"What are you doing here?" The girl asked. She was frowning. Her face was covered by a hood from her oversize hoodie. She rubbed her irritated red eyes and glanced away from the person who was standing right in front of her. 

She wanted the boy to leave. But deep inside? She was begging him to stay. She had so much questions to ask him but yet, she had the urge to push him away.

"You... woke me up from my sleep. What do you want?" She came up with a lame excuse, still avoiding eye-contact. Her voice was hoarse from crying last night because of him.

"Why do you sound like that? And... I just want to talk to you. Is anything wrong with wanting... to talk to you?" He spoke at last. He had kept quiet ever since Hae Bin had opened the door, to find him staring at her. 

"I don't want to talk..." She started. She grabbed her doorknob and was about to close the door. He quickly grabbed the door, refraning it from shutting.

"Then... can I ask if anything is... wrong?" He asked. His voice sounded a little urgent and concern.

Yes. So many things are wrong. She wanted to tell him that. "No," she whispered, still looking away from him. "Nothing's wrong. I-I need to go back to sleep so I can get to school today." 

It was really early in the morning and her mother was still sleeping. She was trying to not make any noise so it would not wake her mom up.

"There's something wrong," the boy insisted, still holding the door. "Why are you avoiding eye contact with me, Hae Bin?" 

She finally looked up. Her reddened eyes looked angry. "What's wrong?" She snapped. Her voice was weak. "Jung Hoseok. Why didn't you tell me you were Hobie oppa? Why have you disappear when I had been desperately looking for you? You..." She stopped herself. Angry tears were streaming down her cheeks. Her grip on the doorknob weaken and she started to lose strength in her legs too.

Hoseok quickly caught her and wrapped his arms around her. "Hae Bin," he whispered. "I'm so sorry." 

"How... how could you?" She asked, still crying. "You left me after Jung Seok passed away... you left me all alone...."

"I'm so sorry," was all Hoseok could say. He her hair slowly, wanting to say something but was unable. He was hurt, heartbroken to see the frail girl crying helplessly against his chest. He was a bad guardian to Hae Bin. He had disappointed his brother. 

✸

"She has fever," Ms Lee walked out of Hae Bin's room, with a thermometer in her hand. She looked at Hoseok who had been standing next to her daughter's room for a while now. She smiled and touched his arm. "Thank you for being there for her, Hoseok-ah. I'm so sorry that you had to go through all these worries because of my daughter." 

"It's okay, Ms Lee," Hoseok replied with a small smile. "Can... can I check on her?" 

"Of course," Ms Lee smiles before walking away. 

Hoseok tore his glance from Ms Lee and eyed the doorknob that was in front of him. He took a few deep breath before twisting the doorknob opened. 

The room was dark. It was silent. Hoseok glanced around the room. It was still the same- just that it was no longer a 15 year old girl's room. It was a different girl, a more mature one. He closed the door behind him and walked slowly towards the sleeping girl. 

He dragged a chair and sat next to her bed, observing the frail girl. She was still the same- just that she had a few transformation. 

Her shouldered-length, black hair had grown a few inches longer, just touching her chest. She had dyed the endless black into light brown curls. She looked different, but yet, her endless beauty still stayed the same. 

"Is my mom gone yet?" He heard a small voice. Hae Bin turned slowly, to face him. Her eyes glancing anxiously at Hoseok.

"Yeah... and go sleep now. You have a fever," Hoseok replied calmly. 

"I don't. She's overreacting," Hae Bin said. 

"She showed me the thermometer. You have a fever," Hoseok answered.

"I heated the thermometer before she used it," Hae Bin confessed. "It burned my armpit a little but it's still bearable." 

"You pretended you have a fever... to not go to school?" Hoseok asked. 

"No. To talk to you," she replied, sitting up from her bed. She looked a little sick. Her redshot eyes had toned down a little but they still looked miserable. "I don't want to. But I must."

"I'm sorry," Hoseok started. "I'm... sorry for everything." 

"Hoseok..." she drifted off.

"I'm sorry for not being able to stay by your side when my hyung passed away. I'm sorry for not being able to tell you who I was when I had brought you home. I'm sorry... it just ..." He breathed.

"Hoseok, shut up," Hae Bin pressed her lips together. "Can you at least listen to me for once?" She stared at him for a minute. She sniffed a laugh. "You were just like old times, still the one who tries his very best to protect his loved ones." 

"Not enough to save their lifes," he whispered. 

"Hoseok... don't say that please," Hae Bin replied. "It... it hurts me when... you say that." 

"I'm sorry, Hae Bin," he repeated himself again.

"Where were you?" Hae Bin asked, attempting to change the subject. "When I was trying to find you, trying to confront you... where were you?" 

"I had been... going... around. To different places," he replied. "Trying to get back our memories, together and of hyung's. I have been visiting hyung every then and now. It became a habit to me." 

"Why our memories?" She asked. 

"So that I can get to you and opened myself up to you," he answered. "Unlike how I'm unable to do five years ago." 

"And... w