Finally, Hae Mi’s casts were off, and she was able to do everything she could do before she was attacked by Eunbi. Her and Eli had made snow angels, snowmen, snow forts, and even had a snowball fight or two! Ever since she threw her childish fit on Christmas, Eli never left her side unless she asked. Even then, he kept an eye on her to make sure she wasn’t going to do anything bad to herself.

           One day in the park, Eli and Hae Mi were walking on the sidewalk, unsure of where they were going, but were happy to be together. There was a comfortable silence shrouded around them, but neither of them seemed to notice, nor did they care. They were contempt with each other.

            They had been walking for a while when Eli suddenly stopped in his tracks, staring off to the side towards the playground. Hae Mi looked up at him, and then followed his gaze. On the slide were Eunbi and Kevin. They weren’t doing anything except sit there, but something about the way they were looking down made Eli suspicious. He held onto Hae Mi’s arms and made her look at him. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

            Hae Mi was about to protest when Kevin sighed loudly. He gritted his teeth, inhaled deeply, and let his head fall back, his eyes closed. His breath came out in a white mist, and even though he spoke quietly, Eli still heard those dreaded words: “I never knew it could feel so good.”

            Eunbi looked up at him, dark bags under her eyes and a crooked smile across her face. “Feels awesome, doesn’t it? My friend’s older brother got me into it, but I don’t regret starting. It’s ing amazing.”

            Kevin smirked and looked back down. That’s when Eli darted forward. “Yah! Kevin-ah!”

            At the sound of his name, Kevin looked up. When he saw Eli running towards him, he panicked and pulled the syringe out of his arm, hiding it behind his back quickly. He grabbed a cotton ball and covered up the hole with blood running out of it. Sadly, Eli saw the syringe and gasped. “Kevin… What the hell are you thinking?”

            Kevin’s clouded eyes darted from left to right, unsure of what to say to his best friend. “U-um, I was just—”

            “What does it look like we’re doing?” Eunbi cut in. “ off, Eli. Leave us be.”

            Eli glared at Eunbi and tried his hardest not to flip her off.

            “Eli…?”

            Eli turned around and saw Hae Mi stepping towards him.

            “Stay there, Hae Mi! I’ll be over there in a second!”

            Hae Mi carefully nodded before staying still, watching the rest of the scene.

            Kevin scoffed, “You’re still with her? She’s not worth it, Eli. I told you long ago.” Kevin gave up on trying to hide from Eli and pulled the syringe from behind his back again. He held it right by his other mark to push in and inject more of the addictive poison into his blood stream.

            Before he had the chance, Eli had lunged at Kevin and smacked the syringe out of his hand, making it fly towards Eunbi. Fortunately (unfortunately, in Eli’s case), it barely missed her leg. Even though it didn’t hit her, she hissed at Eli, “You could’ve killed me!”

            “I wouldn’t do any more harm to you than you’re already doing to yourself.” Eli sent another glare her way before jerking Kevin away and dragging him towards the sidewalk.

            “Yah!” Kevin shrieked at Eli. “What the—”

            “Kevin, she’s a bad influence on you. Don’t you understand what you were doing just now? You were practically causing suicide to yourself! Leave her, Kevin. You don’t deserve to be around her, and you definitely don’t deserve to die by those damn drugs.” Eli’s gaze was fixed on Kevin’s, full of determination. Eli wasn’t going to lose his best friend to drugs, the stupid things that took his grandparents away.

            Kevin scoffed again before turning around and going back to Eunbi. Before climbing back up on the side to Eunbi, he threw over his shoulder, “It’s my life, Eli. You can’t always control me.” Then, just like that, Eli was abandoned by the one who’s always been there for him his entire life.

            From Hae Mi’s point of view, Eli was really trying to save Kevin, even if he was being extremely rude to him. Hae Mi figured that since Eli had always been there for her, she could finally show her thanks and be there for him. “Eli…” she softly called out.

            The said man slowly turned around, a blank look on his face. He didn’t even look at Hae Mi as she took his hand and tugged him along the sidewalk, away from the druggies. It took twenty minutes for Eli to ever look up at Hae Mi and ask, “… Why?”

            Hae Mi sighed. “I don’t know, Eli. It’s his choice. Not a very good one, but still, it’s his. If he realizes his mistake, then he’ll stop, but if he doesn’t…” She hesitated to continue, but did so anyway. “He may overdose and suffer.”

            Eli stared at Hae Mi, her words not completely registering. After a few minutes, Hae Mi saw something rare come from Eli: tears. She felt bad for him and thought he needed comfort, so she cautiously wrapped her arms around his mid-section and held his closely, just like he had done so many times before to her.

            Once his arms were completely around her as well, he let his sobs out, loud and clear. Hae Mi rocked them back and forth, hushing him gently and telling him it was going to be alright. She didn’t really know what would happen, but she was probably going to have to do something about it.

            Five minutes later, Eli’s breathing had calmed down and he was just sniffling now. Hae Mi removed his head from her shoulder by cupping his cheeks and making him look at her. “Let’s go home. I want some more hot chocolate.”

            At the mention of her favorite drink, Eli couldn’t help but smile a little. He bent down and placed a small kiss on her cold, rosy cheek. It turned redder when she blushed, and Eli smiled at it. It was cute.

            “Yeah… Let’s go home.” Eli reached down and took her small gloved hand into his, walking them all the way back to his house. All the way there, a comfortable silence accompanied them. Just the way they wanted it.

~~~

A/N: Annyong! :D Well, I updated in less than a month, so I'm proud of myself for that~ x3 I thought I'd change things up this time and gave Hae Mi the comforter role ^^

On a serious note, I chose Kevin's and Eunbi's choices to put in this story because I've had someone very dear to me die because of it, and I knew it'd be easy for me to write it. I don't mean to hurt Kevin or Eunbi, but the plot needs something else, or else it's going to get boring. So, just bear with me; it'll hopefully end soon. ^^

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