a/n: Chapters 37, 38, and 39 are all new in the last 24 hours, so make sure to go back if you've missed them.

A bit under an hour later, Jong Kook lets himself back into Charity's apartment. A short but intense workout had kept his mind from flipping over his impending conversation with Hannah in his mind, but hadn't pushed Charity's situation away. In fact, his irritation with Miranda and her outright baby-snatching fueled his movements, allowing him to cram a better workout into less time than he originally intended.

True to her word, Charity is awake when he comes in. She's sitting on the couch in the dark, her hair wet and piled on top of her head. She wears leggings and an oversized t-shirt. As he approaches, Jong Kook sees an empty bottle of soju on its side on the coffee table in front of her. Another is right beside it, nearly gone. 

Hearing his steps, she looks up with hazy eyes and smiles at him. "Good workout?," she inquires politely.

"Mm." He nods. He leans forward and picks up the empty bottle before her. "Is this what we're doing tonight, Charity?"

She shrugs. "I don't know what you're doing, but yes. This is what I'm doing tonight." She lights up the display on her phone with a thumb. "For now."

He sighs and scrubs his hands over his face. "You going to be up for a bit? I'm going to take a shower."

"Yeah," she says, no longer looking at him. She stares off into the dark again, pouring the dregs of the second bottle into a shot glass and draining it quickly. Jong Kook grabs both empty bottles and swings by the kitchen to toss them in the trash before grabbing fresh clothes from his room and heading to the bathroom.

When he returns, scrubbing a towel over his wet hair, Charity has another bottle in front of her. This one only has a small dent in it. He flops down on the couch in front of her with a sigh. They look at each other silently for a few moments.

"You all right?," he finally asks.

"Yes," she says. "No. Yes. I mean, I'm fine. I'm okay."

"Are you?"

She sighs and picks up the bottle. Against his better judgment, Jong Kook half-stands to lean across the low table between them and takes it from her, pouring her shot before she can protest. She drains it before answering.

"I just... I want this to be over, you know?"

He nods sympathetically, saying nothing.

"If I can just get through this part, everything will be okay."

"Mmhm," he agrees. "I take it Miranda won't be featuring heavily in the rest of your life."

She shakes her head vehemently then seems to wobble a bit in her seat, clearly feeling the effects of the alcohol. "Uh uh. Nope. I'll be done with her as soon as I can. She just... " Charity trails off.

"She makes everything harder than it needs to be."

"Right?," Charity exclaims. "Why does she do this? It enough that she has Zoe. We could have made it through this amicably. She could have tried to preserve some relationship with me, even though she never liked me."

"Why does she dislike you so much?"

"Oh, I told you." Charity waves a hand in the air. "I stole her son. She probably thinks I killed her son. Everything bad that has happened is my fault. And now I won't give her any of the money."

"I'm not saying to do it, not saying that at all, but out of curiousity - do you think if you did give her the money she wants, she'd leave you alone?"

Charity hesitates. "You know... I don't want to think that. I think she loves Zoe. She's a twisted lady, but I do think she loves my daughter. I want to think she's doing all she's doing out of some misguided sense of what's best for Zoe, but... "

"But... ?"

"But I can't help but feel that a pile of cash would send her on her way without a backward glance. She was always counting on Dare to be the one to take care of her as she got older. She's never worked. Her other kids are useless."

"What about your parents?"

"Have none," she replies, pouring herself another shot.

"Oh," Jong Kook says dumbly.

Before the brief silence can even approach awkward levels, Charity's phone chimes. She picks it up and thumbs it open to read a message, then moves to get up from the couch.

"Hey, Charity," he says suddenly, "I kind of need to talk about something."

"Oh?," she says, half-standing.

"Yeah. Yeah, I was hoping maybe I could bounce some stuff off of you?"

"I..." She looks down at the phone in her hand, then back to Jong Kook. "Well." She's clearly mentally at war with herself. To his surprise, though, she sits back down. "Yes, that's fine. What's going on?"

Jong Kook feels himself release a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Well, it's a bit of a long and crazy story. You're not going to believe it."

She gestures to her quickly emptying bottle. "If you've got something crazy to say, now's the time to say it. I'm ready to believe whatever you've got."

Jong Kook laughs lightly. "All right. So, a year or so ago, on my birthday... " he trails off. 

Charity raises a brow at him.

He laughs again and runs his hands through his damp hair. "Seriously, this is crazy. Thinking about how to say it, I'm realizing how crazy it all is."

Charity says nothing, just looks at him and waits.

"On my birthday --" He stops again. "I can't do this with you looking at me like that. It's making me feel weird."

"All right," Charity says agreeably, and hops unsteadily to her feet. She snags her bottle and shot glass, then circles the coffee table, plopping herself down against his side on the couch. "Now you can't see me." She leans a bit heavily against him. "Go on."

Jong Kook grins and stares straight ahead. She's right, he can't see her now, though he's very aware of her presence against his hip and ribs. He drapes both arms along the back of the couch.

"On your birthday...," Charity prompts him.

"Okay." He takes a deep breath. "On my birthday, Haha, Gary, and Kwang Soo took me to this weird fortune teller."

"Oh, the one way way out there, in the little house?"

"What?" Jong Kook is shocked. "You know her?"

He feels her shake her head.

"No, I don't know her myself. Kwang Soo told me about her."

"Huh? Kwang Soo already told you this story?"

"No, I don't think so...," she says slowly. "I don't think I knew you'd been there, but I know Kwang Soo has been there. She's a bit intense, huh?"

"You can say that ag -- wait, Kwang Soo has been there by himself?"

"Mmhm," Charity nods again. "He told me all about it. I was sober at the time so yeah, it all sounded a bit crazy, but I believe him. So I guess you don't have to worry about me thinking you've lost your mind."

"What was Kwang Soo doing there?"

"Aren't we talking about you right now?"

"Yeah, okay. So how much did Kwang Soo tell you?"

"Umm...," she speaks slowly, dredging up the memories. "Something about soulmates, seeing your soulmate, or like, kind of seeing your soulmate? That kind of thing? Magic." Charity waves her