Chapter 38 The Truth #4
I watched as Jiwon giggled, her eyes sparkling with mischief under the streetlights as she rushed ahead, skating in circles in the snow.
Beck, Jax, and Sydney followed behind her, laughing as they raced to catch up.
Wyn, ever the responsible one, stayed just behind, his eyes scanning the dark lake in front of us with a nervous energy that I couldn’t quite place.
I had to admit, I was excited too—thrilled even.
The rush of skating on the lake at night, the cool bite of the air, the stillness of the world around us.
It was the kind of freedom that didn’t come often.
But as I looked at Wyn, there was something in his face that told me he didn’t share the same carefree excitement.
“You okay?” I asked, falling into step beside him.
“Yeah,” he said, though the tightness in his voice made it clear he wasn’t.
His eyes flicked nervously toward the darker patches of ice.
The edges of the lake, where the ice was thinner.
“It just feels off tonight. Like… I don’t know.
I don’t like the idea of being out here after everything the parents said. ”
I nodded, though I didn’t share his hesitation. I had no reason to. The ice looked solid enough. We’d skated on it plenty of times before.
“Relax, man,” I said, slapping his shoulder lightly. “You’re always the cautious one. It’s fine. We’ll be back before anyone notices we’re gone. No harm done.”
I saw him hesitate again, his gaze flicking back toward Jiwon, who was skating further ahead, laughing like the world didn’t exist.
“Yeah,” he muttered. “But she’s too inexperienced to be out here, Yesoh too.”
Jiwon’s laughter echoed in the night air, a sound that made everything feel light and easy. She was always like that—her joy unburdened by the heaviness of life, her innocence a shield against the worries of the world.
Sydney and Jax were already racing around, their competitive spirits taking over as they tried to outdo each other with spins and tight turns. Beck, as usual, was showing off, performing quick, smooth movements that made her look effortless.
“I’m faster than you!” Jax called to Sydney, skating backward in a reckless attempt to challenge her.
“I don’t think you are,” Sydney called back, laughing, but there was a competitive edge in her voice.
“Come on, slowpoke,” Beck teased, gliding past them effortlessly. She was skating with such grace that it looked like she was floating.
But Jiwon? Jiwon was the true center of it all. She didn’t care about being fast or graceful. She was just there, enjoying the simple joy of gliding across the ice, her small frame wobbling but her heart full of joy.
“Catch me, Wyn!” she shouted over her shoulder, laughing as she sped ahead of him.
Wyn hesitated, then pushed forward with a small sigh. “You’re going to fall if you keep that up, Jiwon,” he called after her, his voice more concerned than amused.
I saw her slow down, glancing back at him. “You’re too slow, Wyn! Catch me if you can!”
“Careful,” he called, but his voice was a mixture of concern and something else. It was a warning he couldn’t shake.
I watched as she darted ahead again, her arms outstretched as if the wind could hold her up, making her laugh louder. And though I couldn’t shake the unease in the back of my mind, I didn’t stop her. None of us did.
We skated for hours, weaving in and out of the dark expanse of the lake, our laughter ringing in the cold night.
The ice beneath us was mostly solid, though I noticed the edges were beginning to look darker, as if the weight of the world was beginning to settle into the cracks.
But no one seemed to notice—no one but Wyn.
He stayed close, his gaze flicking nervously over his shoulder as he kept an eye on Jiwon. I knew it was his protective nature, but I also knew that he couldn’t keep her safe forever. We all had to learn the risks eventually.
“Wyn, relax!” I called out to him as I passed. “We’re fine. Nothing’s going to happen.”
His face remained tight, but he said nothing. He skated after Jiwon, keeping a close distance, as if he were trying to catch up but also keep her in sight at the same time.
“Hey!” Bae called out, “What’s that around your neck?”
“Oh, it’s nothing I—” Jiwon quipped, tucking the locket into her sweater.
“Is that…” Beck contemplated, narrowing her eyes.
“Mum’s necklace…” Wynter finished her sentence.
“Dad said that necklace would be mine after graduation,” Bae complained, her eyes swimming with hurt. “You already have Mum’s yearbook, the necklace was supposed to be mine.”
“Bae, stop being so childish. It’s not yours. Dad only said that to get you to lay off,” Jiwon protested. “Grow up.”
“You can’t just call me childish whenever you do something wrong and I call you out on it.” Bae fought tears brimming in her eyes.
“Okay enough, you’re both getting far too angry,” Beck attempted to intervene.
“Or maybe I’m calling you childish because the necklace isn’t yours, and you’re already throwing a tantrum over it.” Jiwon folded her arms. “I just wanted a piece of her.”
“She left us. I don’t necessarily think either of you should be fighting over her belongings,” Wynter deadpanned.
The mother wound was deeply engrained within the Kwon siblings, forever raw, forever vulnerable, incurable and rotting.
“Take it off,” Bae directed.
“What? No are you crazy I’m not—” Jiwon refuted, and Bae strode forward, Jiwon inching back further onto the centre of the frozen lake. Bae leapt forward, tugging at the locket on her sister’s neck till it snapped off, throwing Jiwon off balance.
It was a sound like nothing I had ever heard.
A sharp, sickening crack echoed across the lake, and for a brief, terrifying moment, everything seemed to freeze in place.
Jiwon’s laughter died instantly, replaced by a sharp scream.
My heart stopped as I saw her legs give way beneath her, her body falling forward.
She slipped beneath the surface of the ice with a sickening crash.
“Jiwon!” Wyn shouted, his voice full of horror.
“Jiwon!” Beck called out, kneeling over the gaping hole in the ice.
Wyn didn’t even think—he just moved, skating toward the spot where she had fallen. My mind raced, my heart hammering in my chest, but it all felt like I was watching from the outside. Bae stood there speechless and in shock.
The ice groaned beneath Wyn as he reached the edge where the hole had opened, water bubbling up from below, dark and cold.
“Wyn, stop!” I shouted, my voice frantic as I pulled him back. “Don’t go near the edge!”
But he couldn’t stop. His eyes were locked on the spot where Jiwon had disappeared, his breath coming in short, sharp bursts. Wyn had reached the hole immediately, his body already plunging into the freezing water, his face a mask of desperation and terror.
“Jiwon! Jiwon, where are you?” he shouted, his voice raw and broken before he submerged beneath the icy blue.
“What happened?” Yesoh asked wobbling on the ice, she couldn’t skate at all. She took off the skates and remained in socks.
“I—-I didn’t mean to. I just—-” Bae’s voice trembled.
My breath caught in my throat. The ice groaned again, louder now, and for a moment, I thought it might split open completely, swallowing us all. But Wyn didn’t care. He came up for breaths every so often.
“Is he crazy?” Sydney contemplated wanting to move forward but Jax held her back.
“Wynter, please!” Beck screamed.
“Wyn!” I shouted, grabbing his arm, trying to pull him back. “The ice, it’ll break more. You can’t—”
“She’s under there!” he screamed, his voice cracking. “I have to get her! She’s my sister! She’s under there!”
His head was under again.
But the ice was already starting to crack around him.
I could see it. I could feel the weight of the danger in my bones, but I couldn’t make myself pull him away.
I couldn’t stop him from diving deeper into the black water, his arms flailing as he searched for her.
He moved to a place where the ice was frozen above him, and Beck sobbed.
“He won’t be able to come up for air,” she cried.
Yesoh moved forward despite how scared she obviously was and used her skate and her hands to break the ice above him. Her hands bloodied and fists raging red. I didn’t recognize her, it was as though this sheer instinct to save him had washed over her. I didn’t even bother to stop her.
Wynter does not know this though—that night Yesoh saved his life. She’s the only reason he was able to come back up for air.
Jiwon’s small, frozen form was there, somewhere beneath the water.
The cold felt like it could swallow her whole, and I couldn’t even hear her anymore.
I couldn’t see her. All I could hear was Wyn’s frantic voice calling her name, his hands reaching further, deeper.
His heart was breaking in real time. He wouldn’t stop, not until she was safe, not until he could pull her from the cold, from the black, icy grip that threatened to take her away.
I saw it—his face, his eyes wide with terror, the streak of anger in them as his hands desperately searched for her. There was nothing but the darkness of the water, and his tears mixed with the ice, freezing his pain into something cold, something unrelenting.
And then… I saw Jiwon’s hand.
Her fingers, pale and limp, barely above the surface. Wyn didn’t wait. He reached, stretching himself as far as he could. He pulled her free, and I could see the terror and the exhaustion on his face as he yanked her from the depths. Beck covered her youngest sister’s eyes.
“It’s all my fault, it’s all…” Bae repeated.
“Shhh, nothing is your fault,” Beck comforted, terrified herself.
So you see, Bae was only fifteen, she was just a kid who got into a heated argument on thin ice.
It wasn’t like she pushed her six feet under, it was an accident and we all saw that.
We also knew Jiwon wouldn’t want to have her little sister go through interrogations.
We told the police we weren’t there. We told them we just found Jiwon, already gone, her body cold. The truth never left our lips.
But I knew. We all knew. The truth was that we were there when she fell. We saw the ice break beneath her, beneath us all. We heard her scream, watched her vanish into the dark water. And we did nothing.
We were scared. Scared of the consequences. Scared of losing everything, we were all working so hard towards, scared of losing each other. But most of all scared for Bae, scared she would blame herself for the rest of her life for that argument with her sister. So we lied. We buried it.
By the time we pulled her out, she was already gone. Her skin was blue, her eyes empty. She was lost to us forever, and no one would ever know how close we were to saving her, how close we came to losing everything.
The fear, the guilt, never left. It’s still here, in the quiet moments. A secret we carry, a lie we’ll never undo.
This is the despicable truth, the one that is so grim we can never even say it to each other.
And so we adopted the motto don’t think it, don’t say it in the hopes that we didn’t have to relive that night all over again.
But after the last holiday in Waverley when Jiwon Kwon died, on a random day in November, her whole family moved out.
They sold their house, because it was too hard, far too difficult to stay.
None of us ever went back to Waverley Peak and the curious case of the Waverly Peak tragedy remained a mystery unsolved.
It drove the police insane, they just settled on the fact that it was some freak accident.
Seeing the posters all over town, seeing the effects of her death on myself, and all my friends weighed down on me.
I remembered how I told Wynter not to worry, how I kept telling him that he was being paranoid, and yet I watched his very worst fear come true that night.
So you see, one might think me cruel for urging my little sister to out herself to him, but I owe Wynter Andy Kwon the world.
He is my best friend, the one who didn’t resent me in spite of it all.
How does one even begin to repent for that?
I thought about it on sleepless nights. All my best compositions were inspired by that very haunting melody I heard in my mind every time I thought about the tragedy.
I hope that there comes a day that perhaps all seven of us could be forgiven by whatever God watched over us all for our sins. I hoped that our wrongdoings hadn’t yet branded themselves into our bones and sealed our fate. I hope that perhaps we could change the prophecy.
I hoped that perhaps if Yesoh told the truth, she could save what she has with Wynter and not let history repeat itself. So do you understand that I am sorry for many things, but not for that?
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