[CONTENTID1]

The series of events that followed happened in a haze. Kyungsoo stares at the picture with two black ribbons across the top corner of the frame, placed in the middle of the flower alter of the mourning room with no expressions on his face. His mother-in-law and sister-in-law sit together as his best friend Taehyung, Jongdae and Baekhyun sat with him. JongIn takes the role of Sang Joo as he bowed to everyone. Jungkook, Minseok, Sehun, Yixing, Junmyun, Yoongi, Namjoon and Seokjin were there too. People come; they pay their respect and go away, but neither JongIn nor Kyungsoo leaves the place for the whole two days. They pull his coffin into a Mitsubishi to drive it to the burial ground on the final day. It rains hard, cooling the hot grounds as everyone carried an umbrella with them. But JongIn didn’t bother to use one. He stands beside the six feet deep trench where his friend will be buried, watching as the coffin lowers, breathing hard to control his emotions. Kyungsoo was clinging on to Baek because his legs were too weak as Tae and Dae stood beside him holding an umbrella. He was too weak to witness all this. One by one, everyone leaves the place and the only ones left were Kyungsoo, JongIn, and their group of friends. Jungkook, Taehyung’s husband holds his shoulder, silently telling him that they should leave. He turns his head back to Kyungsoo and his heart clenches. Kyungsoo looked still the same, emotionless but he knows how much of battle he is having inside.

“Kyungsoo-ah, we should go.”

“You go Taehyung, I want to stay here.” His voice was hoarse for not speaking for almost three days.

“Then we are also staying with you,” Baekhyun speaks as he stubbornly stands beside him, tightening his grip onto him.

“So am I” Jongdae follows.

Kyungsoo looks at his omega friends. If not for them he doesn’t know what would have happened to him. They had always been the supporting pillar in his life. Kyungsoo was glad he met them, all thanks to Chanyeol. But he can’t let Taehyung be with him. He hasn’t eaten anything since morning and he is pregnant. This rainy climate is not good for his health. And also, Baekhyun left behind his newborn baby Young ho at his parent's place along with Jongdae’s two-year-old Yerim being the company to baby Johnny. Those kids haven’t met their parents for the last three days and he has no heart to separate them anymore. He slowly turns his head and whispers.

“Let’s go.”

Yixing looks at JongIn who is still in the same place, right beside the now filled trench, his legs rooted to the spot. Yixing slowly walks towards him and holds his shoulder and that’s when JongIn loses it. They say guys shouldn’t cry at a funeral. But he couldn’t hold it in anymore. He lets his tears fall, letting them mix with rainwater, making them salty. Yixing makes his brother-in-law turn around as he hugs the poor guy, lending him his shoulder to cry. Sehun comes as well, as he hugs the two, trying his best not to break down as well. The rest follow, holding their tears. They know how close JongIn is to Chanyeol, they meet him when they were in high school but JongIn has been with him since he was born. The pain that you feel when you lose your most important person is unbearable.

***

Jongdae and Minseok drive Kyungsoo back to his house since Baekhyun had to stop by and pick up their kids. Dae first insists he come to their house but he refuses. He wanted to spend some alone time. He unlocks the door as he steps into the dark house. The house feels empty, without him, just like how he feels empty, without him. It still smells like him, the mixture of his rosewood with his jasmines. He looks around the house and finds him everywhere. Sometimes like eating together in the dining, sometimes like cuddling together on the couch watching a move in the living room, sometimes cooking while he hugs him, running up the stairs, mischievously playing around the house, doing the laundry together, every image made him feel too suffocated that he stumbles down, holding his head, screaming loud as he finally breaks down. His tears were frozen for the past 2 days, but now, he can cry in peace. He walks into their bedroom and even more images of them together move in front of him. He cries, cries and cries, curling up into a ball, his palms tracing the vanishing matting mark on his chest. Now that the one who claimed him is gone, there is no point in it still marking his body. That only made him cry harder, until he falls into a deep slumber, hugging their wedding photo.

The next day he wakes up to loud noises from downstairs. He slowly opens his eyes, rubbing them as he gets down the stairs to find so many people moving out their stuff. He rushes towards them asking who they were when he hears the sound of glass shattering behind him. Turning back he sees his mother-in-law throwing aw