"I KNEW IT. JIHO-hyung, I think I found out who your 'T' was," Jihoon stated as he took out something from his pocket. He stared at the guitar pick for a while, and then he clenched on it and ran.   

     Everyone was still in the living room, chatting about the things that happened to them before. When Jihoon entered the Holy Home, Seunghyun was about to ask if Taeil was sent home safely, but Jihoon ignored him and said instead, "Lay, we need to talk."

     Without anything else to say, Jihoon went out of the residence, so Lay confusingly followed.

     "What is it this time Pyo Jihoon?" Lay asked as he crossed his arms.

     "It's Lee Taeil. The guy Jiho was looking for was actually Taeil," Jihoon quickly revealed, but Lay had no clue on what he was talking about.

     "Who?" Lay asked, still looking confused.

     Jihoon aggressively scratched his head and made it clearer so that Lay could understand what he was talking about, "Jiho! Remember the time we were looking for Mark at HAU? Then we saw this guy being attacked by a ghoul? We helped him and you healed him and he's still in a coma until now! But before he fainted he asked me to look for this T guy so I could give the guitar pick to him. Does it ring a bell now?!" Jihoon asked him one more time.

     Lay finally had a shocked looked on his face. He now understood what his brother was talking about.

     "Man, I almost forgot about that! You're still taking care of him? Doesn't that guy have a family or something?" Lay asked as he started thinking of unnecessary things at the moment.

     "Lay! That's not the time to be talking about that! Do you even know what this means?!" Jihoon asked him, panic present in his voice. Lay was thinking about it for a second,  but then his eyes widened and he finally knew what he was so worried about.

    "He's linked to a demon! He was a third party of the Prince of Sloth!" Lay finally concluded.

     Jihoon looked relieved that the boy he was talking to was finally getting it.

     "Exactly! In the looks of it, Jiho was a big part of Taeil's life, but we all know that the king of hell doesn't want his plans to be ruined, and like in the books, third parties face death once they become attached with a demon," Jihoon explained, and Lay agreed to everything that his brother had said.

     "But the ghoul didn't kill him because of us so-"

     "He took Taeil's memory of Jiho!" Lay finished. Then Jihoon smiled, as he was glad that Lay finally understood what they just found out.

     "Man, Taeil will be so mad when he starts to remember the truth about Jiho. He'd be mad at the king for sure! And this can be a great step for the Demon's to turn their backs on their king. And we don't even have to kill them anymore if that happens!" Lay stated excitedly, but Jihoon didn't quite pay attention to what his brother just told him.

     "Jihoon, are you even listening to me?" Lay asked him.

     Jihoon was snapped back to his senses like he realized something again.

     "Jihoon?" Lay asked once more, looking at his brother who's eyes were wide from realization.

     "L-Lay...do you understand the consequences...if Jiho wakes up now that Taeil is starting to remember him again?" Jihoon asked. 

     Lay looked at Jihoon, who was also looking at him with a terrified expression. Then in unison, they shouted, "Someone's going to try to kill him again!"

*****

 "What is fucking wrong with you?!" Jackson shouted as he pushed Taeil inside his bedroom. Then he locked the door and looked at Taeil who was expressionless.

     "You said mom was worried, so I'm going home," Taeil stated. He was about to leave the room and grab the doorknob, but Jackson quickly gripped on Taeil's arms and pulled him, making him fall on the bed.

     "Why do you want to know who that guy was Taeil!? Why?!" Jackson angrily asked, but Taeil didn't answer and just looked away.

     Jackson finally calmed down. You could clearly see that he was hurt and in pain at the same time because his best friend wasn't listening to him anymore. 

     "That guy is not worth remembering Taeil, believe me. I've done my best for you, haven't I? Am I not enough for you!?" Jackson surprisingly asked.

     Taeil finally looked at him, but his face was still expressionless. Then he opened his mouth and said, "It's Pyo Jihoon isn't it? It was him, that's why you don't want to let me know."

     Taeil's answer made Jackson look back at him like he had lost his mind, "Taeil, you got it all wrong! It wasn't Pyo Jihoon! You need to listen to me. I haven't seen him ever since we were in high school. It can't be him!" Jackson desperately tried to explain.

     "Then who is it? Huh, Jackson? Since it's not him, and we don't fucking know where the guy is, why don't you just tell me who it was so we could get over it?" Taeil said, finally on edge.

     Jackson took a deep breath and seriously looked at his brother, "But why Taeil? What will you benefit from this?"

     Taeil was finally mad because Jackson kept on stalling, "Can't I have the freedom to know?! I just want to remember who it was, even just the name of the man that I once loved. I want to know who!"

     Jackson looked away at Taeil's pleading eyes, "I will never tell you who that man was. Because of him-" Jackson stopped. He remembered the time Taeil almost died because of the sleeping pills he took.

     "What? Because of him, I was what?" Taeil asked as he stood up from the bed, but Jackson didn't continue anymore.

     "Jackson, if it's not Pyo Jihoon, then why does he have the guitar pick?" Taeil finally asked.

     Jackson was suddenly shocked by what Taeil just told him. He slowly turned around to face Taeil and asked, "What do you mean?"

     "The pick hyung was going to give me before. He has it," Taeil revealed.

     Jackson almost fell, like his balance disappeared. Good thing he quickly grabbed the chair for support so he wouldn't fall.

     "That can't be. That's impossible. Hyung would never give that pick to anyone except you," Jackson stated, then Taeil was also shocked like he was going to fall as well.

     "You are telling the truth. It really isn't Jihoon then," he finally realized.

     Jackson looked at Taeil with ease and stated, "I've been trying to tell you, it's not Jihoon...it can't be Jihoon. Your thoughts were too occupied on looking for hyung that you forgot the facts."

     "Facts?" Taeil repeated.

     "Why would we call him hyung if we're older than Jihoon? And remember that Mark told us they've been training together ever since they were kids? How can he be our classmate? The Arcs never went to school. Those are the facts that you have forgotten," Jackson explained.

     Taeil didn't say anything and just kept his mouth shut. He was embarrassed, especially at Jackson.

     "Can I at least ask why I couldn't remember anything about him? Could you at least tell me what happened to me? At least you could tell me that."

     Jackson doubted that but he thought that Taeil was right. He had to know what happened to him before. It was time for him to know the truth. Jackson sighed and finally stated, "Hyung left Tokyo to pursue his dreams of being in a band. He ignored you and never called back, and you couldn't take his absence so it made it hard for you to sleep. I know it sounds impossible, I was shocked about it too. I didn't believe it at first, but I did when your mother called me. She said you drank 20 pills at the same time because you were going insane. And because of that, you were brought to the hospital... 

     You were almost dead if it weren't for me because the pills weren't just the cause of it. The doctors found out you suddenly had internal bleeding. The doctors didn't know the cause of that but you couldn't stop vomiting your own blood. Your mother didn't match your blood...it was my blood that matched yours. And when you woke up after a week, you forgot everything that was related to hyung. 

     The doctors were also confused because it wasn't selective amnesia. No one knew the cause of you having internal bleeding, or vomiting blood, or even having selective amnesia in general. Everyone might say that I'm a bad guy, but I blamed him for everything that happened to you, that's why I hate him. But all that matters now is that you're okay. And you didn't have to remember that guy ever again."

     Taeil was speechless and confused at the same time. What happened to him? How could something like that happen to him all at once? Why so suddenly?

     "I'm glad that you're back to your senses. But we have more problems than your past. Go home and apologize to your mother for making her worried," Jackson finally continued.

     Taeil went to the door and was about to leave, but Taeil stopped when he heard Jackson said, "I still won't tell you who that guy was. Never..."

     Taeil clenched on the doorknob, forcing himself not to jump on Jackson and force him to tell him who his hyung was. Instead, he closed the door of Jackson's room, then left.

     Jackson went to his pet snake Invidia. He looked at Invidia and said, "Father, if you could hear me now. I hope things get better soon...because we really need it."

*****

"Is it still Kim Jiho's visiting hours?" Jihoon asked as he arrived at the hospital where Jiho was confined in.

     "Yes, sir Pyo Jihoon. But you only have an hour left," the nurse stationed at the reception answered him.

     Jihoon thanked the nurse and directly went to Jiho's room. He quietly entered and sat at the chair that was beside the bed. He's been taking care of Jiho for months now. He even pretended that he was his cousin even though he had no idea who the guy was.

      As for the paperwork, he asked someone to do it so that the hospital won't doubt about their relationship. And for the bills, he's been withdrawing it from their guardian's  -Dongmin - account. His guardian might have known about it by now but he might be too lazy or drunk to even care about it.

     Jihoon looked down at Jiho and sighed.

     "Jiho-hyung. It was Taeil all along right? Man, if I only knew..." Jihoon stated with a chuckle, "Jiho, you can't look for him anymore. I'll tell Taeil that you were the hyung he was looking for, but that's it. The consequences are crucial. If you get in contact with him again you'd be attacked like before, and we won't be there to help you anymore."

     Jiho obviously couldn't answer, but the machines that were supporting him made the room become noisy, which Jihoon was thankful for because it would have been awkward if the whole room was silent.

     "If I could just erase your memory of him inside your head then I would, but it's against the rules to erase a memory of a person, especially when they treasure that memory. Demons do it all the time, but that's the problem, they're demons. And I can't ask a demon to erase it instead, it would still be against the rules! Ah! Fuck, I don't know what to do with you! Why did I have to save you? Why did you give me the guitar pick instead of Lay? Why am I the only one carrying this burden?" Jihoon continuously asked, but it was more like he was asking himself those questions instead of Jiho.

     Jihoon stared back at Woo Jiho, and said his final words, "Once you wake up, I will look for your relatives so don't worry. Everything that happened to you will be forgotten, I promise. May God be with you and your spirit."

     Jihoon made the sign of the cross in front of Jiho and left the room. He then went out of the hospital with a heavy heart. But Jihoon stopped walking when he saw a Demon standing right in front of him.

     "J-Jackson?"

- END -