CHAMPION | NCT

o44

"Wha - ? Grandma! What have you done to him?!"

Grandma was already moving in quick motions towards me, shushing and easing. "It's okay, Sooji. It's okay. Nothing harmful. Just a sleeping drug."

"But - "

Before I could say any more words, she was already cupping my cheeks with her wrinkled hands, rubbing her thumb across my cheekbones in a delicate way. "He's that boy, right? The Capital's inheritor. I'm sorry for doing that to him, Sooji, but it's necessary. We need to talk. And he musn't hear it. Do you understand?"

I nodded.

She flashed me that familiar warm smile. "Good girl," she said, then pulled me to her for an embrace. "You've grown so, so much. I missed you, more than anything. Oh god, thank you, thank goodness that you're alive."

An inevitable warm feeling bloomed in my chest as I returned the hug. I was now taller and larger than she was. It's crazy. She felt like a little bird on my arms, small and fragile.

"I am so sorry I wasn't able to fight for you. I've been thinking about you ever since the day that they took away. Everyday, I pray for your happiness and safety. Oh Sooji, darling, you have no idea how guilty I felt."

"Grandma, it's okay. It's not your fault."

"And your Baba, your father," she sniffed. "He never stopped looking for you, waiting for you, every single day, Sooji. He's still bringing a spare of apples for your share, keeping your room tidy in case you come back, wishing you a happy birthday everytime winter came. He didn't lose hope. He never gave up, until... until he left me too."

I pulled away from the hug and stared directly into Grandma's eyes. "H-How did Baba die?"

"I-It's a long story," she stuttered. "He died because of the virus."

"B-But," I felt my eyes water. "That's not possible. Our hometown's far from the city, far from the source of the plague. There's no way it could have contaminated him-"

"Oh, Sooji. Come, come. Take a seat, please. I have something very important to tell you," she gestured me to follow her to the table, before pulling out a chair for me to sit on.

"I an going to tell you the story behind the bargain that I made with the Dong family 10 years ago."

I felt my entire body stiffen.

Grandma opened her mouth and started speaking, "Your father and your mother met inside the city. He, a normal townboy, and, she, a normal worker. Your mother worked at a dress shop, and your father delivered materials from the town to the city. They met two to three times a week. And they fell in love.

"When they started seeing each other, the Dong family, the person who hired your father to work, also started to show interest to him. He was given credit for how wise and inventive he was. He actually came up with a lot of machines to quicken your mother's work. It was his act of helping her, of showing his affection. And your mother was no ordinary dressmaker, she was very beautiful and creative, and people couldn't stop ordering from her, just to glimpse at her beauty. But later, it started to become different. Your father got hired to work inside the Dong household as their official clockwork. Your mother had too many dresses to finish. They stopped seeing each other frequently. And then while your father was working inside the Dong's house, his boss's daughter grew so fond of him."

I gulped. Sicheng's mother. She fell in love with Baba. Oh god.

"They grew close. Very close, I'm afraid to say. Dong even introduced your father to the other family of bosses. The Wong, the Kim, the Jung, the Kwon and the Lee. That's how much she admired him. But when it was time for your father to choose, he picked your mother."