Hey brother, there’s an endless road to re-discover.
Hey sister, know the water's sweet but blood is thicker.
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,
There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do.

***

The car ride home is quiet. Sehun doesn’t say much; neither does Suzy. They’re both still reeling from everything. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. When they pull up in front of Suzy’s house neither of them move.

“I messed up, didn’t I?”

“Yeah you did.”

“Are you saying that because you’re upset I ruined your chances of you getting into her pants?” Suzy rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. She had expected Sehun to be honest in his response but there was something about his tone that rubbed her the wrong way. Sehun and her sis—Sehun and Joohyun. Maybe if he hadn’t spoken so fondly of her Suzy would’ve felt less disturbed by the events that unfolded today.

“How do you know it’s her? For all you know she could be anyone with a freckle on the right side of her eyebrow. There’s no—”

“She’s the spitting image of my mother. You don’t see it?”

“You’re projecting! You’ve been thinking about it too much that the first person you see you’ve imagined her to be your sister.”

Suzy rolls her eyes, “So you’re telling me I’m imagining things?”

Sehun realises the disappointment etched on her face and immediately feels apologetic. “I’m just saying don’t get your hopes up.”

Suzy wished that she didn’t question Sehun’s true intentions in that moment.

***

Jongin observed curiously from his side of the house as the two in the car shared an intimate discussion. He tapped his fingers on the ledge of the balcony as he rested he took another sip of whiskey. Jongin didn’t want to observe further. Not in the event that he saw something he didn’t want to see.

Retreating back inside, Jongin fished for his phone, Seulgi’s number already opened and ready to dial when Chorong’s words echoed in the back of his mind. ‘Last time it was Soojung and this time it’s someone else.’ “Hello?” a voice rings through his speakers. “Jongin?” the sweet voice asks.

He hadn’t realised that he had dialled the number in his daze and pressed it to his ear quickly.

“Seulgi, hi,” he says. Jongin contemplates for a second before he takes a deep breath. “Can we meet up?”

“Sure. Are you ok? You sound a bit down.”

“I’ll pick you up for lunch at Hongdae, on me.”

“No!” Seulgi protests immediately, “I mean, I’ll meet you there. You don’t need to come pick me up. I’m not home at the moment.”

“Deal,” Jongin says. “6PM, the sushi restaurant?”

“Sure, see you then.”

***

“Joohyun.”

There’s something about watching her mother squirm in her chair that delights Suzy. The confirmation – almost. “Who’s that?” she feigns ignorance but Suzy can tell. Her mother was a model, not an actress. There were tell-tale signs that Suzy had learnt to pick up over the years.

“It’s just some girl I met today,” Suzy smiles and takes a seat on the lounge. “She’s lovely. She’s actually Sehun’s friend.”

“Where did you meet this girl?”

“At the church where Sehun was left. She was placed there as well.”

Jihyun remained tight-lipped, afraid that if she were to show further interest it would give her away. Suzy couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Odd how she continued to let herself hope that maybe her mother wasn’t as heartless as she appeared to me.

“She was left there twenty years ago.” Suzy can feel the blood beneath her skin tingling, the frustration pent up about to release. “She could be my sister.”

“Suzy!” Jihyun tried to protest but words were caught in .

“You knew, you knew everything about her! You knew her name and you wouldn’t tell me! You kept it from me? What else do you know about her? Have you made contact with her already? Do you know where she lives? Who she’s friends with?” Words poured out of her lips, each questioning and accusing her mother. If she was wrong Jihyun would’ve protested indignantly.

Her mother remains firm in her stance, posture rigid hands gripped onto the chair.

“If it’s her, I’m bringing her home. Whatever demons you have they’re not going to keep this family a part any longer.”

***

Seulgi is at the restaurant when he arrives. She’s dressed casually, lovely and she greets him with that infamous smile of hers that makes anybody weak at the knees. Jongin wished he didn’t look so terrible; feel so terrible because Seulgi notices it immediately.

“Are you ok?” she asks, worriedly.

“Yeah,” he says “Happy to see you.”

The corner of Seulgi’s lip lifts and Jongin’s satisfied that she believes him. The waitress places their food down in front of them and Jongin gestures for Seulgi to dig start eating. “What did you do today?” she asks.

Jongin confesses, “Nothing much.”

***

“You suspended my bank account?” Soojung exclaimed in frustration.

“Just for the time being. You’ll get it back—”

“When?”

“When I feel certain that you’re not going to go back to Korea.” Her mother’s plan was to cut off the source. No money. No ticket back to Korea and Soojung was left stranded. She couldn’t help but suddenly feel helpless. Having more money allowed them to have more privileges than the average person – opportunities that Sooyeon believed Soojung was throwing away. “It is my money after all, most of it anyway. I don’t want you spending it on useless things.”

“Am I a prisoner now?”

“No. You are not. You can leave the house—”

“Just not the country.”

Comparative to her counterparts, that being her friend’s mothers, Soojung had believed up till recently that she had the best one; she wasn’t a mess like Jihyun, not overbearing like Miyoung and not as blatantly prideful as Yeonhee. Soojung wants to believe that her mother is thinking about her, but since tearing her away from her father, moving overseas and not allowing her to leave – Soojung was beginning to wonder if she did it for her own selfish desires. She wondered if keeping her here was for Soojung’s benefit or her own.

“Just sit, have dinner and we can talk about this.”

Soojung stared at the set dinner table. The two sets of meal set up and the empty seat she had yet to occupy. She felt her stomach churn and bile clawing up . She marches over indignantly and pulls her seat out. She picks up the spoon and digs in, shovelling rice into .

She picks at the side dishes and tosses it into . Her mother looked on worriedly. “You’ll choke, no one’s going to take your food.” But her concerns fall on deaf ears. Soojung kept eating, wolfing down her food. After scraping the bowl clean she slams the bowl down on the table and wipes her lips with the back of her hand. With a final glare at her mother, she slams her palm on the table and pushes out the chair.

Soojung walks away, slowly at first but when she turns the corner and is out of sight she picks up her feet and runs into her room. She locks the door and runs into the bathroom connected to her room. She turns the tap on, water rushing out of the nozzle and the sound of rushing fills the room in an attempt to drown out the sound of her retching into the toilet bowl.

***

“So, are you going to tell me what’s really going on? Or are you going to keep up this whole, ‘I’m happy to see you’ charade the entire night?” They were taking a stroll through the park, streetlights illuminating their path as if the moonlight tonight wasn’t already enough. Seulgi bumps into Jongin slightly and their hands graze past one another a few times.

The right corner of Jongin’s lips lift, “I am happy to see you though,” he says.

“I’d feel much better if I knew what it was that was bothering you,” Seulgi says, “After all, what are friends for?” She tilts her head forward, observing his face closely and Jongin can’t help but laugh at her adorable, curious expression.

The words strike a chord with him. What were friends for? Jongin gestures for Seulgi to take a seat on the bench. He doesn’t know where to start or what to tell her but he figures that he should be honest at least. It had been the thing that plagued his previous relationships and maybe, just maybe Seulgi would understand.

He tells her his side of the story. The boy who had been promised the world but felt undeserving of it. A family that seemed to perfect but was anything but. He tells her about his parents threatening to kick him out for skipping classes and getting into fights with his friends and family. Why? He takes a deep breath, “I’m in love with a girl who is no longer alive.”

It was a queer feeling. It was the first time he had admitted to anyone let alone himself. Seulgi couldn’t help feel a surge of affection for him in this moment.  Seulgi reached for his shoulder and gave him a soft squeeze. “I’m so sorry.”

Jongin shakes his head, “Don’t be,” he offers her a smile and Seulgi sees a slight twinkle in his eyes. She thinks it’s the moonlight reflecting of the tears that were beginning to form in his eyes. “I think I’ve grieved long enough. It’s time to accept the change and move on.”

Seulgi nodded and offered him an encouraging smile. “I’ll be here to help you. No matter what.” Underneath the lamppost on a park bench, Jongin looked into Seulgi’s eyes. He knew he had found a good friend.

***

She had rarely been to this side of Seoul before. The footpaths were not as shiny and the people were definitely not of upper class. Despite being who she was the people here showed no concern for her. No paparazzi following her and yelling profanities. It was liberating being able to walk around without people pointing and gossiping about you within earshot. Suzy gets pulled by and old lady who takes her to her store. “This shirt would look lovely on you!” She presses the sweater against Suzy’s body and looks her up and down.

She sings praises about how a girl wearing a school uniform can look so attractive. “I’ll sell this for you for dirt cheap! It’s real too!” Suzy stares at the sweater with the Chanel logo printed on it and chuckles to herself.

“Really?” she feigns ignorance. “You’re selling me this Chanel sweater for cheap? How much is it, grandmother?” Suzy asks sweetly.

“For you pretty girl, one hundred,” the old lady grins. “I’m selling this for cheap.”

“Aye, that’s too expensive,” Suzy teases which puts the old lady on edge.

“How about seventy five!” But when Suzy’s face remains unchanged, the old lady keeps dropping the numbers. “Forty is my last offer! This is a really good sweater and you’d look so good in it.”

Suzy smirked and dug into her bag for her wallet. She handed over a one hundred note to the old lady who was in awe over how new the note looked.

“You’re not from around here are you?” she asks, digging into her bucket for loose change that she makes up using a series of smaller notes.

“Not really,” Suzy admits. “I’m actually looking for someone.”

“Who are you looking for? I’ve worked here for so long I know everyone in the area.”

Suzy perked up and took the chance, “I’m looking for Joohyun, she—”

“Joohyun? She works in a café right? That rascal…”

“Rascal?”

“Be careful of her, she’s really scary!” the older lady whispers to Suzy, checking around like Joohyun would miraculously appear if she had said it too loud.

“What do you mean?”

The old lady shakes her head, “No, no – just – she works at the café it’s around the corner from here. Don’t tell her you bought this from me ok.”

Suzy pressed her lips into a thin line. “O-ok.”

***

“Welc—” Joohyun stops when she notices Suzy staring back at her with a nervous smile. “Hi,” she says nervously herself, finding it hard to look at the other girl in the other. “What can I get for you today?”

“I’m not sure, what’s good to eat I haven’t had lunch yet.” Joohyun observed the girl in her school uniform.

“You’re not skipping class are you?” she asks candidly and Suzy looks down at herself and shakes her head immediately.

“I only had four classes today,” Suzy beams. “Sehun wanted to come too but he had a test he couldn’t skip.”

Joohyun nods her head, satisfied enough with the answer. “Our chef makes a really good lemon and herb chicken.”

“Great, one of that and a Green Tea latte.” Joohyun looks at her surprised but she doesn’t comment. Suzy fishes out the loose change the old lady had handed her and paid Joohyun.

“Just take a seat I’ll bring it to you when it’s ready.”

Suzy nods, “Is it just you today?” she asks casually take a seat at the table near the counter. Joohyun nods, “Well besides the chef.”

It’s awkward between them. They hadn’t spoken since their encounter at the church where Suzy couldn’t explain the situation before Sehun dragged her away. Suzy wasn’t sure how to continue the conversation again but she knew that she couldn’t let Joohyun go. Not with everything that she knew now.

Joohyun serves her food to her, places it down on the table and resumes cleaning the café. A few customers come in, mostly for on the go coffee. No one stays that long for their meal either – no one but Suzy who had been sitting for an hour already with her laptop out and a word document with a few words typed out.

“Is the food not edible?” Joohyun walks by her table and Suzy shakes her head.

“No. It’s great!”

“Cause it’s been an hour and you still haven’t finished it.”

“No, I’m just a slow eater…” Suzy lied. “And I’m a bit stressed about my English paper.” Joohyun peers over at the screen and nods her head. Satisfied with her response the older girl resumes working. “Don’t you get a break?”

“I do, just not yet.”

“When?” Suzy asks impassively, she hopes, because she really wanted to talk to Joohyun.

She glances at the watch on her wrist, “Another half an hour!” she says with a sigh of relief. “Did you want me to re-heat it for you? It’ll taste better.” Suzy nods and Joohyun takes the plate away.

Suzy wonders if it’s in Joohyun’s nature to care for anyone regardless. Suzy wondered if she cared more because of the possible relationship between them. But Suzy remembers how much Sehun almost gushed about Joohyun and how the kids adored her.

***

“Oh Sehun! Long-time no see!” Son Seungwan chirped as Sehun arrived at the club. “Where’s the group?”

Sehun glanced over at the girl who’s smile reached her eyes. “Busy,” Sehun mumbles which is barely audible above the bass and people screaming over each other. He takes a seat at his usual booth, a glass of whiskey sent to his table from Seungwan and Sehun raises his glass as a thanks to her.

Sehun kicks back as girls start making their way casually over to his booth. Each girl introducing herself sweetly, batting her eyes at him in an attempt to seduce him. Sehun smirked, reached for the nearest girl and pulled her closer to him. It doesn’t take long for them to get their hands all over each other, her lips creating a trail from his chin down to his neck as she climbs onto his lap.

“Didn’t expect to find you here.”

Sehun opens his eyes and stares at Jongin who was looking at him bewildered. Sehun glances at the girl and sighs, “Leave,” he whispers much to her dismay. She looks at him indignantly, pouts and whines. “You and all of your friends. Scram,” he says like a low hiss, his temper running short.

She climbs off his lap and fixes herself up. She huffs as she storms past Jongin, no doubt blaming him for ruining her night at a chance with Sehun.

“What are you doing here?” Jongin slides in and leans into the couch with his drink in one hand.

“Looking for a place to relax,” Sehun shouts over the music. “You?”

“Same.”

They sit in silence for a bit, staring at the lit up dance floor. “Are you going to ask me about Suzy?” Sehun downs the last part of his drink.

“Why?”

Sehun smirked, “That’s a first.”

“Oh, well you’ve seem to taken on the position of her best friend for all of us. So there’s no need for me anymore.”

“Don’t be like that…” Sehun grumbles and rolls his eyes. “It gets annoying when you wallow in self-pity.”

“I’m not,” Jongin says to Sehun’s surprise. “I’m honestly – truly happy that Suzy has someone like you around when Soojung and I weren’t.” Jongin places his hand on Sehun’s shoulder and squeezes it tight. “Thanks for taking care of her.”

Sehun nods his head. “So what brings you down here?” Sehun asks.

“Just looking for a place to relax.”

Jongin and Sehun smirk and call the waitress over. “Tonight we don’t leave until one of us is spewing,” Jongin suggests and Sehun nods.

***

“Did you get much done?” Joohyun peeps over at Suzy’s laptop which seemingly only grew by a paragraph since she last saw it and Suzy shook her head.

“It’s not due till next week anyway,” she says with an assuring smile and Joohyun’s expression changes from worry to relief. It was odd.

“Good. Well I’m finishing up my shift for now, I guess I’ll see you around then…”

“What?” Suzy frantically grabbed all of her work and shoved it into her bag. Not even concerned that her pencil case had tipped over the floor causing other customers to look on curiously. Joohyun turned around and helped to pick up the pens that were beginning to roll away from her. She hands them to Suzy in a bundle and the younger girl thanks her. “Sorry, I’m just a bit—”

“Nervous?”

Suzy stopped and looked at the floor. “How did you know?” Suzy asked, scratching the back of her neck nervously.

“Well I figured you’re about thirty minutes out of where you’d usually be and you’ve stayed here for almost the entirety of my shift. You’ve had three cups of coffee and barely ate the chicken and you’ve written about three paragraphs for your essay which was mostly quotes from the book. There’s only one reason you’d be here.”

“Joo—”

“Suzy was it?” Joohyun asks and Suzy nods her head. “I’m not sure what I can do for you. I don’t want to get your hopes up—”

“But you told me if given the chance you would meet your birth parents.”

“I didn’t know they were yours.” Joohyun fastened her steps, their conversation was drawing attention now and her colleagues were beginning to look at her oddly. Suzy packed up her bag and continued to chase after her outside the door that rang as they both left. “I searched your name up last night.”

“You believe what the media says about me?”

“Well it’s hard to ignore the pictures, Suzy.”

“I was having a bad time a few weeks ago. We all have bad days.”

“But your bad days become headlines, Suzy. Maybe you’re used to it but I’m not sure if I can give up my privacy and life merely just for—”

“For me,” Suzy nods her head understandingly. “I’m sorry I bothered you.” Suzy turns on her heels and Joohyun couldn’t help but feel regretful as she watched the younger girl leave.

***

It was seven in the morning when her phone rang just as Joohyun left her house for work. “Hey, Sooyoung, what’s wrong?” Joohyun opened the stairwell door and began to climb down walk down the stairs casually, her steps echoing in the small space.

“Unnie!” the younger girl shouted frantically into the phone, “Have you read the news?”

“No, I just left my house for work. What’s going on?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sooyoung sounds indignant, “I’m supposed to be your little sister.”

“Tell you what, Sooyoung?” Joohyun says and sighs into her phone.

“You found your birth parents and they’re rich!”

“What? I’ve never even met them, Sooyoung.”

“Well the news articles shows you with Bae Suzy, it’s practically on every site and newspaper cover and they’re talking about how you two are related.”

Joohyun gripped onto her phone tightly. Palms suddenly sweaty. “I’ll call you back,” Joohyun says frantically as she opens up the front page of the search site to find Suzy’s name at the top and hers a close second. Photos of them together last night in front of her workplace talking. She wasn’t aware that they was anyone around let alone paparazzi.

Joohyun began to wonder if Suzy knew. What if it had been Suzy who had set her up. She opened the stairwell door and stepped out into the lobby of her apartment complex where photographers were already waiting for her.

***

What if I'm far from home?
Oh, brother I will hear you call.
What if I lose it all?
Oh, sister I will help you out!
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,
There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do.

If you haven't watched I've made a new video for Soojung and Suzy. You can watch here. Thank you all for reading. I hope you enjoyed and please leave a comment.
xo