collateral damage 🔞 - COMPLETE

•thirteen• later

*Here's a little before of the last chapter's later... If you know what I mean...*

~~~~~Author

When the 3 of them reach the restaurant, they are brought to a private dining room. Their orders are taken, and they wait for it to be delivered. None of them speak yet, because the waiter will likely return to interrupt. Naeun sips the water she was given, thinking hard about how to tell Jimin the things he should know. Does she just tell him from the beginning? There are so many things... She's in her own head completely, when the food is delivered.

Once the waiter has left, she looks up from the spot she's been staring at to see both men watching her. She feels a little like they think she is a ticking bomb. Maybe she is... The things she's about to tell him, even half of what he needs to know... It will surely blow his world into tiny pieces.

"So... Noona... Mi-Hi and her brother... I'm sorry I forgot his name..."

"Ye-Jun"

"Mi-Hi and Ye-Jun... Explain."

"Really? THAT'S what you want answered? I believe you probably already know what I'll say..."

Like he can't bring himself to say the words, he waits for her to confirm his belief. His friend though... Not as tentative.

"Are they Jeongguk's? The teacher called her Jeon Mi-Hi..."

Naeun turns to look into Hoseok's eyes. She gets a little lost for a second as he is smiling brightly at her in an encouraging way. She looks away, clearing her throat, and looks back to answer his question.

"Yes. Haerin gave birth to Jeongguk's children."

She's blunt and doesn't hold back from this fact. It's always been her belief that he has a right to know. If she loses Haerin as a friend, but those angels get to have a better life, she'll be satisfied. A lot needs to happen though... Haerin is so far out of reach...

"Noona... Why did she never tell him?"

"You don't think she tried Jimin-ssi? Your phones were switched off. You never called or messaged her. How was she supposed to tell either of you anything?"

Jimin's hangs his head low as he realizes that she's saying the truth. Haerin must have suffered so much. A gasp leaves his mouth when he thinks about her parent's reaction...

"What about her parents? Did they help her?"

A bitter laugh passes Naeun Noona's lips, and Jimin braced for the truth.

"Her parents... They were planning to force her into an arranged marriage with a man 10 years senior. He was a disgusting pedophile, and Haerin refused even before she realized she was pregnant. When she did that, her mother hit her... Later, when she'd lost hope, she thought to kill herself and was crying so hard she passed out. I brought her to the hospital that day. It was when she found out she was expecting. When she told her parents... They wanted her to abort... She refused and ran away up the stairs. Her mother followed and caught her before she reached the top... She hit and kicked her, and then threw her down the stairs in an effort to kill the baby. I called the police to help Haerin... I was fired that day, and Haerin lost everything... Everything but the pregnancy..."

Bitter tears were streaming down Jimin's face, but he continued to meet Naeun's gaze. He feels so responsible for the pain his best friend went through, and he's afraid to hear more.

"I... I'm so sorry Noona... Did she think to go to my parents? Or Jeongguk's?"

Naeun's eyes said something, and Jimin knew he wasn't going to like what he heard.