“Sorry. If it knew you had family over-”

“Nonsense. You’re family too. And you wouldn’t have come over unannounced if it wasn’t important.” Lennox spoke as she placed the mug of hot chocolate in front of Devan.  

“It’s really bugging me lately.” Devan spoke, picking up the mug and letting its warmth seep into her frozen hands.

“That’s what happens when you open up to people. I told you not to do anything stupid anyway.”

“At the time it wasn’t stupid. It was just me wanting them to feel every ounce of pain I’ve been through, but seeing them at her bedside…. i'm not sure if I can do this anymore.”

“Pretending to care? Cause let me tell you now, you care a lot about him. Maybe too much to walk away from him.”

“I was right there Len. I right in front of her. I could have killed her. I could have ended her life right there.”

“But you didn’t. Because you still have a heart…. you still care.”

“I don’t want to care. Why do they get to run around with smiles like a big old happy family? Sometimes I look at him and I see his parents. I see what his parents did to my family. And what’s worse is they won’t even be held accountable because of the statute of limitations. An apology is not enough anymore for me. At some point I want to see his mother grieve…. I wanted to see her grovel before god and ask for her child back……”

“So what do you want now, Dev?”

“I want the noise to stop….” Devan spoke as she looked outside the window and watched the snow fall.

“I can believe you guys didn’t tell me….”

“We wanted to protect you.”

“By hiding something so important?”

“We aren’t perfect… we never have been. We didn’t know who Devan really was until after we introduced you both, and at first you seemed to not like her and we were going to cut it of. That was more of the reason for the trip, to give Devan one last happiness, to end everything. But it seemed you two had grown rather close and we didn’t dare ruin it, we thought maybe this was the real way to give her happiness.”

“Does she know?.....Does she know it was you and mom?”

“I’m not sure. She was young and this was probably very traumatic for her.”

“You have no idea.” Ten spoke, letting go of his mother's hand. “She lost her brother, her mom and her father. Do you know she has no family anymore? How can I face her knowing that I’m the cause of her unhappiness?”

“You aren’t the cause of her unhappiness, but you can be the cause of her happiness. You’re mother and I had spoken, we would honorably remove you from the family. Give you both a real chance to love. We make sure you’re both financially stable, even give Devan our shares in the hospital, before completely disappearing from your lives.”

“Dad…”

“Think of it as our final gift to you..” Ten’s father smiles weakly. “I’m not sure when she’ll wake up from this coma, but she would have wanted it this way…” Ten’s father spoke before sitting beside his wife and rubbing her hand. “You should go fix yourself up. You don’t want to make Devan wait much longer.”

Ten sighed and got up from his seat, leaving the room.

Ten mindlessly walked down the hall and to the elevator.

“My brother died when I was 7.”

“My mom committed suicide.”

“My dad had MS.”

“Honestly, I’ve been alone since I was 7.”

“How am I supposed to face her…..”

Flashback one day ago

“Funny seeing you here….” Devan laughed dryly as she took a seat beside the bed.

“You know…. I always wanted to see you like this…. weak….” Devan spoke quietly as she rubbed her fingers over the frail and pale face. “ I guess I should thank you… for giving the last 14 years of my life … for taking my family away…. for killing my brother….”

Devan stood up from her seat, removing her hands  from the figures face and grabbing one of the many pillows from behind her head.

“How unfair that you’ve chosen the easy way out. But that’s okay, I’ll just give you the final blow…” Devan whispered as she placed the pillow on the figures face.

End flashback 

“How many have you had?” Ten asked walking up to Devan who was sitting on a bench, holding a half drunk beer.

Devan however, gave no answer and downed what was left in the can before tossing it in the recycling bin beside her, and grabbing 2 more.

“Here.” Deven spoke quietly, almost in a whisper, holding a can out to Ten. “You look like you could use one.”

Ten sighed. “Is it that obviously?”

Ten took a seat beside Devan and watched the snow fall before them as he took a few sips from his can.

“How’s your dad holding up?” Devan asked as she finished.

Ten sighed. “It seems as though he’s prepared for the worst. She hasn’t gotten any better, but she hasn’t gotten any worse either.”

“This has to be the worst week of your life. You should be getting ready for you’re debut next week and instead you have to wonder if your mothers going to live.”

“Consider it me getting a taste of your life.”

“So, what does my life taste like?”

“Bitter. Very bitter, but it’s also bittersweet.”

“You don’t say.” Devan whispered as she owned her umpteenth can.

“At a young age you went through so much hardship, so much loss. But because of it you ended up here. You made it here to Korea. You made great strides on your physical, mental, and emotional. Made friends. A lot of friends that have become your family. They defend you. They love you, and you love them too. You’re making a name for yourself as one of the fastest rising fellows in the hospital. You’re knowledge incomparable to the others. I want you to taste all sweetness that life has to offer you from now…..”

Devan laid her head down on Tens shoulder as his arm slowly wrapped around her small frame. Devan slowly closed her eyes, enjoying this moment of closeness.

“That sweetness just won’t be with me…..”

A/N :Heeeey guy! Long time no see. I promise I’m gonna get my life together so I can give regular updates and not have y’all wait for 1 update ever month. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed. My dramatic chapters seem less dramatic after I write them out.... but Ten and Devan are now no more .... Jiyong and Destynee are at a stand still.... And Lennox, well things seem to finally be going well... I can’t believe it took 30 chapters just get this far in the story, maybe it’ll take 30 more before it ends... who knows... the next chapter will be set for the new year and I’m quite curious to see what the new year will bring these young ladies. If you have any ideas let me know, it may even make it in the story.  Shout out to emiruchi9 for subbing, hope you’re enjoying.