>> Betrayal <<

“Bummie, it doesn’t have to be him. Maybe it was someone else.” Jonghyun tried to comfort the younger boy as they reached the front door of a familiar house.

“It is him. I just know it,” answered Kibum, sighed.

---Flashback---

It was raining outside. In a child’s room, a little boy was sitting on the bed alone, waiting for someone, and flinched as he heard the loud noise of thunders. Jumped up, he ran to the small closet, closed the door. He was sitting on the floor, hugging his legs, and murmured something to himself that was supposed to calm him down but failed.

“Here, mother made your favorite banana cake, you lucky one… Hey, where are you?” He heard his best friend’s voice coming nearer and then the door opened.

“Here you are. Come out, you don’t have to be afraid, Minnie.”

----- End -----

“Taemin-ah, we need to talk,” said Kibum as he saw the younger boy opened the front door.

“Hyung?” Taemin said surprisingly with a smile on his face that immediately disappeared as he noticed Key’s serious expression.

“Come in,” he said.

_________________________

“N-No, I have no idea what you’re talking about, hyung.” Taemin stuttered. Looked on the floor, he was trying hard not to look at his best friend in the eyes.

“You know how important this is. It’s a matter of life and death. Please try to remember.” Jonghyun said.

“I really don’t remember that day. I mean I was so young that I was still afraid of thunders.” The younger stepbrother explained.

“I didn’t mention the storm,” said Kibum with a hurt expression. He knew what that meant. Taemin lied to him. But why?

Taemin turned pale. “I… It’s because you said I was hiding in the closet… and I used to do that when it thundered. I’m sorry I really can’t tell you anything.”

“Minnie,” the younger boy bit on his lower lips as he heard Key calling by him that name.

“Look at me in the eyes and tell me you don’t know anything about the night my mother was murdered and I’ll believe you,” Kibum said, looking straight at his stepbrother. Taemin held his breath nervously and after a moment of fighting with himself, he finally made it to look at Key.

“Hyung, I… I…”

Kibum’s eyes were fixed on Taemin, making the younger boy feel guilty. His stepbrother trusted him and all he needed to do now was to use that trust and he would be out of the woods.

….

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to lie to you. Please don’t be mad. I’m sorry, really.”

After a long silence, Taemin burst into tears. He wanted to say he didn’t see anything that day, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t look into his best friend’s eyes and lie to him as if there was nothing.

---Flashback---

“Gwiboon Imo,” the young Taemin called cheerfully as soon as he saw his favorite aunt.

“Hello, birthday boy.” Gwiboon greeted.

“Imo, today is Minnie’s birthday. I’m going to be a strong man from now on,” beamed Taemin.

“You are so cute, Taemin-ah.” Gwiboon said, squeezed the little boy.

“I’m not cute, Imo. I’m a man,” answered Taemin, pouted.

“I got it. You are a man now,” nodded Gwiboon, smiling. “Does this strong man still like cake? When I got your mom’s message that she’ll be back from your grandfather’s house, I was hoping you’ll be with her, so I baked a banana cake for you.”

“Yes, I love banana cake. Thank you, Imo. You are the best,” cheered the young boy.

Gwiboon handed a small basket with the sweet cake to Taemin and patted his head.

“Sweetheart, go play somewhere else, will you? Umma wants to talk to Gwiboon Imo.” Hyun Jung asked her son.

“Taemin understands, I’ll be looking for Key hyung.”

“No, don’t. We’ll go home very soon. Just wait for me at the fountain.” The woman said, seemed nervous.

“I got it, umma.” Taemin replied before heading to the fountain in the west garden, while his mother and Gwiboon stayed at the courtyard.

__________________________________

“Oh, no, no, no, don’t rain on my banana cake.” Taemin panicked as water drops fell down from the sky. It soon started to rain heavily, so the little boy ran back to the castle. Going down the hallway, he was looking for his mother to go home. He didn’t like the rain. On top of that, he was hungry. The poor boy hadn’t made it to eat the cake before it started to rain.

With the empty stomach, he decided to look for a place to eat the cake first. He searched and finally found a door that wasn’t looked. Entered the room, he marveled - so many books had he never seen before. Yet, soon, very soon, all of his attention was paid to the red, elegant couch next to the window.

“Banana cake time,” he sang and jumped on the couch, started to eat happily. To his disappointment, not even half of the cake was eaten when he heard the first thunder. Flinched in shock, he grabbed the basket, hugged it tightly to his chest and scanned the library for a hiding place. The first thing he saw was the counter right in the middle of the huge room and so he decided to hide in its closet. After a while, the little boy was about to fall asleep as suddenly something caught his attention.

Taemin heard a familiar voice and right after that, he recognized it was his mother’s.

“Kim Gwiboon,” she said. The young boy breathed out in relief. He was about to run out of the small closet to hug his mother as he saw through the slightly ajar door how she slapped his Gwiboon Imo.

“You little, cheap , over four months since we have seen each other again and you didn’t care to tell me you slept with him every night.” Taemin gasped. Never in his life had he seen his mother so angry. She was literally screaming.

“I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want to hurt your feeling, but I didn’t do anything wrong. You can’t tear us apart. We’re meant to be together.” Now Gwiboon Imo was being very loud too and that scared Taemin. What were they doing?

“Meant to be together? You two? You gotta kidding me. From the beginning he only loves me. You are just a cheap that took advantage of the situation and seduced him, a measly replacement.” Hyun Jung yelled.

“You know it is not true. I never did anything I should be ashamed of.”

“You shameless hussy, you dare to tell me you never wished you were in my position every time you saw us together? I should have known this would happen. You had always said you admire him. You wanted to take him from me from the beginning. You planed everything, didn’t you?”

“I took him from you? Only because of you he needed a shoulder to lean on and someone to talk to. And I was just there instead of you.”

“Oh don’t play the innocent, caring girl next door. Everyone knew you always had a crush on him,” said Hyun Jung through gritted teeth.

“That might be true, but I had always kept the distance as I knew you were together with him, because you are my friend, my best friend. I am sorry. But I have never looked back.” Gwiboon said. Tears formed in her eyes.

“You are sorry, so am I,” whispered Hyun Jung, coming closer.

What happened next was so fast that Taemin didn’t clearly understand what it was. Or perhaps it was because of the shock that paralyzed him. Gwiboon Imo was falling on her knees with blood on her white dress and his mother was holding a knife that was covered with blood.

Taemin remembered how Gwiboon Imo grabbed on his mother’s dress, caused something to fall down, but his mother didn’t notice that. She was too shocked.

“Why?” asked Gwiboon, whining in pain.

“Because your perfect life with your lovely child and charming husband supposed to be mine. Why do I have to live with an abuser while you are having everything I ever wanted? I’m going to fix my fate now.” Hyun Jung explained with a cracked voice.

“He’ll never accept you. You broke his heart.” Gwiboon said quietly, feeling tired.

“He will. Because, my dear, you can never forget your first love.”

A tear fell down Gwiboon cheek. Now she was really tired. Letting her body fall on the cold floor, her eyes closed slowly. Seeing that Hyung Jung gasped, shivering in fear.

“I’m so sorry, but