(Picture above is Park Minji & Choi Hana)

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     "Are you sure your family will be okay?" I asked as I looked at Romeo who was sitting beside me.

     We were now at his private plane, flying our way to my hometown. Eric and two of my men were with us, while Romeo didn't bring even one of his men with him. Antonio got mad and practically begged Romeo to bring Mat or even anyone with him so someone could at least protect him, but Romeo gave his own uncle the I'm the godfather card so Antonio surrendered and just let Romeo do whatever he wants.

     "They'll be fine. And I'm using this opportunity to really catch who's betraying us," Romeo answered me.

     "Well if that's the case okay then," I told him.

     Then I looked out the window, staring at the clouds as my heart started beating faster than usual.

     I'm actually going back home. I never knew this day would ever come.

     What would they say? What would they think of me? Will they accept me back or hate me like how I've feared?

     "Babe, are you okay?" Romeo suddenly asked me, immediately making me look back at him.

     He stares at me, and by the looks of it, he obviously noticed how uneasy I looked.

     "Are you secretly scared of heights?" Romeo suddenly asked me, making me laugh by the weird question.

     "Rome, I was with you when we flew our way to your grandmother's villa," I told him.

     Romeo chuckles and slowly grabs my hand so he could squeeze it, "I know, I just wanted to make you laugh. And it obviously worked."

     My heart flattered again by just what Romeo said.

     These little things that he does for me seriously makes me fall in love with him all over again.

     "I'm just nervous, that's all," I say as I looked out the window again.

     Romeo doesn't say anything yet but gently grabs my chin so I could forcefully look back at him.

     "Tell me why you're nervous," he tells me.

     I took a deep breath and answered him, "I haven't been home for almost a decade. Which also means I haven't seen my family for almost a decade too."

     "Are you scared your sisters will hate you?" Romeo asked, making me shake my head as an answer, "I don't know."

     I thought Romeo wasn't going to say anything anymore, but then suddenly, he rests his head on my shoulder and asked, "Will you introduce me to them?"

     I smiled and looked at him so I could kiss his head, "As my lover?"

    Romeo chuckled and sarcastically answered, "No, I meant was as your chairman of course."

     I laughed and moved away from him, removing his head from my shoulder, "Yes, I will introduce you to them as my boss who came with me all the way to Korea while using his own private plane."

     Romeo smirked and leaned forward to bit my lower lip, "I must be the best boss in the world then."

     I smirked and kissed his lips back, "And the sexiest too."

     "You're making me want to fuck you," he suddenly whispered to me.

     I snaked my hand towards his crotch area and squeezed it, making Romeo groan from the sudden contact, "Give it to me then."

     "Boss?" Eric suddenly called out from outside the curtain that was thankfully covering us.

      I quickly removed my hand from Romeo and said, "Y-Yes..."

     Romeo did his best to hide his laugher as Eric opened the curtain, "Boss, we're almost there," Eric tells me.

     I don't say anything and just nodded my head as an answer.

     Eric nods his head back, and then he bows and leaves, closing the curtain back again.

     The moment he left, Romeo and I started laughing.

     "Give it to me then?" Romeo asked with his right eyebrow raised.

     I laughed and ignored him, then I looked out the window and realized that we were actually landing now, and the nervousness that vanished just a few seconds ago has finally came back.

     "We're here," I tell Romeo.

     Romeo held my shoulder and sincerely said, "Welcome home Julien."

     I quickly looked back at Romeo, my eyes already teary just by what I heard.

     "I'm scared...but if I'm with you, then I'll be okay," I say, then Romeo leans forward and kisses my forehead, "You'll be fine. I'll be by your side no matter what."

*****

     I was standing in front of the door of the plane. Romeo standing beside me while Eric stood behind me.

     My heart was beating fast as the door slowly opens. But then, the nervousness that I have been feeling finally vanished as I saw at least fifty men standing in front of me, all lined up to greet me.

     "I told them you were arriving," Eric says from behind me.

     "Are these..." I didn't finish my sentence, but Eric understood what I was trying to say and answered, "There are at least 10 more men at the household, but all in all, these are the only men that are left of the Dark Saints."

     I was honestly surprised even though I was already expecting it. But hearing someone confirm it to me made me feel really guilty.

      I tried my best to not shed a tear as I slowly walked down the steps.

     When I was finally down, the men bowed in front of me and said, "Welcome Back Boss Julien."

     I looked at them one by one, remembering their faces and even the memories that I had when I was here before.

     I'm really back home.

     I can't believe it.

     "It's been years..." I started.

     Romeo, who was standing beside me, didn't budge nor say anything.

     "I'm sorry for disappointing you and hiding from a far place while the rest of you suffered by a mistake that I have caused," I continued.

     No one said anything, which I found respectful because these men could literally just shout at me now and I would completely understand it, but no, they remained silent, and I could see it in their faces that they were really listening to what I was telling them.

     "I don't know if I could repay you back, and I know it will be selfish of me to ask you this now, but...for one last request, will you walk by my side again?" I asked them.

     Everyone was quiet, and honestly the silence was making me nervous again.

     But then, someone in the front suddenly bowed, and slowly, one by one, the men in front of me bowed down as well.

     "We will stay by your side till the end Black Angel," they suddenly said in unison, and finally, a tear dropped down of my eyes, and eventually I started crying.

     Romeo looks at me and quickly gives me his handkerchief.

     I smiled and used it to wipe the tears on my cheeks.

    "I didn't know I'd ever say this but...I'm glad to be home."

*****

     "Your sister's are at the household, they said they are excited to see you again," Eric explained as we were now at a car that will bring us to the household.

     Eric was sitting at the passengers seat while Romeo sat beside me at the back.

     "Babe, where are we going now?" Romeo suddenly asked.

     I quickly looked at him and answered, "We're heading to our household. My sisters are there."

     "Are they nice?" Romeo asked.

     I smiled and nodded my head, "All of my siblings are good people."

     "Not all of them," Romeo suddenly reminded me.

     I took a deep breath and looked out the window, "My brother...we weren't close before but I never really hated him. He practically wasn't allowed to come close to me because I was the heir and he was...well he was a son of a mistress. I pitied him before, but he became a strong man that the pity that I felt for him changed into respect. Like what Eric said, my brother respects his men, and I was willing to make him the second head once I become the head myself. But I didn't know that through all the years that I was gone, hate and jealousy would consume him. It never occurred to me that he'd do all this just to kill me," I explained to Romeo.

     "Jealousy...it's one of the most dangerous feeling, especially inside a family," Romeo tells me, and I couldn't agree more to what he said.

     "Did that ever happen to your family too?" I asked as I looked back at Romeo.

    Romeo started thinking for a couple of seconds, then he looks back at me and answers, "My grandfather died because of hatred and jealousy too. I don't know why my mother killed my father, but I'm guessing hatred and jealousy is somehow involved in that incident as well," Romeo answered.

     "It can never be removed can't it?" I asked again.

     Romeo takes a deep breath and says, "Who knows."

     "But we shouldn't be talking about that now. We should talk about how we're going to defeat my brother instead," I say as I looked at Eric this time.

     "Eric, how many men do we still have?" I asked him.

     "With the men here, and the men back at the HQ...we have a little over of a hundred men," Eric tells me.

     "We're not sure about Romeo's men yet, so the best chances we have is with ours," I say, then I looked back at Romeo and continued, "I don't know how much men my brother has, but I think my men can be enough to defeat him."

     "I have men who still respect and trust me, and there's my grandmother's men too. I think all of them combined can help us defeat your brother," Romeo says.

     "Your brother brought quite a few men with him when he left" Eric suddenly says.

     "We can defeat him," I quickly say.

     "You sound confident," Eric tells me back.

     I smiled and glanced at Romeo, "That's because I am."

     "We're here," the driver suddenly tells us.

     I quickly looked out the window and saw the very familiar gate of our household.

     "Rome...we're here," I say in excitement as I looked at him.

     Romeo leaned closer and looked out through my window, "This is where you grew up in?" he asked me.

     I looked out the window again and answered, "Yeah. And I know it's not as big as your house back in-"

     "Are you kidding me? It looks like a freakin' temple," Romeo suddenly says, making me laugh.

     Our household wasn't modern; it was more of a traditional home compared to other homes here in Korea.

     "I'll park at the front boss," the driver says as he drives inside the gate. Then, he parks in front of the main door of the house where I saw my two sisters and a few other men.

     "They practically looked the same when I left them," I thought as I stared at my sisters, my eyes already teary by just looking at them.

     "Are those your-" I heard Romeo say, but I didn't let him finish as I immediately went out of the car and ran towards my two sisters to gave them a hug.

(I know there are formalities in Korea like nuna, hyung etc. But, to make it not too complicated, I'll just use names like normal.)

     "Hana...Minji...I'm so sorry. I should have called you, I should have told you I was alive," I continuously say as tears finally started falling out of my eyes.

     My two sisters hugged me tighter, tears falling out from their eyes as well.

     "We missed you little brother, we missed you so much," Hana – the eldest – said back as she hugged me tighter.

     When we broke from the hug, the three of us looked at each other, then, we ended up laughing.

     "We shouldn't be crying in front of our men," Minji – the third – joked as she quickly wiped the tears off her cheeks.

     "Father would scold us for sure," Hana continued, and just by that, the three of us became quiet.

     I was about to say something when Romeo suddenly arrives and stands beside me.

     My two sisters looked at him with a confused expression, so I quickly held his hand and said, "Minji...Hana...Meet Romeo Valentino," I paused and looked at Romeo, "He's my lover."

     Minji and Hana looked surprised. I thought they were surprised because I introduced him as my lover, but in reality, they were actually surprised about something else.

     "He's a Valentino?" Hana asked from shock.

     Romeo must have noticed that my two sisters looked confused, so he quickly bows in front of them and says, "It's nice to meet you, I am Romeo Valentino, chairman of the Valentino Empire and godfather of the Valentino Family."

     When Romeo stood up properly, my two sisters looked at each other, then they looked back at Romeo and suddenly smirked.

      "Are you boasting?" Hana asked.

     "N-No...no ma'am," Romeo nervously answered, shocking me since Romeo has always been composed.

     Is he actually nervous about meeting my family?

     "Ma'am? Don't kiss my feet godfather, I'm practically as old as you," Hana says with an amused smile.

     Romeo looked shy as he quickly says, "I'm sorry...Ms. Hana."

    "Hana will be fine," Hana tells him, then Minji looks back at me and says, "You're boyfriend is adorable isn't he?"

     I chuckled and answered, "He is actually."

     Minji and Hana laughed while Romeo looked worried since we were obviously laughing at him.

     It might not have been obvious but I was so happy.

     It felt like I met my sisters last week because there weren't any awkwardness at all. It felt like I wasn't gone for years.

     "Madam Choi, Madam Park, I have returned," Eric suddenly says as he joins us.

     He bows and looks back at my sisters again and continued, "I have safely brought the boss back as promised."

     "You have, and we greatly thank you. While we talk to my brother, please gather the rest of the men at the warehouse," Hana tells him. Eric bows in front of us again and immediately leaves. When he was completely gone, Hana gestured at the door and said, "Come, let us talk inside."

     Romeo and I nodded our heads as we followed both of my sisters inside the household.

     Not like Romeo's household, there weren't any picture frames hanging on the wall. And maybe I'm just being biased but this household feels more like a home than what the Valentino household could ever be.

    "Welcome back boss Julien," I suddenly heard people say when we passed through the guest area. I turned to my right and saw the maids bowing to greet me.

     Some were shockingly still familiar as I looked at them.

     I smiled and nodded my head to acknowledge them, and then I continued following my two sisters.

     We passed through different rooms that brought me tons of memories, but when we passed through the garden, I immediately had to stop.

     My sisters stopped walking too, and then they looked at what I was staring at. When they saw that I was staring at the garden, their faces immediately changed into pity and concern.

     This is where I made my mistake.

     This is where I met up with that man every night, thinking we were both in love with each other.

     I stared at it more. But the longer I stared, the harder it is for me to keep my tears from falling.

     "It's a beautiful garden," Romeo suddenly said, making me flinch.

     I quickly looked at him, then Romeo looks back at me and smiles, "Don't you think so Julien?"

     I blinked my tears away and immediately nodded my head as an agreement. Romeo then reaches out for my hand to touch it. He intertwines our fingers together, and then he squeezes my hand as a sign of comfort.

     I looked at him again, then I remembered that this is the man I love, and there is no reason for me to cry over a man who destroyed my heart, because Romeo has been here, fixing it for me over and over again.

     "Should we leave?" Minji asked.

     I looked back at my sisters and saw them smiling. It wasn't a smile that meant they were teasing me, but it was a smile that shows that they're happy I finally found someone like Romeo.

     "Yes, let's go," I simply say, and then the four of us continued walking.

     Eventually we arrived at one of the private rooms.

     My two sisters went inside first.

     The four of us sat on the floor in front of the low table as two maids arrived to serve us some tea and biscuits.

     "We should talk about something important now," Hana tells us as he looked at Romeo and me.

     "Have you met Jiyong (our brother)?" Minji then asked.

     I shook my head and answered, "No, I haven't."

      "We knew it, Jiyong hasn't seen you yet. This is why we sent Eric. We were in battle at that time because the household was under attack again, and even though it was risky, we sent Eric and some of the other men to take you back," Hana continued.

     "It was in a perfect timing because Jiyong has done so many damage already, which is why we're here to-"

     I was about to finish my sentence when Hana suddenly cuts me off, "Jiyong has done damage? What do you mean?" she asks, confusion present in her tone.

     "He killed most of Romeo's people, he even asked his other men to..." I stopped, because it was hard for me to say it out loud, especially to my two sisters.

     "Something's not right here," Minji suddenly says.

     "What do you mean?" I asked back, now starting to be confused since my two sisters looked shocked on what I just said.

     "Your brother is trying to kill Julien, didn't you know?" Romeo asked back, shocking my two sisters even more.

     "N-No...that can't be," Minji worriedly said.

     Then Hana looks at the both of us and says, "We know that no one in the gang knows about this yet because father wanted to keep it a secret even when he died."

     "I-I don't...I don't understand what your trying to-"

     "We were the one who sent Jiyong to America," Hana suddenly revealed shocking Romeo and me.

     "W-What? What do you mean? Jiyong's been trying to kill me!" I practically shouted at them because I was so shocked and confused from what I was hearing.

     "Julien listen to me," Hana says as she reaches out for my hand, "The three of us helped you escape. Jiyong, Minji, and our father...we're the people who killed the elders for you and no one knew about it. When father died, his last words to the three of us was to take you back, which is why we sent Jiyong to America," Hana explained, and I swore to you that I sat there, staring at them like they were crazy.

     All this time, I thought Jiyong was there to kill me, but the truth was, he was there to take me back.

     "But it's not adding up, why are his men attacking us then?" Romeo asked, also shocked about the whole situation.

    "That's what we're worried about. We lost our contact with Jiyong when he arrived to America; we got worried so we sent Eric. If what your saying is true, that his men are attacking you...then the only guess that I could think of is that he's being threatened by someone so he'd look like the bad guy," Minji explained.

     No. Here we go again.

     This was the exact thing that happened to President King. The mastermind of all this is playing us like fools. He's been misleading us all this time.

     "I'm so sorry...I...I didn't know. I should have looked for him while I was there," I say, suddenly teary because of the guilt that I was feeling.

     I was so ready to kill Jiyong and take my revenge on what he did to Romeo and me, but all this time, he's actually on our side. 

     "No, it's okay. You didn't know Julien," Hana stated, comforting me.

     "So whoever is behind all this has your brother," Romeo suddenly says.

     "That's right. That person might have kidnapped him," Hana answers.

     "Those monsters," I say, now worried about my brother who I was stupidly resenting for no reason.

     "But Julien, haven't you ever noticed that you haven't seen him personally yet?" Minji asked, also making me realize it.

     "That's right, they only use the Dark Saints symbol and even use Jiyong's name, but I never saw Jiyong, not even once," I stated.

     Then I looked at my two sisters and said, "Please tell me everything. Please tell me the truth about everything because I have no idea what's going on. I've been gone for years and I didn't even know about the things you have done for my sake."

     Hana takes a deep breath, then she looked at Minji, and both of them nodded their heads like they just agreed on something.

     When they looked back at me, Hana stated, "Listen carefully, okay?"

     I don't say anything and just nodded my head.

     "Our father...we were never jealous because we understood, it was obvious that you were his favorite. But before you even arrived, there was a boy that everyone else called as the son of the first mistress, and there was no doubt, he was father's first favorite."

-END-