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As the clock neared 3 am, everyone was seated on the couch watching a movie. Jiwon had fallen asleep on Jungwon's shoulders after being so active the entire day.
"Someone is calling Jiwon," Sunoo announced, picking up Jiwon's buzzing phone. Jungwon snatched it from him upon seeing the contact name saying 'mom'. "Don't answer," he said, but it was too late; the phone had already been answered.
"Jiwon, how dare you move to Korea without telling me?!" a woman's voice shouted through the phone. Ni-Ki stood up and grabbed the phone from Jungwon, promptly ending the call. "Why did you do that?" Heeseung innocently asked about the situation.
"Sit down, I'll explain everything," Jungwon said with a sigh knowing he can't hide it from them any longer.
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A happy family... It was all but a lie. To Jiwon this was nothing but a prison, a prison where she was invisible and unheard.
She used to have a happy family, but that was only until they moved to the States and a new person was introduced into their lives, her younger brother.
When Jiwon first found out that her parents would be adopting a young japanese boy into their family, she was overjoyed. Who wouldn't be? This meant that she was no longer alone after having left Jungwon in Korea. Or so she had thought.
The Japanese boy was lovely, she wouldn't deny that. They got along well and they were close, in some sense. The problem wasn't him, but her parents. When you hear the stories of adoptions you think that the adopted kids would get left out, forgotten by the family. Turns out, that's the opposite of what happened to Jiwon.
Her own parents, the ones who had given birth to her were the ones that had chosen to make her invisible to them. Showering all of their love over the Japanese boy who they had just met. Forgetting that they were also the parents of Jiwon. Forgetting that they were the parents of two kids, not one.
Jiwon had lost count of all her school events that her parents had missed over the years. The number of parent meetings that she went to alone. Jiwon had gotten sick of it at some point. Distancing herself from her family, which didn't really make such a difference when she was already invisible to everyone but her brother.
The girl felt bad to have pushed away her younger brother, despite all those attempts that he made to spend time with her. But there was only so much that she could take, and the two siblings also began to grow distant.
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The entire group fell into a collective moment of silence, after hearing Jiwon's story."I had no idea that she was going through all of that. She seemed so happy all the time," Heeseung said, his voice heavy with heartbreak.
"Jiwon has gone through too many things in her life. That's why I'm so insistent on always being by her side. I don't want her to go through such things again," Jungwon explained solemnly to the group.
As everyone conversed amongst themselves, someone seemed lost in his own thoughts, slipping away from the rest. Jake noticed the shift in the youngest member of the group and decided to follow him, concerned.
Niki had removed himself from his friends, walking towards the kitchen. Leaning against the counter, as he stared out at the night sky from the window. He heard the soft padding of footsteps getting louder and louder towards him.
"It's a beautiful night tonight," Jake remarked, taking a seat beside the younger boy. "Now, tell me what happened to you."
Niki turned towards his friend, someone that he completely relied on.
"Hyung, I trust you a lot, you know that right?" Niki looked at Jake with a saddened expression.
Jake nodded, letting the younger one know that he was there for him.
"Jungwon mentioned that Jiwon's family adopted a boy right? Well that boy is actually me."
Niki could see that Jake was taken aback by what he had just said. Giving the Australian boy some time to process what he had just heard, he continued, "The real reason I came to Korea was for Jiwon. I- I just never knew that this was what she had been going through."
A single teardrop slid down Niki's eyes, "I knew that our parents kept prioritising me over her, and I knew that it hurt her. But I had no idea just how much it had hurt her."
Jake wrapped Niki into a hug as the tears started to roll from the younger boy's eyes, "It's okay Niki, it's not your fault at all. Don't blame yourself for something that your parents did."
"Please keep this a secret from everyone." Niki asked. "I don't want the others to find out just yet."
Jake nodded, "Of course, but does Jungwon know yet?"
"Jungwon has only ever seen pictures of me when I'm young, so I'm guessing that he hasn't found out yet. He would have confronted me about it by now if he had." Ni-ki said, his voice trembling, tears threatening to fall.
"Tell Jungwon about it, trust me, it's better than him finding out later, he will never be mad at you, he loves you" Jake encouraged Ni-Ki, Ni-Ki slightly nodded smiling at Jake, before both of them went at it.
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