"Please... at least eat the food I made? I put a lot of effort into it, just give it a try." Eunseo pleaded, her eyes and voice letting her exhaustion show through. 

From the moment Doctor Minatozaki revealed the truth to her, Cheng Xiao hadn't spoken a single word. Every little movement felt like carrying twice her own body weight on her back. Life had evaporated from her body, leaving behind a carcass, a decoy of her that didn't feel like herself. She disconnected from the world around her and every sound, sight, or touch felt distant, like living in a vivid dream – or nightmare. 

Eunseo had been trying to get her to talk or eat since she was discharged and sent home to recover. She almost had to drag her around. Cheng Xiao knew how much it hurt Eunseo to see her like that, but she couldn't bring herself to change it. The least she could do was try to eat the food, so she could at least take that burden away from her. 

When Cheng Xiao nodded, Eunseo sighed in relief, and hurried to heat up the food, then sitting with her at the dinner table. Eunseo practically launched herself at the food on her plate, which reminded Cheng Xiao how she had skipped dinner because of her and she must have been starving. It didn't help her guilt. 

She took one forced bite after another on her food, which was delicious, but her taste buds couldn't fully absorb its flavors. She interrupted her meal to utter her first words in hours. 

"Eunseo, what's it like to have parents?" 

Her stare moved from her plate to Cheng Xiao in a blink of an eye, surprised by hearing her voice, but she focused back on her food before she answered. 

"I can't say for sure." 

Cheng Xiao took a blank-eyed look at her. 

"They left me on my own when I decided to pursue writing instead of Law or Med School. Said they wouldn't have a failure for a daughter, so if I chose that for myself, I wouldn't be their daughter anymore. They still reach out to me sometimes, like nothing happened, just to leech on my money." 

Eunseo continued eating, feeling Cheng Xiao's unbroken stare on her. 

"I know I'm stupid for letting that happen. I'm somehow still seeking approval from them, hoping someday they will change. At least they call me their daughter once again. At least I did something with my life that's finally worthy of their attention and respect, even though they doubted me at first and abandoned me. I keep foolishly hoping someday we can call ourselves a family again." 

"You're not foolish for wanting a family." Cheng Xiao paused. "I would do everything to have one." 

Eunseo set down her chopsticks and frowned at Cheng Xiao's sour tone.  

"I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean to upset you." 

"Don’t worry. I was the one who asked, wasn't I?" Cheng Xiao stared down at her lap, her voice cracking. 

Eunseo rose from her seat and went across the table, next to Cheng Xiao. She kneeled beside her and grabbed her hand.  

"I barely remember them!" Cheng Xiao shouted from the core of , her face turning red and her eyes starting to leak. "I barely remember their faces, how they smell, what their voices sound like. And I won't ever get to know! I lost them and it's like I never even had them." 

Eunseo only tightened the grip on her hand, fruitlessly searching her brain for something to do or say that would make it better. 

Cheng Xiao threw her body to the ground, at Eunseo's level, wailing loudly.  

"Bring them back!" Cheng Xiao let go of her hand and grabbed Eunseo by the shoulders, shaking her back and forth, her red, watery eyes overflowing with grief and despair, tearing Eunseo's heart apart. "Bring them back, please! I just want to see them once more! Bring them back! Bring them back..."  

She buried her face in Eunseo's neck and repeated the same sentence over and over, each time weaker than the previous, until she came to a stop and only her sobs could be heard among the heavy silence filling the room. Eunseo wrapped her arms around her and held on as tight as she could, because that was the only thing she knew how to do at that moment. 

After a while, Eunseo collected all of her strength on her arms to carry Cheng Xiao to bed, where she laid her. Eunseo laid next to her, holding her with tears in her own eyes, until they finally drifted to sleep. 

The days that followed had no mercy on any of them. 

Cheng Xiao was back to staying home, after just one day of work. The day after she broke down in Eunseo's arms, she was back to the apathetic, lifeless state from when she first heard the truth, interrupted by occasional outbursts of tears or panic attacks. Some of those attacks were triggered by hallucinations or flashbacks. Some times, she would see the whole room on fire. Other times, it was the sirens or voices. Some other times, she would frustrate herself by trying to search her mind and forcing memories of her parents to come back, to no avail. Alternatively, the episodes would simply come, unannounced and unjustified. The rest of her time was spent either existing in bed or in the living room, staring at the aquarium Eunseo had built for her, to remind her of her father. She was limited to surviving each passing day, clueless as to how she'd made it through those 24 hours. 

Eunseo, on the other hand, was overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for Cheng Xiao. It was a struggle by itself trying to get her to attend to basic human needs, such as eating or showering. To add to it, there was the crises, even though they became less frequent and less intense as the new medication took effect with each visit to Doctor Minatozaki's office. Eunseo had also become increasingly capable of handling such situations. 

But how could Eunseo manage taking care of someone else when she struggled to take care of herself in the first place? Eunseo had expected a relationship with Cheng Xiao to motivate her to become better and strong, to overcome depression. That seemed like an impossible task when everything she tried to do towards making her happy resulted in more chaos and disaster. So amidst all of it, besides her work and everyday responsibilities, she had to manage her own guilt and perceived inadequacy. And she had to find strength for the both of them. Strength she didn't have herself, especially when she had to face, every single day, the thing that brought her down the most in the entire world – seeing Cheng Xiao suffer.  

One day, they heard a sound none of them had heard in a while – the bell. 

"Please don't call me an idiot again. I already know." Eunseo said as she opened the door. 

"That's not what I'm here for." Bona let herself in. "In fact, maybe I should. Why didn't you call me earlier? Why were you handling all of this on your own?" 

"I thought I could do it." Eunseo sighed and lowered her voice. "And you know how she said she didn't want to see you, so I was also afraid of how she would react. But I'm sorry, I really can't do this on my own anymore, and there's nobody else I could call for help. I know you don't particularly like me, but can we please set our differences aside? For her?" 

"Come on, I don't hate you." Bona rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't understand, but it's no easier for me to be here than it was for you to call me." 

Eunseo cocked an eyebrow at her. 

"Never mind. Where is she?" 

"In bed, but she's awake." 

Bona started walking towards the bedroom, guided by Eunseo. When they reached the door, she came to a stop. 

"Do you think... she's going to forgive me?" Bona kept her voice in a whisper, so Cheng Xiao couldn't hear it from the inside. 

"I don't know, but if I didn't think there was a chance, I wouldn't have called you. I hope she does, for her own sake." 

Bona took a deep breath and turned the handle, to find Cheng Xiao tucked under the blankets, only her face showing. Cheng Xiao shot her a sideways look and then shifted her gaze back into nothingness. Bona waited for a reaction, but that seemed to be it. It was still better than what she had thought. 

"Hey." Bona forced a nervous smile. 

"Hey." 

"How are you feeling?" 

Bona noticed her shrug from under the blanket. 

"I thought I said I didn't want to see you."  

"Yes. But I can be more stubborn than you. Sorry." Bona bit her lip. "I can't stand this, Xiao. Please let me explain and give me a chance." 

When she got nothing but silence, Bona continued. 

"Xiao, you have every right to be mad at me. I knew what happened to your parents all the time, and I hid it. But please see things from my side. When it happened back then, I tried to tell you so many times, but you ended up yelling at me and calling me a liar, blaming me for not believing you. I eventually had to stop trying." 

"Yes. I know." 

"But I was so happy that you stopped having hallucinations I kept it to myself, because I thought it was for the best. I was selfish and I didn't consider that you would eventually find out one way or another. I'm really, truly sorry." 

"I know, Bona. I'm not mad at you. I would do the same if I was you." 

"Then why did you say you didn’t want to see me?" 

"I didn't. I was angry about what happened and took it out on you. But not anymore, because it's not worth it to be angry. Nothing is worth it, because nothing I do will change the facts." 

Bona bit her lip and clenched her fists in her lap, no clue of what to say. 

"Why didn't you call me earlier, if you weren't mad anymore? It was so hard on me being forced out of your life, especially while you went through this... Knowing there was nothing I could do but respect your wish not to see me." 

Cheng Xiao sat up on the bed and at last made eye contact with Bona. 

"What would be the point in you seeing me like this?" She spat. "I'm already a burden to one person, I couldn't drag you along in my misery as well." 

"That's unfair, and you know it. Why are you pushing me away? Do you have any idea how I felt, when you weren't letting me help you? You promised me you'd let me be by your side, Xiao. Why aren't you owning up to it? Don't I matter anymore, just because you have someone else to take care of you? Do I need to remind you that I love you just as much as she does?" Bona's throat strained with the raise on the volume of her voice and the raw emotion she embedded in her words, as her muscles tensed. 

"I want to protect you, Bona! Just as you've always done with me!"  

"Then why aren't you letting me protect you this time? Why aren't you letting me help you?!" 

"There's nothing you can do!" Cheng Xiao yelled from the top of her lungs, her face suddenly burning up and her body trembling in rage. "There's nothing anyone can do! I can't be helped!" 

After she let out in just a few words the very core of what she had been feeling for days, she broke out in tears. What she couldn't find the energy to let out had finally been released through her lips. Cheng Xiao felt as if her body weight halved. 

After a few seconds, the door flew open. 

"I'm sorry to be barging in, but I heard---"  

"Whatever." Bona said between sobs, then telling Eunseo to come in and close the door behind her. 

Eunseo rushed to Cheng Xiao, to wrap her in a tight hug, trying to contain her shaking body. Bona looked away, a knot in her stomach. Selfishly, she could only think of how she was the one who was supposed be in that role, as it had always been. 

Eunseo seemed to have noticed her discomfort, since she waved at her, inviting her to take part. Bona took reluctant steps towards the girls and wrapped her arms around Cheng Xiao's stomach, resting her face on her back. 

After a few moments, with Cheng Xiao's body stabilizing, Eunseo released the grip on her and laid a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder, while the other one caressed her face and wiped her tears. 

"Xiao, you can't go on like this... You have to move on." Eunseo said, softly. 

Bona nodded against Cheng Xiao's back. 

"I can't! I don't know how to." 

"Your parents may not be here anymore, but we are, and we're not leaving." Bona said, raising her head to face her from the side. "They wouldn't have wanted you to put your life on hold because they're gone. They raised a strong young woman to be prepared for anything life brought her way." 

"At least you remember enough about them to be able to say that."  

Eunseo and Bona exchanged a look and silence came between them for a few seconds. 

"Xiao, I won't ever be able to understand what that feels like, but that's just how things are right now. You have to get used to it and you have to keep working on your happiness, just like you were trying to do before you knew." Eunseo said, running her fingers through Cheng Xiao's hair.  

"You have people who love you. And the company you care so deeply about." Bona added. "Your parents built it. Taking care of it is the best way you can honor them and make them proud from wherever they are." 

"We really want to help you find peace and go through this, Xiao." Eunseo's loving stare locked with Cheng Xiao's. "But you'll have to let us... And you have to let yourself." 

Cheng Xiao looked at the both of them, her eyes still filled with grief, but now with a slither of hope, then pulled both girls closer with each of her arms, wrapping them in a tight embrace.  

There was a time for grief, and there was a time to let it stop and move forward. That time had finally arrived for her. A time for tears to stop flowing and for her body to gain strength to walk a path in which she would live her life fully, with the people who loved her by her side, in a way that honored her parents.  

It wasn't as if she would suddenly be okay – there was a journey in front of her, and she would have to move through it one step at a time. And the first step had been as simple as opening up and giving herself permission to find happiness again.  

When Bona left, after Cheng Xiao guaranteed she was feeling better and thanked her for her visit, Eunseo walked her to the door. As she turned around to leave, Eunseo called her name. 

"What?" 

"I'm... sorry." 

"What are you talking about?" Bona wrinkled her forehead. 

"For the texts and the calls... Everything." Eunseo looked at her feet. "I overheard--- well, you yelled, so I—My point is, I had no idea you felt that way about her. It must have for you to have me ask you for help with dates, and all. I'm really sorry." 

Bona's eyes widened and she chuckled. 

"Don't feel sorry for me, bestseller." She answered, then grabbed Eunseo's hand and gave a light, reassuring squeeze, something the latter did not expect at all. 

As Eunseo raised her surprised eyes to meet Bona's, she saw the crooked, yet sincere smile on her face. When shock wore out, Eunseo reciprocated the smile, and the blonde finally let go of her hand, turning around to leave as Eunseo closed the door. 

As she made her way back to the room to go check on Cheng Xiao, she heard a phone ring, followed by Cheng Xiao's voice answering it. By the time she opened the door, she found her already setting her phone down, with a tensed face on. 

"What's wrong? Who was it?" Eunseo asked. 

"It was Chu Sojung, from the police. They've arrested a suspect."

---

A/N: Another sort-of-sad chapter. :( Please look forward to what's coming next. Thank you for your support :)