“Am I seeing things?” Chanyeol said bluntly as he stared at the young girl standing by Sehun.

That voice.

That nose.

That face.

Those eyes that sparkled like the night’s stars.

“Luhan?” Sehun repeated, his voice shaking with shock and a hint of discomfort as he stared down at the young girl near his waist. No one in the room moved- all eyes were on the odd duo standing next to the casket.

From the seated crowd, the members of EXO excluding Kris, Chanyeol, Tao, and Sehun who had just arrived, were all sitting together. Luhan’s family had reserved seats for Luhan’s close friends near the front of the hall and each and every one of them (along with basically everyone in the hall) was as shocked as the next at the scene they were witnessing. Kai sat next to his longtime friend, Taemin, and both had their mouths dropped wide open at the sight of the girl whose resemblance was identical to that of their decease friend who laid in the bed of white roses.

“I am not Luhan,” the girl replied in perfect Korean, shocking Sehun and the spectators even more. “And you are taking too long with bowing!”

Sehun thought he was hallucinating. Tears were still rolling down his cheeks so he blinked a few times in attempt to clear up his vision. Still, a mini Luhan appeared in front of his eyes, screaming at him in Korean for taking too long in paying respect to the sleeping Luhan in the casket. Sehun knew he did not get much sleep this past week, but he was sure it was enough so that he wouldn’t be seeing images of a younger Luhan in front of him while he was… well, standing in front of the real Luhan.

His train of thought was interrupted when an older woman in black came running over yelling at the mini Luhan. This woman had long black hair pulled back in a bun, revealing a pair of eyes without hope on a face that appeared to have aged through grief and sorrow. She was standing at the direction one would walk down after paying respect to Luhan- indicating her close family relation to the recently deceased. Sehun knew who she was at first sight- no matter how tired she appeared, her face was identical to his best friend’s. This woman was Luhan’s mother.

“Luye!” she yelled as she was pulling the little girl towards her side, walking back to the place she originally stood.

“Luye?” Sehun repeated. It had seemed as if he had seen double as he stared back and forth between the mother and the little girl by the mother’s side.

Kris walked over to Sehun and pulled him closer towards Luhan’s mother, who was now back standing next to her husband, holding the hand of the little girl on her side.

“I’ll translate for you if you don’t understand,” Kris whispered quickly to Sehun, who was still just frozen solid, staring. When Kris noticed that Sehun wasn’t saying anything, he gave the maknae a quick, but subtle, slap on the back to remind him of who exactly they were standing in front of. Sehun blinked, rubbed the tears off of his face and bowed a ninety degrees bow for his best friend’s parents.

“Is this… Luhan’s Sehun?” the man standing next to Luhan’s mother- Luhan’s father, asked slowly in Chinese to Kris as Sehun stood back up straight after his long bow.

Luhan’s father was a tall man- he stood at a height that was a few centimeters taller than Sehun. Like his wife, Luhan’s father’s face was drained of happiness and energy. The pair of eyes from his face was marked by plain emptiness as they stared into Sehun’s eyes, piercing through the maknae’s soul. It was the first time Luhan’s father saw Sehun and he was staring at his son’s friend from head to toe, analyzing him completely.  

“Yes sir, this is Sehun,” Kris replied slowly in Mandarin to Luhan’s father, who only nodded in response.

“Sehun?” Luhan’s mother replied as tears gathered in her eyes.

“I am Sehun,” Sehun replied quietly as he looked Luhan’s mother in the eyes as she clenched her fists together tightly, shaking as her arms hung by her sides.

“May I ask… can I please hug this child?” she said to Kris, her voice softening in a decrescendo.

Kris turned to Sehun and translated for him what Luhan’s mother had just requested. Sehun nodded in agreement as Luhan’s mother walked forward and wrapped her arms around Sehun’s back. She started sobbing hysterically as she buried her face into Sehun’s skinny chest.

“My son died to guarantee his friend’s safety,” she wailed in Mandarin, her voice cracking more and more as the words rolled out of , “my son loved you so much that he gave his life up for your safety.”

“I’m sorry,” Sehun whispered in Chinese as he hugged his best friend’s mother back tightly. He didn’t need Kris to translate what Luhan’s mother had just said- Sehun didn’t understand the Chinese, but Sehun was able to comprehend the mother’s feeling towards her son that surpassed the halting language barrier. He felt the surge of emotions from her travel to his own body through his hug back. The pain the mother felt for losing her child- it was a pain that was unmatchable to any other. “I’m so sorry,” Sehun repeated as he tightened his hug.

He felt a small hand touch his as he had his arms around Luhan’s mother back. The little girl was standing behind Luhan’s mother, tippy toed as her hands were placed on top of Sehun’s. She gave him a smile he knew and loved- it was the same as Luhan’s smile, but yet at the same time there was a hint of coldness in her sparkling eyes.

“This child,” Luhan’s mother explained as she realized the little girl was behind her. The words coming out of were choked out. “She is my daughter,” she continued as she let go of Sehun. “Luhan’s younger sister.”

“What did she say, hyung?” Sehun asked Kris, whose eyes were now wide with shock.

“She said that… this girl is Luhan’s sister,” Kris said nervously to Sehun.

Luhan’s mother looked Sehun in the eyes. “I’m sorry for you having to find out this way,” she said as Kris translated her Mandarin to Korean for Sehun to understand.

Before Sehun had time to say anything back, Luhan’s father stepped in, stopping the conversation. “We can explain everything to him and his friends after we say goodbye to our son,” he said to his wife. Luhan’s mother grabbed Luye’s hands the trio walked over to their seats- the little girl kept staring at Sehun who only stood, frozen with surprise.

“I’m just as confused as you are, Sehun, but we need to go sit now,” Kris said as he signaled Sehun to walk over to where the rest of the EXO members were seating. Sehun slowly walked away from Luhan’s casket as he along with Kris, Chanyeol, and Tao walked over to where their group members were sitting.

Kris, Chanyeol, Tao, and Sehun took the four empty seats next to Lay, in that order with Kris sitting directly next to Lay. The moment Sehun stood in front to his chair, his knees gave in, bending rapidly as he slid down onto his seat. Kai, who was sitting directly behind him with Taemin, grabbed onto Sehun’s shoulders.

“Luhan never mentioned a sister to you either, right?” Kai asked sternly as his grip tightened. “We… and the entire crowd kind of heard everything. Everyone is shocked,” he explained.

“Never,” Sehun whispered as he stared at Luhan’s casket. Luhan’s body was not in his sight, but the image of his best friend lying in the bed of white roses was permanently etched into his memories. “I thought he was an only child,” he continued slowly as he thought of his best friend sleeping inside.

“As did we all,” D.O., who was sitting on Kai’s other side, added on.

“Luhan’s mother didn’t even tell us who she was when Suho and I were helping her before,” Lay added quietly on from a few seats down. “She avoided the question of who the girl was the first two times we asked her, so we just dropped it.”

“Do you think our CEO knew about it too?” Taemin asked quietly.

“I highly doubt it- look how surprised he looks,” Kai replied as he pointed at the direction of where the SM leaders were sitting, “even Teacher Lee looks confused.”

The group looked over to see SM’s CEO Kim Young Min and the founding chairman Lee Soo Man who sat next to the CEO, both as shocked as everyone else in the room was. Sehun couldn’t believe it. How was that even possible? How did CEO Kim and Teacher Lee not know about her existence either? Didn’t they know everything about their artists?

“That girl looks so much like him too,” D.O. pointed out. “The more I stare at her, the more I think she is actually Luhan, but you know like a ten year old version. And a girl. I mean, she even knows Korean as well and the way she sounded was just like our Morning Deer’s voice.”

Sehun found his eyes moving towards the direction where the little Luye stood, still and silent. A photo of this girl could have been mistaken by anyone as a childhood photo of Luhan. His eyes widened. He now realized that not only was someone’s friend and someone’s son lost- now someone would never get to see her older brother again. That older brother, who died protecting him.

“Sehun, please stop making that face,” Tao whispered as he grabbed onto his friend’s hand. “I already know what you are thinking, but please stop blaming yourself.”

Kai’s grip on Sehun’s shoulders tightened as well. “Sehun, it was an accident,” Kai said sternly.

Sehun pressed his lips together, biting them a bit from the inside of his mouth. He clenched his fist in frustration- all the feelings he thought he suppressed from this past week were resurfacing this very moment as tears gathered once again in his eyes. Why did the car slide like that? Why did Luhan fling his own body on top of his? How could he leave him like that? Why?

“It doesn’t matter… I,” Sehun blurted out, his voice shaking.

“Sehun, stop,” Chanyeol said with a worried tone in his deep voice. “Say no more.”

“I…” Sehun continued.

“Don’t say it,” Kris warned as he gritted his teeth together. “Please stop there- Luhan would never want you thinking this way.”

“You guys don’t know how it feels to see your best friend dead on top of you, lifeless and covered in blood after your own life flashes through your eyes,” Sehun coughed out emotionally as his tears came flowing out again. “He was dead- clinging tightly onto my body, shielding me. Accident or not, his parents lost their only son and his sister is forever robbed of her brother.”

A/N: This chapter took me a long time because idk if it would cause tears or headaches LOL. I experienced like mostly the latter but alksjdflkasjdklf had to introduce Lulu's family. For anyone interested, I have a playlist on my laptop that I listen to while I write this LOL----; a portion of it!