OVER ME [ZEROBASEONE]

22.

The silence was loud. The sped-up heartbeat was almost booming through the vast living room, echoing off of expensive paintings and floor-to-ceiling windows.

They all sat still; The ones who were present.

-The ones who were allowed to be present.

"So you're saying her brain is basically wiped?" The male in a navy suit, known as Taerae, reached a conclusion about the hefty announcement he was able to hear.

"No, not completely," the male best with medical problems sighed, "her memory loss is selective." He stood up from his seat as he decided to explain everything simply, noticing his medical terms were too complicated for his members to grasp. "She knows she lives with us, and from what we have gathered, she knows all of our names. She also knows Yujin is the closest to her as..." he paused, reminiscing about what happened to her because of Yujin, a bittersweet lump forming in his mouth, one he had to force down to shush it. "They spent good times together."

Matthew glanced at Gyuvin for a second before voicing his next line, "She also seems not to recall us being cruel to her at all."

Gyuvin raised his brow, "Why did you say that looking at me?" He questioned accusingly, almost as if he himself experienced his own version of selective memory loss, not recalling being exceptionally evil to the girl.

Matthew ignored him and looked ahead at his leader, Zhang Hao, waiting for him to say something.

Hao nods, his expression holding a very natural form- as stoic as ever. "That's good." He concluded simply.

The members waiting for his declaration stayed still.

"Nothing has ever happened to her." He casually started his story, "At the end of the day, we were the ones to save her, remember?" Hao shook his head with sympathy, pretending to recall a memory, one that didn't even exist. "When she was lost in the woods, away from everyone, and she could not remember a thing? My heart still aches when I think about that poor little girl." He chuckled sadly.

The silence filled the room again. Ricky looked at Hanbin in disbelief after gawking at Zhang Hao and his words, expecting his fellow member to do something about it, but Hanbin only stayed stoic, just like his leader.

Hanbin himself had experienced an initial shock, but it took him two seconds to get over himself and his thoughts. After making her go through all that, the best thing to do is to pretend like it never happened. She wouldn't want to go through all that trauma again-

He didn't want to make her go through it all over again.

So with a nod, he sealed what Hao had said. "She can't know a thing that had happened to her, if she ever asks, leave it to me." Hanbin said loudly through the room after standing up, "And we treat her like we would treat a little sister of ours, understood?"

The members nod before each leaving one by one to do their business, meanwhile hanbin was in a trance at his own words. like a sister. How should he treat her like a little sister? It was certainly not impossible, he once was a big brother to a younger girl, but it was the reality of his said little sister that struck him.

He will never forget that day, that sad, gloomy day.

He wasn't supposed to be out so late. It was half an hour past 5, he was supposed to be home before 5, before the sun sets and paints the sky black, and he was usually very responsible despite only being seven. Yet that faithful night, he needed to be slightly late, only by a few minutes. "Will Mom get mad at us, Han?" The little voice of his baby sister asked, her curious glowy eyes looking up to the older boy.