“So. What do you want to know.” Nana folded her arms, waiting, as she eyed Jiyeon. Jiyeon hesitated; she reached out for the cup of coffee, sipping from it as she tried to calm her nerves and organize her messy thoughts. Finally, she spoke up. “I don’t quite get why everyone keeps warning me about JB’s family.” 

Nana’s brows rose. “Everybody? Really? I didn’t realize that so many people knew about our family.” 

Jiyeon’s face flushed slightly. “Well- maybe everybody is a bit of an exaggeration. Just...many people. Including the 2PM and 2AM members, and Jr. That’s more than ten people, by the way.” 

“Thanks, I can count.” Nana spoke dryly, but without menace. “I guess that is quite a large number - although still quite far away from “everybody”. So where do you want me to start? What do you know?” 

“I don’t actually...I don’t know anything, to be honest.” Jiyeon admitted. “Everyone just keeps telling me not to ask...but every time I’ve asked JB about his family, his reaction has always been...” 

“Explosive? Violent?” Nana suggested. Jiyeon nodded twice. Nana gave a rueful smile. “He still doesn’t like talking about us, huh.” 

“Are the two of you estranged, or...” Jiyeon’s voice trailed off, as she was unable to fill in the blanks. 

Nana chuckled. “No, not quite estranged. JaebumB doesn’t like other people knowing I’m his sister - he seems to think that others might think he was given a leg-up into the industry because of me. Which, by the way, is completely untrue. JYP-sshi picked him for his talent, and for his talent alone.” 

“And for his good looks.” Jiyeon added before she could stop himself. 

Nana laughed, her eyes brightening. “Well, my brother is rather good-looking, isn’t he? But in any case, no we’re not estranged, and neither of us are adopted. It’s just, neither of us are keen on letting the entire world know that we’re siblings. It is our family, after all, and thus none of their business.” 

“Well...okay the only other thing I know is that JB is angry at his mother. Your mother.” Jiyeon answered. She knew she had guessed correctly when Nana’s expression darkened. “So you do know about that, then.” 

“Actually I’ve met her.” Jiyeon replied. “I was at JB’s house when his mother came to visit and...” Words failed her as she thought back to that meeting, and she cringed. Nana just gaped. “She went to visit him? Was she out of her mind?” 

“You don’t keep in touch with your mother?” Jiyeon asked. She hadn’t thought it possible, but Nana’s expression darkened even further. “No. Neither of us do.” 

Jiyeon waited, but Nana offered no more explanation, so she had to prompt the After School member. “Why? Did...did something happen?” 

Nana looked down at her own coffee cup, which she had not touched since they sat down. “I suppose you could say that. In a way, I guess it was all my fault...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seven Years Ago

Jin-ah slung the bag over her shoulder, her head bowed low and focused on her own quick, efficient actions as she pushed her chair into the table and turned to leave the classroom. Before she could take a step towards the door, Jieun stopped her, stepping in front of her path, holding her hand out, her brow furrowed in concern. “Jin-ah, I’ve had enough of this. What is with you these past few weeks? You’ve been totally out of it, barely paying attention in class and not talking to any of us anymore either. What’s wrong with you? Did something happen?” 

Jin-ah did not even look up; she merely pushed Jieun’s arm out of the way, her voice a tired, listless sigh as she answered softly, “I’m fine.” She tried to push her way past Jieun, but her best friend refused to budge, holding Jin-ah back with two arms now. “No. I’m not letting you leave until you talk to me, Jin-ah. You’ve refused to talk to me properly for two whole weeks already! What the hell is up with you?” 

Jin-ah’s her eyes flashed furiously, the anger she had kept tamped down for the past few weeks suddenly flaring into life as she shoved at Jieun. “I said I was fine, okay! Just leave me alone! Why do you always have to be such a busybody?” 

Jieun gaped, shocked at Jin-ah’s sudden fury. Before she could say a word, Jin-ah pushed past her, disappearing around the door. 

Jin-ah thought she ran blindly, but she must have known the school better than she had thought, for she found herself standing at the gate of the school within minutes, staring dazedly out through the gates. The anger that had suddenly possessed her had left her just as abruptly, leaving only the same dull emptiness that had filled her for the past few weeks. 

It was cold. 

Slowly, her arms came up, wrapping around herself as the sobs tore themselves from deep within her. She hated this, but it was not as if she had a choice. If she didn’t, she would have nowhere to stay, her mother would just throw her out of the house: after all two mouths were easier to feed than one. 

Her legs began to move, almost involuntarily, step after step after step. There would be hell to pay if she was late, after all. 

As soon as she opened the door, the yelling started; her mother emerged from the kitchen,  her voice shrill as ever, “You little ! I told you not to be ing late, didn’t I? You , you just take my words as the ing air! You kept the customer waiting, !” 

Jin-ah flinched instinctively, but if her mother noticed, she showed no sign of it; instead, her arm raised and came lashing down on Jin-ah’s cheek with a vicious slap. Jin-ah’s head jerked around painfully, but her teeth burrowed into her lip, refusing to cry out. 

“Yah, ahjumma!” The drunken drawl was loud and brutish, followed by an even louder slam as the man punched the wall. “Don’t damage the ing goods, you brainless !” 

The woman Jin-ah called mother withdrew, but the gleam of devious speculation was still in her eyes, the gleam that Jin-ah had long become used to. Her voice became a low purr, trying to be persuasive; Jin-ah wondered if the woman knew how much that voice made her want to throw up. “Go on, he’s been waiting for two hours already. He’s impatient.”

Jin-ah’s voice was choked, the bitter bile threatening to overwhelm her. “Have you entertained him for the past two hours already?” 

The anger so familiar to Jin-ah flashed in that woman’s eyes; she lifted her hand to slap Jin-ah again, but before she could do a thing, the drunken man shouted, even louder this time. “Ahjumma!” 

Jin-ah shoved past the woman, not even caring if she punished her now. It wasn’t like the woman could do anything to her that she hadn’t done before. Slowly, she made her way up the stairs; she bit back the bile, blinked back the tears, clenched her fists to stop the uncontrollable tremors; actions she did every single day as she walked up the same set of stairs. The only difference was that the man waiting for her was different. 

She looked up as she reached the top of the stairs; the man was smiling at her, the same greasy, oily, sick smile that all of them smiled. The one that gleamed of lust and indulgence and guilt and ersity and anticipation. 

And as the man rose, she felt herself go numb. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Present Day

Jiyeon stared at Nana, speechless, silent. She swallowed, hard. Try as she might, she could not imagine the pain that Nana must have gone through, pain that she had been put through by her own mother. 

Nana’s eyes were fixed on the coffee cup in front of her, still untouched even after an hour. “Well, you know the rest of the story. I was ravaged by a different monster - monsters, sometimes - every single day. And eventually, Jaebum found out. He was furious.” 

“He didn’t know?” 

“Not at first. Whatever else I may have to say about my mother, I have to admit it. She did love Jaebum. Everything she did, she did because she thought she would be able to get a better life for him. We were poor, dirt poor. And she sold herself, sold me to make sure Jaebum wouldn’t have to go through the same bitterness and hopelessness and desperation. I may hate her for everything she did, but I can’t deny that it did help Jaebum, helped ensure he didn’t have to go through the same...thing we did.” Nana explained, looking up and meeting Jiyeon’s eyes for the first time. 

“But he didn’t agree. He thought what she did, what she made you do was wrong.” It wasn’t a question. Nana nodded in agreement. “Jaebum was furious, like I said. He couldn’t believe what she made me do. And in the end, we ran away together. We came here, and we started a new life for ourselves. A better life.” 

“And you’ve not kept in contact with your mother since?” Jiyeon queried. 

“The woman who gave birth to us. Just because she did so doesn’t make her a mother. At least not to me.” Nana said sharply. Her eyes softened as she looked at Jiyeon. “So now you know. Why we have no family but each other. Why Jaebum hates talking about that woman.” 

Jiyeon looked down. Softly, she spoke. “I’m sorry about what you had to suffer, Nana-sshi.” 

Nana shook her head. “There’s no need to feel sorry for me. I’m happy now. But - a word of advice: don’t mention this to Jaebum. I meant it, when I said he hates talking about this. He hates her, perhaps even more than I do. And if he found out that you know...well, when it comes to that woman, he becomes far more unreasonable than you can imagine.”

Jiyeon forced a smile. “I understand. Thank you for being so honest with me.” 

Nana rose. “Well, I’d better go. I’m going out with Lizzy today, and I don’t want to keep her waiting.” 

“You and Lizzy-sshi...?” Jiyeon’s brows rose, the question implicit in her expression. Nana just laughed. “Yes. We’re happy together, you know. For the first time in my life. Goodbye, Jiyeon-sshi. Treat my brother well.” 

Jiyeon watched as Nana left the shop, crossing the road; she hadn’t even touched her coffee, even once. 

All of a sudden, Jiyeon’s phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID, and wondered why JB was up so early. For a moment, she hesitated. 

Should she lie to JB? She knew Nana had probably given that advice for a reason, and yet Jiyeon could not help but feel uncomfortable, extremely uncomfortable at the idea of lying to JB. 

Her phone vibrated, as she received a text message from JB. 

/Hey, Jiyeon, you got time for a movie today? Jinyoung-hyung gave me the day off! I’ll be at your dorm in ten minutes, okay?/

Jiyeon hesitated, her fingers hovering over the phone buttons. Then she texted back. 

/Sure, I’m not in at the moment, but I’m on my way home. Wait for me~/

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Hey guys, here's the next chapter. So this chapter is all about the secret of Nana/JB's family. Yes, Nana's mother essentially sold her body for money and JB found out and was furious, which led to his estrangement from his mother, along with Nana. The baseline is that both brother and sister hate their mother; Nana because of what she made her do, and JB because he genuinely loved his sister and was horrified that his mother would use her that way. And now Jiyeon has to play the role of secretkeeper too - by not telling JB, she essentially decides that she's going to pretend she doesn't know anything to make their relationship easier. 

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! And remember, comment and subscribe!