Chapter 17

Riyu ducked behind the wall, 'Since when did they get this chummy?' Seven years ago when majima brought Yoongi to the Kazuma estate, Riyu would talk to him every chance she got before playing the devoted mother to Yumei.

She taught him the basic principles and fundamentals of how it worked in the Yakuza. "Yoongi, you have to remember that you can not trust anyone."

Yoongi had looked up to her and said. "But how would you know who to trust and who not to trust?"

She had smiled at him, he was such a smart boy. "You trust only yourself. Do not get close to Yumei, otherwise, you will make mistakes."

Yoongi can't answer her that day, she had hoped that she planted the seed that he had to only take care of himself. She glanced back into the kitchen again.

Yoongi's hands were fists. "What do you mean?!"

Jimin exhaled. "There can not be a traitor in the family, Yoongi."

Didn't Jimin listen to one word he said? Yumei was in grave danger and not only from his family but from someone within. "Jimin, I am telling you, the day she got kidnapped seven years ago was caused by someone within the family."

Jimin stared at Yoongi as if he was insane. "You have no evidence to support your claim, Yoongi."

Yoongi leaned over the table and grabbed Jimin's shirt and brought his face closer to his. "I do not need evidence but I am telling you one thing, Jimin. If you have any care for her, you will look into this."

Yoongi let go of Jimin and turned around, exciting the kitchen. His eyes widened as he almost walked over Riyu. "Mother..." His voice was a whisper.

Riyu never saw him so defeated. "Yoongi, what is wrong?"

He shook his head and her words rang through his thoughts. 'Trust no one but yourself.' He shook his head towards her. "Nothing that I can't handle."

He walked past her and upstairs to his room. Mr Kazuma made sure his room wasn't far from Yumei's so that when something happens he would be able to be there.

Riyu looked up at his retreating back. 'Even my own son doesn't want to open up to me.' Jimin walked out of the kitchen. "Mrs Kim."

Really? Jimin never liked her, he was a boy of two when she met him. She didn't know where Shito found him but something about him always unnerved her. "Jimin."

He gave her a light smile. "Yoongi will never forgive you."

She took a step backwards from him. What? How did he know, that it was she who orchestrated the kidnapping?  She got her composure back. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

He winked at her. "I am sure you don't." He walked past her and turned left down the hall, he preferred his room to be on the ground floor.

Riyu clicked her tongue. There was no way that he knew, he was bluffing or trying to get her in a corner to confess. This was a secret she would take to her grave, yes she did orchestrate Yumei's kidnapping that day but it was the only way that her ex-husband would have given her one of her children.

She didn't even know who he would send. She was so happy to have seen it was Yoongi but she wanted it to be Jin because she was afraid of what would have become of him if he stayed with his father. She tried to salvage the situation but it didn't bring her closer to get Jin away from the Kim family.

When she got the news that her ex-husband past away, she was happy but that only made it real that Jin would be the next head. "There is nothing you can do about it now, Riyu."

She entered the kitchen and decided to clean up the dishes the children left on the counter. She had to clear her head because if someone got wind of what she was busy with she might get killed.

Yoongi paused at the door that led to his room, he took a look at Yumei's. He felt sorry for her, even after he promised himself that he wouldn't get close to her, he had.

He opened his door, "You are into deep already, Yoongi." He was worried that there was a spy in the family and that could only get ugly if nothing was done to stop it.

He was angry at Jimin who was to calm about the whole situation. He was worried about what tomorrow would bring at the University.

He walked in and closed the door behind him. "What am I going to do?" Will he be able to keep them safe from the Kim family? Would his brother recognise him?

Did the boy Yumei meet at the University have motives? He raked his fingers through his hair. "My head hurts with all these thoughts!"

He was frustrated and his relationship with his mother was a rocky one. Even being untied with her didn't bring him closer to her. He felt divided when he was younger he would cry out to her but she never came.

"I wish I was never born into the Yakuza."

He walked to his bed and flopped down. He wasn't looking forward to tomorrow, sleep didn't come easy for him.

Yumei was sitting at on her bed and hugged a pillow. 'Why can't I talk to my mom openly about what is bothering me deep down?'

She let out a sigh and looked at the clock that was on her nightstand. 11 pm, it was late but she was too excited to go to sleep.

Her thoughts travelled to the boy she met today. "Kim Namjoon," she voiced out loud. "Is it really you?"

She leaned back into the covers of her bed. "Would you save me again?"

She closed her eyes. "Or would you scorn me for lying to you?"

Her breathing even out and she fell asleep while fighting her pillow. She didn't hear her door open. Mr Kazuma stood there and gazed at Yumei's sleeping form.

He smiled, 'Yunari, she looks like you with each day that passes.' He stood there for a few more minutes and then closed her door.

Yunari's words still resonated in his mind. 'Get her out of this life.' That was his plan since Yunari's death but one does not simply get your blood out of the Yakuza.

He remembered Goro's brother that cut off all ties to the family but he was constantly pulled back in. He hoped that one-day Yumei would be able to forgive him for lying to her.

He turned his back on her room and saw that Riyu stood there. "Riyu?"

She smiled at him. "I thought you went to bed."

"I had a few things that I had to do, but I am going to sleep now."

She just nodded at him, "I will see you in the morning."

He walked past her, "Good night."

Namjoon was still staring at the two ribbons he got next to each other. This was his proof that he could show Tae but the thought of Tae only brought up the conversation they had at the coffee shop.

"Why are you doing this?"

He didn't have an answer, he turned his gaze away from the ribbons to look at his clock. 11 pm, he should get to sleep so he can start his plan which he didn't have yet.

He placed the ribbon that fell out of the book back in the chapter that it fell out off. He closed the book and put it in his bag and laid back on his mattress.

His mind was running, his parents got a death threat on his life from the family they were part of but not part of anymore. That meant that somehow they knew that he was looking into the case of Yumei Kazuma who was a yakuza's daughter.

Tae said the jocks broke into their mystery club so did that mean that they are working with the Yakuza? But the true question was, how did they find out?

His eyes started drooping but his mind wasn't quieting down with everything that he learned today. He turned on his right side, 'I have to get to the bottom of this.'

He felt that there might be lurking more behind the curtain than Yumei Kazuma and the Yakuza families. He put off his lamp and fell asleep. Tomorrow will be one hell of an interesting day.

Jimin was sitting in his room with a small notebook and he opened it in the middle, he let out a small chuckle at his handwriting.

"I left the gate open to the estate today, Yumei was feeling sad because she was like a bird in a cage.

She always laid under the shade tree to read her dumb book and will always tell me about Alice's adventure in this dream-like world.

I wanted her to go on this adventure to make her feel better, to experience what it was like to be free.

Just as true as my child's heart wanted that for her but I was naive. The world out there was ugly.

I played dumb at how the gate got opened, I was in the house and so was Mrs Kim. She didn't know I was in the kitchen, the window looked over the gate.

Mrs Kim got out her phone and was dialling someone. "I don't know how the gate was left open. Yes, she just went outside. She took a left."

She ended the call but I knew it was important to get out of the kitchen before she realised I was there. Somehow I feel guilty that I left the gate opened.

Mr Kazuma wasn't home yet, I had to make a decision and I called Majima to let him know that Yumei got outside the estate. What I didn't tell him was Riyu called the Kim family."

Jimin closed his notebook, 'Enough reminiscing about the past.'