After HyunWoo walked out of the door, SungMi returned upstairs, where their mother had calmed down and now was sitting on the bed. SungHyun was comforting their father, who was very sad with HyunWoo’s leaving. SungHyun patted his father’s hand and assured him that HyunWoo will be just fine. He helped the old man up, before DaeHo walked away and said that he’ll be in the library.

In the meantime, HaNi kept saying that HyunWoo was being an ungrateful child, came and went as he pleased and simply left. HaNi shook her head and sighed. She messaged her forehead and sighed again. No one said a word as HaNi kept putting the blame on HyunWoo. She kept talking to herself and for a moment, SungHyun felt something was wrong with his mother. He looked at his mother and suddenly felt odd with her attitude.

She was crouching on the floor while hugging herself, now she had moved to a corner in the room, and kept mumbling things to herself. She was rocking back and forth, shaking her head once in a while while muttering things that they can't understand.

HyunSik stood rooted at the door, refusing to go to his mother. Everything happened so quickly that night, and it was tiring. He ignored SungHyun when the elder asked him to check on their mother. HyunSik didn’t feel like going to any of his parents that moment. He was still sad that HyunWoo left. He looked to his left when he noticed that there was a presence next to him and noticed his sister had returned.  

SungMi gave HyunSik an assuring smile before looking back inside the room. She frowned when she saw their mother hunched at the corner of the room. Turning to SungHyun, she pointed towards HaNi with a concerned look. SungHyun shrugged and placed a finger on his lips.

SungMi whispered at HyunSik, “Oppa, what’s wrong with omma ?” HyunSik shrugged and turned her away, before pushing her out of the room. SungHyun slowly closed the door, after making sure that HaNi was fine.

Well, she wasn’t exactly fine. In fact, after HyunWoo informed all of them that he was leaving, HaNi started to act strangely. She began talking to herself and they simply thought that maybe she’ll be better after she had a sleep. In fact, they thought it would be best to let her be for a while.

The three of them returned to SungMi’s bedroom, and all of them were exhausted. There were too much shouting and secrets that were revealed. Though most of the time SungHyun and HyunSik only kept quiet, they felt that their energy were taken in the fight as well.

SungHyun lay back on SungMi’s bed, while SungMi and HyunSik returned to their mattresses on the floor. After a moment, SungHyun realized that he had taken over SungMi’s bed and caused her to sleep on the floor. Feeling guilty and slightly embarrassed, he sat up and said to his sister, “Oh, SungMi, I’m sorry, you can have your bed back. I can sleep on the floor. All of a sudden I don’t feel like sleeping in my own room tonight.”

SungMi smiled at her brother and shook her head, “It’s okay, oppa. You can sleep on the bed. I don’t mind sleeping here. In fact, it feels nice to have you and HyunSik oppa here.” She said as she plumped her pillows and pulled the covers up to her neck.

SungHyun lifted his shoulders since SungMi said so and laid his head on the pillow. HyunSik was already lying on his own mattress, eyes staring at the ceiling. In his head he was wondering where HyunWoo might be right now. He left the house all of a sudden, without telling any of them beforehand.

HyunSik figured that HyunWoo must’ve planned on leaving, that was why he didn’t mean to go out at such hour. But then, where could he be sleeping ? He sighed heavily as he pondered his eldest brother, and SungMi turned to him, wondering what was occupying his mind at the moment.

“Are you thinking about HyunWoo, HyunSik oppa ?” SungMi asked.  She could feel worry and concern radiated from HyunSik and she knew that he must be thinking about their eldest brother who just left.

Turning to her with a smile, HyunSik replied, “Yeah, I’m just wondering where he is right now. Where he could be sleeping at this hour, and whether he’s all right. As much as he always fights with omma, it’s never until the extent of him leaving.”

SungHyun who was also staring at the ceiling on the bed, said comfortingly, “Don’t worry about him. Hyung is not someone who dives in headfirst. I’m sure he’s got it all figured out before going out of the house. Maybe he was just waiting for the right time to go.”

Silence came and for a moment, each and every one of them thought the others were sleeping. However, SungMi then suddenly asked, without caring whether her brothers had fallen asleep or not. “Omma’s acting kind of weird. Right before we left her room. Is she okay ? I’ve never seen her like that before. She looks kind of scary. As much as I’m angry with her for lying to me, I can’t help but to worry seeing her like that. She doesn’t look like the omma who we always know. ”

Her brothers, who in fact weren’t sleeping yet, agreed with what their sister said. Their mother did look kind of weird before they left her in her room. She was talking to herself in a corner, hugging herself and kept saying things most of them can’t comprehend. She was shivering, but she wasn’t cold. Her eyes were incomprehensible and her gaze seemed so distant, they can’t reach her.

They kept telling themselves that maybe she was just feeling extremely sad with what just happened. After so long, finally someone had spilled the beans about the family’s secret, which they had kept from SungMi for years. No one had ever talked about it again, and then suddenly HyunWoo did.

“She’s just having a tough time right now.” SungHyun said. “And though we have every right to be angry with her, we have to understand things from her side as well. The matter that HyunWoo had brought upon was something that pains her for years. She’s been trying to forget it for so long when, lo and behold, HyunWoo dropped the bomb.”

HyunSik, who was just listening, scoffed a little, causing his other siblings to look at him with confused expressions. “She deserves it.” He said coldly, much to their surprise. “She so much deserves it, after all that she’s done. She knew from the beginning that what she did was wrong, but she refused to change her ways. So now she has no choice but come to a bad end.”

SungHyun frowned at his brothers words. “Hyun ah-”

“HyunWoo hyung was right. She left us. She ignored us. She abandoned us. She just can’t get over her grief. She was living in the same house as us, but it felt like she was never here. She thought she was the only one who was feeling sad about ‘her’ death. We felt extremely sad too, but we went through a tougher time when our own mother pushed us away, looking down in the mouth the whole time. Even after SungMi came, she was still the same, never caring about us. She doesn’t even really care about SungMi after a couple of years taking her in. I say she doesn’t deserve any pity from us and we should just leave her as she is.” HyunSik added.

“HyunSik, stop.” SungHyun said sternly. SungMi was now getting worried that her two brothers were going to start a fight too. All of them were tired, exhausted, and the last thing that each of them wanted that moment was having another fight.

“Please don’t start fighting, you two.” SungMi pleaded. “I think we’ve had enough fights for one night.” She sat up and looked at SungHyun who was frowning on the bed, probably trying to stop himself from nagging at HyunSik at such hour. She looked back at HyunSik, who looked extremely upset. Suddenly, though she felt tired, she didn’t feel like sleeping anymore.

She sighed a little before she said to herself, “Your late sister must’ve meant a lot to her. She must’ve been a very special girl that her death affected omma so much. How did she die, oppa ? Was she sick ?”

SungHyun turned to her and asked with a raised brow, “You want to know