At the End of Summer || Mark Lee (NCT)

Chapter 17. Free

Aunt Yeoreum and Uncle Minseok picked me up at Elizabeth's house at around 5 in the afternoon. I didn't know that I had fallen asleep until she woke me up, telling me that their car was outside already.

I thanked Elizabeth for letting me stay there for a while. If I had stayed at home, all alone, who knows what I would've done to myself. I was thankful that she went to my house when I told her I was there.

After picking me up, we went to their home on the neighborhood a few miles away from mine. It wasn't far off, but it was still far from Donghyuck and Elizabeth, and even farther from Renjun, Jeno, and Jaemin.

They were letting me stay there until everything was taken care of with my father's funeral. Uncle Minseok told me that I didn't have to worry about the expenses, because they will take care of it.

When we got to their house, I immediately video-called Uncle Johnny to inform him of what happened. He was shocked and worried, but it was mostly about me. He then asked to talk to my mother's friends so I gave them my phone.

I heard them talking about my father's funeral in the kitchen. Apparently, Uncle Johnny wanted to return the money for the expenses that they had spent as soon as possible.

At first, they refused, insisting that it was all to help me get by. After all, I didn't have any nearby relatives who could help me with the funeral and all. Not to mention, I didn't have any relatives left from my father's side. They were the nearest to me, even though they weren't exactly my relatives. And they also wanted to help their friend's son.

But Uncle Johnny also insisted to pay them back since it was somehow his responsibility as my relative.

They quickly reached an agreement, though. Aunt Yeoreum and Uncle Minseok agreed to Uncle Johnny paying half of the money they spent on everything so far. Then they informed him that I will be staying in their house for a while.

I didn't know how long, though. I wasn't sure until when they would let me stay.

Uncle Johnny couldn't live here with me because his work was in Canada, and it's where his money to get me educated was coming from. I also couldn't live there because I was already in my last year of high school. Uncle Johnny wanted me to finish my high school here, and it wasn't really in any of our plans for me to go to college in Canada. My father's death was not in the plan, after all.

Everything that has happened in the last twenty-four hours was not at all planned.

Aunt Yeoreum and Uncle Minseok, however, were more than willing to help me. After all, they were fond of me. Especially because my mother was one of their closest friends. They wanted to repay my mother's kindness to them.

My mother had helped them a lot when she was still alive. She was the one who helped Aunt Yeoreum to get through her depression when she had a miscarriage with their first child.

They didn't have another one after that, because they learned that she couldn't have a baby. The doctors told them that she has a condition wherein her body can't keep the baby healthy enough, that's why she had a miscarriage.

I feel really sad for them. They only wanted a happy family, and the one child that they wished for didn't make it. That's why they were fond of me.

I remembered when I was seven, my mother always took me with her whenever she went to their house, and they were always happy to see me. They treated me like their own child.

At first, I didn't understand why they liked me so much, but I liked them too. So I didn't really mind when they always gave me something, like a toy or my favorite snack, whenever my mother and I visited them. In fact, I enjoyed it.