Meanwhile outside the Mall, Seunghyun spotted Mi Hwa from a distance. “Mi Hwa! Mi Hwa, wait up!”

She broke into a sprint. She can’t have him catch up to her! He’ll never let her go if she does!

“Mi Hwa, wait! Please!”

His voice was so pleading, so heartbroken, that she found herself slowing down until she was just standing still. She waited for him and Kibum to catch up, hearing their tired pants as they tried to regain their breath. She turned to face him reluctantly. “Seunghyun oppa, please don’t do —” she started to say, ready to put up a protest.

He didn’t let her finished. He hugged her tightly and all her arguments and reasons why she couldn’t stay left her mind, replaced by blankness. “Don’t go,” he whispered in her ear, closing his eyes tightly. He prayed hard that he’ll be able to persuade her into staying. “I already lost your brother. I don’t want to lose you either.”

She gently pushed him away. “You’ve already lost me, Seunghyun oppa,” she said sadly, “Long ago when Young Bae oppa died.”

Seunghyun just shook his head adamantly. He refused to accept this. “No, I don’t believe that,” he replied. “Come on, Mimi. What’s the matter? Why won’t you stay? We’re your family now.”

“Why don’t you ask Dara, then?” she snapped, looking away. “I’m pretty sure she’ll be more than happy to tell you everything.” She started to move but he stopped her once again.

“What did she do?”

She didn’t answer.

“Mi Hwa, answer me!” He grabbed her by the shoulders roughly, but she shook him off skillfully. “What did she do to you? Did she threaten you? Dara did threaten you, didn’t she?”

She hesitated. “No . . .”

“You are a terrible liar, young lady.” If this was a different situation, he could have laughed, but right now he just wanted her back. “You couldn’t lie to save your life. So humor me, Mimi, and tell me the truth. Please.”

But she shook her head. “No. Look, Seunghyun oppa,” she said in a low voice and almost close to tears, “it’s probably better if I go. I’m definitely not going back to the Zaifhers with GD oppa gone. Jihyun-sshi will get to me and she’s scary, you know that. But I’m also not staying with you. I can’t, and you can’t make me to do something out of my will. That’s why I’m getting out. And I know you know what I mean.”

He looked at her in awe. He did know what she meant like usual. It could only mean one thing. “You are truly the rarest of your kind, Mimi,” he remarked.

“I’m still not going, Seunghyun oppa,” she replied stubbornly. “You can’t make me.”

“You’re so stubborn,” he complained.

Mi Hwa just folded her arms, frowning.

He sighed. “All right. Fine. You’re right; I can’t make you do something out of your will. Just take care of yourself.”

She gave him a wry smile as she sighed heavily. “But . . . could you pass a message to both Dara and GD for me, please?” she asked him. “It’s kind of important, to me at least.”

“What is it?”

Tears began to roll down from her eyes. She wiped them away fiercely. “Tell GD . . . I love him and to not go looking for me. I don’t want him to. It’s better this way. And tell Dara I said she’s won. She’ll know what I mean. Goodbye, oppa. Good luck.” She kissed him on the cheeks before she walked away.

Seunghyun turned to walk back to the Mall. When he turned around to see her, she was gone. Not walked out of sight . . . just gone. . . .

“She’s gone?” Kibum said, following after him. He tried to catch up with his pace as fast as his short legs could take him.

He sighed, nodding his head remorsefully. “Yes. She’s gone.”

Kibum knew that Seunghyun didn’t want to talk about it so he didn’t push it. He kept his mouth shut even though there were dozens of question he wanted to ask. Seunghyun glanced at Kibum and knew that he had so many questions to ask, and he respected him greatly for not interrogating him. He just didn’t feel like answering right now. Not when his heart feel so empty. He could have convinced her to stay. Or at least force her. He could take her. He was stronger than she was. But no, he couldn’t ask that of her.

It wouldn’t be right.

When he and Kibum returned back to the Mall, they found every single member of the clan except for the new parents cooing over the baby girl. They stood there for awhile, wondering if they should let them know that they were there. Luckily they didn’t have to.

Minzy looked up and saw them standing a few feet away. “Where’s Mi Hwa?” she asked, craning her neck to look behind him for her. “Didn’t she follow you back?” Everyone then looked up to see them there.

“She’s gone,” he replied, trying to sound normal. He looked over at Chaerin. “She wanted to go, so I let her. Besides, she can take care of herself. I’ve seen her in action. I don’t know where she’s gone to, but she’s definitely not going back to the Zaifhers, that much I know. And you can trust her not to reveal to anybody where we are. She’s a trustworthy person. She’ll keep it a secret.”

She nodded. “Alright. Thanks, Seunghyun. You did your best. By the way, your brother and Dara are in Dara’s room, if you’re looking for them,” she added.

“Oh, yes they are just the people I’m looking for,” he muttered darkly, heading toward Dara’s room.

Kibum gulped. He knew that Seunghyun was angry and when he was angry, he’s not someone to mess with. “Oh boy,” he muttered under his breath. “This isn’t going to be pretty.”

Seunghyun walked up to the room and could hear them having a conversation. He paused to listen for awhile.

“So, what are we going to name our child?” G-Dragon asked Dara.

“Oh . . .” She bit her bottom lip, wondering what to say. She looked sheepishly at him. “Well, I’d already thought of a name for her because I didn’t know whether you would stay with us or not. Her name is Rae Ah.”

G-Dragon was hurt because it was the name his brother always wanted to name his daughter, but he didn’t let it show. “Oh. Erm. Okay, sure. Rae Ah it is, then.” He nodded, trying to look enthusiastic. “It suits her.”

“Hey guys.”

They looked up to see Seunghyun standing by the door, frowning slightly at them.

“Where’s Mi Hwa?” Dara asked.

G-Dragon looked up hopefully. But then he shot a quick look over at Dara and looked away in shame. “Is she somewhere here?” He sounded hopeful.

“Oh, yes, she is somewhere.” He leaned against the door, folding his arms. He knew they were waiting for an answer. He gave them a hard look as he said, “She’s gone.”

It took awhile for the news to sink into their head. “She’s gone? Why?” they both said in perfect unison.

Seunghyun couldn’t help notice that even though they both sounded surprised, Dara sounded happy while G-Dragon sounded low. Hmmm, this looks very interesting. He turned to his brother. “She told me to tell you she loves you, Ji Yong,” he said, waiting to see his reaction.

G-Dragon winced, hearing his real name. He never did liked it and always try to deny such name. Unfortunately, he could never do so with his brother around. “Oh, uh, well . . ." he stammered. He winced inwardly, realizing he sounded pathetic. He tried to think of something intelligent to say but came up blank. Rats, he thought glumly.

“She also said to not go look for her. She doesn’t want you to. It’s better this way.”

Seunghyun’s brother looked up in surprise. “What? Why —?”

Dara glared at him. “What do you care?” she wanted to know. “Are you guys together? Or are you with me?”

“Dara,” Seunghyun spoke up and she looked at him, “she told me to tell you that you’ve won. And that you’ll know what she meant.”

She blushed deeply as G-Dragon turned to her, full of questions in his mind. “What does that mean?” he demanded to know. What does it mean? “What does she mean by ‘you’ve won’?”

“It’s nothing,” she mumbled, not meeting his eyes. But she looked extremely guilty for that moment only.

G-Dragon, however, turned to Seunghyun. He was mad that his brother didn’t try to stop her. “Why didn’t you stop her? Why did you let her go? She’s only fifteen! She’s too young to go off by herself! How could you be so stupid?”

“Forcing her to stay would have been even stupid. She wanted to go, and I can’t force her to choose otherwise,” Seunghyun replied calmly and defensively. “She can take care of herself. She’s done it before. Besides, I’m not in charge of her anymore than you are. She has her own free will. I can’t force her — nor do I want to.”

“Besides, she’ll just teleport herself into a better life,” Dara agreed as she rolled her eyes.

But G-Dragon was miserable. He wanted Mi Hwa. He stood up. He didn’t want to be in this tense atmosphere. “I’m going to take care of my daughter,” he announced and left the room leaving Seunghyun and Dara.

Once he left, Seunghyun turned to Dara, ready to barricade her with questions that have been pondering his mind. “What did you do to make her want to leave?” he asked bluntly, crossing his arms. “She hinted that you said something, but she didn’t say what.”

Dara looked guilty and knew there was no way of denying it. “I — I knew she fancied him,” she squeaked, sounding very small. “So, I guess . . .”

“You guess  . . .?”

“I guess I told her to back off?” She gave him a smile, hoping that he might be a bit lenient on her.

No such luck.

“How exactly did you tell her, Dara? Did you say it nicely or did you threaten her?” he asked angrily.

She bit her lip and looked regretful for now at least. Her silence was enough.

Seunghyun looked at her with pure disgust. “How could you do that?” he bellowed and she flinched. “This is really stupid! She may like my brother but she knows better than to try to sabotage your relationship with him! She is not that type of person and you know that! I can’t believe you would do that sort of thing, Dara. That is low, even for you. You’re no better than Jonghyun.”

“But, Seunghyun —”

But he cut her off. “I don’t want to hear any more stupid lies.”

She hung her head in shame as he walked off. He found G-Dragon alone with Rae Ah. “What’s going on between you and Mi Hwa?” he asked him bluntly.

G-Dragon looked up at the sound of his voice. “What?”

“Don’t play dumb,” he snapped. He was not in the mood for any more lies. “I want to know what is going on between you and Mi Hwa. Don’t even bother lying to me. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. So what’s up?”

He sighed. “I — I went out with her when Dara ran away. I even . . . slept with her. . . .” he stuttered.

Seunghyun was astounded. This explains a lot. “It’s a no wonder she didn’t want to stay here!” he bellowed. “She loved you so much that it hurt to see that you were still in love with Dara! How stupid can you get, playing with Mi Hwa’s feelings like that?! She’s not a toy to be messed around with. She’s a human with feelings.”

“I do love her!” his brother argued back as the baby began to cry. “I just . . . love Dara more. But I never played with Mi Hwa’s feelings. My feelings with her are real. I did like her,” he insisted.

“No, if you did like her, you wouldn’t be with Dara.”

“I have a baby to think of."

“You don’t care about the baby. It’s Dara that you want. Screw you, Ji Yong"

“Hyung . . .”

Seunghyun just glared at him with pure hate before walking away. He was tired, fed up, of everything. He needed to take a few steps back. He needed to get away.