Keep My Heart

Chapter Twelve

A/N: So, the last part was very heavy and I apologize, there are a lot more explanations to come, but how about that cliffhanger...does anyone even read these ramblings? Enjoy. 

Yoongi was frozen in shock. "Mom what are you doing here? Why are you at Ji-Yeong's house? Where is Ji-Yeong? Who was that calling me from the house phone?"

Hyun-Jin smiled sadly and pulled her son into the house. "I need you to prepare yourself okay? Ji-Yeong wanted to let you know what was going on, but in her current state, I don't think she can coherently say anything."

"Current state?" he asked, voice small and terrified. The worst flashing through his mind.

Hyun-Jin nodded. "Yes, she has had a rough day, so please go easy on her. I will fill you in on everything."

"How are you even here? How do you even know her?" he demanded.

"She reached out to me," his mother replied. "Two years ago, she reached out to me."

His eyes widened. "You've known where she has been this entire time!"

"She asked me to not tell you," she said. "She wanted to tell you at her own pace. We had every precaution set up to let you know in the event of something bad. So that is why you are finding out now."

"Where is she?"

Hyun-Jin pointed to the living room. "She is on the couch. Please be quiet. I don't want her waking up."

Yoongi froze as soon as he walked into the living room. There on the couch was Ji-Yeong wrapped up in a blanket on the couch covered in bruises. Anger rolled through him as he stared at her. "Who did this to her?"

"Seong-Ho," she whispered. "He got to her before I could. I don't think he got farther than hitting her, but who knows what he did mentally to her."

His body shook angrily. "Why? Why the hell would he do this? What does he have to gain from this?"

"That's what I need to tell you," Hyun-Jin replied. "I need you to promise you will listen before you react."

He nodded, despite the waves of fury falling off him. "I promise I will listen to what you say before I try to kill him."

"Guilt is a scary thing," his mom prefaced before starting her tale. "Ji-Yeong has always felt like her life has been a series of shortcomings that caused a lot of people pain, most particularly Eun-Yeong and Ji-Hu. When Eun-Yeong passed away, Ji-Yeong blamed herself. She told me that she always felt like even if she wasn't the responsible party, she felt like she should have been around to prevent the accident from happening. She worried that her love for you and the secrecy you two had to keep was the reason she was punished by fate taking her grandmother from her and nearly taking Ji-Hu from her. But fate has a funny way of showing itself. She had turned to the only person she could think of who would be willing to hide her from you so that she would not have to face your pain head-on and could drown herself in her own pain and guilt. That is how she came to Seong-Ho. He was kind to her at first. But then, Ji-Yeong got sick. She had Seong-Ho, but he wasn't much help to her, so she tracked me down. She said that she had remembered you talking about me before and then she had found me, begging me to help her. I cared for Ji-Yeong when I could. All those times that you asked to come see me, and I told you that you should rest at your dorm because you work too hard was because I was actually in Seoul with Ji-Yeong."

Hyun-Jin paused to assess Yoongi. He was calmly listening with his fists clenched in frustration that he couldn't be there for Ji-Yeong. Hyun-Jin continued, "There is a lot of legal protection for what I am about to tell you because we needed to make sure that Ji-Yeong would be fully protected from Seong-Ho in the event that he snapped, so I worked with your boss on protecting not just Ji-Yeong, but you as well. The reason that Ji-Yeong was sick and needed help was because she was pregnant. Seong-Ho had no experience in how to handle a sick, pregnant woman and I knew how to help her. Ji-Yeong would confide in me the fears that she held, especially bringing a child into Seong-Ho's home. See, Ji-Yeong was fully aware of his behavior and his abusive nature, but due to her upbringing, she felt she deserved it. But she had confessed to me, that she was afraid to allow her child to grow up in the same manner, so we had paperwork drawn up and signed to protect Ji-Yeong and her child from Seong-Ho. She wanted him to have no rights to the child."