"Ok, thank you"

Namjoon bows and turns around, walking back to the bench, where the others were.

"And?", Hoseok asks.

Wendy sits up with a groan and stretches her arms. She runs her eyes and blinks a few times as she tries to adjust to the bright lights of the hospital.

"What happened?", she asks, her voice raspy.

Namjoon shifts his weight from one foot to the other and scratches the back of his head. He was about to speak, when the doctor starts talking again.

"As unfortunate as it is. Only family members can visit mr. Kim", Seulgi and Joohyun look at Wendy and Hoseok gives Yerim a soft pat on her head, smiling reassuringly when he notices the nervousness in the younger girl's eyes.

The three siblings enter the dark hospital room. It was completely silent and only the beeping of the machines could be heard.

"Dad...", Wendy says weakly and slowly approaches the bed her father was laying on.

Tears start streaming down her cheeks again and the blonde haired woman sits down in the chair besides the bed. She holds onto mr. Kim's cold hand.

Wendy feels a hand on her shoulder and looks up to find Namjoom looking down at her, eyes filled with tears that are ready to fall.

"I have to tell you something", he says softly and Yerim immediately joins her older siblings by her father's side.

Namjoon grabs a chair, letting Yerim sit on it and carefully sitting down on his father's bed himself. He lets out a shaky breath and looks down at his hands.

"Uhm...", Namjoon starts tapping his foot on the floor and tries his best to ease the tightening of his throat. "The doctor spoke to me and he- uhm told me that dad's condition might worsen", Wendy gasps and Yerim tenses up besides her.

"What?"
"Dad has been sick for a long time apparently and his health has been deteriorating ever since. He skipped checkups and barely visited the doctor. They say that he might not actually get better and - in the worst case - get worse"

By the time Namjoon finishes, he was breathing heavily and tears were streaming down his face, staring at his sister, who looked completely broken.

Namjoon grabs Yerim and Wendy and pulls them into a hug, letting one of his hands hold onto his father's hand tightly as they embraced each other.

___________________

A few days after the hospital visit, everything went back to normal - or as normal as their lives could get without their father.

Seulgi and Hoseok visited the bakery as much as they could and Wendy was thankful for it. They kept the mood up.

One day, however, Wendy receives a call from the hospital.

She is working on some pastries, when the phone starts ringing and she picks it up with a long sigh.

Your father has unfortunately passed away

Namjoon rushes into the kitchen after hearing a bang coming from the room. He sees the tears running down his sister's cheeks like a waterfall.

"What happened? Wendy?"

The blonde haired woman runs to her brother and throws her arms around him, sobbing loudly into his chest.

"Wendy, what's going on? Why are you crying?"

"He's gone, Joon..."

"Unnie? Why are you crying?"

Yerim walks into the kitchen and stops instantly when she sees the scene in front of her.

"He's gone..."

It takes Namjoon all of his strength to stand as he holds onto his sisters. Yerim's wailing and Wendy's loud sobbing hit Namjoon like knives to the heart, but he has to stay strong for them.

It's what he promised his father.

_____________________

It was raining, the day of the funeral.

Wendy watches as her uncle and her father's good friend, the butcher, close the casket.

The blonde haired woman feels a hand on her shoulder and turns.

After days and nights of crying alone in her room, Wendy thought that she didn't have anymore tears left to cry, but the moment she looked into Seulgi soft and glassy eyes, the tears streamed down her face, fresh and cold against her skin.

Wendy watches her father's casket descend into the 2 meter deep hole as she holds onto Seulgi, who gives her squeeze every once in a while for extra comfort.

"I have to return to the castle", Seulgi says softly, after majority of the visitors had left.

The only ones, who were still there, were: Namjoon, Yerim, Wendy, Seulgi and their uncle.

Wendy turns to look at her.

"I'm sorry", the words just flowed out of Seulgi's mouth.

What used to be a bright, happy and smiling woman, has now become a broken and hollow person.

It hurts to see her like that.

"That's ok", Wendy says softly, her voice still raw from all the crying.

The baker gives Seulgi a sad smile and looks down. The guard steps forward and takes the smaller woman in her arms, holding onto her tightly.

"If you need me...", she pulls away and looks down at the blonde haired woman. "Just know that I'm always there for you"

Seulgi lets go of Wendy and before the latter could say anything, the guard quickly walks away. Leaving Wendy alone in her thoughts.

She turns around and looks down at her father's grave, squatting down with a sigh.

"Dad, what am I supposed to do now?"

_____________________

Chapter 10!!!

I originally planned to make this story 10 chapters long, but we all know how that ended...

Anyways! I'm liking where this is going right now- even though this chapter feels a little weak in my opinion (I'm bad at writing sad scenes :(( 

Thank you for reading the story up until now. I really appreciate it ♡