51. Anger Management

"Look Mijin, I came here because your dad invited me. I never came just so we could reconcile..."

"Liar! You could have turned the offer down as you did before! Haven't you become good at avoiding me? You should have stayed away from my entire family alltogether! You left me, so why still linger in family affairs?"

Niel smacked his forehead in frustration and regret. Perhaps Mijin was right. Her father never forced him to come, he just guilt tripped him but he could have turned down the invitation...or maybe it was the frustration of having to keep running away from this ex girlfriend that lured him into thinking it would be a good idea to finally face her to get closure and move on with his life. Yet, despite weeks of not seeing her, he couldn't deny the temptation of wanting to forgive her and take her back.

"I looked everywhere for you Niel. I called you for days on end but you had blocked me! Couldn't you have at least allowed me time to think over your ultimatum than shutting me out completely before listening to my reply?" Mijin was in tears as he spoke and Niel fought hard to control the temptation to reach out and pacify her.

It was after her dad had just cut the cake as everyone sang happily and wishing him a happy birthday than Mijin lost her temper and lashed out at him, calling him a pretender and traitor. The two were later kicked out by Mijin's parents, leaving them alone with Elric and Stan's parents.

Come to think of it, why had Stan and Yeon not returned yet? They'd confirmed making it in time for dinner.

"Look, today is your dad's birthday so let's go back and apologize. I'll leave tomorrow after we talk."

Reaching towards Niel, Mijin grabbed both his hands and looked at him, her eyes begging for an explanation. "You'll run away at first light Niel. I know far too well how you act when you want to avoid confrontations. That's why you ran and shut me out..."

Pulling his hands away from Mijin's grip, Niel spoke. "The reason we broke up may appear simple to you but it's bigger than both of us. Mijin, you messed up big time and I'm not only talking about your entanglements...it's just you! You're your own poison and your dad had been right about me fueling your fire. The two of us only ate into each other's bad habits and I regret not calling you out in time..."

"Stop acting like you didn't fondle other people's private parts too! We both agreed to it so why I'm I the bad person here? Besides, I haven't been with anyone since you shut me out..."

"Regardless, you have made no effort to come clean with Yeon. Your own brother was almost raped by more than one person and you were responsible for making him that helpless. Yeon could have fought back! He is no weakling and we both know that! Instead, you watched him become more and more depressed...fuck! He was already grumpy as it is..."

"Yeon has always been like that!" Mijin shouted back as she reached forward to grab Niel's hands again in affirmation. "He's always been nonchalant about things but that doesn't make him depressed! It's his personality!"

"He shut everyone out Mijin, how can you be so fucking blind to your own flesh and blood!"

"Everyone occasionally feels negative thoughts so that's normal. Stop making him a charity case!"

"Even so, these feelings are usually fleeting and pass within a couple of days but when a person has depression, it interferes with their daily life and normal functioning...it causes them pain for both the person depressed and those who care about him. Besides, a lot of people with depression never seek help or treatment like Yeon who prefers to handle things by himself."

"What are you a psychiatrist now?"

"Stop being so selfish Mijin. Neither should you lie that you never noticed any red flags from your brother either. Yeon is always in deep thought...I wouldn't be surprised if he's thought of ending his life after what happened to him. He is constantly moody and looks angry all the time not to mention his loss of interest in any activities we invited him to that he used to like. He had had nightmares constantly after that incident too. Besides, Yeon may have been grumpy before but the extreme sadness in his eyes was the first thing I noticed, not to mention his poor eating habit, always binging on ice cream from morning to evening." Pulling his hands free from Mijin then placing them on her shoulders gently, he squeezed and added. "He withdrew from everyone unlike before...his friends and family too...he shut down completely and refused to take inhibitors to hide his strong scent. He felt worthless and wanted to expose what happened to him to everyone so they could ridicule him openly.

He blamed himself for your mistake Mijin."

"I can't turn back time. What's done is done. This doesn't mean I don't care about him Niel. I've been championing my brother's happiness for the longest time..."

"Then stop embarrassing yourself in front of Stan's parents. They are as good as your in-laws...."

"The heck!" Mijin gave a repulse look then shook off Niel's hands from her shoulders. "Yeon this...Stan that... Why does it always revolve around that bastard?"

"Move on Mijin. Stan is fated to your brother and might I add he actually likes Yeon and has been doing whatever he can to help your brother cope with depression. The last I saw Yeon, he looked like he was sleeping well..."

"You met with him?" Mijin asked looking more furious than shocked. "All this time, you've been meeting my brother behind my back?"

"Hey Mijin mind your temper please. I met him at Stan's home yes, I won't deny it. I told him the truth of what had happened to him that night.."

Before Niel could complete his sentence, Mijin had already landed him a slap on his cheek, sending his head to tilt on one side.

"You snitched before to the basketball team and you snitched yet again to my brother. Whose side are you on?" Mijin spoke as she shook from anger.

Turning to face his ex girlfriend, Niel smiled and answered. "I used to hear rumours of you hitting people here and there and wouldn't have believed it until now. No matter, I do not regret informing your brother of the truth which clearly, you had no intention of confessing to. If I hadn't informed Jasper that day, whatever happened to Yeon would have happened to a lot of people, you included and those perpetrators would have been successful at getting away with it."

"Do you like my brother?"

"Wow Mijin...how low are you willing to stoop?" Niel shook his head as his smile turned into a sneer.

"Cut it out! I know you know Yeon has liked you for the longest time. That's why you are defending..."

"Are you that jealous of your brother to have finally caught the eye of someone who rejected you repeatedly, that you're willing to embarrass yourself this way? What's become of you Mijin?"

"I know you know...."

"Stop! I will not stand here to listen to you defame Yeon this way. Yout brother has been through enough already as it is so enough with this nonsense you're spouting."

Mijin scoffed then added, "I knew he'd never tell you. He is too afraid to love anyone else anyway. I feel pity for Stan eventhough he deserves it. Yeon would never allow himself to be marked by anyone, as he should."

"Mijin! Stop! You are so evil...!"

"You made me this way! I loved you but you chose to leave me! Me!" Mijin cried out as her hands patted her chest in a motion as if to put emphasis on the pain she felt for being abandoned. "You knew it wasn't the first time to have spiked drinks to hype up the mood so why are you blaming me for Yeon not having friends to take him out there early enough? I never asked him to wait that long for me, gulping down drinks like a fool! I went there to have fun and I did!"

Shaking his head in disbelief, Niel seemed to have been in deep thought before he answered. "You and Mora deserve to go to jail with those bastards. I'm beginning to suspect you know more of that day than you let on..."

Laughing, Mijin covered her face and bent forward as if in a bid to hold her tummy from laughing hysterically then stood back up again. "Innocent little Mora. Funny you should mention her name now. I hear she started the support group in campus filtering it with pointless activities, to the point of the graduation ceremony for every faculty being delayed due to an added compulsory unit."

Mijin further laughed when Niel asked what she was talking about.

"Don't worry. You'll get the news concerning the new curriculum with two compulsory modules soon enough. Either way, I know little of my brother's kidnapping. Mora on the other hand has a brother in a rather dangerous syndicate. Her being a loud mouth that she is, I'm sure she shared information of the party, location and our plans to spice up the party. I told her to take Yeon out of there but she seemed to have forgotten about him just like everyone else."

"What the heck? You never told me this..."

"She may have tried to stop her brother...maybe, who knows. Still, I have never met him and don't wish to. I hear often from her he is quite frighteningly calm and composed that his own parents are unable to understand him."

"And you just had to get mixed up in this?"

"Hey, I'm trying to do my best to keep myself out of it but you keep digging up old dirt. Yeon will forgive me and you know what? We'll get back to how we used to, sister and brother. That's just who my brother is."

Shaking his head in disbelief, Niel said. "I'm scared of you Mijin. What happened to you?"

"You left me that's what. You snitched on me to my own brother. You abandoned me and stoped loving me. You shut me out completely. You hate me just by looking at me as you are now. Most importantly, you stopped hating Stan."

"He is your brother's fated..."

"He rejected me and I had to settle for second best, Elric. Stan was my last guy and I would have called it quits. It's because of him that we are apart. Yet now, he is fated to my brother as if I can't escape him. I sure wish he was the one kidnapped that day instead of my brother."

"I don't know who you are anymore Mijin but you are most defiantly not the girl I fell in love with."

"Would you have dated Yeon then? I'm being serious Niel."

"This again?"

"It's flattering that your eyes were only on me alone but you're a fool to not have noticed Yeon's feelings..."

"I could never disrespect Yeon and fathom such thoughts. Therefore, I will not dignify your statement with a response. You have a problem Mijin. Get help before it's too late." Niel said and turned to leave. He was glad Mijin hadn't tried to stop him and as he closed the door behind him, he followed the path leading back to the dining area where they'd left everyone celebrating then saw a familiar fighte approach him.

It had been Elric.

"Hey there, I was just coming to get you two..."

"Leave me alone. I'm in a bad mood." Niel gave Elric a stern warning who only shrugged it off and approached him to walk beside him.

"Still not letting out scent I see..."

"You've bothered me since we got here. What is it to you?"

"I just want to have a taste of it..."

"Slept with my girlfriend and now you want to spin the sheets with her boyfriend too?"

"I thought you two were not dating anymore? She clearly confirmed a number of times when we met post your big fight."

"What?" Niel asked, coming to a sudden halt. Not another lie from Mijin!

"Why are you glaring at me like that? I never forced her. It was consensual. Besides, I spoiled her good afterwards. I even treated her well while you two were in that open relationship of yours. You should be thanking me..."

Suddenly, everything went black for Niel. All he remembered was punching something so hard that both his fists hurt and after a while, he had heard Yeon's voice yelling for him to stop. When he had came back to his senses, both Yeon's parents and Stan were holding his shaking body back. He remembered being extremely angry then sought to look at the cause of his anger.

Looking straight ahead on the floor was a face full of blood then his senses came back in an instant and he felt his bloody wrists tightened to a punch.

"Let go!" He struggled to free himself but Yeon's parents' grip on him were quite strong.

"Stop struggling!" Yeon's dad retorted angrily, bringing his struggles to a halt. "Use your words and not fists damn it!"

"We must keep them apart..." One of Stan's dad's said as they struggled to lift a passed out Elric up. "We will have him checked out. In the meantime, calm him down first."

Unable to contain his anger still, his nose flaring, Niel could care less about Elric's unconscious state as he shouted,

"I'm going to kill you bastard!"