너는 최고야 ! [ You Are The Best ! ]

01. prologue

[ note/ ok what is this you ask lmao. i don't even know myself. i have absolutely no intention on writing park's entire backstory. it's just something fun to at to here and there. i don't even have a proper cover for this sksksksk. originally i wrote this and one friend of mine read it - and they already know all the context so there might be some random things here that you might not understand. uhm- so sorry in advance lol. ]

It's five in the morning.

It'd been ten hours since the accident, neither of them had left the hospital since then. Visiting hours were over, so they waited out in the hall, until they were kicked into the lobby. So they waited there instead. For any sort of good news, the good news that refused to come as they drank endless cans of Pepsi Cola. Each hour another was tossed into the nearby trash bin, their time spent in the hospital would be measured by them. Until the janitor had come by.

"Aissh, stop drinking those things, you two look like alcoholics." Quite like herself, maybe? This is Hyunah, a woman just a little over middle aged. She meant to be scolding the two teens, but ended up making herself upset instead. She'd only gotten there two hours earlier, due to working night shift. Seeing her son there came as a surprise, but, it wasn't out of the ordinary for him to run out of the house at night. Especially with his best friend.

"There's nothing else to do. . ." Jin mumbled under his breath, fiddling with the Nintendo system in his hands. "Battery is dying. Yo, did you bring a charger?" His green hues darted over to the male beside him. The other just shook his head, tearing a sigh from Jin's lips. "What the hell are they even doing up there!?"

"Don't yell so loud!" Even still, Hyunah's voice was at the same level. She ignored the other people staring and pressed a hand against her forehead. "Hayate, did they not let you see your mother? Is she going through surgery too?"

"Uhm- no, ahjummah*." The white haired male lifted his head for a moment, before staring back at the tile floor under his sneakers. "They said she didn't want to see anyone." There was a lot of hair that covered his eyes, and glasses covered even more. He'd always find ways to cover his face, Hayate quite liked his glasses for that reason.

"I- what-!?" Hyunah breathed out, "you've got to be kidding me. That woman is something else, her own son. . ." Pissed off at just the thought, she crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. At least the couches were comfortable. Hayate and Jin exchanged a glance before looking back at Hyunah.

"Mom don't look so scary." Jin grimaced.

"What about Mio? Did they finish the surgery? She had to get surgery right?" The raven haired woman suddenly jolted straight. "Did you at least get to see her?"

". . . No." Hayate's response destroyed the mood all over again immediately. "They said it was a really bad head injury, it'll take a long time to heal."

"You must have been so scared." Hyunah reached a hand out, rubbing his shoulder.

"It's alright." He managed a tight smile, but it was obviously half hearted.

"I'm sure she'll be alright, don't worry too much. You're a good older brother, don't listen to anything your mother says." The woman retracted her hand, sighing to herself. The amount of stress that Sayuri had put on the family was insane. Hyunah herself wasn't enough to take care of everyone, but she did what she could. Taking the kids for ice cream, cheering them on, and giving them pocket money. While their actual mother drank, and drank, and drank, and drank, and drank. . . And cried.

"Jin. You did the right thing, don't feel bad for running out." Hyunah pulled a soft smile. As soon as Jin heard about the accident, he left home. He ran all the way downtown to the hospital and stayed with Hayate. She knew her son was a good kid, no matter the trouble he got in at school. He was always honest, he never lied to her, he did whatever he could to help Hayate and happily picked up the little girl from school whenever he was asked. He never said an ill word about anyone, his heart was like gold.

"Thanks." The male chirped.

"I'll go buy you two something to eat, stay here okay? If anything happens just call." Hyunah quickly stood up and waved them off, before rushing outside, leaving the two kids behind.

Hayate buried his face in his hands.

"Stop that." Jin frowned.

"Stop what?"

"Stop blaming yourself. It's not your fault, not even close."

"I know but--!" Hayate grit his teeth. "I shouldn't have trusted her. Why would she pick Mio up from school all of a sudden!? She never does that!" The guilt pounded at his chest, but he was too occupied with homework to worry enough. He was too occupied to worry about his little sister, every time.

"Give it a rest, man! I know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry it happened, I know it's hard for you. It's /always/ been hard for you! You don't have to make it any harder for yourself. Everything's gonna be fine, just- do better next time."

Do better next time, huh? There is no 'next time'.

[ *ahjummah ; this is a korean term for middle aged woman. like ma'am. ]