XII. Joonjae

       It didn’t take long for Joonmyun to smell something.

       Something that just wasn’t right.

       Joonmyun’s eyes traveled to Sihyeon’s home.

       An alpha is in the house.

       And based on Sihyeon’s reaction, Joonmyun knew who it was.

       At least, Joonmyun thought he knew who it was.

       Instead of the old middle-aged man he had expected to see, he saw a rather young lad—younger than him. He had to be at most sixteen. Sihyeon seemed to had thought that her father was in the house, but when she had seen who it was, she loosened up, but Joonmyun could still smell the fear in her. Thankfully, Sihyeon didn’t distance herself from Joonmyun like he had expected her to, instead, she had clung onto him tighter.

       Maybe she was finally truly accepting his status, or maybe she was just unconsciously attaching herself to him for the feeling of safety that mates emitted.

       “Hi, Sihyeon,” he boy smiled. It was forced. He wasn’t angry. He was sad, and it seemed as though he felt guilty that he was even smiling.

       “Hi, Joonjae,” Sihyeon’s smile was sincere, but cautious. “Where’s my mom?” Sihyeon hadn’t smelled her mom when she had entered the room.

       “She went to pick up extra groceries. I-I’m staying for dinner, if that’s alright with you,” he seemed to plead for acceptance with his eyes.

       “Of course, Joonjae,” Sihyeon’s grip on Joonmyun’s hand tightened. “Is your father joining us?” Sihyeon wasn’t afraid of Joonjae, in truth, she missed him. She wanted to wrap her arms around her little brother, but she feared that he didn’t know who she was. And the reason why she was so shaken was the fact that if Joonjae was here, then their father would be as well.

       Joonjae cleared his throat, forcing a sob back down.

       “Sihyeon,” his lips quivered.

       When he didn’t speak, Sihyeon let go of Joonmyun’s hand to sit beside her brother.

       “What’s wrong, Joonjae?” she was truly worried, and this only broke Joonjae even more.

       “I’m so sorry, Sihyeon. M-My b-big sister,” Joonjae hug his head low and fell to his knees.

       Sihyeon’s eyes widened as she let go of Joonmyun’s hand to rush to Joonjae’s side.

       “Joonjae, get up.”

       “No,” Joonjae shook his head. “I have to do this. I must ask for forgiveness of the sins I’ve committed—”

       “You idiot,” Sihyeon flicked Joonjae’s forehead, causing him to stumble onto his bottom and look up at Sihyeon in surprise despite the tears still flowing down his cheeks. “You don’t need to ask for forgiveness because I’ve never hated you,” she mumbled, reaching her hand out to her little brother.

       Joonjae hesitated, looking from Sihyeon’s hand to her. With a shaky hand, Joonjae allowed for Sihyeon to pull him to his feet.

       “But, I was horrible to you,” he muttered, looking at their interlocked hands.

       “You didn’t know any better,” Sihyeon smiled when she realized that their father wasn’t in the house because if he was, he would have already made his appearance. And even if he was here, she was sure that Joonmyun would protect her. So, with that in mind, Sihyeon wrapped her arms around her little brother that she loved with all her heart.

***

       “Dad is dying.”

       That was a bombshell that Sihyeon had not expected to hear from Joonjae. Sihyeon could tell that her mother and Joonmyun were just as shocked. Sihyeon hated her father, abhorred him, but she knew that her mother still had a place for him in her heart.

       Sihyeon’s mother set her fork down on her plate as she fought against her quivering lips.

       “Why?” she managed to ask without her voice breaking.

       “Rouges,” Joonjae muttered. “We were attacked last month. We won, but that was only because Father went up against the leader of the rouges by himself. The rouge was infected by wolfsbane, and so Father did not want anyone else to become infected. He sacrificed himself for everyone else,” Joonjae cried silently. “And now, he’s dying. We’ve tried to flush the venom out of his system, but nothing has worked. Dad is dying. He knows it and so does everyone else. That’s why . . . that’s why he made me alpha.”

       Sihyeon didn’t know. She didn’t know whether to feel glad that the man was dying or sad. She wanted to feel happy that he was now going to be out of her life forever, but she felt guilty for not being sad because he did love her once upon a time.

       “He wants to see us?” Sihyeon asked, wondering if Joonjae only visited to deliver the news.

       “He’s wanted to see you the day you left,” Joonjae whispered. “He regretted treating you both so horridly,” Joonjae looked to Sihyeon and her mother.

       Sihyeon clenched her fists and looked hard at the ground.

       “I highly doubt that,” she muttered to herself, but of course, everyone heard her.

       Sihyeon’s mother wrapped her hands around her daughter.

       “Sihyeon,” she spoke softly, “you can’t despise him forever. I’ve already forgiven him, it’s time that you do too.”

       It was time that she forgave him and move on from the pain that he caused. It was time that Sihyeon healed from the mental wounds of an alpha so she could truly live on with Joonmyun.

       Sihyeon needed to forgive to live.

       She knew that, but still didn’t know if she could.

       “I’ll go with you,” Joonmyun suddenly spoke.

       Sihyeon had almost forgotten that he was there. She looked up at him with uncertainty. Joonmyun knew that Sihyeon was beginning to accept him, but she could never fully and truly do so until she had closure from her father.

       Sihyeon sighed and looked at her mother’s hands holding hers.

       “When do we leave?”

A/N: Thank you for all the love you have given and are still giving to this story. Your words of encouragement mean a lot. 

This story is sadly almost coming to and end. It's been almost a year. It's about time that I finish writing it.

- Nubci4