End of the Road

One Story at a Time

Appalled, Sehun found himself staring at her feeling quite breathless. This was what he'd least expected. He had thought of hugs, kisses, and possible romance; not this.

No ounce of warmth showed on her face and he was shocked at how calm she was when meeting with him alone. Shouldn't she...want to cry or feel pain? Why weren't those on her face? Why wasn't there any kind of longing expression there?

Where was his Namjoo?

She turned away from him to refocus on the waves lapping by, "Up to you then."

His eyes sat on her back with his heart sinking every bit of the way. The waves could possibly drown him from where he was. Then without a word he sat down beside her after gathering himself. He would have to listen without a choice and Namjoo was here to tell him something. He would listen, he would...but he really didn't feel prepared.

"My father died," Namjoo started, her strong gaze on the water, "he didn't like you, remember? Despite the opposition, I came out to see you anyway. I know now I was in the wrong. He had a reason for not liking you, I didn't know it until I was told he was in the hospital. My dad..." Namjoo stopped to press her lips together and blinked rapidly, "was in his last stage of liver cancer."

Sehun's eyes widened.

"I was told a woman had been stopping by," Namjoo went on, "that woman was your mother. I found packets of unused money in his drawer; do you know where they came from?"

Sehun searched the waves for a voice to answer him. No, he didn't know...

"Your mom had the guts to use me as a threat against my father, who was dying," Namjoo spoke emphasizing each word heavily. "Do you know where she found me that day?"

Namjoo waited for him to answer, but he didn't.

"The hospital." Namjoo told. "She knew my father was in the hospital when even I, his daughter, didn't know. What's wrong with this picture, Sehun? Tell me what's wrong with it."

Sehun only shook his head fearfully.

"No, I...I know she's cruel...but she's not like that..."

Namjoo rolled her watery eyes before parting her lips to turn away, "My father died even when I took the money for his surgery. The money that was meant to take me away from you, in which my father died for, killed him."

She cried, he saw the tears fall, but there was no sound of heartbreak. Namjoo wouldn't release it.

"Have you lost a parent, Sehun?" Namjoo asked. "Because I lost two. My father's last words to me were an apology and a hope for me to be happy. Do you think I could have been happy then when he died because of me? That I received an apology instead of the words of support or some kind of love? That every time when I see his urn, I will think of you and what your mom did to him? What kind of foul things your mother may have said to ridicule him and his daughter? That money is greater than pride?

"No, it doesn't work like that."

Namjoo shook her head.

"It was to save my father or to have you. I couldn't leave the father who raised me in place of my mother. No one was there for him when he died. Do you know how sad it is to die alone like that?"

The tears continued streaming down her face, but Namjoo only continued to speak calmly. How that was possible, he didn't know.

"The money was a guarantee I'd have nothing to do with you anymore. You don't exist, you stopped existing in my world when my father was taken into the E.R. for surgery," Namjoo told. "It didn't matter what happened to me, I just didn't want my father to die alone, but he still did. I came late because I was with you. Do you know how much that hurts me? I abandoned him to have you, Sehun; my dad, the one who raised me. The worst is when a daughter leaves the person who raised her up.