|Weak Hero| Dawn Na

Chapter 46

Dawn stood outside of the room but she hesitated to open the door. She purposefully came alone because she wasn't sure if she would be able to bring herself to see him. She reached for the door handle before pulling her arm back.

"You can go inside," Mom Ahn walked over to her. "Dawn, you can go and see Stephen,"

Dawn took a deep breath and opened the door to Stephen's hospital room. Her best friend laid unconscious on the hospital bed, the oxygen mask over his face and the heart monitor beeping loudly beside him. He had a fresh set of bandages wrapped around his wounds. 

She shakily took a few steps inside towards him. 'Stephen...' Tears welled up in her eyes. 

"Donald, Kingsley, Gray, and Orion have been visiting him too," Mom Ahn informed. "I didn't question why you weren't with them because I didn't want to force you to visit. I knew you were also hurting too and wanted you to move at your own pace,"

"I..." Dawn bit her lip. "I'm sorry..." Her voice trembled and was barely audible. It was strange hearing her own voice after being unable to speak for months.

"What are you apologizing for?" Mom Ahn asked. "Dawn, it's not your fault. None of this is your fault,"

"I wish..." Dawn felt her tears begin to fall. "I w-wish...I could've...d-done m-more..."

"Stephen would've wanted you to continue living life happily," Mom Ahn told her. "You're already doing that, right? I heard from the others that you've got a lot more brothers now and even a boyfriend,"

"Yeah, my...my boyfriend..." Dawn nodded. "His...His name is F-Forrest..." She bit her lip as another wave of sorrow hit her. "I wish...Stephen could meet Forrest...and all my...my new brothers..."

"One day he'll wake up," Mom Ahn hugged her. "We don't know when, but he'll eventually wake up,"

'Stephen...' Dawn silently thought. 'Please wake up soon...'

XXX

"You know what I just realized?" Sophia brought up when she was chatting with her little brother during a visit. "The kids are all dating redheads,"

"Huh?" Orion paused to think about his sister's words. 'Donald is dating Kingsley who has red hair. Dawn is dating Forrest who has red hair. Gray is (unofficially) dating Stephen who has red hair,' "Oh god, you're right,"

"Looks like it's something about red hair that attracts the kids," Sophia giggled.

"Gray and Stephen aren't officially dating though," Orion sadly thought back to the past. "They both were attracted to each other and pretty much acted like an actual couple, whether they realized it or not. It was one of those they're dating but they don't realize it relationships,"

"Stephen was Gray's first friend. Dawn doesn't count since they're cousins," Sophia recalled. "He never had any friends before him and was only focused on studying. He wasn't really living life and just seemed to go through the motions like a robot. Meeting you, Dawn, Donald, and Stephen sparked that light in him,"

"Stephen has that effect on people," Orion smiled softly. "Believe it or not, but Donald and Dawn were very shy and hesitant to interact with other people when I first adopted them. It's actually not a surprise given their traumatic childhood. Stephen played a huge role in getting them accustomed to a normal life,"

"Orion, there's something that I'm still curious about," Sophia questioned. "What was your life like growing up? Did...did you have a hard life?"

"Of course not," Orion lied, brushing away the thoughts of blood and fights. "My life was actually pretty boring. Nothing interesting really happened," He didn't delve further into details and immediately changed the topic. 'Sometimes, it's better when you remain oblivious to certain things,'

XXX

Genie:
Dawn you like animals
right?

Genie:
Do you like cats?

Dawn:
Yeah

Genie:
[KitteninRain.jpg]

Dawn:
AWWWWSO CUTE!

Big Ben:
Wait did you leave it in the
rain!?

Genie:
What no!

Genie:
Teddy Jin from Class 1 took
it home

Genie:
I think he has a soft spot for
cats

Dawn:
I've seen him read cat
magazines in class

Dawn:
I'll ask him about the kitty
tomorrow

XXX

"Teddy, is it true that you adopted a cat?" Dawn asked before class.

"Who told you that?" Teddy reacted defensively. 

"Do you have any pictures?" Dawn questioned eagerly. "I like cats. I have a dog but I might also adopt a cat,"

Teddy Jin's love for cats outweighed his desire to keep people from knowing about it. "Yeah, I have some photos," Some photos meant several dozens of photos. "His name's Co,"

"Cute!" Dawn smiled as Teddy scrolled through his photo gallery to show Dawn all of the photos he had taken.

"Did you know that there's a stray cat that roams the school campus?" Teddy asked Dawn.

"There is? I never noticed,"

"I named him Sprite. I can try and find him during lunch so you can meet him. He looks a lot like Co,"

"Maybe littermates that were separated?"

"Maybe,"

XXX

Phillip Kim glared at Dawn from his seat in the classroom. "Hey, Chad Jang, when did Teddy Jin get so chummy with that bitch?"

"Oh I, uh, saw them feeding the school's stray cat during lunch," Chad answered.

Despite Phillip being easily defeated by Dawn at the start of the semester, some students still stuck around Phillip just for his money.

'It's because of that bitch that my reputation is in shambles now!' Phillip thought. 'She only won because she got a lucky shot. The only reason I'm not retaliating after the attempt with Jimmy Bae failed is because apparently not only is she's Wolf Keum and Jake Ji's younger sister, but she's also Forrest Lee's girlfriend?'

An evil idea formed in Phillip's mind. Dawn Na was obviously off limits, but there was one way to cause her to be distressed. "Chad, find that cat and bring it to me,"

Phillip's gonna get canceled for animal abuse.