23. JUMIN'S SECRET

ACT FOUR SCENE FOUR

JUMIN'S SECRET

third person

perspective

ASHER DEVON WAS NEVER the type to feel vulnerable, he always felt arrogant and on top of the world. Nothing ever seemed to take away the attention from himself. He's supposed to be a narcissist, a person who is obsessed with no one but himself. Ever since Sahar has entered his life, he has been losing his touch, he has never felt so out of character. Now that he has let his guard down, everything seems to be going out of control. He has been deceived and manipulated by someone who is nowhere close to him in status, he's a billionaire bad boys club member, the elite of the elite and here he is crumbling at the sight of someone who grew up poor and is now suddenly somewhat wealthy.

He looks at Sahar, she looked pretty as usual. How could she be happy when nothing is going well? His gaze falls on her eyes, her mascara was smudged and she didn't even realise. He turns away, he couldn't care less if she cried. He should mind his own business, after all, he's the one who should be crying. She's the one who has done him wrong.

And he has been crying.

As he walks away, he could hear Sahar let out a deep sigh. She sounded so close to crying and he wasn't sure what to do. It's not his problem anyway.

"Chin up, Jumin wouldn't want you crying." Asher halts in his steps, Jumin? He turns around to see Silas with a tired expression on his face, lousily smiling at the pretty girl in front of him. Since when did Jumin care about Sahar? He was supposed to be angry at her, she's the one who had a whole document on him. In fact, Jumin is supposed to loathe her, he has never liked her in the first place.

"W-What?" Sahar stammers.

"Come on, crying won't solve anything, Jumin is waiting for you, don't make him wait for you Sahar." Silas says smoothly, placing his hand on her back, smiling down at her.

"I-"

"I know, let's go, he even ordered you a Luwak coffee and I'm sure you love those." Asher could feel his blood boiling. Since when did the both of them talk? And that's their thing - no that was their thing. How is Jumin taking Sahar out on a coffee date and Silas is helping by being his wingman? This all seems wrong, his own friends are betraying him for a simple girl. A girl who is a manipulator and a liar.

Silas turns back slightly, he notices Asher watching the both of them with an intense glare, his fists clenched and jaw about to break. He smirks, the plan is going well. Helping Asher realise his undeniable feelings for Sahar was going to be a piece of cake and telling Sahar they're on her side is practically hitting two birds with one stone.

"Jumin also got you a new bag, judging by how your old bag seemed." Silas says loudly, making sure Asher hears him. And Asher does, it causes him to walk away in anger. He couldn't stand being in their presence, his mind was mixed with wild thoughts that contained jealousy and betrayal. He wasn't sure what annoyed him more, Jumin and Silas betraying him or the idea of Jumin and Sahar being together.

Once Asher was gone, Silas releases a long sigh.

"I'm so confused." Sahar says with a frown on her face.

"Helius told us everything, don't worry Sahar, both Jumin and I won't let anything happen to you." Silas' words cause Sahar to widen her eyes, she couldn't believe that the two of them were on her side. She was sure Jumin hated her and Silas seemed to not like her. Hearing those words made her feel much better, she was feeling a tinge of confidence to prove her innocence.

"We know your bag was faulty and what your friends planned, so we bought you a handmade design from Jumin's sister with your initials, it's a special kind of leather and I'm sure that it won't be faulty like your other bag." Silas says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. He wasn't used to being this helpful to someone, usually, he'd be sleeping as much as he could.

"Thank you Silas, it means a lot to me."

"Anything for a friend, Sahar."

Sahar feels her heart warm. Friend, a friend who is actually willing to help her.

"Let's go now, Jumin will actually get tired of waiting." Silas says, walking towards the direction of the cafe his cousin works in.

JUMIN XU REMAINS SEATED in the corner seat of the cafe, the pretty leather bag his sister made for Sahar in front of him; he was waiting and was getting bored. He looks at Zeph the barista jam out to the music of the cafe, it was something called lofi, he heard Silas talk about it a lot ever since Zeph introduced it to him.

Jumin looks at the bag with a melancholic expression. He couldn't let his sister's secret get out. He knows that there's a lot of judgemental people in society and especially due to being famous, he couldn't let his sister get out in the limelight. After all, she told him to keep this secret safe until the right time comes. And it's not the right time, his sister is not ready yet but those stupid girls Normani and Solar are so keen on telling people this secret when they don't understand how personal it is.

His mind drifts back to two years ago. It was a euphoric time yet a time filled with darkness because of his closed-minded parents.

"I-I don't feel like me." Jumin looks at his brother Yuno with confusion, he wasn't sure what his brother was saying. "I can't wake up another day being something that I'm not."

"What do you mean Yuno? Did someone say something to you?" Jumin questions softly, he didn't want his brother to feel this way, he was ready to do anything for him. After all, that's his only sibling and he could never let anything happen to him.

"No." Yuno whispers. Tears were cascading down his face as he looked up at his big brother.

"Come on Yuno, if you don't tell me, how am I going to help you? You can tell me anything and you know that." Jumin places a hand on his brother's back, rubbing it soothingly.

"I've always felt like I was born into the wrong body, that I don't feel like I'm-"

Jumin cuts Yuno's statement. "You believe that you're someone else? As in you believe you're a female, not a male?"

"Y-Yes."

Jumin pulls Yuno into a warm hug. "It's alright Yuno, I'll always be right by your side, and do anything to help you transition into what your mind desires."

"You what! You believe you're what?" the sound of Jumin's mother's loud voice echoes through the room. Jumin could feel Yuno stiffen in his arms, this wasn't going to end well in this traditional household with their closed-minded viewpoints.

Yuno pulls away from Jumin. "I-I'm a female." he whispers.

Jumin's mother looks at Yuno in disbelief, she could feel herself getting sick. "You're a boy, you will never be a female, this world is simple and there are two genders and the one you are born with is a permanent gender!" she yells, grabbing Yuno by the arm. "Nobody will ever regard you as a female, it's disgusting how you want to be someone you're not, come with me because I'm taking you to the best psychologist in town to fix your deluded thoughts."

"It's horrible for you to even think we would allow you to do this, Yuno." Jumin's father joins the conversation, his eyes glued on Jumin. "And you were going to help him? You're absolutely a terrible brother Jumin for actually wanting to help this boy become someone he's not." and those words caused Jumin to scoff in disbelief, he can be called anything in this world but never a terrible brother. Jumin is the best brother in the world, he will never place Yuno in a bad position ever.

Jumin pulls Yuno behind him. "This is what Yuno wants, if you can't be accepting then you both are horrible parents. She's a girl, not a boy and I'm going to help my sister do what she wants, no matter what you both say, she's old enough to realise who she wants to be." he snaps, turning to face Yuno.

"J-Jumin, t-thank you." Yuno whispers, he was the best brother to exist. Nobody could ever beat Jumin.

"As if that will happen in my house, Jumin you should know better and place your brother in a psychologist office and help him realise what he is doing is wrong!" his mother yells, walking towards Yuno.

"My reputation will be ruined all because of this dumb child who is filled with delusion." his father exclaims.

"Nobody has to know until she wants to tell anyone," Jumin says calmly. "Your reputation won't get destroyed and nothing will happen as long as Yuno is happy."

"I-I don't want anyone knowing, I'll change schools and my name, I want it to be Yuna not Yuno."

"Never, never will that happen, if you want to do that you will no longer be my son." Jumin's father states brutally.

"I don't need two sons anyways, I'd rather have one, Jumin is successful enough that he's nearly at a net worth of a billion, you're pathetic if you believe that we'd need your sorry little self Yuno." Jumin's mother states bitterly, grabbing the fabric of her child. "You'll never be a female." she whispers harshly.

"That's a good idea, you'll have one son," Jumin says, pulling his sister up. "Yuna is a girl, and will be living with me from now on."

"W-What?" Jumin's mother exclaims.

"If you're not willing to accept my sister, I'll never accept the both of you." he snaps, grabbing his sister towards the exit. "This is the last time you'll ever see us, my apartment is much better than this ugly infrastructure anyways."

After Jumin leaves, he and his sister sat together in his car.

"M-My clothes and passport." Yuna whispers.

"It's alright, you don't need those clothes anymore, we'll go shopping for clothes that suit your taste, as for your passport we'll just make a new one with your new name." Jumin says with a smile, ruffling his sister's hair.

"Don't tell anyone about me please, I want to grow older with this new identity and become happier and comfortable, I don't want people knowing about this."

"Don't worry Yuno- I mean Yuna, I'll make sure that nobody knows."

"Thank you." Yuna whispers.

"And also,"

"Yeah."

"Whenever you're ready, I'll be the first one to accept you and welcome you, people will know you as my beautiful sister." Jumin says, placing his hand on his sister's shoulder. "You're my sister and I'll always be there for you, no matter what."

Jumin smiles at this memory.

It has been two years since he lost contact from his parents and his sister has become an amazing designer. And this bag was one of the very products his sister made and he was grateful to gift it to Sahar. And he was more excited to get rid of two people who threaten to reveal his sister's secret. The document was confirming the name change of his sister from Yuno to Yuna.

He'll always keep his promise for his sister.

After all, it's his ambition to be the best brother there is.

well that was jumin's secret. we still got silas and luca left! do you think silas and jumin will be successful in making asher realising his feelings for sahar? or will someone get in the way?

vote, comment and share. i will be sure to post another chapter tomorrow!