Kai’s POV

“Damn it!” I hissed under my breath as I punched my bedroom wall.

Throwing my jacket onto the ground, I plumped down onto the bed tiredly. Cupping my face with my hands, I sat in frustration. Sunday. It’s Sunday. What am I going to do? Lost in thought, I didn’t even realize that Mom had already walked into the room. The large smile plastered on her face was obviously because of the upcoming wedding. I watched her as she placed down several invitation cards on my desk.

“Jongin ah, check if the invitations are all correct. I wouldn’t want to have anyone miss out on such an important day” she smiled.

“Mom” I whispered with hesitation.

“Yes?” she replied.

“…Nothing. It’s nothing. I’ll look at the cards in a bit. I’m going to head out for a while”

Aemi’s POV

I was alone tonight. Sehun had gone to visit Minho and I was too afraid to go with him. I stayed at home waiting for Sehun’s return. I wanted to know. How he was. Was he eating? Was he hurting more? Every minute felt like every hour. I didn’t even realize that the doorbell has been ringing for several minutes now. Wiping my tears that have fallen, I walked slowly to the front door.

“Go away” I asked him, as I was about to close the door on him.

“Wait” he whispered as his hand caught the door.

“What do you want Kim Jongin?” I asked him a little annoyed.

“Can we go somewhere? I’m… nevermind,” he said, as he was about to leave.

His eyes were almost bloodshot. Ruffling his hair with his hands, he seemed just as stressed as I was. Did you know? He looked exhausted. I couldn’t detect a hint of playfulness. He wasn’t here to play. Something must have happened. Looking at him, I felt bad for the way I was treating him.

“Give me ten minutes,” I said as I went to the bedroom.

I hurriedly and went t change into a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. Grabbing my Burberry trench coat, I rushed out the door and headed outside. Kai followed suit and I approached his jacket pocket to get the car keys.

“Come on. Didn’t you come so you can relax? Let’s go and forget whatever worries we have” I smiled at him slightly as I sat in the driver’s seat.

I took Kai to the bar. We walked into the bar through the backdoor entrance and when I went to the usual VIP room that is Sehun’s, I realized that I was subconsciously holding Kai’s hand. Staring at it, I quickly released his hand from my grip. Telling the waiter to get me drinks, I sat on the leather sofa and stared at the people dancing downstairs.

Kai’s POV

This was the first time I was at the bar. It was strange. The VIP room seemed to be just a large glass box located on the second level of the club. We could see everything that was happening in the bar. I sat near Aemi and watched her as she seemed to be out of it today. Something was off.

“I see this isn’t your first time,” I observed.

“Here” she said as she passed me a bottle of beer.

She was drinking the beer without stopping. One bottle finished. She headed for the second one. Then the third one. I watched her as she gurgled the alcohol nonstop. By her fourth one, I stopped her. She looked at me with irritation.

“Stop. You’re at the fourth one,” I said to her.

“Marry Jihyun,” she whispered.

“What did you say?”

“The wedding is Sunday. You can’t not marry Jihyun”

“Jihyun knows”

“What did you say?”

“I’m going to stop this before it’s too late. Before both of us gets hurt, I need to stop this”

Before I realized, I noticed that Aemi was crying. The strong girl that never cried. That always tried to suppress her feelings by doing other things so that she would never look vulnerable in front of others. She was actually crying. Turning my body so that it was right in front of her, I gently wiped her tears away with my thumb as I cupped her cheeks with my hands. Without notice, she broke away from my touch and wrapped her arms around my neck as she hugged my tightly. Sobbing loudly, I was surprised at her sudden action. Slowly hugging her back, I patted her back calmly.

“You have to marry her. You have to. You don’t have a choice,” She said loudly.

“We’ll work something out” I tried to calm her.

“No. Nothing will ever work out. I… He… Minho… Dad’s dying”

My hands stopped moving.

“He’s dying Kai…. You can’t not marry her. You don’t have a choice” she repeated loudly as she cried louder.

“Uncle… Uncle… he’s dying…” I whispered to myself as if I was asking myself if I heard correctly.

“I’m okay with it… I’m okay with you marrying her. You don’t have a choice”