Fated

Chapter 5: Blood Related

"Tell me you didn't start." Aeri barged into the living room, Minsik tailing behind not too far ahead, and a scowling Ningning was there too. "I need to know from the very beginning, so please tell me you haven't started yet."

But other than the nervous smile Eun Woo had from receiving Ningning's glare, Jimin and Minjeong stayed quiet, looking down on the floor, gazes blank.

So the older sister's face dropped. "Oh, no."

The detective quickly shook his head and invited them to sit down. "It's not as bad as it looks." He paused and showed a weird look when Aeri settled next to Minjeong worriedly, eyes looking.. too intimate to be just friends. "Uh.. well.." He stuttered out.

Minsik noticed it too, but he decided to bite his tongue and focused on the matter. "So, what did you find after all week disappearing on us?"

The man was weirded out. Even from the last time they met, he had this weird feeling about how Minsik was acting soft, and Minjeong, the young woman he met before with all those kind eyes and smiles was somehow passive aggressive now. "I'm sorry about that, Minjeong-ssi, I got too into it and couldn't stop."

"It's okay."

Everyone looked at Minjeong when she answered, and she blinked her eyes quickly after realizing her mistake. But thankfully, Ningning was quick to handle it. "Just tell us." She rushed the man, gesturing with her hand impatiently, making him gulp.

"Well, I found out that Minsik's parents lived here years ago, no grandparents still alive, I'm sorry." He pursed his lips in the apologetic way. "They died in a car accident, right when Minsik was still five, around twenty four years ago."

Aeri tensed up while Ningning grimaced, looking at Minjeong in pity.

Curiosity got the best of her, Aeri leaned forward while still holding Minjeong's hand. "Why are you speaking as if they were only his parents and not my sister's too?"

He looked at Minjeong, then glanced at Jimin before answering. "Well, because I didn't find anything about Kim Minjeong-ssi no matter where I look. There was not even a report about his mother being pregnant or just giving birth to a baby before she died."

Jimin shut her eyes, racking her brain for a way to comfort Minjeong but found none. She knew that the woman was excited to find out about her family, but now that Cha Eun Woo was bringing basically nothing for her, Jimin felt a bit hopeless too.

But she couldn't give up yet, she knew he was still holding something back, so patting her knee, Jimin leaned in, mimicking Aeri's posture. "Have you looked more into it?"

Minsik tilted his head. "Into what?"

Still keeping her eyes on Eun Woo, Jimin begged with her eyes. "You said you got into it, you found something, didn't you?"

The man eyed her, looking somehow satisfied, perhaps because they both still knew each other well despites years of losing contact. "Yes." Now Minjeong pushed herself up too, reaching for Jimin's hand, which she took, even though she felt like her skin was burning.

She didn't miss the look Eun Woo gave it either, but she held her tight, not knowing that Minsik was also looking.

"The accident listed here, happened in Seoul." He took a deep breath, lips twitched up. "I'm sorry to say this, Minsik, but they said that there was barely anything left of them for the police to make a report, because the car exploded."

Minsik bit his lip, cringing as if he was in pain.

"Interestingly, even though Minjeong-ssi's orphanage in Busan told me that the locals found her in the bushes when she was a baby, I dig more by talking to the people around the location." He nodded to Jimin, and she didn't know whether to be more nervous or relieved. "And I found out, that a day before, a similar– no." He tilted his head, keeping his eyes on Jimin. "An exact accident, two victims, a husband and a wife, in their car that exploded–"