"It didn't take long for me to get out of the hospital bed, but my mother's case was different..."

"Why so?"

"She never got up"

"oh... I-"

"And that's not the worst part" Dahyun said and clenched her fist, irritation now being evident in her face.

Sana opened but quickly shut it, she didn't know what to do, nor what to say in that matter. Instead, she waited for Dahyun to relax abit and cool down. Dahyun closed her eyes, every part of her felt heavy. She inhaled some air, and continued.

 

*Flashback*

"The first few days were easy, visiting hours were only during night time. Basically, I never saw her back home"

"Appa, how's omma?" Dahyun let go of her brothers hand. She slowly walked towards her father and held his hand.

Taehyung walked forward and kissed his mother's cheek. Ms. Kim was bed ridden, she looked skinnier, and the tubes that were connected everywhere on her body didn't really make a good picture for the family. It didn't take long for Taeyeon to enter the room and greet Mr. Kim.

"Good evening Taeyeon, thank you for visiting and bringing the kids here" He said politely.

"No problem sir" 

"You're technically my sister Taeyeon, please skip the formalities"

"You know I can't do that" Taeyeon said, a smile crept up to her face.

"Of course" he ended, and gestured for his children to thank the aunt for bringing them to the hospital.

Taehyung and Dahyun then bowed and gave their thanks to their aunt. There was a calming silence inside the room, and it felt like home. A sad, yet hopeful home.

"Since I was already well, I had to go back to school... It didn't go too well"

"I wasn't as active as before, and since I was preoccupied with omma's health, I never had a chance to hang out with kids my age. I always end up going home early"

"It didn't take long for Omma to finally pass away"

"Sorry for your loss Mr. Kim"

"Thank you"

"Condolences to you Sir"

"Thank you"

"Like all funerals, it was a time of weeping, I was late to arrive due to me coming home from school. But I did arrive..." 

Dahyun arrived at the room. It was one day before the actual burial of her mother and she didn't want to miss out her last opportunity to see her mother's face. She entered the room. All eyes were on her. Taeyeon looked like a mess, while Taehyung was talking to their relatives. He forced a weak smile on his face upon seeing his sister enter the room.

To little Dahyun, it was all surreal. She felt watchful eyes on her, yet she can't seem to focus on anything except for the coffin laid in front. Her breathing felt heavy, and with each step, the heavier the air seems to be. She has prepared for this day, crying for a few days straight, she was sure that her tears are all dried up. 

Mr. Kim who was in front watched as his daughter walk up towards the coffin. She was too small to see the glass that showed her mothers face on the partially opened coffin. Mr. Kim saw that the little girl was trying to take a peek, literally tip toeing to check but her height still proved to be a challenge.

"Come here dear" Mr. Kim said as he carried his daughter. "Are you ready to see your mother?" he asked, and he received a nod as a reply. He himself nodded and slowly paced his way closer to the coffin.

There she is, in front of Dahyun is the face of her dead mother. To her surprise, her mother's face was smiling, she looked peaceful. In fact, this was the happiest she saw her mother after the incident. Dahyun reached out to her mother's face, but the glass barrier stopped her hand mid way.

"Appa, she looks happy" 

"Yeah..."

"I.."

"Don't worry sis, she is already in heaven eating all of her favorite food watching over us from above" Taehyung said as he entered the scene.

"Yeah..." Dahyun said and placed both hands on top of the glass barrier. She then felt weak and sniffled, saying, "Omma told me before the car crash... that she will always be there watching...". Her voice suddenly weakened and turned into muffled speeches. 

"She told me that she will be there in the front row praying for my success everytime... to play like she was the only one listening" she said sobbing in between words.

"..."

"Omma... you...I miss you soo much!" she bawled out. Even after all these days, she still had tears to cry out. She didn't think that it was physically possible, but it happened. And with every tear, a piece of her feels voided out everytime. Like a missing puzzle piece, or a half eaten apple.

The wake was filled with sadness. Everyone listening to Dahyun's cry was heart broken. At such a young age, the little girl witnessed her mother die.

"The wake ended and finally Omma was getting buried. The burial ended early and come afternoon, everyone already left. Everyone but me, Appa, Onii-san, and auntie. We stayed there till it was night time, before going back home"

"Upon reaching home, I opened the lights to my room. Even with all the lights open... it felt darker than what it usually was"

"Eventually, I returned to school. Funny how after getting back to school, you would expect people to comfort you when your mother just died recently... but since I never really hung out with my classmates after omma died, I was isolated. Left at back, on the corner of the classroom"

"I.." Sana voiced out, but was cut by Dahyun

"And it get's worse"

"I remember going home one night over hearing Appa talking to someone on the phone"

"What do you mean you're planning to cover up the accident?"

"Look, okay, I can understand that your son doesn't mean any harm. But drunk driving and speeding on a very dangerous... what?"

"Look sir, I don't care if you are the CEO of X company, the biggest branch in all Soule. At least let the truth run out, for my family's name sake as well!"

"Start up fund? Compensation money? What? Sir, I... You're being unreasonable. I won't... What? Wait, sir?" the guy on the other line dropped the call. Mr. Kim grunted in frustration he then took a seat on his office chair and placed his hands over his face, hiding his frustration.

"Apparently, the reason why the news of the cancelling of my performance wasn't broadcasted, because the son of a CEO of a large company was the one who bumped us. And they paid the media to cover up the accident since the father was a very influential person, and he didn't want to ruin his name's reputation due to his arrogant son. The accident was covered saying that it was an UNFORTUNATE landslide event." 

"That guy is such a, sorry for the word, hole!"

Sana giggled slightly, "Sorry Dahyun-ah, but why do you have to say sorry for saying hole?"

"..."

"Yeah... sorry I... I just found it funny..."

"..."

"But you are right! he is a hole for doing so, yeesh! People and money am I right?" Sana stated, she laughed awkwardly after.

"...It's fine, it's just... using hole to describe someone feels... dirty... I feel dirty saying it..."

"Cute" Sana thought to herself and urged Dahyun to continue the story.

Dahyun sighed before continuing, "School wasn't totally helpful with my situation. Due to the news coming out that everything was an unfortunate event, I became an object of bullying by my schoolmates, and an object of pity by my teachers"

"Everyone called me names such as the cursed one, witch, misfortune. They would draw on my table, play pranks on me, fill my locker with threats..."

"What did the teachers do? Well, nothing... They didn't do anything. Whenever they see me walking by, they kept gossiping..."

"How unfortunate"

"Poor girl, she lost her mom at such a young age"

"I feel bad for her..."

"Really? I heard, that her mom intentionally drove off the cliff"

"Wow, so it wasn't a real accident?"

"That's what I heard"

"Yikes, the girl must have done something bad then"

"Shhh, she's coming by"

"... I can hear you guys you know..." the young girl thought to herself.

"It's because of these events that I started to shut myself in and slowly not trust anyone at all..."

"No wonder... But don't you have a brother? Why not ask help from him?" Sana asked.

"My brother has moved out of the school already, he had his high school here in Kp university. Which is probably why I'm here today. Plus, I didn't want him to worry about me"

"oh..."

"The only friends I had was Chaeyoung and Tzuyu... But they weren't my schoolmates, just childhood friends that I meet up with. I felt most comfortable around them...  In fact, whenever we meet up, I always lean on them... they were my shoulder to cry on, and I was theirs."

"The only thing is... We meet only on week ends, and my week days were utter heck... That's when I met Jihyo"

Dahyun was walking down the corridor of her middle school. She was looking down at her feet while walking, her hands holding the straps of her backpack. She can hear a faint course of laughter, kids pointing at her saying she is cursed, and how her mother died due to her misfortune. Teachers pitying her at how her mother died at such a young age. Dahyun can't help but blame herself for everything.

Days come by, and she earned more nicknames. Like vampire, Monster, Ghost, and even worst the cursed one. Everyone was avoiding her and people were condemning her left and right.

It became her usual routine, she became used to it by now. One day, she was thrown a carton of milk by a group of girls, when suddenly a girl with a loud voice and big eyes, screamed at the bullies. "Have you no shame?" the girl scolded, and helped Dahyun up. "You should be ashamed of yourselves!" she ended, and gave Dahyun a jacket and a face towel. She was the first person in her school that helped her out. 

The walk was filled with silence. She didn't know what to say. She was thankful, yes, but she also didn't know what to say. So instead, she expressed her gratitude.

"Thank you sunbae..." Dahyun said, fixing herself inside the warm jacket the girl gave her.

Jihyo smiled, she was happy seeing her dongsaeng was finally speaking up. "Don't mention it" she said.

"..."

"What's your name?" Jihyo asked as she paced herself two steps infront of Dahyun, before facing her and walking backwards.

Dahyun looked in curiosity, the way the girl was walking backwards was bothering her. "Dahyun, Kim Dahyun..." she muttered.

"Awesome, my name is Jihyo Park" she stated and stopped walking. The sudden stop in footing also made the younger girl stop. The girl then reached out her hand for a handshake as a formality.

Dahyun looked at the hand that was reached out to her. She was having trouble deciding if she should reach out to it. She slowly reached out to the hand and after contact, Jihyo tightened the grasp and shook it. Tha hand was rather warm. She then returned the shake and smiled. "Jihyo... Sunbae"

Jihyo watched as the girl smiled to herself from the simple gesture. "Cute" she thought to herself before shaking it off. "Skip the formalities, we're friends now. Call me Unnie" she said and smiled as a reply.

"Jihyo... unnie" Dahyun stated, feeling the words on her lips. It was alien to her, since she hasn't called anyone unnie at all yet. After feeling it on for awhile, she hummed in delight.

"There you go"

"..."

"If you are in trouble or need someone to talk to, just give me a call or text" Jihyo said, carefully wiping the milk off Dahyun.

"Okay"

"You should smile more, you look waay cuter"

"Jihyo is soo sweet" Sana said

"Yeah, she's the reason why I suddenly remembered, Hey? there are still good people in the world"

"Jihyo must be one popular kid then" 

"Yeah, she was..." Dahyun said, a bit melancholic now. "She was..."

"Hey, you, Dahyun right?" A girl older than Dahyun approached her.

"Y..yes sunbae?"

"Can you stop wasting Jihyo's time? She's already relatively busy and you taking her time really isn't helping her"

"I... I'm sorry?" Dahyun stuttered. She felt her breathing getting heavy.

"Are you deaf? You're being a burden! Getaway from her and stop contacting her" The older girl took a step forward, making the pale girl step back.

"..."

"Are you even listening? Hey!" The girl then pushed Dahyun, cornering her to the wall. 

"I..."

*BANG* 

Dahyun was cut off by the girl slamming her hand beside her head. This made her yelp and feel small. Her face turned faint with a tint of red. She felt her heart beating faster with her sweat forming and dripping to the side of the face.  (A/N: I'm not sure about this, but a pale girl doesn't turn more pale, they turn red)

The older girl smiled and laughed to herself. She was looking at the girl like as if she was her next meal. It didn't take long for her to shift her mood. She then had an irritated look and brought her face closer to the girl and said, "Oy! you listening?". 

Dahyun nodded, her giant glasses moved up and down with her head.

"If you know what's good for you, stay away" The girl bickered her last and left.

Once the girl went away, she fell on her knees. Tears suddenly started streaming out of her eyes.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

"I ended up not going to school after, I decided that it was for the best"

"In fact, I stopped doing anything at all"

 

[tbc]

----

A/N:

Hey guys!~ Sorry once again for the very humiliating error. Silly me!~
Special thanks to Tokwax2 for giving me a heads up :P
Also, sorry for the late post. Finals week started and ended fast >w< Luckily, I ain't failing any subjects any time soon :P
Now that finals week ahs ended and I have passed all necessary requirements, I can update easily again.
Part 3 will be out a bit sooner after this repost, so do expect that~
108 subs and 2k views. Woooo!~ I may not be the best writer, but I am happy to see this story getting love. Thanks for sticking to the story!~
Once again, 150 subs and I will write the [M] content. Yeah... I'm very good with writing Mature content. xD
I usually write short stories there in the shorts, so do check that out :3
Also, if you really like the story, do check my other ones (Yes, self advertisement, low blow, very bad >w<)