Park Jae Sang couldn't take it anymore. He risked the potential wrath of Yang Hyunsuk and Police Chief Jin – who he was unashamedly terrified of – and he even risked losing his job.

But he couldn't watch this blameless boy torture himself wondering if he might be responsible for his own mother's death.

"Another car ran the lights!" The words were blurted out. He knew that he had to ease the suffering of the boy lying on the hospital bed. Wasn't that a part of his job description? 'To protect and serve' didn't cover half of it.

"Jae Sang?" SeungHyun asked, thoroughly confused. He kept one eye on his little brother: saw how pale he had become; saw how his breath was hitching in his throat; saw how guilt was already eating at him, even though it had never been proven.

"A stolen 4x4 hit their car." Jae Sang answered on a sigh. He knew that he had already crossed the line and so went for the whole nine yards. His punishment couldn't be any more severe for it. He kept talking, before he lost his nerve: "It didn't stop and was found abandoned three miles away – just off the freeway."

SeungHyun sighed and his chin dropped onto his chest. His brother was not to blame. Instead, it was the nameless driver of a stolen 4x4. It was an accident.

He looked at Seungri – intending to offer him a smile, some sort of condolence. But Seungri had his eyes tightly closed. If he was trying to fool them into thinking he was sleeping, it was a very poor effort.

He was trembling, his hands were clenched into fists and tears were trickling down his cheeks, in spite of his tightly closed eyes. SeungHyun’s heart broke for him as he realised that Seungri had not yet been given the time to properly grieve.

None of them had, in all honesty – and SeungHyun genuinely feared the dawn of the next day. That was when they would all have to put the blame and doubts behind them. That was when they would have to start making plans for their mother’s funeral.

He perched on the edge of the bed and looked at Jae Sang.

"Is there anything else?" he asked, tiredly.

Jae Sang closed his notebook and put it back in his pocket. Even if there was anything else, then it would wait. The brothers needed to rest.

He stood up and shook his head, wishing them both good luck on that count.

"Jae Sang, thank you." SeungHyun stood up and shook the cop's hand, walking to the door with him.

"It's not done with yet," Jae Sang warned him, sincerely. They both looked back towards Seungri. "They'll be some more questions."

"I know," SeungHyun admitted. "But thank you anyway." Then he firmly closed the door. He wanted to talk to Seungri but when he turned back towards the bed, his brother was doing a pretty good imitation of sleeping.

SeungHyun ran his fingers through his hair and wondered what he should do. He could go and track down his dad and see if there were any new developments; he could force Seungri to wake up – if he was even sleeping – and talk some more; he could grill Jae Sang for more details on the mystery stolen 4x4.

But he did none of those things. Instead, he settled himself as comfortably as possible into a hard backed plastic chair – and waited.

He suspected that it wouldn't be a long wait and, mere minutes later, he was proved right.

"SeungHyun hyung? I need to know…" Seungri’s voice was hesitant, faltering. "How did mom… How did it happen?"

SeungHyun had known that Seungri wouldn't be sleeping, but he wished with all of his heart that he didn't have to face this conversation. He was instantly transported back to the morgue – and the memory of staring down at his mother's serene, lifeless face.

There had hardly been a mark on her – at least, not that he could see. There was some bruising down one side of her face; more around her hairline. And there were miniscule cuts, caused by broken glass – some of which still glistened in her brown hair.

"Massive head and spinal trauma." SeungHyun clearly remembered the words that the coroner had said to him. He just wasn't at all sure that he could repeat them to his brother.

"Hyung?" The younger man's voice took on a pleading quality.

"Seungri, she was…" Pronounced dead at the scene. The words were too impersonal, but there was no way he could sugar-coat what had happened. How did you find the right words to describe death? All that he had was the truth. "She had severe head injuries."

Seungri sighed heavily and closed his eyes again. The tears refused to leave him alone for any length of time.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Then his voice broke and he choked on a sob.

SeungHyun sat bolt upright when he heard the words – alarmed, but somehow not overly surprised. "It wasn't your fault!" But even as he spoke the words, he knew that they were bound to fall on deaf ears.

Seungri’s next words proved him right again: "Dad seems to think so."

"No, he doesn't!" SeungHyun knew that it was not his place to put words into their father's mouth – but he couldn't sit idly by and watch his brother suffer. "Dad's just shocked and upset and… and grieving." Now his own tears threatened to surface. "We're all grieving…"

The two brothers' eyes met and locked and each saw the intense sadness reflected in the other. Seungri might have been a little bit closer to their mom than him – but that didn't make the older boy's grief any less profound.

"I think I miss her already." Seungri’s vibrant hazel eyes shone more brightly through his tears.

"Yeah." SeungHyun’s own voice was thick with emotion. But he still couldn't let go of those emotions. There was still a hefty dose of guilt lurking in his brother's expressive features. He saw it as his job to make it go away. "But it wasn't your fault, Seungri. You have to understand that."

"But dad…" Self-recrimination, fuelled by his dad’s words and actions, had taken a firm hold.

"You have to forget about what dad said, Seungri." SeungHyun implored. "He was angry – but not at you. He was just lashing out, that's all." He vividly remembered the ugly scene and sought some way to justify their dad’s actions to himself, before he could even consider trying to explain them to his brother. "It wasn't your fault. Dad knows that – but he's just… He's not thinking too clearly right now." It sounded lame, even to his own ears, but it was all that he had.

Seungri clearly didn't buy it either – but he didn't immediately refute what SeungHyun had said. Instead, he leant back against the pillows and closed his eyes again.

"What would you have done?" The question was barely audible. "When mom dropped her phone, what would you have done?"

At that moment, SeungHyun realised just was a wonderful and useless thing hindsight was. He knew exactly what should have been done – what might have saved their mother's life. He also knew that the 'right thing' wasn't necessarily what he would have done; or anybody else in Seungri’s position for that matter.

The answer was to pull over; to stop the car and wait until the cellphone had been retrieved and the seatbelt put back on. But SeungHyun couldn't honestly say that that was what he would have done – no matter how glaringly obvious it seemed after the event.

"Nothing." He answered the question with absolute honesty. "I'd have done the same as you, Seungri. I'd have kept on driving."

He wanted to explain further; wanted to elucidate that their mother was an adult and, as such, was responsible for her own actions. He wanted to do everything in his power to take some of the blame away from his brother's tormented soul. "Mom should have…" he began.

It was as though Seungri read his mind – because a look of keen distress suddenly swept across his features. "Don't, Hyung," he pleaded softly. "Don't make it mom's fault."

"That's not what I was doing." The accusation stung – and SeungHyun wondered how he was ever supposed to handle this right when it seemed that everywhere he turned there were eggshells. He opted for simple, brutal facts: "It was a stolen car running a red light, Seungri! That's what it was. That's whose fault it was!"

He studied Seungri carefully as his brother head nodded tiredly. He wasn't convinced that he really had got through to his brother, but he wasn't at all sure what else he could say. Their father seemed convinced that this was a part of Arashi’s plot for revenge – but SeungHyun had yet to see any evidence that it was anything but an accident.

As much as he wanted to help Seungri, he didn't want to cloud the issue with accusations that might prove to be totally unfounded. Their father might have done enough damage in that department already.

Looking at Seungri’s body language, it was clear that the young man still had things weighing heavily on his mind. SeungHyun wondered exactly what they were – and how he could draw his brother out when he seemed to be gradually withdrawing from him.

He wondered if, maybe, it was time to take a break; to let Seungri try and get some rest – as if that was going to be even remotely possible – and maybe try again when they had both had time to step back and take stock of everything.

It seemed like a good plan and, heaven knew, SeungHyun was feeling an almost overwhelming need to close his eyes and get some sleep himself. Even though it was still early, he could feel exhaustion – fuelled by his extreme emotions – threatening to cascade over him. But clearly, Seungri wasn't ready to let go just yet.

"You know, I want to believe you." Seungri kept his eyes squeezed tightly closed as he spoke – in serious danger of losing his constant battle against his tears. "I want to believe it was just an accident. But …" His voice wavered and the tears won out. "If it wasn't my fault, why can't I remember?"

"Because you have a concussion!" That one, at last, was easy to answer. "Seungri, you've been through a lot. Your head injury, the shock, you know that they're all contributing factors in this."

Seungri didn't look convinced; didn't even open his eyes. So SeungHyun leant forwards and grasped his hand.

"You will remember," he said, genuinely believing that he was speaking the truth. "Just give it some time."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Vacation........vacation.........vacation.........I need it.......pleaseeee mom.........