22nd✯

"Aerim! Are you okay?" Dad asked worriedly once he saw me.

I slightly nodded. "N-nae..."

Dad's eyes then moved on from me to Mr. Yook and instantly, the softness in his eyes changed into something far more scarier than the one Dad uses when he scolds me. "Yah, why are you doing this? I told you, I'm over that life! Come back to your family, dongseng-a. You deserve a better life."

Mr. Yook started laughing like a psychopath. "Mwo? Come back to my family?" Mr. Yook pointed at Sanha. "Why would I go back when he hates me? They've all found out, Yoon hyung. Just come clean already. Should we tell them why my name isn't Yoon while we're at it?"

Dad furrowed his eyebrows, provoked to slap some sense into his little brother but held it all back. "You disgraceful b—"

"Ah, ah, ah." Mr. Yook wiggled his finger. "You don't want to go around, cursing bad words in front of teenagers, do you?"

"Stop this. Stop all of this, dongseng-a. What did they do to deserve all of these?" Dad asked him. 

"What did they do? Simple. Nothing. What did you do, then we can discuss. You forfeited that title years ago, and it's such a shame. In the mafia world, I was proud that you were my older brother. Ever since you forfeited and became some cozy old man with a family, I was nothing but an embarrassment. The little brother of a legend who stopped being one." Mr. Yook scoffed. "Do you understand how hard it was to be some toss away because of you? The only way for me to be back on track is for you to come back, hyung. Just like good old times, what do you say?"

"No," Dad firmly answered. 

Mr. Yook frowned. "Then we'll have to do this the hard way, won't we?"

"Whatever you're trying to pull of right now won't work, Yook. I don't want that life anymore. I have so many other reasons to live. I don't want to spend my life in... in some prison when I'm a senior citizen!" Dad reasoned out. "Stop this. Stop everything right now, Yook."

Mr. Yook showed no sign of stopping, however. "Oh, boo hoo. Just because you're asking me to do it, doesn't mean I'm obliged to, now, am I? Boys."

Chaebong's men moved closer from their stationary state until they held Dad captured. No matter how hard Dad tried to shake them off, the men overpowered his strength. 

That's why I told you to work out, Dad, I thought in my head, grumbling softly to myself. 

I'm pretty sure we're doomed. 

MJ

"What do we do now?" MJ asked the others, emerging from his hiding spot behind the tall grass. 

"We have to call the police," Jin Jin contributed to the group. 

"What? Hyung! That could lead—"

"Reporters, scandals, articles. I know, Bin-a. But this isn't about our Astro name anymore. It's about our friends's safety. Don't you all agree on that?" Jin Jin eyed the others carefully. 

"Are you sure this is the right choice, hyung? We could still think it over—" Moonbin was saying until someone cut him off. 

Eun Woo shook his head and said, "It's for the best. This is as far as we can go. After this, we don't have any more authority to do what we can. Let's let the police take care of it from here. They have a higher chance of helping our friends."

"We can't just—"

"Bin-a, why won't you let us call the police?" MJ suddenly asked, noticing the odd way Moonbin was protesting about calling the police. 

Moonbin fell silent, rubbing his arm ever so slightly. "I— We've worked hard to debut, hyung. Just because of one article, one act from this, will cause us to stop promoting and would likely be suspended from performing or anything related to us being Astro! I'm afraid of that happening, hyung. All our hard work just gone to waste..."

MJ took a step closer and placed a hand on Moonbin's shoulder, giving him a smile once Moonbin looked up and stared into MJ's eyes. "I know, Bin-a. But some things are meant to be sacrificed. This is for our friends's safety. I'd rather be a hero to them than continue being a hidden villain the whole time."

Moonbin looked into his hyung's eyes and gave him a small smile. "Y-you're right, hyung. I guess I turned into a heartless jerk for a second there, didn't I?"

MJ gave him his usual smile that continued to kill all his fans's hearts. "Ey, it's totally fine, Bin-a! Come on, let's go catch ourselves some bad guys and save our friends!"

"Okay, time to dial the police," Jin Jin said, fishing out his phone then dialing the police's number.

Aerim

Chaebong was sitting by the corner of the room, keeping an eye on the three of us inside the cage. Rocky was helping Sanha deal with whatever he was currently dealing while I continued to stare at Chaebong with squinted eyes. 

"Are you going to continue staring at me like that or what?" Chaebong asked me with folded arms, raising an eyebrow. 

"Since everything's out and revealed, mind telling me everything in detail?" I requested, raising an eyebrow. I don't want to not know anything anymore. I've come this far, I've known this much. It seems fair enough to hear everything else. 

Chaebong smirked and stood up from his position, nearing our cage. "So, you've finally come to your senses, Yoon Aerim. Want to hear a story, then? I can't promise you it's going to be a good one."

I fell silent. I didn't want anything but the truth right now. 

Chaebong began, "You see, your father and hyungnim are brothers. Don't know the story so much about them but basically, they were a strong pact. They were unstoppable, indestructible. Everyone who knew of their presences—but not them personally—feared them. They were never caught. Eventually, yes, they had families but they kept their jobs a secret the entire time.

"Until, you know, your father's incident. Ever since he stepped down, hyungnim only felt betrayal. He knew then that you and Sanha were close kids and cousins so he wanted to kill off the both of you by giving your dad a scary wake up call so he'd come back on the job. So I was assigned on the job to kill. Oh, by the way, you and Sanha were adorable as kids, not gonna lie."

I cringed at his words but waited for him to carry on. 

"Moving on. So, things didn't go as planned and hyungnim seemed to have given up. But opportunities knocked. They always knock. So when you and Sanha were filming some show—I couldn't care less on what show it was—hyungnim saw this as a moment to strike." Chaebong smirked and stepped closer to the cage. "Isn't it funny? Both you and Sanha have amnesia from the car accident and your families were separated after knowing that, but you still have the ability to somehow meet him again, even if you don't remember him."

I glanced at Sanha, who was still rocking himself to calm down. Rocky's eyes slightly lifted from the cage's floor to meet mine and I saw his sympathy for me. I didn't need any of that right now. I didn't want anything else aside from the raw version of this story.

Chaebong smirked again and continued on, "So, you wonder why hyungnim's surname is Yook when he's your dad's little brother, right? It's so simple. You're able to do it these days, too. What is this it? It's the ability to legally change your name. Are you that naive, Yoon Aerim? It's a simple change and you can't even notice it."

So that was how it was done...

Chaebong chuckled and had his eyes on Sanha. "So that's mini hyungnim? In small ways, they do look alike. Maybe it's the fact they've been apart for so long but they don't really look much alike, only a few features."

I looked at Sanha and tried to remember what Mr. Yook looked like. They didn't look much alike, in all honesty. Only a few things such as the nose and lips. I guess Sanha looked more like his mom, whom I never saw before. But I was able to guess what she'd look like from Sanha himself. 

"Chaebong!" the voice of Mr. Yook was heard even from outside. I wonder what horrid things they were doing to my dad right now. I didn't even want to think about it. 

"Nae, hyungnim!" Chaebong answered loudly to his call. Before he left the room, he told the three of us with warning eyes, "Don't you try anything funny."

I rolled my eyes at him and quickly rushed to Sanha's side. Looking at Rocky, I asked him, "He still hasn't recovered from the shock?"

Rocky shook his head worriedly. "There's too much for him to take in, especially after all the stories he have heard. Like a moment ago."

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have asked for the whole story of this. His condition is worst from before. This is all my fault." I knocked the side of my head, cursing at myself. 

"It's not your fault, Aerim. Don't blame it on yourself," Rocky told me, lightly caressing the side of my head. That was powerful enough to wake me up from my trance. 

And make my heart beat like crazy. I knew something was happening, but I still didn't want to believe anything my heart was telling me. Not yet. I wasn't sure. 

"Sanha! Yah, Yoon Sanha! Wake up!" Rocky started shaking Sanha by holding his shoulders and rocking him back and forth violently. 

"Sanha! Sanha! Wake up, you pabo!" I joined in, trying to slightly shake him. When it failed, I let out a sigh and looked down at my thighs, saying, "This is all my fault. I should have just told you everything that has been happening so you wouldn't be like this now. But I swear, I didn't know he was your dad. I only knew him as my dad's ex-teammate. I thought it was something normal, you know, company workers and everything but this is definitely more than what I've imagined."

The atmosphere around us slowly went into a silence, leaving me to only contribute futile words to it. 

"I don't care if any of you say this isn't my fault. It really is. Mr. Yook is mostly at fault, but I still lead everyone on. I omitted all the facts I knew, I didn't tell anyone and now it has come to this." I shook my head disapprovingly. "This has just been a horrible ride."

Rocky stood up from Sanha's side and occupied the empty space next to me. Without a second warning, Rocky wrapped his arms around me and said, "It's not your fault, Aerim-a. How many times do I have to tell you that? There's only one person to blame and that's Sanha's dad. You only tried to protect you and everyone else. How is it that you're at fault?"

I shook my head in disagreement. "Don't you see, oppa? Everything started because I agreed to be on the show with Sanha."

Rocky didn't say anything to that but continued to hold me close in his arms. 

"Oppa, let me go..." I whispered. 

"No, you're crying. Don't you understand that if someone is crying, someone else should comfort them with hugs?" Rocky said all knowingly. 

I lifted my hand up and started to lightly punch his chest. "Leave me alone, oppa. I want to be alone."

Rocky slightly chuckle. "I guess I can't do that. We're all stuck in the same cage, Yoon Aerim. If you want to get out and be alone, you gotta break out first."

Today was definitely not a good day for me. Too many events has happened. Much too many to leave all of us broken, close to wilted, like flowers out on the streets. I wondered if even after this, would everything remain as it was before? Or would something be left broken? 

Whatever the ending was, I wished I could skip to it right now. I didn't want to continue living in this chapter of my life. It did nothing but made me feel insignificant, confused and it made me shed unwanted tears. 

"Psst, psst!" 

I stopped crying for a moment and looked up and around the room, wondering if I imagined that sound. 

"Psst!"

There it was again. 

My eyes wandered around the area, eyeing everywhere to see if anyone was around. My eyes saw something. Past the wooden planks nailed to the window were people who were oddly familiar. Wait, weren't they—

"Oppa!" I whispered, running up to the metal bars, in hope I would be closer to the window but it was still pretty far. 

"Aerim! Are you all right?" MJ asked from the other end of this room. 

"Oppa, you're here!" I was breathing heavily. 

"Don't worry, Aerim. The police are on the way. This will be over soon," MJ assured me with his smile. 

I nodded, feeling like I would tear up again any moment again. "Nae, oppa."

"Pabo, you're crying again." Rocky spun me around to face him. His thumbs rubbed the tears away and I gathered enough courage to look into his eyes. They were still the same—kind and caring. Slowly, he leaned in closer and planted a light kiss on my forehead, sending a cold spell around my body.

The door opened seconds later and MJ and the others immediately hid away as Chaebong entered the room, scoffing at the sight of the both of us. "Teenage love. Such a disgusting and hopeless thing."

I broke free from Rocky a moment later and I could see the disappointment in his eyes. I wasn't doing just doing this because I was uncomfortable with it but because... the way he was treating me, the way he was making me feel... it was simply asphyxiating. 

Or maybe it was because I was starting to return his feelings for me.  

Chaebong leisurely took a seat on the wooden chair near the door and watched us once again. Well, it seems like he was our bodyguard today. 

I looked out of the blocked off window, wondering if MJ and the others were okay. Hopefully, they were. Looking back at Chaebong, I tried to wonder what I could do as we waited for the arrival of the police. 

An idea popped up in my mind. "Unlike you. You don't even have anyone to love, nor do you have anyone to love you."

Chaebong's relaxed face immediately changed into something else. "What did you say?"

"Got no ears?" I provoked him. "Don't make me repeat things twice. Unless you're an idiot, you should have caught it from the first time."

He stood up and accelerated forward, trying to grab me by my neck but he has forgotten that the cage still separated the both of us from each other, so he ended up running into it, like the idiot he was. He fell back on the floor, clutching his forehead in pain. 

I mocked him, "Once an idiot, always an idiot. I bet you had a choice back then. Why did you choose this one? Obviously, it's not working out for you."

Chaebong's eyes snapped up, as well as his head and he glared at me. "What did you say?"

I rolled my eyes and looked away, crossing my arms over my chest. "I just said something."

Chaebong punched the metal cage's bar, his knuckles close to bleeding and shouted, "Don't you disrespect your elders, Yoon Aerim! You should be fearing us, not telling us we're idiots. Hasn't your stupid father taught you anything?"

My head snapped at him. In a raised voice, I said, "Mwo? What did you say about my dad? Yah, he's better off than all of you men working under Mr. Yook! Elders? Respect? Sorry, I'm not the type who respect elders who kill people."

"For a small girl like you, you sure know which buttons to push," he said. 

For once, something I thought was a flaw of mine could easily be turned into an advantage. I don't know what good I could do with this, but hopefully some outcome would come out of it. 

I took a brave step forward and felt Rocky's hand instantly hold onto my wrist, to hold me back from doing whatever I was thinking of, but I made sure it didn't bother me as I stared at Chaebong. "At least this girl has a better chance in life than all of you do."

"Yoon Aerim. Do you want me to abuse your dad? Is that what you want? For your dad to suffer because of you?" Chaebong threatened.

I stayed silent. My brother has suffered enough. I didn't want my dad to suffer as well. He isn't that strong anymore to handle that. Instead of replying to him, I kept my eyes fixed on Chaebong, glaring at him as much as possible but it was absolutely futile in trying to scare him off. Who would be afraid of a fun-sized girl like me?

Chaebong eventually got bored with me and sat back down at the seat near the door once again. I wanted to provoke him more but I didn't want my dad to get hit or anything. For all I knew, it was probably happening right now as I paced around the cage. 

"Chaebong-a!" Once again, Chaebong was summoned by Mr. Yook outside. He grumbled, glanced at us for a quick second before he left us in the room once again. 

All these times, I didn't converse with neither Rocky or Sanha. Although, it seemed like Rocky was trying his best to snap Sanha out of his shocked state. It seemed as if Sanha trapped himself inside his mind as he revisit all those memories he had before. I didn't know what exactly he was doing, but whatever it was, it was preventing him from acting like the normal Sanha I was used to.

Not too long, when I glanced to check on the two, I found Sanha resting in Rocky's arms as the latter's eyes grew wider and more alerted. My eyes did the same as I rushed to Sanha's side, facing Rocky. 

"What happened?" I asked, my eyes jumping back and forth from Rocky to Sanha. 

"I-I don't know! One moment, he was sitting down staring at the floor, the next, he was slowly falling backwards and here he is! In my arms!" Rocky replied, trying to shake Sanha by holding firmly onto his shoulders. "Yah! Yoon Sanha! Wake up! What has gotten into you?"

"I think he fainted, oppa," I reported back. Examining Sanha's body and face that was slowly draining colour and turning pale, I confirmed that he fainted. 

Rocky ruffled his hair with his free hand in frustration. "I'm going crazy from this. We need to call an ambulance."

I glanced up from Sanha and checked the window, hoping MJ and the others were there, but they weren't. Cursing under my breath, I concentrated on trying to wake Sanha up. I may not be trained in first aids but I did learn a few neat tricks that will hopefully help Sanha. 

As I applied it on Sanha, I heard the miraculous sounds I've been waiting for all these times—police sirens. Never have I ever felt so happy hearing those blaring sirens that has probably surrounded and cornered the entire warehouse. Thank goodness. This will all be over. 

I held my tears in and waited for the doors to be kicked down. I could hear the sounds from outside. Shouting, fighting, everything I didn't want to hear. I covered my ears and pretended it was just a gym where people worked out and those were the type of sounds they were making. 

Moments later, it finally happened. The doors broke down and police held their pistols up, eyeing the room. I looked at them with slightly glassy eyes and waited for them to free us. Seconds later, we were freed and Rocky immediately threw Sanha over his back and rushed out of the warehouse, ignoring all the other adults. 

I was running alongside Rocky and only caught a quick glance at my dad and brother before we were already out of the warehouse. There was a police car with a police officer inside it, waiting on standby and we immediately opened the car door, which made him snap his head at us. 

"Hey! What do you kids think you're—"

"Please! Take us to the hospital," I begged, indicating to a passed out Sanha. 

"Oh, my!" The police officer switched the engine on. "Off to the hospital we go!" 

And we drove off, unsure what we have left behind there. I didn't even know the situation at the moment. My mind was a mess, everything was a mess but I knew for a fact everything was clearing up and the best part of it? It was ending. 

✯~✯ ~ ✯

In the hospital, the humidifier in Sanha's room continued to spray out evaporated water. As a kid, whenever Mom would buy those things at home, I'd always play with it. It was fun to do that. In fact, I still do that up 'til now. But this moment was too crucial to be fooling around in. 

The Astro members and I overlooked Sanha's unconscious state, hoping he'd wake up sooner. I hope it won't take him months, because sometimes that happens. He didn't get hit by a car or anything, so I don't think it'll take that long for him to recover. 

Rocky's hand held onto mine tightly and my heart kept jumping like there was a little frog present in it. When my mind flew away as I thought about other things, I squeezed his hand back with an absent mind. 

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Rocky smile at my action and my body reacted by my cheeks turning warm and sending this warm feeling all around my body. 

"You did a good job, Aerim," Eun Woo praised, giving me a light pat on the back. 

"Yeah, Aerim. Don't blame yourself anymore, okay? Everything is over," Jin Jin told me with a smile. 

I turned around to face the four members, shaking my head in disagreement. "No, it's all because of you guys. You saved us. You called the police. You ended everything. I did nothing but get into trouble."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Aerim-a," Moonbin told me, giving me a smile. "Whatever has happened, it happened and it's over. Just be happy about that, arasso?"

I was thankful that they were still my friends. "Thank you, you guys. For believing in me and for being my friends, still."

MJ gave me a smile and ruffled my hair like what an older brother would do to a little sister. His eyes looked past my shoulder and immediately, his smile dropped as he pointed at the hospital bed, where Sanha slept in. "S-Sanha!"

I abruptly whipped my head to Sanha's direction and saw that my cousin was slowly getting up. I rushed to his side and aided him carefully, asking immediately, "Yah! Are you okay? Do you feel sore? Are you back to being Sanha now?"

Sanha put a hand over his head. It was probably sore because I bombarded him with so many questions after he just got up. "Ow, where am I?"

"In the hospital," Jin Jin replied with that sleek smile of his as he hung by the end of Sanha's bed. "You're finally up now, maknae?"

"Huh? The hospital?" Sanha looked around, taking in the interior of the room and examining our faces. "Hyungs? Aerim? Why am I here? Why do I feel so sore up in my head?"

"It's probably because you were shocked? You weren't moving when you found out who your dad was. It probably mentally scarred you that you fainted," I replied, thinking of the most logical answer I could find. 

"Oh, now I remember." Sanha grimaced at the remembrance and put a hand over his head once again. "I don't want to remember that man. Can I pretend he's not alive? It was better when I found out he wasn't alive."

I gave him a half smile. "Of course, Sanha. Do whatever you want."

Sanha pouted as he looked at me. 

"What?"

"I guess we're cousins from now on?" Sanha continued pouting. 

"Yah, why are you pouting about that? You should be happy," I told him, playfully pushing his head. 

Sanha pouted even more. Seconds later, his smile returned as he said, "Wait, that means I get to see you more and do more skinship! That's awesome!"

I cringed, thinking of our future meet ups. If Jeonghan was already a protective brother, what would Sanha act like? I'm guessing he would be worst than Jeonghan. Of course, that's only my guess. 

As time went back, I finally accepted the fact that everything has finally ended. If I were to look back now, it wasn't such a long journey that lasted, but I was glad it wasn't. I definitely didn't want to continue going on with men chasing after me, people torturing my brother and mentally scaring me. 

I smiled at the members. This was where it ended. Everything was finally over and those dark clouds finally faded away. 

~Author's Notes~

Hi guys! It's not over yet! I still have the epilogue to post! So I hope you'll wait for that! 

Also, I got tagged by @171004fan (I don't know why I can't tag) to do this tag! As usual, a 13 Facts About Me tag! :)

1. I now have an oppa whom I code name "Chan" *(for more info, go read my book "Just Watermelon Things")

2. I've become one of the noisiest students in my class 

3. Me and my K-pop friends in class can talk for hours about K-pop and if we were seated together, teachers would literally just get pissed (aeevsha where you at girl? please sell me your dream ;) )

4. I'm popular during the summer ;)

5. The feat I'm proud of is me making bibimbap for my family to eat :>

6. Monster has been stuck in my head for days now 

7. Cheer Up will never get out of my head. I still sing that daily with my friends 

8. I still do not own any K-pop albums :")

9. I somehow hate dabs xD idky

10. My current addiction is aeevsha's dream ;)

11. I'm so "sakai" (sorry, i don't know the english word for that but i think it's similar to fascinated) about "Chan" being 1999 because I never had someone as a friend who was born in 1999 

12. I have so many stories under drafts and I just want to publish all of them but I can't :(

13. I embarrassed myself in school with my squad (*if you want to know about it, you can read it on "Just Watermelon Things" and oml what are with these promotions today)

Okay, that's it for the tag! 

I'm so sorry you guys had to wait long for this update. In all honesty, this story has been the most challenging to write out and think of ideas for. It's probably because it's my first Astro fanfiction HAHAHAHA oh well, I'm hoping you guys still enjoy whatever I write here :)

Also, thanks so much for the 10K views, guys! YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU RIGHT? YEAH MAN~ HAHAHA

That's all for now! See you at the end of the book ;)

xoxo

Byun Sang Kyung