It’s the next day and Hyeyoon is awoken by her older sister who was about to head out for work. “I left breakfast at the table. You can call me anytime if you need anything, okay?” Hyerim says before leaving.

Because of how tired she was from her first day as NCT 127’s housekeeper, Hyeyoon had no trouble sleeping. Still in bed, She stretches her body and yawns. She suddenly blushes as she remembers everything that happened last night. Thoughts of Taeyong holding her close, his smell, and him taking care of her wounds made her heart beat faster.

She gets up and slaps herself, “get a grip Hyeyoon!”

She doesn’t want to develop a crush on Taeyong or any of the guys she works for. If she allows herself to develop feelings for them, it’s only going to make working unnecessarily awkward for her. Also, she’s sure that it’ll never work out well for her. They probably don’t see her attractive at all since they get to see pretty girl groups everytime they work.

She looks at her injured ankle and tries to move it. It’s swelled up but it doesn’t feel too painful. She slowly gets up from bed and heads out to eat breakfast in the kitchen. She takes her time eating since she’s got nothing to do today.

She spends most of the day in bed; an icepack on her swelled ankle and a book about physical therapy in her hand. She admits she is pretty excited to start going to classes next month. She’d occasionally get up to exercise the injured ankle whenever she took breaks in her reading.

Hyeyoon’s phone rings, her unnie just sent her a text saying she doesn’t need to cook dinner. She checks the time, it already 5 p.m. The day flew by quite fast even though Hyeyoon was mostly in bed. The swelling in her ankle has greatly reduced and she could walk with almost no pain now.

An hour later, Hyerim arrives in the apartment. “I’m home! I bought this for our dinner,” she says as she takes her shoes off.

Hyerim had a box in her hand. It was take-out from a popular chicken restaurant chain in Korea. Hyeyoon suddenly got reminded of their dad who used to bring home the same thing whenever he got back from his work trips.

Their dad was a delivery truck driver for a big company. He drove all around South Korea and would be away for days to weeks. He was a great father to Hyerim and Hyeyoon. Mr. Han would never forget to bring something home whenever he got back from work. It would sometimes be toys for the girls but most of the time it would be food. Take-out chicken was the girls’ favorite.

Unknowingly, tears started to form in Hyeyoon’s eyes as she thought of what happened to their dad. She was fifteen when he got into a very awful accident while doing a delivery. He had to get three surgeries and was in the intensive care unit for almost a month. She really thought she would lose her dad then and there. It was the worst month in her life.

She was overjoyed when her dad finally got out of the ICU. Hyeyoon thought their life would go back to normal but it didn’t. The accident caused the entire left side of Mr. Han’s body to be paralyzed. He couldn’t go back to work and he needed a caretaker to tend to his everyday needs.

Hyeyoon’s heart broke when she saw her dad for the first time after the accident. He was in a wheelchair, unable to speak. He could only lift his right hand up as if trying to reach out to Hyeyoon and her family. He was a great father, a loving husband to their mom, and a good hardworking man but why did this bad thing have to happen to him? It’s so unfair!

Their family couldn’t afford to hire someone to take care of their father. Hyeyoon made the tough decision to quit school so she could be the one to take of their father while their mother worked two jobs to make ends meet. Hyeyoon knew her older sister couldn’t drop out.

At that time, Hyerim was a senior and got offered a full scholarship to a Seoul university if she maintained her perfect grades. Hyerim felt guilty that Hyeyoon had to be the one to sacrifice her education. But, Hyeyoon never held anything against her sister or her family. She was naturally selfless but more so for her family. She was willing to put aside her own dream of graduating and going to a university in Seoul.

Hyeyoon remained positive that her dad would be able to recover. They took him to physical therapy sessions twice a week even though it was expensive. She took care of him and even their mother, who was constantly exhausted and stressed from working two jobs. She thought that if she just remained hopeful, things will get better.

But a year ago, she lost all her hope when her dad suddenly died. Hyeyoon was in the kitchen cooking food while she left her dad in the living room with the tv on. It was supposed to be an ordinary night. Her mom would have arrived soon and they would have eaten dinner together while Hyeyoon would feed her dad.

But before any of that could happen, Hyeyoon heard a loud bang from the living room. It was as if something heavy fell on the floor. She immediately rushed to the living room only to see her father lying lifelessly on the floor. It was very similar to what happened to her Aunt Mihyang just a week ago.

Until today, Hyeyoon doesn’t know how he fell off his wheelchair. She immediately called her mom because she didn’t know what do. Her mother was already nearby but by the time the medics came to their home, her father was dead.

He suffered from a heart attack, that’s what the doctor said. But Hyeyoon blames herself for what happened. If only she called for an ambulance first before calling her mom, then maybe her dad would still be alive today. She hasn’t slept well ever since her father’s death.

Hyeyoon’s mom and sister knew she blamed herself. They tried everything to cheer her up but Hyeyoon was never the same since that day. That’s why they were so glad when she finally agreed to go to Seoul and study to become a licensed masseuse. It gives them hope that maybe Hyeyoon would be able to move on with her life and accept her father’s death.

When Hyerim saw the tears on her sister’s eyes, she immediately rushes to her dongsaeng and hugs her. “Oh Hyeyoon, I’m sorry…” she says as she her sister’s hair.

Hyeyoon tries to stop her tears from falling but she couldn’t. She buries her head in her sister’s shoulder and sobs. Hyerim hugs her tighter as she tells her repeatedly, “it’s okay to cry Hyeyoon, it’s okay to let out your tears.”

“I miss him so much unnie… I think about him every day and night,” Hyeyoon says in between sobs. This was the first time Hyeyoon has cried like this to her older sister.

“I miss him too Hyeyoon.”

“I-it was me... my fault-“ Hyeyoon starts to say but chokes on her words.

“Hyeyoon, look at me,” Hyerim tells her. She raises her younger sister’s face so she could look at her in the eye.

“It. Was. Not. Your. Fault.”

Hyeyoon looked at her older sister’s eyes. She saw herself being reflected in her unnie’s clear eyes. She wanted to believe that Hyerim really meant what she said. But this one breakdown won’t immediately erase the belief that she’s been holding on for nearly a year.

She looked away from her sister and wiped the tears in her eyes. Hyerim hugged her sister one more time then gave her some tissues so her dongsaeng could blow her nose.

“Let’s eat,” Hyerim says and opens the box of chicken.

Hyerim was glad Hyeyoon cried infront of her tonight. This was a step towards the right direction. She understood that it would take time for her dongsaeng to stop blaming herself. But, she silently promised that she’ll be there for her younger sister every step of the way until Hyeyoon will finally accept what has happened