Jongdae came for a visit on Friday morning. Yeonseok let Jisoo know that her cousin would join them for breakfast since he started to worry about her repelling the technology for days now.
Since her pictures circulated on social media and many people suddenly acted like the absolute judges on her personal life, Jisoo turned off her cellphone and spent time at home all day. She started to show, what Yeonseok called as early symptom of paranoia, when she felt like everyone was talking bad about her. She was also afraid to answer the phone, sometimes she didn't even want to answer the intercom when someone pressed the doorbell. Yeonseok encouraged her to get out of the house several times, by taking her for a walk in the park or to shop at the market, he never forced her when she refused to leave. So that's why, because she didn't communicate with anyone while her cellphone was off, he asked for Jongdae's help to talk her out.
Jisoo was very happy that Jongdae came to visit her. Actually there were times when she was bored after days being lazy at home, and since her cellphone was practically dead, Jisoo never talked to him.
"What have you been up to these days?" Jisoo asked as soon as he sat down to eat his breakfast. Jongdae sat opposite her, shrugged at the question.
"This and that. We were busy preparing the finals." He answered protocolly, as if he had prepared the answer beforehand.
"How's school?" she asked again.
"It's boring."
JIsoo squinted at the answer, had a hard time to believe any single of it. After the weekend incident and seeing how her phone was bombarded with messages and phone calls from strangers for two full days, especially with the topic involving one of the most favorite boy on campus, Jisoo was not sure the problem would sink soon. The last time Sehun was on the Gossip Girl page, people didn't stop talking about him wherever they were for a full month.
Jisoo spun her head to Yeonseok who sat next to her, looking at him suspiciously. She was sure Yeonseok must have briefed him to keep unnecessary things from her.
"Just tell her. This is progress that she even wants to know what's happening out there." said Yeonseok as he realized Jisoo's accusing gaze.
"Well, it's a mess at school obviously. The student senate and the deans held a meeting for several days to decide whether to sanction Oh Sehun." Jongdae paused to sip his favorite tofu stew soup before he continued speaking, Jisoo listened to him attentively.
"Because, you know, this message has two videos ..."
"Yeah, I know. I watched the sex tape." she cut him, rather annoyed to see Jongdae began to cover up something again. But when he heard Jisoo's words, Jongdae looked rather shocked, especially because he had warned her not to open any message sent to her phone before.
"You did? But I told you not to open it!"
"Only the first five seconds, I didn't even know why play it anyway." Her explanation was more directed on Yeonseok than Jongdae, seeing her husband raised his eyebrows as he looked interested in her confession.
"Well, then, anyway ..." Jongdae cleared his throat. "Apparently the sex tape was sent to all the numbers in Sehun's phone contact. So everyone, including the lecturers and deans received it. That's what caused the recent riots on campus. Some people think he is responsible for all the incidents that happened last weekend, but others assuming someone had framed him into this mess because first, the message was not sent from Sehun's number, and second, when the message was outspread, his phone was off. We interrogated everyone associated with him, finding out how technically the message could spread."
"Did Sehun say anything about all this?" Jisoo blurted another question. It's impossible if after all that happened, he still stayed sillent.
"Of course he dodged it. I didn't meet him personally, but the Dean said he was in Pyeontaek when he was met last Wednesday. And he just found out what happened at the time, and pleaded not guilty. His family sent a laywer team to campus for investigating and reporting this to the police for defamation cases."
From everything she heard, Jisoo was more focused to when Jongdae said that Sehun was in Pyeongtaek all this time. What's he doing there anyway? To think about it, Jisoo didn't remember there was something there related to Sehun before. And why did the dean have to meet him there, instead he came to the campus himself. She was just about to discuss it, but before she said anything, Jongdae had spoken again.
"Hyung, you made the right decision not to issue any clarification for this. We discussed it at the meeting yesterday, asking about your stand in this case, and by not issuing clarification, you actually had confirmed that Jisoo was the victim in the case, and this issued her from the list of names that need to be investigated in the investigation. Dean said he had met with your lawyer, but I didn't know exactly what the results of their conversation were. Maybe this will be discussed at a meeting next Saturday. "
Jisoo jerked head back to Yeonseok, surprised to hear his laywer was mentioned.
"Why is your lawyer meeting the Dean? I think we agree not to press any charge against Sehun for this case. He even said he wasn't responsible." she said in raising tone, annoyed.
"We're not pressing any charge against anyone, Honey." Yeonseok answered with his soft calming tone. Jongdae, who heard her new pet name was clearly interested at the change of their intimate interaction, and he couldn't help but to smile at that.
"With a team of lawyers from Sehun's family bringing this case to the legal office, chances are they will need you to make statements and so on. I send my lawyer as your spokesperson so you don't have to deal with them." Yeonseok gave her a soft pat on her head as soon as he finished his sentence, then he ended his breakfast and put his eating equipment on the sink before excused himself to get ready for work.
In this situation, Jisoo felt so bad for both Sehun and Irene. For her, she might only have problems with people's opinions about her 'infidelity' pictures and videos with Sehun circulating throughout the apartment building, hospital and social media. But Sehun and Irene must face a more complicated problem since their most private activities were widespread throughout the world. Jisoo said all over the world because knowing his friend contacts were not only came from South Korea. Sehun synced his contact and all his personal account passwords with his email, this person must be really good; between making Sehun tell them his email password, or hacking it.
When she and Jongdae continued to eat, along with her thoughts about this, something struck her. She was acting rather rude to her husband before. She was kind of sensitive and easily offended these days, sometimes she could just spoke out her mind without thinking what others might feel and she knew, that she was being biased over Sehun's case. All Yeonseok did was protecting her, and instead of thanking him, she snapped at him.
"Wait here, finish your meal." Jisoo excused herself and followed her husband to the room. She found him changing his clothes at his personal closet room.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you." she said as she helped him tidy up the back of his shirt, tucking it into his trousers.
"Snapping forgiven." he replied casually with a smile on the tip of his lips.
"And thank you for bringing Jongdae, I'm happy he's here." Because Jisoo wasn't so confident to look at him while talking, she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. As she leaned her cheek on his back, she smelled her masculine perfume which had recently become her favorite. She loved the scent of him, it smelled like black musk, with a hint of Mandarin Orange, and anything of orange was her weak spot.
And as Yeonseok was done with his cufflink, he turned around and circled his arms on her waist. A wider smile grew on his face as he put the hair on her face to the back of her ear, 
"No need to thank me, I'm happy when you are."
Jisoo couldn't help but blush and smile at his words, after all this time and he was this good at consoling her. She felt lucky to have him at her side.
"Look, I might go home late tonight. If you're not comfortable at home alone, just go to Jongdae's house and stay there. I'll pick you up there tonight."
Jisoo nodded with his offer. Actually it didn't matter if she had to be alone at home since she was used to it, but maybe it was time for her to leave the house after so many days lazying, after all, this was only to Jongdae's house. There would be no terror there.
"Now what will I have for doing something right?"
Jisoo smiled again. She knew when he said something like this, there was a certain thing he wished to get from her. She was no longer embarrassed now if Yeonseok expressed the similar request, or whenever he mentioned intimate things just to tease her. After days of snuggling on their bed, a series of hugs and frequent kisses, Jisoo must admit that they were getting much closer. Even though she couldn't say that she had completely fallen in love with him, there were some things that every time he did it, it made her heart beat fast, and she didn't hate it.
So to make him happy, Jisoo felt he deserved a a gift. And it's only fair with her granting his request. So with that, Jisoo grasped on his sleeve, she tiptoed to give him a peck on his lips. It was quick and she immediately looked away for embarrassment because this was the first time she initiated the physical contact between them.
He's chuckled as he pinched on her cheeks. It made her groaned.
"Next time do it properly." he said again before he leaned on to extend the previous short kiss on her lips.
When they left their room Jongdae was looking at them with a knowing smile while he finished the tofu stew in the serving bowl. Jisoo joined him again at the kitchen island after Yeonseok left, and despite being aware of Jongdae's assessment gaze, she paused, trying to avoid his gaze.
"Hmm?" Jongdae asked playfully, after a while of no response.
"Hmm what?" Jisoo asked nonchalantly.
"Come on, I heard that. You guys were making out at the closet." he put a finger on his right ear to tell her that his ears worked very well in listening to what he shouldn't have heard, his smile widened, deliberately teasing her. Jisoo was not really used to the word 'making out', although Jongdae often used it to tease her as she was dating Sehun, but hearing it again to refer to different person made her ears itchy.
"Did I miss something here? First, he calls you Honey, and then this." he raised his eyebrows with a knowing look.
"I'm not discussing my personal life with you again, Jongdae." Jisoo left as soon as her food was finished and brought the dirty plate and bowl to the sink so she could wash them.
If there was one word to describe Jongdae other than 'nagging boy' was nothing but 'being nosy'. He was very good at gaining information, especially for the things that he shouldn't know, and he's also an expert of deducting. There were so many times had he used her privacy just to tease her for his personal fun. For several times Jisoo gave him a little information just so he wouldn't bother her anymore, but this time Jisoo wouldn't say anything, because the last time she told him her personal problems with Yeonseok, it didn't end very well.
Still not satisfied with digging for information, Jongdae stood right next to her when she did the dishes."Tell me, you guys finally did it, didn't you?" he teased.
"We didn't." she honestly replied. There's nothing to hide, because that was the truth. But apparently Jongdae didn't believe that easily.
"You lied. It's impossible if you haven't done it, especially after what you did earlier?"
Jisoo rolled her eyes, she decided not to extend Jongdae's blast. Just go ahead, Jongdae was allowed to believe whatever he wanted to believe, it wouldn't hurt her anyway. "Whatever you want to believe then, Brother. Have you ever seen me lied to you before anyway?"
It seems that because she did not see the signs he usually found if she did what he alleged, Jongdae just started believing. After all, even though Jisoo admitted that they were getting intimate the more days, somehow Jisoo still had this doubt if she had to do it all the way. It's still too early for her to figure out her feelings, was this what she really wanted. With that, she also had to admit that Sehun factor was still the reason for her doubts.
"Well, that's a start. But if you're in this state right now, I believe that hyung has been doing things right."
And that made her chuckled. Whatever he wanted to say then.
After finishing washing all the cutlery and putting the remaining side dish into the fridge, they sat on the couch. Jongdae told her that Kyungsoo had taken care of their group's design project. That included submitting it to the exhibition section and prepared the final presentation at the end of the month. Jongdae also told her that the winter break would be shortened so they could finish the finals early. Jisoo listened while noting some important things on the calendar on her laptop.
"Hey, I was thinking whether I needed to tell you this or not, but I think you might want to know about this." Jisoo spun her head from the laptop screen to her cousin, shaking her head upright so he told her what it was.
"I think Sehun will enlist his millitary service in the near future. You know, that's why he can't be contacted these days. Jongin told me that he was training for his active duty at the Air Force..."
"And that's why you said he was at Pyeongtaek?"
Now the question has been answered, Jisoo pulled her back to lean at the couch. Had Sehun planned all this? If what Jongdae says was true, then this enlistment was certainly not something that came so suddenly. Sehun had received his summon letter two years ago, but for some reason, he did not pass the medical check. And she's still fazed with the new revealation, Jongdae had spoken again.
"And about the possibility that your photos and Sehun were taken by a drone, do you think there is a CCTV around Sehun's house that we can use to see the situation nearby when it happened?"
Jisoo felt like she was thrown into the sea when she heard it. Why had she never thought of this before? Of course, CCTV would capture everything that happened at the time of the incident. Let alone one, Sehun installed three CCTVs at home, and one of them was inside the workshop.
She abruptly ran to her room to change her clothes, leaving Jongdae confused to see her. Jisoo intended to go to Sehun's house right away, if only her guess was correct, the record since last Saturday was supposed to be accessible still. A computer in Sehun's house was connected to the CCTV, she just hoped Sehun hadn't changed his password to the house so she could enter there and access it. And if the file was still there, she could provide the record as proof that what was alleged to her was not true.
During the trip to Sehun's house, Jisoo couldn't stop fidgeting. There was a lot of new information she needed to digest, and Jisoowas not sure she could accept them all well. There were many fears that followed her, accessing CCTV at Sehun's house might not tell her  who was responsible for this incident, but probably would clean her name a bit and also Sehun's. On the other hand, if the CCTV file in Sehun's house turned out to have been deleted by an irresponsible person, she was afraid there was no way that could help clear their names, Because this was no longer about her name or just Sehun, Yeonseok's career could be at the edge of destruction.
She remembered her conversation with Yeonseok a few days ago when they were talking about what happened at the hospital. With him refusing to issue clarification, officials at the hospital thought Yeonseok did not care about their hospital name, and only counted the hours until they issued a decision to remove him from his position.
"There's always a way for us, Honey, you don't need to worry." Jisoo had never felt that guilty for him, and still, at a time like this she could not understand how he could still comfort her. Even though he was the one who was in danger of losing job. "If they hate me that much, we can always go back to the States. People there love me." he joked. "What do you think of moving to the US? You can take your architect license there, and I might be able to continue the project I left behind. We can start fresh when we're far from home."
Although Jisoo could  guess about where the conversation was going, Jisoo still hoped they didn't have to leave the country. She personally believed that moving wouldn't solve any problem, this would only make people forget for a while that they were there. Apart from that she was born and raised here, she was not sure she could leave everything and start a new life in a foreign land.
She really hoped it wouldn't happen.
As Jongdae parked his car in front of Sehun's house, the sound of the handbake broke into her reverie.
"I'll wait here. Just scream if something happens." Jisoo almost laughed at that, as if like something would really hurt her here.
She got out of the car and stepped inside Sehun's house. The first strange thing she found was that the gate was open. Jisoo turned to Jongdae in the car when she saw it, but she then let it go because she thought maybe Kyungsoo forgot to lock it when he took their design model. As soon as she entered the gate, she immediately climbed the stairs leading to the second floor, because that's where Sehun lived. This was not the first time she had gone there, Sehun told her his house password before in case she would come for a visit. And she was just about to enter the password code when she found a second oddity; Sehun's front door also opened slightly.
What made her rather surprised was when she heard a voice from inside, the voices of two people who were in an argument. Jisoo was a little doubtful, did she need to wait for them to finish whatever their problem was or  to turn around because she knew there was Sehun in there with Irene. But whatever moved her hand, instead of leaving, she pushed the doorknob and let herself stand in the doorway to listen to their argument.
And everything was clear from there.
They were inside covered by a corridor wall, but Jisoo could hear their voices clearly, because they shouted at each other.
"You can't do this to me, Oppa. I gave you everything, I gave you all of me. You can't do this to me!" she heard Irene scream, with a sob that made her believe she was crying.
"I've never asked any of that. You gave it voluntarily, it doesn't mean I have to do something for you in return. You should feel lucky I didn't say anything about you to people. If I put my mind into it, I could even kill you right now for everything you have done to me, and everyone around me."
Up to this point, Jisoo still had no idea what they were talking. Why was Sehun so angry that he wanted to kill her? What did Irene do to him and the people around him?
"It's because you've never looked me! Even after everything I've done for you, only Jisoo is in your head. When we're together, she's the only one you're looking at. You prioritized her more than us, you came to her right away when she called even if we were on a date. Even when we have sex, it's her name that you always called. What am I to you then? Am I some kind of that stupid girl you used to satisfy your man's needs and throw me away when you feel like it?"
Jisoo sighed at that. She no longer feel like listening to anything they were talking about, this was too personal and she shouldn't be here. She no longer heard what Sehun was saying to Irene and then turned to close the door when she heard,
"...Eventually people will find out that it is you, Irene. I keep silent when they asked because I hope you would come out and come clean. If you tell everyone you did it, I would persuade my parents to drop the charge. I will not mind the videos you have sent to everyone. But those pictures you sent, you are destroying someone's career."
Jisoo stood frozen. What Sehun said had left her flabbergasted that she didn't even know what to do. She turned back in and stopped in the doorway. If she entered, what would she say. On the one hand she was relieved that her guess was right, Sehun was innocent. But knowing that Irene did all this, her legs felt weak.
"Do I look like I care about that? As long as Jisoo suffers, I will gladly see her crush and drown. She deserves that anyway. For someone who is married she should let you alone. I don't regret what I've done. And if can't have you, so she can't either. She can't get anything from this world instead."
"Do you even hear yourself? All of this is only in your head. Jisoo and I were done when she got married. I don't think I need to explain anything, what's happening in my head is none of your business. I'm done talking to you."
Jisoo was snapped out of her thoughts when he saw Sehun walking towards her while wearing his coat. And when he saw her he stopped, so did Irene. Jisoo did not know who among the three of them was the most surprised to see the other's presence, but as soon as she realized what was happening, she turned and ran away.
"Jisoo! Wait, Jisoo! We need to talk!"
Jisoo ignored Sehun's call after her. She got into the car and locked the door, with Jongdae seemingly surprised by the chaos that happened.
"What the hell?" Jongdae was confused to see Jisoo was on the verge of crying beside him. And he immediately turned on the car engine and left right when Sehun appeared from behind the gate.
"What happened?" Jongdae asked her again, still recovering from his shock. But Jisoo refused to tell, or talked more.
She wiped her tears away, "Just take me home." she pleaded.
*