Mir’s POV

Bi-sunbae let us out early from our training today and I followed Joon home so I could spend time with Yuri. Once we reached the house, I saw Key’s car parked by the curb. I frowned.

What’s he doing here?

I saw him walking Yuri to the door and I clenched my fist tightly until my nails dug into my skin. Did they go out together or something? The moment Joon parked his car, I was already out. I made my way to them without hesitation. Yuri looked up to see me a nd her eyes lit up as I wrapped my arms around her. I leaned to kiss her gently.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” she greeted warmly.

I turned coldly toward Key — just in time to see him roll his eyes. “What are you doing here?” I asked icily. I was being rude, I know, but I was already angry, filled with jealousy (no surprises, huh?), and his eye-rolling ticked me off even more.

He shrugged nonchalantly as if it was no big deal. “Is it so wrong for me to watch a movie with a friend?” he shot back. “It’s not against the law or anything, right?” He was mocking me.

“You took her out for a date?” I growled. I was not happy to hear that. And his words confirmed exactly that, it confirmed my fear. They did go out together, just the two of them.

“Mir,” Yuri murmured in a warning tone, placing a hand on my chest. “Please.”

Joon glanced back and forth between Key and I and decided he would stay out of this. “I’m going to go in and check on Umma,” he said and wisely walked into the house.

Yuri, unfortunately, remained behind. I knew she wanted to make sure I don’t hit Key. That idea was very tempting. I had to remind myself that Yuri was in between the both of us.

“Mir, he was bored and Umma was the one who told him I’ll go when he called me,” Yuri explained patiently but I knew she was feeling exasperated inside. “I mean, I wanted to stay and take care of her but Umma answered his call and made plans for me. And I didn’t want to turn him down after that. It’d be rude.”

“So you chose Key over your mother?” I raised an eyebrow.

She looked at me, frustrated. “I didn’t have much of a choice!” she protested.

I was stupid, I know. I was being overly jealous and I know it’s wrong, that I shouldn’t feel this way. But I’m just scared Yuri might leave me one day with someone. If it’s not with Key, then it’s probably going to be with L.Joe.

“You should go,” Yuri told Key quietly. She turned to me with a frown.

“Yeah, I should.” Key nodded, agreeing. It took me all of my willpower not to punch him in the face. Then he deliberately hugged Yuri, who hugged back before he turned back to his car.

“He did that on purpose!” I exclaimed childishly as he drove away.

She wheeled sharply at me, her temper flaring and she glared at me. “Well, can you blame him for doing it on purpose then?” Yuri snapped back at me. “Why are you being so childish?”

Surprise flittered across my face. Yuri never raised her voice at me like this before. “Yuri, I’m sorry —”

“Save it for someone who cares,” she cut in. She turned around and walked inside her house. I followed her, feeling it was unfair of her to be quick to take his side over mine.

She turned back to me, disappointment written all over her face. “Mir, why can’t you just try to trust the boys? If you’re not jealous of Key, it’s with L.Joe! Why do you care so much? You know I’d never cheat on you. You know I don’t have feelings for them. Why can’t that ever seem to be enough for you to trust me? Am I not allowed to see them then?”

Seriously, why can’t she listen to my point of view for a change? “Sure, why not?” I snapped back. “At least it’ll give me some reassurance that you’re not cheating behind my back.”

She flinched and I realized what I just said. “No, no, I didn’t mean that,” I said hastily. My gosh, how many times have my big mouth landed me in trouble with Yuri? Ugh!

“Fine, be like that,” she said coolly and I cringed. She turned to walk up the stairs.

I grabbed her hand. “I’m really sorry,” I tried again. “Please, I’m sorry. I know you’re not like that. I don’t know why I get jealous. I know you don’t feel that way about the boys, okay? Please, let’s not fight.”

She turned away and I knew she was trying to fight back the tears. Seriously, Mir, how stupid can you get? I mentally hit myself.

“Yuri-yah,” I called out. “I’m sorry. I was a jerk.”

“Yes, you were.”

That hit me like a ton of bricks but I knew that I deserved it. I hung my head and I felt her wrapping her arms around me. She was crying. I hugged her tightly. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“I hate you,” she muttered.

Even though I knew she was saying this to spite me, that she really didn’t mean it and only hated the fact that I get like this, it still hurt. “I’m sorry,” I said again as it was the only thing I could think of to say even though it won’t do much.

Sorry won’t change the fact that I’d hurt her feelings.

“Yuri! Mir! Come quick!” Joon’s panicky voice called up from upstairs. It came from Mrs. Lee’s room.

Yuri and I exchanged glances and without saying a word, we ran up the stairs, taking two steps at a time, rushing to her room. When we reached the doorway, I saw Mrs. Lee on the floor, leaning against the bed, with a bucket in her hands. Her head was bent over and she was coughing really hard, non-stop, over and over.

But that wasn’t what made Joon panicked.

When she looked up, all pale and sickly-like, Yuri gasped. She had blood all over . She was coughing blood. Yuri let out a cry as Mrs. Lee’s face jerked downward to the bucket and coughed again, a splatter of blood spitting out .

Joon immediately picked her up and the three of us rushed her to the hospital. Joon and I sat in front while Yuri accompanied her mother in the backseat.

Once we reached the hospital, the nurses quickly took her away and Joon followed them into the room while Yuri and I waited anxiously outside. After what seemed like hours, she was wheeled away to a room to rest while Joon and the doctor came out, Joon looking so grief-stricken.

Mr. Lee appeared, demanding to know if his wife is okay and was not going to die today. The doctor told us she was fine, people with leukemia would tend to cough out blood. She lost a lot of blood, but she wasn’t going to die. But she needed to stay in the hospital so he could checkup on her further to make sure.

We nodded, relieved, and walked into the room she was placed in. she was sleeping peacefully in bed.

Yuri stared at her mother, walking so slowly to her side. She knelt down beside the bed and put her head on the mattress next to her mother’s motionless hand. She’d covered her head with her arms. Her shoulders shook and I realized she was crying. She looked up and I saw the sheer anguish on her face. She looked so lost, desperately alone.

I walked up to her and placed my arms around her while Mr. Lee told Joon it was better if she stayed with us in the apartment for a couple of days just to make sure. Yuri didn’t bother arguing and followed us home. Joon dropped us off first so he could go back to the house, clean the place up and bring some of Yuri’s stuff.

Yuri obediently and tiredly followed me out of the car to the apartment. The moment we stepped through the front door, we could hear Seungho hanging up on the phone.

He looked and saw us coming in. He was surprised to see Yuri there but when he registered the fact that she didn’t look that good, he immediately knew that something was off and hugged her. The others all quiet down.

Yuri shrugged him off and went inside her room. She closed the door behind her.

All eyes turned questioningly to me and I sighed as I sat down on the sofa wearily. “Her mother began to cough blood,” I explained. “She’s fine now, resting in the hospital, but for Yuri’s sake, we’ve decided to let her stay here for the time being.” I decided to change the topic. “Who was on the phone?”

“Oh, Bi-sunbae told us that our new manager would be coming over tonight to meet us for the first time,” Seungho replied. “But he’s only temporary until we can get a permanent one.”

I nodded. Our last manager had to resign after his wife gave birth to their firstborn so he could have a lot of time to spend with his child. It was a good thing and a bad thing. It was good because he and his child will get to have a special bond. But it was bad because he was a really good manager.

I went inside to check on Yuri and found her staring dully at the blank wall. I hesitantly walked up to her. “Yuri?” I called.

She blinked, snapping out of her trance. She looked up to me and her face crumpled. I was immediately at her side. I kissed her, whispered comforting words to her and let her cry.

“It’s hard,” she sniffled.

“I know, baby, I know.” I kissed her forehead. “Yuri-yah, uljima.” Then I scooped her up and carried her to the living room where I knew everyone would want to comfort her too.

Joon came back and handed her bear to her, which she clutched to her chest tightly as I held her in my arms, her soft hair, with everyone around me. After a long time, her sobs died down and I realized she was sleeping.

G.O went to the kitchen to make dinner while the others all went to wash up. I stayed with Yuri, holding her, watching her angelically sleep. I didn’t dare to carry her back to her room. She was sort of a light-sleeper. The sounds wouldn’t disturb her, but any movements would.

Yuri breathed heavily in her sleep, holding the bear tight. I kissed her, humming a tune, and her breathing went back to normal.

“It’s okay,” I whispered into her ears. “I’m here for you, Yuri. I love you.”

An hour later, she woke up. She lifted her head and looked at me, blinking. She yawned a couple of times. I yawned as well.

I kissed her. She kissed me back, her fingers in my hair, and I pulled her close, deepening the kiss, knowing she needed this now.

“Ahem.”

We broke apart, startled, and found Joon standing above us, arms crossed, with a raised eyebrow. “One of you has to shower now,” he said.

“I’ll go,” I hastily said, getting up. I hurried off to the bathroom, my face burning with embarrassment.

“Wise choice!” Joon called.

An hour later, after a good dinner made by G.O, who can surprisingly cook, we were all sitting around in the living room, waiting for our manager to arrive while Yuri was bathing.

When the doorbell rang, I jumped, startled.

Seungho, being our leader, answered the door. He smiled. “Annyeonghasaeyo! Yang Seungho imnida.”

The rest of us looked at each other when we heard a deep and rumbling voice. Wow, would he be a harsh or nice manager?

Seungho came back with our manager following in a tow and we straightened up, standing to our feet. He was tall and he looked friendly. I have a feeling we were going to get along.

“Annyeong, Lee Joon imnida,” Joon said.

“Cheon Doong.”

“G.O.”

“Mir,” I said, waving a hand.

Seungho looked around. “Yuri isn’t done bathing yet?” he asked.

"Yeah?"

We turned to see Yuri walking out of the room in a singlet and a pair of shorts. She looked damn y. Yuri looked up and realized we had company. Her eyes landed on the man. Her eyes went wide and dropped open, with a little gasp. Suddenly, a head, a smaller one, popped up from beind our new manager and we realized that he was a boy around Yuri's age.

I turned back to Yuri, puzzled, whose face turned pale.

“Woo Chul,” she said faintly.

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D’aaaawwww. Some of you already read this chapter. But thank you for not spoiling the surprise on the comments! Anyway, to those who haven’t read this one yet, hahaha! This is why I was so excited for the next few chapters :P

Guess who's back (back, back, back)?

Back again?

Woo Chul's back. Back again :P