“STOP IT NAEUN-AH!!!”

(FLASHBACK)

Bomi just arrived home after buying a bottle of soy sauce and some other ingredients. She entered the house only to find Hayoung was holding on to Naeun’s shirt. Bomi was curious about what happened when she was gone. She hid behind a wall to keep monitoring those two. Naeun caused Hayoung to fall down. Bomi wanted to go out and helped the kid, but she stopped herself because she believed that Naeun was going to give a hand to the maknae. Instead, Naeun kept on vented her anger towards Hayoung. She did not know what happened between them but she was disappointed to see Naeun behaved that way. Bomi tried to listen to what Naeun was going to say next, but when the latter was about to mention the word ‘died’, Bomi could not be patience anymore. “STOP IT NAEUN-AH!!!” She shouted from the top of her lungs.

Naeun was shocked by Bomi’s abrupt emergence.

Bomi dropped the plastic bag and walked towards her dongsaengs with big steps. She knelt down, pulling Hayoung into her embrace while covering the little girl’s ears with her hand and chest. Glaring deep to Naeun’s face, Bomi yelled, “Have you gone mad, Naeun-ah? How could you say such thing to your dongsaeng?! Who taught you to be like this?!”

Hayoung could hear Bomi’s rapid heartbeats because her ear was literally touched Bomi’s chest. She burst out even louder and screaming hysterically at the same time. She was afraid of Naeun, and Bomi too. She hate Naeun at that time because her unnie did not understand her but she also hate the fact that Bomi was scolding Naeun because of her. Hayoung was confused.

Naeun baffled, her eyes were wet and red. She had never seen Bomi’s face as glowering as then. Naeun did not know what to do. Without saying anything, she entered her room and locked the door.

Bomi’s eyes followed Naeun until the girl closed the door to their room loudly. Bomi was too mad at Naeun that she did not even think of consoling her at the time being. Bomi exhaled raspy and heavily. She took a deep breath before looking at Hayoung. Bomi could not think of anything to say. She bit her lower lip and hugged Hayoung tightly until the girl stop screaming out of tiredness. Bomi knew that whatever she was going to say would not get to Hayoung. So, she just let the girl cried her heart out. “Let’s go into your room,” Bomi muttered softly and carried Hayoung on her back.

……………………………

Naeun breathe in and out multiple times, trying not to drop her tears. She felt terrible, scared, mad, and sad at the same time. Her mixed feelings gave her an acute headache. She pulled her hair as a result of stress. She felt so stupid. Naeun eventually shed tears. She took out her earphones and blasted the music as loud as it could get to cut herself from the world. Tears kept on falling down. Naeun did not bother to wipe it. She knew that she will have to face Chorong soon enough. She was preparing herself to even be physically beaten, considering that this was not the first time she caused trouble after her parents and twin passed away.

……………………………

Hayoung buried her face in a pillow. Supressing her sobbing voice.

Bomi continuously Hayoung to make her feel better. “Stop crying Hayoung-ah, you’ll get sick…” Bomi felt worried as Hayoung had not stopped crying for the pass ten minutes.

“What did I do wrong, Unnie?” Hayoung’s voice went up and down due to her wailing.

“You did nothing wrong. I’m sure Naeun has a reason. You know she didn’t mean it, don’t you?”

“Maybe Naeun Unnie was right. Maybe I should’ve just died that night.”

Bomi did not think that Hayoung would take Naeun’s words seriously. She went blank for seconds. “No! No, Hayoung-ah! You can’t think like that. Naeun’s probably having a hard time these days. She didn’t mean it. I’m sure of it. Please, never say something like that ever again. Please…”

Hayoung did not reply. She kept on crying and coughing lightly.

“Stop crying, Hayoungie…” Bomi did not know what to do. Deeply inside, she truly hoped that Hayoung would stop crying before Chorong come back.

…………………………..

Eunji stepped inside the house and was ready to have dinner with her sisters. The house was unusually silent. On her way in, she saw Hayoung’s wheelchair beside the couch. The wheelchair was in a weird position and the television was on but no one was watching it. Eunji shrugged, trying to stay positive despite having a strong feeling that something had happened. She turned her view towards kitchen. She saw the stove was on. She fastened up her pace to go to the kitchen. To her surprise, the soup was still on boiled although the soup had almost dried. Only the chicken meats in the soup pot were visible. Eunji quickly turned off the stove and went to look for someone responsible for it. She felt anxious because the house was too quiet and it was very unlikely of Bomi to forget such important thing. Eunji could hear a faint crying sound as she was making her way into her room. Her heart was telling her that indeed, something had happened. Eunji turned the door knob slowly. She saw Bomi and Hayoung were lying sideways on the bed. Eunji could only see their backs; her twin was on Hayoung’s head while mumbling words that she could not hear; Hayoung was crying and provoking coughs.

“Bbom-ah?” Eunji called quietly.

Bomi turned around to look at the voice’s owner. “Eunji-yah. When did you get home?”

“What happened, Bbom-ah?” She ignored Bomi’s question.

Bomi just looked at her twin silently.

“Naeunie?” Eunji mouthed without sound. She had a feeling that Naeun was at it again.

Bomi nodded.

Eunji sat down near Hayoung’s legs. “I’m going crazy,” she thought. She sighed and rubbed her face a few times before joining Bomi to stop the kid from crying non-stop. “How long has she’s been crying, Bomi?”

Bomi shrugged. “When the sun set?” She guessed. Honestly, she did not know but she remembered it was around sunset that she got back from the store.

“Are you being serious? That was an hour ago…” Eunji furrowed her eyebrows.

“I don’t know exactly. I’m not sure…” Bomi replied.

Eunji scratched her head. “What about Chorong Unnie? Does she know about this?” Eunji whispered to Bomi. She did not want Hayoung to hear it.

Bomi shook her head, making worried face at the mentioned of Chorong’s name.

Bomi and Eunji simultaneously pulled Hayoung to sit up when they heard Hayoung’s cry became louder and kept coughing harder than earlier.

Hayoung gagged as she cried excessively, choking on her own saliva.

“Yah! Calm down, Hayoungie….” Eunji patted hard on Hayoung’s back to soothe her coughing.

Bomi hurriedly picked up a dirty laundry on the floor and put it under Hayoung’s mouth. She was right in time as Hayoung eventually threw up. Fortunately, it was all clear fluids.

Eunji used her strength to forcefully bent Hayoung forwards so the girl would not choke.

Bomi kept on holding the laundry until Hayoung finally stopped coughing to take a breath. She wrapped the cloth and carefully tossed it on the floor. “I told you, you’ll get sick if you cry too much!” She took off Hayoung’s dirty shirt with Eunji’s he