A stunned silence followed Jongin’s declaration.

“Say that again.” Sehun snarled. His voice was so cold and sharp that Misun who had been standing with her body completely numb until then, flinched. She stole a glance towards Sehun who was standing beside her and shivered automatically. For the first time since Misun had met him, he looked scary. The sticky blood that had attached itself to his cheeks only made him look more forbidding. His eyes held none of their usual warmth and instead flashed with pure loathing as they stared unwavering at the tall tan figure opposite him. His hands were balled into a tight fist and his veins were straining against his skin and his knuckles had turned completely white, making Misun worry that his veins and bones might break free of his taut skin. She wanted to hold his hands and calm him down, but before she could will her stiff legs to move, Jongin broke the tense silence this time.

“I’m sure everyone heard me the first time.”

Misun quickly snapped her eyes towards Jongin. He looked defensive with his hands crossed across his chest, his jaw set and his plump lips in a firm line. It looked like he was bracing himself against any possible impact that might come from Sehun and it seemed like he didn’t give a damn about the others huddled around him. what made Jongin more angry was the fact that his Misun was standing beside the other guy and his body itched to move forward and grab Misun and bring her to his side instead.

Baekhyun who was on high alert since he saw Sehun fighting in public, sensed danger straight ahead and swiftly planted himself on the space in front of Sehun. Whatever Jongin was saying was successfully ticking Sehun off and it was not a good sign.

“What a sick joke.” Sewhan said loudly before Sehun could do or say anything in response to Jongin. “Stop messing things up kid, you have done enough already. Settle things and leave quickly when I’m still nice.” His voice curled menacingly around the word ‘kid’ as though emphasizing the fact that Jongin was nothing but an arrogant brat to him and that it would be a cake walk for him to deal with the likes of Jongin.

“Do I look like I’m joking to you?” Jongin scoffed. “I’m not going anywhere until Misun-my girlfriend- agrees to come with me. it’s been quite sometime since I last saw her and I miss her a lot.”

Everyone’s eyes landed on Misun now and she gulped. She had no idea what to say and even in between the fear coursing through her body, she felt her heart tug painfully again. How can he say things that he doesn’t mean at all? Am I that pathetic that he can come whenever he pleased and spout nonsense and hurt me?

“Shut up, Jongin. You are already in deep trouble. Don’t make things worse for yourself.” Seo Yeon stated and Misun snapped her eyes up to look at Seo Yeon.  Two things  Misun had never expected to happen have occurred that night. First was the arrival of Jongin and him claiming her back as though the break up hadn’t happened at all. Second was Seo Yeon addressing Jongin by his first name as though they were acquaintances. How in the world did they know eachother?

“Wait a minute.” Sehun said weakly. His body language was not screaming anger anymore, instead, a look of shock has replaced them. “What is hell is going on here?”

“Honey, how do you know Jongin?” Sewhan asked, his tone sounding equally surprised at this sudden revelation.

Seo Yeon’s face betrayed no emotions as her eyes landed on every single member in the room, lingering a couple seconds more on Misun than on the rest.

“I hate to admit it, But Jongin is family.” Seo Yeon sighed and gave a nasty look at Jongin who looked with equal venom back at her.

“But we have never seen him before.” Mrs.Oh said, speaking for the first time after Sehun turned up looking injured. “ Not even on the day of your wedding.”

“Not even I know how we are related. I only know that we are distant cousins. I haven’t met him much in the past so I don’t know much about him other than what he looks like.” Seo Yeon said politely , now that she was addressing her mother-in-law.

“Like sister like brother.” Baekhyun mumbled in between.

“This is none of your business.” Seo Yeon snapped at Baekhyun, flaring up at once. “Stay out of our family affairs.”

“Don’t take that tone on Baekhyun.” Sehun said loudly.

“ENOUGH.” Mr.Oh’s voice boomed and the hall fell silent again. “I have no idea what is going on here. My tired old brain simply can’t comprehend at all or may be it’s because I had too much champagne tonight. But I cannot stand here and watch you all fight each other. I also know that there is a proper explanation to everything and I am more than happy and sit and listen to what you all have to say, but not tonight. I know all of you are equally exhausted.” When no one talked back, he continued. “Sehun, you look a real mess, clean your self up.  Seo Yeon, please tend to Jongin’s wounds. You said he is family. He can stay here for the night too. Rest of you all go to bed. Now.”

“I not staying here.” Jongin said making a beeline for the front door.

“It was not a request.” Mr.Oh said and his authoritative voice made Jongin cower slightly and the defeated look on his face was enough to show that he is not going to rebel and would be staying in the mansion for the night.

Seo Yeon herded Jongin along to a guest room on the ground floor with Sewhan trailing behind them both. Baekhyun decided to stay too and went upstairs to one of the bedrooms the family seldom used.

“I have a lot of respect towards you , Misun. Please don’t make me regret accepting you into the family.” Mr.Oh said tiredly when only they were left in the hall. His voice didn’t sound angry or accusatory but instead it held a lot of hurt. Misun wanted to slap herself to death for being an indirect reason for all the trouble and couldn’t stop herself from feeling white hot shame bubble at the pit of the stomach. She has let them all down. Mr.Oh turned around and left the hall. Mrs.Oh patted Misun’s cheek, her eyes glistening with tears before following Mr.Oh to their room.

Now only Misun and Sehun were the only ones left in the hall and it became extremely awkward. Sehun hadn’t spoken to her since finding her with Jongin in the middle of the street and now he was not even looking her in the eye. She opened to speak when the silence became heavy but Sehun cut her off.

“I’m tired, Misun. I’m off to bed. You can use the room beside the stairs for the night.” He mumbled and dragged his feet up tiredly up the stairs and as she watched his hunched shoulders moving away from her, she knew what she had to do.

Misun dashed towards the bathroom downstairs she had used during her previous visit, where she had seen meds and a first aid kit. Grabbing them along with cotton gauze, she ran up the stairs two at a time and came to a stop panting hard infront of Sehun’s bedroom door. She knocked twice before entering and saw him sitting on the edge of his bed, his face buried in his huge palms. The sight startled her. This was the first time, she was seeing Sehun in a completely vulnerable state. He looked so weak that she had trouble believing that this was the same person she was dating. There was no positive aura around him nor was there that infectious smile of his, on his face. Dragging a chair from beside the table, Misun sat herself infront of Sehun. Even though the chair had scraped across the floor causing enough noise for it to not go unnoticed in the silent room, Sehun gave no indication that he had sensed the presence of someone else in the room with him.

“Sehun.” Misun called softly. Sehun gently looked up from his hands. And at that moment, she realized that Sehun needed her a lot and that he needed her comfort. Without thinking about anything else, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him to a hug. Her hands worked their way through his soft brown locks in a soothing manner as though expecting him to calm down from whatever emotional turmoil he was going through at that moment. She could feel Sehun’s hot breath on the crook of her neck and his steady breathing only encouraged her to tighten her grip on him more. For what felt like an eternity, both of them stayed in the same position, not wanting to let go of eachother.

“I’m feeling much better now, thank you.” Sehun murmured, a hint of a smile appearing at the corner of his lips as he surveyed Misun’s face with his brown orbs.

“Well, then, let’s clean those cuts. Some of them look nasty enough and might leave a scar of not properly treated.” Misun said as she broke apart from him and took the first aid kit.

“Do you even know how to treat cuts in the first place?” Sehun teased, half way back to his usual self now.

“I don’t have a doctor for a brother for nothing.” Misun scoffed. Standing up from her chair, she tugged at Sehun’s arm, pulling him up and dragged him to the bathroom. She washed his cuts with water first, before applying a gauze to take off the excess water and the dried blood from the wounds. When the cuts looked clean enough, she applied ointment and did a sterile dressing for them all. Now that his face looked clean, Misun noticed that Sehun had eye bags smudged with grey under his eyes. He looked immensely tired.

“Change out of those clothes and get to bed.” Misun smiled before walking out of the bathroom.  She decided to wait for Sehun to finish washing up in case he needed help with something and sat on the chair that she had previously occupied. Sehun came out after fifteen or so minutes, wrapped in a bathrobe. Misun blushed slightly and was about to look away when she noticed something.

“What’s that?” she asked, her brows furrowing as she looked at Sehun’s slightly exposed torso from in between the robe.

“Nothing.” Sehun said hastily and tightened the robe around him so that he exposed less skin. But the damage was done.

Misun wal