Bom's eyes fluttered open when she heard whimpers in the middle of the night. At first she got scared and clutched her blanket tightly. It was the initial reaction of a child with vast imagination but as she listened more to the sound, the fear dissipated and was replaced with curiosity.

Stepping out from her bed, she followed the direction where the whimpers are coming from. She ended up standing in front of the door connecting to Luhan’s bedroom. Her brows furrowed and leaned her ear on the door. The moment she did that, the whimpers got only louder. She turned the knob open and silently trudged inside her new brother’s room.

The sight of Luhan thrashing to and fro in the bed with pained sweaty face greeted her. He kept on flailing his arms around the air as if he is pushing someone away from his body. His hands then moved south and tried covering his lower region like he is protecting it.

 Is he having nightmare? Or is he sick? Bom gasped at the thoughts clouding her mind. She jumped in the bed and hovered beside the kid. She frantically shook his frail shoulders and tapped his cheeks.

“Luhan! Luhan! Wake up! Wake up!” Bom continued shaking him but to no avail.

“Luhannie!”

But the moment those words fell out of Bom’s mouth, Luhan’s eyes snapped open. A wild look crossed his face. Even before Bom could breathe out a sigh of relief that he is now awake, Luhan had already pushed her away from him with all force. Bom fell on the floor with a loud thud. She let out a small yelp of pain from the impact. Shocked by Luhan’s action, she blinked a couple of times before pushing herself up from the floor.

What she saw next shocked her more than the previous one.

Luhan was now sitting in the corner of the bedroom, his head buried in his knees and his arms are wrapped around his ears. Bom can clearly see that he is trembling even behind the blanket he is hiding in.

Confused, Bom approached the kid and called him again.

“Luhannie?”

The boy trembled more violently and warded off her attempts to touch him. He kept on slapping and pushing her incoming hand away from him. Some of his hits sting a little but that is the last of Bom’s concern now. Because of his actions, the blanket covering his whole body fell and finally displayed his face white with terror and tear-streaked.

Stunned by the sight, Bom didn’t know what to do. Panic surged in her as she felt helpless on the miserable sight of the boy. She only did what she thought is the best solution—to embrace him. She hugged the boy tightly with all her might and cried next to his ears.

“Calm down Luhan. It’s just me, Bommie! You are safe now. I’m here now. I will protect you!”

Bom repeated those words over and over again until Luhan’s struggles to break away from her died down. When she was sure that he is calmed down, she untangled her arms from the embrace and cupped his face. A flicker of recognition flickered on his eyes, something that made Bom sigh in relief. It’s a way better sight to see than the previous emotion his eyes gave off a while ago.  His eyes casted down in shame upon remembering what he did to her a while ago. He wanted to say sorry but he can’t voice it out so instead he just mouthed it though he knew she can’t understand him.

“It’s okay.” Bom smiled as bright as she could and lifted his surprised face to meet her eyes. Her thumbs wiped the tears on his cheeks.

“I’m here now. No one can hurt you now Luhannie”

Bom noticed how his brown eyes dilated and how he fled away in an instant from her touch. His head kept on shaking his head ‘no’ as he looked horrified again. Not knowing that she just repeated a mistake, Bom thought that maybe he is just having panic attacks again. So she inched closer to comfort him but he backed away and fixed his gaze on the floor.

“Luhan w-what’s wrong? D-did I do something wrong?” She really has no idea on why Luhan is pushing himself away from her again. She thought everything was settled now but she thought wrong.

“Luhan stop being like this…please. I’m sorry…S-stop avoiding me. Please forgive me!” Her eyes started to blur from her own tears.

Guilt ate her for doing something wrong to him and worsening the situation. A sob escaped and she cried with an open-mouth. She rubbed the tears on her eyes using her forearm.

Luhan blinked when he heard a sob. He looked up and saw Bom crying in the floor. He then realized who made her cry. Him. He scolded himself for acting that way. As much as he doesn’t want to react like that, he can’t. It became his body’s protocol to act like that as a defense mechanism. Often times he is clueless on his body’s reaction. It just proves that he doesn’t have enough control his body. Why? Because his mother dictates it for him like he is a puppet instead of a son. It was instilled in his mind ever since he was born that is why it is not easy to just pop it out of his system.

“I won’t hurt you. I promise. Now stop running away from me.