Aerin silently walked in between the two men Junmyeon mentioned earlier. One of them politely asked for a permission to put a cuff on her hands, just to make it even more convincing. They stopped in front of a pair of huge doors before one of the men pushed them open. It was another big room, not much different from the room she had been in earlier. There’s someone sitting behind the working desk at the other end of the room, seeming like already waiting for their arrival.

It was no other than her uncle.

Of all people, she never thought this uncle would be the one who wanted to destroy her family.

“Hello, dear.” The old man got up from his chair and walked closer to the girl. Both men between her stepped backward. “I’m glad you got here safely. It’s been a while not meeting you privately like this. How was the trip?”

“What do you want, Uncle?”

Aerin winced in disgust when she heard the man answered her with a chuckle. “We’re getting straightforward to the business, aren’t we?” Not getting any sign of her replying, he sighed and went back to his seat before telling the two men to bring her to sit across him. “You know, it would’ve been easier for both of us if you go together with your parents, no?”

The girl scoffed at the older’s taunting question. “Oh Uncle, I can’t believe you’re stooping that low to get a hold of the company which isn’t yours in the first place.” She smiled at him sweetly, igniting the anger bubbling inside the uncle’s chest.

“Your beloved dead father’s company wouldn’t even get here if it weren’t for me helping him with all these problems. Your father isn’t even capable to handle everything—”

“Yet Grandpa chose and trusted him to handle the company instead of you! That alone was enough as a proof of which one of you were actually capable and trustworthy.” She shouted at him, trying hard to control and not letting herself explode.

The uncle who was already standing in front of her suddenly slapped the girl hard on her cheek. “You wench.”

“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Playing dirty, even killing your own brother to get what you want?”

Her question got the older to laugh loudly. “Even after killing him, I still need to get rid of an insect like you and your brother, such a nuisance really. Now tell me, how do you want to finish this all? I have a gun, or you can just sign this paper and continue to live your life peacefully.”

“Never in my lifetime I’m going to let my father’s hard work to fall into the hand of a traitor like you, Uncle Kim.” The girl shouted now with the uncontrollable tears streaming down her cheeks. Her body was shaking so much, but she still tried to control herself, not wanting to let the monster inside her to wake up after being tamed all these times.

“Fine then, you chose the easiest way to die, huh?” The older took out a gun from the side drawer of the table, looking at it with such disgusting smile on his lips. “As much as I want to pull the trigger on this smart head of yours, I still don’t want my precious hands to get tainted with your blood, Sweetie. So, how about we replay the way your beloved father and mother, and you, being clueless inside a malfunctioned car and ran into a truck so that everyone believe that it was an awful accident?”

Aerin wailed in agony at the recall of the horrendous scene playing inside her head. The scene she tried so hard to bury, effortlessly resurfaced and took over her sanity. Not to mention that it was the evil who let out these dreadful memories out of the dungeon. It felt like she was suddenly brought back inside the car, and the image was playing clearly before her eyes. Of how they were laughing in pure happiness, of how excited they were, talking about visiting the eldest son for his graduation, of how she would definitely get the lead role for the ballet play. But then suddenly her eyes could only see red. Splotches of blood in everywhere she looked, the paralyzed legs she felt when she tried to reach her mother and father, the heavy breath she’s trying to take but she couldn’t.

“Breathe with me, Darling.”

“Aerin, Sweetheart,”

“You’re safe, Baby. Breathe with me. Yes, you’re doing well. You’re doing so well, Baby. It’s okay. You’re safe. You’re with us now.”

“You’re such an awful human being, Dad. I still can’t believe a day like this would come.” Junmyeon muttered from the side as the police put a cuff around his father’s hands. Their eyes met, but the older didn’t say anything. His eyes were only full of hatred, knowing that the son he raised was the one arresting him.

Earlier, Junmyeon, Jongin, Baekhyun, and all the police were listening to their conversation from the place they deemed safe. They easily took down some of his father’s men who guarded the room. They already clipped a recording device on the girl’s body before she went in, and thankfully, it worked just like how they planned. And when they heard her screaming, Junmyeon couldn’t just hold it anymore. He was also worried if his father would hurt her, so he decided to end it. They quickly barged into the room. Mr. Kim wasn’t prepared, and he lost his grip on the gun because of the shock when one of the police shot the air. The police pointed their guns at him, asking to raise his hands in defeat.

“Never call yourself a son you ungrateful er!” Junmyeon heard the older spat the words as the police brought him out of the room. His heart hurt, so much. But he knew it was for the best.

Jongin had his sister securely in his arms. She was still sobbing in his chest, and he couldn’t help but cry with her. He tightened his hug around her, making sure that she knew he was there and would never leave her side. Jongin couldn’t imagine how has it been for her to suffer these dreadful memories all by herself. All these times he was being selfish, only thinking about himself without knowing how horrible it was to be in her situation.

“I’m sorry you had to go through this all… I’m sorry…”

“What do you want to know?” Kyungsoo asked, sensing that the younger wouldn’t move from the couch behind him, at least not until he gave the answer to those unspoken questions bubbling above his head. Sehun has been sitting there in silence since he came back, didn’t bother to look at the other person inside the room even when he knew it was the older’s working room and he practically wasn’t welcomed there. But Kyungsoo knew there were a lot of explanation he needed to give to the younger, so he let him.

“I don’t know. Anything I should know of?” Sehun asked, still having his eyes closed as he had his left arm covering them while leaning back on the sofa. “I just realised I actually don’t know enough about you, Hyung.”

Kyungsoo took a seat on the couch across him, making himself comfortable because he knew it was going to be a long story.

“I started to work for Mr. Kim seven years ago. That time when my mother was still suffering from the Leukaemia.”

Kyungsoo never knew about his father’s existence. All his life, the only family he had was his mother. They live in a quiet neighbourhood on the outskirt of Seoul. His mother worked in several places; helping small bakery in the morning when they do the preparation, helping in a restaurant until late in the evening, and helping in a laundry place at night. She always brushed his son off every time he asked her to help, saying that the only thing he needed to do was to study so that he could have a good life ahead. Being such an obedient son, he listened well to what his mother said. Kyungsoo was a genius and curious kid. He never failed to bag the first place in every grade he was in. Since middle school, he actively participated in IT scientist competition because he knew he was brilliant at it. And it was not really a surprise for the teachers when he bagged a scholarship for that major from the prestigious university in the city.

But behind all those shiny achievements, Kyungsoo never told his mother that on the age of seventeen, he started working for an organisation. A mafia group to be exact. Kyungsoo was tired of watching his mother worked day and night just so she could give a comfortable life and provide a proper education for him. So, when someone told him that they needed someone who was familiar with hacking and sabotaging a system and not to mention that the pay was beyond incredible for a teenage like him, he agreed without a second thoughts, not knowing that he was dipping himself