For the following days, I isolated myself from everyone. What happened recently was an issue at the office, my staff bombarding me with countless questions each time they saw me but Min-ho was able to silence them and asked for their cooperation.

Ever since that day after what happened, I wasn't able to sleep well. My past haunted me in my dreams. The screaming of my stepmother and her torturous actions gave me sleep paralysis every night. I still had fear of being dragged back to the mansion and being treated like a puppet.

I had been feeling guilty too because of what my father did. Because of it, I never went to Jungkook's photoshoots nor answered his calls. Lily knew what happened and tried to cover up for me when BTS asked about me. I wanted to distance myself from Jungkook for a while... no, not for a while... until I could gather the courage to tell him everything. Poor him... he too was being lied to. The worst thing was it was me who was deceived for not knowing the truth and even had the nerve to reunite with him.

It had been a week since I tried to avoid everybody. I rarely talked to Min-ho at the office and even stopped Lily from coming to see me. I had lots of things to sort out while I spent my time alone.

One evening, I was back from strolling at the park towards my apartment when Lily insisted on calling my phone for the nth time. This time, I gave up on her stubbornness and picked it up.

"Yah, when are you going to show up? Jungkook is already suspecting that something is wrong!"

"How is he?" I asked while slowly taking the stairs towards my door.

"Of course he's worried about you! You must at least take his calls, now he thinks he did something wrong!"

"Ahh, unnie. I can't face him yet. I feel very ashamed of myself," I sighed while shaking my head.

"Ji Hyo-ah, it is not your fault. It was your father who did it!"

"Even so. I feel like I had been part of hurting his family so much. Because of my father, I had to leave him behind and forced him to bear all the consequences alone!"

I heard Lily sigh from the other line. "I think it's time to tell him the truth. You can't just hide from him and leave him having a hard time."

"Should I? What if..." I began to worry. "What if that will end our friendship? What will happen to me now?"

Losing Jungkook again was something I could not bear. I worked hard to take him back, I escaped from New York to see him again... yet I never expected that an untold past would destroy everything from the start.

"Unnie... I'm afraid." Reaching the top of the stairs, I lifted my eyes to look ahead, my body suddenly turning numb as my vision caught the figure of the man standing restlessly in front of my apartment door.

"Shanshan? Are you there?"

"J-jungkook...?" My lips mumbled, my finger swiftly ending the call before Jungkook caught my presence and paced towards me. Once again, guilt flooded over me. Tears began to form in my eyes, threatening to fall as I looked at him.

"Shanshan!" His face expressed concern and worry, making me feel sorry for him. He must have had curious thoughts running through his mind the whole past days. "You have been avoiding my calls. Are you okay?"

Before he could come closer, I moved a step back, making him freeze from his tracks with shock. "W-why..." he stuttered as his hand tried to reach my sleeve reluctantly.

"JK, I'm tired. I need to be alone," I said, my eyes planted on the ground. I sighed nervously, wishing that he would just listen to what I said.

Yet with a firm stare and a serious tone, he walked up to me and spoke, "I won't go unless you tell me what's wrong."

I swallowed hard at his determination to stay while I was not ready to reveal to him everything. Both of us were deceived. Our parents chose not to tell us the truth because they knew how we treated each other as families. Yet it felt unfair on Jungkook's part. He should have known that one person was the reason for his family's most tragic struggles. I should have known the real cause of why my father dragged us to New York.

Feeling extreme guilt and fear that I could lose my best friend at the moment I would utter a word, I gently pushed him aside and walked past him. "Fine. Stay here until you die."

"Are you not really going to tell me?!" He walked behind me and held me by the hand before I reached the door. "This is making me insane! I don't even have any idea what is making you like this! Please..." Running his soft thumb gently on my palm, he tilted on his side to peek at me, facing the ground. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked softly, making my heart break.

"You didn't do anything."

"Then what's making you like this? You're making me worry."

"Jungkookah, please don't force me to say it... or else our friendship will be over right at this place. I still wanted time. I want to eat spicy noodles with you, tie your shoelaces for you, or walk with you in the park at late midnight. I long to spend more time with you before I could lose you... before you will hate me for the damage my family brought to you... and for faking my identity."

Completely lost between my thoughts, Jungkook turned me around to face him, his mouth opening in surprise as he saw tears streaming from my eyes.

"Jungkookah..." I wiped them immediately. "I'm sorry for everything."

"Why are you saying that?" He asked in confusion as he furrowed his eyebrows together, my statement making him nervous.

Unable to hold my tears any longer, I shook my head and cried bitterly with my head low, confessing all the painful words I could not tell. "I don't deserve to be your friend. I lied to you! I broke my promise to you... I just brought harm to you and your family."

With hands panicking to hold me on my shoulders, Jungkook searched for my eyes while wanting me to explain more. "What do you mean? You- you didn't do anything wrong to me. You are one of the best people that ever came into my life!"

"You're wrong!" I pushed him away. "I am the reason why you had to struggle so much before!"

I was pulled back to his chest, his arms wrapping around me while my gaze clouded with the presence of tears in my eyes. "Shanshan, what's happening to you? Why are you being like this?"

I began to drive him away with my hands pushing against his chest to shove him off but he held me tightly. "Get away from me! Hate me just how much you did when I left ten years ago!"

"Huh?" He paused.

"My father was the one who took your money... he planned to kill your dad and escaped to New York!" Looking up to him with my face drenched with sweat and tears, I knew I had to give him up already. After telling him the truth, I knew he would yell at me to fuck off his life, and I would be losing him forever. "Jungkookah... this is me, Lee Ji Hyo... look at me close in the eyes," I sobbed as I gripped on his shirt, "Look at me..."

With his face filled with bafflement, he stared at my soul, the deafening silence and burning pain as each second passed struck us deeply. I gritted my lip with bitterness as I caught his reddened eyes shift into an intense gaze, realization hitting him directly.

"L-lee... Ji Hyo?"

Gulping and speechlessly looking at me, his hands loosened around my shoulders. I flinched as he stepped back. I made a whimper while staring at him, my eyes telling him to leave yet my heart wanted to crash him against my chest and beg him to stay.

"Y-yes. This is me. How could you not recognize me when we first met again?!"

He looked at the ground and gaped his jaw, his eyebrows furrowing and his eyes looking hurt and mad. "This... this is too much for me to take!"

"Jungko-"

He hurled himself around and left. I continued to weep. Seeing him leave, I knew our friendship already ended. It was painful to see him walking away.

^^. . .^^

Thirty minutes later, I found myself inside my apartment, sitting on the living room's floor with my eyes still swollen from crying. I knew he was shocked too. I knew he was hurt. I knew he needed time to process everything.

The following days, we never saw each other again. JK never messaged me nor asked about me. Lily said he was having a hard time trying to focus in front of the camera. He always looked sad and seemed like he was thinking about something.

Min Ho told me that blaming myself does not help. He suggested going to see JK's parents and talking to them about it. I thought he was right, so one weekend, I mustered up all my courage and found myself in front of Jungkook's house in Busan. I felt the need to say sorry to his parents. And I wanted to know more of the truth too.

I was nervous when I arrived at their doorstep. I lifted my finger to press the doorbell, but anxiety stopped me. I fought with myself, hesitating to knock on the door or leave. I just paced in front of the house, my feet unable to decide which way to follow.

Suddenly, there was a loud thunderclap, and heavy rain started to fall. I stood there, still clueless about what I should do while getting wet by the rain.

Later on, a woman who looked in her fifties came. "Who..." She examined my face before her eyes widened. "Ji Hyo-ah! Is that you?!"

I was surprised when the woman mentioned my name. "Mrs... Jeon?"

She was Jungkook's mother. She ran to me and shared the umbrella with me. Jungkook's mom looked the same after ten years. She is still beautiful and sweet.

"Why are you getting yourself wet?!" She scolded as I watched her, speechless. "You have grown so much! When did you come home? Are you alone?" She asked while looking around. "Where are your parents? Did you come alone?"

When she waited for my answer I only nodded my head. I was about to cry, but I did my best to stop it.

"Oh no, we should get inside! You need to warm yourself up or you'll get sick!" Without knowing how I felt, she opened the door and pulled me in, leading me to the living room of their house. Things got quick as she sat me there and ran to get me a towel.

"Yeobo~," she called out to her husband. "Why did you not open the door when a guest was outside?" She was back with a towel, helping me dry my hair.

Mrs. Jeon thinks I was still the middle school girl who needs her care. She was treating me like ten years ago and I felt thankful.

I lifted my head as I heard Mr. Jeon come down from the stairs. "Oh, I think it was because of the loud rain that I didn't get to hear the doorbell ring-oh, I recognize you..." He smiled at me. "You were that good lady before."

"Oh, so did you see each other already?"

"Yes, but I didn't know her name."

"Yeobo, how can you not recognize her?! She's Ji Hyo, the daughter of Lee Jung In," she smiled at him, then back at me.

Jungkook's dad stopped before quickly changing his expression into a cheerful one. "Ohhh yesss, I see it's you, Ji Hyo!" He rushed to me and patted my head. He was laughing. "I'm so sorry! It's because you have grown so much that I did not easily recognize you that day!"

"We're glad to see you again, my dear. We missed you so much! Especially Jungkook."

Something dropped on my lap. I wasn't sure if it was from my wet hair or my eyes because I was already breaking into tears. I exploded like a volcano, breaking my heart into pieces and causing me to cry out loud.

^^. . .^^

After minutes of trying to comfort me, I finally calmed down. I was with them on the kitchen table dressed in clothes that Jungkook's mother lent me. I searched for hatred or anger in their faces, but all I saw was love and care.

"Here," JK's mom placed the bowl of soup in front of me. "It will warm your body up."

"You must eat a lot tonight, okay? Your aunt cooked a lot of food for you,"  Mr. Jeon spoke gently. "Here... it's your favorite." He picked an egg roll with his chopsticks and put it on my plate.

I began to tear up again. "Why are you so nice to me? My family did horrible things to you, but why treat me like this? I wanted to see your angry faces and kick me out of the house..." I sniffed, then continued to talk with my broken voice. "...but I didn't expect you to treat me warmly like nothing ever happened between our families."

"Ji Hyo-ah, we have already forgotten about that. You did nothing wrong. And all those things happened a long time ago."

"But still, your family suffered because of us," I replied, looking down on my bowl.

"My dear, what we should focus on is the present. Those things are already in the past and look, it was the reason why our son is what he has become today. There's a reason why things happen. So don't burden yourself with it. We want you to be happy and stop blaming yourself on it."

"Still, I'm very sorry for what my dad did." I closed my eyes as big tears rolled down my face. "For ten years I had no idea about what he did. He betrayed your kindness."

"Aigoo," Jungkook's father whispered and patted my head. "Whatever happened is the past. We have already forgiven your father. We were also surprised at his sudden actions before, but I believe that your father was a good man. He did those things because he was in desperate need. He did it for his family."

"How is he a good man? He has no conscience at all!"

"Stop crying and eat your food, okay? We'll talk more about it later."

Later that night, Mrs. Jeon led me to her son's bedroom. I said I could sleep in our old house, but she insisted on making me sleep in Jungkook's room. "How will you be able to sleep with the clouds of dust and creeping insects in your bedroom?" She said, knowing that our old house was abandoned for years.

"If you need anything, don't hesitate to tell us. Sleep well," Mrs. Jeon smiled before closing the door.

I sat on the bed, hugging the warm blanket she gave me. His room changed. Unlike ten years ago where he had a bright blue curtain and colorful paintings hanging on his artistic walls, he had a dark- themed room and a wider bed. The old alarm clock that I gifted him still sat on the bedside table and his wardrobe was the same. I roamed my eyes inside JK's bedroom until they landed on the photo on the wall just above the headboard. It was the one I gave him from the gallery. I couldn't believe that he would hang it at his home. Seeing it made my heart ache.

I laid back on the bed before checking my phone for my future appointments until I saw BTS' world tour schedule. It is around the corner. I promised Jungkook that I would attend their first concert.

With a labored sigh, I tossed my phone on the bedside table and forced myself to sleep.

Tomorrow I have to fly back to New York.