Sophie's pov:
I was lifelessly lying down on my bed when I heard a soft knock on the door. It was already past 10 pm and it was an unwritten rule in this house that we mind our own business after 10 so someone coming to talk to me at almost midnight was surprising.
I opened the door and was even more surprised to see Yeosang standing there, not even looking at me. "What do you want?" I sighed, not wanting to deal with him after having a rough day.
"This is for you." He held out a small A-5 book-sized hard item carefully wrapped in gift paper. I glanced at him once before I took the gift for him, utterly confused as to what and why exactly he was doing right now.
"Me? Should I?" "Yes, open it." He nodded right away. I slowly unwrapped the gift item realizing it was a small canvas. I turned it around and saw a sketch of a girl on it who looked exactly like me.
"Is this-" "Look at this too." He held out another portrait of me. I was bewildered at this point. What was he even saying?
"Did you draw two portraits of me...?" I finally asked, unsure of what I was supposed to say about whatever he was doing so suddenly.
"Can I come in? I will explain everything." He asked which was more of an order coming from him. Closing the door behind him, I sat down on my chair waiting for him to speak.
"I came here to apologize." He turned to the window. "For what?"
"For everything I have said and done to you. I must be out of my mind; I need to act more...mature." He said at once. I stared at him for a long second and looked at the portraits. Both looked pretty much like me but the styles were very different. The clothes, hair, and expressions of the second portrait were totally different from my style and it looked pretty old.
"What is this about Yeosang? Is this really me?" I kept them down on my table and looked at him pointing at them.
"One is you.... this one." He showed the one which really looked like me. "It's a quick sketch I did today so I'm sorry it's not that detailed and good." He added.
"It's beautiful. Thank you so much." I smiled. Yeosang was being nice to me after ages or maybe he was just drunk. Anyways, I was happy that we were not fighting for once.
"And the other one is my sister...who died a few years ago." Yeosang continued and my smile vanished right away. I couldn't decide whether I was sad about hearing his sister's death, shocked to find out that she looked exactly like me, or surprised that Yeosang, who hates me the most and never talks about his past even with his brothers is telling this to me.
"I am so sorry to hear that...how did she...?" I looked at him. He didn't look sad at all, nor did he show any emotions on his face. He was just staring at the portrait blankly.
"I killed her." Words fell out of his mouth as if he was just waiting for someone to listen to his story. "W-What..."
"Yes. I killed my sister with my own hands." He smiled at me maniacally. I got up alarmed sensing that he wasn't in his right mind right now.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I must've scared you." He plopped on the chair, holding his head in his hands.
"You don't look fine. You should take some painkillers and go rest." I sat beside him and gently rubbed his back, trying to calm him down. I could kind of understand what he was going through. It must've been traumatic.
"I'm fine. As I said, I came to apologize. The moment I saw you, it reminded me of my sister and since then, I lost it. You looked so much like her, sometimes I even thought you were her which was impossible and made no sense." I stared at him, unable to respond. He was just pouring everything out and this was my first time properly having a conversation with him. First but definitely not a nice, normal conversation.
"I-I understand. But what did she do to you?" was all I could ask. He immediately sat straight and huffed out a loud sigh, as if he had just been asked the most difficult question and he has the answer prepared.
"Well...our parents passed away when we were little. I was barely five years old; I don't even remember. Our family didn't have many friends and relatives so when our parents died, we both were left alone to die on the streets. My sister was just 8 years older than me but still, she did everything she could for us to survive. She worked hard every day even though she herself was just a kid." I could see him tearing up and his story confused me a bit.
"Why didn't you guys go to an orphanage?" I quickly asked. "We did and we ran away from there. It was more like a torture house." He replied which silenced me quickly. I did hear about some orphanages like those which are horrible so no wonder, so many orphans run away. "I see...but the things you told me till now. Looks like your sister was very hardworking and she loved you a lot." My sentence came out more like a question to Yeosang and my question was true. What would've happened that made Yeosang his sister's murderer?
"She was a nice person until she met her boyfriend. He was a total manipulator and he completely brainwashed her, making her believe that I was the sole reason for her miserable life. She slowly started going insane. He even turned her into a drug addict, and she was totally ruined by the time I got old enough to be able to stop her." A tear rolled down Yeosang's cheek as he probably was reliving through his memories. I frowned. It was difficult to see him in so much pain, especially when I didn't know how to comfort him.
"So...your sister. She must've started despising you. All this because of her boyfriend who used to give her drugs, driving her crazy and making her hate you to the point where she started thinking that you were the cause of her pathetic life?" I summarized his story and he nodded.
"One day, she suddenly barged in our tiny house. She must've had a lot of drugs that day because she had totally lost it. She started screaming and me and later beat me. That's when I realized that she will never be normal again. As she was a lot older than me and I was the weak one, afraid that she might actually kill me I grabbed a knife lying on the kitchen platform to scare her away but instead..." "She got really stabbed and died?" I completed his sentence. He nodded. His face was a complete mess by now, his nose bright red.
"The first stab was an accident. The other stabs were on purpose. I was actually glad that she died. At least she was free from this world and her horrible boyfriend whom she loved to death so blindly." He gave me a small smile and I tried to smile back, half terrified and half confused.
"And what happened to the boyfriend?" "He got arrested for the murder of my sister." Yeosang's smile was wider this time. I tilted my head in confusion and looked at him. "You see, a few minutes after my sister died I texted him to come over quickly from her phone. Before he arrived, I went to the neighbors to call them for help. The moment he arrived, the neighbors and I barged in, and he was caught red-handed with the knife in his hand. He said he was shocked and removed the knife trying to save her, but no one believed." He shrugged his shoulders as if everything he said just now wasn't that big of a deal.
"So basically, you framed him for your sister's murder? There were witnesses, his fingerprints on the knife. But motive? How old were you even when that happened?" I asked curiously. It was as if I was watching a crime series of something. Things like these usually happened only in movies.
"I told the police that he and my sister used to argue a lot and that he even used to assault my sister sometimes. Of course, anyone would believe an 11-year-old who had just lost his sister in a terrible incident." My eyes widened. I was beyond terrified now. How could a literal child do something like this and even frame someone else for a murder he did?
"Yunho's father and Seonghwa are the only ones who know this story. And now you too. Dad was the friend of a psychologist who was treating me after the trauma, and he figured out that I was actually the one who killed my sister. Dad was highly impressed with my skills and brought me here, to live with him and the brothers. Since then, I've been a member of this family. I had nowhere else to go anyways." My mind was still filled with his story. Yeosang really was on a whole another level. Unlike San who found Yunho's dad by accident, Yeosang was taken for his skills, personality and terrifying past. He was almost a psychopath.
A chill ran down my spine as I realized I was sitting beside someone who ruthlessly killed his sister while he was just a child. Should I just abandon my plan and run away from this world of killers before I get killed by one of them?
"I know what you are thinking, and you don't have to worry about it. You are our family member; we are never going to even lay a finger on you. If anyone does, just let me know." He got up from my bed and smiled, the sweetest reassuring smile he had ever shown. So, this was the real Yeosang, the one I was seeing for the first time.
"I will definitely inform you first, oppa." The expressions on his face of half shock-half flustered were fun to watch as I suddenly called him oppa.
"I am glad you felt comfortable enough to talk to me about it. I am always here if you ever want to talk about something again." I continued as he smiled. He looked much more relieved. It was as if I was seeing a totally new Yeosang standing in front of me.
"No wonder everyone here likes you, especially Yunho. You are really so nice and easy to talk to, it feels like we've known each other for years....Oh damn, it's late sorry, I'll leave now." He turned around and rushed out of my room as he wished me a good night.
I glanced at the watch which said 3 am and sighed. "Night. Yeah. It'll be morning in a few hours now." I said to myself as I literally threw myself on the bed and immediately passed out.