[C h a p t e r 3 3]

- Ten Years Ago -

The rush to the emergency ward was a blur of havoc as Henry’s eyes remained focused on Josephine’s still form on the bed. His hand refused to let go of hers as they ran along and the nurses had to pry his fingers from the vice-like grip before they could get Josephine through into the emergency operating theatre.

“Let go of me!” shouted Henry as several nurses fought to restrain him.

“Please calm down, Sir. Everything will be alright, she’s in the doctor’s hands now,” assured the nurse and Henry began to calm down.

Feeling that it was probably safe to release the boy, the nurses let him go, taking a slow step back as they studied his reaction. Henry slumped against the wall, sliding to the ground as he felt the horrendous force of sobs wracking his body. Tears slid down his face as he peered at the door, helpless.

“Please be okay, Josephine…” he whispered, his voice cracking hoarsely.

At a loss for what to do with the poor boy, the nurses left him there, glancing occasionally back over their shoulders at him. Henry continued to remain in that spot staring at the door until Donghae and the twins finally arrived with Sister Emily and his family in tow.

“Oppa!Oppa, are you alright?” shouted Seohyun as she came to kneel beside Henry, holding onto his arm as she peered up worried into his face.

Henry sat there numbly, still staring at the emergency door. Donghae began chewing the inside of his lip as he then exchanged a worried glance with the twins. But none of them made a move to try and comfort him. He would definitely not welcome it.

Seohyun, on the other hand, refused to leave Henry alone. “Oppa! Are you alright? Why aren’t you talking to me?” she continued to ask, shaking his arm.

“Seohyun, leave Henry alone,” said her dad from his spot next to his wife. “He’ll be alright.”

Seohyun turned to glare at her father. “How can Oppa be all right? Just look at how sad he looks!” She turned back to stare at Henry, feeling sorry for him.

It was several more hours before someone finally emerged from within the operating theatre. Henry suddenly shrugged off Seohyun’s hand and ran straight over to the doctor, gripping his arms tightly as he shook him, a desperate look in his eyes.

“Is she alright? Is Josephine okay?” he shouted at the doctor, his eyes searching the older man’s for an answer. “Is she alright?”

The doctor looked down at Henry regretfully, allowing the boy to shake him until he finally stopped. Slowly, he removed Henry’s hands from his arms as he then held the boy’s shoulders, a look of pity in his eyes. “I’m sorry… We did everything we could to save her.”

Henry felt as if he hadn’t heard right. “Sorry? What do you mean, ‘sorry’?” he shouted at the doctor, shaking the man even harder than before. Seohyun dad and Donghae came to pull him off, restraining him. “You saved Josephine, right? Didn’t you? Didn’t you?”

Again, the doctor peered back at Henry sadly. “She… didn’t make it. We could not stop the internal bleeding.”

Henry began shaking his head in disbelief as his eyes widened in fear. “No… no… tell me it’s not true. Tell me it’s not true, god damn it!” he shouted as he broke free of the grip his dad and Donghae had on him and began sprinting towards the operating theatre. The others were about to chase after him to stop him, but Henry paused as the doors suddenly opened and a bed was wheeled out, the body lying on it covered by a white sheet.

“Josephine…” whispered Henry, his body trembling slightly at the sight. He strolled forwards angrily, pulling back the cover. Josephine’s pale face stared back up at him, blood still covering her pretty face. Henry couldn’t believe his eyes. He refused to believe it.

The nurses then came to cover Josephine back up again and wheeled her off towards the mortuary. Henry remained frozen to the spot, still deep in shock. Josephine was really dead. She was dead. And it had been all his fault. If he hadn’t gone looking for her, if he hadn’t… confessed to her, then she wouldn’t have run out onto the road. He ran over to the wall, punching it repeatedly as he shouted in anguish. It was all his fault. All his fault. All his fault.

Seohyun dad came to stop Henry, turning to hold the boy against the wall. “Stop it, Henry. There’s no point in hurting yourself. No one could have anticipated this happening.”

Henry glared back at him, his eyes revealing the torment and pain he felt. “It’s my fault, Uncle . My fault…” His voice began cracking as he couldn’t hold back the tears he wanted to cry so much. “If… if only… if only I hadn’t… hadn’t told her… she wouldn’t…”

Seohyun Dad suddenly pulled Henry in for a hug and Henry limply leaned against his shoulder as sobs wracked through his body. He patted the boy firmly on the back, trying to calm him down. “It’s not your fault, Henry… Don’t blame yourself.”

The pair continued to stand like that in the hallway, the others watching the heartbreaking scene quietly. Nurses and doctors passed them with small condoling glances, but all these were not noticed by the group. Seohyun was about to step forward to comfort Henry but Donghae held her back, shaking his head disapprovingly. She crossed her arms over her chest as she looked away, annoyed.

It was some time before Henry finally pulled away from him, taking in a deep shuddering breath as he tried to calm himself down. “I… I want to be alone for a while,” he said as he then turned to walk off, the rest watching him go quietly.

Josephine’s eyes flew wide open as she took in a large breath, the movement causing her to grasp her bruised chest in pain. Her head began reeling and she soon felt the bile rising in . Turning over to her right she threw up into a bowl someone in a black suit had waiting for her. Once she was done, she fell back against the bed, groaning slightly.

“Will she really be okay, Doctor?” said Kris as he watched with concern from his spot in the corner.

“She’ll be fine,” said a voice somewhere to Josephine’s left. “The sedative we gave her is able to induce a death-like state for ten minutes before she would have truly died. It was lucky we managed to get her in on time after that stupid boy stopped us. The antidote I have just given her has sent her into a momentary state of shock, which is why she threw up. I’ll now administer a dose of morphine in order to ease the pain.” Josephine then felt a small prick on the inside of her left elbow and she moaned slightly from the pain. “I don’t know what you guys are playing at, hitting her with a car and then forcing her to die for ten minutes.”

The needle was removed from Josephine’s arm and as the sedative began to take effect, she faintly heard the rattle of metal as something crashed. “Don’t get too suspicious now, Doctor. Your job is only to do as we say.”

Josephine blurrily turned to glance at the scene, seeing Kris hold the doctor up by the collar against the wall. She then turned away, closing her eyes. A small tear escaped its hold from her eye as she remembered what had passed. It was done.  Josephine Liu was dead. Her life was soon to begin anew. Yet Josephine couldn’t help but feel a little regret at the way she had left. If she could perhaps redo everything again, she would have chosen not to tell Kris that Henry would come looking for them himself. She would not have agreed to let Henry be the witness to her death, if she had known he loved her.

Henry was sitting on a stone bench in the indoor courtyard of the hospital, staring at the pond before him with a distant look on his face. Seohyun, Donghae and the twins stood at the door, peering out at him worriedly.

“Maybe I should go out and see him,” said Seohyun suddenly as she was about to open the door.

Donghae quickly stopped her. “The last thing Henry needs is someone to pester him,” he said.

Seohyun turned to glare back up at him. “What do you mean by that, Donghae?” she snapped, pulling her arm out of his grip.

“What Donghae Hyung means, is that Henry Hyung doesn’t want an annoying kid by his side when he has just lost the one he loved,” said Baekhyun, rolling his eyes as he placed his hands on his hip. Chanyeol nodded his head beside him.

Seohyun went to shove the two’s head. “I’m not an annoying kid!” Then she suddenly realised what the twins had said. She grabbed Baekhyun by the shoulders and began shaking him roughly. “Loved? What do you mean Oppa is in ‘love’?”

Chanyeol came in to pull Seohyun’s hands off his brother. “Exactly that,” he said with a frown. Seohyun turned to stare at him instead. “Hyung just told Josephine that he loved her today but she ran away and got hit by the car.”

Seohyun stared at Baekhyun in disbelief. “Oppa loved that dead girl? Since when?”

Chanyeol shrugged. “Beats me.” Baekhyun then gave him a slap on the head.

“You know since when,. Ever since Josephine came to the orphanage Hyung has been acting strange around her. Don’t you think it might have been ‘love at first sight’?” he said with a small mischievous smile.

Donghae glared at the two disapprovingly. “Hey, this isn’t the time to joke around, you two,” he said, glancing at Seohyun who had now slowly walked over to stare at Henry through the window. He then gave them both a smart slap to the head. “See what you’ve done?” he whispered at them fiercely.

Seohyun continued to stare out the window, a pitiful look on her face as she watched her brother. She let out a sigh, her hand sliding down the window slowly. “Poor Oppa… He must be feeling so sad by now…” she said quietly, on the brink of tears. As she noticed the melancholy look on Henry’s face, she couldn’t help but feel an incredible sadness well up inside her. She wasn’t sure whether it was because her brother looked so unhappy or whether it was because he was in love with that dead girl. Either way, it hurt her heart terribly.

Tbc.

Heh, I took some writer's liberty in inventing a sedatitive that could 'induce a death-like state' ^^ Although, the idea of something like that does seem a little familiar... Anyway, I can see many of you wondering how the accident was staged. Here comes the dreaded words... 'All shall be revealed in a later chapter...'  lols, just when you think you'll get to find out how she died, I've left such a large gap to be filled in  Yeah... so now poor Henry feels guilty for being the cause of Josephine's death And Josephine... isn't really all too happy about it either.

Next Chapter: Back to the present - Henry remembers Josephine's death and what Luhan,  and Krustal are up to...