Sora finally gathered the energy to simply sit up, holding her bruised arm against her chest. She tilted her head towards the animal and reached out, with her good arm, and gently patted his head.

The wolf relaxed under her touch, enjoying the little affectionate gesture she was gifting him. She carefully pulled him by his collar and wrapped her one arm around him, hiding her face within the soft white coat.

Whether he could understand her words or not, she didn’t really care; it wasn’t stopping her from gratefully thanking him; whether the situation was strange or not, she didn’t care; his presence helped her immensely.

She got back up, despite having the pain still lingering in her body, and started to walk, or at least tried too. The moment she had stepped away, the little one quickly followed her, silently and loyally marching right by her side.

Giving up her search, Sora decided to go back to the apartment and rest; it wasn’t her wounds that were stopping her. She had simply lost the energy to continue as her emotions have been drained even more with what happened earlier.

She was out of tears to cry but it didn’t stop her from feeling the depth of her ache with every beat of her heart. It was hard enough to deal with his death, but she also had to deal with the cops, looking behind her shoulders every second just to make sure that nobody was following her.

She limped her way back to her apartment when a car suddenly honked at her as it pulled over the sidewalk. She stopped in her steps and looked to the side to see Yongguk getting out from the vehicle with a hesitant smile on his face. “You need a ride?”

“It depends… Are you planning on bringing me to the station?”

“No.”

She slightly nodded at him and dropped her head down before looking back up at him, shyness overtaking her voice. “Can you take me home?”

“Sure.” He smiled at her and climbed back inside with Sora following him as she opened the door. She let the wolf climb first before she settled in the passenger seat next to the cop. He looked at the back to the panting white wolf and examined the pet until he eyed the collar around his neck, noticing the symbol he was wearing. “Where did the dog come from?”

“A friend… How’s your nose?”

“It will survive, don’t worry. How about you? How have you been?” He started the car and drove back to the streets, trying to bring out a ‘normal’ atmosphere. “Don’t try to make small talk Yongguk.” She was looking towards the window next to her, dismissing the casual gesture from the younger man.

“S-sorry, I just… I missed you.”

She whipped her head back towards him, sadness and anger filling up the blueness of her eyes. “Then where were you when I needed you the most? Stop being your father’s son and start acting on your own.”

“Noona, I’m sorry-”

“Don’t ‘Noona’ me. I’m angry at you.” She diverted her gaze back to the side window, ignoring the man as he glanced at her from time to time trying to find something to say.

She broke the silence, her voice filled with harshness embraced by disappointment. “I expected Mom to come and when she did, I was hoping to see you too. Even Suzy came. It was barely for five minutes, but she took the time out of her day to come to the funeral... Where were you?”

“I-I didn’t think that you would want me there… Not after what we’ve been through.”

“You are my brother Yongguk. I would have expected my family to come and support one of their own in a time of mourning. If Dad was still alive, I would’ve understood him not coming, but it was worse when you didn’t show up.”

“I’m sorry. I did wrong, I know that but it doesn’t mean that I don’t think about you every day. It doesn’t mean that I wasn’t thinking about you that day. I really thought that I had no place next to you, especially with how we left things. And I do miss you. I miss our family and how things were so much easier… With Dad gone and Mom sick-”

She cut him off with her head titled in one swift move back to her younger sibling, with shock trembling in her body. “Mom is sick?”

“You didn’t know?”

“No… She didn’t tell me anything. How bad is it?” She could see the hesitancy in his manners. She sat up further straight, forgetting about the pain that shot through her body from the earlier fall, pressing her words to get an answer out of her brother’s mouth. “Yongguk, tell me. How bad is it?”

“She’s dying…”

Her heart stopped beating just as the car parked by the sidewalk, right in front of her apartment building. She didn’t realize she was at destination with her mind swirling thousand of thoughts about the abrupt revelation. “She can’t be dying, she looked perfectly fine the last time I saw her!”

“I guess she didn’t want to tell you because of the circumstances you were in.”

“Why didn’t you or Suzy tell me anything? I could’ve done something to help! Pay for the bills or something-”

“Sora, there’s nothing that you could’ve done that would have changed anything.”

“How would you know?”

He stood speechless in front of her. What could he possibly say to ease the ache that he had added by revealing the unhealthy state of their mother?

Hesitantly, he stretched out his arm and held her hand in his in brotherly affection. He saw the tears in the corners of her eyes, blue as the ocean though he remembered them once being blue as the sky, and squeezed his hold gently wanting to give her a sense of reassurance. She let him hold her for a moment before she realized that she was finally home; she broke off the embrace and quickly wiped her tears away as she thanked him.

“Th-thanks for the ride…”

“Anytime.”

She opened the door and jumped out of the car, careful as not to disturb the bruises of her body. Once the wolf followed and climbed out, she bent over to face her brother before closing the door and walking to the entrance of the building.

“And Yongguk?”

“Hmm?”

“I missed you too.”

Up the elevator and out in the hallway, she quietly walked towards the door leading to her flat and finally settled inside once she pressed in the key code.

The white animal swiftly made his way inside and jumped straight on the couch leaving Sora to chuckle tiredly at the sudden comfort the dog was showing. Just to amuse her, he barked excitedly while wagging his tale as he jumped continuously on the couch. She walked over and simply let her fingers brush through his fur before leaving him for the kitchen. She opened the fridge and fetched out a bottle of beer, took off the cap and went back to the living room, settling down next to her new pet.

She took one sip and let the bitter taste linger on her tongue before teasing the dog by inviting him to drink. “Want some?”

She placed it right in front of his mouth but the smell made him quickly back away, showing discontent. She chuckled at his reaction and eyed him playfully before taking another sip, numbing the discomfort of living within silent walls.

She tried distracting herself with the wolf by playing with him. She repeated the earlier process by inviting him to off the taste of the beer, and though she expected him to reject it like he had done before, he instead took the top of the bottle right into his mouth and abruptly jumped off the couch, running away from her.

“H-hey! Come back here! You’re not supposed to be drinking that! I was just messing with you!”

She didn’t feel like getting up. The physical pain from her fall was still acting up, preventing from doing anything major.

“Yah! Where did you go? I’m not getting up if that’s what you want me to do!”

Just then, the wolf reappeared holding between his teeth a photo album, and dropped it right on Sora’s lap before sitting down right in front of her as if he was waiting for something. She glanced strangely at the wolf, confused about his intentions and also about the way he had easily found what she had hidden in the back of her closet.

“Why did you bring me this? Walking down memory lane is the last thing on my mind, kiddo.”

His only response was a bark, still waiting for her to open the book.

She placed the object next to her, ignoring the request. The dog whimpered as he nestled his nose by her leg, pushing her to look at the album. “I’m not opening it. Have fun looking at the pictures yourself, I will not join you.” He nudged her once again, pleading her to simply look back at her past; her mind slowly drifted to the old lady and her words of comfort about remembrance.

She hesitated as she stared at the book next to her. She reached out towards the cover, her fingers lightly tracing across the fake leather of the album; she could see her hand trembling, and so did her heart.

For the past eighty-two days, the only thing she had from Seungho was the jacket she was wearing. Everything else was left untouched.

She didn’t even sleep in that bed since he passed away; if she had the chance to feel his presence, then maybe she would’ve been strong enough to crawl up under the covers and sleep her pain away because at least she knew that he was here, somehow.

She let out a shaky breath, taking the photo album onto her lap while she stared at the cover before slowly opening it. She chuckled at the sight of her high school prom picture where – by pure luck – Seungho was her date for the night. She couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face as the memories flashed by, taking her back to the beginning of it all.

She was about to continue her walk down the lane when a loud banging had interrupted her thoughts. The sudden noise made the wolf react badly as his throat grumbled from the growl he was creating. She could see a hint of his canines making her doubtful about whether to open the door or not. In the end, she decided to stay put and ignore the incessant knocking until she heard the harsh voice of a male from the other side. “Open up!”

“Who is it?” Hesitant, she got up from the couch and stepped cautiously towards her door with the wolf sticking himself by her side while still on guard, his throat rumbling.

“It’s officer Kim. Open up now or I swear I’ll break this door down myself.”

The dog barked loudly, his teeth fully showing as if he was ready to jump at his prey. Sora gently placed her hand on top of his head, calming him down as she soothed him with her words. She stepped towards the door and opened the door to be greeted by the detestable officer along with her brother looking awfully guilty for his betrayal.

“We have a warrant for your arrest.” Her eyes shifted back to the partner, taken aback by the sudden news. “Arrest? What the is going on?!” She stared straight into the eyes of her younger brother expecting some kind of explanation. The betrayal had reached such depth; Sora never thought that her heart could turn into dust from the constant fragment pieces that kept breaking her at every corner.

Yongguk mouthed her an ‘I’m sorry’, showing his regret through silence.

She clenched her jaw, her eyes turning cold from the hatred she bore towards her sibling. Just then, his partner was suddenly manhandling her as he roughly grabbed onto her and turned her around, shoving her front against her door with his free hand reaching for the cuffs and tying them around her wrists. She hissed at the pain from the metal clashing in with her skin, the rings holding her arms strongly and tightly behind her back.

She held in the cries from the bruises, the numbing echoing across her body.

“Untie her Himchan. You’re clearly hurting her with the cuffs.”

“No way I’m letting her go.”

“My arm hurts for sake-”

“Shut up.”

He gave her another push against the door making her gasp at the impact. The noise escalated with the barking wolf and the brother trying to calm his partner’s temperament. Sudden chaos ran over them with her protector suddenly jumping on Himchan, his teeth biting into the man’s leg with fury pricking the animal. “!”

He tried kicking off the dog off of him, which caused Sora to wince from the pain as she almost fell down on the ground if it wasn’t for her brother catching her.

Things got out of hand the moment Himchan pulled out a gun, aiming the wolf and ready to shoot.

Sora struggled in her brother’s embrace, and ended up kicking the other man making him curse from the constant pain his body was receiving. “Don’t you dare hurt him you ing bastard! Get away from him! Yongguk, do something!” Following her plea, the man in question quickly reacted by throwing his friend off with a sudden blow to the head, knocking him unconscious.

Things quickly calmed down after the thud of the body falling down. The wolf let go and seemed to have gone back to his quiet self as he sat down, his teeth to clean up the blood that stained him.

The blue color of his eyes sparked Yongguk’s interest, having a nostalgic feeling of déjà vu with that look. ‘The only thing missing is that moon crescent on its forehead…’ Pushing the thought away, he turned back to his older sister and finally released her before picking up Himchan. 

“Sorry… He’s bipolar…”

She huffed at his excuse, her level of annoyance having passed the limit far enough. “Bipolar my , he looked like he was possessed or something!”

He chuckled, trying to hide the discomfort that he was feeling as he glanced back to the wolf, still calm. “Y-yea, could be…” He forced a smile on his face before pleading her to follow him to the station. “Why should I even do that?”

“Please, I can’t let him wake him up without you being there. Who knows what he could do next. He can actually make things worse.”

“Damn you Yongguk.”

The small room was lit with just the small lamp hung by the edge of the table. It was bright enough to have caused an early headache for Sora as she tried to look into a darker spot inside the interrogation room, needing to relax her eyes.

She was alone, playing the cuff attached to her wrist against the table, while her brother sat facing her. “I still can’t believe you tricked me.”

“I didn’t tell them anything, I promise.” She could hear the guilt straining his voice but she didn’t care. Not anymore. “Then how the hell did he know where to come barely 30 minutes after you dropped me off?”

“Himchan probably followed me-”

“You are one heck of a cop.”

He didn’t say anything because he didn’t know how to answer. He was a great cop, the addition needed to the team but the moment he found out he had to go against his sister – year after year – he found himself drowning in a whirlpool of duty to the society versus duty to his family. He let out a sigh, his fingers entangled into his black hair before dropping it back on the surface of the table. “They’ll take me off the case.”

She froze, stopping what she was doing and lifted her head up, staring at him in shock. “Wh-what? Why?”

“Conflict of interest.”

“So I’m stuck with that idiotic drama queen partner of yours?!”

“I fought against it but the Boss doesn’t want me on it anymore. He thought that it was a good idea in the beginning but with what’s been happening today, he changed his mind… I’m sorry.”

“But Yongguk, you are the most qualified than those other officers! You knew Seungho for over ten years!”

“Which is why it makes things more difficult. They think I would use our past and be biased.”

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. As it opened, they were welcomed by a limping Himchan looking irritated and frustrated. He looked at his partner ready to throw him out of the room.

“I’m not talking unless he is here.”

“You little bi-”

“Himchan, shut it.”

He groaned as he threw a small pile of documents on the table, and leaned over while using the edge of the table as a support with his hands. The glare sent shivers down her spine, fear striking every speck of her body. Her heart was beating faster, creating a ripple of tremor inside her limbs. The snide voice left her breathless, as she knew what was waiting for her.

“Then why don’t we start and go back to the past, hmm? Let’s take a walk down memory lane… Bonnie.”