$ s i x t y t w o $

He knocked on the door to his suite which he shared with Miran, shoulders slumped, and splatters of blood tinting his clothes as well as his face and hands. Miran opened the door with a smile, but it dropped when she drank in his appearance. She let out a gasp and quickly pulled him into the suite, closing the door behind him. The other security guards in the building hadn't even questioned what happened to him. They were used to the bosses coming back from an errand all bloodied. Their job was to protect the casino, not question their bosses.

"I did something horrible, baby." He said in a voice barely above a whisper. His words were so low that she hadn't even been able to catch them the first time around. His eyes were trained on the carpet floor beneath their feet. They were her parents after all, and even if he still thought they deserved it, he couldn't face her.

"What?" She asked, her hands cupping his face and she made him look at her.

"I did something horrible, baby." He repeated a bit louder, his hands shakily settling on her waist. When he was sure she heard him, he continued, "But...I don't regret anything. I had to do it." He gave a gentle shake of his head.

Miran was almost afraid to ask for details. "What did you do, Light?"

For a moment, the words were trapped in the back of his throat. He knew that she would be upset about it, and he wasn't sure if she would be mad at him. He averted his eyes again as he said to her, "I went to your house this morning. I pounded on the door and when they opened it,  I killed them." He didn't look her in the eyes, but he felt the way she tensed as the words left his mouth. "They needed to pay for everything they did to you and the only way was for them to die. But I have a surprise for you--"

"How could you?" She gasped, pulling her hands from his face. Now she took a step back away from him, horrified. The blood stains on his clothes were all the more painful now to her because Miran knew who that blood belonged to.

"Baby--" He took a step towards her, but she took another step back. "You need to listen to me. They hurt you and took you from me. They tried to kill our baby. I couldn't just let them live."

"They were my parents." She argued back. Of course they had been horrible to her, but as she mentioned, they were her parents after all. 

"But I have a surprise for you." He insisted. 

Baekhyun reached into his pocket for his phone and got it out. He dialed Sehun's phone number and said into the phone as soon as the maknae answered, "Bring them up here, Baram. Please."

Within a few minutes, there was a knock on their door. Baekhyun went to open it and they were met with Sehun. Two young girls were standing in front of him, both with tear soaked faces. One was Miran's sixteen year old sister Yoona, and the other was her youngest sister Mijin who was only ten years old. The moment they saw their older sister, they rushed to her side and threw their arms around her, crying into her shirt.

Still, Baekhyun couldn't say that he regretted it.

-

Mariel tried to let it go, but hard as she tried, she couldn't get it off her mind. There were many thoughts racing through her mind.

She wondered if Jongdae was probably rethinking their relationship. Maybe he had realized he didn't want her. When she couldn't contain herself any longer, she decided to confront him about it, but he avoided the topic, assuring her that nothing was wrong. But she could see that he was clearly hiding something from her. A part of her was terrified that he would find someone else and discard her, as she didn't feel she was worthy enough to be with him.

Since Iva was the only one who knew there was something going on, the two girls decided to follow Jongdae to China under the cover that they were going to a spa all weekend. Ciel wanted to come along, and Mariel wanted to take her because she was her best friend. But Yifan was against it. He was overprotective of her recently and wanted to go everywhere with her. When he couldn't. he didn't want her going out by herself.

Now it was two foreign girls travelling to China together using money that Tao had given Iva for the spa. Mariel had gotten money from Jongdae as well, before he headed out to China on a business trip once more.

They arrived at the same time as him and rented a car, following him to the house that the Coven used to live in when they were located in China. They camped out in the car, parked right across the street from the house. 

"Why didn't you just talk to him about it?" Iva wondered after about three hours of sitting in the car.

"I tried." Mariel informed her with a frustrated sigh. "But he lied to me and said nothing was wrong. I know my Jongdae and he was lying to me. He doesn't realize, but he has a habit that gives him away. He doesn't look people in the eyes when he lies to them."

Iva nodded her head in understanding.

They sat in the car for a few more hours before there was any movement in the house. In the giant house by himself, he had a large flower arrangement delivered to the front gates. He brought his car out onto the driveway and the delivery man helped him get the arrangement into the car. From there, he left the house and the girls followed him discreetly. He stopped in an office building first, from which he emerged with paper work.

Then he headed to another destination. Mariel began to grow more anxious the more they followed him. For one, she felt bad about following him around. But she also felt uncertain about the fact that he had gotten flowers, probably as a present for someone. 

When he stopped next, they had gone into a place that looked like a park. They followed him through a maze of turns until they stopped somewhere. Mariel and Iva turned off their car several feet away, with a clear view of what he was doing. He went around to the back and got the flower arrangement out. It was only then that Mariel had seen all the tombstones. It was a cemetery.

She asked Iva to wait in the car and she chased after Jongdae to apologize for not trusting him enough. But her fears had gotten the better of her. 

Mariel caught him as he stopped at one of the tombs in the ground. He had set the arrangement next to it and got down on his knees, performing the sign of the cross on himself. He was Catholic after all, just like Mariel was. She stood behind him without approaching as he began a small prayer. From over his shoulder, she could see the name engraved in stone. 

Ming Ruo Lan. 

Mariel felt a prick in her chest. She could imagine how Jongdae was feeling. Perhaps he still felt guilty for her death.

She cleared her throat to get his attention. Out of instinct, his hand reached for his gun and he turned in her direction in an instant, the gun pointed at her. He relaxed and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw her. Though his expression changed once again, this time into a look of confusion when he realized where they were and the fact that she was standing before him. "What are you doing here, baby? I thought you were going on a spa weekend with Iva."

"That was a lie." She informed him with a guilt filled sigh. "We told everyone that so we could follow you around. I just though--that you were going to leave me for someone else."

He looked at the flowers, then at the tombstone, and finally at Mariel. "I guess I have been acting really strange lately. But it has nothing to do with Ruo Lan. I just got her some flowers since its the anniversary of her death and I was already in the area." Mariel now felt even worse for doubting him. As a sigh left his lips, he continued to explain. "It was a surprise, but now's as good a time as any to let you know. I've been making arrangements for us to adopt children." He informed her.

By now, Mariel felt her heart drop even more, despite the good news. He had done something so thoughtful for her, while she was worried that he would leave her.

He finally finished with, "Not legally, of course. But I was able to connect with allies in the Philippines, China, Korea, and Mexico. They're going to help us adopt some children who need parents." A small smile formed on his lips. 

All Mariel could do was throw her arms around him, both because she was happy and because she was relieved.

Jongdae loved her and had no intention of leaving any time soon.

-

so this is what jongdae was planning. and we had the big sort of confrontation. anyway, i hope you're all liking the story. will miran forgive baek for killing her parents when he spared her sisters?

i think that was generous of him because her sisters are innocent. they did nothing to him. plus, her father tried to give their second daughter away too. so dude deserved to die. lol

anyway, tomorrow i have to go to work.

i am not looking forward to that. i am so fucking tired lately. but i want money, so i have to suck it up.

thank you again for reading.

-clary