Family Secrets

Mourning

Choon-hee's previous smile almost immediately disappeared as she heard the news of her father's death. How else would she react? The man who raised her had died. Her life had been going so well, and then this happened. At the same time, she felt even worse than she should have. She felt like it was partially her fault for leaving him. As soon as she wasn't able to take care of him every day, he only had a few weeks left to live. She silently excused herself and went to her room to be alone for a while.

The boys were all silent, no one moving for a few moments until Dak-ho came to his senses. "I'll go talk to her. I may not have many memories, he was still my dad just like he was her."

Dak-ho went to Choon-hee's room, sitting beside her in the corner and put his arm around her comfortingly. Choon-hee hugged her knees closer to her and laid her head on her brother's shoulder. "The man who raised me is dead...Until this year, he was the only family I had. Maybe if I hadn't left and had been there for him...he would still be alive." Her cheeks were glistening with her tears.

"Hey, it's not your fault. I know I can't mourn the same way since I haven't seen him since I was four, but he was still my father too. Remember this, he's your dad and loved you more than anything, so he'd want you to be happy. If he didn't want that, he wouldn't have let you come. You did what you could do, and it was more than enough, but no one wants you to blame yourself for his death, including him. Think about it this way, our dad isn't suffering from his illness anymore, which is a good thing." Dak-ho wiped his sister's tears from her eyes and hugged her a bit longer, letting what he said soak in before they got up and went back to the table and ate with the other boys and their mom.

The next day, Choon-hee, Myung-dae, and Sang had to go shoot the next episode of Star in our Midst but were a lot more serious than they usually were, which arose a lot of curiosity amongst the rest of the staff, especially Jae-Hwa who had grown attached to the young girl. During their lunch break, Choon-hee ate by herself, obviously distancing herself in grief.

As usual, Myung-dae and Sang ate together, Sang watching Choon-hee, wishing he could help her. "What am I supposed to do? The man who raised the woman I love just passed away, and I have no idea how to help her."

"I was actually thinking about that. Why don't we write a song to tell her we're here for her? It's no secret she's hurting and trying to distance herself. I think it'd benefit her and Dak-ho if we did that." Myung-dae was also watching Choon-hee. She was like a sister to him, to all of them.

Before Sang could respond, Jae-Hwa decided to bud into their conversation. "Hey! What's wrong with Choon-hee? Did someone do something to her?"

"Her dad just died. Give her some space for now. We're all going to Incheon next week for the funeral, even though we never met him. We want to be there for her and Dak-ho." Sang had yet to take his eyes off her as he spoke. "And I like that idea, Myung-dae."

The next time the boys were practicing and Choon-hee was away doing her idol training, Myung-dae introduced his idea to the other and they started working on a song for her, each of them adding to the lyrics and music in some way or another. As soon as it was finished, they started practicing it, planning to perform it at the funeral to surprise her. They called the preacher who would be responsible for the funeral to tell him about their plan before they came.

When the time for the funeral came, the boys rented a van that all sixteen of them could fit in: the thirteen members of TH1RT3EN, Choon-hee,Ae-Cha, and Hae-Woon who had arrived a week before Choon-hee's dad died. Choon-hee sat between Hae-Woon and Sang, leaning on Hae-Woon's shoulder. They were going to stay in a hotel due to people going to look at her dad's house to buy it. The group of sixteen got eight rooms and each had a roommate: Choon-hee and Hae-Woon, Dak-ho and Ae-Cha, Kwang-sun and Yeo, Myung-dae and Sang, Ryung and Seung, So and Wook, Young-Soo and Haneul, and Shin and Chin-Hwa. All the hotel rooms were in the same hall and right next to each other or across the hallway.