“I don’t know what I’d be doing without you.”

“You’re still living so I’m pretty sure that question is irrelevant,” Daeryong scoffed, his back turned to her. He tried his best to suppress the warm, tingling sensation building up inside his stomach when she came to hug him. Her head rested in the space between his shoulder blades her breathing a little shallow, her lips pressing on his back, and her eyes were closed, not in fear of his anger exploding and trailing out like a rived, but in shame. It was an act of love with pity laced between the thin lines. To him, this felt perfect, but he couldn’t make it seem as if this was when he succumbed and forgave-he wasn’t going to let his front melt away.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Then don’t say anything.”

Daeryong didn’t thrash around. Instead, he let her hug him tighter. He didn’t want to move away from this scene.

“Daeryong, what am I supposed to do?”

“What do you think you should do?” He turned around so that he was facing her.

“Apologize, tell you I’m stupid for causing all of this,” Hyemi lifted her hand and let it outline his neck, stopping at the shoulder and squeezing it, “causing all this unnecessary pain.”

“Causing pain in your chest,” Hyemi trailed her fingers down to the left side of his chest. She slowly stepped forward and let her head rest there, breathing in slowly and deeply. Daeryong clenched his hands into fists, trying to resist the urge to hug her.

“I’ll do anything, anything, just for you to feel happy.”

“Anything?” Daeryong looked down into her eyes. His eyebrow arched up and his tone was filled with unspoken questions.

“Anything.”

“Quit your job.”

--

“You’re what?” Hyemi’s manager stopped in his steps. His clipboard started to slip out of his hands.

“I’m quitting.”

“Why? You’re the best worker here! Woohyun’s been slacking off these days and we need you. You shaped this place up into the best pet café on the block. Do you want a better raise? Is this why you’re quitting? Hyemi, if it’s about money, you know I’ll give you a raise.”

“No, it’s not that. My family needs me right now. I want to quit so I can have more time to be with them.”

Her manager heaved out a sigh and nodded in response.

“Alright, alright. Just fill out these forms and give it to me by the end of the week. You’re welcome to stop by anytime you want and hey, if your family gets all better, come and reapply, alright? I’d love to have you back on board.”

Hyemi took heavy steps back to the door, letting it slide back into place on its own.

Hyemi POV

I hope what I’m doing is the right thing to do.

“You’re really quitting?” I turned around on the heels of my feet to see Woohyun breathless, standing right in front of me.

“What’s it to you?” I tugged on my bag and started to walk towards the crosswalk.

“What do you mean what’s it to me?” It means the world to me. Why are you quitting?” Woohyun pulled my wrist, stopping me in my steps. I didn’t turn around, like I normally would, and looked across the street. My skin became scorching hot with the heat of hate lingering in every inch of my body. My eyes started to sting and I closed them, not wanting any tears to roll down.

“Is it because of me? Answer me, Hyemi,” His voice took me back to a few weeks. So soft, so gentle, laced with concern.

“Is it because of him?” His voice echoed into my mind.

“What’s it to you?” I whipped around, letting my palm hit his face. It wasn’t on purpose, what am I supposed to do if my hand was right next to it?

“Hyemi-“

“Stop calling me by my name. Stop talking to me or asking me questions. What I do isn’t any of your concern now!”

NO ONE POV

Hyemi cradled her legs into her body, letting herself pull into a tight ball.

“Just stop,” She breathed out. Her eyes tightly shut themselves from the blurry world and even though she did, Hyemi felt the tears rolling down her face.

“I-“ Woohyun was about to apologize, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned around to see Sunggyu. His hyung didn’t show any emotion, worry, hate, or anger. He just stood there, gazing at the scene Hyemi was in.

“I’ll take it from here. Go back into the shop and take care of your customers, that’s the most important thing you can do right now,” Sunggyu spoke as he walked towards his baby sister.

“I-I’m sor-“

“Save it, Nam Woohyun. Your apologizes won’t do you any good now. If you came to me in the first place, this might have never happened.”

Woohyun’s face displayed shame; his lips pressed together and created one thin line. He stared down and shuffled his feet here and there, then walked slowly back to the shop.

“Hyemi, I’m sorry.”

“You know there’s no point in apologizing, right?”

“Wha-Jae! You scared me,” Woohyun grabbed his chest and heaved out puffs of air in a dramatic poise.

“Woohyun, aren’t you a drama major?”

“No.”

“Well stop being so dramatic and save the act for the stage!” Jae hit his shoulder with full force, earning a yelp from the brunette.

“Jae, that hurt,” Woohyun whined. His chin rested on her shoulder, his voice turning into a greasy lovey dovey one. Aegyo Level 2.

“That hurt is only a third of what Hyemi felt. Do you know how she’s living right now?”

“Jae, please don’t do a lecture here and now. I’ve already had enough,” Woohyun rolled his shoulders forward, puckering up his lips and sending winks to her. Aegyo Level 4.

“No, you need to be house broken and live the harsh realities of life. I swear, by the way you’re attempting to look cute, you think that you’re going to slide right by this problem, don’t you?”

Woohyun stopped his hearts and kisses and winks and the cute dancing he was doing (also known as Aegyo Level 10).

“Woohyun, we have to talk about this sometime soon.”

“Can it be later?”

“No, you have no option. Woohyun has Hyemi at our house right now and we’re planning on talking to the three of you together-“

“Three?”

“You, Daeryong, and Hyemi.”

“Right.”

“I know it’s a scary thought for you, but think of it as an adult duty. You need to get rid of your run-away-from-all-problems and start to face them. That’s the only way you can become a better adult.”

“You have a point,” Woohyun dragged out the words, hating how he had to admit it, “Just tell me when.”

Jae smiled, patting his head like a puppy.

“That’s my boy.”

--

“How did you know where I was?”

“Jae called me as soon as she saw Woohyun coming to get you. I was in the neighborhood to talk to you anyway about this party I have to attend to later tonight.”

“Party?”

“It’s the annual Starry Night Party. The masquerade party they do at the start of November and they do this whole party inside and outside the house? Remember, we used to go as kids because of our parents and because I took up the company, I have to go too? Anyway, that’s beside the point. Right now, let’s focus on you.”

“Me?” Hyemi pulled up the sheets closer to her after she sipped on her coffee.

“Yes, you. I’ve come to an understanding that something’s been going on with you, Daeryong, and Woohyun. Don’t give me that look-I wasn’t born yesterday, you know? I know what my baby sister is in deep doo doo with love, as much as I hate to come to the conclusion,” Sunggyu shivered, his eyes becoming thin lines on his well sculpted face, minus his chubby cheeks which will always be chubby, but not too chubby. Hyemi squirmed in discomfort.

“Hyemi, you can tell me anything. I won’t get mad or fuss at you. I just want you to know I’m here for you and I’ll do anything to make you feel happy. What happened? Tell me everything.”

“I-okay,” Hyemi took inhaled the air, “I slept with Woohyun and I took a pregnancy test because I wasn’t sure if we used protection or not. I wasn’t pregnant and Woohyun was both upset and happy. Then-“

“Wait, Woohyun? Our Nam Woohyun?” Sunggyu gritted his teeth, trying to calm himself from bursting out of the house, driving to the café, and punching the living soul out of said man. Hyemi nodded, her eyes closing in shame.

“Keep going, Hyemi. Your brother is staying strong so you need to too.”

“Then Daeryong heard everything. I love Daeryong and he loved me…I don’t even know if he still loves me,” Hyemi laughed a little, earning pity points from her brother, “I’m just like mom, aren’t I? I look like her and here I am acting like her. I destroyed the love I created by going to another man. I’ve become the person I hate the most.”

“That’s not true. You’re nothing like mom.”

“That because I’m worse than mom.”

“Just drop it, Hyemi. Mom had to leave for other reasons besides her affair with dad’s friend.”

“Yeah, of course she did. She only left us because he had a better paycheck than dad. He looked better than dad, he was more successful than dad, he was younger than dad, he-“

“Mom left because she was dying.”

“What?”

“I wasn’t supposed to tell you this, ever. She left us because she was dying. Dad’s friend was a doctor who knew how to cure her disease, but it never worked out because she knew that none of us would be happy seeing her again. Her lungs were laced with nicotine and all the other substances filled in those cigars she smoked every day. Mom left because she knew we weren’t happy with her. Mom would rather live knowing we’re happy without her than knowing we’re upset because of her.”

“Why do you talk like she’s dead?” Sunggyu stayed quiet, his eyes focusing on anything but Hyemi. Hyemi groaned in disbelief, hitting her hand on the cushions that surrounded her.

“That’s not true. If it was, I’d be at the funeral. I’d get a mail saying that a relative died from our family cemetery.”

“I told them not to send it.”

“You what?” Hyemi stood up and went closer to Sunggyu.

“I didn’t want you to know back then. You were still too young to know, too young to understand.”

“So you decide to tell me now? My world’s falling apart and now you’re telling me the whole history of mom? How do you know all of this?”

“Mom always sent letters to us. I decided to never show you. One time you saw her letter and you shredded it up to pieces. You probably don’t remember, you were pretty young, but already so full of angst. Let’s just drop this for another time, okay? Clearly you’re not alright with this. Why don’t we just talk about all of this another day and get you ready for the ball. You have to go-it’s part of the Kim tradition.”

A/N: Hi readers! How've you been? I hope you like this update^^

Feedback would be super awesome, btw. This took me a while and I've been on hiatus (I guess?) for a while because I've been trying to figure out just how to write this chapter, besides schedule conflicts and what not. It's pretty dramatic, right? This is the first chapter that really focused on the family history/traditions of the Kim Family. I hope it flicked some interest!

I apologize for any grammar/spelling errors!

Thanks for sticking with me and supporting me and subscribing to me, you don't know what it means to me<3