Chapter 6

~ Author’s POV ~

“She’s been asleep for hours now,” Woohyun’s mother said as she started slicing and chopping vegetables for dinner. “Why don’t you wake her up? Plus, we might be wasting their (Infinite’s) time already.”

Haeri fell asleep after taking her medicine, and was brought up to Woohyun’s room. Woohyun was leaning back on the kitchen counter beside his mother.

                “What if she hates me again when she wakes up?” he muttered sadly. “This afternoon, it was the only time in months that she saw me as her oppa again.” He looked at his mother, his lips quivering. “Eomma.”

                His mother washed her hands and wiped them on her apron before hugging Woohyun. She rubbed his back in hopes of comforting him. “We’re all having a hard time because of her, but she’s suffering the most. Do you know how much it breaks my heart to see her everyday as good as lifeless already? When I can’t even see our Haeri in her anymore? When she almost never sees me as your mother anymore? It’s hard, Woohyun-ah. So hard. But let’s endure the pain together, okay? Until Haeri gets better.”

                Woohyun sniffed and hugged his mother in return. “She’ll get better. Even if they say it’s incurable, I know she’ll get better. I’ll work even harder if we need to pay much more for her medication.”

                Her mother nodded and let go of him to go back to preparing their dinner. “So go up there already. She may not be your Riri when she wakes up tonight, but I know you’re still her Hyunie, and you’ll endure anything for her.”

                While Woohyun was in the kitchen with his mother, Sunggyu, somehow, managed to sneak away from the others, and went to Woohyun’s room.

                At first, he was hesitant to enter. I shouldn’t be here, he thought. What if eomonim misunderstands? He started walking away from the room, but stopped on the top of the stairs.

                But I’m not going to do anything bad, he answered himself.

                He went back in front of Woohyun’s room, his hand on the doorknob. He took a deep breath before opening the door to see Haeri under the blue comforter on the bed.

                He walked towards the bed and sat beside her.  He noticed Woohyun’s bedside table, which was filled with pictures, just like in their dorm. There was a picture of Haeri which he never saw before.

                He didn’t see many photos of her to begin with. He was never interested in her.

                In the picture, Haeri, he guessed, was around five years younger. She was looking back, wearing her middle school uniform, a chocolate popsicle, her other hand extending behind her, grasped by a man’s hand.

                “You two do act like a couple,” Sunggyu laughed, knowing that the hand in the picture was Woohyun’s.

                Suddenly, the door opened. It was Woohyun, who was not nearly as shocked as he should be after seeing a man alone in a room where his sister was.

                “Woohyun-ah,” Sunggyu called out. “Ah mianhae, I don’t even know why I’m here.” He stood up and started walking towards the door, when Woohyun strode towards him and pushed him back down on the bed.

              “You don’t have to leave, hyung,” Woohyun smirked at him. “Unless you were doing something naughty to my Riri.” He sat on the bed as well and reached out to brush Haeri’s hair from her face.

                “Were you being naughty, hyung?” Woohyun asked. “My Riri does not like naughty people, just so you know. She hits me whenever I say something related to .”

                “Chincha?” Sunggyu asked, amused. He looked admiringly at the guy in front of him who looked as if he was having the time of his life.

                “The last time she got to sleep here was when we were promoting Come Back Again. When we were least busy. Before that, she used to come here to sleep beside me, saying she’s still my baby and that I should take care of her.” Woohyun said. “That was years ago. After that, I could barely come home. I don’t know how she goes through every night alone.”

                Sunggyu looked at Haeri who stirred slightly in her sleep. “I always saw her as a mature girl. I was,” Sunggyu paused and laughed to himself at the memory he had in mind, “intimated by her, to be honest.”

                Woohyun laughed at him, so hard he had to put the back of his hand against his mouth to muffle the noise. “Honestly? How can you be scared of my precious Riri? She’s always so nice.”

                Sunggyu shrugged, shifting his gaze to Haeri. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s how she can be childlike yet mature at the same time. You know, how she acts like a baby sometimes, and like an angry mother at others. Do I even make sense?”

                Woohyun stared at his friend apprehensively. “You seem to have quite some thoughts about my sister, hyung. It didn’t seem to me that she had any impression on you at all.”

                “What do you mean?” Sunggyu asked, his gaze returning to Woohyun.

                Woohyun laughed shortly and looked at him sharply. “What I mean is, it never occurred to me that you were interested in my sister, hyung.”

Hi guys! I'm sorry I didn't update as promised, but I'll write as much as I can as soon as I can. ^^

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