Worry            …now! Not so soon!              Jaemi gasped for air as she shot up from her bed, her chest heaving and heart beating erratically against her ribcage. She closed her eyes for a moment to catch her breath and tiredly brought her hands to her face. “Damnit.”              Grumbling some complaints, the exhausted girl threw her blanket off her legs and swung them to the edge of the bed. The side of her head was pounding, forboding an upcoming headache, but as she creased her eyebrows, it only worsened. Still tired, she buried her face in her hands, arms leaning on her legs with the same words echoing through her mind. Not again.              “Jaemi, are you up?”              Old eyes looked upon the grouching figure on the bed. Jaemi glanced up from her position and met with her uncle standing near the door with a tightlipped smile and a glass of water.              “I thought you might need this again,” he smiled with a small yet husky voice that broke here and there from the years of smoking, as he approached her. The girl gave him a tired smile and took the glass and small pill from his hands before he took a seat next to her on the bed. The pounding hadn’t lessened any bit so Jaemi threw the medicine into and washed it away with a large gulp of water.              “Thank you, uncle,” she smiled at him, feeling a little more awake. Smiling gently, her uncle nodded once and moved some stray hairs out of her eyes behind her ear. Soothed by the water and her uncle, Jaemi closed her eyes to savor the warmth that radiated from his hand onto her cheek. “Go get ready, hm? I will make us breakfast,” he remarked and lightly pinched her cheek. Jaemi nodded in agreement and rolled her shoulders to loosen any knots in her back. Her uncle stood from the bed; his niece watched his retreating back until he exited through the door, his steps hesitating for a moment when he passed her lower cabinet.              The pounding of her head began to alleviate after she had taken the medicine so when Jaemi stood up from the bed, dizziness was no issue. She sauntered towards the bathroom that bordered her room to get ready, but after glancing at the picture-stand on the table, a sigh escaped her lips.              Mom, dad, I miss you.                  An American writer and poet once said: “Sometimes I’m terrified of my heart; of its constant hunger for whatever it wants. The way it stops and starts.” After spending a week of her life in the hospital in a coma, that quote had never sounded so right in Jaemi’s life. Her heart had the ability to give up on her in that week.              But it didn’t.              It kept beating and it kept Jaemi alive. When she was brought in, her heart had stopped beating, though, therefore cutting off the oxygen transport to her brains and vital organs. She was dead at that moment, like two other people very dear to her. But miraculously, Jaemi survived the accident and now, four weeks later, she had to live with the consequences. Occasional headaches that hit her when she least expected it and a life without her beloved parents who had taken care of her for the past seventeen years of her life.              Something like this was heartbreaking and Jaemi didn’t know how people did it, losing their parents at such a young age and just going on with their lives. Jaemi had heard of cases where the children didn’t know how to cope with the loss and simply committed suicide to escape the reality.              Luckily, her case was entirely different.              The evening Jaemi had woken from her eternal sleep and she heard the news, something told her she already knew. The calmness in which she reacted to her uncle’s words shocked many, but Jaemi couldn’t blame him. They initially thought the accident might've damaged the neurons in her hippocampus, which were in control of her emotions. But after undergoing many examinations, even the best doctors of the hospital couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. The way her uncle and the doctors reacted towards her attitude was understandable, of course.              No healthy human being would be so unemotional after hearing such devastating news.               Jaemi remained stoic, as if she had already dealt with the chapter of mourning the death of her parents. She still missed them dearly, there was no arguing that and every time she saw a car, she would flinch at the sound of it and was instantly reminded of the fateful accident every time. When she visited her parents’ grave, she cried.              But the reason for her remarkably calm reaction remained a mystery, but she was sure to find out one day.                  The smell of freshly-squeezed orange juice and toasted bread filled the air and made Jaemi’s stomach grumble in anticipation when she was walking down the stairs. A head full of black locks surprised her when she entered the old kitchen of her uncle’s home. “Mina?”              The girl that was sitting at the cooking island turned and showed Jaemi her famous saccharine smile. “Good morning there, sleepyhead.”              She smiled back at her best friend and rubbed her arm lovingly when she was close enough, taking a seat next to her. Jaemi’s uncle set two plates on the counter and mumbled a dig in before he returned to the sink to do the rest of the dishes.              It was the first Monday after Jaemi’s discharge from the hospital, which unfortunately meant her first day of school. Mina was one of her closest friends who kept visiting her after school in the hospital and urged the girl to get better soon, even when she was still in a coma. Her presence was something Jaemi always looked forward to after she had woken because it took her mind off of things. Little did she know that that was actually the thing Mina was striving for.              Mina was left heartbroken after she had heard the news of the passing of her best friend’s parents—they knew her better than her own. She quickly hid this, however, and told Jaemi not to be sad and to go on with life, with Mina by her side.              Jaemi couldn't have wished for a better friend.              “Uncle, we’re gonna go. Thank you for breakfast,” Jaemi thanked her uncle and got her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. Bomin smiled at his niece, crow’s feet appearing at the corners of his eyes, and nodded as he left the dirtied dishes in the sink. “Alright Jae,” he replied while he dried his hands and walked the two to the door. He lifted his large hand, gently cupping the side of Jaemi’s head to press a kiss on her forehead.              “Please return home immediately after school?” he muttered into her hair and her head. Jaemi just smiled up at him and gave his hand a small squeeze, agreeing and assuring him she would be fine.              He smiled and turned to the other girl in the hall, lovingly Mina’s cheek when he met with her eyes. She offered him a smile before the elder opened the door for Jaemi and let her enter the outside world. The two girls waved a last time before turning to walk to their destination, which was school.              “Still such a caring old man,” Jaemi heard Mina mumble, “but I can’t help but feel that Bomin has lost the spark he used to have.”              A soft breeze tickled Jaemi’s bare arms, pulling softly at her brown locks. A smile appeared on her face. It felt nice being outside again. But as Mina uttered her words, she couldn’t help but feel her smile morphing into one more forced. She wasn’t exactly hurt, but it turned into an admitting one as she hooked her arm through Mina’s, bumping her a little with her head. “Could you blame him?” she inquired softly and looked at a couple passing by. “Uncle lost his only sister and brother-in-law. We should be happy that he found the strength to wake up every morning.”              Mina stayed quiet for a moment, realizing how her comment came to be, before tightening her grip on her friend’s arm and looking at the ground. “I’m sorry, Jaemi,” she apologized and bit her lower lip. The former simply smiled at the girl and kept marching on, no hesitation in her step.              “It’s okay.”                  Jaemi knew from the moment she stepped onto school property that she would always be reminded of the fateful events that took place in her life. Once again was proven that school systems worked the same everywhere in the world. Whe