Junhong yawned sleepily as he walked down the stairs with his bare feet, his toes feeling the smooth surface of the carpeting. It was a peaceful Sunday morning when everyone was still sounding in their sleep, but he felt the urge of waking up at an even earlier time in the morning and decided to obey it nevertheless. To his expectation, as he walked into the warm kitchen, Yongguk was there already. Junhong gulped a bit, he always feels some kind of tension whenever the badass hyungnim of his is around, but still managed to mumble a morning greeting to the latter. Yongguk nodded at him quietly before turning the pages of his old book – Junhong has never ever saw the older’s eyes glued to anything else but those.

   He walked his way to the fridge and rummaged through stacks and stacks of food to find his favorite morning snack – strawberry-flavoured jello. Enjoying the sweet yet sour scent of strawberry in his mouth, Junhong jumped up on the counter and started to swing his feet slowly while humming a silent song. Yongguk looked up and grinned, the older knew it how Junhong loves to rap along songs in his room. He thought no one knows it, but to tell the truth his voice echoes all over the house.

   The humming was stopped as the sound of wheels moving on the wooden floor was heard. Junhong whistled and threw his cup into the sink as Yongguk moved aside and pulled a dining chair out of the way. Everyday it is a morning tradition when Yongguk is always the first to wake up, followed by Junhong and then by his older brother. Usually the latter is even more of a morning person than Junhong, but he needs sometimes for his own before joining the morning talk in the kitchen. After all, he can’t even walk on his own legs.

   “Good morning, Yongguk hyung. Nice day, Junhong.” That angelic voice resounded over the hall and to the kitchen, as a slender figure on a wheelchair appeared at the kitchen’s door. Minki brushed his hair away from his eyes and smiled as Yongguk stood up and helped him get to his usual place by the table. Junhong grinned at his older brother and the latter replied with a bright, but rather fragile smile. Sometimes Junhong felt that if he even touched Minki, the latter will be broken down into thousands of little pieces. The younger just couldn’t get it why a single person could be so tender and beautiful, though he had to suffer things just like everyone else in the house did.

   “Is apoji (father) home yet?” Minki’s words weren’t even louder than a child’s whisper, yet the two other could still hear him even more clearly than when they spoke to each other. The jello-loving boy shrugged and Yongguk shook his head. “Jiyong-nim is nowhere to be seen, too.” He added, and the three fell into silence. Usually those two would be the moodmakers of the house, and it was just a lack of something when they weren’t around.

   “I just hope they can find that thing as quick as possible, whatever or whoever it is.” Junhong mumbled and Yongguk nodded. “I miss it when they are here.”

   And the awkward silence covered the atmosphere again until someone rushed downstairs. His sandy blonde hair was messed up and he was panicking as usual everytime he wakes up late. Minki smiled as Junhong jumped out of the way and Yongguk sighed. If there is one thing Dongho couldn’t learn, it would be to set a proper time on his alarm clock.

   “Argh, I’m late!” He growled before slamming the fridge and rushing out of the door again. “See you guys later at lunch!”

   “Typical Dongho.” Minki giggled, and the oldest rolled his eyes. Junhong was about to laugh along, but the laughter was blocked in the middle of his throat. Just moments later, breathing wasn’t even an easy, normal task for him. He bent down a bit, his mouth wide open gasping for any kind of air left. Stars started to appear in his vision, and Junhong decided that it was the best thing for him to just go upstairs and get his things. He slipped down from the counter and staggered a bit as his bare feet met the cold marble floor, but quickly he gained back his balance and walked his way out of the kitchen.

   “Morning problems. I’ll be right back.” He turned around and spoke, assuring his two older brothers that nothing would go wrong. Then he walked upstairs, but it was hard for him to even stay in a balancing state, and he ended up bumping in almost everything in his way.

   But then somehow he made it to his room. Reaching for his mask, Junhong put it in and exhaled deeply. For his relief, his burning lungs finally felt the touch of oxygen again, and for one second he thought he was going to explode under the pain it brought. He began gasping for air, and even, gasping in demand for the freedom that he didn’t even get the chance to touch ever since he was born. Sometimes, in occasions like this, Junhong feels so doubtful about his choice and wonders if…

   Cut it off, he shook his head rapidly and pulled the mask down his neck, thinking that it would be more convenient for him if he kept it there. He stood up to face the window, and saw a woman standing near the street light. It was still too early for anyone to go out, not to mention the thick fog that also made some difficulties for Junhong to watch the woman. She looked around as if to make sure there was no one near and gently put a box down to the ground. She also knelt down to whisper something before kissing whatever that was in the box and ran away.

   Junhong’s hand suddenly found its way to his cheek. Though he wasn’t crying, he still felt hot tears streaming down his face, and his heart felt like it was being torn by something that could be called as guilt. He bit his lower lip as he looked out of the window once again and saw a thin line of pink thread with one side tied around the wrist of the baby inside the box, while the other side was left there in the middle of the street.

   A cry ripped Junhong’s brain off and his head fell into his hands as soon as he disconnected himself from the fear of the abandoned child. Persuading himself with the thought that everyone has their own business to take care of, he was about to go back to the kitchen when the sound of something collapsing down was heard, followed by Yongguk’s scream, which obviously can wake up the entire house:        

   “YAH! MINKI!”

   And before Junhong could even notice it, his feet were carrying him back to the kitchen where a panicked Yongguk was kneeling down next to a nearly unconcious Minki, who was still clutching on his shirt and gasping in pain.

   “What’s going on?” Aaron appeared at the door step, and also as Junhong did, his eyes widened in terror right at the moment he saw Minki. The latter, with his eyes closed, tugged onto Junhong’s shirt and whispered:

   “It’s Taehwa… she… she…”

   It didn’t take Junhong a long time to realize what was going on. He sprang up from his kneeling position and dashed out of the kitchen, through the hallway and to the girls’ rooms, heading right to the room in the end of the hallway, where he knew for sure Taehwa was in. He pounded on the door a few times, but when he received no answer, he gave the door a kick and rushed inside to the bed right under the window. The girl was laying there, eyes half-closed, her long black hair tangled and her pale lips slightly opened. Her sleeping position looked quite normal, and one of her hands was not very far away from her chest, as if she had been holding onto her nightgown not long ago. Junhong hestitated for a milisecond, and then touched the girl’s arm gently:

   “Taehwa-noona ah… Are you still asleep?”

   Contrary to his expectations, which he had been dying to see at that moment, Taehwa didn’t replied. Not with even a single humming sound or a gentle stir. Suddenly, Junhong stood up and picked up a mirror from the table before placing it in front of Taehwa’s nose, it was obvious that the young boy hoped to see some evidence that his older sister was still breathing. But the mirror stayed clear, and soon he knew that he had to accept the truth. She was gone.

   Junhong put the mirror back to its rightful place and got back to the bed to his arm through Taehwa’s eyes, making sure that she wouldn’t be able to see anything and regret as she left this world. On his second thought, maybe Taehwa wouldn’t have to regret. Living a life like theirs, maybe death is a way to set them free. The red thread he used to saw around Taehwa’s ankle turned black a few moments later, and Junhong decided to wrap it around his wrist, right above his own red thread. It would remind him, in some way, that they are different from others, and that the same thing might happen to him sooner than he expected.

   He walked out of the room again, not wanting to endure the pain alone, since it was the first time he saw someone like him pass away. Halfway through the kitchen, he met with Yongguk carrying Minki bridal style, the latter was deep asleep. The older opened his mouth wanting to ask something, but remained silent as he saw the black thread wrapping around Junhong’s wrist. The younger kept his head low as he walked past his two hyungs, feeling his veins screaming and his head pounding like it was being hit by a hammer. Junhong was glad that they couldn’t see the feelings of one another; he wouldn’t like to seem so weak in front of his brothers and sisters. Aaron patted his shoulder understandingly as they met in the living room and soon Yongguk joined them. Everything was in deep silence and before they could even be awared of the time, the front door creeked open, letting a small line of light went inside the house, lighting up the dust flying everywhere. Jiyong stepped in, his usual smile brightened up the place, and the three stood up to bow at him. Seunghyun soon followed, and the door closed quickly after that, leaving them with only those artificial lights.

The latter was holding a questioningly familiar box to Junhong, and soon after that he realized the baby he saw before was in it.

   “You guys are always being morning people, huh?” Jiyong grinned as he picked the sleeping baby out of the box. “Where is Minki? I can’t wait to introduce him to our new member.”

   “He’s sleeping.” Yongguk replied with his husky voice, and Jiyong seemed to be down a little. “Really? I thought he likes to wake up early. Anyway, boys, meet Minjun, your baby sister. Minjun, say hi to your oppas.”

   The baby opened her eyes and let out a small giggle, and the others couldn’t help but smile. She was too adorable for her own good anyway, and Aaron took Minjun away from Jiyong to play with her.

   “We found her outside of the house.” Jiyong explained. “Her parents left her there, but somehow she could hold my thread when we saw her. Maybe she is one of us.”

   “Let’s just assume so, we need a replacement anyway.” Yongguk sighed and sank back into the couch as Seunghyun and Jiyong raised questioning eyebrows at them. Yongguk looked at Junhong, signaling the younger to tell them the news. Junhong looked deep into Jiyong’s eyes and gulped another time before getting things straight:

   “We lost Taehwa-noona.”

   Jiyong bit his lips and turned away, pulling Seunghyun out of the living room and heading to the girls’ place. Junhong rubbed the back of his neck and headed towards the door while announcing to the others that he was going for a walk. Yongguk nodded and Aaron warned him not to get out of the house’s yard; but Junhong closed the door behind his back, not wanting to hear even a single more word from his hyung.

After all, it is never a good way to begin a new day with a death of someone you know.