Unevitable | Ryeji |

Chapter 37: Bloodlines and Broken Pasts

Yeji's POV:

"Yeji..." "Hyunjin..." 

We both call out at the same time, voices trembling with disbelief. My heart pounds so loud I can barely hear anything else. God, I feel like I'm about to faint.

I stare at him, my hands shaking as my gun wavers in my grasp. Every instinct in me screams to stay on guard, but I can’t... because standing before me isn’t just any enemy.

I lower my gun, hands trembling. He's my twin. 
The twin I thought I never had.

As I look at him, memories flood back—fragments of a life I thought lost forever. I remember us as kids, playing hide and seek in the garden behind our old house. His laughter ringing out as he’d hide under the tall, leafy bushes, and I’d search for him, always pretending it was the hardest game ever.

I recall the warmth of his hand in mine as we walked to school together, our steps synchronized, our secrets shared in hushed tones. There was a day we made a pact to always look out for each other, to never let anything come between us. I remember the way we’d sit together under the old oak tree, sharing dreams of the future—dreams that now seem impossibly distant.

I notice it immediately. Hyunjin, the man who's always so sharp, always one step ahead—he’s unguarded. His hands are by his sides, his usual tension gone. His eyes, wide and vulnerable, mirror the confusion swirling in my chest.

He realizes it too.

There’s no danger here. No fight. No threat.

Just... recognition.

For a moment, the world around us fades. He’s not my enemy. He’s the twin I never knew I had.

"Seriously? You became a detective?" he asks, a hint of disbelief in his voice, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

It’s almost... joking. Like this is just some normal reunion between siblings, not the impossible situation we’ve both found ourselves in.

I can’t help but roll my eyes, despite the chaos in my mind. "And you? You became... whatever this is?" I gesture vaguely to the gun at his side, the dangerous aura surrounding him.

For a moment, it feels like we’re kids again—except we never had that chance.

The air between us feels thick with the weight of recognition, but it doesn’t change what just happened. My heart lurches as the reality crashes back in.

He just pushed Felix out of the window.

My gaze snaps from Hyunjin's half-smirk to the shattered glass, the cold wind still howling through the opening. My chest tightens as the image of Felix falling flashes in my mind.

"What the hell have you done?" My voice cracks, the disbelief turning into anger. How can he stand there, joking, after something like that?

"Yeji, I—" Hyunjin starts, his voice faltering, eyes pleading with something I can't quite read.

But before he can finish, a sudden clank hits the floor between us. In an instant, thick smoke erupts, engulfing the room. My instincts kick in as the smoke fills my lungs, and I stumble back, coughing, trying to make sense of what's happening.

"Hyunjin!" I shout through the haze, but I can barely see a thing. The smoke is too thick. Panic surges in my chest—where is he? What just happened?

Who did this?

Chaeryeong's POV:

The clock ticks steadily, each second marked by a soft click in the silence of Yeonjun’s hospital room. I stand over the table, carefully swapping out the medications with the sleeping pills we’d arranged. This has to go perfectly. Every detail matters, every second counts. We need Yeonjun to stay unconscious for just a little while longer—long enough for us to move the pieces into place.