~~~ EXO - Angel ~~~

Heat waves were rolling down her spine, as she shifted on her place. She could feel the sweat cooling down her skin, that was on fire. She was completely fine, sitting there, doing nothing, while sipping her chocolate milkshake. That was the only thing keeping her posture intact. She was losing her mind, slowly, but very surely. She had this feeling inside of her, where she wasn't sure what to do with it, or with herself.

She gulped a bit more of her drink, her mind floating somewhere above her. She forgot about the fact, she was not alone here and that two other critical stares were watching her.

"Why are your cheeks so red? Are you feeling alright?" Bora asked her with concern in her voice. Jihye lifted her gaze up, meeting with Bora's, she looked at the person sitting next to Bora. Baekhyun had his face nestled in his hands, grinning at her knowingly.

"She is fine, she just enjoyed those few moments up in her room with Jun the other day, too much," Baekhyun concluded knowingly. At this moment Jihye's ears flamed up too in addition to her overall state. She frowned at Baek but could not say a word to defend herself. She would be lying, she only wished her friend would not be so sensitive to anything that happens between her and Jun. Baekhyun didn't even try to be a little discreet, she was amazed that Sehun still had no idea about it, but then her brother was like blind and deaf when it came to that.

He would probably still not know, even if Baekhyn literally spelled it out for him.

"You should spend more time taking care of your own romantic affeirs and less about the others," Bora nudged his side and Baekhyun tried to avoid it, as he was ticklish in that very spot. Bora never had the authenticity to touch Baek this way, she was too shy. Jihye was once again amazed.

"There are no affairs in my life, that's why I have to take care of yours and Jihye's. You are the only joy in my life," Baekhyun sighed.

"Baekhyun, there is a fanclub at the school that is focused on loving your ass," Jihye informed him dryly.

"That's the thing, everyone has fallen for my charms and ass, as you said, but they don't know the whole package," Baekhyun looked like he is going through some kind of crisis.

"What is going on, Baek?" Jihye tried to shake of the thoughts of Jun that kept on attacking her mind and focused on Baekhyun.

"It's just you are about to drive to the sunset with Jun and Bora is ready to fall for Sehun at last and...," Baekhyun was not allowed to finish the sentence, because Bora was outraged by his statement.

"What a hell are you blabbering about? I will never fall for Sehun... that ugly horrible...," Bora was trying hard to come up with proper arguments, but failed so much, that even Jihye gave her the look.

"The crush you had on me is gone, so you are on the right way to fall head over heels for that ugly horrible and whatever things you can't think of," Baekhyun turned to see the expression on Bora's face. Her mouth opened in shock, her cheeks having the same colour as Jihye's only few moments ago.

"What are you talking about?" Bora's voice shot up, panicking. Jihye giggled for herself, sipping more of her drink. It was fun to watch the struggle. She didn't know Baekhyun had an idea about Bora's feelings but seeing him talking about it like it was everyday thing, was hilarious.

"What?" Baek pretended not to know what Bora is talking about.

"You knew...," Bora breathed out. Her friend was most probably experiencing the nightmare of her life.

"Of course," Baek shrugged his shoulders.

"But you never..." Bora stuttered.

"You knew, but you never said anything," Jihye spoke up, she was curious about this drama.

"Obviously, because Bora never really liked me, she like the idea of me. The person she had the spark with was always Oh Sehun, even during the moments they were out there killing each other," Baekhyun wrapped up wisely. Jihye and even Bora lifted up their eyebrows listening to his explanation.

"How long did you know?" Bora's voice croaked in her throat. Her eyes were opened wide, visibly flustered by this knowledge.

"Longer than I know about Jihye liking Junmyeon," Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders, looking at his nails in the most casual way, like he knew everyone's secrets since the beginning of time. Bora and Jihye joined eyes together.

"You are scary person," Jihye whispered and continued drinking her cold, but melting shake.

"I will pretend that I never heard you saying any of this," said Bora, placing forefingers on her temples and massaging little.

"Anyways the point is, nothing is in the way of your happiness, except you alone," Baek was most of the time the cheerful and funny one, yet he was the one with brain when it came to problems like this. Baek was never really dating anyone and definitely not in serious manner, yet out of us three he was the most experienced anyways. That meant we better take his advice seriously.

They stayed silent for couple of moment, all of them lost in their own thoughts.

"By the way, have you noticed, that Sehun is not dating girls around, like he used to. I mean someone hit me, if this is not a sign of his whipped ass...," Baekhyun decided to break the silence with his mocking, but before he could continue, hard smack had landed on the back of his head, shooting his head forwards. He was only an inch away from drowning in his drink.

Jihye started to laugh loudly, when her two best friends started fighting with their straws like skilled swordsmen, spattering the contents of it everywhere around them and on her. They almost got kicked out of the diner.

She was grinning to herself later, when she was walking from Bora's house, which was only around the corner to her home. She forgot about her silly friends, the reminder of the movie night only a week ago. The euphory she felt while hanging out with the idiots, shifted a little, becoming more concentrated. The memory of her heated moment with Jun in her room, was still very alive in her mind. She didn't expect him to go after her and devour her the way he did. She had no means to stop him.

They spent almost ten minutes feverishly making out, before they parted, before someone figures that they are gone for too long. Jun then left, with words that he will never give up on her, she could hardly focus on the meaning of the words, mainly because her mind was completely hazed by what they did.

She had to admit Jun has very strong will, he didn't back out even, when she thought she had lost him for sure. She had done some damage, he was hurt, but he got over it and came back to her. She was amazed, because it was something that she didn't expect from him, but she was silly, thinking he would be so easily convinced. She didn't want to acknowledge how much she wanted to give in. She already did in her room, she would even do it in his flat in Seoul. She didn't know how they managed to go through that night, without making a mistake.

Her cheeks were on fire, when she realised what kind of things were surfacing on the top of her head. She shook her head violently, before she opened the door to her house.

The moment she crossed the threshold, she recognised the change in the air. The lights were on in the hallway and in the kitchen, she almost forgot that her parents were around a lot more often these past few days. It was crazy, but somehow reassuring. She got over her resentment towards Sehun, she knew what he did was only to help her, although she didn't tell him that yet. He deserves to be tortured for few more days, she came to conclusion.

"Hello, I'm back from Bora's...," she greeted everyone as she walked inside of the kitchen. Her eyebrows shot up, stopping in midmovement, when she saw her parents standing by the island counter in the middle, along with Sehun, whose face was paler than usual. They all looked at her with worry. They always did, but this was a different kind of look from all the others she'd ever received.

"What is up?" she let out, stepping closer to the kitchen counter, joining her hands in front of her body. She didn't like the jittery feeling building up inside her chest.

"Darling, come and sit down here... there is something, we have to talk to you about," mom prompted her, pointing at the bar chair. She looked disturbed and flustered. Jihye walked all the way there, doing as she was asked. She didn't what is going on, but knew in advance, it can't be anything good. She looked at Sehun, he was frowning and had this weird 'I am sorry' expression in his face.

"What is going on, guys. You are freaking me out," Jihye couldn't sit in a silence for any longer. It seemed like no one of them knew, how to start up this conversation.

"Ji, it is hard to tell you something like this, I don't know how," Mom mumbled. "But you deserve to know, you need to know," Jihye had no patience for this cryptic talk. She let out frustrated sigh.

"Sweetie, I think you always wondered, why are you the way you are. Not that there is a problem with that, it is not your fault, but there is a cause to your illness," dad took over the opening words. Jihye's blood ran cold inside her. Finally, she knew what this is about, they are going to tell her the truth, at last. She stayed quiet, waiting for them to continue.

"Jihye, you are adopted," mom blurted out. Jihye stayed unmoving, it was no news for her. Even then, she could feel her heart hurting, not for herself, she accepted the truth long time ago. It was in pain for her parents. She could see how hurt they were, while watching her stable reaction.

"I know," she answered truthfully, after few long minutes. All three of them stared like, she had another head growing out of her shoulder.

"How... oh dear," Mom covered her mouth with trembling hand, it looked like she was very close to tears. Jihye smiled at her softly, trying to assure them about her feelings regarding this touchy topic.

"I found out years ago, when I overhead your talking to Kims, when we were in the beach house," Jihye clarified, she left out the fact, she had most horrible night terror that night.

"Why didn't you tell us anything, you must have been shocked, Ji...," Sehun almost yelled at her, then he calmed down, when he gained a hiss from our dad.

"I didn't think it was that important, you are still my family," Jihye shrugged her shoulders. It felt weirdly liberating that this thing was off the table. There are no more secrets... or at least that's what she thought. Her mom let out strained pained groan before rushing toward Jihye, to suffocate her in momma bear hug, mumbling something about her sweet, sweet daughter. Sehun made a face on her, mom facing him with her back, but he again forgot about their dad, who saw his messing around and this time gained gentle smack on the side of his head.

"Why did you suddenly decided to tell me?" Jihye asked with curiosity burning inside of her. She could ask all those questions she suppressed for all those years and that she claimed not being important.

Mom locked eyes with dad and sighed.

"I'm sure you would like to ask about your biological parents... that is why we knew we have to tell you now," Mom replied. Just now the real shadow well over their features.

"Why then?" she was afraid to ask, but she was not holding back anymore.

"Jihye, your parents are still around they are alive. I used to have a friend since I was a kid, we grew up together, we shared everything in the world. She got married and then she got a little girl and I did the same and had a baby too. But something bad had happened to her, that didn't allow her to keep her child and keep looking after her...," It was very hard for mom to talk about it. Jihye was freaking out, her mom's words sinking in.

"What happened to her?" Jihye whispered. She could feel Sehun shifting closer to her, almost like he wanted to shield her from what was coming upon her. She knew him too well, he was always there to protect and if he felt like he needs to be close to her right at this moment, there was doubt in that, what she will hear, won't be anything pleasant.

"Her husband left her... at that point she already had so many issues with trying to live properly. It was the last drop. There was an accident, where the house was set on fire. Both of the mother and the little girl were saved. But the mother was no allowed to look after the child," Mom's voice was weak as she explained everything. She was telling the story like, it was about someone else, but she knew who the little girl was.

"What happened to my mother?" Jihye asked faintly. Mom looked like she won't be able to tell me, that's when dad stepped in, emotions filling his eyes.

"She was hospitalised, and we took you in, we thought only for a little while. Eventually, we filled the adoption papers and made you our own daughter officially, but only after we confirmed it with your actual mother. She was able to do so, before she was pronounced ineligible," dad finished the little horrific story at last. Sehun's hand appeared on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

"What does it mean? Why couldn't she take care of me anymore?" Ji demanded more answers.

"She broke down mentally, dear. She was suffering with parasomnia, just like you do now too. She couldn't live on the way she did. She caused the fire, because of her sleepwalking and there was no one who could look after her anymore...," mom whispered and Jihye felt like someone kicked her in the guts. She was out of breath.

Her eyes blurred, her vision becoming unclear, as the tears threatened to spill over. She inhaled shakily.

"Why are you telling me all this now...," she found it weird they thought of this time to initiate her into all the secrets of her past, that she had no idea about. For her it all sounded like it has nothing to do with her, except all the little details that fitted so damn good.

"She, your mother... she has disappeared from her hospital, she is nowhere to be found and I think and the doctor thinks, she will be trying to contact you. We didn't want you to experience the shock of your life, in case its truth and she will come to you," it made all sense now. Everything became so clear, but for some reason, she felt the darkness swallowing here more than before.

"Did she escape from the Hamchun hospital?" she asked her voice strained with the tears, she was trying to hold back. Everyone's eyes widened. And she got her answer. She understood everything, mainly how much was her life screwed. The little tiny hope that she will be strong enough to crawl oud of this shit, disappeared before she could even stretch her arm and embrace it.

She could not think straight.

"I need some time... I need to go...," she mumbled. She locked eyes with the family that cared for her so much, she couldn't take it anymore. She stepped away from Sehun's warm consoling touch.

"Ji...," she heard them calling her as she ran outside the house. She ran. She ran as fast as she could, before the truth that were already crushing her down, catches up on her completely.

~~~

Well and the truth is all out!!!

I'm not keeping you in dark anymore!!! Doesn't it feel great to know all this? 😁🤷‍♀️

I mean, I feel sorry for Jihye... cuz even tho she knows all that she will still need to get over so much!

But idk how many more chapter there will be... perhaps three more?? I'd say... let's see how that goes!

I hope you liked the chapter even if Junnie was absent 😳😅

Anyways until the next time!!!

Also I'd recommend you to start reading my new Baekhyun's story!!! It will be very different from anything I have ever written so far!!!

https://my.w.tt/Rovjxxc8sT

Until next time
Love ya