Running towards the two, I saw blood stain the ground.  Jaesoon looked at me with his mouth clenched in agony, gently pulling Marylin off of him.

                He wasn’t hit.

                Which means…

                Marylin cried out, blood seeping out from the bullet wound in her stomach.  I kneeled down next to her, taking her up in my arms.  Holding her hand, she pulled it back and I stared at her in shock.

                “Linnie…”

                “Wait, Unnie.”  She told me with difficulty, coughing.  Reaching into her front pocket, she pulled out a silver bracelet with two charms on it.  An amethyst dove and a green frog.

                “Jaesoon, the cops are coming!”  Someone called for him.  He turned to the man, and then back at Marylin.

                “T.O.P. Hyung!  Go without me!”  He shouted back.  The man frowned and then ran off.  Facing Marylin again, she started to speak, pointing at the charms.

                “I’m the dove.  Grandpa told me it meant peace.  You’re the frog, since you love to swim.”

                I nodded, tears dropping down my face.  She managed to smile, clumsily clasping the bracelet to my wrist.

                “Unnie, you know I hate fighting right?  It’s what took mommy and daddy away…”

                Her breaths started to get shallower.

                “Linnie, stay with me ok?  We’ll get some help!”  I frantically said, looking at Jaesoon to call an ambulance.  He was already on the phone.

                “Promise me… never to fight… ok?”

                I nodded, not really caring about what she asked of me.

                “You too… Jaesoon oppa…”  She choked out.

                Jaesoon closed his phone shut and stared at her, and then at me.  He looked down, nodding as well with his own arriving tears.  Shaking, she held out her bloody hand, pinky in the air.  I locked it with hers, now noticing how tiny her fingers were compared to mine.  Jaesoon promised her too, his even larger pinky wrapping around her small one.

                “Oppa… remember what I said…”

                I looked to Jaesoon, confused as to what Marylin was talking about.  He looked painfully at me before nodding once more at the dying girl in my arms.

                “I promise.”  He whispered.

                Marylin smiled at him, as if she had just accomplished a hard task.

                I heard the familiar echoes of police and ambulance sirens.

                “Linnie, help is here!  Hold on o-“  I choked on my words, seeing her shake her head.

                “Sorry…”

                “No!  They’re here!,”  I protested, shaking her slightly, “We can fix you!  We ca-“

                Her brilliant cerulean eyes started to fade out.  Jaesoon cried out, holding her now limp hand.  My heart broke into a thousand pieces. 

                Through my blurred eyes, I saw police cars and an ambulance arrive, medics and officers quickly getting out of their cars.  People crowded us as they tried to remove Marylin from my arms.  I pushed them away.

                “SHE WAS ONLY FIVE!”  I screamed.  Jaesoon struggled against me, holding my arms down so the medics could take Linnie away.  Scratching at him, he forced me into a hug, hiding my head in his chest.  I sobbed into him.

                Not so many minutes later, my parents came, and in the midst of all the crying and scurrying people, Jaesoon disappeared.

*end of flashback*

                I heard nothing but silence after Lora finished the rough, shortened version of the story.  He had pretty much known everything, but I never told him or Unnie, Jaesoon’s name.  I had just told them that it was a member from a gang.  I felt like his name was something that only I should know about.  Yoseob’s voice disrupted me from my thoughts.

                “First her cousin died, and then the bionic hand…”

                I felt waterworks coming, so I decided to change the subject.  Rubbing my eyes and yawning a bit, I opened my eyes to see everybody looking at me with a sad face.  Pretending not to have heard anything, I looked at them weirdly.

                “What’s up with you guys?  Oh ya, Doojoon,” he looked over at me with a blank expression, “I think you need to work on your punches, you hit like a girl!”

                I hoped he would take the bait, so the gloomy mood would pass away.  And perfectly enough, the Doojoon fish took it.

                “YAH!  I DO NOT!”  He shouted, walking up to the couch.  I lay back with my hands behind my head.  Glaring at me, he poked me in the stomach where he hit me.  I groaned a bit, trying to muffle it by biting my lip.  He grinned in victory.

                Lora laughed at me, helping me change the subject.  “Total fail.”

                We met eyes and I knew what he was thinking.

                She heard.

sorry for the late update!!!