Kai woke up to something cold and metal poking his face. 

"Gahhh..." He sat up, yawning, taking a moment to let the world stop spinning before he looked to see what the thing poking him was.

"Eh...?" He wondered, picking up the piece of paper on it. 

Reading it quickly, his jaw fell open once, then twice.

Then he felt anger.

"Jae, Jinja?!" He clenched his fist. 

Jae running away from all of this would hurt people.

It would hurt Umma.

It would hurt any chances of them becoming friends....

And, most importantly, it would hurt Sia.

~*~

"He... he what?" Sia turned paler than before, if that was even possible. "He just... left?"

Umma sat down, shaking. "What did he say...?" She asked, breathily.

"He... left a note." Kai hesitated, knowing they would want to see it. "For me." He added.

They both looked at him.

Without a word, Sia set the bowls of rice down before them and faked a smile. "I'm going to... be right back, okay?"

Umma nodded, tiredly, head sinking into her hands.

Kai reached for Sia's wrist as she turned away from them, and said, in a low voice; "Don't go jumping in the lake, okay?"

She nodded, blank eyes softening for a moment. "I won't. I promise."

He nodded, curtly, dropping her wrist.

How did everything get so wrong?

~*~

"Umma?" He asked, taking a seat next to her. 

She took his large hand in her own rough, withered one. "Jongin,"

He bit his lip, pain surging through him when he saw how vulnerable Umma was. 

She let out a choked sob, holding his hand tighter, leaning on his shoulder.

Umma had been his rock for so long; there when he auditioned for SM, there when he got in. There when school was too hard. There when his own mother wasn't. There when he got into SM; and there when her own daughter died.

It was his turn, now. 

He had to be strong.

He had to be so, so strong.

For Umma.

For Soo Jin.

"You can lean on me, Umma," He whispered. "I'll be your rock."