13 Chapter 13 Kim Min Ho

"Kristal baby, would you mind if I talked to my brother in private for a minute?"

Jeon's voice was as steady as any man's voice would be if he didn't just witness the worst kind of betrayal anyone could ever go through right before his eyes.

He was standing by the door with his hands in his pockets looking so calm with no trace in his demeanor to suggest that there was anything wrong at all. It's when he looked me straight in the face, that the anger in his eyes betrayed his calm facade.

This was just like my brother. He always had this way of controlling his rage even in the worst of situations. I never understood that kind of behavior and it sure as hell frustrated me like crazy when we were children. It was until we grew up, that I realized just how dangerous he was when he was angered. I took one look on his face and I was sure that, I was in for a bloody battle.

Kristal stood up from the bed first and threw her arms around my brother's neck "Jeon baby please don't be mad like that okay? Please am sorry, am really really sorry" she pleased through her tears. I felt my heart sting just a little at the thought of her crying, but I quickly reminded myself that, I was the one who caused them in the first place.

"Shhhh! It's okay love, everything is just fine so please don't cry" he spoke softly into her ear and kissed her hair gently. He pulled out of her embrace and smiled at her "just give me a minute with my brother, okay?"

He gave her that reassuring smile once again but just like me, she knew him well enough to know that he was only managing his anger like we had both seen him do on countless occasions in our lives. She eventually gave up on her pleas and nodded in agreement. She turned to look at me with nervous eyes for a full minute before she left the room and closed the door behind her.

For what seemed like forever, my brother and I stayed like that. Him standing against the wall and me still sat on the bed with my head bowed from the shame of my actions.

Ever so slowly, he walked over and sat down lazily on the bed next to me. He cleared his throat as if he was going to say something but quickly decided against it and remained quiet.

When I looked up at him again, he didn't look as calm as he was before. His face suddenly looked so exhausted and the anger in his eyes was now replaced by immense pain that rendered me weak with shame. It took me a while to find my voice to manage an apology and even when I did speak, there was a terrible hoarseness to it.

"Jeon I can't tell you how sorry I am for what I have done to you" I started out hesitantly as guilt pricked at my heart at full force for seeing my brother in such a state "I know there is no apology that can make you feel better right now but I swear that I didn't mean to hurt you in any way"

"Really?" He asked. Sounding bitter and calm all at the same time "you are honestly telling me that you didn't mean to hurt me by kissing my woman?"

I swallowed hard and turned away from him. I tried to control my feelings but my tears couldn't comply with me and they started flowing all over my cheeks in a steady flow. I couldn't believe that despite all my efforts to control my feelings for Kristal, I still managed to hurt my brother nonetheless.

"How long has it been then hmm?" He asked. His voice shook as he tried to stop it from breaking and I found that, I couldn't look at him again. I was suddenly suffocating and way too pained to answer that question right away.

I silently wished that the ground would have mercy and swallow me whole right that moment but unfortunately for me, the ground remained intact and my brother kept breathing down at me in anticipation of my answer.

"It's not what you think Jeon, I swear this has never happened before" but Jeon was on his feet and pacing the room before I could finish with my pathetic explanation.

"Damnit Minho! How long has it been since you have been in love with my woman? That's what am asking!" He was yelling now. Crying even. it seemed like all his ability to hold his composure was totally vanished in the midst of his tears and I was torn to pieces to even think of anything to say to him to make the whole thing go away.

"For as long as we have both known her" I took in a ragged breath and my brother looked like someone had just hit him in the gut.

"What?" Jeon's face suddenly fell into utter misery as he stopped pacing about and just stood there looking at me "you mean to tell me that, you have been in love with her since middle school and I had no idea about any of this?"

"Of course I couldn't tell you Jeon, how could I? You are my brother and she is your fiancee. I couldn't ruin the love you guys have for each other, just because of my fickle feelings"

My brother didn't say anything to that, he just looked tired and degected as he slowly walked to the door but instead of opening it, he just stood there staring at the knob for minutes on end. "Am sorry I didn't see any of this minho but am not ready to give her up just yet either" he finally spoke in a broken voice. He didn't turn around to face me, but I didn't need to see his face to know that he was in pain and I felt it right along with him.

"You don't have to give her up Jeon, I promise you that what happened, will never ever happen again"

"How are you so sure when you love her minho?"

"Because I have done it all this time. That's how"

Jeon turned around to look at me with a sadness of a man who has lost everything "I can't believe I never noticed any of this. When I think of how blissfully happy I have been all this time when you were hurting right under my very nose, I can't help but blame myself"

"Are you insane? I betrayed you. you are supposed to be mad at me not feel bad for me" I stood up from the bed and walked to where he was standing by the door.

"Am sorry this happened to us Jeon but none of this matters right now because You are getting married tomorrow and you will forget about what I just said. Okay?"

Jeon looked defeated but still nodded his head before finally opening that door and leaving me all alone inside my room.

I went back to my bed and sat back down on it. I felt so terrible thinking about what I just did, but I only hoped that Jeon would listen to me and go on with the marriage and not think about giving up his happiness for my sake all over again.