Eun Mi slowly opened her eyes. She was in a strange room. Everything was white. She looked around and she saw a few people were sitting in the room.

“Eun Mi ah! You woke up finally!” Chen who was sitting beside her hugged her tight. Their uncle, auntie and Suho rushed to the bed. Eun Mi just nodded.

It was Auntie So Eun’s turn to hug Eun Mi “Poor little girl, you had gone through a lot…” Tears kept flowing from her eyes. Eun Mi just replied her hug silently… and clueless.

“So Eun ah, stop it. Don’t cry in front of this child,” Uncle Hyun Joong touched her shoulder. Auntie So Eun nodded before broke her hug. She wiped her tears and looked at Eun Mi. “How are you feeling darling?” she asked. Eun Mi just kept silent.

“Do you remember what happened?” she asked again.

Eun Mi shook her head. She did not remember anything. Everything seemed so weird. She looked around and those faces… were totally unfamiliar.

“It’s weird. Why she didn’t say anything?” Suho asked.

The others started to realize that something was weird. They turned back to Eun Mi.

“Eun Mi ah, Oppa is here. Say something.”Chen said.

Eun Mi stayed still and stared at him.

“Eun Mi ah, it’s me… don’t you… remember me?” when he mentioned the ‘remember’ part, his eyes went teary.

Eun Mi slowly shook her head. Tears started to roll down Chen’s cheek. Suho went and comforted his cousin. Chen wiped his tears and turned to Auntie So Eun. “Auntie, why she doesn’t remember me?” His heart was broken into pieces, thinking that his parents had died and his only sister had forgotten about him.

“Eun Mi ah, do you recognize me?” Auntie So Eun asked.

Eun Mi stared at her too, and weakly shook her head. Auntie So Eun gasped.

 “Yeobo, call the doctor!” Auntie So Eun turned to Uncle Hyun Joong and rushed him to see the doctor. Uncle Hyun Joong hurriedly ran out of the room.

“Eun Mi ah, don’t you recognize us?” Auntie So Eun looked at Eun Mi again, but this time, her eyes were filled with tears. ‘Just what is happening to you now, Eun Mi?’

She mouthed ‘Who are you?’ but no voice was heard.

“What did you say dear?” Auntie So Eun asked. She thought that she misheard her niece, but when Eun Mi tried to speak again, Auntie So Eun finally realized something. She pulled Eun Mi into a tight hug and cried, silently. How could reality become this cruel towards such a small girl?

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“I’m afraid that she was too shocked and traumatized with what happened, which caused her to lose her voice and her memory…”the doctor said. After he did the check-up on Eun Mi, he asked Uncle Hyun Joong and Auntie So Eun to follow him to his room for further discussions.

Uncle Hyun Joong and Auntie So Eun gasped. “Yeobo… what should we do??” Auntie So Eun closed and cried.

Uncle Hyun Joong closed his eyes for a moment. Everything was too sudden and too harsh. He opened his eyes slowly and looked at the doctor, waiting for him to continue his words.

“For a small child like her, to face the fact that her parents were killed right in front of her eyes was very hard. In some similar cases, the witnesses, even adults, could get mentally broken or in a harsh word, could become crazy. So, for an 8-year-old child like her, I’m afraid that the reality is too harsh...” The doctor continued.

“W…Well, is there anything that you can do to help our niece?” Uncle Hyun Joong asked.

“Well, basically there is nothing wrong with her vocal cords and her brain. So there won’t be necessary for any surgery… One of the ways to help the patient is by undergo psychotherapy sessions to help her to remember everything and maybe to gain her voices back. Well if you agree to do that, I can introduce some psychotherapists in our hospital…” the doctor answered professionally.

“We’ll think about it.” Uncle Hyun Joong said.

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“Yeobo, do you want to let Eun Mi see the psychotherapists?” Auntie So Eun said.

“I don’t know. If that’s the best for her…” Uncle Hyun Joong replied.

“But she’s still young. After what had happened, I don’t think she can take anything more in this nearest time. Let’s wait until she’s ready, can we? She is just 8 years old. She is still fragile. If we sent her to see the psychotherapist, she might remember about the incident again. Maybe it is the best to let her just forget about the incident.” Auntie So Eun voiced out her opinion. She cared about Eun Mi like her own daughter, as she only had one son, Kim Suho.

“We’ll talk more about this later, shall we? First, let’s be with the children. They need our support,” Uncle Hyun Joong replied, calmly before opened the ward’s door.

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And from that day onwards, Uncle Hyun Joong and Auntie So Eun took Chen and Eun Mi to live with them. They treated them like their very own children. And Suho was happy to live with his closest cousins. Eun Mi still could not remember anything, but being a child helped her to learn about things around her quickly.

Uncle Hyun Joong and Auntie So Eun had agreed to not give any more pressure to Eun Mi by sending her for the psychotherapy sessions. They decided that it was better for Eun Mi to forget about the incident for the time being. They wanted to wait for Eun Mi to be prepared enough before she undergo to the therapy sessions someday.

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