"Mother, stop this. You're infuriating me. Brother has to..."
"Why do you wish for him to recover? He should be disposed off!"
"We don't need him any longer! He has done more than enough as it is he won't be a threat."
"Your father won't let him live freely. He will continue to use him just like we did..."
"I agreed to cooperate with you but I will not allow you to control me mother. I'm hanging up now..."
"Don't meet with him please! If you continue to mingle with your brother you put us both in danger! Come with me, you can still make it for our flight out of this wretched country..."
"Goodbye." Mora hung up her phone then proceeded to block her mother's number. "Damn, she is annoying."
"Who is?" Mijin's dad appeared from behind Mora, who'd previously excused herself to make a call outside. "I was beginning to think you'd jetted off."
"Oh, sorry. I was speaking to my mother. She wanted me to leave with her on a last minute trip but I intend to stick around longer and follow up on my brother's case."
"Even so you can't leave. You're a key witness, if you still wish to help us that is."
"Sweetheart, think about her situation for a second." Mijin's mom showed up behind her husband then procceeded to hold them both by their hands and dragged them back inside. "She is going through enough as it is and to think she checks on Mijin's well being constantly, please show some compassion."
Yeon's dad replied, unmoved by his wife's plea to act diplomatic. "I'm sorry that I can't help but be selfish with it comes to my family. First my son, my business and then my daughter..."
"I understand, and I know you don't like me. Even so, Mijin is caring my brother's child and that makes us a family."
"Inspite of the circumstances of how she became in that state, I despise her sturbonness on keeping that child. I don't want anything to do with you or your family now and in the future..."
"Sweetheart!" Yeon's mom exclaimed in disbelief. "I'm appaled by your behaviour!"
"Fine! I'm leaving! I'm tired of pretending I'm okay with this anyway!" Yeon's father raised his hands in frustration as he walked away towards the bedroom.
"Please bear with him a little longer dear okay? Mijin should be in her room. She seems happy whenever she sees you."
"Actually, I was hoping I could talk to Yeon. He isn't picking my calls. I'm assuming he is quite busy these days."
"It's been a couple of weeks since he came to visit and his case taking a back seat may have encouraged him to act disinterested."
"It's disheartening to hear they dismissed it as carelessness among the youth due to lack of enough evidence. Yeon indeed was a victim. That's why I fully respect his father's anger towards me."
"He will come around." Yeon's mom gestured for Mora to take a seat on the couch. "That decision bothers him a lot. Howeve I'm choosing to focus on being optimistic. At least he met with Stan."
Nodding in agreement, Mora replied. "He is a good person. I've seen him when they were both in campus and I assure you he will take care of Yeon well."
Yeon's mom smiled but didn't acknowledge Mora's statement. Having her becoming a frequent visitor to her home, she felt she needed to be more aquinted with her more. Perhaps discovering Mora's personality would make her appear as farmiliar as she was to Mijin since the only thing she knew of Mora were the things she'd spoken of and her advent attention towards Mijin and her brother's well being. "Anyway, how are you coping with the current status of your family? Do you have anyone else youre relying on? Perhaps your mother...?"
"My mother is currently on her way to live with my grandmother. My father on the other hand has one case after another against him, I doubt he'll be getting a pardon this time round. As much as I love him, what he did the last time was my final straw and it's safe to have him locked up completely for the sake of me and my brother's welfare."
"Elric's mother said he won't be released anytime soon."
"Yes. I hope so."
"I'm surprised that you were surrounded by such violence and for you to turn into a fine young individual such as yourself, your brother must have sheltered you a lot to have him broken like that from constantly being on the receiving end of your father's abuse."
Smilling, Mora looked at her palms on her lap and said. "He did his best as an elder sibling, though most of the time I did the sheltering. Being the first born, he had high expectations set for him to meet. I wonder how long it will take him to recover for him to be well enough to become a good partner to Mijin and a good father as well. This cycle of insanity in my family has to come to a stop and it will end with my brother and I."
Mijin's mom took time to process the information before she finally said. "You must really care for Mijin to fight for her like this too."
"I do. Previously, when they were still in courtship with my brother, she liked me a lot and made me aspire to be like her. Unfortunately a lot of things drifted them apart, which changed my brother completely. All he ever talks about is Mijin. Which reminds me, I was informed he'd be changing hospitals soon. The facility he is in at the moment is being monitored by a mole from my father's side. I'm afraid for his life."
"Elric's mother is working on it I presume?"
"Even so, he has to be kept in a facility that has no sponsorship from my family, especially my father's side of the family. They are quite ferrocious. My father pulling out as a main investor would cripple that facility anyway and that's why even from far, he still calls the shots and I can't have him hope to win against me."
"What do you plan to do?"
"I alone have rights over my brother at the moment until he is proven mentally fit. I put him in that facility forgetting our family's involvement with them and one of the nurses told me my father's lawyer keeps paying a visit to check on my brother's progress. They intend to give him a complete blood transfusion which could shorten his lifespan."
"How so?"
"It would render him scentless. That is one of the ways he can recover by his blood being purified off that formidable drug. However, there is another way, which unfortunately may involve him being taken out of that facility."
"Which is it?"
"If he is discharged and I as his only legal relative hand him over to be on watch and protection from someone else, he may be able to receive a treatment that will take time for him to recover, but will save his life for good. The treatment here being time. I'd like to believe our bodies have their own natural way of expelling unwanted toxins. As long as he is surrounded by people who genuinely care for him than use him for the case or other selfish purposes, all he needs is time and he'll recover gradually. He doesn't trust anyone but if he can be around a stable and positive environment, that would do a lot of good for his mental peace and he'd willfully want to get better."
"Are you thinking of bringing him here?"
"Not at all. I was hoping to get assistance from Elric's mother. My brother is not violent unless under the influence of that drug."
"I doubt she will agree to this. Legally, it could disrupt the case."
"...But I have a say over my brother and I'm sane enough to make decisions for him to protect him."
"Him being under protection of Elric's mother, with your permission, only proves the cases null and void. The court may rule out the case against us for habouring a key witness and the prime suspect for our cases by claiming we manipulated him to say what we want him to say."
"Still, forgiveness they say is a virtue. My brother will atone for his actions for the rest of his life. When he starts to recover, he is the best chance we have to lock my father completly for good. Therefore, if he cant be helped by Elric's mother, then as Mijin's partner, they could stay together. Besides, I don't want to constantly be at war with my father and fighting him with one case after another will take years. Eventually, it will become exhausting too."
Shaking her head, Yeon's mother said. "I still do not agree to this."
"Think it over. My brother is the father of your grandchild after all and admittedly, Mijin is also not in good shape to handle being a single parent. It will be in your favour saving face of this family. People only know of the deeds of my father. If in the future he decides to stop barking and bite us, no one will believe him since my brother would be already a forgiven member of this family, undertaking his daily activities as a normal person as he should."
"What about you my dear?"
"I just want to see my brother recovered before I leave. That is all." Mora replied almost immediately.
"Okay. I just have a request. Please give me time to discuss your idea with my husband first. This is no minor decision. We also need to consult Elric's mother's wisdom on this matter, even if she isn't the one handling the case directly."
"As you ponder over it, keep in mind my father can afford himself any lawyer and judge. This move will surprise him the most. Besides, the ace is in our hands. Mijin is carrying his grandchild after all and that will completely bring him down and shatter his strategically outlayed plans."
'He always chose you brother over me. Let's see what he has to say when he soon discoveres he'll be a grandfather. You'll cease to be his favourite dear brother.'
"I can't wait to see him in turmoil, much worse than he put me and my mother through."