The tears were drowned by loud knocks. The heart was beating crazily as she turned around, just in time to greet the people walking inside. She didn’t dared to look if Jiyong had gotten out, the only thing Chaerin could do was look at her cousins, frowning as they inspected her apartment.

With another deep breath, she concentrated in being the same she always used to be, and glared at them, almost fuming. “Lost something?” She said, to which Kikwang looked at her, a frown on his face.

“Did you?” He said, and she raised an eyebrow. “No, you didn’t, you just ran away without telling a soul. Or is it?” He said as he looked at Taemin, who was casually sitting down on her sofa. Chaerin crossed her arms, glaring at Kikwang.

“I didn’t know I was a prisoner.” She said, and Kikwang glared at her.

“No, you are not, but you could at least respect your elders. Sooman told you to stay, you should had stayed.”

“Are you his dog now?” She said, and Taemin looked to the other side, suppressing a laugh.

“Do you think this is funny?” Kikwang said. “I am responsible for both of you, I am the eldest. You are making it hard for me.”

“We are not children anymore, Ki.” Taemin said, his voice sounding tired. Chaerin looked at him with a frown, he looked tired, like he hadn’t slept in days.

“But you act like one.” Kikwang hissed. Taemin smiled and stood up, putting a hand over Kikwang’s shoulder. They both looked huge in front of Chaerin, and again, she was reminded they were all grown up already. It had been long since they were together, and now, she thought she had enough of them. Always there, constantly meeting them was strange, making her sick of it. She had grown used to her lonely life.

“Please, stop the paternal speech. We’ve had enough.” She said, sitting down and crossing her legs.

“There’s a killer on the loose Chae, you need to be more careful.” Kikwang said, his tone lowering as he sat down. He didn’t looked particularly mad either, he looked tired too.

“Am I supposed to be afraid?” She said, and Kikwang shook his head.

“Of course not, but you need to be careful. We still don’t know who he or she is, it could be anyone.”

“Do you?” She said, and Kikwang looked at her with confused eyes, a deafening silence taking upon her living room.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Do you really not know?” She said, almost spitting the words. Kikwang swallowed, looking at Taemin, who simply shrugged. “Now it’s your time to say that I am sleeping with the enemy?”

“Who told you?” Kikwang said, to which Chaerin scoffed.

“That sentences throws you out.” She said. “Sooman told me.”

“How are you?” Kikwang said, his voice suddenly soft and calm, soothing. Chaerin held her firm expression, looking at him as strong as she could, faking a strength she knew she didn’t possessed.

“Destroyed.” She said and stood up, walking towards her room. She heard them standing up, but she ignored it, hurrying towards her room.

“Chaerin, I’m so sorry.” Kikwang said, stopping her from going any further. He held her arm, turning her around, and she had to breathe in to avoid her tears from falling.

“How long have you know?” She said, feeling how she was losing her self-control, feeling the strings breaking, one by one. Kikwang lowered his face, then looked at her, straight into her eyes.

“Do you really want to know?” He said, and she nodded, holding onto the last strand. Truth was, she didn’t wanted to know, didn’t wanted to face her reality anymore. “A week after uncle Kijin’s death. Jiyong wasn’t being particularly careful, he left too many lose strings, which led us to him.” She felt how the strand broke, choking her slowly as she tried to find words. She had none.

“W-W-Why?” She stuttered, and Kikwang let go of her hand, only to hug her. She pushed him slightly away, but he hugged her tighter.

“It would have broken you.” He muttered. She was looking straight to the wall, not moving, not breathing, simply looking at it. Tears were falling from her eyes, but she was numb, as if she was shut down from the world. “I was afraid it would completely break you, and that we would lose you.” Kikwang muttered, but Chaerin didn’t moved, she kept looking at the wall as her thin hands held his shirt. Breathing was becoming hard, a heaviness on her chest forbidding her to properly inhale any oxygen at all.

“Chaerin?” Taemin said, but she didn’t looked at him. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think, the only thing in her mind was the Golden Dragon killing her father over and over again. She saw the rivers of golden blood, and her heart broke into million pieces yet again. Jiyong had put the puzzle together, he was the Golden Dragon, the man who hurt her in ways no one could ever thing of.

“Chae?” Kikwang said as he pushed her out, shaking her slightly, but still, she was looking at the wall, watching patterns of gold being drawn on it. The form of a dragon formed, then quickly turned into a golden gun with a carved dragon, shining brightly in the darkness. Pain was foreign now, numbness taking over her. She couldn’t move, she was trapped in the hallucinations she was having.

The gun moved, pointing at her. She gulped as a hand moved and grabbed it, a hand she knew too well, all calloused and scarred, threating to pull the trigger at any minute. “I think she’s in shock.” Taemin said as he moved towards her. Even if he was blocking her view of the wall, she still saw the gun pointing at her. Another gulp, and the hand pulled the trigger. She felt her head being thrown back, and opened, but no sound came out.

“Chaerin!” Both Taemin and Kikwang screamed as they held her. She had lost balance, and her body slowly fell down as a sinister laughter rang through her head, her mind, her body, her soul. If it wasn’t by her cousins, Chaerin would have fallen on the floor. Taemin held her head, trying to straighten it up as Kikwang moved her towards the sofa. Falling on the floor would have been better, hitting her head so hard it would’ve shut her out of that cruel and sinister world.

 When she felt her body on the sofa, she felt a scream building up inside of her chest, consuming every energy, forming a huge ball of pain inside of it. She couldn’t breathe as the ball slowly move up, until it reached . Taemin let go of her head, and she moved forwards, her arms hugging her as she opened , and the ball got out. She screamed at the top of her lungs, both her cousins going crazy trying to calm her, but she just screamed as tears continued to fall from her eyes. “WHY?! WHY?!” She kept repeating over and over again.

“Chaerin, please calm down! Come to your senses! Chaerin!” Taemin said as he held her face, but she continued shaking her head to the sides, screaming at the top of her lungs.

“WHY DID HE HAD TO COME TO ME?! WHY?!” She screamed. It made her feel good, screaming at everything and anything. “WHY DID I HAD TO LOVE HIM?! WHY DID HE HAD TO KILL ME?!?!?!”

“No one has killed you Chaerin, come on!” Kikwang said, holding her shoulders as Taemin continued caressing her face.

“He killed me! HE KILLED ME!” She screamed again. Since she found out, everything has been building inside, until now. Everything exploded, and she felt her skin would fall apart from all the pain she felt inside. “HE KILLED ME!!” The feeling of desolation invaded her, and the screams where the only thing that made her existence real. The scream and the pain reminded her that she was still alive, her body was still functioning as her soul departed from her body. Yes, her heart was beating, yes, her lungs were working, but she was slowly dying, feeling every limb rotting until it reached her insides.

“NO!” Kikwang said, standing up. “I’m calling an ambulance.”

“He killed me merciless! WHAT HAVE I EVER DONE TO HIM?!” Taemin was freaking out as he held her, she was trying to hit herself on anything she could find. She needed to feel pain, physical pain to calm the pain that was consuming her from inside.

“You’re alive Chaerin, look at me!” Taemin screamed, losing his mind as he held her face in both his hands, making her look at him.

“He is killing me, his gun is at my head, his hands are on my heart and he’s crushing it.” She said, rapidly and almost incoherent as her hands held her clothes, pulling them harshly, trying to break everything in her. Scratching her skin, slightly bleeding, trying to make her emotional pain more real, physical. Taemin was shaking his head as he looked at Kikwang, who was quickly talking over the phone with someone. “His gun is at my head, and my loins are all over his feet. My heart is being crushed and he’s the one doing it. He’s killing me slowly, and I can’t seem to get out. I am trapped.”

“Chaerin please, come back.”

“He laughed, he laughed insanely as he pulled all my loins and limbs. He was laughing.” She said, now holding his hands as she stood up. “He’s bathing in my blood, fresh blood taken out of my beating veins. From my soul! HE KILLED ME!”

“KIKWANG!”

“Yes, please hurry, she’s unstable. Thank you.” Kikwang said as he ended the call, hurrying towards Chaerin. She looked at him, her hair all over her face as Taemin tried to hold her in place.

“You helped him! You laughed!” Chaerin screamed, pointing a trembling finger towards Kikwang. “While he cut my skin with the knife, you gave him the gun. You helped him!”

“What are you saying?! Chaerin wake up!” Kikwang said, softly slapping her face.

“YOU KILLED ME!!” She screamed one more time, and Kikwang shook his head, slapping her hard. So hard she lost balance, and fell on Taemin’s chest, sobbing hard. Taemin held her tight as he slowly went down, sitting her on the floor as she weep on his chest. “You all killed me, buried me with your bare hands while my heart was still beating. You all killed me.” She sobbed, holding onto Taemin’s shirt as he held her tightly. Her body felt numb again, the pain didn’t subsided, but she wasn’t feeling like she would explode anymore. She sobbed as she saw Jiyong bathing in blood, making her close her eyes tight, but all she could see, was more and more morbid images of Jiyong hurting her, torturing her.

“Oh God, please.” Taemin said as he looked up, caressing her head as she closed her eyes, her eyelids too heavy, her head too light. She closed her fists around Taemin’s shirt, the only person who could make her feel safe at the moment. The only pillar she could hold on to. The only one who could keep her in one piece, since the whole world was threating to tear her apart.

“Torturing me…” Chaerin mumbled as she slowly succumbed to darkness, more morbid images invading her mind. There was no escape, nothing else to do but to embrace her distorted reality. She was dead.

His head throbbed insanely as he looked at the road. His chest was feeling heavy, full of regrets, of pain, of sorrow. His hand was on his chin as his elbow supported him on the door. Youngbae was driving, making expert maneuvers as he avoided the heavy traffic. The woods were visible, a place that once brought him peace, now it couldn’t do anything to calm his heavy heart. “I ed up.” He muttered, slumping down on his seat, trying to find comfort on his body. His leg hadn’t completely healed, he could feel it warm, probably bleeding. But not even that was enough to distract him.

“It’s not the first time, and it will definitely not be the last one.” Youngbae muttered. Jiyong crooked his head, frowning at the road ahead. 

“This time it’s the worst.” He said. Youngbae puffed his cheeks and nodded, shifting gears as he finally managed to get on the highway. It was the fastest way to get to their personal apartment.

“It will all be alright.” Youngbae said. Usually, whatever Youngbae said made him feel better, but now, Jiyong could feel deep within himself that nothing was going to ever be alright.

“I doubt it.”

“Never lose faith.” Youngbae said as he lifted a finger. “Remember that’s all we got at the end.”

“Youngbae, how can one have faith after you have done what I did?” Jiyong said, still frowning at the road ahead.

“What are you trying to say?” Youngbae said, quickly looking at him.

“She knows.” Jiyong simply said. The car lost the speed, then quickly regained it.

“What?!” Youngbae almost yelled, controlling the car. He had lost control of it, but Jiyong didn’t even flinched. He would gladly embrace death now.

“The Lees know I killed Kijin, and Chaerin knows I killed her father.” Jiyong said. “That’s why they almost killed us last night.”

“Did you confirmed?” Youngbae said, and Jiyong slowly nodded.

“I confirmed.” Jiyong echoed. Youngbae let out an exasperate sigh and looked at him for a brief moment, avoiding losing control of the car again.

“You should had lied to her! You should had told her they were wrong. She would’ve believed you.”

“No more lies Youngbae, no more.” Jiyong said in a low voice. Youngbae moved to the side, slowly pulling the car to a stop.

“No more lies then.” Youngbae said, looking at Jiyong with a frown. Jiyong looked tiredly at him, his face blank as his eyes showed no emotion.

“No.”

“I have something to tell you.” Youngbae said. Jiyong scoffed and looked to the front, biting his index finger.

“From all people, you are hiding things from me now?” Jiyong said, and Youngbae looked down.

“We should go back to your father.” Youngbae said, and Jiyong looked at him with a glare.

“Never.” He said, and Youngbae looked at him with sorry eyes.

“He’s the only one who can confirm you what I will say.” Youngbae said, and Jiyong raised an eyebrow.

“I only trust you, why would my father confirm something you will say? Anything you say, I’ll believe.”

“Then forgive me first.”

“Why? Are you playing with me now? I am not in the mood.”

“I’m not playing,” Youngbae said, then let out a sigh as he moved to take out his wallet. “You know I never knew my father, and my mother raised me alone, right?”

“Yes, God bless your mother, wherever she is.” Jiyong said, his voice firm, but his mind was filled with warm memories of Youngbae’s mother, the housemaid of the Kwon’s house and Jiyong’s nanny.

“That’s a lie.”

“What is?” Jiyong said, rolling his head as he shook his head. “Bae, stop beating around the bush and spit it out.”

“That I don’t know my father, that’s a lie. I know him too well, so much it’s disgusting.” Youngbae said. Jiyong frowned and straightened up, looking at Youngbae with curious eyes, even if he was still frowning.

“Who is your father Youngbae?” Jiyong said, and Youngbae took a deep breath. He looked at Jiyong straight into his eyes, biting his lower lip before opening his mouth to talk.

“Kwon Younghwan.” Youngbae said, and Jiyong widened his eyes, crooking his head to the side as he looked at him. “Kwon Younghwan is my father, and Dong Junghee isn’t my real mother.”

“W-What?” Jiyong said, almost out of breath. “My father, is your father? But, why?”

“I can’t answer why, but you’re my older brother Jiyong.”

“Why don’t you have my same last name? And why did my father never mentioned this? If Junghee isn’t your mother, who is?” Jiyong asked, trying to make any sense at all.

“It’s a long story Jiyong.”

“No, don’t give me that bull. You threw the bomb on me, better explode it. Who is your mother? Why my father kept you hiding? Is it something about me?” Jiyong said, suddenly feeling angered, angered because he didn’t knew anything about that, because he was being kept sideways, and what was worst, from his only best friend.

“Oh Jiyong, your father’s way too dirty, too disgusting to do one thing honestly. And as you know, neither he nor Jihye loved each other, so he had mistresses. One of them happened to be my mother. And due to her position, she couldn’t have me, neither say I was Younghwan’s child.” Youngbae explained.

“And you knew all of this?”

“All my life. I was always reminded by our dear father.” Youngbae said with disdain.

“But, who is your mother?” Jiyong said, and Youngbae bit his lip.

“Lee Misook.” Youngbae said, and Jiyong widened his eyes as he let out a surprised sigh.

“That bastard.” Jiyong spat, holding his forehead. “Oh no, Sooman’s wife?! !”

Gily's Notes: Twist of Destiny my dears, Twist of Destiny.

I managed to update! After the BEAT I received at work on Saturday, I couldn't properly thing until today. Thanks for reading my last chapter, this one will keep you at the edge of your seats! And finally, I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel! Yes, the END of the tunnel! lol!

Are you guys excited about Jiyong's not too subtle annoucement on IG? Kekekeke, I am!

And Jonghyun's solo debut... WOW!

Happy Reading ~

Gily ♥