“You look tired, Keiba.” Those were Ben’s first words as she and Min entered his hospital room.

“Thanks, Ben.” She replied, rolling her eyes although she was smiling.

“Just thought I’d let you know.”

Ms. Heller sat in the chair at Ben’s side holding his hand. She started to pull away, but Ben held tight. When she looked at him, he shook his head.

“It’s okay,” he said. “They already know.”  

She sighed, nodding.

“Hi, Ms. Heller.” Keiba greeted.

The woman waved that away. “Oh, you might as well call me Ruth now. We share too many secrets for you not to.”

Keiba nodded. “Okay. This is my boyfriend, Min. Min, this is Ms. Heller—I mean, Ruth.”

“Nice to meet you.” Min said politely.

“Likewise.” Ruth smiled. “I see you waiting for Keiba all of the time outside of class. What took you two so long to finally get together?”

He smiled and looked at Keiba “I don’t know, but you’re right. I wish it’d happened sooner.”

She grinned and kissed his cheek.

Ben offered his fist to Min, who walked over to dap it in greeting. “Hey,”

“Yo,” Min replied.

“Listen, man, I’m sorry about—”

Min shook his head. “Don’t even worry about it. I understand why you did it. If I were in your position, I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”

Ben nodded.

Keiba and Min found chairs and sat close to each other.

“Where are you two coming from?” Ben asked.

“The police station.” Min replied. “They had some information on Yun.”

“Like what?”

“That she was crazy obsessed with Min.” Keiba said, her leg bouncing up and down. “She had a diary full of her fantasies of what she wished she could do with him.”

“Okay, so nothing we couldn’t already figure out.”

“Yun.” Ruth muttered. “Is that the name of the girl I killed?”

A startled silence followed her words. Ben picked up her hand and held it to his lips. He looked at her fiercely. “That wasn’t you fault, Ruth. You didn’t make her run out into the middle of the street.”

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “I still feel bad about it.”

“Ruth, don’t do this to yourself. Don’t let misplaced guilt eat you up inside.”

She looked at his hospital blanket and tugged her hand free of his. She let it rest with the other one in her lap. Ben leaned back in his hospital bed and scratched at the back of his head, mildly frustrated.

Keiba looked on sadly. She didn’t want to add more problems onto their problems, but they needed to put everything onto the table and deal with it all at once. She leaned close to Min. “We should tell them about the letter.” She whispered.

“You think?” He whispered back.

She nodded.

Min looked at Ben. There was a grim expression on his face. “I know we’re all avoiding the huge elephant in the room right now, but I think I have to tell you two that Darcie may not be the only thing we need to worry about.”

“What you mean by that?” Ben demanded.

“There was a letter Yun wrote to me that mentioned someone that might have influenced her to her decision.”

“Please tell me you’re not serious.”

“I wish I could.”

“So, you’re saying there’s another out there that’s trying to make our lives a living hell?” Ruth said.

Keiba nodded. “Unfortunately.”

“So, this girl never mentioned a name or anything?”

“No. Just ‘she’.”

“So we don’t know if this girl and the one that’s blackmailing Ben are the same people?”

For a moment, Keiba was frozen in fear. What if it is Darcie? Would she have really gone that far? But the worry left her mind almost as soon as it entered.

“It’s not Darcie.” Keiba said.

“How do you know?”

“Because Yun didn’t seem to like anyone that isn’t Korean. Darcie wouldn’t be someone that Yun would listen to.”

“I never thought of it like that.” Min mused.

“Not just that,” Ben added, “But Darcie, and whoever put Yun up to it, probably has people around the school too. So there’re probably even more people to worry about.”

Keiba nodded. “This makes the situation even more difficult to deal with. Two girls with a lot of dangerous connections trying to make our lives hell? That’s not good.”

 “What can we do?” Ruth grumbled.

“Keiba, what was that idea you wanted to run by Min?”

“I was going to pretend to be your girlfriend just to put you in the clear, but to be honest I don’t think that’s the best plan of action.”

Ruth shook her head in agreement. “It wouldn’t work for long.”

“No. But as for what we can do, I’m completely at a loss.”

Relief spread through Min like a torrent. The weight he’d been feeling over his shoulders these last couple of days seemed to disappear all at once. He wrapped his arm around the back of her chair and relaxed a little.

“We need to handle this as soon as we can.” Ben said. “There’s not a lot of time before Darcie comes around to check up on me.”

“Why don’t we just call the police?” Ruth asked.

“We don’t have any evidence.” Min told her. “Besides, then they’d find out about your relationship with Ben.”

She sighed and sulked back in her chair. The room was quiet as everyone tried to think about what they could do.

“What if we get Darcie to admit to something?”

“How?” Keiba asked. “She’s not exactly the easiest person to get anything out of.”

“You could go home.” Min said.

She froze. “What?”

Min bit his lip, knowing he’d just crossed into very delicate territory. “Maybe if you go home you could find something on her that might help us.”

The look in Keiba’s eyes… it was the angriest he’d ever seen them. The absolute last thing she wanted to do was go back to the hellhole she’d been eager to leave since her father remarried. She didn’t know if she could stomach facing her demon of a stepmother and spineless wimp of a father. And Min-Kyung knew that. He knew that. There was a part of Keiba that knew it wasn’t a bad idea. In fact, it was pretty brilliant. Obviously brilliant. If she wasn’t so startled by his words, she would’ve come to a similar solution on her own eventually.

As it was, she could only focus on the way she felt now: Betrayed.

Disgusted with the situation, Keiba shrugged off his arm from around her shoulders and pushed her chair away from his. Yes, it was a childish reaction, but she couldn’t help herself.

He looked at her, hurt. “Keiba, I know you don’t want to, but—”

She stood up abruptly. “I think I should go.” She announced. “We can talk more about this tomorrow.”

“Keiba, are you okay?” Ruth asked. She and Ben were surprised; they’d never seen Keiba act or speak so coldly to anyone.

“I’m fine.” She said stormed out of the room.

Min followed her out of the hospital. “Keiba—”

“I’m taking the bus back to campus.”

“What? No.”

“You can’t stop me, Min.”

The hell I can’t. Min caught her wrist and pulled her into a deserted alleyway. He’d had a feeling his words could be blown out of proportion, so when it did, he didn’t want anyone to be around to see. She yanked out of his grasp and glared at him.

Min faced her squarely. “You’re acting ridiculous, Keiba.”

“No, what’s ridiculous is thinking I could trust one person to hear my story and understand my situation.”

“Of course I understand, Keiba.”

“Then why would you ask me to go back when you know what happened in that house?”

“You said you wanted to help Ben and Ms. Heller!” He exclaimed. “You said you wouldn’t let Darcie win! I thought that meant you’d be willing to do anything.”

“I am.”

“Apparently not! Why is it that you’re more willing to essentially cheat on me right in front of my face than you are to go back to your old house for a couple of hours? What does that say about you, Keiba?”

She took a startled step back. From the out looking in, it would have seemed to the audience that he’d physically pushed her away. “What are you talking about? I never said I wanted to cheat on you!”

“Pretending to be someone else’s girlfriend right in front of your boyfriend isn’t cheating?”

“No it’s not! That’s different!”

“How is it different?”

“There’s no bad blood between us and Ben. It isn’t emotional. Going back to that place… God, Min, do you know what could happen? It’s already screwing with me. Do you just not care about how I feel at all?”

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Of course I care.” He told her. “How could I not care? I more than care. Keiba, I don’t think you understand how serious my feelings for you are. If you did, you would know that I didn’t suggest that you go home without considering your feelings at all.”

She clenched her hands so tightly that they trembled. She wanted to remain angry with him. She didn’t want to think rationally just yet, but because Keiba is who she is, she simply isn’t able to hold on to that fury for very long. Especially not after this second almost confession.

She closed her eyes, too exhausted to do anything else, and leaned back against the wall across from him and let her fists fall. She wondered if the reason behind these dramatic mood swings were due to a combination of her monthly gift on the way and fatigue. Either way, she needed to get a handle on her emotions.

“I know, Min.” She said softly. “I know you’re better than that. I just… It’s just that I…”

“I know.” He relaxed too, seeing that the fire had died out in her eyes. “It’s okay.” He assured her. “I didn’t expect for you to be cool with it, but you won’t be alone.”

She looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“I’m going with you.”

She frowned. “Min… I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

He gave her a smile. “It’ll be okay. Besides, someone needs to distract your parents while you go through Darcie’s .”

“But you’ll have to meet them.”

He shrugged. “I can do it for you.”

“Min, for real… you didn’t have all of this drama to deal with before we started dating.”

He rolled his eyes. “To be fair, I was the one who brought drama to you first. With Sun-Hee and Ricky. Remember?”

She nodded.

“I won’t lie to you and say that I like all this extra in our lives, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get things back the way they were.”

“Mini…” She wrapped her arms around him and held tight. “This is why I love you.”

“Wait,” he pushed her back a little to look her in the eye. “You mean it?”

She blushed, but was able to meet his gaze. “Yes.”

“So ‘je t’aime’…?”

“Yes. It means ‘I love you’.”

He smiled so wide he thought his face would split in two. While not in the most charming of places, this confession, this declaration of love, was well worth the wait for Min. And he was eager to return it.

“Saranghae, Keiba.” He said. “I love you too.”

And he reinforced his words with a kiss.

---

Yay chapter 18! My other favortie number =D 

So, I've noticed a dearth in comments and I miss hearing about what you guys think. Share your thoughts! I appreciate the feedback and it let's me know I'm not doing a horrible job with this story (or the opposite... hopefully not the opposite ._.). I won't threaten you or bribe you (you know, the whole "if I get 3 comments I'll post the next chapter" or "if I don't get any comments nothing goes up" kind of thing. It's always bothered me reading things like that), but they do motivate me! 

I hate ranting -.-  But anywhoozles! Much love as always to my subscribers new and old! Peace! ^^/