“Are you ever telling me what you were up to today?” Dahyun asked when they had settled down for the evening.

Nayeon got home a few hours before, looking absolutely devastated but unwilling to talk about it, so, as the great wife she was, Dahyun had distracted her with a nice dinner and the new episode of that bad drama the older woman liked so much. Now that they were laying down, waiting for sleep to come and basking in each other’s presence, she knew it was alright to ask.

“Only if you promise me you will let it rest as it is.” Nayeon asks, her tone grave enough to show she wasn’t negotiating.

“But if it got you looking like that, of course I’ll want to do something about it.”

“And I love you for that, but this time I need you to promise me you won’t do anything. All of this is my fault and I need you to just stand back and don’t interfere.”

“Okay, I promise.”

“No matter what happens, you can’t move a finger about this.” The urgency in Nayeon’s voice made it clear thi wasn’t something she would say unless Dahyun was completely honest about not interfering.

“I promise I’m not going to do anything about whatever made you look like that.” She agreed, looking at her wife expectantly.

“Just a second.” Nayeon gets out of bed, pulling out a box-like device from her suitcase and turning it on. “Precautions.” She simply explains.

Both women knew that Bambam was after Nayeon’s position, and may as well have wired her entire life, the boy managed to gain mr Im’s favor before the man fell sick, but that event threw a wrench to his plans when Nayeon took over and only kept him around because it was more dangerous to let him go. The older one took a deep breath, steadying herself and choosing her words carefully, upsetting her wife was never something she wanted, especially during pregnancy.

“Alright, are you talking now?” Dahyun cued.

“I went to see my brother.” She said simply, and waited for the information to sink in.

“Go on.”

“Father isn’t that well, and he said something about seeing his children one last time before he passes, I don’t really know. I was more of a dying, entitled man’s mumbling, but I’m sure mother also understood what he said.”

“And that’s bad because?”

“Well, did I ever tell you how I became the heir, despite being the second child and a woman?”

“No, but I’m guessing I won’t like it very much. BUT! You already started talking, so out with it.” Dahyun demanded, sitting up on their bed to look at her wife properly.

“You see, my brother was never really fond of father’s ways, so he took the first opportunity he had to escape and went away. He had applied to college on the other side of the country and made sure to not take a single cent from our family as soon as he set foot out the door.”

“That’s a good man right there. Still, I feel that’s not all, and I’m about to get mad at you.”

“Could you stop reading me and just let me talk? Thanks. So, I was kind of pissed at him for leaving me behind. I was a naive and spoiled teenager at the time, all that was going through my mind was that the one person who was supposed to be there with me all the time went away.” Nayeon took a breath, willing herself to continue. “So I sought him out, sure our parents had given up on him and were just waiting for his graduation to force him into marrying you and binding the companies.”

“Oh, so this was the fiancé I was told about back then. That explains a lot, really. I was told my fiancé was much older man but a nice person, then you came along and I was confused on how two years was supposed to be ‘much older’..... And the man part as well.” 

“Yeah, it was my fault, really. My own pride and selfishness guiding me to do it.”

“Will you just say it and stop stalling?”

“So, I went to see him, it had been two years since he last set foot in the house and much longer than that since we properly talked, just the two of us. So, when I was at his house, his wife showed up. They were just dating at the time.” Nayeon adds quickly. “She showed up and my selfishness told me she was the one stealing him away from me, so I called her every insult under the sun, I said she was just after our money, and that a nobody like her would never be allowed to be with my brother.”

“Okay, you just earned yourself a week on the couch, but keep talking.”

“She just took it, she took everything, swallowed her tears and gave my brother a broken smile, said she would wait for him to come to her and left. That was the moment I got a hold of myself and saw what I had done, but my stupid rich girl pride didn’t let me back down, so I just threw one last insult to her as she was leaving.”

“That’s a great woman right there. I may be inclined to go ask them if they are interested in a three way relationship.”

“As much as I would love for them to be cared for by someone as amazing as you, there is much more, so hold up.”

“And here I hoped you were done.”

“Not even close. So, once she was gone, my brother told me  she didn’t know where he came from until that very afternoon when I screamed it at her face. He also said he was disappointed that the girl he raised became just another spoiled rich brat, and I was to never set foot in his house again.” Another deep breath. “Then I stormed out and went directly to father, I told him a gold digger was after my brother and he wasn’t seeing it.”

“Okay, you were kind of a .”

“Father called him in that very evening.” Nayeon continued not minding the interjections. “Said he should just leave the woman as there was already a wedding waiting for him. Jae said he would never leave her, and was better off leaving us instead, so father granted his wish and disowned him the next day. We never heard of him ever since, and now that man wants him to go back for some sick redemption fantasy of his.”

“Oh, is that why I never heard a word about another Im until today?”

“That would be it. Father made sure nobody mentioned Jae after that, and, to the public eye, the Ims never really had a son. He disappeared not long after that, I couldn’t find anything about him and I had no idea who the woman was, I only learned her name today, even.”

“And why look for him now? It’s been years, why go through the trouble?”

“Because mother heard father talking about ‘seeing his son’, and I’m sure she would try and find Jae if that man asks for it. And Bambam would make sure my brother wasn’t a threat whatsoever, regardless of the consequences. I already tried to ruin his life one time, I’m never forgiving myself if I do nothing to prevent it this time.”

“And how is ‘you going to see him’ preventing it?”

“Because now he knows we can find him. If I could with just one investigator, father can easily do it with his men, and Bambam much easier with his domesticated hounds. He knows we can find him and he is going to disappear again, hiding his tracks better this time around.”

“I’m curious, when, how and what changed from the spoiled kid to the Nayeon who is desperate to save her brother?”

“He was gone, and I was forced to face everything he had been shielding me from. Father made sure to throw everything that was on Jae’s shoulders at me without mercy, I saw the ugly truth to our family and how much that man had put up with just so I could grow up happy, he gave me the best he could in his powerlessness. That slap of reality showed me what I’d done, and how much I tried to take from him that day.”

“I imagine things went from your perfect little golden bubble to the ugliness of big corporations fast.” It wasn’t a question.

“He gave me all his life, and now I’m going to make sure he can live his. If it takes going there and seeing the dead eyes that used to look at me filled with love and hear him tell me he never wants to see me again, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

“I’m glad you grew up, even if it took you the only person that loved you your entire life. But hey, I’m here now and we are working on it.”

“Yeah, you are here now. And I really want to be a good wife to you, and an even better mother to our little Mina.”

“Good, now you can pick up your pillow and go, I want to sleep.”

“What?”

“You thought I was joking about you earning yourself a week on the couch?” Dahyun raises an eyebrow. “And don’t even think about the guestroom, I will know.” 

Nayeon just gives in to her fate and moves to the living room. Dahyun just lay back and rummages everything she was just told. Things were worse than she thought, and she had to move, otherwise, Nayeon may be brotherless. She knew things were being set in motion for Jaebum’s demise, but she won’t just sit back and let it happen.