Chapter 13

Rylie scrambled from the kitchen to the living room to the bathroom carrying pots, bowls and everything in between. The rain was dripping through the ceiling cracks and leaving pools of water everywhere. This happened every time there was a storm.

Her mother was sitting on the couch barking at her, doing absolutely nothing. Rylie blocked out her voice because it was the last thing she needed right now.

One of the pots in the kitchen was about to overflow so she ran towards it. As she got closer to it, she lost her footing and slipped. Everything she was carrying fell to the floor.

She let out a defeated breath and reached for the dishes. When she had everything, she was struggling to pull herself back up when an arm moved past her and took the bowls from her. She raised her head and was staring into Joel's face. Her eyes widened and she dropped everything in her hands again.

"Oh my god, how clumsy can you be? Dropping it a second time," yelled her mother from the next room. Rylie put a hand over Joel's mouth right when he was about to yell back. She slowly released her hand and put her index finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet. He reluctantly nodded.

"What are you doing here?!" she whispered.

"I want to help."

"I don't need your help!"

"Yes, you do, you can't do all this yourself. When the rain stops, I'm going to call a roofer and get him to replace the roof. Or do it myself even. You can't keep living like this…"

"You think this is a choice? That it's something I wanted to do?! If I had a choice, I would've gone to college or done something with my life," Rylie was cut off by her mother's cane making its way towards them.

"What are you yapping away about? You should just be grateful that you have somewhere to live and a roof over your head. Who's this? Another boyfriend?" she scoffed.

"No, he's just a friend," Rylie mumbled.

"Yeah, like I'll believe that again."

"I'm telling the truth!"

"You're a liar Rylie, always was!"

Tears began to form in Rylie's eyes for the third time that week. Not wanting either of them to see her in that state, she turned her head in the other direction, but the tears didn't stop. Her only other option was to run.

She collected herself and made a dash for it; past the dripping walls, past the pots and pans on the floor, past the front doors of her hell.

A hand caught her wrist as she got to the sidewalk and she stopped but couldn't look the person in the eyes. He walked around so he was in front of her and brushed her stands of hair away from her face. She used her sleeves to wipe away her tears and forced a smile.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. But that's my life; my ugly, miserable…"

Joel gripped both of her wrists and looked her in the eyes.

"Stop, don't talk like that! I know there are people who love and care about you…"

"I have friends and someone I love like a sister, but I'll never know what it feels like to have your parents love and support. Someone who will give me unconditional love and support me in everything that I do! Mine only feels nothing but hate and blames me for all her misfortune," she lowered her head and continued sobbing.

"Who says those friends can't be your family? Me and Cameron also care about you. No one else matters."

"Can you keep it a secret from Cameron?" she pleaded.

He stared back at her blankly. He didn't think that far, he only wanted to get her to calm down. Everything that he had done was for Cameron and to keep it from him felt wrong. But if doing this meant that his friend could see her again, did that matter? What was more important, Cameron's happiness or knowing the truth?

"It'll be our secret."

---------------------------------------------------

Everyone was home today at the Yoon house. They had put it off for months, but they finally decided to clear their schedules and clear out Mrs. Yoon's things.

Not that it brought back bad memories or anything like that. In fact, it was bittersweet. Reminiscing about past happy moments knowing they wouldn't be able to experience it ever again with her.

Mr. Yoon rolled up his sleeves and let out a big sigh.

"Alright kids, let's get started. It's about time we went through everything. Remember, we're all still family no matter what happens, including you, Yuki. You're like the son I never had."

Yuki smiled back at him, a little conflicted. Emilia patted his shoulder, as if to agree with her father.

Throughout the years, they had always treated him like family. He loved them for it, really, but he always kept them at arms length. A part of him felt like he was intruding in their lives, and he was benefitting from their kindness without getting anything in return.

To be honest, after confirming his feelings, he would try to get further from the brotherly image Emilia had of him.

Mr. Yoon's voice snapped him back to reality.

"Let's split up the work so we can get done faster. I'll handle all the legal documents and cancel anything that she might still have. Em, why don't you sort out her clothes and jewelry. If there's anything you like, you can keep it. Yuki, why don't you clean out her desk? Make sure you shred anything important."

They all nodded in unison and split up.

"Yuki, I'll come help you when I'm done!" she shouted from the bedroom.

"Okay!"

He walked into the office the couple shared and saw two desks on opposite sides of the room.

One had papers spread out all over and a half-empty coffee mug in the corner. The other one was spotless, nothing except family photos and a layer of dust.

He walked over to the second desk and collapsed into the chair. Letting out a big sigh, he plugged in the shredder and opened the first drawer. He collected the pens, markers and other office supplies and put them in the desk organizer.

He opened the next one and found old projects Mrs. Yoon had worked on with charts and numbers he didn't understand. He separated them and stuck them through the shredder, watching it turn into strips of confetti.

Opening the bottom drawer, he found more documents. But hidden under all of that, was an old tattered brown envelope. He turned it over and saw 'For Yuki' written on the front.

Curiosity got the best of him, and he opened the flap and took out what was inside. His mind began to spin as he took in what he was looking at.

There were many photos of him with his family when he was a baby, DVD's of what must have been home videos taken when he was younger. The last thing in the envelope was a legal document. The words began to swirl in front of him as he tried to focus his vision.

"Adoption papers?"

This didn't make any sense. They legally adopted him years ago? But why didn't they tell him?

"Well, this complicates things."