Yuri’s POV

Umma came home from the hospital two days later after our visit to her. We made sure she was comfortable in her room so she would not need to move around so much. She was so weak that I was really glad when she announced that she had quit her job; it’ll be so much easier to watch over her in the house.

Since I was on holidays and since Appa and Joon were always busy with their work and training respectively, I spent most of my time with her, helping her whenever she needed me. I didn’t have to do much anyways. Umma would call me with the bell and I’d go upstairs to her room and see what she needed me t do.

One day as I went to the kitchen to make tea for her while the kitchen maids all bustled about in the kitchen, not bothered by my presence and continued with their cleaning, my phone went off, with the familiar tune playing loudly. I quickly put the kettle of water onto the stove and turned the fire on to boil the water before I answered the call.

“Hey ya, stranger. I have no schedules today so you guessed it. Yeap, that is right! I’m free today. Finally! Hah! Say, we haven’t hanged out together in so long. What say you, we go shopping on such a nice day for shopping? I heard almost everything is on sale!” Minzy said cheerfully through the other end of the receiver.

I winced. That sounds so tempting but Umma . . . “Uh, I’m so sorry but I can’t,” I replied ruefully. “I’m busy. Why don’t you hang out with Chunji or Taemin? I’m sure one of them would be free to go shopping with you.”

“Oh. . . . Uh, sure, yeah, I guess I could call one of the boys out.” I could hear the tone of surprise in her voice.

“I’m so sorry,” I said again before I hung up.

While waiting for the water to boil, I read a good book. I loved how the author developed the plot, how each chapter ended with a cliffhanger, always leaving me in suspense.

I was just reaching the of the story when my phone went off again and the maids exchanged glances. They knew I did not like it when I am disturbed while reading. Sighing, I placed my bookmark at my last page and picked the call up.

“Yuri-yah, we’re back from Soccer Camp!” I heard Niel’s voice exclaimed excitedly through the receiver. “Can CAP hyung and I go over to your house? I really miss you and so did he.”

Ugggh. “Uh, I’m busy today. Sorry.”

“Oh, then another time, I guess,” he replied.

Just after I hung up, my phone nicely rang again. My gosh, what is this?!

“What?” I snapped.

“Uh, mianhae, Noona. Did we catch you at a bad time? Should we call again another time instead? Are we disturbing you?”

That voice sounded familiar yet . . . oh!

“Oh, Changjo! Wait, you said ‘we’. Is Ricky with you?” I asked the maknae.

“Neh, Noona! Can we come over and visit? We really missed you while we were gone on holidays.”

“We missed you more than we missed the guys!” I heard Ricky called from the background which put a smile on my face.

“Aish, I missed you guys too but I’m busy.”

“Awwww.”

“What? What did she say? Can we go see her now?” Ricky asked Changjo.

Through the muffled sounds (I’m guessing Changjo covered the receiver), I heard Changjo saying, “She said she’s busy.”

“D’awwww.”

“I’m sorry,” I said again. I hated the wave of guilt that swept through me.

“Gwaenchanha, Noona. Maybe another time, arra?” Changjo replied understandingly and we hung up soon after.

The kettle boiled and I quickly turned it off. As I prepared the tea, the familiar ringtone went off again on the kitchen counter.

“This better be good,” I sighed into the call and the maids and I gave each other knowing looks. I hate getting distracted from whatever I was doing. My book was calling to me — I need to make tea for my mother, damnit!

“Well, how about you meet me and L.Joe at the park now?” Chunji asked. He sure seemed to be in a very good mood.

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Minzy? Or does this mean she called Taemin?”

“She probably called Taemin because I told her that I was busy with L.Joe when she called earlier,” he replied.

“Oh.”

“So, how about it?”

“I can’t go,” I said flatly.

“Waeyo?” L.Joe’s voice, taking the phone over from Chunji.

“Hey, I was talking to her!” Chunji exclaimed from the background.

“You took too long that I started to get impatient. So, Yuri, waeyo? Why can’t you come out with us?” L.Joe asked with Chunji scoffing. “Oi, shut up over there. I can’t hear her.”

“I’m busy,” I replied wearily, for the umpteenth time that day within the hour. Aish, this is getting really ridiculous.

“Aish, you’ve been busy these past few days,” L.Joe remarked bluntly.

“Uh huh . . . and this is why I prefer talking to Chunji over you,” I grumbled.

“I heard that!”

I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, I’m really sorry but I have to go now. Bye.”

“Fine, fine.”

I placed the cup onto the tray and brought it up to Umma’s room. She was watching television when I came in. “Hi,” I greeted.

My mother looked up from the television and smiled brightly when I saw that I had brought tea for her. “Ah, thank you, my dear,” she thanked as I set the tray down in front of her.

“Do you need anything else? Is there anything else you want me to do?”

“Well, there is something I want you to do, now that you mentioned it,” she started to say slowly.

“What is it, Umma?” I asked.

She looked sternly at me. “Get some fresh air and get out of this house. Go hang out and have fun with your friends,” she replied.

I frowned, displeased that she was asking me to go out where I’m nowhere close to her. “But —”

“When was the last time you hanged out with one of them — minus Mir?”

“They were all busy! Taemin was busy baby-sitting for his cousin; Minzy had training; CAP and Niel were at Soccer Camp; Chunji was with Minzy; L.Joe was working; and Changjo and Ricky were both on holiday with their families!” I protested.

“Well, I heard they were all back, from the number of calls you got just now,” Umma replied calmly.

I looked at her, dumbfounded. “Someone has to stay and look after you,” I mumbled.

She shook her head firmly. “I want you to go out. Or at least spend some time with Mir. Go to J.Tune Camp now, like that.”

“But —”

“No but’s.”

My phone went off.

Before I could answer the call, Umma had already grabbed my phone and answered it for me. “Oh, Key! How lovely to hear your voice again,” Umma said.

I frowned. What is Key doing, calling me up?

Umma glanced over at me and smiled. “Sure, she’d love to go to the movies with you. How long will it take for you to come?”

“Umma!” I gasped, horrified.

“Oh? Fifteen minutes? All right, I’ll tell her to go get dressed now. Thank you for asking her out. Annyeong.” She handed the phone back with me, hanging up with Key.

“Umma! I can’t believe you!” I cried out, an edge of hysteria in my voice. I didn’t want to leave her all by herself. What is happening? Everything was happening too fast — my brain isn’t fast enough to process it on time!

She shrugged. “Darling, I’m just helping you. Now go get dressed. He’s coming in fifteen minutes. You don’t want to make him wait.”

“But — I — you — don’t — need — ugh!” I floundered as I got up and headed back to my room. Behind me, as I closed my mother’s door, I could hear her laugh.

Oooh!

I glanced through my closet and finally picked out my uniform — jeans and hoodie. I walked back to my mom’s room and peeped my head through the door. “I’ll be going,” I said grudgingly.

Umma smiled. “Have fun.”

I sighed and walked down. I grabbed my handbag and walked out of the house to wait for him on the front porch. He was already there.

I hurried to his car. “Hi,” I greeted him, fastening on my seatbelt.

He smiled. “Hi, thanks for coming,” he said. “I was really bored and didn’t know what else to do.”

I shrugged half-heartedly.

“Why did your mom pick the call instead of you?” he wanted to know as he drove us to the cinemas.

“She wanted me to get out.” I sighed. I froze. “Oh, no. I mean, not that I didn’t want to come out with you. It’s just that she’s sick and I don’t like the idea of leaving her alone.”

“Don’t you guys have maids?” Key asked, amused and I breathed a sigh of relieved, glad he didn’t take it the wrong way.

I nodded. “We do. But . . .”

“But as the daughter, you feel responsible for her,” he surmised.

I nodded again. “Neh.”

He chuckled softly and glanced toward me. With one hand on the steering wheel, he reached out his other hand and took mine. He rubbed his thumb gently over my hand. “She’ll be fine. She’s a strong woman.”

But you don’t know she has leukemia.

“So, what movie are we going to watch?” I asked him, changing the subject. I did not want to be reminded about my mother's condition for fear that I might burst out crying again.

“Uh. . . .” He shrugged, focusing on the road ahead of him. “I’m not sure. I just blindly asked you to come out with me.”

“What happened to Minho?”

He made a face. “He ditched me and went to play soccer with CAP and Niel.”

I laughed. “Funny, cos I ditched them.”

He laughed as well. “No wonder. Anyway, for the movie, I guess we’ll just have to go there and see what’s on, eh?”

“Yeah.” Then I remembered something. “Ah, Mir won’t be happy to hear I’m going out with you,” I told him as we reached the cinemas.

He parked his car and turned to me. “Waeyo? Oh. Right. He is the jealous type, huh?”

I nodded and we got out. I grinned at him. “Still, he has to learn to trust me.”

He shook his head. “I doubt it’s you he distrusts. It’s more likely he doesn’t trust me to be with you.” Key shrugged and we walked in. “He knows you love him. But he thinks I like you. He interrogated me. Remember that time he stood you up and I accompanied you?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, he wouldn’t stop bugging me for days.”

I sighed, slumping my shoulders. “Aish, that guy,” I muttered. But then I brightened. “Like I said earlier, he needs to learn how to trust people.”

He chuckled. “Evil girlfriend.”

“I’m doing this for his own good!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

We selected the movie and went inside to watch and I was able to forget about Umma’s leukemia for the time being.

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So embarrassing. I accidentally posted up the next chapter and switched my computer off. Then I realized my mistake and quickly came back to correct it. Whew~ luckily no one saw the next chapter.

Because it is VERY IMPORTANT. :P

Hehe >.<

Yuri's mom may still be sick, yet she still have time to be awesome :P