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Kyungsoo knocked violently on Ara's bedroom door as he stood waiting on the landing when she said she just needed to 'touch up on my makeup'. She came out, flustered and sheepish.

"Sorry, my eyelashes were annoying me," she apologized vaguely before wheeling her small suitcase out. It was Friday evening; after the hectic rush hour where the roads were a little less crazy and jammed with beeping cars, and Ara was to stay with her parents until Sunday evening where Kyungsoo finished work and would have to make the four hour commute there and back.

Ara felt exceptionally pained to hear his journey, especially after he arrived from a tiring day at work. Kyungri was staying at Juhyun's until Saturday as he would probably be back early tomorrow morning. What made Ara feel even more terrible is that she didn't even hold up her side of the deal. The day they created this pact, she managed to pull Kyungsoo's heartstrings so much, he offered to drive her to Busan unconditionally.

Looking at his weary face now, Ara's own heartstrings were pulled. She almost pushed her suitcase back into the room and told him to go home. But remembering how her Dad was so jubilant to hear of her visitation was holding her back; he had called, crying down the phone about missing his youngest and dearest child, who had left the family bravely to recieve the best education she could get. Hearing that caused her to sob all night long, holding her pillow as if it was her loving father.

Kyungsoo assisted in putting the suitcase in his car boot and began the car once they both were sat comfortably. The four hour journey had commenced. It was serene as the car rumbled through stretches of greenland covered with slow farm animals and tall trees. The pair didn't speak for a while — Ara staying silent whilst texting her two friends, Kyungsoo driving.

"You know Juhyun's actually not that bad," Ara started after about two hours of complete quiet. Her phone had died and she needed some sort of distraction from her impending travel sickness. She found her stomach sending warning signs that it was about to eject the small and cautious lunch she had prior; her palms sweating too from fear.

"Hm?"

"Taeyeon invited us two out last week. She's clearly making an effort now."

A harsh chuckle left Kyungsoo's mouth as he took a sharp turn through the highway. "Don't trust her...really. She's good at being fake. It's her specialty. She is a lawyer."

That shut Ara right up. Why was he acting so petty for? Juhyun wanted to mend the shaky relationship between the two and it was working. Surprisingly, she hadn't left the new group chat made by Taeyeon consisting of the newfound trio. She even spoke on it occasionally, being oddly pleasant to Ara. The latter decided to not bother beginning a fresh conversation. Kyungsoo was probably quite mad at her for taking so long prior to their departure, so he would get home later than expected. Luckily he wasn't working tomorrow.

She winced, immediately looking at the open window emitting cold wind, when her stomach panged with a queasy pain. She stuck her head out of the window to try and relieve the symptoms but it barely worked. She knew if she didn't get out of the car soon, Kyungsoo would have to deal with a disgusting mess.

"Kyungsoo," she managed to groan out, clutching her stomach weakly. He looked over at her as his eyes softened seeing her pained state.

"Ara? Are you okay?"

She shook her head, knowing she was going to throw up very soon. "No, can you pull over?"

When he realized what she meant, he drove faster to find a hard shoulder to pull the car over. Miraculously, he found one and quickly parked the car, helping Ara out of the car as she ran towards the row of bushes decorating the edges of the highway.

In the middle of nowhere, Ara found herself throwing up violently in the bushes. Hands on knees, bent over, she couldn't stop herself from puking out all of her lunch. Kyungsoo sympathetically watched; pulled her hair away from her face; patted her back and murmured positive words to make her feel less humiliated about the whole situation. Finding a bottle of water at the back seat, he gave it to her once she turned back uneasily. She took it gratefully and attempted to get rid of the bitter taste. Kyungsoo also had a packet of chewing gum, which Ara yet again took gratefully.

She decided to lie in the back for the rest of the journey to attempt to sleep as Kyungsoo drove through the night towards Busan. Ara did sleep after a while, and woke up when he kept nudging her that they finally got to Busan. Ara's Mom had sent the address to him, and he was parked right in front of the home. It was a modest semi–detatched house near the port, causing nostalgia to fill Ara as her eyes wavered over it. She bounded towards it whilst Kyungsoo took her suitcase, and knocked on the door.

There, her darling older sister Jung Lia stood, her short raven black hair tied in a small ponytail and weary eyes as she had returned from work. Clad in pajamas, Lia's eyes scanned her sister head to toe before feeling her eyes mist up in tears.

"Ara!" She squealed, quickly pulling her younger sister in a secure hug and sobbing on her shoulder. Ara's arms wrapped around hers like vices, never letting go.

"I missed you so much," she replied, sniffing.

"I know," Lia pulled away to grin at her younger. "I missed you more, trust me."

Wheeling Ara's small suitcase to the door, Kyungsoo crept up behind and bowed politely to Lia. "Hi, I'm Kyungsoo. Ara's chauffeur for the day."

Lia didn't take that and wrapped her arms around Kyungsoo in a welcome hug. He obviously reciprocated as he was a nice person. She took the suitcase away from him and placed it in the hallway whilst the pair followed and closed the door behind them.

"I'm Lia," she responded sweetly. It was very clear that she'd recognized Kyungsoo from Ara's photo and she gave her younger sister a knowing smile before turning back to her newfound friend. "What do you mean Ara's chauffeur? You drove all the way here just to go back?"

"Pretty much."

That's when Ara's Mom came out of the living room to see where the noise was coming from. Despite seeing her Mom a week ago, Ara still hugged her tightly, and she went to Kyungsoo to also give him a squeeze.

Her Mom grabbed her hand gently before leading her to the living room. "Ara, come see your father."

For some reason, Ara's heart was pumping fast after hearing that. Maybe because she threw all of her lunch up and was feeling fatigued from lack of food or because she hasn't seen her Dad in ages. She couldn't wait to be in his presence, though.

He sat on the famous brown squashy chair that he always did, his frail arms poised on the arm rests, dressed dapper as usual and looking much older than she'd remembered. Not ever did Ara see her father with gray hairs. But right now he had a head full of them; his wrinkled face tired and quite confused at his surroundings. Sensing Ara's form, he put on his glasses and studied his daughter. Then his eyes lit up.

"A--Ara?" He shakily called out as if he was imagining his child and that she wasn't actually standing in front of him. When she reached out to grasp his weak hand, that's when he burst out in forlorn yet thrilled tears. "Is that my daughter?"

Ara hadn't comprehended that she was also crying silently, tears streaming down her crumpled face as she hugged her Dad. "Yes it is."

As this beautiful moment took place right in front of his eyes, Kyungsoo stood in the doorway feeling his own wide eyes tear up a little. He wiped them before anyone could realize, but little did he know that Lia was watching with a smile playing on her lips.

—

Midnight was looming as the Jung family plus Kyungsoo sat in the living room whilst Ara's darling Mom and sister began exposing her through baby photos and other memorabilia. She sat through the embarrassing ordeal just dwelling upon why she chose the visit this ungrateful family, and hoping that it would end soon. She felt a lot stronger too; after being fed a lot by her Mom.

Ara's Mom was chuckling hysterically, her cup of tea, long gone cold, in her hand dangerously shaking. "Our Ara...she didn't even begin potty training until she was three!"

Kyungsoo's eyebrows raised and he spluttered out. He turned to the flushing Ara beside him. "Three? Kyungri would be embarrassed for you."

"Continue rubbing it in, why don't you?"

"So Kyungsoo..." Lia trailed off, leaning forward from her chair. "Why'd you choose to be aquainted with someone like my younger sister?"

He shrugged. "She's my neighbor. We live exactly across each other and she's the only neighbor in my building that actually bothers making conversation with me. And she has a knack with my daughter."

"When my Mom told me you had a kid, I was really shocked! You look younger than me!"

Lia was nearing twenty–five, so she was approximately a year younger than the twenty–six year old, but everything she said was correct.

"Yeah, I get that often."

Suddenly, Ara's Dad piped up from his dormant state. He narrowed his eyes at Kyungsoo. "I remember you. From a photo?"

"Oh, yes," Ara's Mom cut in, patting his shoulder softly. "The photo I showed you. From Ara's social media."

"Y--yes, that. I knew his face rung a bell somewhere. So you know my daughter, I'm assuming. What's your intentions with her?"

"Huh?" Kyungsoo questioned, fairly baffled at his interrogation.

"You obviously came to ask for my blessing to date my daughter, right?"

"N--no, no! Not in the slightest," he retorted in panic before shaking his head lightly. "We're just friends. I drove her here because she needed a ride. Speaking of driving, I should go."

That's when Ara's Mom quickly stopped him when he attempted to stand up and leave. "You're not going anywhere, Kyungsoo. The drive's almost five hours and you look exhausted. I insist you stay the night. Heck, stay as long as you feel — leave when Ara does."

"I can't. My daughter is expecting me tomorrow, and I haven't even got any overnight garments."

"Don't worry about any of those; my husband seems the same size as you, and we have plenty of spare things you could use."

Kyungsoo was wavering at the tempting option. He didn't really want to endure another four hours of meanless driving all on his own in the long hours of the night. His eyes were drooping this minute as they'd tried to lure him to stay. Perhaps he could sleep the night and leave tomorrow morning?

He nodded his head. "If that's all okay with you."

She pulled Kyungsoo into another one of her soothing motherly hugs, patting his back. "More than okay! You look after my daughter so well, even driving her across the country so she could see us. It's the least we could do."

"I'm going to head to bed anyways," Lia announced as she stood up yawning. "Good night, guys. Refresh yourself."

She hugged everyone (even Kyungsoo) and disappeared up the stairs to her room. Ara's Mom also said her farewell, leaving the room to sleep. It seemed her Dad wasn't very tired himself, instead sitting and watching mindlessly.

"Dad, do you want tea?" Ara asked delicately as if her voice was enough to break her poor Dad. He looked up and nodded eagerly. When Kyungsoo was going to follow her to the kitchen, she gave him a stern look to keep him company. So he stayed put.

Being at the kitchen that Ara once hit her head on the counter after being chased by Lia, the oven where she baked numerous cakes with her Mom and the pictures stacked on the walls consisting of the quartet, smiling as if nothing bad was ever going to happen. Before her Dad began experiencing symptoms; forgetting simple things like where he put his keys, then complex information such as his own background. It all went downhill from there.

Suddenly the kettle stopped boiling and she stirred the camomile tea, serving it to her Dad. He gave her a weird look whilst gingerly taking the tea.

"Who are you again? Did we get a maid?" He asked curiously, looking Ara up and down.

Ara blushed. "N--no, I'm your daughter. Ara? Remember me?"

He slammed his tea on the floor, spilling some in the process, and shook his head. "No, you're not! I only have one child."

"That's not true, Dad," Ara protested whilst trying to keep the calmest and softest voice to prevent provoking her hysterical father, but her voice was wavering. "You allowed me to go to Seoul for university, I've been gone for four months."

He stood up in fury, squaring up to his vulnerable daughter. "If you truly were my daughter, you'd never leave!"

"T--that's not true, Dad, and you know it!" Ara cried before looking deep into her father's narrowed eyes. "You wanted me to go. You wanted me to get a better future! This was all for you!"

Before the incident could escalate any further, Ara's Mom slipped into the room and and linked her arm around her husband's leading the angry man out of the room so he could go to sleep. She turned back to her daughter and gave an expression of remorse. It was a long time since she'd come to visit the family, so it would take time for her to deal with her father's deteriorating state. Throughout her parent's journey, she overheard her Dad deny that she was ever his daughter. Ara just listened, heartbroken.

Kyungsoo watched horrified as the incident unfolded, his awful tendency to freeze up in situations like this coming to place. He felt sorry for Ara; his family, although boring, were stable. They were luckily healthy and happy with what they had, and he couldn't imagine the pain she was currently going through. She stood in the middle of the room just shivering. Until tears just gushed out of her eyes like a geyser — it wouldn't stop. Her hands self–consciously flew to her face to cover her crumpled facial expression as she cried all the pain that she'd just endured within those five minutes. A warm blanket was over Ara's shoulders as an arm wrapped around her to lead her to the sofa so she could sit down.

There, Kyungsoo let her cry on his shoulder as her arms circled around his neck and they embraced in a comforting hug, where he rubbed her back soothingly and she sobbed and sobbed.

They both dozed into darkness, tangled in each other.

—»

I hope that's a good enough ending for chapter twelve haha! By the way, has anyone seen Kyungsoo's new haircut? It's given me migraines, that's for sure. But surprisingly he's able to pull it off without looking like a skinhead :'). But I'll be waiting patiently for his long hair again. Thank you for reading!!