“We’ll be back soon sweety.” Your umma kissed your forehead.

“We’ll only be gone for a week. Be good.”

“Okay appa.” A tear streamed down your face as your parents closed the door behind them, leaving you alone with your aunt and uncle.

“ it up princess, it’s not the end of the world.” Your uncle spat at you. You were only 7 years old.

They immediately put you to work. Washing the windows, cleaning the floors, doing the dishes… Things a 7 year old should not be doing.

~A week later~

“Where are umma and appa?” You waited anxiously by the door, waiting for the arrival of your parents.

“They’re not coming back. Now go get dressed.” Your aunt said with absolutely no emotion.  

“Get dressed for what?”

“The funeral.” Your aunt walked away. You fell to your knees, the whole house collapsing with you and burring you underneath it.

This time you were awoken by screaming, “APPA!” You sat up and looked around in the dark room that wasn’t even yours. You were here because the dream was real. You didn’t have parents. You were alone.

There was nothing to stop the tears from flowing down your face. You buried your face into your knees and began to cry. The only thing you could hear was your soft weeps and a few little snores from Chen. You heard someone stirring but you ignored it and hugged your legs closer to your body.

“Hey, Kyung mi, look at me. You’re okay, it’s okay.” Lay was awoken by your yelp and rushed over to your side. He sat down on your bed next to you and held you tightly. “Shh, don’t cry. It was just a bad dream. You’re okay.” He whispered as he your hair.

You continued to cry but managed to get out, “But it wasn’t a dream… It was real.” You began to sob a little harder and wrapped your arms around Lay’s waist. You let your forehead rest on his shoulder as your tears stained his soft shirt.

Lay pulled back so he could see your face. He cupped your cheeks with both hands and wiped your tears away with his thumbs as he searched your face. You didn’t meet his eyes but once he softly kissed your forehead you looked at him with slight surprise.

“Let’s go downstairs and get you a drink of water.” He stood up but you still sat there limply. “Come on.” He said as he put one arm underneath your knees and the other under your back and lifted you effortlessly. You said nothing and buried your face in his shirt once again while he brought you downstairs.

He lightly put you down on the living room couch and you adjusted yourself so you were sitting up but still slightly curled up. Lay disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. You took it with shaking hands and slowly took sips. Lay was kneeling down in front of you, watching you carefully as you sipped the water. He saw how tired you looked and your eyes were red and puffy from crying. His heart sank slightly and he wanted to do nothing but make you feel better.

“Kyung mi?” He said softly, still trying to search your face.

You looked up from where your gaze had been to meet his eyes. He looked just as tired as you did but his face was filled with concern and a bit of sadness. You couldn’t help but feel that you were responsible.

“What dream keeps scaring you?” He reached up and your cheek with the back of his hand.  

You averted your eyes from Lay. You opened your mouth to say something but as soon as you turned back and saw the concern in Lay’s eyes once again you couldn’t help but start crying all over again. You slumped onto the floor next to Lay as he, once again, embraced you in his strong arms.

Lay’s heart began to hurt when he saw you like this, but he couldn’t understand why. All he could do was embrace you, but that didn’t seem to be enough to make you feel better. He felt absolutely hopeless. He held you tighter as he felt tears forming in his eyes also.

“Kyung mi, please don’t cry.” He pulled you closer and closer until he was sure there was absolutely no space between the two of you. You were pressed up against his side on the floor of the living room with your back resting on the couch and face in his shirt. He had his arms wrapped around you tightly.

“I’m all alone. My parents are gone and my own family kicked me out. I’m just an orphan that has nobody!” You choked on your tears as your words came muffled out into Lay’s chest.

He your hair, “Kyung mi, you’re not alone. You have 12 people right in this very house that care about you. It may not seem like it at times but we all care for you.” Especially me.

Your sobbing quieted to a soft weep. “Did I tell you how it happened?” You said quietly, looking up to meet his face.

He looked down at you curiously, “How what happened?”

You put your head back down but instead of putting your face in his shirt, you put your ear against his chest. You could hear his steady heartbeat and it comforted you. “How they died.”

“No, you didn’t.” He said, barely audible but loud enough for you to hear.

You steadied your breathing and began to tell him everything.

“They left to go on a business trip to China. Apparently they didn’t even make it there.” You slowly took in a deep breath and let it back out. “Their plane crashed on the way there. The whole time I thought they were neglecting me because they weren’t calling or sending letters. I thought they left me here alone and i began to resent them. My aunt told me a week later that they were gone but I refused to listen to her. I would stand by the door day and night, waiting for them to come rescue me from my aunt and uncle, but they never came. It wasn’t until the funeral until I realized that they were gone... forever.” 

“Kyung mi, as long as you’re with us. You will never, ever be alone again. I guarantee that.” You looked up at him and he gave you a small smile.

“deoneun mangseoliji ma jebal…” He began to quietly sing the Korean version of ‘Baby Don’t Cry’.

“nae simjangeul geodoo-eoga geurae nalkaro-ulsurog chohwa dalbitjochado nooneul gameun bam na anin dareun namja-yeotdamyeon huegeuk an-eue han gujeol ieotdeo-ramyeon neoye geu saramgua baggun sangcheo modu taewuobeoryeo Baby don’t cry, tonight eodumi geodhigo namyeon Baby don’t cry, tonight”

 You snuggled deeper into his chest and felt your eyes growing heavy, “eobseotdeon il-i dwell geoya moolgeo-poom-I dueneun geoseun niga aniya, ggeutnae molla ya hae deon So baby don’t cry, cry nae sarangi neol jikilteni”

His soft voice began to fade out as you drifted off to sleep in his arms.