Yuri’s POV

The plate slipped from my hand, onto the kitchen floor, making the shattering-to-pieces noise and I felt some of the glass hitting my leg as fear grippled my heart the moment the words sunk into my mind, repeating over and over again in my head like an iPod stuck on ‘replay’.

Your mother passed away this morning at six . . . your mother passed away this morning at six . . .  your mother passed away this morning at six . . .

YOUR MOTHER PASSED AWAY THIS MORNING AT SIX!

NO!

I can’t breathe. Why is it suddenly so dark?

Mir’s POV

Everything happened at once. Joon leaped to his feet, stunned, while everyone just sat there, frozen in shock, not believing what we just heard. And then we heard a crash from the kitchen.

We looked up to see Yuri standing around shattered glasses.

L.Joe stood up to get the broom while I, without thinking, headed over to where Yuri was.

“Mir, don’t move! You will cut yourself by stepping on the glass!” Seungho’s orders drowned in the background.

I winced when I stepped on glass but I bit on my tongue to stop from crying out loud, proving Seungho’s point. I walked slowly to her, treading carefully so I wouldn’t step on glass again.

When I touched her on her shoulder, Yuri snapped out of her hypnotisim. She shuddered and gave a cry, stepping back — onto the glass. She cried out again, this time in pain.

I stepped forward and carried her up, ignoring the sharp, searing pain on my foot as I hurriedly carried her over to the couch back in the living room. L.Joe came back not long after, wearing his shoes and holding up a broom in his hands.

Cheon Doong ran to get the first aid kit and was back within seconds. Suddenly everything was a blur as everyone crowded around Yuri and I, tending to our badly cut feet.

“Uh, can someone wash the blood off from the floor here?” L.Joe called out from inside the kitchen, sounding a little nauseated from the sight of blood.

Niel jumped up and ran to the bathroom, where the bucket and mop were. He came out seconds later and began to mop the kitchen while Seunho was wrapping Yuri’s feet up and G.O was doing mine, occasionally shaking his head at me for not listening to our leader about not moving.

Joon looked at his father. “Please tell me you’re just joking with us,” he pleaded, not believing, not wanting to believe it.

But Mr. Lee shook his head. “I wish I was joking,” he replied, sighing wearily. “But I got a call this morning from the hospital, saying she was gone. I had to make a lot of phone calls to get a day off from work especially since we are working on a big project today, so it was hard but I managed,” he said. He paused, took a deep breath and added, “We need to start making funeral arrangements for your mother.”

Funeral . . . so it’s true. . . . Aunty Jasmine really is dead.

Seungho finished up with Yuri’s feet the same time G.O was wrapping mine up. I looked at Yuri. She had her head down, her hair covering her face to avoid meeting any of our eyes. Please don’t tell me she’s starting to shut everyone out again.

No one was talking, but everyone was thinking: Why must she die today, on Yuri’s birthday, of all days? Why?

Seungho looked at Mr. Lee. “Did you know that it was going to be today?” he asked softly.

He shook his head. “I thought maybe a few more months,” he whispered, his face ashened with grief. It was clear he really didn’t know.

Everybody didn’t know what to do in this awkward situation so Seungho, being the leader as ever, told Teen Top, Minzy and Taemin it was probably best if they headed home and thanked them for coming to celebrate Yuri’s birthday with her.

L.Joe hugged her goodbye, kissed her forehead and whispered something to her. She nodded once, looking down. He hugged her again and walked out, the others followed suit.

Yuri got up as soon as they left and walked into her room. But then she hesitated and turned, looking right into my eyes. I nodded and followed her inside, grateful she wasn’t going to shut me out.

When I closed the door behind me, Yuri began to cry. I immediately wrapped my arms around her and she sobbed. I kissed her forehead, pulled her to bed and we both sat there while I held my anguished girlfriend. I couldn’t do anything as I held her, watching the tears flow down her face.

She looked up to me. I wiped her tears off and kissed her softly. I could feel her body trembling but she kissed me back. Yuri hugged me tighther and I caressed her hair. “I don’t know what to do,” she sobbed. “I don’t know how to react. I thought I was prepared for it but when it actually happened, I don’t know what to do anymore.” She looked down. “I just . . . I can’t . . . I don’t want to . . .”

I hugged her and just let her cry.

She sniffled. “What am I going to do?” she asked. “I don’t know what to do. Everything is happening so fast. My world is spinning.”

I hugged her even tighter. “I don’t know,” I replied truthfully. “But, please, Yuri-yah, know that everyone will always be here for you. Please don’t shut us out. We all want to help you get over this. Besides, your mother would have wanted you to smile and carry on with life as usually. She wouldn’t want you to grief over her, right?”

She nodded. “But it’s easier said than done.” She bit her bottom lip and looked out of the window. Then she turned back to me and took my hand. “Don’t go. Please. Don’t go.”

I shook my head. “I’m not going anywhere. I don’t have anywhere else to go except for wherever you are going,” I replied softly. I kissed her forehead and she closed her eyes. “I love you, Yuri. I’ll always be here for you. Okay?”

She nodded, hugging me. “I need you, Mir. I love you.”

I her hair and held her. There was nothing else I could say to make her feel better but I suspected that she felt slightly better knowing that I’m going to be here for her.

She looked up to me, wiping her tears away. “What am I going to do without you?” she asked me after a moment of silence. “Mir, I’ll be honest. I don’t have the energy to carry on anymore. I just . . . Umma meant so much to me.”

I kissed her. “Don’t say that,” I murmured. “Don’t, okay? I’m here, you know that. I understand you need to grieve over your mother, and I’ll always be waiting for you but I will never leave you, even if you try to make me.”

“Thank you,” she said in a small voice but she looked a little bit confused. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She began to cry again and I hugged her, tucking her head under my chin.

“I can’t believe she’s gone, just like that. And on my birthday too! My mother was so good to me. She loved me, she was so happy, she was the type of woman who never complains about anything. She was like my role model. She was the perfect wife, perfect clerk at her work, perfect mother and perfect friend. How could God just take such woman like her away from the lives of people who love her so much?! This just doesn’t seem fair!

“He should have taken me instead!”

“Yuri!” I exclaimed, aghast. “Whatever do you mean by that?”

“I mean, instead of her dying, it should’ve been me. Remember when Sohyun tortured me? I should have died! Maybe then she wouldn’t have died. A life for a life. I should have died. It should’ve been me. If I died, things would have been different.”

“Yuri, that doesn’t even make sense,” I argued. “How could you even say such? You are like your mom in so many ways. We’d be saying all this kind of things you are saying about her too!”

She shook her head. When she realized what she had just said, she looked down in shame. “I’m sorry,” she muttered.

I shrugged. “I know you’re upset and I completely understand you. But, please, don’t ever think that way ever again, okay? I can’t bear to think that anything should happen to you. And I still can’t believe your mom is gone too.”

“It’s too absurd,” she agreed. She looked at me, hesitating for a long while. “Can I . . . be alone for awhile?”

I nodded, standing up. She needed time to herself too, I get it. I kissed her before walking out of the room. The last thing I heard as I closed the door behind me was the sound of her breaking into sobs again, being muffled by her pillow.

My heart broke.

Yuri’s POV

The day of her funeral came. It was, surprisingly, a very big one. I didn’t know how many people actually knew my mother nor did I know exactly how much she had made an impact on all of these people’s lives. As they talked about her, how they met her, what a great person was and such, I realized that Umma was really well-known, for her big heart. Even random strangers come up to us telling us that even as they paid for their groceries at the supermarket where she works, she was always so nice to them.

Between heaps of white flowers, I saw Umma’s kind face peering out at me from her photograph perched on her coffin. I heard her voice once more the day she talked to me because we all believed she had a few days left.

“Promise me you’ll not lock yourself up once I’m gone. Promise me you’ll open up to Mir and Joon and everyone. Do not shut them out, okay? I know you. You will do that when you need friends the most.”

I began to cry all over again. I looked up and saw that no one was paying attention to me. Joon was busy, caught talking with some of our relatives. Appa and Aunty HaNa were comforting each other. Mir and all my friends were nowhere to be seen among the crowd of strangers. This was overwhelming.

So I turned and ran.

Joon’s POV

The funeral came. Everything went smoothly yet it was all in a blur that I don’t even remember anything that happened that day. All I remember was people going up to say nice things about my mother, then we laid her down to the ground in her coffin, bid our last farewell, and then buried her.

Everyone came up to my family and gave us their condolences. I didn’t even know half of the people but Umma must have made a huge impact on their lives because they were all upset that such a wonderful lady like Umma would be gone. I tried looking for my friends but random people just kept coming up to me, talking to me, wanting to know more things about me and my sister. I couldn’t even see Yuri.

Finally, after an hour, when I felt like my throat was already running dry, everyone grew bored and soon the only people left were my family, Aunty HaNa, Doo Joon, Teen Top, MBLAQ, Taemin and Minzy.

I looked around. “Where’s Yuri?”

Suddenly everyone didn’t seem so tired anymore. Mir quickly took his phone out and dialed a number. We heard her ringtone go off.

We snapped our heads to the direction and saw that the sound was coming from inside a handbag sitting on the spot where our other bags were.

We groaned.

Appa jumped to his feet. “Do not panic,” he said but panic was written all over his face. “I’m sure that she’s nearby somewhere.”

“Didn’t anyone see her when she left?” Seunho asked.

We shook our heads.

“Does anyone have an idea where she might be?” Chunji asked.

L.Joe and Mir exchanged glances. Wordlessly, the two of them stood up and ran.

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Heh >.<

Wonder where they think she might be. o.o

Anyway I can't update tomorrow. Busy. But will be back soon ASAP :D