“Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt.”
-Plautus

Kai's POV

Suho hyung had told us that Mia was now conscious and was getting discharged. I was anxious to see how she was doing. The guilt had kept me awake all night. When I tried to sleep, I would get flashes of her bending over to protect me and her arm covered with streams of blood. 'Why would she do it for me? Me. Someone who had done everything to make sure she leaves. How could she be so selfless?' I wondered.

"Calm down, she'll be here soon." Suho hyung said. "Hyung why would she do this for me? Someone who made her life hell?" I asked him. "I wish I could answer that for you but I really don't understand myself.." he said,shaking his head. "Both of you come have lunch." D.O. hyung called. We had taken a day off today. "You guys go ahead, I'll wait for Mia." Suho hyung informed.

She should have been here by now. I hoped nothing had gone wrong. A knock resounded in the unusually quiet living room. It was probably the first time all twelve of us were so quiet. Xuimin hyung got up quickly and opened the door. We saw a stranger with JR as the door opened. JR, who was currently carrying Mia bridal style. She was curled around his torso, peacefully asleep. The sight made me annoyed. What he was doing with Mia when it should have been us with her.

"She is knocked out because of medicine. She won't be up for a good few hours. Where do I put her?" he asked. "Come this way." I said and lead him to  D.O.and mine's room. I motioned that he could put her down on my bed. I covered her with a quilt after he put her down on the bed. "She's my kid sister. Don't give her a hard time or else I'll make sure you don't have legs to dance with dancing machine." he spat. "I'll do what I have to." I sneered at him as we walked back to the living room.

“She has to go to the hospital again day after. Are you going to take her or shall we?" the other man asked. "We will. She's our responsibility now. Thank you for getting her home." Suho hyung answered him curtly. 'Kid sister huh? I guess I had a completely wrong impression of you Mia.' I thought to myself. I tried to think of ways I could make this up to her as we sat for lunch. "Kai.. You've been staring at the food since the last ten minutes. Quit worrying so much." Luhan hyung advised.

"I'm not hungry. I'll eat later." I said and quickly got up before Kyungsoo hyung could start nagging. There was a girl with bullet wounds on my bed because she was protecting me. It seemed like a perfectly valid reason for worry to me. I quietly opened the door of my shared room to check on her. There she was knocked out like a light.

I leaned my head on the door frame and just stood there watching her breathe. Savoring the fact that she was still alive; something that could have been easily lost because she tried to protect me. The hardest part however was not handling the guilt. It was listening to that voice inside my head that asked the same question again and again....

"Why?"

A\N:  Here’s wishing everyone a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!  *hugs*

Have a great year ahead!

Happy Reading! (: