Retaliations with a Rebel

~Chapter 22~

Jongin’s POV

Slowly being replaced by a strong white light, the blackness faded away. I blinked rapidly to adjust the blurred lights and hopefully to get my eyes to stop stinging. As soon as my vision cleared I sat up, only to be greeted by the blandness of a vast white room. ‘Where the hell am I?’ I thought. “You’re awake!” a soft voice spoke. I looked around and there she was—eyes as bright as they used to be, in her favorite summer dress; the same height, the same smile… Just the same as the last time I saw her.

“Areum?” I was shocked to see her in front of me. My dead baby sister couldn’t possibly be standing right there. My hand had a mind of its own—it lifted and landed on her shoulder. She was real. “Oh shit,” I murmured while pulling her into a big hug. The realization of how much I missed her every day, every moment, every second, it hit me harder than a brick to the head. I could feel warm tears streaming down my face.

“Jongin, stop crying! Cry baby,” she giggled pulling away from the hug with an all too familiar smirk on her face. Gosh, she was just how I remembered.

I let out a sad smile; she would never grow old. She couldn’t if she tried. Areum was dead. She ‘d never meet anyone and marry them, she’d never have those grand weddings that girls dreamt about, and she’d never have kids. The sudden thought bit at me, void of warmth, and made me squirm.

“Hold on, Areum, you’re not alive. That means—Areum are we in heaven?” Everything was white; an utter, absolute, total, out-and-out colorless surrounding. I blame all those stereotypical slash hospital-to-afterlife movies for my current freak out. Areum raised her brow and gave me a judging look, “Only you would think you would go to heaven, Jongin. One, nice joke. And two, you think you’d go to heaven after how you treated Jaehi? Please. You’re a vegetable right now. You died twice—but you’re hanging on.”

My mouth hung open while I tried to process the information coming from my dead sister. The first thought that struck me was, ‘I’m in a fucking coma?’ followed by, ‘Since when is she so snappy?’, and then lastly and lingering, ‘Jaehi…’. A squeak was the only sound that managed to slip through my throat considering my voice box seemed almost non-existent. This was really all too much to comprehend, and let alone it coming from my non-living baby sister. She just stared at me.

“I like Jaehi.”

“You know about her?”

Areum just gave me a deadpanned look, “I like her too.”

And with that a sharp pain stung my cheek. I looked at Areum who had just slapped me with wide eyes while holding the side of my face. She may be a little kid, but I could have sworn that her slap felt a lot harder than it should have. Maybe she aged and kept the small body? “What the hell Areum?!” I’m pretty sure she hit her period a couple years ago and is totally PMSing although her tiny frame says otherwise.

“You’re the idiot who said all those hurtful words to her! I mean, are you serious Jongin? And then you go and ram your car into a freaking giant pole on the side of the road—and now everyone is bawling their eyes out for an idiot like you!” And the memories came flooding back; flashes of Jaehi’s hurt face and the next minute the car was reduced to half its size and there was blood everywhere before it all faded out.

“Oh…”

“And how could you be so selfish?! Mom and dad; they’re so scared! After losing me… Do you think they’d want to lose you too? They can’t, Jongin,” her voice faltered and eyes filled with tears. I watched her control her breathing—her chest rose and fell unevenly. I looked down at my hands as they wrung the pooled white sheets in my lap. I didn’t even realize how much I would hurt mom and dad. I was really, like Areum had said, selfish and an idiot. I bit down on my lip and silently let the tears stream down my face with a couple sniffles. I felt her wrap her fragile arms around my neck; she caused me to break. I sobbed into her shoulder while holding her small body. It was amazing how much such a tiny person could do to me. Her tears soaked my shoulder as mine did the same to hers.