Haeri’s POV

The door opened suddenly grabbing both Yixing’s and my attention.

“Mom” I whispered in shock. I wasn’t shocked because she was drunk, I was shocked because Yixing saw her like that.

I’m used to it.

She’s always either working or out with her friends or going on endless dates but never really getting into a serious relationship with anyone. And this is definitely not the first time she comes back home drunk.

It’s embarrassing, annoying, sad, disappointing…

“M-mom, mom” I called a bit louder as I took fast steps toward her.

I held her to support her unbalanced body preventing her from falling down, I directed her to the couch where she can lay down.

“Okayy okay I can sit by myself” she jerked my hand away after she sat down, “who’s this?” she asked and I realized I forgot for a moment that Yixing was in the room.

I slowly turned my head toward him a bit embarrassed to face him. He stood there quiet, kinda speechless.

I wished the ground would just split and swallow me.

“I’m Zhang Yixing” he finally said bowing few times.

“Your boyfriend?” she scoffed totally ignoring him.

She just laid down on the couch and extended both her legs then she covered her eyes with her arm. And I hate the way she acted.

“We’re actually-“ she rudely burst into laughing cutting Yixing’s sentence.

“Do not fall in love” she said still laughing like a maniac “don’t do it kids.”

“Stop it mom!” I hissed nervously “just stop!”

She suddenly sat straight and frowned “Why? I’m giving you an advice! Love is no good” there she smiled again.

She was driving me crazy.

Even though dad died when I was still young, I still get flashbacks of our happy days together. Even our photo albums all show how they were happy together.

I know she loved him and I know he loved her. Why did she have to trash their love like that?

I wanted to yell at her and remind her of how much she and dad had loved each other but Yixing was standing there all awkward and I just wanted this nightmare to end.

“Save your advices for later” I grabbed her arm “let me take you to your room now.”

“Yah! Leave me alone I can go by myself!” she jerked my hand away again and laid back down and started blabbering about love and relationships.

This has to end!

I turned back to Yixing who was looking at us with sad eyes. my whole life. He shouldn’t have seen this side of my ed up life…

“Please leave now” I asked him but it came like w whisper, I couldn’t even look him in the eye.

“Are you going to be okay?” he looked worried.

“I’m fine, Yixing. Please leave” I said walking to the door to open it and he followed me.

He stepped out but turned to me before I closed the door.

“If you need anything I’ll be right here” he said “just tell me.”

“Thank you” I nodded and hardly managed to smile before closing the door gently.

I appreciated his kindness.

I walked silently back to my mom and sat on the couch facing her. She was crying and I didn’t know why. She laughed then cried and it was all messed up.

Seeing her like that hurt. Sometimes I feel like I’m the mother and I’m the one taking care of her, because she never took care of me.

 She refused talking to me, no matter how much I ask her what’s wrong and why is she crying she never replies.

I stopped asking her and just sat there quietly.

I don’t know if minutes or hours passed until she fell asleep. But it felt like a lot of time. She looked exhausted and it’s just sad.

I don’t remember when we grew that much apart. Or maybe we were never even close.

I slipped my arm around her waist and placed her arm over my shoulder; I took her to her bedroom and helped her change into her pajamas.

After I was done, I placed the blanket securely over her and left the room.

It started to get darker and the house felt so quiet again, and it felt cold again.

I went to the study room where our old photo-albums were placed. After grabbing every single one of them i went to my room and sat on my bed as I started going through the pictures one by one as flashbacks played in my brain.

There’s this picture where my dad is hugging mom and she’s kissing his cheek. They both smiled so brightly.

Another picture she wore a beautiful red dress, her belly was really really big. She was pregnant with me and my dad stood beside her, his hand was on her belly and her head was against his chest. They were a beautiful couple.

I felt so sad seeing them, I felt like nostalgia might kill me.

I was homesick, even in my home.

Tears fell uncontrollably when I reached a picture of the three of us, it was my 6^th birthday.

My last birthday with my father.

All I want is to see him again, to hug him again and feel safe and secure. I missed that feeling so much.

But the saddest part is… I don’t even remember that feeling.

I quickly wiped my tears when my phone vibrated wildly in my pocket, i only replied after taking a deep breath so that i could sound perfectly normal..

“Jongin-ah” I whispered as a little smile formed on my face when I saw the caller ID.

“Hey, how are you" He greeted cheerfully

"Fine" is the only thing i managed to say.

"Haeri-yah are you okay?” Histone changed into a worried one.

“Yes!”

“You don’t seem fine, tell me the truth” damn how can he know me that much?

“I’m fine don’t wo-“ my voice cracked.

“Is it your mom again?” he asked and I lost control over my tears again. “I’m coming” he hung up before I could reply.

Yixing’s POV

I solved my homework, surfed the internet, listened to music, watched TV and even tried to take a nap but my mind was still with Haeri.

Few hours passed and I have no idea what happened there.

The way she looked when her mother came was sad. She looked so vulnerable and I never saw her like that before.

I always thought she was perfectly happy with her life and everything was easy for her.

I wanted to make sure she’s fine but I realized I don’t have her number.

After contemplating for some time whether I should go see her or not I finally decided to go.

“Haeri” I whispered loudly outside her house, I don’t know why but I didn’t dare to knock.

“Haeri!!” I whispered few more times before it hit me that I was being a complete fool. How on earth was she supposed to hear me?

I took a tiny rock from the ground and threw it on the window of the only lighted room.

“Haerii” I called again but no answer.

I took another rock and threw it.

She finally appeared on her window. her eyes widened as soon as she saw me down looking up at her.

“Yixing?!” she whispered loudly “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to make sure you’re fine. Come down” I gestured her to come so we can talk.

She nodded and disappeared for a moment before opening the front door and walking toward me.

Her eyes were puffy.

“Were you crying?!” I asked squinting my eyes to see hers.

“No” she denied but I already knew she was crying when her puffed red eyes avoided mine.

Her shivering figure told me she’s cold. Her hair kept flying and she hugged herself. I saw the vulnerable Haeri again…

I just felt like protecting her from the cold, and from her sadness.

I took off my jacket and placed it gently over her shoulders. Her head was down so close to my chest but not touching, she was looking at the ground avoiding my eyes and I knew she was suppressing her tears.

“Haeri-ya” I called her name softly “it’s all gonna be okay” I kept saying while gently patting her head and caressing hair.

I soon pulled her into my chest and hugged her tight between my arms feeling her uneven breath as her tears streamed down on my shirt.

“Shhh it’s okay, it will all be okay” I said over and over waiting for her to catch her breath again and calm down.

Jongin’s POV

I took my dad’s car immediately and drove to see Haeri.

I know her mother comes home drunk often, and I know she always hurts Haeri with her mean words when she’s in that state. And it hurts me because she’s Haeri’s only family yet she treats her like that.

I’ve always been the only one there for her when she’s feeling down, beside Sehun Eunha and Jina of course. But I’ve always been the closest to her and nobody knows her like I do.

This is not the first time I go to meet her because she’s been crying after fighting with her mother, or missing her father.

I drove for what felt like 10 to 15 minutes before I reached her neighborhood. As I got closer to her house I saw two people hugging in front of her door.

I parked aside and got out of the car, my eyes widened as I recognized Haeri there but it was the guy who I still didn’t identify because it was dark and his face was near her ears as he was whispering things to her.

They didn’t seem to notice my presence, so I took few more steps to understand what was happening when I heard Haeri’s voice saying “Thank you… Yixing.”

And suddenly I felt rage creeping into me.

Zhang Yixing was there with her, again, even after I told him clearly to stay away from her.

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Thank you for everyone who's reading this <3 I'm trying to write a good one, i'm sorry if anyone doesn't like it t^t I'll always try harder :)