"Oppa.. Oppa..." She shook him multiple times but he didn't open his eyes anymore.

They rushed into emergency department as soon as they reached the hospital.

Two intern doctors came out to get the patient.

"Soojung?" Yoona was perplexed by her younger sister's appearance at hospital. Her confusion doubled when she saw the patient she was supposed to fetch. Jongin.

"Unnie?" Soojung finally looked up from crying.

Their eyes met. A confused one with a sad one.

Nevertheless, Yoona brought him in while the other doctor informed her about the patient's condition. Soojung and the homeroom teacher tagged along with them. Soojung, still holding her brother's hand tightly.

He was directly sent into operation room because of his worsening state.

"You can't enter here, miss" a nurse told Soojung to let go of his hand. She didn't want to but she was forced to as she was held back by her sister.

"Oppa..." She cried, throwing little fists at her sister to get free of the hold but Yoona was stronger.

After numerous cries, little Soojung finally stopped as she fell asleep out of tiredness.

The homeroom teacher told Yoona everything about how he got into this state.

"I'm sure you knew that Jongin had been sick for weeks now" She began.

Yoona hung her head low in shame. No, she did not know at all.

"He said he's been taking medicine at home but his condition seemed to worsen by day" she continued, "So I brought him to hospital last week but he ran away as soon as we reached there"

Yoona felt like she was listening to a stranger's story. The teacher was talking about her own brother, yet, it sounded so wrong.

The brother she knew was a healthy and courageous boy.

But what she did not know was that it was before his heart became a hollow from lack of affection. Lack of care. More of blame. More of resentment. More of blank space...

-----
Soojung woke up right after Jongin was moved into a hospital room. She walked towards her brother as she rubbed her sleepy eyes.

"Oppa.." She called out as she reached for his hand, "Are you feeling better now?"

There was no response.

"He's still asleep because of anesthesia" Yoona explained to little Soojung who was on verge of crying again.

Yoona gently touched her brother's peaceful face. It was the first time in years that she stood this close to him. Her eyes were rounded with tears as she murmured "sorry" to him.

"I'm sorry for failing as a sister and... I love you"

She was soon brought out of the room by the doctor in charge of surgery.

"I'm very sorry to inform you this..." He said, "but he might not pass another 24 hours"

"Neh?" She couldn't believe her ears. Wasn't the surgery successful?

"We managed to keep him alive for a little longer but his head injury was severe and he lost a lot of blood" he continued, "We've tried as much as we can but we're sorry that we couldn't save him"

She felt like her world stopped moving for a moment. She had already decided to move back