|Causes and their Effects|

--Kim Sihyeon's Point of View--

"Ion." Yeonju felt down and so, I figured that I had to spend some time with him now.

'After being distant and cold...'

"Yes?" I spoke in a soft and smooth voice, gliding near him beside his cousin, Haesu.

"How did the conversation end up?" I was curious to know how they felt about the truth.

"Don't even start." our older friend dismissed the question.

"Well, I hope you now know and will understand their situations." not just your feelings.

"Don't say anything. Don't talk to me." she replied with a tired tone in her voice, losing the will to even sit up straight. "How about you? How are you feeling?"

Yeonju simply snuggled in my arms like a child. I gave him a peck and caressed his navy blue-dyed hair, brushing it backward, and exposing his scar.

"Seriously? Not a word?"

I laughed it off, feeling like a storm had passed and we successfully survived it.

I lovingly placed all my attention on him with both of my eyes examining his face, including the scar on his forehead near his left eyebrow.

'May he learn to forgive his parents for the pain they caused.'

He closed his eyes as the silence fell upon the living room with only the three of us remaining.

Honey headed inside her bedroom and locked the room to isolate herself.

Her mother and aunt went next door because it is where their mother lives. The rest of our friends were in the kitchen, doing what they intended to do when they came.

Honey may have grown up with a mother figure, Ivy, and a father but she was never allowed to express herself freely, she has been without anyone to trust after the people around her were met with numerous problems of their own.

And her parents had become more like her masters while she served and did all that they said.

Haesu, on the other hand, had no one.

Her aunt took her in after witnessing her leave home and with nowhere to go, and no one to make her feel loved and wanted, she was taken in and met with a lot of friends.

Yeonju, however, grew up with parents who abused, neglected, invalidated, and hated him. 'For who knows whatever reason they had against him.' I feel sorry for my boyfriend having loved me and still treated almost as his parents did.

Their cousins, Riyanna and Sungyeon, both acknowledged each other as the only family they had. Given the fact that the parents they were born from had no difference from the ones that Yeonju has. A mother who clung to Yeonju's father and their father being against outsiders even when he, himself, was the one who cheated on his wife.

Jihyun who turns out to be related to them is no exception to such parents.

A dad that did nothing but boast of his daughter when he clearly never even raised her and a mother that has been scarred for life by her husband who used to stalk her. Jihyun only wants affection from the right people and yet, not even her best friend lived up to his title.

Speaking of Dan, his parents have let him do as he wished and provided him with everything that he could ever want and need.

But why did he transform into a selfishly materialistic and self-centered person?

He was never like that, to begin with. His first love, that is who made him that way, he gave her everything but she left him with nothing.

Not a word.

A total opposite of him would be Yun Oh. He was born into a family like Honey.

Manipulated, controlled, and prohibited from doing what he desired, with limited access to what he rightfully owned, and so on. In contrast to Dan, Yun Oh still values others and himself a lot more than he has ever felt to be valued.

He is the definition of a good guy admired by one of our friends outside the circle, Min Seo.

Min Seo isn't that well-off or unprivileged. She is kind, honest, and knows when to snap back. The only problem is that she is never loved truthfully, her mother loves her physique and looks, friends love her only for the advantage they get when purchasing discounted products from her family business, and guys find her 'boring' like those 'other' girls.

Ji Eun who happened to grow up with Min Seo, ended up in a whole different world. Her parents passed away for being naturally bad people and because they were poisoned, she was raised by her grandmother who tolerated her personality.

Everything that came from her mouth was like poison as her heart was poisoned and was rid of her parents' love.

And when Ji Eun is mentioned, I can never forget about Kim Young. He is one of the most unstained friends that we have.

For his dad so loved him that he grew up to love someone that everyone eventually hated. And Kim Young being himself led to deceiving Haesu for what he thought was a kind thing to do.

Ji Eun urged him for she felt overshadowed by Haesu.

Another untainted person in the group would be Min Oh, unexpectedly, but it is true. He is just a scary person. Quiet and owns three cats. To put it simply, he is introvertedly not easy to get along with, at first. Kind of like his cousin, Yun Oh.

Miles became his partner in cooking when they entered a cooking competition and had to face each other one-on-one as opponents but never really beat each other.

This led to their friendship. Miles grew up overseas and settled here with him, his loving sister let him fulfill his path to becoming a Michelin chef and continues to support him.

A close friend of theirs is Sookyung along with Seongmin. Those two used to be inseparable like Miles and Min Oh.

Until Seongmin became passionate about photography and was given an opportunity to pursue it and travel the world. Sookyung is very close with people and has met every family member of all our friends. That says a lot about him already.

He is the same age as Yua, or should I say Suzuki Mayo...

Her family is traditional and does not like being acquainted with families like Honey Lou's, they opposed the idea of them growing up together so closely but they couldn't argue with Suzuki as she regained her will to live because of Honey.

But Suzuki knew how to read the situation despite her age.

In accordance with Suzuki Mayo's story, Sora Young faced a sort of hurdle with her family as well. With her family's grieving coping mechanisms, she had a hard time.

She does her best to please people and gain closure in doing that as her family never seemed to be pleased in anything she did. What is the reason? They favored her late twin sister.

Another friend involving grief would be Byung Chan. He often visits the grave of his whole family and does not want to be attached to anyone anymore.

That is why he rarely shows up around us. But I know he wants to be with us so badly.

Who else? A friend who is never around... Jinwoo, our intelligent friend is an orphan and was kind of raised by almost all the teachers in the schools he has attended.

A promising prodigy who is humble and responsible.

With him is Jay Hwang, someone who also has no parents but grandparents who only pay for his expenses. But then, love blinded him and he somehow lost his way.

Hopefully, he made up his mind and plans to start moving forward now.

Seokjoon is also not someone from our circle but she does help take out a huge load from our young minds with her skills.

Song, on another note, doesn't have any impact on our friendship.

He doesn't have a family, after all. And as a friend, he ceases to care about anything that doesn't involve him, all except for Sky. 'Or should I say, Sora?' he doesn't have even any dream to pursue or anything to do with his life. He simply exists as he wants.

He disappears as he wishes as if he's just an imaginary friend of ours.

His best man, Moon Hyunjoo, is a very willingly helpful one who has been somehow wronged by people in his life.

For example, his parents make him pay for everything they provide for him or what an employee in the service industry usually experiences, which is discrimination and belittling.

That is about all of us...

What about me? That is a story to tell for another time.