Chapter 1

The bright rays of the sun shone through the windows and curtains. A figure stirred and groaned, turning around – with difficulty –  to avoid the brightness that is slowly creeping inside the room and covered her head with the blanket. And, she went back to slumber.

That is until she heard noises from outside her bedroom door. She chose to ignore it, like usual, but the banging just grew louder and louder. She groaned. She already knew what will happen next anyway. She can hear the click from the door as it was being opened by a key.

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1.” She counted in her head.

“Yah! Tiffany! Get up there! I’ve been knocking on your door for almost half an hour now.” A huffing, red-faced Yuri has her arms crossed across her chest, glaring at the still-not-moving Tiffany.

“It’s time to wake up and it’s almost time for your appointment.” Yuri scolded Tiffany. “Sigh. Fany-ah, please? Let’s not miss this appointment this time?”

Since moving her whole body takes so much of her, Tiffany just turned her head away from Yuri. “Just leave me alone, Yuri-ah. I’m tired.” She tried to cover her face with her blanket but it was yanked away by Yuri. She sighed. “What’s the use, Yuri? There’s nothing that can change this anyway. So why waste all of our time going there? Just go and do what you’re supposed to do. You don’t have to babysit me.”

Yuri felt helpless. She sat at the edge of the bed. “Fany, please? Let’s not give up now? Come on, let me help you up.” She stood up at the side of the bed, waiting for Tiffany to take her hand.

Tiffany took the hand that was extended to her and grunted as she tried lifting her body altogether. Yuri just helped and watched in silence, still feeling bad for her friend after all these months. She knew that whatever she says, that no matter how much she tries to imagine herself being in Tiffany’s place, she would never really know the pain of what she’s going through.

Yuri got the bath ready for Tiffany as well as her breakfast. While waiting for the latter to get done, she heard her phone ringing.

“Hey.” Yuri answered weakly.

“How is she doing?” The person from the other line asked.

Yuri sighed, shaking her head even though she knows the other person can’t really see her. “Still the same. I really don’t know what else to do, Sica. It hurts to see her like this. It’s been a while but…”

Yuri heard a sigh from the other line. “I know. You’re not the only one, you know. It’s the same for me too. What can we do? Even her grandfather can’t do anything.” There was a pause. “Anyway, I’ll see you guys then. I’ll go straight to the hospital and meet you guys there.”

“Okay. Could you please call Hyo too and tell her that I will be late? There’s that thing going on today at the school.”

“Sure. I will. I’ll see you then. Bye.”

“Bye.” Yuri stared at her phone after hanging up with Jessica before standing up, going back to the bathroom.

“Fany? Are you done? Do you need help?” She could hear groaning and grunting from the other side but didn’t dare open the door.

After a few more minutes, the door opened revealing a frowning Tiffany.

“The girls wanted to have lunch after your appointment. Sica will meet us at the hospital, okay?”

Tiffany just moved and left Yuri to where she was standing at. For the nth time within the past hour, Yuri let out a sigh.

Yuri watched Tiffany eat in silence and like always, she never finished her food. Not even half the food on the plate was touched. “Fany-ah, eat some more please? You haven’t even touched a quarter of your food.”

“I’m done. Can we go now? I don’t wanna be home late.” Tiffany turned her back and headed to the shoe and coat closet and struggled in grabbing her stuff.

She saw at the corner of her eye that Yuri was about to approach and help her out. “Don’t even think about it Kwon. I can manage.”

“Fany-ah…”

“I said I can manage.” With the last of her energy, Tiffany was finally able to reach her shoe, struggled putting it on and got it done. “Can we go now?”

“S-Sure. Let’s go.”

***

“Doctor, how is she doing?” Jessica asked as she and Yuri watched Tiffany doing her therapy at the other side of the door.

They can clearly see how much Tiffany is struggling. They can see how much the girl has lost all hope and not wanting to do anything anymore.

“We know that it’ll be really difficult for her to come back to her own feet. But, we’ve seen people done it. Unfortunately, we really couldn’t say much about her because she herself is not fighting and working for it anymore. All we can do is hope and pray that slowly we would be able to bring back some of the functions of her legs and feet. We are doing our best, Ms. Jung, Ms. Kwon.”

“We know. We were just hoping that maybe there could be some other ways to help her out.” Yuri spoke this time.

The doctor gave them an apologetic smile. There’s only so much they can do to help their patient but with the patient not helping herself makes it more difficult.

Tiffany’s friends have become a bit friendlier with the doctor as he has been there from the start, helping them out. The doctor gave them both a gentle pat on the shoulder before excusing himself to attend to his other patients.

“I’m losing hope myself, Yuri ah.”

Yuri just quietly reached out for Jessica’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

After a couple more hours of watching Tiffany in her therapy session, Yuri and Jessica together with Tiffany went to have lunch at the nearest restaurant. Hyoyeon couldn’t make it because she got held back with her prior commitments.

Yuri and Jessica talked animatedly in hopes of being able to have Tiffany join them and probably loosen up a bit. But, unfortunately it didn’t happen.

The girl quietly poked and played with her food, only eating a small portion of it.

“Tiff, wanna go shopping?” Jessica asked.

Tiffany shook her head. “I wanna go home. Will you guys bring me home now?”

“Let’s go out for a while Tiff. It’s been a while. How about we go to the park? Or visit Hyo at the academy?”

“Please just bring me home. I’m tired.” Tiffany put her fork down and pushed herself away from the table.

“Okay. Let me just ask for the check and we can go.” Yuri said in defeat.

Tiffany saw the downcast look of her friends that it made her feel guilty. “I’m sorry.” She mumbled.

Jessica and Yuri heard the apology. Jessica knew that Tiffany isn’t really that cold, mean girl that she seems to be like right now. She reached over and pats Tiffany’s hand before squeezing it lightly.

“It’s okay, Tiff. I’m here for you, okay? I’m here.” Jessica said.

Yuri reached out and held the two hands and smiled warmly. No matter how difficult Tiffany gets each passing day, she knows that the girl that she was before was still in there inside. She was just having difficulty getting out there again. She understands and she will never stop understanding her and her other friends. They’re a family after all.

***

Jessica and Yuri stayed with Tiffany for the rest of the day although like always they got nothing from the other girl but silence other than that uttered apology at the restaurant.

They had forced the girl to watch a movie with them just so she won’t lock herself up in her room like she always does every single day. They even made sure she ate some snacks and dinner. And, more so they stayed over for the night just to keep her company no matter how many times and how hard the girl has asked them to go home and that she’ll be fine.

As stubborn as Tiffany has gotten, Jessica and Yuri didn’t back down this time. They stayed. They did everything they wanted that they even called for Hyoyeon to come over and join them. They tried to do all the stuff they did like before – when they could hear the excitement of a little kid in her voice, her laughter, her eyes that turns into crescents that could melt the hearts of others and how clingy and possessive she gets of them. Those were the things they miss about her; their cheerful maknae was long gone.

 All three friends stayed and did everything they could to attend to her needs even with so much retaliation and arguments. After all, they just couldn’t leave their youngest alone. They swore that they would do everything in their power to help the girl get back up and be herself again even if takes the rest of their lives.

That’s just how much they love and care for the girl. She is like the baby sister they never had – well except for Jessica who has a younger sister. They knew how difficult it has been for Tiffany even during their childhood. The only thing that kept the girl going and really happy was music and ballet.

And now that Tiffany has no one but her grandfather and them, they just couldn’t even imagine the pain and hurt the g