CHAPTER 16
SONG NOEUL

"What I should have done when you push me away, years ago," he said. My hands trembled. "I confessed to you.." He sighed as his bum leaned against the back of the sofa. "You pushed me away. Coldly," He smirked as he tilted his head to the left and my eyes widened, I felt my heart stopped.

"You... You're.. Jun, when did you-"

High School.

"I'm Jin!" He grinned. "What's your name?"

"Oh stop it, Seokjin," I giggled as we exchanged our best friend handshakes. "We have been friends since young. Don't try to make a lame joke."

"I'm not!" He laughed when his gaze met with someone who entered the classroom. "Jun!" I glanced behind and my eyes went wide. It was the first time I swore that I had to glance back and forth from Jin to the person in front of me. Jin laughed at my reaction. "Jun, I want you to meet my good friend, Noeul. And Noeul, this is my twin brother SeokJun. Probably the first time you see him because, he just came back from Australia and it seems that he will be in Seoul for good, I hope. He had his middle school over there."

"You didn't tell me that you had a twin brother," I said. They looked exactly the same and I couldn't tell them apart.

"You didn't ask. So I didn't tell," Jin said. Jun smiled and greeted me with a nod. Jin went ahead and told me the secret of telling them both apart was...

..the mole right beneath the left ear.

"Jun.."

"You didn't even notice me all the while that I had been in front of you all the time."

"What?"

"You thought I was Jin?" He laughed. "Jin had gone back a month ago. It's funny how naive his friends are. Even the great Kim Namjoon got fooled," he explained. "But damn that Jung Hoseok was never out of the way."

I frowned, looking at him confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sure you heard about the bet that Hoseok had on you," he paused. "That was just a silly play or rather prank to get you. And Hoseok had wanted to be the bad guy so I gave him benefit of the doubt. But I guess, he fell right through. He falls for you instead, which I disliked the most," He gritted his teeth before approaching me. My back met against the wall and nowhere to run. "No one can have you, except me." He trapped me in between, "I should have made you mine even though you refused. I should have."

"You're crazy."

"For you," he smirked. "That first time when I saw you, I knew that it was love at firs sight. I never thought that I could be so close to you now. This is surreal," He laughed.

I learned that Jun had a case of mental issues. When I first met him, Jin had thought that he would be alright to communicate with people and having people accepting him. But Jin was wrong. Jin had to seek his father to place Jun back to the homecare because Jun's sickness was getting out of hand. He had begun to abuse his own mother for no apparent reason. I have to get out of here. I pushed him as hard as I could as he stumbled to the floor. I scrambled my way through and towards the main door, grabbing my phone, trying to call Hoseok but before I could, Jun had grabbed me once again, roughly. I struggled trying not to let him force me to.

"Noeul?" A voice from the phone was heard.

"," Jun muttered under his breath as he managed to pin me down.

"HOSEOK!" I screamed. "Hoseok!" I cried out when Jun covered my mouth with his hand.      I shook my head as he began to forcefully pull my clothes apart.

"Shut up!" He yelled at me. "Don't make things hard for you! Shut up!" I cried and tried to hit him but he was just as strong. I bit his hand as hard as I could but only to earn a hard slap from him.

Weakened.

I out.

*

I opened my eyes and found myself having excruciating pain on my right cheek. I glanced up and I knew that I wasn't at my own home. I groaned and sat up but only to stop by, "Hey, hey," He held my shoulder. "Rest," he smiled.

Tears began to well up and I couldn't help but cry. "H..Hoseok," Unconsciously, I  pulled Hoseok into a tight hug. I pulled back and cupped his face to see if it was real. His lips got cut and I realised that something had happened after I out.

"I was already at your front door when you called. When I saw what happened...I just.."   He didn't need to explain. "I'm sorry. I should have stopped Jin-"

"Jin?"

"What?"

"That's not Jin. That's his twin brother," Hoseok had a confused look on his face. I told him what had happened, and who exactly he was. The six of them had been friends with Jin's twin, instead of the real Jin that Kim Namjoon knew of. "Has he been... apprehended?" I asked.

"Took a while for me to completely subdued him. The neighbors around your area heard the noise that they called in the police. By the time police area, he was caught by having a knife in his hand while I was trying to protect you from him," Hoseok explained. I sighed when I realised Hoseok was looking at me with a conflicting gaze. "Are you okay?" Was what he asked. "When I arrived... He... He was on top of you, I got to him  before he could ever.." He closed his eyes, clenching his fist. "I promised you to stay by your side. I just-"

"No," I shook my head. "Don't blame yourself. Things just took an unexpected turn," I explained.

The door opened and Jin finally entered the room. "Noeul!" He approached me when the grip on Hoseok's sleeves tightened. Jin noticed that I was being defensive, he raised his hands and glanced to Hoseok before looking back to me. "It's me, Seok Jin," he turned his head to his left and the mark wasn't there. I heaved a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry," Jin bowed down formally, apologetically as his head touched the floor. "I never expected him to escape from the homecare. And for him to betray me while I was there in Australia, pretending to be me."

"You... never tell us about a brother when we first met," Hoseok began.

"I didn't think that he would go this far. I only learned about the shares he's pulling out from FaceNotes. He can have my face and voice, but he didn't have the authority to fully confirm and authorize as verification was sent to only to me," Jin explained. "I never mentioned him because what we have is business. SeokJun is my part of my personal life, which is why I thought that it wasn't necessary."

"The day.. when I had dinner for FaceNotes and partnerships amongst the social networks, explains the uncertainty of when you suddenly appeared from Australia, knowing that you had fully applied entire month off for it.." Hoseok questioned him. Everything had been off since the day I happened to meet Hoseok. Everything has gone to his plan, to observe, to witness. But he fell apart when he knew that Hoseok gradually had feelings for me.

"The reason I went back to Australia was that Jun had escaped for a few days, stole some money from the homecare. And God knows how he could have stayed sane still," Jin said. "I had tried to find him but only realised that he had gone back to Seoul yet again," Jin was completely upset and disappointed that this happened. He bowed apologetically once again to both Hoseok and myself for the troubles that Jun had caused.

I shook my head, "I can never say that I'm alright but I want to forget what happened." "It wasn't the first time. I make sure that he'll be put somewhere safe for good," Jin said before turning to Hoseok, "I hope we can discuss further in regards to FaceNotes and perhaps about how this happened," Jin smiled, teasing the fact that Hoseok happened to be very close to me.

Hoseok smiled and nodded.

*

I was discharged the next day and Hoseok had been thoughtful and kind to send me back home. I had thought that my home had been a mess since the incident but it had been.. "Neat.." I muttered as soon as I entered.

"I held onto your keys with me and yeah, I sort of clear the things while you weren't conscious yet. There are some things were broken but other than that, it's perfectly easy to clear."

I turned to Hoseok, "Why.. why are you always being so nice and kind to me? When I had been always pushing you away?"

Hoseok smiled as he held me by the shoulders, "Because even if you push me away, I know that somewhere deep down that I've created an impression to you." He then, stood closer, his finger touched my chin, "And I just have to work hard to make sure that you would stop pushing me away."

I remained silent and he let out a laugh, patting my head. He headed to the kitchen, taking an apron and decided to prepare food for me. Something hit me as Hoseok was trying his best to hide his worries beneath his smile. What happened to me, I was sure it had made him worried the most.

He continued cutting the food, saying that he would be cooking Kimchi Rice, this time, without my help. I headed over to his side, watching him, prepare."Noeul, will you be okay?" He suddenly asked without looking at me.

"Thanks for the concern, I will be-"

Hoseok placed the knife down and pulled me into a hug. "You have no idea how I feel when I witnessed what had happened to you." He was referring to the time when Jun had attacked me.

I returned the embrace and tightened the hug. Everything happened for a reason and if Hoseok hadn't been there, I really didn't know what would happen to me. And it made me clear of how much Hoseok would go to the extent to make me fall for him. He didn't need to when I knew that I had been in love with him since. I realised that now, probably a little too late. "Thank you for saving me. Thank you for loving me. Is there a space in your heart for me?"

Hoseok pulled away from the hug and I could see his eyes glistened. He searched for the truth in my eyes, trying to not think that he wasn't dreaming. I leaned forward as he did too until our lips met. His hand finds his way, cupping my cheeks as I pulled back for air. "The thing is, once you're in my heart - I'm locking you down," he whispered before our lips met once again with a passionate kiss.