Taeyeon’s POV:

Yuri sounds amazing!

Her voice was clear and sweet as it flowed from . She sang one of the sweetest songs I have ever known; her voice was perfect for such an emotional song. I glanced around the class and saw Hyuna’s mouth gaped open like a fish. I closed my eyes and tried to lose myself in the music, letting the melody wash over me. Towards the end though, her voice started to crack, I opened my eyes and saw tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She finished the song, almost whispering, stood for a moment and ran out of the class with a sob.

The whole class was shocked into silence, even Mrs Kim, who stood there unsure of what to do. The silence was broken by a nasally voice:

“OMG what a cry-baby! It’s only a song!” Hyuna’s nasally voice grated on my ears.

“Seriously Hyuna? Shut up, you’re just jealous because she has more talent in her little finger than you do in your entire body.” I shot back, angry because she didn’t understand the effect a song can have on a person. With that I ran out of class to find Yuri.

I rushed into the long, empty corridors; I could hear Yuri’s sobs echoing in the halls and I started to worry about her. She’s a lot younger than me by the looks of it and she seems so innocent.

“Yuri? Yuri where are you?” My voice bounced off the walls of the corridor “Yuri, why are you crying? Please don’t cry!”

I found her underneath the stairs huddled into a corner and sobbing her eyes out. Immediately my older-sister complex took over and I kneeled next to her and hugged her tight.

“Yuri what’s the matter, why are you crying?” I whispered.

“My m-mother used t-to sing that for me all the time.” Her voice trembled and shook as she spoke.

“Used to? Yuri what happened to your mother?” I asked, prepared to hear whatever horrible story came next.

“S-she died in a c-car crash! My mother and father are both dead, it’s all my fault! If I hadn’t made them come with me to the mall they wouldn’t have died!” Her sobs became more distressed and she was on the verge of hysteria.

“Shhh shh Yuri how is that your fault? You weren’t the one driving the car when it happened, so how is it your fault?”

“You would understand if you knew what happened. You’d blame me for their deaths.” She sounded distraught. I held her shoulder and made her look me in the eye.

“Yuri, I wouldn’t do that. Tell me what happened that day.”

Then with a shaky voice she recalled the fateful day’s events. I listened carefully, allowing no emotions to show on my face. After she finished her eyes began to well over again and I started to speak carefully.

“Yuri, this wasn’t your fault in the slightest. You didn’t know what would happen so you shouldn’t accept blame from it. You’ve been alone for all this time, without anyone and you shouldn’t have been. You need someone to lean on Yuri. You need friends.”

“But, wouldn’t depending on someone make me weak?” her face looked sad.

“No! Of course not! Yuri, you just need to find the right people to lean on.” I hesitated for a moment then said “I’m going to tell you a story, but you have to promise not to tell anyone, only a few people know about this ok?”

She nodded in understanding. I took a deep breath then recalled the events that happened almost 2 years ago...

Flashback...

I’m so sorry Umma.

I kept repeating the sentence as I looked through our family photos. At the beach, the theme park and at the museum. I loved our days together, they