“Yuri.”

I jerked awake, disoriented of my surrounding. Sleepily I rubbed against my eyes with both hands. They felt hurt, like I overused them or something. Then, the smell of coffee drifted in the air. Instinctively, my nose sniffed the divine smell.

“Here. Drink this.”

I looked up to find the stranger looming over me. Flustered, I looked around and found my dad in his sick bed and Changmin was nowhere in sight. The stranger helped me to sit with a cup of coffee in one hand after watching me struggle. Boy, he was strong. I accepted the coffee from him. The paper cup was warm against my chilling hands. I drank greedily, ignoring the burn on my tongue.

“Easy.” He warned before crossing the room to fetch a brown paper bag on the small table. “Breakfast first and then I’ll drive you home. You have to go to school.”

School. I almost forgot that I had to go to school. But I couldn’t leave Changmin here in charge of our father. He also needed to attend his classes. “I’ll take a day off.” My voice sounded heavy with sleep.

The stranger sat down next to me, opening the bag with deft fingers. “No. That’s an order. You go to school and we’ll stay here.”

“But –”

“Stop complaining.” He shoved a warm doughnut in my free hand. “Here. Eat now.”

The way he was bossing me around should have made me annoyed. Instead, I felt grateful. It was as if someone was taking care of me. I bit down on the soft dough with a groan. When was the last time I ate doughnut? I couldn’t remember it. “Where’s my brother?” I asked with my mouth full.

“He’s taking a shower. He should be done by now.”

I nodded my head absentmindedly. My memories . I couldn’t remember what happened the night before. If I woke up on the only couch in the room, where did my brother and his friend slept last night? And most importantly, why was he still here? Didn’t he have something to do?

“Why are you still here?” I blurted out.