At first, Kibum thought that it was his alarm clock ringing, but when he finally woke up, he noticed that the sound was coming from downstairs. Who could be calling in the middle of the night? He grabbed his phone and looked at the screen, unable to see anything cause the light was hurting his eyes. When he got used to the light, he looked at the hours and frowned, getting up from the bed.

When he opened the door, he saw his mother running to the phone still in the middle of wearing her robe. Kibum followed her down the stairs and waited at her side until she disconnected the call.

Only by looking at her expression, Kibum immediately knew it was bad news.

“What’s wrong?” He said, his voice still hoarse.

“Your uncle.” She said, her voice trembling. “You knew he was really sick. Kibummie, I-“

His eyes widened and he caught his mother when her knees gave in, cradling her in his arms.

“Did he…”

Kibum felt her nod against his chest and tightened his hold around her body.

“Ah Ra? Kibum? Is everything okay?” His grandmother asked, when she reached the end of the stairs. “What happened? Who called at this hour?”

“Uncle, he… He passed away.” Kibum said, feeling his mother trembling against his arms once more. “Grandma, I’ll take mom to her room, she needs to rest and-“

“Go!” His grandmother said, her voice trembling too. “But, Kibummie, comeback here as soon as she’s feeling better. We need to talk, there’s something you need to know.”

Key nodded, not fully understanding what his grandmother wanted to say with that. What was there to talk about at that moment? Thinking about that, he led his mother to her bedroom and helped her to lie down, whispering at her that everything was going to be okay. He knew his words couldn’t do much, but he didn’t know what else to do so he stayed next to her, holding her hand. However, a few minutes later, Ah Ra told him to go downstairs and talk to his grandmother.

“I don’t think mom’s feeling better, but she told me to come here…” He said, as soon as he entered the living-room.

“Kibummie, sit here.” His grandmother answered, softly, pointing to the couch next to her. “I know you only saw your uncle once or twice, but there’s something really important about him that you need to know.” She said, her tears starting to roll down her face.

“Grandma-“

“Wait, listen to me. As you know, you don’t have cousins. Which means you’re the only boy in this family who was born after your uncle.”

"Yes, but… What is this conversation?”

“With your uncle’s death, there are some responsibilities that will come after you. And you have to promise me that you will take care of it as good as you can.”

“What responsibilities? Grandma, you’re scaring me with this conversation.”

“You remember that story I always told you? If you think, I’m sure you can remember. Kibum, if you ever feel that something is wrong, just talk to me.” She stopped, waiting for him to nod. As soon as he did, she continued. “And from now on, you’ll have to be extremely careful next to Minho.”

“Do you mean-“ He interrupted himself, thinking in one specific story that grandma insisted in telling him even knowing that he didn’t like it. “What can we do now? I don’t want this.” He said, feeling everything spinning around him.

“There’s nothing we can do, Kibummie. But I’m here, always by your side.” She said, smiling at him and hugging her grandson. “Don’t worry about it now, try to sleep baby. I’m going to see your mother, I’m sure she’s really sad.”

“Can I call Minho?” He asked, his voice sounding deeper than he wanted it to.

“You can. But be careful, he can’t know anything about this.”

“I can’t tell him?”

“No. You can’t talk about this with anyone but me. Promise me.”

“I promise.”

Kibum waited for his grandmother to leave the room to pick his phone and call Minho. He knew he shouldn’t be calling him in the middle of the night, but he couldn’t wait for the next day’s morning. So he waited for Minho to answer the call, hoping that no one else heard the phone ringing, but knowing that it would be almost impossible.

“Hello?” Minho answered, his voice still hoarse.

“Minho.” Key said, finally letting his tears appear. “I’m so sorry I’m calling you this late.  Can we talk a little?”

“We can, but what happened? Are you crying?”

“No, I- My uncle passed away and-“ He started, being interrupted when his tears started to roll down his face and his voice seemed to get stuck on his throat.

“Oh, I’m sorry.  I didn’t know he was sick…”

“He was really sick. And I’m not sure I can deal with this.”

“I didn’t know you loved him so much. Do you want me to meet you now? If you give me 5 minutes I’ll be ready and we can-“

“No. I just want to talk to you. My grandma is with my mom. She’s so sad, what am I going to do?”

“I’m sure you’ll all be able to get over this. I’m sure your uncle didn’t want to see you like this.”

“He barely knew me, we met once or twice. If only he had told me. I’m not ready for this.” Key said, knowing that he should keep his mouth shut. But he was too scared to even think.

“Of course you are! You have me and your family and all your friends, we’re all here by your side.“

“Thank you.” He said, knowing that Minho had no idea what he was talking about. Otherwise he wouldn’t be so positive. “And I’m sorry for calling at this hour. You can go back to sleep, I’m going to try too.”

“Okay, but if you can’t fall asleep, just call me again. I’m here for you.”

“Thank you.” He answered, almost pressing the button to end the call. However, he remembered that was something else that he wanted to ask. “Minho?” He called, putting the phone next to his ear again. He waited, but the call was already disconnected, so he stayed like this a little more and whispered. “You’ll never leave me alone, will you?”

More mystery ~

Sorry this one's a littel smaller than the others. Hope you still like it!