Everyone at the garden of remembrance already left, except for a number of them who chose to stay a little longer. The place was overwhelmed with sadness, as it was evident in the thick air and by looking at the eyes of a young girl, it explained enough.

The atmosphere was mournful, and the death of her loved ones felt so bizarre. She’d wished it were all just a dream, a nightmarish dream from which she would wake up from later, and everything was just the way it was.

But whom was she kidding? This wasn’t a trance. Her standing there in front of two tombs was not a dream. This was real. She’d just lost the two dearest people in her life, both taken away from her at the same time and she would never see them again.

Her heart was still beating, but she felt like her soul was gone already. She was still breathing, but still she felt suffocated. It was as if she was drowning in the very air she breath, choking and throttling her.

Tears mercilessly fell from her eyes, dripped down her already wet cheeks and made their way to the ground. The look in her exhausted eyes could break anyone’s hearts, and she cried the kind of tears that no one had seen before. The one where the crier simply gave herself in to the grief as she was too overcome with the loss of her parents.

She would’ve sunk into the ground, and break into a million pieces like a glass if it weren’t for a hand who held her shoulder reassuringly, letting her know that she wasn’t alone. It couldn’t make her feel better, but she was grateful for the support.

On her left side, a voice of a boy younger than her sobbed uncontrollably, as he was too being comforted by a woman much, much older than she was. “Omma ....” he sobbed, and the tears he cried made ByulHee cry more, as she very much understood what he felt, even though it was harder for him compared to her.

“It’s okay, HeeJun.” ByulHee tried to say, though her voice came out harsher than she would’ve expected. “You still have me.” She attempted to reach out, but HeeJun pulled away instantly. She wasn’t by the least felt offended when he did that, and she felt nothing else mattered anymore.

Both she and her brother were heartbroken, as now they were orphans. They no longer had the ones they could call parents, and nothing was ever the same anymore.

“I’ll never see them again. Never. Not on my birthday, or New Year, or Christmas. I will never hear their voices again.” HeeJun continued sobbing, and by now ByulHee was too tired to do anything. Her energy had drained away from her, and now she only depended on her telling herself to keep standing until all of this was over.

She turned to the person on her other side, and unlike other times when he would casually just throw her a smile, this time he had that same look on his face just like everybody else. “It’s going to be okay.” He said, the same thing everybody kept saying and ByulHee doubted whether it really was going to be okay.

“Both my parents are gone, JongIn.” She said, as if JongIn wasn’t there from the beginning. “They’re gone.”

“But we’re still here.” JongIn replied, gesturing towards JongDae and their other friends. Only, one person wasn’t there. “And you still have your brother and grandmother. I know this is very, very hard on you, but know that we’re here for you anytime.”

ByulHee said nothing, and returned to facing the front. HeeJun had stopped crying after their grandmother comforted him, and thinking that it wasn’t going to do him good for being there too long, Director Kim said, “Come on, HeeJun. Let’s go now.”

She was about to take her grandson away when she remembered that HeeJun wasn’t her only grandchild. She stopped walking after a few steps, before turning back towards ByulHee, “Are you ... going to come with us?” As awkward as it may be for the two of them, somehow she felt the need to ask and that ByulHee was her grandchild too.

ByulHee at first very much wanted to say yes, but considering how HeeJun probably needed their grandmother’s attention more than she was, ByulHee shook her head. “It’s okay, grandma. You can head home first with HeeJun.”

Director Kim only nodded her head and began leading HeeJun away; as ByulHee watched them silently leave the cemetery. HeeJun was as lifeless as she was, and ByulHee hoped he was okay. She felt bad for not being able to ease him, as an older sister should, but she herself was having a hard time comforting herself.

“Life is indeed a mysterious thing.” She said to no one in particular, and everyone started looking at each other, exchanging worried glances. “We were just having fun, bonding and making memories which we would treasure and recall sometime in the future. Appa was supposed to tell me more about the days when he first met omma, and they were supposed to come back from their trip in three days’ time. But I guess they’re never coming back.”

ByulHee turned to JongDae, who’d silently watching and standing at the side. She knew he was feeling the same remorse, as they were his friends who had died. She didn’t know much about their friendship, but she was certain they were very close. And from the way her parents regarded JongDae, it was as if they owed him something.

“I guess I know now what they mean by appreciating what you have before it’s gone. I’ve always understood the meaning but I guess understanding and really feeling it are two both different things. Once it’s gone, you may never get it back.” She said, trying to form a smile, which soon led her to cry again.

JongDae enveloped her into a hug, and ByulHee instantly burst out crying. All the tears she tried to contain moments before now cascaded down her cheeks like river escaping dam, and the sound of her voice crying echoed throughout the cemetery.

JongIn and his friends can only watch as ByulHee wept, and no comforting words could penetrate her sorrow. She’d just lost her parents, and no one could’ve dealt with it better than ByulHee. They stood there, waiting, hoping that she would be strong enough to face this days ahead. They couldn’t imagine being in ByulHee’s shoes, waking up not to see their parents anymore, or even hear their voices.

They let her cry as much as she wanted, and once she’d calmed down, JongDae decided that all of them should go back now. ByulHee invited them over to her house for lunch, and the others only agreed despite feeling a tad bit hesitant. The look on JongDae’s face told them that they should just accept her offer; probably ByulHee needed her friends to make her forget about that day.

They walked together towards the exit of the cemetery, when a familiar figure came in running, headed to their direction. “Oh, is that SeHun?” BaekHyun asked, and ByulHee lifted her head from the ground. They all stopped walking and waited until SeHun reached them, and once he did, he immediately clasped her tight. “I’m so sorry that I’m late.”

“I thought you wouldn’t come.” ByulHee said once they extricated themselves from the hug. “We’re all heading to my