𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬

Twenty Two

"She just walked up and slapped you?" Eunwoo asked, a little confused.

"No, Eunwoo, she went in for a hug then slapped me," Hyemi answered sarcastically.

MJ chuckled, "You know sometimes your sarcasm really helps lighten the mood,"

"I have to go apologize to Minhyuk," Hyemi said. "I think he deserves to know the truth,"

"I think he already does," Bin muttered, the three of them looking at him. "Remember when I told you that Aera might know something?"

"You told me she almost killed me," MJ said.

Bin nodded, "I think she's connected to all this, I just don't know how,"

"Don't worry, I told Jinjin to follow her and investigate," As soon as MJ said that, his phone beeped. "'Lost Aera, I'm sorry. Where are you?', Oh great! Jinjin lost her!"

"Tell Jinjin to snoop through Aera's house," Hyemi suggested.

"You want Jinjin to go inside another girl's house when he has a girlfriend?"

Hyemi crossed her arms, "I know he's with Eunji, they lost Aera because they were busy flirting."

"You're mean," MJ said, dialing Jinjin's number. "Jinjin? Yeah, Hyemi says -"

Hyemi took the phone from him, "Give the phone to Eunji,"

Jinjin didn't even double think and handed the phone to her girlfriend, "Hyemi? We lost her."

"That's alright," Hyemi said, "I want you to pry inside Aera's room. See if you could find anything that can connect her to this nightmare,"

"On it," Eunji said, ending the call.

"Now what?"

Suddenly the power went off making Hyemi flinched and dropped to the ground. She started shaking again.

Bin quickly rushed to her aid, her head in his hands making her look at him, "Hey, hey, we're here, okay? I'm here. It's going to be fine."

"Bin? Doesn't your house have a generator?" Eunwoo asked, looking for a flashlight.

"It did," Bin said, holding Hyemi up. "But it malfunctioned, so we have to wait until the power is back,"

They heard a crash from the back door, Hyemi turned around, "What was that?"

"Maybe the cat got in?" MJ asked, trying to calm down.

"We don't have a cat," Bin answered.

"A dog?" Eunwoo added.

They heard another loud bang and a glass shattering. The four of them were huddled close together near the stairs.

"Guys, I think someone's in here," Hyemi whispered.

≿————-　❈　————-≾

"Mom?" Minhyuk walked up to his mother. "Is there anything you'd like to tell me? Is Hyemi really the reason why Minseok got into a coma?"

Her mother sighed, she knows her son would want the truth sooner or later – she just didn't think it would be right now.

"Sit down," His mom said, a smile exiting her lips. "Do you remember the time when Minseok was born?"

Minhyuk nodded, "I stayed at the hospital and never went home. I watched as you and dad cradled him like a new born sheep."

"Your dad and I were on a rough patch during that time," His mom explained. "I – I made a huge mistake but he still forgave me,"

"Minseok isn't dad's real son," Minhyuk whispered, remembering what Aera said.

Mrs. Park was shocked, she never told this to anyone, so how? "M-minhyuk, you knew?!"

"Aera told me. She said you and her dad were more than just client and lawyer,"

Minhyuk's mom cried on the table, "Minhyuk, I'm so sorry, I really am. It just happened and there was nothing I could do. The following month, I found out I was pregnant, I told your dad. We talked it out and decided to keep the baby,"

"Where's Aera's dad now?"

"He kept quiet. Your dad paid him to shut up and so he did but Lawyer Ji never saw him not until that accident."

Minhyuk looked down, "But mom, can't you forgive Hyemi? You said their family is almost done paying Minseok's medications and they had community service for a year."

Her mom tried to smile, "You're right. I think the debt has been paid more than enough," She patted her son's hair, "You really like her, don't you?"

Minhyuk grinned, realizing his feelings, "I really do,"

≿————-　❈　————-≾

"You found anything?" Eunji asked, going through the folders in Aera's study table.

"No," Jinjin opened a drawer and saw a pair of pink underwear, "Uhm -"

"What? Did you find anything?" She rushed to her boyfriend's side only to find out he was getting flustered by what he was seeing. "Want us to take some home?" She said, sounding annoyed.

Jinjin quickly closed the drawer, "I wasn't interested!"

"Really?" Eunji raised her eyebrow, "The way you were looking at it -" A door closed from downstairs. "What was that?"

"I don't know," Jinjin pushed Eunji behind him. "But let's talk about the under garment later,"

Eunji hit his head, "You were planning on doing something with it!"

"SShh," He said, grabbing the nearest thing he could find – which was a hair spray.

Footsteps were walking up the stairs. It didn't sound like a girl's but they were still careful. Jinjin turned off the light.

The door slowly opened and Eunji threw a hairbrush while Jinjin sprayed it all over the figure.

"Ow!" He cried out, Wait, he???

Jinjin turned on the light again and found Minhyuk sweating, "Why are you sweating? Did you run?"

"This isn't sweat! This was hairspray!" Minhyuk said, looking around. "Find anything?"

Eunji answered furiously, "Jinjin did."

"That was an accident! I didn't know that drawer contained her underwear!" Jinjin defended himself making Minhyuk laughed.

"Now what?"

Minhyuk walked over to Aera's bed and took something from under it. It was a picture of Minseok when he was 6 years old.

"Isn't that your brother?" Jinjin asked.

"I know what happened that day, Jinjin." Minhyuk admitted. "I knew Bin was driving and our car hit theirs first."

"Minhyuk," Eunji said, feeling sympathy.

"It's okay. Minseok is recovering and everything's okay now."

"Except Aera," Jinjin said. "How's she connected to all this? Apart from her dad being a lawyer,"

Minhyuk hid the picture in his pocket, "Aera is Minseok's half-sister."