(A week ago)

—Henry’s POV—

I’m trapped, I’m trapped-

I groaned and rolled over to my phone reluctantly, still exhausted from the date that I went on with Mimi gege in the morning. I took a peek at the clock and sighed inwardly upon seeing that it was only four in the afternoon, and I answered the call just as Mimi gege’s arms tightened around my waist.

“Yeoboseyo?” I drawled out in Korean, a smile creeping onto my face when Mimi gege nuzzled his nose against my back and let out a long yawn. I hadn’t bothered looking at the caller ID when I answered the call, otherwise dad’s voice wouldn’t have come as such a huge surprise to me.

“Henry, this is your father.”

I frowned and wondered why exactly dad was calling me, because everyone knew that it was expensive to call Korea from Canada. Still, I didn’t question dad since he sounded rather uptight. “Dad, is something wrong?”

“It’s your mother. She has leukaemia.”

Perhaps I wasn’t quite awake yet, but my mind wasn’t processing info very well at that moment. “Dad, you can’t be serious,” I replied incredulously, a not-so-amused chuckle leaving my lips.

“What is it?” Mimi gege asked me, having heard me speaking to dad in Chinese. I turned around and bit my lip while shaking my head, getting more worried by the second. What dad said was finally sinking in and I knew that mum’s health wasn’t the best, but leukaemia?

“I’m serious, Henry. She has stage one leukaemia.”

Right then, reality hit me hard and I couldn’t breathe for a moment. Mum has leukaemia.

“Oh my god,” I whispered, mildly surprised at how I sounded.

“We need you, Henry. Come back to Canada till your mum recovers.”

I nodded even though dad couldn’t see me. “I’ll be back by morning.”

I could almost feel dad heaving a huge sigh of relief. “See you morning, then.”

The call ended and I shot out of bed like a bullet, pulling my luggage out from under my bed and haphazardly throwing a few clothes in. At the same time, I called the usual airline that I took to and from Canada, already getting ready to book a ticket.

“Henry, what happened?” Mimi gege asked again. I teared up and stopped for a short second, almost ready to break down and just cry. But I couldn’t, because mum needed me and I had to get to her as soon as possible.

“My mum has leukaemia; I have to go back to Canada until she’s better.”

I saw how Mimi gege’s face fell instantly and the guilt washed over me like a wave. Was I honestly going to leave my boyfriend in Korea just like that? I didn’t even know how long I would stay in Canada for. What if mum never got better? Was I supposed to just stay in Canada until… she passed on? What am I saying? Of course she’ll get better! I’ll be back in no time!

“It’s just for a while,” I assured, zipping the luggage and tapping my foot on the wooden floor while waiting for my call to be picked up. A few seconds later, it was picked up, and I didn’t waste any time. “Can I get a ticket for the next flight to Canada?”

“The next flight is two hours from now. Would that be alright?”

“Ne.”

“Which method of payment would you prefer?”

After telling the lady my credit card info, I was ready to go. I took a look at Mimi gege and I swear I never saw him so upset before. As reluctant as I was to leave him so suddenly, I couldn’t abandon mum and leave her in Canada to fight leukaemia alone. Besides, we had a month’s worth of holiday and if I was lucky, I would be back before school resumed.

“Mimi gege, don’t worry. I’ll be back as soon as possible and I’ll call you or text you if anything happens,” I told him, walking over to him and hugging him tightly, my eyes b with unshed tears. I didn’t want to leave him for any period of time, but I had no choice.

Mimi gege nodded hesitantly and kissed me on the crown, tipping my chin up to kiss my eyelids and lastly, my lips. I don’t think I would last long without seeing Mimi gege, yet it wasn’t as if I could bring him with me. It wouldn’t be fair for me to drag him to Canada just to take care of mum.

“I love you and I’ll miss you. I have to go now, gege. I’ll call you when I land,” I told him, leaving the apartment and heading downstairs to flag a cab. Mimi gege followed me to the airport, not saying anything throughout the entire ride.

Right before I entered the departure hall, Mimi gege spun me around and kissed me once more.

“I’ll miss you so much. I love you too.”

I nodded, biting on my lip to keep the tears at bay and walked into the departure gate.

I would never have expected that I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise of calling Mimi gege, calling or texting him if anything happened, and I definitely wasn’t able to keep my promise of returning to Korea soon.

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As soon as I landed, I rushed out of the plane and took the cab back home. I was too caught up in worrying about mum to call Mimi gege, and my phone battery was dead anyway. I figured that as soon as I got home, I could charge my phone and at least text him to let him know that I was fine.

However, when I got off the cab, I was immediately surrounded by some men and two of them were holding mum and dad. I was intimidated, yes, but my parents were in their hands so I gathered my courage and put my luggage down as calmly as possible. The cab driver drove away the moment I closed the door and I had to resist the urge to gulp.

“What do you want?” I asked, keeping my voice from trembling.

The men suddenly moved to create a small path between them and I gasped upon seeing Sooyoung, with her trademark smirk plastered onto her face. She strutted past the men and this time I really did gulp – audibly.

“Henry Lau, nineteen years old, in love with Zhoumi, twenty-two years old. Well, too bad for you because you, dear, are breaking up with him,” she ordered harshly. There was a bite to her voice and I flinched when she took another step towards me.

“A-and if I don’t?” I asked.

“Your mother doesn’t get the treatment she needs. Simple as that, really,” she explained, examining her manicured fingernails. The rage in me began to bubble and I wondered what rights she had to deny my mum medical treatment. But as I took a daring step in her direction, five men had their eyes on me.

“Why?” I questioned. “And how do you plan to do that?”

“Because Kim Ryeowook broke my wrist and it still hurts, so take this as extra payback. How? I’ll just keep her here, in this pathetic house. I have enough men to watch over and they’re definitely more skilled than the dumb police, especially after receiving extra training,” Sooyoung said, scoffing when she remembered the time the hyungs beat her men up.

I didn’t know what to say. On one hand, mum’s condition could worsen drastically. On the other hand, Mimi gege would be so hurt and broken.

“By the way, if you agree to my conditions, I’ll get the best doctors from all over the world to treat your mother. You just have to cut off all contact with your friends in Korea, and don’t use any social networking platforms. Do whatever I say and give me your phone. It’s only for a month, and then you can go back to Korea,” she told me.

A month? It’s just a month, right? Mum can recover fully with the help of the best doctors. I’ll go back and explain everything to Mimi gege, and all will be alright again. But… why does she need my phone? That was the only part that I couldn’t comprehend, but against my better judgment, I nodded and accepted her conditions.

With that, I slowly took my phone out of my pocket and passed it to Sooyoung.

“The battery’s dead, but the password is 200108. My PIN number is 1904,” I informed her. Sooyoung smiled at me, making me gag slightly in disgust.

“I’ll bring the doctors over as soon as possible. Have some rest. You guys, watch over the Lau family. I don’t want any contacting of the guys in Korea, alright? You two, give me your phones,” Sooyoung instructed, looking expectantly at mum and dad.

After they passed her their phones, Sooyoung told us to get into the house and to stay there.

“I’ll be back tomorrow.”

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True to her word, Sooyoung came over daily.

I don’t know how she even caught wind of the fact that mum had leukaemia. Perhaps she had already been targeting me for a while and was merely waiting for the perfect time to strike. Well, she got me good. I didn’t even know what I was supposed to do.

By the time the fourth day rolled by, I was ready to have a mental breakdown. I hadn’t had any way to contact Mimi gege at all. I was banned from the internet and using any phones. I had only the TV to pass time with, as well as talking to mum and dad and once, I followed mum to her first chemotherapy session. It wasn’t pretty, to say the least.

I was constantly wondering what Mimi gege was doing. Did he eat well? Did he sleep well? Was he alright without me? Was he upset? Was he worried? Does he still love me? Did he move on already? Those questions and many more were nagging at me until I thought I was going to go insane. I finally found the courage to ask Sooyoung why exactly she needed my phone, and she merely shrugged.

“You get a ton of messages and I just wanted to read them,” she said nonchalantly.

“Can I read the messages?” I asked in a small voice, hoping that maybe I could aegyo her into showing me the messages. She raised a brow and scrolled through what I hoped was my inbox, and she tapped on something before turning the phone screen to me.

‘Henry, how are you? We’re really worried about you, you know that? I need to hear something from my baby mochi or I might just fly over to Canada!

-Chullie umma’

Chullie umma was that worried about me? I lifted my hand and was about to scroll down when my hand was rudely swatted away by Sooyoung and she wriggled her finger in front of me.

“Nuh-uh. Only bad boys go against the rules. This is the only message I’ll show you,” she declared. I opened my mouth to protest but Sooyoung narrowed her eyes at me and I shrunk back in fear.

“Alright,” I said.

“Now go back to your room and study or something,” Sooyoung instructed, waving me off. I nodded and trudged back up to my room, the tears already threatening to spill. Just like Ryeowook hyung, I hated making others worry about me. If Chullie umma was worried, I can’t even imagine how worried Mimi gege must be.

I jumped onto my bed and grabbed my pillow, burying my face in it so that I could muffle my pained sobs. I wanted Mimi gege to comfort me and tell me that I did the right thing. I wanted to see his face and to hug him and kiss him because I missed him so damn much.

Eventually, I cried myself to a restless sleep.

I dreamt that Mimi gege was throwing me away for some girl I couldn’t even recognise and woke up in a sweat. I had to repeatedly tell myself that it was a nightmare, nothing more, and tried my hardest to go back to sleep.

No matter how hard I tried, there was this ominous feeling.

Something bad was going to happen, and I didn’t like it one bit.

Well, here's Henry's side of the story. He had no choice D:

I'm evil, yes, and a month is really long, yes. I'm sorry! ><

I hope you guys enjoyed this and look forward to the next chapter! Annyeong~ ^^