I'm so sorry for not updating... *Kneels* I'm sorry. I'll be done school soon, so I promise that I'll be better.

Nichkhun gripped on Yuri’s hand, trapping her in his care. How could she leave in these circumstances? His touch was firm but gentle. She almost felt like she didn’t want to let go of it, but she had to.

   “Kwon Yuri, this is it,” he uttered quickly, almost running over his words.

   “Yup, it is,” said Yuri with mixed emotions. She pulled her hand away from his tight grasp. “Just a second, oppa. I have to say something to the nurse first.” As she officially let go of him, her heart almost blew out of her chest. That was the last touch. Yuri hated the feeling of releasing someone so precious to her.

   While Nichkhun felt doubtful about what was happening, Yuri snuck out the door beside the nurse. She knelt over and whispered in her ear.

   “Excuse me. I wanted to ask you a favor. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be something too bothersome.” The nurse leaned forward to hear this request. “I was wondering if my friend Victoria could open Nichkhun-sshi’s bandages. I mean, I hope that it wouldn’t be a problem. It won’t affect the outcome if she does it properly, right?”

   “Well… It will work if she doesn’t rush it, but it’s risky.” The nurse stuttered.

   “Please. I beg of you!” she said with a louder tone. She finally gave in and let Yuri pull Victoria inside. She shoved her friend on front of Nichkhun’s bed with much determination. Yuri turned her back on them and sighed. Something was telling her that what she was doing was wrong. 

   Not wanting to dwell on her feelings, Yuri backed away and exited the room. She remained at the entrance, peeking through out of curiosity.

   Victoria slowly unwrapped the bandages covering Nichkhun’s silky face. After each turn around his head, Victoria felt light inside. After the last turn, his eyes began to open. His vision was still blurry, making it impossible to make out forms and shadows for the first few seconds.

   “Don’t open your eyes too quickly,” shouted the nurse past the door frame, trying to break through to intervene. Yuri pulled her back, making sure that the nurse wasn’t the first to be seen by him. She stalled long enough to give Nichkhun the time to adjust his eyesight and grab his first glimpse of the world.

   “Yuri-ah?” pronounced an awkward voice in the background.

   Yuri’s guess was that Nichkhun’s vision slowly established itself.

   She almost turned around when hearing her name being called, but she knew that it was best if she didn’t.

   “Aniyo, it’s me, Victoria,” answered the girl who unwrapped his bandages in responds. Yuri couldn’t see how he reacted in this case, but still felt extremely hurt. She gave up on holding down the nurse and simply hid behind the wall outside of the room. The sounds of joy that Nichkhun expressed as he shot glimpses all around him made the baby in Yuri’s womb kick in excitement. She began to rub her belly gently.

   “Your father can finally see,” she whispered to the unborn baby as the rest of Nichkhun’s relatives came breezing into his room. Yuri let out a tear. At that moment, Victoria tapped Yuri’s shoulder.

   “Are you coming in?” asked Victoria with a warm idiom. Yuri glared.

   “I can’t. Remember what we talked about the other day?” Yuri was determined to go on with her plan. Victoria didn’t even try to insist and frowned.

   “Oh, I forgot… Yuri, are you sure you want to go through with this?”

   “As I’ve said before, I thought about it, and if I have this baby, I’ll put it in danger by keeping it with me. Appa will just cause trouble. Besides, I don’t think that I’m ready to be a mother. And…”

   “Yeah, you told me,” interrupted Victoria, who didn’t like the expression her friend wore. “You don’t want to give them up, don’t you?” she questioned even if the answer was evident. Yuri raised her eyebrows and gazed away. No matter how much she tried thinking of an excuse, no words came out of . She stuttered and Victoria waited for her to answer.

   “Them? You mean the baby?” she exclaimed with a disastrously vibrating voice. Victoria pushed the bangs out of her way.

   “I meant the baby and the father,” clarified Victoria in a protective matter. In some way, she was making sure that Yuri didn’t have feelings for her all-time crush. “Do you like Nichkhun Horvejkul, Yuri-ah?” Victoria’s voice trembled. Her questioned brought the shivers. Yuri had to face the truth. She stared deep into her best friend’s eyes and swallowed up a big breath of courage.

   “Yes, I have feelings for him,” she pronounced shamefully. Victoria frowned with devastation. She almost let out a shout of dissatisfaction. “…but I’m giving him up because of you, because I love you more.”

   Victoria didn’t have anymore to say.

   Yuri could hear Nichkhun’s voice calling her name from inside the room, searching for her face, searching for her presence. Avoiding it, Yuri backed away and warmly grinned at Victoria.

   “Smile. That’s all I want you to do.” She began to disappear down the hall.

   Yuri came home with almost no more breath to let out anymore. It was dark already, and the lights of her house were off. She entered in a quiet matter. One of the biggest reasons, you have to know, of her need to abandon her baby was her family’s situation.

   Mr. Kwon was on the run again, trying to escape from unpaid dept towards his coworkers. He refused to divide the total money he and his other friends had previously jacked from a wealthy woman at their last shift. His longtime helpers grew angry at his greed and constantly badgered for their share of the money.

   Evidently, Yuri dug a deeper hole for herself when accepting to complete the payment for Nichkhun’s treatment. Their financial situation was worse than ever, causing the duo to pack their bags up for a different place to live. So many people were pressuring them with money. Fleeing was the only way out of it.

   Yuri didn’t want her child to live through that. It was a lifestyle she wished her child wouldn’t ever adapt.

   Mr. Kwon stood at the doorstep, with his daughter’s belongings all ready for the departure. Yuri made a face and stood near her father in silence.

   “I’m such a burden to you, my child. You deserve better,” uttered her father in guilt.

   “You’re the worse father ever,” she said jokingly. He remained astonished at her direct words. “…but you’re still my favorite person on earth.”

He didn’t think twice to hug her with a sincere heart.

***

Months had past since Nichkhun had first opened his eyes. He spent a lot of his time simply roaming around, discovering the world that became completely new to him. Every object he touched made him go back in his memory to make up what he once linked it to. After the hospital scene way back, he and Victoria had become very close. That was what he wanted to believe even if it still felt awkward. He promised himself that the first girl he’d see was the one he’d forever love. Nichkhun tried to force that upon himself by even going into dating Victoria. But in his heart, he still wished it was Yuri who opened the bandages.  Nichkhun obviously wanted to see her, but she disappeared like crumbs of dust.

   Everytime he asked Victoria about it, she would simply start to cry or occasionally answer that she lost contact with her. At some point, he just quit on asking and began searching. However, everyone did a splendid job making Yuri disappear from his memory. They hid any sort of portrait of her face, any sort of memory, any sort of trail of her existence.

   It irritated him. How could someone escape so fast? Right before opening the bandages, she was still there. He could still hear her voice. Then, she never showed up.

   She promised… Yet it was a lie.

   Yuri still lingered in his thoughts. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t forget his piano teacher, his friend, his first love. Nichkhun wanted to see her so bad. It was killing him interiorly.

   He sat on his front porch after a long day at school, with a glass of water trailing some water on the table. The weather was nice. Victoria came breezing through the gates of the house, as per usual. The two consistently met up since Nichkhun demonstrated his interest in dating her.

   Oddly, this time was completely different. Victoria held, in her arms, a small blanket that she struggled to keep from moving. It wasn’t just any old rag… A squeaky cry echoed throughout his street. Nichkhun remained confused and puzzled. His girlfriend stopped by everyday,  but never with a baby.

   She waved enthusiastically at her arrival.

   “Victoria, who’s that?” asked Nichkhun with his eyes fixed on the covered baby. Victoria used much effort to hold the twitching body in her weak arms.

   “She’s Yuri’s son.”

   Nichkhun came closer to get a better glimpse. This random appearance wasn’t making any sense.

   “Yuri? Yuri has a son? Why do you have her son?” Too much information was coming at him too quickly. Victoria decided to break it up into smaller pieces. It would flow easier that way.

   “I’ll be taking care of him for now.”

   “I don’t understand. You’ve found Yuri? Is that why you have her son?”

   Victoria tried to find the right words. She couldn’t say just anything, anyway she wanted to. Her guard came down.

   “Actually, he’s your son too.”

   Nichkhun’s eyes grew wider than the vast oceans. He didn’t have any memory of that possibility.

   “Mine? I never had a kid with her… What are you saying?”

   “Well he is whether you like it or not,” stated Victoria with a doubtful pitch. “Yuri’s father called me over to pick him up today. He was born more than a week ago and they can’t take care of him for now.”

   Nichkhun looked at the baby with a softer expression in comparison to when he first laid eye on him. His face was pale and his traits strongly resembled those of his own, especially his eyes. Nichkhun couldn’t help but beam when seeing the baby boy, but he still wasn’t completely convinced.

   “So why did Yuri suddenly decide to show up now? Did she tell you why she left like that?”

   Victoria kept a tight look and bit her lower lip. She didn’t respond.

   “I want to see her,” continued Nichkhun. “I won’t believe it until she tells me straight up that I’m the father of the baby. I won’t believe anything until she tells me why she disappeared for this long.”

   “I don’t think that’s possible… You see, Yuri…”

   “Yuri what?” He insisted on her hesitation.

“Yuri is dead…”