Chapter CIV - Sharing The Burden

Sitting by the window, still on the phone with Tjay, Arthur gave a reassuring nod to the girls who worried about Nabi’s wellbeing.

“Good luck,” Arthur said, hanging up the call. “He found her.”

“Thank god,” Sophie sighed, sitting back properly on the couch as she was leaning over the backrest the entire time.

“Did he mention how she was?” Irene asked.

“He hasn’t talked to her yet, so I guess we’ll know later.”

“Poor girl,” Amelia said, averting her gaze.

“At least we know she’s safe now,” Arthur said, sitting down next to Sophie. “What a day, eh?”

“Speaking of which, I should go,” Iseul pointed out, standing up and stretching her arms.

“Already?” Irene asked, looking at Iseul before throwing a glance at Sophie.

“I’d stay longer, but it looks like it’s gonna rain,” she explained, looking at her phone. “Besides, I slept over, didn’t I?”

“Want me to give you a ride?” Amelia offered.

“I can call a cab.”

“Don’t be silly,” Amelia said, standing up and looking for her keys on the table.

“Actually. . .” Sophie spoke up in a low voice, looking at Arthur for approval.

“Up to you,” Arthur whispered, shrugging his shoulders.

Sophie then looked back at Irene, making sure they were on the same page before finally saying, “Would you mind staying longer? You can totally crash another night if you want.”

“Everything okay?” Iseul asked, noticing the weird exchange of glances between the three.

Amelia looked just as confused.

“Well. . . That’s what we wanted to talk about,” Irene explained. “However, it’ll take some time to explain, and it’d be best if you just stayed.”

“Is this about that secret?” Iseul asked.

“Yeah. . .” Sophie confirmed. “We wanted to tell you guys.”

“Secret?” Amelia asked, becoming more confused by the second. “What secret?”

“We’ll tell you,” Irene said to her sister before looking at Iseul. “So, wanna stay?”

“That’s not really a choice now, is it?” Iseul chuckled, making Irene smirk. She sat back down and leaned on the table. “Let’s hear it.”

“Sis, you might wanna sit down for this one,” Irene warned her.

“Okay? You’re not gonna tell me you’re getting married or are pregnant, are you?” Amelia joked, slowly lowering herself.

“What? No. . .” Irene sighed in disbelief.

“Just making sure!” Amelia threw a glance at Arthur, but his expression warranted her to take what they were about to tell her seriously. “Okay. Tension. . .”

“Art, wanna be the one to explain?” Irene asked.

“Sure. . .” Arthur exhaled, scratching his head awkwardly. “Where do I start. . .”

It took a while for Arthur to explain everything that had happened since they’d returned. It was an outrageous story that was almost too hard to believe and sounded more like a poorly told joke; however, it was a striking truth in the end.

Both sat quietly, left speechless after hearing everything. Arthur could only guess what was going through their mind.

“Does Max know?” Iseul asked, breaking the awkward silence.

“No, I haven’t told the guys yet,” Arthur answered, taking a deep breath. “But now that you guys know, we’ll tell them as well. No point in keeping it a secret anymore.”

Everyone switched their focus to Amelia, who looked completely out of it.

“You okay?” Irene asked, worried that the news overwhelmed her.

“Okay?” She mumbled, clenching her fists. “Are you insane?”

Her reaction was more fierce than the girls expected and in line with what Arthur imagined.

“Unnie. . .” Sophie lowered her voice. “It’s–”

“It’s what?” Amelia raised her voice. “Dangerous? Crazy?” Her eyes darted from one to the other. “How can you all be so calm about it? Am I missing something? You owe dangerous people a lot of money, and they are threatening your life. Not only that, but you have to fight a trained adult in a one-on-one with no rules. They could be coming after us even if you win!”

“Sis–”

“Don’t.” She cut Irene off. “Every inch of my body demands I hug you and ask if you’re alright, but I’m so angry with you for keeping this from me. Of all the things, this?!”

“It wasn’t my secret to tell,” Irene defended herself. “You think I didn’t want to? I’ve been dying to tell you! I tell you everything. . .”

“I–” Amelia wanted to say something, but she was too flustered to speak to Irene, finding herself on the brink of tearing up. “I can’t believe this. . .”

Arthur refrained from saying anything, but he kept repeatedly thinking about how it was a mistake to tell the whole truth as he strongly believed he could handle it on his own. It didn’t help that he was tired, having already visited his grandfather early in the morning while telling the girls that he simply stayed up late.

Irene stood up and walked over to her sister, kneeling in front of her and grabbing her hands. She took a deep breath and gazed into Amelia’s eyes.

“I’m sorry for not telling you sooner, but please. . . I need you.”

Amelia remained silent for a bit before taking a deep breath. She shook her head in disbelief before getting up and pulling Irene with her.

The two embraced in a hug as Amelia whispered, “Don’t ever keep something like that from me again, okay?”

“I promise,” Irene leaned against her, closing her eyes. “Everything’s gonna be fine.”

To Arthur, Amelia’s reaction was reasonable and even more so expected, unlike Sophie’s abnormal understanding. Of course, Irene had her reason for staying calm, but even she showed her concern.

“So. . .” Amelia broke away from the hug and looked at Arthur. “What now?”

“Nothing. I’m gonna wait for the fight and win, I guess.” He let out a sigh, realizing how unreassuring he sounded. “Look, it’s gonna be fine. Trust me.”

“You’re kidding. . .” Amelia’s expression turned from understanding to shock as Arthur’s carefree attitude frightened her.

Arthur knew she was angry with him above all else. After all, he’d be angry as well had someone endangered Sophie’s life, but there was little he could do to change things as of now.

“It’s not that crazy,” Iseul finally spoke up, finding it hard to fit in when she wasn’t directly involved like the others. “I’ve heard that Art is a hell of a fighter.”

“It’s true,” Sophie added.

“But, Art. . .” Iseul turned to him. “Aren’t you just a bit too overconfident?”

“Thanks for the concern, but there’s not much I could do to change things. Mind you, it’s them who need emotional support. I’m fine.”

“Even steel can melt,” Iseul sighed. “Irene wouldn’t let you do this if she didn’t believe in you, so I’ll follow her lead, but if you need to talk, I’m here.”

Irene thought to herself that Iseul probably wasn’t even aware of how much her saying that meant to her.

“Thanks,” Arthur said, scratching his arm as he turned his gaze toward Amelia. “What about you? Gonna trust me or?”

“I–” Amelia was hesitant to speak.

Arthur hummed before an idea clicked.

“Amelia,” he called out her name. “Would you mind coming upstairs with me? I want to talk to you alone.”

Amelia was hesitant and confused, but Irene nudged her, gesturing for her to trust him.

“Fine, but don’t hold it against me if I say something. . .”

“Please do,” Arthur said, showing her a genuine smile as he started making his way out of the living room.

Amelia followed, and the two made their way to his bedroom, where they could talk.

She sat down on the bed while he pulled up a chair for himself.

“Come on, say it.” Arthur waited long enough for her to speak up.

“You know I’m angry and terrified. . .” She mumbled, looking down at the ground, clenching her fist. “If anything happens to my sister–”

“I’ll die before I let anything happen to either of them or you and the others.”

Amelia wanted to rebuke his confidence, believing he didn’t understand what he was saying, but when she looked up and saw his eyes, she bit her tongue.

They sat in eerie silence, both thinking of how to express what they wanted to say.

“I know it’s a huge amount of money, but if Irene and I talked to our parents and explained what was happening, I’m sure they’d be willing to help. It’s a big ask, but our parents would probably come up with some type of arrangement to help out.”

“You already know we can’t do that, and I wouldn’t accept it either.”

“But–”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m not willing to ruin my relationship with your sister and the future I hope to have with her over someone else's mistake.” The one thing Arthur never expressed to anyone was just how angry he was. “I’ll handle this, and everything will go back to normal.”

“Your way of handling it is for you to trust empty words? Even if you win, there’s no guarantee they’ll follow through with what they promised. For all you know, they could just gang up on you and beat you to death.”

“Your worry is warranted but is misplaced.”

“What?” Amelia furrowed her brows.

“My only worry is when you guys aren’t with me, which is why the first person I went to was Tjay’s father.”

“How could I forget that Petra was actually a professional bodyguard. . .” Amelia said with a sarcastic tone.

“Look, I can’t control what you do. The moment we told you the truth was the moment we forfeited the right to keep this from everyone. If you want to tell your parents, I can’t stop you, but remember that it’ll ruin your sister’s relationship, and I’ll refuse anyway.”

“You’re impossible. . .” She sighed, cracking her fingers nervously.

Arthur stood up and sat next to her on the bed, cupping her hands to calm her nerves.

“Not such a pushover as I make it seem, huh?” He joked, managing to make Amelia chuckle. “How about this. . . Would proving to you that I’m able to win make you feel better?”

“How’d you plan to do that?”

“I’ll show you firsthand I can hold my own in a fight, and if you still choose not to believe me after seeing it, then I won’t hold it against you if you tell your parents. Sound reasonable?”

“But how will you do that?”

“I’ll show–” Arthur began to explain, but the doorbell suddenly interrupted.

“Must be the food we ordered,” Amelia reminded him, noticing he was a bit on edge.

“Yeah. . .” Arthur sighed in relief, staying vigilant despite being tired. “Anyway, as I was saying. . . I can show you, but I need to know beforehand that you agree with my suggestion.”

“So what you’re asking for is to show me that you can do it, and if I still don’t trust you after that, I’m free to do whatever?”

“That’s right. Not much to lose on your end.”

“Fine. . .” Amelia sighed as there was little room to argue with such a deal.

“Good,” he said, taking out his phone.

“Calling someone?” She sounded intrigued.

“Let’s hope he picks up.”

Arthur called Tjay’s father and put him on speaker. The number Arthur called was given to him in case he needed to get hold of him quickly, but Arthur never expected to use it, especially not for something like this.

“Hello?” Tjay’s father picked up, sounding as if he was in a crowd.

“Hi. . . Arthur here,” he mumbled awkwardly, still not used to chatting with people over the phone.

“Ah, Art! What can I do for you?”

“I hope I’m not interrupting. . .”

“No, no. I’m on break right now. Seems luck is on your side,” Jong Yoon-gi chuckled.

“Seems like it,” Arthur smiled, slowly becoming relaxed. “Sir, I’m sorry to ask, but I need another favor.”

“Another?” His laugh echoed over the phone. “Quite a lot of those lately.”

“I apologize, but this one might be beneficial for you too.”

“Is that so? I’m listening.”

“Since you know about my fight in two months, I was thinking of getting a small warmup. Could you arrange for me to fight your best-trained men in a one-on-one spar? ”

“Really?” He sounded surprised. “When would you like to do this?”

“The sooner, the better. Preferably tomorrow?” Arthur looked at Amelia. “I’ll be bringing a few spectators that might be worried about me.”

“Ah. Now I get it,” Jong Yoon-gi laughed again. “I’ll see what I can do. You coming to visit your grandfather in the morning?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. Bring whoever wants to watch with you, and I’ll see to it that everything’s ready. How many would you like to spar?”

“Maybe ten?”

Amelia’s eyes went wide, knowing well who Tjay’s father was and what company he owned.

“Ten? Okay. . . I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t worry about it. Is there anything else?”

“No, that’s all I wanted to ask.”

“Alright, talk to you later then,” he said, hanging up the call.

Arthur put the phone back in his pocket and took a deep breath before glancing back at Amelia.

“Good enough?” Arthur asked.

“I’m. . .” She sighed, standing up and walking toward the door. “I’m hungry.”

“Sure.” Arthur chuckled, following behind her.

It was a bit of a hassle, but if it would potentially ease everyone’s mind, it was a small price to pay.

Walking down the stairs, they heard chatting from the living room, but as soon as they entered, Arthur’s eyes went wide after seeing an unexpected guest.

“Moon?”

Chapter End.

Thank you for reading.