It was the day of departure and Jenni sat at Starbucks with Namjoon as they waited for their flight to start boarding.

Jenni couldn't help but play with her fingers in nervousness. She hadn't talked to Hyorin or anyone else from home yet so she wasn't sure how they felt about her returing. Yuri had assured her that she took care of it and let them know but that was all she told Jenni regarding that matter.

Namjoon sat across from Jenni and watched as she kept fidgeting in her seat. He knew what was going through her mind so he grabbed her hands and started to play hand games with her. It worked and she played along. Temporarily pushing her worries to the back of her mind.

"Nini-ah your birthday will come up while I'm still in Korea with you...what do you want to do hm?" Namjoon asked.

Since she's been living with them he always tried to make each of her birthdays special for her. On her last birthday they had gone to Disney land together with Yuri, only to have Yuri leave in the middle. But that had made it even better because it gave them freedom to play as much as they want. For her first birthday with him, he gave her a golden charm braclet she was currently wearing that had a golden heart charm attached to it. It was one of her most precious possesions along with the golden leaf she still wore around her neck.

"We can go to Lotte World together with Jimin oppa," she suggested.

Namjoon agreed on the spot and promised to make it one of her most memorable birthdays. Little did he know that it would already be memorable. Just not the way anyone wanted it to be.

Yuri was away from the kids as she made an important phone call. "We're waiting to board the plane now so we should be there by Monday," she explained to the person on the other line. "I'm bringing Junsu's son with me. No, I didn't think it was a good idea at first but she asked to bring him along. Besides I think it would be good for him to be there so he'll know as well. Its time we told her the truth Hyorin-ah."

Hyorin who was indeed on the other end of the line had to whisper her response back in fear that her husband or son might hear her,"Yuri-ah you lied to me and tore my family apart. Do you understand that. You told me you were dying and I believed you and now your telling me you want to tell my daughter the truth and take her away from me for good?"

"Hyorin I didn't lie. It was a false alarm. Turns out it wasn't cancer after all. And don't give me that my daughter bull because Jenni is my daughter. Besides you and I both know that Seulong no longer considers her that way," Yuri's voice was beyond cold with no remorse or pity in it at all.

Without her knowing though, Namjoon overheard everything she had just uttered. He left Jenni to run to the restroom when he heard a familiar voice speaking around the corner.

He couldn't believe that Jenni was actually Yuri's daughter. His father probably knew, that would explain the looks he would always give them when he saw them together. This made Jenni his step-sister.

Namjoon wasn't sure why, but that realization made his heart drop. He could almost feel it cracking with the word step-sister repeating again and again in his head. From what he heard Yuri say, it seemed as though Jenni didn't know anything about Yuri being her mother either. His heart clenched at the pain he knew this would put her through once she found out.

It explained everything. From the looks his father gave them, to the careful treatment Yuri gave her, and finally the lack of communication from the people Jenni called her family.

This was all wrong. How could they keep this from her until now?! He wondered with anger filling him up. He always believed that Yuri wasn't a good person but this was an all new evil he wasn't aware of till now. My poor Nini...How can I protect her from this?

He slowly made his way back to Jenni, lost in thought on what he should do to help her. Namjoon didn't want her to get hurt but he knew deep down that it was better for her to know the truth then live in their lie. She deserved better than that. But he also knew that he didn't, and couldn't love her as a sister. Not now...

"Oppaa, whats wrong?" Jenni poked his stomach only to have him look at her with a blank expression before he suddenly pulled her into a hug. Jenni was caught off guard but after a couple seconds she wrapped her arms around him to return the hug.

Namjoon exhaled slowly before pulling away from her. "Come on we need to go back to the gate," he held her hand and pulled her with him.

Jenni didn't say or ask anything. Knowing that whatever he was thinking or feeling would come out eventually. But she couldn't help the weird feeling she had in the pit of her stomach when he held her just now.

It made her feel happy but scared at the same time...

"Ah there you guys are! Come on they're just about to call the first class to board," Yuri ushered them in front of her just as the woman announced that they were going to begin boarding.

Once on the plane, Namjoon sat in the aisle seat while Jenni sat by the window.

When the plane started moving for lift off she grabbed onto Namjoon's hand and they both faced each other. As the plane lifted higher and higher into the air the grip on their hands tightened. Jenni smiled gently as she rubbed soothing circles on Namjoon's hand,"its okay oppa. We'll be fine."

No one knew besides Jenni that Namjoon was afraid of heights. But at the moment it wasn't the height that was getting to him. It was the fact that he knew the girl he had come to love was about to get hurt. And there wasn't much he could do about it. Nini-ah...I'm sorry I can't protect you from this.