The severity of the situation had not hit Daphne immediately, leaving her speechless. Her mother...had cancer? What on Earth could have had happened to cause this?

“Daphne?” her father on the other end tried grasping her attention.

“Dad, tell me this isn’t true,” Daphne managed to get out, her voice hoarse, quivering as she spoke. “This is a joke, right? Mom is healthy. Nothing to worry about.”

“Honey...” her father gently said, his voice becoming fainter as he heard his daughter beginning to break down. “The doctors confirmed our suspicions of a tumor in her . I’m sorry, Daphne. I don’t want to believe it either, but we must accept this if--”

“YOU’RE LYING,” Daphne screamed hysterically as tears began to stain her pale cheeks. “Why are you lying to me, Dad?!”


“Daphne, please listen to--”

“Why, Dad,” she sobbed into her phone, losing all of her sanity, “why did this have to happen to us?”

“I know, Daphne, I know. All we can do now is accept this situation and try our best to give Mom the strength and support that she needs, okay?”

“How?! How can I do that when I’m in a different continent as you guys are?! What can I do?!”

“Honey, don’t beat yourself over this. I know there’s not much we can do about the distance, but you have to be strong. We all have to be strong for Mom. The only thing you can do now is to study hard and make her proud. Seeing you succeed will give the strength that Mom needs.”

Daphne sighed heavily, her head aching and her chest throbbing as if someone had stabbed her with a knife. This amount of pain, this heartache, it was all so foreign to her. How could her father say that studying was the only thing she could do for her dying mother? Was that really the only option out there for her? 



“Dad, tell that to Daniel!” Daphne cried angrily. Daniel was her younger brother who was still in middle school. “Let me come back to California. I want to be there for Mom!”

“No,” her father said flatly, his gentle voice disappearing. “That is the last thing that Mom wants. She knows that you are here for an education, so don’t even think about coming home. We are in the very early stages of cancer because we caught it early, so there is no need, okay, honey? Please, continue to study. That is all Mom wants from you.”

Daphne remained quiet, a mixture of emotions building up inside her. She was torn and heartbroken because her mother’s chances of dying had increased so suddenly, frustrated that she couldn’t be physically there for her mother, and most of all, furious that her father was forcing her to stay here in Korea.

She sat there for a few seconds, trying her best to regain her composure. She began to inhale and exhale slowly, which she hoped would calm her down. At last, she reluctantly spoke, “Okay, Dad.”

“I love you, Daphne,” her father said soothingly, relieved. “We’ll get through this together, okay?”

“I know. I love you, Dad.”

“Good night, honey.”

“Good night.”

Her father hung up, satisfied, but Daphne was far from that. As soon as she hung up, she threw her phone harshly at the floor, disappointed that it didn’t shatter into pieces. Her calm self began to fall apart once more as she sobbed loudly into her arms, wishing that that phone conversation had never happened.

Daphne felt entirely conflicted. Her father told her to stay in school and to continue on with her studies to make her mother happy, but what if that wasn’t what she wanted? What if she just wanted to...dance? What was she supposed to do? Was that her only choice to help her mother with this disease? To simply study and work hard? Is that what her mother truly wanted Daphne to do with her life?

“Daphne?”

Daphne halted her weeping abruptly, seeing the practice room door open slowly. She saw a familiar face appear with a glum expression on his face.

“Not now, Yoseob,” Daphne sniffed, wiping her tears away with her arms, feeling his warmth beside her as he sat against the wall.

“I won’t ask if you don’t want me to,” Yoseob said softly, looking intently at Daphne with concern.

Daphne turned her head and stared into Yoseob’s sympathetic eyes, wishing that he could erase all of this pain from her life. She needed comfort, a shoulder to cry on, and Yoseob was the closest solution. She soon felt tears welling up in her eyes once more and began bawling uncontrollably. Feeling his warm arms around her shoulder, she cried into his shoulder as he patted her back softly.

The pair held that position for a while. The moment Daphne thought she was okay, the horrible feelings began coming back to her, compelling the tears to come out continually, but Yoseob was patient. He sat there by her side, soothing her with his warmth and his soft touches, hugging her tightly.

“She had put on such a tough facade the first time I met her...I wonder what happened to make her break down so badly,” Yoseob thought to himself, brushing her long hair away from her face. He looked down at her face, hoping that he could somehow cheer her up. “Even while crying, she still looks so pretty.”

A sudden nervousness came over Yoseob as he noticed how the gap between Daphne and him was so small. He didn’t know what this feeling was that suddenly came to him. Were they butterflies in his stomach? Was his heart fluttering?

“She’s just another noona, isn’t she?” Yoseob contemplated, wishing that the feeling would go away. “Just another noona...”

Daphne wiped her eyes for the umpteenth time as she moved gently away from Yoseob, her face entirely red. She didn’t realize that Yoseob could be so...serious. It was a starkly contrasting side that she didn’t see when they had first met.

“S-sorry,” she uttered, embarrassed that she had caused Yoseob’s shirt to be so moist. “I just...couldn’t contain myself.”

“No need to apologize,” Yoseob smiled warmly, touching her shoulder. “You okay?”

“I hope so...” Daphne mumbled. “Thank you for this. I really needed it.”

“No problem,” he said, again with a soft and tender voice.

“Yah, why aren’t you being cute?” Daphne half-smiled, punching Yoseob’s arm softly, wishing he would do something childish to make her forget about her worries.

“Noona!” whined Yoseob, clutching his arm as if she had punctured it evoking a chuckle form Daphne. “I know when to be cute in certain situations!”

Seeing that Daphne was beginning to feel better, Yoseob felt that it was right to ask, his voice serious again. “What happened, noona?”

Daphne sighed and hesitated, looking at Yoseob once more with her tired eyes. He looked at her with such great intent, yearning for her trust.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Yoseob offered.

“No, I want to,” Daphne began, hoping that she wouldn’t burst into tears again. “My dad recently called me. My mom has cancer.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said the only words he knew to say to her. He hugged her once more, hoping that he could do anything to help her lift her spirits. “I’m sorry, Daphne noona, I really am.”

“Don’t worry,” Daphne reassured, pulling away from his embrace softly. “It’s not your fault. I just...I just wish I could do something about it, you know? I asked my dad if I could fly back to California but he flat out rejected the idea because he and my mom want me to keep going to school here.” She sighed heavily, fixing her eyes at the hardwood floor. “They’re scared that if I come back, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on school, but that’s so...just so frustrating!”

Yoseob nodded and Daphne was glad that he wasn’t attempting to give her advice. All she needed right now was for someone to listen to her ramblings so she could get it off of her chest.

“The worst part is,” Daphne continued, noticing Yoseob’s silence, “is that I don’t even know if I want to continue studying to become a doctor, anyway. I love dancing. It’s my passion and being here makes me realize that this is really what I want to do, but what can I do if it’s my dying mother’s wish to stay in school?”

“Noona,” started Yoseob cautiously, taking her hand to comfort her. “Everything...everything will be okay. Just know that, all right? You'll get through this. Everything will be okay.”

Daphne felt the knot in her stomach becoming loose as she closed her eyes in solace. That was all that she wanted to hear--that everything was going to be okay. Everything was going to be okay.

A/N: Happy new year, everyone! Hope everyone had a great new year's and here's to 2011! Thank you to everyone reading, commenting, and subscribing! It makes me really happy, hehe. Expect an update again some time tomorrow!