Hell & Heaven | Yoon Jeonghan

XLI. Reunion

The room stilled with silence, the rest of the family looked like they had seen a ghost as Catalin walked in, nothings changed, Claude thought to himself. They were having a hard time grasping the information.

"Are you not going to greet me brother?" Catalin asked, giving a sad smile. Katheryn was the first to move, going up to engulf the former in a tight hug, they were close, Catalin always knew they would end up together. The moment felt surreal but it was real they had all realized.

"Where is my godchild?" Catalin broke out of the hug, asking the other.

"Kai" Katheryn called out to her eldest son, who moved towards her.

"You've grown up to be a big man, I'm proud of you" Catalin held his hand, Kai smiled at his aunt. Eventhough he has no memory of her, he knew she was his godmother until she 'passed' or as of now disappeared.

"Since you all are still shocked, I will talk more then, but before that where is the other handsome nephew of mine?" She asked with a grin, which made Markus snap out of his reverie and go in for a hug. He had never met her but from all the memories and stories his parents shared, he was familiar.

"You look the same as the pictures, except the change in hair I guess" Markus remarked.

"Oh don't flatter me child I'm as old as your father, but I know" She patted his shoulder as she moved on to Veronika, but the latter just held her hand reassuring her as she moved on to finally face her twin.

"Are you not going to talk to me, Claude?" She asked, seeing her brother go still. Claude on the other hand had thoughts racing in his mind, questions, but he managed to take hold of his sister's hands.

"What happened?" Claude was troubled, he wanted answers, all the pain and trauma from the events of the past flooding his mind, he didn't want his children to see him like this, he prayed he could stay calm, his emotions were muddled. Catalin saw the distress in his face as did everyone, they knew what they had to do.

"I'm going to Anya, should check on niko" He mumbled as he went up to their room while Markus led Katheryn to the other room. Veronika stood there contemplating whether she should go or not, to be honest she was not fully trusting Catalin just yet but seeing her mother's retreating figure, she decided to walk outside where Jeonghan was waiting for her.

Meanwhile

"I'm-  I'm having a hard time understanding all this" Claude stutters, he held his sister's hand, more to grasp the gravity of the situation, to make sure he is not imagining anything.

"I can understand and if you are angry with me that is also fine with me. I'm sorry I did what I did, it was a selfish decision but you told me once back then that I should be honest with myself than running away from my own wants. I went away not saying anything knowing you will be there by mom." Catalin apologises to her brother.

"It does not make sense Cate, you were engaged to Kade, you seemed happy eventhough everyone else was against your choice, I thought everything was going well and then suddenly you went away and then the accident-   you died, I saw the body, it was not good" Claude seemed like he was reliving the memory, horror evident in his face.

"The body was unrecognizable, burned. It was not me" Catalin whispered the last part, she was aware of the pain she had caused her family but seeing her brother up close made her more guilty. She cleared her throat catching the attention of the other, "I know this will be too much information to make sense of but it was betrayal and I know I seemed emotionless back then but I loved him Claude and I thought I will be okay if something were to happen but no" realization dawned to Claude upon hearing his sister, his fists clenched with anger.

"My suspicions were right then?!" He asked, he was referring to Kade being unfaithful to Catalin.

"What hurt more was the person he was hurting me with was the person I thought was the only trusted friend I had" she replied.