Sleeping Beauty Syndrome

6

"You're not alone, Wooyoung. We're all here for you. Especially now, we'll all stick together. I'm so sorry about your family..."

We held on to each other and I cried with him, stroking his back again and again.

"Please promise me you won't die too." his voice sounded so weak.

"Okay, we'll make a deal, if you don't die, I won't die either," I promised him, not knowing if I could even keep it.

But at that moment it didn't matter, I didn't want to see him any sadder or more desperate.

At some point, he fell asleep in my arms and I carefully laid his head on a pillow and covered him up. Then I went into the kitchen, wanting to cook something to distract me. All the tears had given me a headache and I grabbed a glass of water.

I heard noises behind me and saw Mingi sitting on the floor with his arms around his knees.

"Why are you sitting here alone on the floor?" I asked him and sat down next to him, leaning my back against the kitchen counter.

He looked at me desperately and then rested his head on his legs before he began to talk haltingly.

"I've just found out that my family is getting the vaccine."

"But that's good, no need to sit depressed alone in the kitchen." I was happy for him, but he shook his head sadly.

"Yes, but I can't look the others in the eye anymore, their families are dead, or they can't reach them and don't know what's going on with them, while I'm lucky that my family won't die. I don't know what to do. I feel so bad, why do I deserve this and they don't?" he began to cry softly.

"Oh sweetie, this isn't your fault, nor did you choose this, surely they won't hold it against you. I'm sure they're happy for you. It's worse to hear more bad news when you're grieving. I think the others would agree with me. You don't have to feel guilty about it."

I put an arm around his shoulders and he let me give him a hug.

This whole situation was so surreal, pushing us all to our limits. My mind closed off, trying to block out the outside world and the madness that was now happening in the world.

As I no longer had a family, I only focused on the boys and Juhee, nothing else mattered to me. The world out there wasn't as important to me as the people in here and I tried to be there for everyone as much as I could, my friends were all I had and I would protect them with everything I had. Even with my own life if I had to.