Chapter twelve

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We must have fallen asleep because I woke up with Jiyong wrapped all over me. I looked at his clock. Holy crap, it was past nine! Jake would be home already. I nudged him awake. “Hey, I gotta go, it’s after nine,” I stated, urgently trying to unwrap him from me.

He groaned. “Ten more minutes, Angel,” he muttered sleepily.

I laughed; he looked so cute when he was sleepy. I giggled as I tickled him. “Ji, it’s not morning, it’s still night-time, but I’ve got to go. Seunghyun will be wondering where I am!” I explained, finally prying him off me and jumping up. He groaned and pulled me back down to him, holding me tight against his body, smiling sleepily. I giggled. “Will you stop! I need to go,” I said, laughing as he nibbled my earlobe.

He shook his head. “No, I don’t want you to go,” he muttered, as he kissed my neck.

I pushed him up and he groaned. “But I’m going to miss you,” he whined, making me laugh even harder.

“I’ll see you in an hour. Anyway, I have homework to do,” I said, with a shrug.

He sighed in defeat. “Yeah, me too,” he admitted, pouting slightly. I climbed out of his bed and went to the door. “Hey wait. I’ll walk you out.” He grabbed my hand as we walked down the hallway.

I stuck my head into the living room. “Bye, Sunmin. Bye, Hyunsuk,” I called.

“Goodbye, honey,” Hyunsuk replied, not taking his eyes off the TV.

Sunmin smirked at me. “Bye, Dee. Did you guys have fun?” she asked, giving me a wink. I blushed like crazy and nodded not sure that my voice would come out if I tried to speak. Ji rolled his eyes and pulled me to the front door, where he pushed me against it lightly and kissed me until I was dizzy.

“I’ll see you at half past ten, OK?” he whispered, caressing my cheek.

I walked quickly to my house, turning back to smile at Ji as I walked in the front door. Bless him, he was standing on his porch checking to make sure I got home safe and I live like thirty feet from him.

Seunhyun was sitting on the sofa, waiting for me. As I walked in the door he looked at me, his eyes tight with anger. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried! You could have left a note or something,” he said, shaking his head disapprovingly.

“Sorry, I was over at Ji’s. Sunmin asked me to stay for dinner, and I thought, seeing as you weren’t here, that I’d go so I wouldn’t be here on my own,” I said with a shrug.

“I love Sunmin’s dinners!” he moaned, his angry expression leaving his face, to be replaced by a jealous one.

“Well you missed a good one too, she made a homemade pie and everything,” I teased, smiling wickedly as he groaned.

“Well, I enjoyed my grilled cheese,” he joked, making me laugh.

“I’m going to go do my homework.” I turned and started towards the hallway so I could go to my room.

“Dee, wait a minute. I need to talk to you about something,” he said, patting the couch next to him, looking sad.

I plopped down next to him. “What’s up, Seunhyun?” I asked, concerned, he looked really upset about something.´

He took a deep breath. “I spoke to Mom tonight.”

I smiled. “Yeah? Is she OK? Is she coming home?” I asked, getting excited, thinking about seeing my mom sooner than a couple of weeks. I’d missed her like crazy and the time that she was here always seemed to go too fast.

He shook his head. “She told me something, but I don’t want you to freak out about it. There’s nothing to worry about, I promise.” He took my hand and looked at me, smiling sadly.

Oh crap, this is going to be bad! “What is it?” I asked, already imagining the worst. We were going to have to move to China. She’d lost her job. She was getting remarried - but I suppose that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing unless he was a jerk. Hundreds of things were running through my mind, but the last thing I expected was what Jake said.

“Our father has been in contact with her. He wants to see us, apparently, make amends for what he did,” he spat through his teeth, his sadness turning to blind rage.

I couldn’t breathe. My lungs just refused to work. My heart was beating way too fast as my body started to shake. He was coming back. He wanted to see us. The last time I saw that man, he had ripped my school shirt off me and had pinned me to the floor while he undid his pants. He was about to me when Seunghyun and Jiyong came in and beat the crap out of him. Oh God, he was coming back. I replayed all of the beatings he handed out to me and Jake, all the touching that happened when I was alone with him, the whispered words and secret smiles. My vision started to get black spots as I hyperventilated. I was going to die I could feel it; my body was shutting down, unable to deal with the memories and the pain.

I was vaguely aware of shouting. “Just let go. I can help her!” a voice I recognized, shouted.

“Call 911 for sake. She can’t breathe!” Jake shouted.

“Seunghyun, let go of her! I got this, I promise,” the voice said urgently again.

I was jostled slightly and then I felt two strong arms go around me, pulling me into a hard chest; there was a beautiful smell that I recognized as Jiyong.

Oh thank you God, Jiyong’s here! My heart rate started to slow as I felt him press his lips to my neck and breathe slowly and calmly down my back. I tried to match my breathing to his. I concentrated on the feel of his steady heartbeat against my chest and the black spots slowly started to fade. After a few minutes I regained control of my arms and I wrapped them tightly around his waist, clinging to him as if he was the only thing keeping me from falling off the edge of the world. My father was coming back, but I was with Jiyong, he wouldn’t let anything hurt me, I knew that. So I started to feel safe in his arms. After what seemed like forever, I was able to pull back to look at him.

“You alright now?” he asked, putting his hands on either side of my face and pressing his forehead to mine.

I nodded and my lips, they tasted salty for some reason, and then I realized I was crying. I wiped my face and sniffed. I slowly became aware of my surroundings; I was still in the lounge. I looked over to see Seunghyun sitting there, shocked, staring at me and Jiyong. His mouth was hanging open, his eyes wide. I thought about stepping back, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t move away from Jiyong, he was my safety; he was the one I needed, the one that would keep me sane through all of this.

Seunhyun walked over and pulled me from Jiyong’s arms, making me whimper. He wrapped me in a tight hug. “Damn it, Dara. Don’t ever do that to me again! I thought you were going to die! , you scared me,” Seunghyun ranted, as he rocked me