༄ THE boy looked over her shoulder, at the medallion where a picture of someone who looked a suspicious lot like him stood, laughing.

Minho stared at it for a long time, and the silence felt stabbing to Sam. Then, he nodded. "That's me. I was eight. The one time my father seemed to like me a little bit. I have that picture in my room, too."

The color drained away from Sam's face. "So he was the one in this car," she managed to say, the shock making her freeze. "With the gun."

Minho was either not surprised at all, or just hid it very well. "Probably. My aunt wouldn't give a crap about a picture. Neither would she try to kill me. She finds me useless anyway. But my father has some unexplainable hatred."

She held back tears. Both options were bad. Her mother could be lying, which she doubted. But that meant Edith tried to kill her own daughter, or Minho's father tried to kill his own son.

Such lovely parents.

"This is messed up," she murmured. "And I'm so sorry I never reached out more about your parents and that you had to go through—"

"Sammy." He grabbed both of her shaking hands. "Don't be sorry."

"Your own father—"

"He's crazy," he said. "I really think Mom's death drove him crazy and seeing me, because I apparently look like her, made him even worse. My whole family is crazy. Drug addicted aunt, insane father, self-harming son... dead mother. It doesn't even surprise me anymore."

"Don't say that," she replied quietly. "Don't talk about yourself like that."

"It's true. I'll probably end up just like them."

"No, you won't," she spoke, a little louder this time. "You're nothing like them, and I don't even know them. You're kind, funny, caring, and you wouldn't harm anyone who hasn't done anything wrong. You tried to fight a grown man when you were ten because he assaulted women, Minho. You're perfect."

He blinked a few times, eyes glossier. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Sammy."

She sniffed, rubbing her eyes as she laughed through some tears. "Well, you won't lose me so you're not going to find out soon."

The corners of his lips moved up a slight bit. "I don't think I want to find out anything more in the next decades. These weeks were crazy enough."

She pressed her forehead to his. "We probably got a lot to fix right now. After that... peace." A chuckle left her mouth.

He smiled. "Can we get out of this car first? It's uncomfortable."

"Yeah." Sam laughed as they walked back inside their house, but that faded when she realized they now had to tell everyone who had been next to her mother.

"Want to tell them?" She looked up at Minho. "The police has to do something about it. We can't let your father get away with this. And honestly, she may be my mother, but I think my life's better without her in it."

"We'll tell them." He nodded, and they walked back inside the living room.

Jeff was the first to notice them. "Found anything?"

The couple shared a glance before Minho nodded. "We know who must've been in the car."

Sahil's attention immediately turned on. "Who?"

Sam took Minho's hand and again, squeezed it. He let go of a breath. "My father. We found a medallion with a picture of me in it. I've seen my dad walk around with it."

The three people in front of them looked like they saw ghosts, while Minho still seemed the less affected.

"Sammy said we'll go to the police," he added. "And I want that, too. Clarence needs to be arrested for everything he's done and so does my father."

"Why've your never called the police on this Clarence before?"

That tone. The way she asked it. The way she looked at Minho. Gosh, Sam still wished to yell some rude crap at her mother.

Guess she was back. The old one.

Sadly.

During his reply, he kept cold eye contact with the woman. "Because I was afraid my aunt would lose it," he said blankly. "She already stole money to buy more drugs. If she didn't have money and used less of the pills, she went crazy on me. I was afraid she'd do some serious damage if she couldn't get drugs anywhere at all."

"But you bring other people into danger because of that? Your aunt could've—"

"I'm pretty sure you were drugged too and also spoke to Clarence like he was a normal human being. I don't think your opinion will help me much right now. Or anywhere in my life."

In the silence—where Sam grinned deeply and Jeff held back a snort—Sahil cleared his throat.

"I think it's best you kids go upstairs right now. I will handle the police and try to keep you out of the drama as much as possible."

The three teenagers obeyed almost immediately, happy to be released from the horror, and rushed upstairs.

"They're still getting divorced," Jeff said. "They just spoke about it when they thought I wasn't listening. Apparently, it's been on Dad's mind for a while, but he never mentioned it. After all of this, he's obviously done. You see how moody he was."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "I'm mostly hoping we don't have to spend a few days at Dad and then a few days at Mom. I wouldn't want that."

"I think that after everything that's happened between you and Mom, neither Dad or the divorce lawyer wants you to spend much time alone with her."

❤︎︎

"Are you okay?" She whispered to Minho that night, her arms wrapped around his torso. "You're acting too blank about this whole situation."

He gave her a smile. "I'm alright, Sammy. I do feel sorry about not telling you about my family. I was... ashamed."

"I'm glad you told me today," she responded. "Now I hope there's nothing more you're struggling with because I'm wondering how you even survive."

He ran his fingers over her back. "Well, you're here. And there's nothing else I haven't told you. You officially know everything about me! First person in the world. You should feel honored."

"I do feel honored." She chuckled. "And you know everything about me. You should feel honored too."

"I'm honored enough I even got you." A kiss on her forehead. "And guess what?"

"What?"

"I haven't gotten the urge to grab something sharp once, the last weeks. The night of the accident was hard but I managed to distract myself. And that's all because of you."

Her face heated up. "Me?"

"And your father's help. But mostly your subconscious help. Just by the simple words I love you."

She smiled even brighter. "I indeed do happen to love you a lot, Minho."

"I love myself, too." A pause. "I actually hate myself. This is my usual comeback when Newt attempts to say I love you. Comes automatically."

She scoffed. "You're not gonna say it back? Rude."

But before she could turn her back to him, he already connected their lips. "I love you an indescribably lot, Sammy. More than myself and hair gel and basketball."

Her laughs muffled in his chest. "I love you more than myself and my books and my tote bags."

He peeked at "I READ PORN" tote bag in the corner of her room. "I'm glad you do. And you love books a lot, so I'm flattered."

"You should be."

"Hey, now, do want to know how badly my knees buckled every time I saw you before we actually started dating? They still buckle, though."

"Oh, stop it already."

"It's true! And I was freaking jealous at Gally that day you were seeing your mom because you took blame for cigarettes. I wanted to kill him. And then, you lay your hand on my thigh and I felt better than after winning a game."

"I might be embarrassed for you."

Though she was internally screaming someone was in love with her like that.

"Oh, and when Thomas spoke to you about all the book boyfriends and I had no clue. I was mad. And—"

"Oh my lord."

"—when we were baking cupcakes, and I stood behind you like that? Remember? Well, I freaking died, Sammy. I died, dead, bleh."

❤︎︎

A/n: All the things Minho spoke about in the last few sentences are things that are gonna be published in his POV too. Soon!!

And also a bonus about his communication with Clarence and another one while Sam was unconscious after the accident. Some drama between Minho and Edith :)