Recap

All the muscles in Daehyun’s body became weak, he tried to force his body to move but it was already too late. His vision soon turned black and his body fell forward, landing tiredly on Hailey.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

Light chattering and nervous faces surrounded the area. Doctors were running in and out and patients came and left, it was unpredictable when Daehyun’s treatment would finish at the Hospital. Among all of this, seated together on the first row of plastic armchairs, Jongup and Hailey both waited anxiously at the visitor’s waiting area.

“It’s ok, he’ll be fine.” Jongup assured.

Hailey bit her lip to stop herself from crying again and nodded.

Jongup looked at her with worrying eyes. “Aish! I can’t take this anymore. Here,” he patted his shoulder, “If you want to cry, cry.”

Hailey looked up, redness covering the whites of her eyes and tears on the edge of falling. Jongup gave his shoulder another pat, signaling Hailey to use it. Hailey stopped trying to control the flow of fluid pouring from her eyes and didn’t hesitate to bury her face onto Jongup’s shoulder. “It’s my fault. Jongup, everything’s my fault.”

Jongup the back of her head, hoping that she would find it comforting and if not, ease her thoughts a little. “No. It’s my fault,” he whispered, “for allowing you to get into this in the first place.”

The two of them sat in silence. Blocking out the surrounding noise and just waited, finding comfort and reassurance in each other.

“I think you should go back. It’ll be suspicious if you stay out too long.” Jongup suggested, taking her safety into concern.

Hailey looked at him. It’s been so long since she’d last seen his face, witnessed his smile, heard his laugh, and felt his warmth. But she knew that working undercover only equated to one thing.

Sacrifices.

“You’re right. I guess I should go,” Hailey said as she wiped the residue of her tears, “Before I leave, I have a question.”

“Ask away.”

“Was Daehyun… the boy who bought me to the bakery?”

Jongup thought carefully before he answered, he had promised to keep this a secret but he couldn’t hide the guilt he was feeling. He smiled, “Yeah.”

Hailey nodded in response. “I thought so. Text me when he gets out the hospital ok?”

“Definitely,” he responded and watched Hailey’s figure leave until it was out of sight. “You shouldn’t have to do this. It should be me…”

~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hailey silently crept back to Fire’s hideout. On her way to her room, she noticed that there was still light being emitted from the gap beneath the door. That only meant one thing, Sungyeol was still awake.

Hailey stood in front of the door and gulped. She placed her hand on the handle and bit her lip. At that moment she really just wanted to turn around and run back to the hospital. Every part of her body told her to run away, to spin around and go back, but she didn’t. Her legs stayed put and she took a deep breath. Taking in as much oxygen as her lungs could contain and then finally releasing it to get rid of the carbon dioxide that was making her heart beat so fast.

She nodded her head and found the courage to turn the knob. Hailey was expecting Sungyeol to be sitting on the bed waiting for her with angry vibes shooting in every direction. As the door fully exposed the scene in the room, to her surprise, it was nothing like what she expected.

Sungyeol was sitting at his desk, head buried in his hands with an open book on the floor next to his feet. It appeared as if he had recklessly pushed it off the table from anger or just simply annoyance.

“Sungyeol?” Hailey stuttered as she slowly walked over.

Sungyeol turned away and Hailey could see him wiping something off his face. Hailey walked over and picked up the fallen book, from the red velvet and golden writing, she realised that it was the book his mother had written.

“Just sleep.” She heard Sungyeol whisper.  

Hailey looked worried. “Thank you again.” she said in a low voice, “for you know… letting Daehyun go.”

“It’s fine.”

“You’re not angry, are you?” Hailey asked, being careful with her tone of voice.

Sungyeol didn’t answer. Leaving Hailey with doubts as to if Sungyeol was really ok. Even from only looking at his back, she could tell he was feeling depressed.

“Well, you should get some sleep as well,” She suggested.

“It’s fine. I just need some time to cool off.”

Hailey poked her head around him, but Sungyeol only moved so she wouldn’t see his face. Something was bothering him, Hailey knew it.

“You seem upset. If you want to talk about it…” Hailey walked over to the other side so she could talk to him properly, “I’m here for you.”

Sungyeol turned his head. “Just go to sleep.”

Hailey sighed. She went over to the bookshelf and picked a random book. She took it over to her bed and made sure she was comfortable.

“I’m not sleeping yet.” She said so that Sungyeol knew that she was going to sit there, ready to listen if he needed it.

She opened the cover of the book and began to read. She flipped and turned, page after page, although her eyes read every word, none of it registered in her head. She was more concerned about when Sungyeol was going to open up.

The two of them stayed in their respected positions, the only noise in the silence was the sound of Hailey turning a page. Hailey let out a small yawn. Sungyeol was still sitting there, not moving. She had gotten through a couple of chapters already and it was really late, or considering this case, way too early to be awake.

As Hailey was about to just give in and accept that fact that Sungyeol didn’t want to talk about it, he suddenly turned around.

“Oh.” Hailey said in surprise.

His eyes were red and his face was a little bloated. He cleared his throat and rolled his chair over.

“How could she do that?”

“Eh?”

Hailey was confused but she kept silent. She was scared that if she said anything, Sungyeol would just go back and not talk to her.

“Why did she have to–” Sungyeol’s eyes started to redden and Hailey could see tears forming. She scooted closer. Perhaps the best thing to do was just to keep him company for the time being.

Sungyeol avoided any eye contact and began to speak. “I ran away. I abandoned her with a dog like him. How can I ever forgive myself for that?” His voice filled with emotion and grief.

“Are you talking about your… mother?” Hailey asked.

Sungyeol nodded. “But I felt so betrayed. She promised to get a divorce and take me with her, so we could get away from that bastard. But she didn’t. She lied. Whenever I tried to bring it up, she would just get angry and tell me that it wasn’t the time. For the first few months, I endured it. Thinking, ok she’s just planning it out so that when it does happen, everything would go smoothly. I listened to her, didn’t even talk about it. Until when I entered Senior School, for all those years, we were still living with him, I just lost it and said that if she didn’t divorce, I would leave.”

Hailey felt her own emotions getting the best of her, it wasn’t just because she felt pity or sorry for him, it was because she could relate to him. The bastard he was talking about was probably his father. She too, didn’t have a very functional family. Only she was lucky she left when she was young. Sungyeol, however, had to go through so much more, the pain he dealt with was deeper, darker, and scarier.

“I was seventeen, young, reckless and believed that I would be able to do anything. So I decided to pack our things and just move out. But he found out, he started to threaten us. Bringing a knife to his neck and saying that if we left, he would kill himself,” Sungyeol scoffed, “What a scumbag. So I tried to take the knife from him and we started to fight. Father and son, wrestling like animals fighting for food. It was barbaric. I had somehow managed to take the knife from him and we were about to leave when my mother stopped me. Saying how if we left he would have no one else, she begged me to forgive him.”

Sungyeol stopped and looked up. “The rest of the story is pretty predictable. She wanted to stay so I let her and since I was so angry with her decision, I ran, alone.”

Hailey couldn’t help but feel like he was leaving out a very important detail. What exactly did his father do that caused him to feel so uncomfortable? She didn’t want to pry though. He probably left it out intentionally.

“So that book… when you said those words. Everything suddenly came back. All those memories flooded back into my head, I lost focus.”

“I’m sorry… I,” Hailey apologized, in order to save Daehyun, she had created pain for someone else.

But that’s how the world works. You cannot simply satisfy both sides. The world can only allow you to choose one path. You cannot travel down two completely different paths and expect happiness all the way. The world must be balanced… like this.

Hailey’s phone suddenly vibrated. She panicked; it was the phone she used to contact the members of Phoenix with. She can’t pick it up now, not with Sungyeol right next to her.

Sungyeol looked up. “It’s ok you can answer that. I’m fine.”

Cold sweat started to form on Hailey’s forehead as the phone rang continuously. She slowly took her phone out and looked at the caller ID. The word JONGUP displayed in block letters, screaming at her for attention.

She stood up and felt her hands shake. The phone stopped ringing and she mentally let out a sigh of relief. She smiled awkwardly. “They hung up.” She said as she held the phone up, but unexpectedly, the phone started to go off again.

In a moment of shock, Hailey dropped the phone from her hands. She quickly tried to pick it up, but Sungyeol was one step ahead of her. Hailey’s eyes widened. If Sungyeol saw who was calling, everything would be over.

She would be exposed!

Author's Notes

Thank you for reading my lovely readers!! Please leave any comments and I'll see you in the next chapter! ^^