idea what it was, but that she had put it in a drawer in the room at the top of the stairs until she could have a proper look at it." He grimaced. "I immediately went to look myself, and when I started reading these reports, it all fell into place."

Hyomin felt her chest tighten when he said that, and when she glanced at what was stuffed into the scrapbook, her heart nearly rushed through .

She had seen these reports before.

"Let me look," she said, breathlessly, grabbing hold of the book.

"Hyomin," Jaejoong said anxiously. "Don't make yourself overwrought."

She ignored him. Instead, she frantically scanned what was in front of her. Newspaper cuttings about a kid who'd won a surfing championship. A grainy black-and-white picture of him smiling in his wetsuit, his hair flopping over his face.

Another cutting talked of the same boy. Sporty, living with his single-parent mother. A boy who kept himself to himself ... Who suffered from long periods of depression. Who'd been in trouble with the law. A TRAGIC WASTE OF YOUTH AND TALENT, ran one caption.

Hyomin read on, each cutting about the same boy. The boy with so much potential. Good-looking and devoted to his mum. The boy who'd disappeared. The boy called Lee Joon. And then about an unidentified body that had been found, underneath the others, the face of the girl who'd seen the boy attacked.

She kept her head down. The blood seemed to have drained from her face, and she scratched helplessly at the card page on which cuttings -- photocopies all of the -- had been stuck, unable to get her head around what she was looking at.

Eventually, Jaejoong spoke. "It could be just a coincidence," She heard him say quietly, without conviction.

Hyomin lifted her head. "No," she shook her head. "It's not."

She heard Jaejoong catch his breath. "I'm sorry, Hyomin ... I didn't want this to be true. Those pictures I kept getting ... I didn't want you to be in danger." He knelt down and put his arms around her. The feel of it, solid, protective, made her stronger somehow.

"It's fine," she said blankly. "Maybe I've known all along. Deep down. Something wasn't right."

Jaejoong said nothing, just listened.

"I knew it was too good to be true," She went on. "That a boy like that could want me. It seemed so .. ridiculous."

"What?" She turned to see Jaejoong bewildered, his eyes wide. "You can't possibly mean that? This is not about you, Hyomin. Can't you see that? You know what's been going on, don't you?"

She looked back at the scrapbook. "Yes. Lee Joon is dead. Which means that the Joon I know is not him."

"No," said Jaejoong. "The Joon you know is Changsun."

She put her hand to , a jolt of realisation hitting her. Of course! Joon had taken the photo of Changsun that day. And that meant that he knew about her too. He knew she had been here, to Nissilum.

"Why is he doing this? Why did he go after me?" Hyomin looked over at Jaejoong, whose face was twisted in anguish. He reached out for her, but she didn't respond. Hyomin felt disconnected from emotion. Kind of numb.

"I think ..." He said slowly. "I think it had something to do with Jihoon." He shook his head. "Changsun started behaving strangely when Jihoon slipped way. He was so angry. Nobody could console him. He's been looking for someone to blame. I knew there was something dangerous about Joon. I kept getting these ... horrible flashes of you scared and his presence always there. But I had nothing substantial. It was only today, when I found the book, and all this stuff about Joon going missing, and then the discovery of the unidentified body, that I knew the danger was real."

Hyomin started to get up, panicked. "Jaejoong ... this is all about my mother ..." She paced the grass. "He wants to get at her through me ... I have to get back now. She isn't safe ..."

Hyomin closed her eyes. This was all her fault.

Jaejoong read her thoughts. "It isn't you fault, Hyomin, none of it. How could you have known?"

"Oh God." She got to her feet, shaking and Jaejoong grabbed hold of her, pulling her in to him.

"I will not let him hurt you," he said emphatically. "Or your family."

"Jaejoong?" A voice somewhere behind him made her pull away. Her heart sank to see Changmin standing, scowling at them through the trees.

Jaejoong turned to his brother. "Changmin, this is not your business. Leave us."

Changmin shook his head. "She should leave. SeungAh and Jonghun are on their way as I speak. Sunkyu gave herself away, sneaking around the palace. I had no choice but to inform them." He smiled almsot gently at Jaejoong. "It is for your own good, hyung. You'll see. Some time in the palace cellars will keep you out of danger."

An angry shadow fell over Jaejoong's face. "You stupid boy. I can take care of myself, take my own risks and deal with the consequences. And Hyomin is in danger."

"Well, she'll have to deal with that by herself," Changmin's tone was supercilious. Hyomin had the urge to slap him.

Jaejoong had not let go of her and she was thankful for the protection. More than that, she felt desperate that he would stay and she would have to go back on her own.

"Changmin," Jaejoong pleaded. "After this I will stop. But I have to go back with Hyomin. One more time."

Hyomin tried not to dwell on the miserable reality of that last sentence. She had to get home.

"It's all right." She tightened her hold on Jaejoong. "I can do this."

But as Jaejoong pulled away to respond, she saw two horses, astride one was Jonghun, and the other sat SeungAh, and behind her a stricken-looking Sunkyu.

"Hell," Jaejoong whispered. He glared at his brother. "I will not forgive you for this."

"You were warned once, hyung," Changmin replied, "and you promised to abandon mortal Earth. And Hyomin. Forever."

"Sometimes life is too complicated to keep promises," snapped Jaejoong.

"Ah." SeungAh stepped ahead of her husband and stood studying her elder son with disappointment. "I had hoped this was some elabroate story of Changmin's. I am sorry to find you here." Her glance fell to Hyomin, though she avoided eye contact.

"Mother, please. You taught me to be kind, to help those in distress." Jaejoong begged her. "Let me help Hyomin."

"I'm sorry, boy," Jonghun put in. "But you know the rules. And you have disobeyed us twice. Lied to us. We have no choice now but to confine you. Just for a while. So that you can contemplate your actions. And learn obediance."

Hyomin looked at them all. SeungAh and Jonghun, stern-faced, Sunkyu, sighing heavily next to them; Changmin looking a little too pleased with himself -- and Jaejoong. Jaejoong, torned between his loyalty to his family and to a girl who had caused him nothing but trouble.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "None of this is Jaejoong's fault. He has only ever tried to help me. You must believe he is a good son. The kindest, most honourable son you could wish for."

SeungAh finally looked her in the eyes.

"I'm sure you mean well, child," she said coolly, "but the standards we have here as a family on Nissilum are somewhat different to those mortals abide by. Honour is entirely bound up with family, with breed. I cannot expect you to understand. But you too have lied to us. Forgive me if I hold your words in little esteem."

Indignation rose inside Hyomin, but she held her tongue. Jaejoong was silent now. It was clearly a mistake to challenge SeungAh. She saw properly how formidable she was.

"Come, Jaejoong." Jonghun took his son's arm. "This will not be a pleasant experience. Better to begin your term of confinement now and the sooner it will be over."

"Father," Sunkyu said miserbly. "Is this really necessary?"

"Be quiet!" snapped SeungAh. She looked harshly Changmin and Sunkyu. "You two get yourselves home. This is not a show for an audience."

She grabbed both of their hands and pulled them with her as she marched back to the horses. Sunkyu threw a sad apologetic smile back at Hyomin, while Changmin retained his familiar smirk.

SeungAh climbed up on to her horse, while Changmin took charge of the other. Reluctantly, Sunkyu got up behind him. "Goodbye," she called as SeungAh led them all out of the forest. "Good luck."

Jaejoong tried to look reassuringlly at Hyomin, but there was no mistaking the fear in his eyes. "Remember Hyomin. Think hard of where you want to be. And you will be there," he said, as Jonghun shook his head.

"Jaejoong," he warned, tugging at his arm. "Let's go. This is not easy for any of us."

"I will be with you," Jaejoong called, allowing himself to be led away. "Somehow."

"Boy!" growled his father. "Enough." He pushed Jaejoong in front of him, blocking her view as they walked away. Jaejoong would be kept in the palace cellar. Hyomin shuddered. It was medieval. And cruel.

Jaejoong finally turned his back to her and she gulped back a mixture of fear and intense sadness.

"Goodbye, Jaejoong," Hyomin whispered.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

R.I.P Yoochun's dad & Changmin's grandmother T__T Sigh. My deepest condolences to both families.

.. So. the truth has been revealed.

More ... action the next chapter? :3

Comment & Subscribe! ♥