Sticky End

twenty three

            Luhan sat beside his mother who was crying nonstop as Sehun's self-proclaimed doctor spoke with her. There was something about a blood clot disorder, an accident and Sehun's cause of death. Even though he knew it was important, Luhan couldn't make himself listen to all of it. He didn't want to understand what just happened. He didn't want to believe that Sehun is dead. He wanted to keep the memory of both of them lying down.

            'I n-never knew...' their mother sobbed, 'he never told me'

            Luhan felt the eyes of the doctor gaping at him and he answered, without looking back to him, 'No... He never told me either'

            The doctor sighed as he turned back to their mother, 'I was too naive to assume that Sehun had told you about it, but he said he had asked you regarding your family's medical history. Could he have lied to me?'

            She shook her head slowly as tears continued to fall, 'I don't think we ever had the chance to talk about – about haemophilia—' the mother gasped as she remembered Sehun mentioned haemophilia.

            'Oh lord, oh' she sobbed even more, Luhan did his best to calm her down but she still continued to speak in between her cries, 'I – I remembered' she sniffed, 'Sehun did ask me about our family's medical background... he asked me if there was a history of haemophilia in both sides' pulling Luhan to an embrace she sobbed once again, 'how could I be such a fool?'

            Luhan rubbed circles in her back as he said, 'You're not a fool mom, and this isn't your fault. You know how stubborn Sehun is; he likes to endure everything all by himself' as his chest tightened, Luhan said those words as a comfort for his mother and to himself.

            'Do not blame yourself for what happened to Sehun' the doctor added, 'What Sehun had was acquired haemophilia, its rare and unpredictable. Your family might not have any history of the disease but somewhat he acquired it. I'm sorry it was inevitable'

            'How rare was his case?' she asked weakly

            'One out of five million' the doctor pushed back his glasses, 'it was unfortunate that Sehun had to be the one'

            She continued to shake her head as she sobbed, 'It's entirely my fault... I – if only I had been honest to him... then maybe we might've done known'

            'Mom... please enough, you didn't do anything wrong'

            'But I did, Luhan. I can't believe I didn't have the courage to tell the truth'

            'Mom, what are you talking about?' Luhan was starting to get nervous, the look in his mother's eyes were different.

            'Luhan...' she took hold of his shoulders tightly and took a deep breath before continuing, 'Sehun is not your brother' tears were streaming down her face as she took another deep breath, 'He was adopted. We – your father and I – we found him as a baby'

            'Mom — What... What— are you talking about?'

            'It's the truth, Luhan... I'm so sorry for deceiving you both... I'm sorry'

            'Sehun – he was adopted?' the doctor was surprised himself 'by— by any chance do you have any records of his biological family?' he asked

            'No... We only found him' she turned back to Luhan, who was dumbfounded and mouth opened, 'Luhan, I'm sorry' she hugged him again.