Sehun twisted the key into the lock of their four-room contemporary apartment, her ears instantly perking up when she heard a thud from the store room. She turned her back against the front door and narrowed her eyes, barely being able to see in the dark when only the soft, red glow of the crimson pendant lights from the dining room were switched on.

Reaching down to her shoes, Sehun slipped a hand into her sock and took out a thin, small, pocket knife from inside when she heard another crashing thud. She wanted to call out for her brother but didn’t want to take any chances in case he was in danger.

Taking a deep breath, Sehun placed her bag down and slid across the hall swiftly. She kept her knees bent and her senses more heightened as she neared the store room. She gulped harshly in both fear and anticipation as she held the knife out, ready to strike when the intruder does.

She felt for the living room’s light switch, her eyes still trained on the moving figure in the dark. Her eyes darted downwards momentarily, widening when she saw fat droplets of what seemed like—blood.

“Who’s there!”

With one swift motion, she flicked the light switch on and was ready to toss the dagger towards the man when she came face to face with a bloody Kris. A loud gasp escaped her lips as she neared her brother in concern and rue, dropping the dagger instantaneously.

“Kris, what happened!”

She pulled her brother onto the couch and tore his shirt open, revealing the deep slash in his abdomen. Kris was heaving deeply in both pain and discomfort. He rested his head back against the couch and squeezed his eyes shut as he bit on his bottom lip. Rushing back to the store, Sehun took out the first aid kit and fished out for the bandages, cotton balls and antiseptic.

She ran to the kitchen, bringing with her a cloth, a pail of water and an anaesthetic shot from the freezer. She slowly dabbed away the drops of blood on his pale skin, discarding the cloth away into the pail as she prepared to give him a local anaesthetic injection.

“Hold on,” Sehun went to her bag and took out a painkiller, rushing to get a glass of water before popping a tablet into Kris’ mouth. As he swallowed it down, she inserted the minimal amount of liquid into the affected area, hoping that once she starts to treat the open wound; he wouldn’t be able to feel anything. “Are you feeling okay?”

Kris cleared his throat as he let out strained groan from the back of his throat, “Yeah, just really numb.”

Sehun took that as a signal, wiping and pressing the area so that her brother wouldn’t suffer from blood loss. As Kris fluttered his eyes shut, Sehun sewed his wound and swallowed thickly as she felt the Chinese food from tonight’s dinner come up from her stomach and up .

She tried to swat the feeling away and clamped her eyes shut momentarily, letting out a breath as the smell of copper filled her nose. She was still not used to handling blood, usually Chanyeol would be the one who treated Kris, but she wondered why he didn’t this time.

“Okay, I’m getting to the dressing.” She told, “Hold on.”

Sehun carefully placed the dressing over the wounded area, bringing up the rolled bandage onto his abdomen before reaching back to twist and wrap the bandage over. She wrapped a fifth and final layer before clipping the ends with a bandage clipper, breathing out and only then realising that she had her breath held all along.

She placed a cushion on the couch and brought her brother’s head down for him to lie on the sofa comfortably.

“I’ll clean this up first.” She whispered, clearing the bloodied and stained cotton balls. As she discarded them, Sehun sprinted for the washroom and knelt by the bowl as she felt her stomach churn at the copper smell. Everything from dinner earlier came gushing out her gut as she bent down, making retching noises as she emptied her stomach.

She hated blood. She didn’t know why but the taste, smell and even the sight of it irked her to the core.

“Sehun…”

The younger sibling wiped at the corner of her lips when she heard her brother’s rasped voice call out for her name from the washroom’s entrance.

“Kris, you shouldn’t be standing…” She felt another wave of nausea hit her, making her turn and violently vomit more content from her already emptied stomach. Sehun let out a tired and choked sigh as she got up and flushed the toilet.

She went to the sink and rinsed , gargling with a mouthwash before re-rinsing with tap water. She bent over the sink momentarily and let out a breath as she shook her head, “Sorry. I’m not good at handling, you know—”

“I understand.” Kris told, pulling his sister into his arms despite the lower pain he felt in his abdomen. “I was going to do it myself anyways but, thank you.”

.

.

.

.

.

Sehun placed a cup of green tea on Kris’ bedside table and watched as he struggled to pull the covers up to his chest. She would’ve helped him but, she knew he wouldn’t want to be assisted.

“What happened?”

Kris let out a smirked simper, “Well, talk about being direct.”

Sehun let out a sigh and her lips. It has been long since either of them had any bruises on their bodies, let alone deep gashes and cuts. And to think that her wedding was really, already right around the corner—Sehun didn’t think that it would be a good idea to be wedded to Kai with a broken arm or leg to say the least.

“You’re worried about the wedding, aren’t you.”

Sehun didn’t have to answer her brother, he knows by the look on her face. She didn’t want to come off as selfish, but what could she do? Marriage was the next normal thing in her life other than going to school and having a job. Her job was great but her career , she never liked getting involved in business. And being part of a union was one hell of a task.

“Look, the wedding is one thing.” She confessed through her teeth, “But your safety is another. You could’ve called me to say you were ambushed or something.”

“But you were going to meet Kai, I didn’t want to disturb.” He argued, sitting up to help himself with the tea. “Besides, I did get away.”

“Barely.” Sehun remarked snarkily, “And got away from what.”

Kris let out a hum and landed his hand on his sister’s. “There’s a rat in Zaffre,” Kris told, shocking his sister entirely because there has never been such a case for over 2 decades already. “They’re working with Sangria.”

“Impossible…”

Kris whipped his head from his duvet to Sehun’s eyes, narrowing his own as he frowned in distaste. “Are you implying that I’m lying Sehun?”

Sehun looked up from her hands to her brother’s eyes, “No… what I meant was, now… Why now when you just found their leader. Why now when things are just about to surface.”

Kris saw the dispirited expression on his sister’s face. He didn’t mean to upset her, and he understood that she was probably worried how things were going to play out. He only wanted the best for her and maybe at the same time, the best for him as well. But now that things were getting into place, he wasn’t going to let go.

“I promise, your wedding and marriage to Kai will go on smoothly,” Kris smiled. “It’ll help us in the future.”

Sehun smiled and uttered a small ‘thank you’, not getting the last bit her brother said when he whispered it under his breath. He landed a soft kiss on her hand and let out a light laugh, watching with fresh eyes as Sehun left his room.

“Goodnight, Kris.”

“Sweet dreams, Sehun.”

~”~

Sehun her lips nervously as she paced across the room, Kris wasn’t picking up his phone and she was already worried enough about today.

“Will you relax. You’re ruining your dress!”

Sehun rolled her eyes, it was impossible to crumple her dress because the bottom was all ruffled. She looked at the clock and wondered why she didn’t just have normal bridesmaids to assist her in collecting her flowers.

“Ah right, Kris burnt them.” Sehun shook her head in dismay. They collected the bouquet two days prior, but Kris unintentionally burnt them when he took them out of the fridge and onto the heated stove.

“Sehun.” Krystal looked to her sister and shook her head playfully when the soon-to-be wedded bride continued to pace around the room. “Sica, please tell her to stop.”

Jessica got off the bed and pulled Sehun by her wrist, “Sehun, trust me. Your brother will come through with a bouquet.” She took her into her arm and pushed her towards the mirror. “He’ll always have your back.”

Krystal got off the bed and joined the two, smiling as she adjusted the antique gold hair accessory attached to Sehun’s veil.

“It’s your big day today Sehun!” Krystal squealed, eyes turning to crescents as they looked into the mirror altogether. “Look at you!” 

Sehun lips curved upwards, her eyes travelling to the ivory white wedding dress that hung and hugged every corner of her curves perfectly. The tulle lace was of a thin layer that covered her chest and up to her hips; and ruffled thickly from her waist down. The puffy dress had ends covered with 3D butterfly fabric, growing from the bottom until just below where her knees should be.

The thin layer on her upper body too was covered with the butterflies, stopping in the middle of her chest and just above her shoulders. The plain and white round neck paid more emphasis on the golden pave diamond necklace that hung loosely on her neck, Kai’s gift for her 25^th birthday.

Sehun couldn’t believe that the day had finally come, and she thought, she thought she would never get to experience the feeling of getting married. Ever.

“You’re right. I probably should, calm down.”

As she said so, the door instantly burst open, startling the girls when Kris came with a bouquet of white and green baby's breath, mixed together with pure white roses. It was simple, but Sehun couldn’t be more grateful for him.

“Oh, we’ll meet you at the venue okay Sehun!” Jessica told, realising that they should be there before Sehun if they wanted to get their gifts ready. “See you soon Kris!”

Kris nodded and took his sister’s hands into his as he placed the bouquet on the bed.

“You’re getting married soon, Sehun.” Kris breathed, bringing their foreheads together as he pulled her closer. “Mom and Dad would be so proud.”

Sehun’s eyes watered as she held back a tear. Her brother silently landed a soft kiss onto her forehead and fished out something from his pocket. There on his hand, was a small, golden tiara; jewelled with blue crystals and stoned leaves. The base of the tiara was lined with small diamond pearls and Sehun had seen nothing like it before in this time. It looked aged but polished, she reckoned Kris did some cleaning but—

“Where did you get this from?”

Kris drew a smile and attached it onto the top of her crown and turned her around to face the mirror, “I didn’t think it would come in handy 20 years back when I was clearing our parents’ room.” Kris paused for a while and took out a wedding portrait of their parents from his back pocket. “I believe it was mom’s.”

Sehun looked from the mirror to the photograph in Kris’ hand, taking it into hers as she ran her fingers over them. Kris held both her shoulders and looked into the mirror from behind her, “And you look exactly like mom Sehun.”

Sehun sighed contentedly as she turned and wrapped her arms around her brother’s waist. Sehun never really remembered her parents’ presences, let alone their faces, because she lost them at a very tender age. She could say that her love for her brother was far more bigger and stronger than the love she felt for her parents.

“Thank you, Kris.” she whispered, “For looking after me all this while. I promise to do whatever I can to repay my debt towards you for the past 20 years.”

“Don’t take is as a debt Sehun,” Kris responded as he tightened his hold around his sister. “Because as long as you stay by me, I will always be grateful.”

***

a/n: I just wanted to thank all of you who are still subscribed to this sorry and I sincerely apologise that it took so long! hope the re-edit of this fic would be able to help you understand better and hope it'll be able to meet your expectations!! Here's a shoutout to all 70 of you! ;>

ovelha_pipoca             kannykim        emilybug             NoorKyra        leeminholover

ndnainda                     yulitacassie     BubbleTj         -Kaihun            YukiRin1004

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jhanjhan                      shadesoflouie Shaiosh             teufelchen_netty

exoxoxo11                  Kisami            JaniceHan             Exquisiteblah dereknstiles

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taengGD96                  Harris7            DaMeepster             Usagi06           loveydovey12

till the next update! xoxo