|The Truth|

'If she tells them, they'll know about it. They'll find out about my weakness.'

Honey Lou was worried about the others.

She worried about others finding out about her disability in recognizing people's faces.

'But so be it if it means to help them understand the situation that their actions have resulted in.' she was speechless, concerned, and uneasy.

 "It was all me. I had let fear take over me. For a man whom I had conceived Jihyun from, had haunted me since the very beginning after giving birth to the both of you."

Ms. Haejin motioned towards Honey and Haesu.

"And your father hadn't done anything even after I begged him to protect us. I asked Ivy to reach him but he..." their heart sank for the mother.

Specifically, Haesu.

"Honey's childhood became a nightmare because of Jihyun's dad, I couldn't separate myself from her because she needed me the most out of all those around us. I had to protect you, Honey. You were getting worst." she mentioned something about Honey's well-being, and this made Haesu stand up. "Up until now, she is whom you only care about!?"

Miss Eun and Ms. Haejin had nothing to say to Haesu, it was true that Honey was the only one most mentioned to have suffered from all the dangers they'd encountered so far.

"That is not true." the mother refuted.

"How was I not to care about you when you were practically rebelling already? How was I to care for you like I cared for your sister when you never let me have the chance?" she rhetorically questioned her first daughter.

Miles and Sihyeon were eavesdropping on the family's conversation, and amidst the drama, Ji Eun, Min Oh, and Sora, on another note, began with their planning and practicing for the event on the 29th of May for Bloom Café.

"So, you're saying that it's my fault." Haesu stood up from her seat but Riyanna pulled her back down, telling her to calm down and talk to her mother rationally.

"There is nothing rational about emotions. They make me go crazy so don't you dare tell me to calm down." she argued with her half-cousin.

"You had me live in Honey's shadow, Mom!" she complained.

"I never wanted that, I wanted you to be safe and I believed that if I were to stay away from you without making you feel unwanted, you wouldn't have to have a scarred childhood like your sister ended up with." the mother mentioned again.

"There you go again, can we not talk about Honey for once?? What is it about her childhood that made it a nightmare?" Haesu was yelling at her mother, the two of them were the only ones part of the conversation.

Ms. Haejin looked at Honey, feeling sorry for her second daughter as she tried to reason with Haesu. They were all waiting for an answer.

An answer that would probably help Haesu understand the reason why her younger

sister was always mentioned by their mother.

"I can't recognize people." the girl, in particular, answered her sister for the sake of their mother being rid of the guilt of revealing it. "When I look at you, I see what looks like ruined portraits."

The rest of the individuals surrounding them were utterly in disbelief at the news.

They had no idea what she meant by that. Mouths were left hanging open, hands in their faces from the overwhelming topic of Honey's secret, the nightmare of her childhood.

"When I was born, I could see at least what appeared to be a pair of eyes, lips, teeth, mouth, and so on with your facial features." her hands were trembling.

"I could see at least a glimpse of what faces were like. Even though I couldn't tell who was who."

This hit Yeonju like a brick wall, he had no idea that his cheerful cousin, his kind cousin had gone through her whole life.

'Without knowing who to trust.' he understood.

"That was, has always been, and will always be the nightmare of my life." Honey grasped onto her arms, holding onto her shoulders to comfort herself from the intense emotions.

"From the changing faces. From the stolen blurred photo-like faces. And now, into looking like a ruined painting of faces." she summarized the effects of the danger that their mother faced during her childhood, the effects that gave her nightmares.

"But despite all of that, I never complained. Even though Suzuki died, Sora moved away, Mom left with her man, Dad forgot he even had a daughter, and you... Despite you harassing me, insulting me, and what else?" Honey asked.

--Sora Young's Point of View--

 I could hear the shouting and yelling, the cries and sobs from the other room. Seeing Sihyeon-eonni and Miles put their ears on the wall to listen and watch the drama made me wonder.

"I thought their lives would have tasted sweet as honey but in this case, it might be bitter and saltier than I expected to be." to say the least.

"And what else?" I heard Honey's voice, almost cracking from the emotions they must be facing. "Are you sure that I am not needed in there? I am practically the only one closest to Honey. Emotionally." I asked Min-Oppa and Ji Eun-eonni. They were both occupied with getting a head start for the Bloom Café annual event on the 29th of May.

There is about a month and a half left long to go.

"They have to finish their conversation while we need to start our work."

A sound suddenly disturbed my concern for Honey and her family issues, the doorbell had been ringing multiple times since the first try we made in recreating the pastry that Dan had us taste once before. "I'll be right back."

 The living room went silent for more than a minute, not one of them had made a single sound of utterance while I walked to the door, checking the eyehole to see who came at the last minute.

"It is freezing out here." a cyan-haired friend of mine showed up on the doorstep with his long coat. 'I figure that the wind is quite strong today.'

The sun hasn't even shown up yet since morning. "Oh, well." the doorknob twisted and the lock made a clicking sound as I turned the handle and discreetly opened it for Song.

"Funny seeing you here." I pulled him inside.

"What is going on back there?" he felt curious and questioned, seeing that the mood in the living room that we just passed by, was very dark and emotional, well...

"It's like an open forum." Sihyeon replied to Song as she returned.

"Right, an open forum." Miles couldn't seem to stay positive regarding the conversation that they were having in there.

"Let's just get this done with." Ji Eun had no remorse for the situation, wanting to get things done as urgently as possible. "Sora, can you get that?"

Min-Oppa ordered me to take out the first attempt at making a batch of freshly baked cheese and ham sandwiches from the incredibly hot oven.

I opened the oven and let the hot air fill the kitchen as I looked around for some mittens or rather, knitted gloves to keep my hands from getting blisters when I touch the product.

But where is it? I was so busy trying to look for a pair of mittens when Song caught me off guard and took hold of my waist, covering me from the flying batch of the pastry we made as it landed on him and hit the floor.

"Seriously? After all that work and we don't even get to taste if it matches the recipe he gave us..." Ji Eun-eonni whispered in annoyance.

"Watch where you're bringing things that are fuming hot, Ji Eun."

Song turned around to face her, finding it disrespectful of her to say such things like she wasn't even just a tiny bit concerned for our safety.

"What was that? Couldn't hear anything!" she flipped her platinum hair as her tie became loose, and her hair swayed below the chin but above her shoulders.

 "Stop acting so high and mighty, you're welcome to leave through the door when you please. In fact, why not leave now?" Prince Charming offensively pushed her, putting our prideful friend in her place. 'But this isn't what many of us would want.'

"Enough, both of you." I raised my voice at the two of them, feeling irritated and disgusted by our other friends who stood and simply watched them argue with one another.

"And we call ourselves a circle when we're all together yet this happens."

I glared at Ji Eun-eonni for being hard on me like we were never friends for a long time. Song just chooses to act like a hero in this situation when clearly, he knows too little about what has been going on within the circle of friendship.

 "I can't even say anything to you. There's already drama in this house so why do you want to take away the peace even more than what has already been lost."

I breathed heavily, scolding the two older friends of mine.

"At this rate, we're like practically interrupting the silence they have in the other room." we're supposed to help them gather their thoughts but...

 (An Hour Later...) It hasn't been long since I left the kitchen, leaving all the work to my friends. "My so-called friends." I described them to be. 'Because they truly are.' I don't even know anymore as to why I still call them friends.

The sound of knocking took me back to my reality, Song came into the room, holding a plate with two pieces of cheese and ham sandwich that we had been making earlier.

'We should also come up with a name for it.'

I'm thinking . . .

"Have one." his cyan hair illuminated some kind of a seafoam shade of green with the cloudy sky coming into my vision behind him, the window had the wind gushing into one of Honey's guest rooms, and making me shiver.

 "Hold this." Song crouched down for a split-second, placing the plate on top of the pillow I had on my lap, it prevented the heat from transferring to me, and it gave me relief.

"I thought I was going to get another burn on my skin." I spoke with fear and unconsciously let out a sigh. "It's funny how you're looking after me." right now of all the times.

He looked at me seriously with those eyes of his like that of a pure coffee brown color.

"You've never looked at me like that before..." it felt like the moment was timeless, I couldn't hear anything but my heart beating unstoppably from the never-ending love I inherited by staring back into his protruding eyes.

 "That's because you just never stopped avoiding me." Song answered me whilst taking a seat on my right, he closed the window to shut out the wind, and I believe it is the best timing ever.

"Now that there won't be any more distractions." he reached for my face, tugging the fallen strands of curly hair that had been getting in the way of my eyes.

"What do you mean by avoiding you? I never avoided once you though." I interrogated him, pulling away for a bit so that there would still be some distance left in the midst of us.

"You've had my mind buzzing for you ever since that moment..." his thin candy-like red and bow-shaped lips formed a smile that made me feel like I was on cloud 9. "And you are not even paying attention to my confession." he looked away for a moment before I initiated.