It was as if her whole existence was that of a butterfly - beautiful, carefree, joyful. Then it all fell apart and that beauty, carefree nature, and joy dissipated into the never ending abyss.
Cue the betrayal of a moth.
•••
"It's hard to be with s...
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___
The pain was still so real, so tangible, so... hard to deal with. Chisoo's adoptive home was now so empty without her. Haknyeon missed his little sister and his parents missed their daughter. Younghoon missed his best friend and first love. Sangyeon missed his girlfriend and first love.
There was nothing that could make the pain subside, but remembering all of the good she brought into the world helped. Her death was so bittersweet, the definition of bittersweet, really.
She was just starting to take hold of her own life again.
"Sangyeon, the boys are ready."
He looked up at his sister, the sister that treated Chisoo so badly when they first met. The first girl he loved was doubted by the person that meant the most to him.
He nodded and got up, wiping the tears off of his nephews faces as he walked by. They would be attending the funeral with him, considering they loved Chisoo if she were truly their aunt.
"I'm sorry for how I treated her, Sangyeon," Sang-mi finally said. "I really am."
"You're sorry because she's dead, Sang-mi," the boy shook his head. "But knowing her, she probably would have accepted your apology after some time."
His sister looked down at her feet. "Be safe, okay?"
Sangyeon hummed and grabbed the boys' hands. He took them out to the car and buckled them up in the backseat, and Dae-won wrapped his arms around Sangyeon's neck.
"Is she really gone forever, Uncle Sangyeon?" He asked with a broken voice.
"She is," Sangyeon replied quietly, not wanting to cry in front of his already petrified nephews. "But she's still here," he pointed to Dae-won's heart. "She'll always be there."
The boys nodded, their lips quivering. The funeral was in an hour.
Haknyeon, his parents, Younghoon, Sangyeon, and the boys all had reserved spots in the front row. The sight of the coffin was enough to make Sangyeon queasy.
"I'm going to the restroom." He managed to mumble to Haknyeon.
He stood up and walked down the aisle of the outside showing. There were still ten minutes before the funeral began, yet every seat seemed to be taken up by faces that he was a complete stranger to. He never had the pleasure of meeting any of Chisoo's family.
He made it to the bathroom and splashed his face with cold water. He needed to get a grip before he gave his eulogy.
He walked back out of the restroom and walked by the lady with a black veil over her face. Before he wandered too far, he paused and turned back to her - there was something eerily familiar about her.
Every step closer he took, he could make out features from underneath the veil.
"Dajung," he mumbled through his clenched jaw. "You have no business here."
She flipped her veil back to reveal a pair of empty eyes. "I don't-"
"Then why are you here?" He pointed at her, his anger finally kicking in, only for it to be quickly replaced with a violent wave of sadness. "Why did you kill her?"
"I have IED, I couldn't control it-"
"Why Chisoo?!"
There was now attention on the two of them, and Dajung quickly flipped her veil back to cover her face. Sangyeon grabbed her arm and dragged her all the way to the front of the outdoor venue, where security stood guard.
"Call the police," Sangyeon managed through newfound tears. Tears of anger, tears of sadness, a cascade of melancholy events making marks under his eyes. "She's the one who killed Chisoo, she has no business here-"
"I do! I do have business here-"
"Everybody here hates you," Sangyeon cut her off once again. "Including myself."
The pain and hate in his eyes told the story, and he turned away from her with the same hatred he had in his eyes.
Three minutes until the funeral.
Sangyeon's hands were shaking as he stood at the podium and carefully grabbed the microphone. After hearing so many stories of Chisoo from her family that she distanced herself from, hearing stories from Younghoon, Haknyeon, his parents, Sangyeon was on the brink of tears once again.
"I met Chisoo four months ago, and I never knew that someone could impact me in a way that she did," Sangyeon began, his voice breaking every now and then. "She taught me how to be grateful for everything and everyone that came into my life. She taught me to be gentle. She taught me to be careful. She taught me to love the right way. She taught me all of these things even after the world betrayed her and took everything from her. I always told her that she reminded me of a moth, and she was so confused the first time I told her that."
He paused and looked at everyone in the crowd. He saw her in every single person looking at him.
"She wasn't a butterfly because everyone loves butterflies, everyone treats butterflies gently. Chisoo didn't get that privilege," he explained. "She was a moth because, while she was as beautiful as a butterfly, she wasn't treated like a butterfly. She was battered mentally the same way people swat at moths when they're outside. She was discarded like a moth, and she never should have been. Chisoo was the most amazing girl I've ever met in my life, and she deserved so much more than what the world had to offer her."
He looked down at his nephews, who were sobbing into Haknyeon's blazer.
"She was an aunt to my nephews. She was my other half. She made me stronger. She made my passion for life flare up. For that, I'll always remember Yoo Chisoo for all of the good she brought into my life, and so many other peoples lives. Four months felt like a lifetime, and my love for her will last for a lifetime as well."
He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and set it on top of her coffin. It was a copy of lyrics he wrote for her after she died. He planned on making it a song at some point.
His fingertips grazed the material of the box she laid in, hoping she found her eternal peace after such a twisted life.
He walked back over to his spot, gave Mrs. and Mr. Ju a hug, as he did Haknyeon.
He shook Younghoon's hand. They fought for the same girl, but it didn't matter because they both lost their love.
He bent down and embraced his nephews.
He would take the love Chisoo showed him and pass it on to the rest of the world. He would live in her legacy, because after so much effort, her future was ripped out from underneath her when Dajung pushed her in front of that car.
But that passion had to go somewhere - and Sangyeon would embody it and live, succeed, and love in the name of Chisoo.
He would show the world what it lost, and that was a beautiful woman, a talented woman, a loving woman. A moth with beautiful blue wings that embraced anyone it came across.
She could no longer be betrayed, for the world had done it for far too long and finally swept her into the abyss.
