💎

"I didn't mean it, Joon. I swear. I... It was an accident—"

"Accident?! So your underwear just happened to fall off?! How could you!"

"Joon I'm so sorry—"

"Don't touch m—Sooyoung!"

Namjoon bolted upright as beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Each night, memories from that faithful evening grow vividly in his dreams. Reminding him of something he should never forget.

"Namjoon!" He heard Yoongi's voice by his door as he knocked. "Joon. Open up."

Brushing his hair with both hands he contemplated whether to open the door or not.

Too late. He has a key.

"Joon," he said opening the door and walking towards him. Behind him was Nayeon with the same concerned eyes. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm... I'm fine, hyung," he said forcing himself to look fine. "I uh... I lost in the game. Right. The game Lisa's company developed. I kinda got addicted to it."

Yoongi's forehead creased as he turned to his girlfriend who had the same expression. They don't believe him.

"I swear, hyung," he said. "I'm fine. It's just a game."

The older one let out a sigh. "Fine. We'll head back to our room. If there's something wrong, Joon. You can tell me."

"I will, hyung. But I'm really fine. Sorry if I woke you two up," he said turning to Nayeon.

Yoongi patted his brother's shoulder lightly before he and Nayeon went back to their room. Namjoon heaved a sigh.

It's been years but he still can't forget what had happened.

Bae Sooyoung...

She was perfect. Smart, beautiful, carefree and kind. Everyone around her adored her. Including Jin. He fell hopelessly in love with him. But she didn't. Bae Sooyoung only had one man in her life and it wasn't Jin. It was him.

Their relationship started when he was hired by her parents to tutor her after her classes In the university. They hit it off and they began dating in secret because her parents didn't want her to date someone like him. Someone who was middle-class.

Things went by smoothly until Jin got into the picture. He continuously pursued Sooyoung but she would always turn him down. Even when he was with Jennie, he still kept asking her on a date. She would always politely decline him but not once did she say she was dating someone else. Until...

"It's just one date, Joon. We'll just have a quick dinner and it all ends there. I can't refuse since mom and dad forced me to. They work for his dad..."

He sighed.

At first he had thought it was okay since he trusted her and he was starting to get busy with his internship—in Jin's family's company, and all but the 'one time' thing suddenly became 'frequent'. The "forced" suddenly became voluntary.

He forced himself to believe in her even though everyone said the two were already dating each other. He knew Sooyoung would never hurt him like that. That their love transcends all obstacles and all the stupid shit kids believe when they're in love.

But destiny played such a cruel trick on him.

💎

"Knock knock."

Yoongi looked up from his desk only to see Lisa peeking from the door. She was beaming.

"Hey Li," he said as he finishes signing some papers. "What's up—"

He was cut off when Nayeon followed her. She snitched.

"Traitor," he mumbled at his girlfriend who clasped her hands together and said sorry.

"Ya, Namjoon oppa's like a brother to me too," Lisa said as she sat on the couch. "I'm allowed to know if he's doing okay or not."

He surrendered and sighed before walking towards his girlfriend to give her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"So Namjoon oppa's having sleep problems?"

"Yeah but he says he's just been addicted to that game of yours you asked his team to look into," he stated making the younger girl furrow her brows.

"What game?"

Yoongi and Nayeon turn to each other.

"I told you he was lying, Yoongi," Nayeon said with her arms folded. "He's really having trouble sleeping. Either that or he's having nightmares."

"Wait, this happened before?" Lisa asked.

Nayeon nodded. "I know it's not my place but, I'm worried about Joon. I only experienced this once when Yoongi and I started to date. But it seems like it's happening again. But this time, it's almost happening every night."

"He might be stressed about work," Yoongi suddenly said. "I mean, since the company's experiencing some hardships, I think that's triggering his insomnia."

"Insomnia is not being able to sleep, Yoongi. Not having nightmares," Lisa commented. "But if it is insomnia, he should get some prescription. I know a doctor."

"Hey babe," Nayeon suddenly said. "Did Namjoon ever encounter any traumatic events? I mean, did something traumatic happen to him or anyone close to him?"

Yoongi stiffened. Lisa noticed this making her squint her eyes at her former flame. He averted his gaze and turned to his girlfriend instead.

"I'm not sure," he said dodging the question thrown at him. "We didn't grow up together so I'm not quite sure."

Namjoon and Yoongi are half-brothers. Their family was quite complicated since both of them were products of their mother's affairs with different married men. One of them being Mr. Choi. Yoongi grew up with his grandmother in the countryside before moving to the city for college while Namjoon grew up with their mother who was still meeting secretly with Mr. Choi until her untimely death. They only found out about each other's existence during her funeral.

"Yoongi--"

Nayeon was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. Yoongi's secretary peaked out.

"Miss Im? Mr. Kim called and he wanted to discuss something regarding the upcoming release of the new flagships..."

Nayeon let out a sigh before standing up. But before she could leave, she turned to Lisa.

"Li, please?" she said making Lisa nod.

"When did I ever let you down, unnie?" This made the older girl smile and throw flying kisses at the girl before completely leaving the office.

Lisa turned towards Yoongi.

"Where's your husband by the way?" he said changing the subject. "Did you leave him on baby watch again?"

"He's at the 97. And don't change the fucking subject, Min Yoongi," she spat. "Is there something you're not telling me? About Joon oppa?"

"Li..."

"Yoongi, if what Nayeon tells me is true, you're brother's suffering. If you won't tell me, how can I help out? I'm no psychiatrist but I did go through the same dilemma when Jungkook went missing," she stated. "I couldn't sleep, eat or function well. I would have nightmares in the middle of the night about that day. He needs help."

"I..."

"Yoongi..."

He sighed.

"It's weird that you call him 'Namjoon oppa' but call me only 'Yoongi'," he said as his final attempt to change the subject and be relieved of Lisa's interrogation.

Lisa rolled her eyes.

"Ya, Min Yoongi. Just spill it already!"

Again he sighed.

"Fine," he said as he loosened his tie. "It happened years ago..."

💭

Namjoon was just an intern at your company back then when he was asked by Chairwoman Kim's secretary to bring her some files in the mansion. Him wanting to impress his superiors immediately agreed.

So when he got to the mansion, he got lost and ended up knocking on one of the guest rooms.

Imagine his surprise when Sooyoung opened the door for him with only a blanket wrapped around her body.

"Joon..." was the only thing she could say before he turned to look behind her. His eyes grew wide as their eyes met.

Namjoon immediately turned his back and ran to the hallway.

The Kim family's butler and Sooyoung? She was 30 years his junior! How could he? And Sooyoung...

So that's why she liked going to Jin's place to study.

"Joon!" Sooyoung grabbed him by his arm."I didn't mean it, Joon. I swear. I... It was an accident—"

"Accident?! So your underwear just happened to fall off?! How could you!"

But Sooyoung pleaded. "Joon I'm so sorry. It's just that... I... I missed you and I--"

Furious, Namjoon yanked his arm back.

"Don't touch me--"

Before he could manage to hold on to her hand, Sooyoung fell over the railings of the second floor.

"Sooyoung!"

💭

"What?!" Lisa blurted out after Yoongi told her what he knew. "Sooyoung... You mean to say she didn't actually ran away and left my brother? She... died? Because of Namjoon oppa?"

"That's what he told me," Yoongi said with a sigh. "It was an accident. Wooreum got rid of the body and your grandmother helped him hide everything. He was young and she didn't want Namjoon's records to be tainted with murder. My brother was forced to strike a deal with your grandmother and pledged his undying loyalty towards her."

Lisa was quiet. Yoongi expected her to go berserk as she was overprotective with her brothers. Jin almost died when he suddenly found out that Sooyoung had gone missing. He was that in love with the woman who happens to be someone else's girlfriend who also happens to have slept with their butler. It was weird but...

"This stays between us, Yoongi," she said making Yoongi's forehead crease.

"Lisa--"

She turned towards him and stared straight into his eyes.

"Your brother will go straight to jail, Yoongi," she said to him straight. "Jin will definitely put him in jail."

"But Li, Sooyoung was Namjoon's girlfriend. Not his--"

"I don't know how to put it in exact context but he was obsessed with her," Lisa stressed. "We don't know what he might do if he finds out Namjoon accidentally killed her."

"I don't want anyone else to find out either," he stated. "But what are we gonna do about Namjoon's condition? Like what you said, he needs help. I think it's his conscience that's not letting him sleep."

"Thinking of it, I feel really bad for Namjoon oppa," Lisa heaved a sigh. "It wasn't his fault that his girlfriend turned out to be a nympho."

"So what should we do, Li?" Yoongi asked. "I could have him get prescribed with some sleeping pills but I don't think that'll work for a long time."

"I honestly don't know what to do too," she answered truthfully. "But my psychiatrist once told me that to be able to get rid of painful memories, you should first forgive yourself. Maybe if we get Namjoon oppa to talk about it and make him forgive himself, he might be able to move on."

"I just find it weird because, he seemed fine before," Yoongi suddenly said. "I mean, back then he would only experience the nightmares once in a while but now... it's weird that it became almost a daily occurrence."

"Yoongi, I think we really need to have this talk with Namjoon oppa," she suggested. "And a professional. We can get my lawyers to make a Non-Disclosure Agreement and make the psychiatrist sign it. Just so we can help Namjoon oppa overcome this. And I'm sure grandma took care of everything so Sooyoung's death would remain six feet under."

"I guess we can do that. It's not like Sooyoung's suddenly gonna show up."

💎

"You're home early," Jisoo said as Jin walked towards her by the garden. "I didn't think you'd be having lunch with us."

Jin kissed his wife's forehead before giving a soft peck on his daughter's too.

"I just miss my girls so I thought of having an early lunch here before going to a meeting this afternoon," he explained. "Where's halmeoni?"

"She and Wooreum went out to check the materials for the new garden," she answered pointing towards the dug up and messy lawn. "I told her to leave the decorating to the designer we hired but she insisted on picking out the shrubs herself."

Jin sighed. "She barely survived that attack yet she's out of the mansion again."

"Yeobo... You know your grandma's used to being busy," she defended. "Plus, she's with Wooreum. I'm sure he wouldn't let anything happen to her—"

"Excuse me, Madam Kim?"

The couple both turned towards the foreman who looked distressed.

"What's the matter, Mr. Na?"

"Well uh... we were in the middle of installing the sprinklers when one of my dug up something," he stuttered.

Jisoo's forehead creased then turned towards Jin. The guy shrugged.

"Maybe it's some toy one of the dogs buried? I mean, we have tons of Rottweilers before."

"I uh... I don't think it's a toy, Mr. Kim," the foreman said.

"Then what is it?"

"I think it's a dead body."

💎