If you leave me, can I survive?

Park Eun-ju figured that she had to have a patient side to her. Raising three teenage daughters certainly granted her a lot of will power. But, she mused as she crushed another cigarette packet in her dainty hand, a woman could only be pushed so far.

"When that chimney stack of a husband comes home, he had better not be too relaxed," she vowed, dumping the three illegal items in the trash. Brushing the hair out of her dark eyes, she straightened and smiled softly. She liked coming home early. It meant that she was greeted with something that was often sorely missing. Silence.

As she closed her eyes and prepared to lay down with a good book, the front door slammed shut, startling her enough to bobble her glass of water.

Damn.

Her patient side stepped in as she viewed her three daughters running up the stairs, Chaerin arguing loudly with her sisters. A slim eyebrow rose in question. She happened to know that each one of them had a sport or club after school today. The other brow rose to join its mate and her head warned of a slight ache, as her daughters' voices got louder with their agitation.

"Stop."

Dara, Chaerin and Bom all froze comically on the steps. Their mother's soft voice had always had that effect.

"Turn."

All three girls turned slowly, each face holding a sheepish expression.

"Explain."

Her slight headache throbbed as three loud, energetic voices gave her three different answers.

"Mom, I had to drive them home…"

"Mama, the library, this guy…"

"Momma, the… this senior…Chaerin was…"

"Bom, shut up!"

"You shut up! This was all your fault in the first place, Chae!"

"HOLD IT!"

All voices stopped. She wasn't called "the one who tamed the wolf" for nothing. Her eyes narrowed, making her pretty face menacing. "Bom, what do you mean a senior? Dara, what guy? And Chaerin, I assume that you were kissing Seungri, so I'll talk about that later."

Ignoring her daughter's sputter of indignation, Eun-ju focused more on Dara and Bom, and decided that she did not like what she saw.

"You two look as if you have seen ghosts," she said thoughtfully, a thought trying to form in her mind. Brushing that idea aside, she placed a pale hand on their brows, frowning slightly as she gauged the temperature.

"Off to bed, the both of you," she ordered. Silencing any protests with a long, silent stare, she watched as her daughters retreated to their rooms. She did not even have to turn to know that Chaerin had fled, not wanting the parental PDA speech any more than her mother.

Still… Eun-ju was a mother, no matter how young people said she looked. And as a mother, she knew that she had to protect her daughters from anything. Or anyone, for that matter.

She tried not to think of such a possibility. It couldn't be…could it? She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

It couldn't. Fate would not be so cruel as to set them as soul mates again.

Sighing, she turned. Stopped and looked at her feet. A pack of cigarettes lay cornered, half concealed by the chair's dress. As a murderous expression crossed her classic features, Park Eun-ju dropped to her knees to lift the skirt and peer underneath.

Oh ho, she mused, a feral smile resting on her lips.

Her husband had a lot of explaining to do to his loving wife, as to why the hell there were about fifty cartons of cigarettes underneath her reading chair.

Dara listened to Bom’s light breathing in the darkness. They had long outgrown sharing the bed for fear of monsters, but for some reason Dara felt like she needed her sister's presence. Nightmares that had plagued her since childhood seemed even more dangerous, more valid than before.

You cannot run from me. You cannot keep denying me, Dara.

Shivering despite the warmth of her blanket, she shut her eyes and focused on her sister's snoring. Voices that she had chalked up to imagination now seemed too real for her liking. Childish fears did not seem so childish in her eyes.

She pulled the blankets tighter under her chin and took whatever comfort she could from her sister's company.

And she prayed for morning to come.

The night's shadows were beginning to fade into dawn's feeble light as he watched the world move around him. His long fingers wrapped, testing, around the hilt of a large blade. In his other hand was a flower. He brought it to his nose and inhaled delicately. Jasmine.

The breaths spilling from his lips grew more irregular, panting as his knuckles turned white on the sword. Instead of alarm crossing his face, his features were calm. He caressed his cheek with the blossom. And remembered.

"You cannot hope to keep me here forever, Soohyuk."

"Of course not. I only plan to keep you long enough."

"And then you will kill me, I suppose."

Surprised by her calmness, he turned, forgetting about the sharp edge he was currently polishing. Hissing more in annoyance than in pain, his gaze snapped to the well of crimson blossoming across his palm. Some good distraction would do him when he fought the…

A noise captured his attention. She was ripping her hanbok. It was her favorite-the one with a jasmine print. While he stood, shell-shocked, she was wrapping it firmly and efficiently around his hand. For a little while, he stared, transfixed.

"What are you doing," he finally snapped at her, her kindness shocking him. "It's just a scratch."

She looked into his eyes and smiled softly. Sadly.

She looked like his sister, Shin Hye.

"You do not always have to be alone, Soohyuk."

She bent her head to tend to his wound. If she had chosen to look, she would have seen the look of sadness cross his odd black gaze. It was a look that mirrored that of a young boy who's innocence had been taken from him much too soon.

Tears came to his eyes as the memory slipped away. Like she had slipped out of his life. Running back to G-Dragon like that monster could love her more than he. His breathing quieted, and he stood as the night was chased away. He blinked his tears back. He had fixed that, hadn't he? Now she was his, and no one, not even she could do anything to change that.

He crossed the sparsely furnished room to the mirror above his dresser. Studying his features in the unforgiving reflection, he saw with a dull horror that it looked as if a young, lost boy whom he had tried so hard to kill was looking back at him with his own old eyes.

"Am I alone?" he asked the silence. "Am I alone?"

You do not always have to be, Soohyuk.

He turned away from the glass, a mangled white blossom falling to the floor.

Will you always be with me then, Dara? Will you keep me from being alone?

She had smiled at him sadly, reached out a hand. And the next moment, she was gone.

"You do not always have to be alone, Soohyuk."

And somewhere else, a slight form shuddered slightly in her sleep as the rays of dawn fought the never-ending night away.

Will I always be alone?

Not always. I will be there, Dara-ssi.

I will be there, jagiya.

AN: Hope everyone is happy with the update. Let me know your thoughts and I hope you keep supporting this story. Updates are going to come slower since I am busy with work but I will try my best to update every week (or two weeks). Thank you for subscribing and upvote if you like the story!