𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙫𝙖𝙨 • 𝙚𝙣𝙝𝙮𝙥𝙚𝙣 + 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣

𝘁𝘄𝗼

𝙄 𝙜𝙤 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙩 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥.

𝘼𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙕 - 𝘿𝙚𝙟𝙖𝙫𝙪

As soon as the taxi stopped in front of the entrance of the emergency room, Aunt Nara quickly paid the driver and grabbed them to run through the busy hallways filled with patients and nurses. Everything was in a blur as he only knew that they were in a hospital - never a good sign. Then she left them to talk to a pretty nurse clad in a pink uniform who told her about his mother, smiling sadly at them.

When they walked slowly to the busy emergency room, he saw his mother. His mother that was always taking care and loving them was now in bed with a doctor pumping her chest in a CPR motion, switching to a defibrillator every minute as his mother's body jumped slightly. "Turn around."

Heeseung only looked at his younger siblings with tears in his eyes, hands gripped into a fist, and lips trembling. "Jay, Jake, and Sunghoon. I said turn around!" He shouted as he saw them turn around with confusion painted in their faces... Why? Why is it that his mother is sleeping here? What happened? Why... is this happening to her? Did they do anything wrong?

And then he saw his uncle in another bed whose face was pale and struggling against the bed with nurses holding him back. "Uncle?" He asked tremblingly, staggering to take another step to him. Warm tears flowed down from his eyes, his mouth trembling into a thin line, and as if there was a heavy boulder down in his chest, he couldn't breathe.

The man in the bed once again struggled violently and succeeded as Minho ran to embrace him, his dried bloodied hands wiping away the hot tears on his face. "I'm sorry, I couldn't protect her. I'm sorry," Uncle Minho kept repeating as everything soon became a blur, and he only knew that the last thing he saw was the panicked look on his uncle and aunt's faces.

.

Park Minho lived a lucky and comfortable life being a child of doting parents with a silver spoon in his mouth. He never once had to lift a finger to get whatever he wants, and they would be served in a silver platter. It was planned that he will inherit their business so that his parents could enjoy the joys of retirement, but the young man valued his own principles.

He was a handsome man in which women would fall in love with his looks, but they will soon be after his money. It was after an incident with his ex-girlfriend that he realized the reality of being a child with a silver spoon in his mouth. His family is honest and kind which was a fresh breath compared to the other stuck-up rich chaebols in their area.

But why will others be angry at them for something they had never done? And maybe that was the breaking point of his patience when he told his parents that he wanted to be independent. They were understanding - a surprise for him since he was always coddled by them - and handed him a sum of money and an apartment in a friendly neighborhood.

The first few days he was very cheerful in which he would walk every day in his neighborhood to enjoy the scenery. However, soon everything became a monotone and a daily occurrence to him, and when he was sitting on a bench in a nearby park, his eyes soon met through a flowery patch near a cherry tree.

Minho started a business under his name in an available spot underneath an apartment nearby. The distance of the shop was a minute's drive away from his navy Hyundai Sonata that his parents gifted him on his birthday which was the in-demand car of the time. He then started posting posters of new workers to his shop in the lamp posts of the neighborhood - and he came across an interesting rumor about the white large house at the end of the streets.

They expressed that the house was once lived by a wealthy family whose daughter was the brightest and most beautiful child in their neighborhood. Their family was well-known fashion designers that were operating at top brands but sadly passed away in an accident. The only survivors of the misfortune were the lonely little girl and her uncle.

To say that the story was depressing would be an understatement, but he only knew that the uncle studied very hard in order to inherit the law firm their grandfather gave to both of the sons. But the surprising fact was that the spoiled little girl grew up to work a part-time job at the coffee shop run by an old lady.

Then he contacted a number from the resume letters sent the other day, and to his surprise, the hired employee was the same girl the neighborhood was talking about. Lee Chaerin was a young mother with a hardworking nature, whenever he ordered her to man the counter or take up calls for the delivery of flowers, she would do it immediately and efficiently.

She was young in his opinion, way too young for him to fall in love with. At first, there was something tingly in his heart whenever he talked to her. This feeling soon died down when time passed, and it became a memory in his mind. And now, a new feeling of protectiveness rose as he soon became fond of the younger, and viewed her as his sister.

And he failed.

He should have listened to her when she was muttering about the feeling of someone following her. He should have reported it at the police, but instead, he chose to ignore it and listed it as one of her quirks.

And on that cold summer night, he was only supposed to chaperone Chaerin after he closes his shop, he didn't know that it would be the most traumatizing night of his life. Minho knew that he was sheltered and protected so he wasn't someone with the stamina to be able to run away from a killer.

If... If he knew that Chaerin would be in danger since he couldn't protect her, he would have studied how to defend himself. When he opened his eyes after he fainted from fatigue, he saw his baby sister, reaching his arms with her trembling and bloodied fingers. The desperation in her eyes mellowed down when she knew that he woke up as if she was glad that he was okay.

To add the fact that he heard her mutter those words as if she knew that she was going to die. He sat up and scrambled to her side, cradling her into his arms as his sobs kept getting louder even if medics struggled to get him off her body.

"Help us! Please... help her."