He gingerly laid Tae Hee down on his bed with a sigh. His parents were away on yet another business trip, so they wouldn’t know. In fact, they never knew. It was always about them and the stupid business. Always. 

 

His only reason for living was for the business. 

 

As hard as he tried, he just couldn’t rid himself of the troublesome burden. As hard as he tried, KPC [their company] always seemed to outshine him...in his parents’ eyes. In his parents’ eyes, he was just a tool to help lubricate their money machine. Like love and marriage. Sure he’d get married, but it’d be arranged by his parents...for the “good of the company”. And so he grew up not knowing how to love...because he knew he never would...

 

...until her. She alone had cracked his shell and left him to rot.

 

He shook his head and clenched his fists, forbidding himself to think about her.

 

 

Instead, forcing his mind on something else, Jaejoong began to walk over to the bathroom and get Tae Hee a hot towel, but she began murmuring in her sleep.

 

“Oppa...oppa. Is that you?” 

 

Since when did he let her start calling him oppa? Nevertheless, he answered. “Yeah?”

 

“It’s me, your dongsaeng. We haven’t talked for a long time, have we?”

 

Jaejoong gave her an anomalous look. Was Tae Hee like mentally challenged? He shuddered at the plausible thought. She better not be one of those insane serial killers.

 

She continued talking in her sleep. “I met somebody that I think you’d like to know.” Jaejoong’s eyebrows raised. So she wasn’t talking to him...but about him?

 

“He’s a transfer student from that super rich school. At first I thought he was snobby, but I think I like...“ Tae Hee woke up and groaned, rubbing her head. “Where am I?”

 

Snapping out of his disappointment (she never said who she “fell in love” with), he answered blankly, “Huh? Oh... You’re at my house.”

 

She screamed. “WHAT!? Does my umma know?! What have you done?!”

 

“Sheesh. Calm down. If I DID want to do stuff, I wouldn’t have done it to you---there are far more prettier girls out there. You got drunk from champagne *cough* loser *cough*. So the guys told me to bring you home with me.”

 

“SO MY MOM DOESN’T KNOW! AGH! YOU IDIOT!” She smacked him on the head with a pillow.

 

“OW! STOP! You can borrow my phone and call your mom, but I’m not bringing you home. It’s way to late, and I need my beauty sleep.” How vain of him. -__-‘’ Tae Hee grabbed his cell phone and started dialing.

 

 

“Tae Hee...while you were asleep... you were talking to somebody...” Her slender fingers ceased punching the numbers. She fell silent.

 

“WHY WERE YOU EAVESDROPPING ON ME!?” So much for being truthful, Jaejoong thought. 

 

Her face was emotionless, concealing the thoughts circling about underneath. “He was my brother.”

 

“Brother?”

 

“Umma said he had died when we were young or something happened to him... I still sort of remember playing in the mud with him. And then, he just disappeared from my life. I mean, I knew he was always beside me, but it wasn’t until two days ago, when you came around, that I dreamt of him again.” A tear trickled down her cheek. She laughed a bit. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this... Jaejoong... I miss him.”

 

Hoping he wouldn’t regret it, he bent over the bed and hugged her awkwardly. His actions even surprised himself. All his hatred for her suddenly dissipated, and it was replaced with sympathy, compassion, and perhaps...even love? He mentally smacked himself. No. His shell could only be cracked once... never again.

 

He let go of her and tucked her in. “Go to sleep now.” Obediently, Tae Hee slipped into a deep slumber.

 

Jaejoong watched her eyes grow heavy and close. He hadn’t noticed how pretty she was. He had been too busy detesting her. He grew suspicious of himself; what if he was hating the wrong person? Jaejoong turned away. How dare he think of that. Although she was prettier than other girls, Kim Tae Hee was still just like any of them, and because of that, she deserved his loathing.

 

 

 

Tae Hee woke up and realized she wasn’t dreaming; she really did spend a night at Jaejoong’s house mansion. She scanned the room, looking for Jaejoong. She found him on the floor next to the bed, sleeping soundly. She watched him for a while. Frankly, he wasn’t all that bad. He had given up his bed to a total stranger... and comforted her in her time of need. She sneezed and shook her head quickly. No. You can’t. Somewhere in her gut, she knew it wasn’t right. Besides, he was the one who got her sick. 

 

Getting out of bed, Tae Hee nudged Jaejoong with her foot. “Wake up, Jaejoong.”

 

“Hmmm...” he groaned. “Five more minutes.” He dug his head under the pillow.

 

Tae Hee glanced at the clock and started timing him. After exactly five minutes, she prodded him again. “Wake up. Five minutes are up! We’re going to be late for school!”

 

“There’s no school,” he mumbled. “Today’s a Saturday.”

 

Oh right. Smart. She chuckled at her stupidity and scratched her head. A bewildered expression flashed across her face. Where was her jewelry? Why was she wearing pajamas, instead of her dress? She panicked. “JAEJOONG! What’d you do to me! WAKE UP!” She kicked him --- hard. He immediately woke up. “HOW’D I GET INTO THE PAJAMAS! WHAT’D YOU DO!?” She felt so violated. 

 

“OMG. Shut up, Tae Hee. I got the maids to change you into Ri In’s clothes.” He regretted what he had just said once he saw Tae Hee’s confused expression.

 

“Jang Ri In, right?” 

 

He nodded and sighed. “I know you’re going to ask. So I might as well tell you... She was a b*tch...and my ex-girlfriend. That’s all.” He laid his head on the pillow, back faced towards her. 

 

She sensed it wasn’t that simple, but she didn’t tease the topic anymore. Her tummy began growling. “I’m hungry.”

 

“Well c’mon. Let’s go to the kitchen and see what’s there to eat.” In their pajamas, he led her to the kitchen.

 

 

 

Tae Hee’s eyes bulged as she saw all the food set out in front of her. Jaejoong smirked, she was just like his dear Changminnie. “FOOD!” she exclaimed, fork and knife in hand.

 

“Now eat up quickly. I need to return you.”

 

She glared at Jaejoong, fork halfway to the mouth. “I’m not a purchase, you know.”

 

He grinned. “Sure you aren’t.”

 

 

*****

 

He stared into her eyes. Now what was he supposed to do? Kiss her, like in the movies? Or run away before her parents saw him?

 

Too late. The door swung wide open. Jaejoong braced himself for the lecture/tirade/attack. 

 

Mrs. Kim cried aloud, “TAE HEE, darling! OH I’M SO PROUD OF YOU! You’ve finally stayed overnight at a boy’s house! You truly are a woman now!”

 

Both Tae Hee and Jaejoong had ‘EH?’ faces on them. Who would have expected this? 

 

“Come on in, children! Jaejoong, I’ll show you pictures of our dear Tae Hee!” Mrs. Kim shoved the two into the house.

 

 

“Oh! And here she is pigging out. Doesn’t that birthday cake look so tasty? It was a pistachio ice cream cake, Tae Hee’s favorite,” Mrs. Kim giggled. “And there she is kicking and screaming at Santa on her first Christmas. At that time, she was quite scared of him. ^^”

 

Jaejoong laughed. Who knew she could’ve been so cute? He flipped to the front of the photo album and pointed to a decorated picture. “What about this one?”

 

“That’s the first picture we ever took with her!” her mother replied enthusiastically.

 

“That’s weird. I always thought the first picture would’ve been when the child was in the hospital...” he thought aloud.

 

“Oh...about that...” Bright and perky Mrs. Kim turned gloomy suddenly. “I think it’s time for you to go now, Jaejoong. It was a pleasure meeting you! Hope I’ll see you soon!” She pushed him out of the house and slammed the door in front of his face before he could object. She then turned to her daughter. 

 

 

“Tae Hee...”

 

“Umma? You okay?”

 

“There’s something... I haven’t told you... it’s regarding that hospital picture...”

 

“What’s so wrong with that? Not having a hospital picture. You always told me it was because we didn’t have a camera back then.”

 

“...I was always lying...” Her face was dark.

 

Tae Hee didn’t understand. “...What?”

 

“I didn’t want you to know...because you were so young back then. I didn’t want to hurt you. But now...seeing that you’ve already grown up...”

 

“Umma, please just get to the point.”

 

 

“And now that Jaejoong pointed it out...maybe it’s time...”

 

 

“Umma, just tell me,” she pleaded. The curiosity was killing her.

 

 

 

“Tae Hee... you’re adopted.”

 

 

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