Chapter 2

For one very long moment, everyone was silent, struggling to process this new piece of information.

"His…sister?" Mookyul eventually asked, finding his voice again. Dae just nodded. "Alright…so, what are you doing here?"

Dae looked down, trying to hold back the tears. "I had a fight with my parents. They want me go to the Christian college my dad preaches at, but I don't want to. There's a really good science university here in the city, and I want to go there. I keep telling them I want to study science and that I have no interest in their religion, but they won't listen. And tonight's fight was so bad I told them I'd go and live in the city without them, and stormed out the house. But I didn't know where to go from there, so I looked Ewon up and came here."

"How did you know about me?" Ewon asked in barely a whisper, speaking for the first time. He'd been sure his parents would never speak about him any more.

Dae turned her attention to her new found brother. "I was in the attic one day, looking for a baby photo of me for school, when I found a photo album full of photos of a small boy. When I asked my parents, they said he was their son, but that he'd run away at a very young age, and they didn't know what had happened to him. They said it hurt them, that's why they never spoke of him. Why did you leave brother?"

Ewon said nothing, unsure of how to answer. He wanted to tell her the truth, but at the same time he didn't want to ruin her opinion of her parents. However, after a few seconds, Mookyul made the decision for him.

"Left?" he scoffed, "You're parents are liars; he didn't leave, he was abandoned in an old house in the woods, because they didn't want him. Their marriage couldn't be blessed if they'd already had a child, so they decided to ditch him and pretend the whole thing never happened. He almost died! So don't you dare blame him for what happened."

Dae's eyes went wide with horror. "Is that true?" she whispered, looking directly at Ewon. Ewon looked from the floor to her, and the sad expression in his eyes said it all. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "Don't think badly of them; what's done is done, and they still love you. Come on, it's late, you can stay in the guest room for tonight." Ewon's mind was reeling, struggling to deal with this, and he really just wanted to go to bed and forget about the whole thing for just a minute

Dae wanted to know more, but she wasn't stupid; she knew her intrusion had been a big shock to her brother and his friend, and that they were probably very tired. She'd ask more in the morning. So she simply nodded and said thank you, letting Ewon lead her to the guest room.

"Stay here, I'll be right back," said Ewon, leaving the girl in the room for just a moment. Dae looked around the room – it was large, with a double bed, a built in robe and an en suite. This was just the guest room? She wondered what her brother did that meant he had so much money. Or maybe it was his friend's; Mookyul, her brother had called him. He was certainly good looking. Wouldn't it be awkward for her brother when he brought girl's home? Or maybe Ewon had a girlfriend of his own.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Ewon returned with a t-shirt and toothbrush.

"Something to sleep in," he explained as he tossed the shirt to her, and then put the toothbrush in the bathroom. "If you need anything, just come and knock on my door, it's the first door on the left as you walk down the hallway."

Dae nodded appreciatively. "Thanks for this."

"No problem," Ewon replied with a small smile. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," said Dae, and with that Ewon left the room, closing the door behind him.

Dae got changed and brushed her teeth before settling into the bed. It was very comfortable, and she'd had a long, stressful night; she was asleep within minutes.

Meanwhile, Ewon walked back to their bedroom to find Mookyul laying under the covers, propped up on one elbow. Ewon went to crawl into bed next to him, but Mookyul put up a hand to stop him.

"Strip," demanded Mookyul.

Ewon just rolled his eyes. "Mookyul, it's one o'clock in the morning, and we have a guest in the other room. We are not doing it again."

"I thought you'd say that," said Mookyul with a sigh, "but that's not actually where I was going. You were sleeping naked before the interruption, and I don't expect that to change."

"Fine," Ewon sighed exasperatedly, and removed the lose boxers before crawling into the bed.

For just a moment, Mookyul considered doing what he wanted anyway, despite what he'd just said. But for once, they expression on Ewon's face was enough to stop him. His lover looked completely bewildered by the last twenty minutes, which was to be expected, but there was something else. It seemed as if the distress from his past had been dragged up again, too close for his eyes to hide, even in the dim light. The man looked almost ready to burst into tears. So instead, Mookyul just wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close, his chest pressing against Ewon's back. And Ewon, far from pulling away, rolled over and wrapped his arms around him too, pulling himself even closer and resting his head against Mookyul's chest. Neither felt the need to speak, the comforting contact spoke legions for itself. So they just lay there, eventually falling asleep in each others arms.