𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙫𝙖𝙨 • 𝙚𝙣𝙝𝙮𝙥𝙚𝙣 + 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣

𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻

𝙨𝙤 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚, 𝙨𝙤 𝙞 𝙬𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙖 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚.

𝗰𝗿𝘂𝘀𝗵 - 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹

"Your mother loves you," Nara stated as she brought them to her arms, channeling what Chaerin would have done if she was awake in this situation. "And she will forever be." She scooped a spoonful of rice to the youngest child who obliged and eats by himself. They resumed eating in silence with the never-ending texts ringing from her phone, but she couldn't bring herself to open it.

They were tired from all the events that happened this night. This was supposed to be like every other day, they would come back home tired with Minho heading straight to the kitchen to cook something while Chaerin would be on the dining table doing her studies. She was supposed to be the one entertaining the kids, then Minho will call them over for dinner, and Chaerin will be annoyed and then start a bicker with him for interrupting her study.

"Aunt Nara," Jay called as he pointed to the awake Minho in his bed, dazed from his thoughts. It was like Jay knew what she wanted to tell when he collected his siblings to sit on the bed available a little far away from them. Her eyes then focused on him and noticed his hands clenched with dried bloodstains. "Oppa," she hesitatingly started with her hands slowly opening his clenched fists.

She massaged his fingers, carefully trying to wipe away the blood on his nails. "Once upon a time," she started as she sat next to him in his available spot in the bed. "There was a land that was so mysterious that one wouldn't dare step foot in them. Only those who believed in the legends were allowed to drink in their mysterious well," she added.

It seemed that this made-up story caught his attention when she noticed that he was finally looking at her albeit dazed. This was progress, she guessed. "That well held a mystery. When one drank from them, the water will change into blood, forever dripping in their mouth until all of the water in your body is drained." Nara was about to continue when she felt a weight on her shoulders, wetting her sleeves. "It was only when a group of pirates found the source of the water. But you wouldn't have guessed that the-" "Why are you telling me this?" Minho asked. Her mouth quivered as tears finally fell down her cheeks to the point that she could only smile bitterly. "What do you mean?"

"I am the cause of what happened to her. If only, I listened to her. If I was fast enough to do something, then she would have never experienced this," he berated himself as he dug his nails into his palms, bleeding through the wrapped bandages.

"Then, what? You'll be the one replacing her in the hospital bed. Think, if that does happen, what do you think will be her reaction?" she added, "It's my fault. If only I am fast enough then he wouldn't be like this. That's what she would've said, Minho. Both of you will be hurting each other."

"What am I supposed to do then? I can't face her children like this!" Minho shouted but winced from the sudden headache. This pain doesn't equate to what he was feeling. This pain isn't too much to what Chaerin must have been experiencing. "What am I supposed to say? Hey kids! Your Uncle Minho is fine, but your mother is not! I should've been the one hurt, Nara!"

His berating stopped when a fist collided with his face, and when he looked up he saw the furious face of Nara riddled with tears in her eyes. "How dare you!" She sniffled as she grabbed the collar of his hospital gown and brought him close to hers. "You're ungrateful to her, Minho. How dare you joke about her saving your life! How could you- You're not like this, Minho."

"I'm hurting too." Minho looked away from her and only gave his shoulder to lie on. She leaned to him, sniffling quietly as he massaged her fingers in a circular motion. How could he do this, he promised that he will never make her cry. But why does his heart hurts when he saw those pearl-like tears flowing down her curled lashes? "You don't think that you're the only one hurting. I don't know what happened, and the next thing I knew is that both of you are in the hospital..."

"I'm sorry." There was only silence as Minho staggered to give space in his bed for Nara to sit properly. He nestled closer to her, and slowly hugged her in the back. "I'm sorry. Sorry that I've been a jerk to you."

Minho only felt the trembling of the girl in his arms. He fondly smiled as he leaned into her neck, the smell of jasmine softly prickled his nose. Nara must have worn the perfume he gifted to her. The perfume perfectly matched her anyway. "I'm not that easy to forgive though," Nara teased him back. He doesn't know what this feeling must be, but somehow, it felt right. "Then I'll work hard to make you forgive me again."

Then he heard the joyous laugh coming from her mouth, and the burden he was carrying was gone. Like it was never there in the first place. "I thought you were still angry at me?" How cute, he thought. Her face was now painted red from embarrassment as she quickly stood up, elbowing his face in an accident. "You-!"

He bellowed in laughter, clutching his stomach hard while avoiding the playful punches Nara kept giving. How cute, he once again thought. When he was about to get her back again, the door opened to reveal the wide-eyed smile of the child, Jake. And along with him was the panting nurse who fiddled with the papers in front of her.

"Jake, what are you doing here?" Nara asked the child who kept dragging them out of the door. Minho got up and thanked the nurse who gave him the IV drip stand. He followed the two on their way to the hallway to room 305, opening it to see the wide-awake Chaerin laying down on her bed.