The bell rang in the evening, signaling dinner time. Mi Yeon found much less people heading to the eating area. When she asked, she was told that dinner was optional for all except the eating disorder patients, like Na Ra.  

Not feeling hungry, Mi Yeon made her way to her room to get some reading done. Reading was one of her greatest joys. She loved starting a book having no idea where it would end and just enjoying the journey with the characters. It was her home away from home. However, as Mi Yeon walked to her room, she found Seung Cheol waiting for her in front of the door frame. She knew that boys and girls were not supposed to be in the same bedroom together, as the Nurse instructed. 

"Can I talk to you?" He asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. 

"I have nothing to say to you." Mi Yeon glared at him and tried to make her way past him to get into the room, but he blocked her every time. 

"Please, I just need to know some things." 

Giving up, Mi Yeon nodded and he led her to the table in the sitting room. She looked at him waiting for him to begin. He placed his hands on the table and fidgeting, nervous.  

"He never spoke of you as his sister, so I had no idea," Seung Cheol stated. 

Mi Yeon waited for him to get to the question. 

"Did he ever mention me to you?" 

Mi Yeon tried to recall, but couldn’t remember her brother telling her about someone with that name. She shook her head, and saw his face fall with disappointment. "We kept our lives separate. We shared so much already, with the same birthday and all, we just didn’t want our lives to get too tangled up. That's why we insisted on going to separate schools." 

"That's why he never invited me home?" 

"Oh, no. That’s another reason entirely. I never asked my friends to come over either." 

"Why?" 

Mi Yeon shook her head. "Our father was a mess. He wasn’t the kindest of men." 

Seung Cheol wanted to pry further into their father, but once he saw Mi Yeon become saddened, he decided to drop the topic for now.  

"Do you know why he killed himself?" Mi Yeon asked. 

Seung Cheol shook his head, clueless. 

"The two of us got our University letters in the mail and we decided to open them together. We were in my room and when all the letters were opened, neither of us got accepted anywhere, even though our grades were much better than average. We locked ourselves in that room for the night and fell asleep crying. When I woke up, he left a note and I-I," Mi Yeon trailed off, overcome by the rush of memories and the devastating emotions that came with them. 

Seung Cheol bent over and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Tell me, Mi Yeon-ssi. What happened? I need to know so I can deal with it too." 

Mi Yeon nodded and continued. "I found him in my bathtub, with his wrist sliced open." The tears were flowing freely now, followed by the whimpers and gasps for breath. 

Seung Cheol stiffened. He knew that his friend committed suicide, but he had no idea that it was through self-mutilation and he definitely didn’t guess that his one and only sister had found him. He looked at Mi Yeon, in tears. He scolded himself for causing her to cry on her first day in the Ward.  

From behind her, Seung Cheol noticed Ji Hoon and Vernon approaching them. The boys had questioning faces and, despite Seung Cheol trying his best to get them to change direction, they continued coming. 

"Mi Yeon-ssi?" Ji Hoon asked, noticing her in tears.  

Vernon stood behind her and placed a reassuring hand on her other shoulder. Ji Hoon took the last seat and held her hand in his. Although they didn’t know what caused her to cry, they still comforted her.  

Suddenly, Mi Yeon rose to her feet and hurried to her room. She appreciated their help, but she needed to be by herself for now. She had promised herself that she wouldn’t think about that day. Even though it happened three weeks ago, it haunted her as if it just happened 5 minutes ago. Everything about the scene seemed fresh in her mind, and affected all of her senses. As she sat on her bed, hugging her legs together, she desperately wanted to make the memories stop, even if it meant ending her life. She knew she couldn’t and shouldn’t make any attempts while in the Ward, but the urges were there and she spent the rest of the night trying to fight them.