The last beats pounded through the speakers and faded out. Dripping with perspiration, Eunhyuk walked over to the padded windowsill where I was sitting. I passed him a water bottle and he gratefully accepted. He collapsed next to me and drained half of it in one gulp. 

 

"So what did you think? Pretty cool huh?"

 

He had brought me to the SM practice room and let me watch the band practice their choreography for their comeback. It was kind of like a "take your kid to work" type of thing, but without the boring office job part.

 

For the past week, I had gotten to tag along with him and feel the surface of what it was like to be him. As often as he could, Eunhyuk would take me out and show me the beautiful city of Seoul. Of course, the first thing I wanted to try was the street food, which turned out to be a bad idea. Apparently Korea's perception of spiciness was at a completely different level than America's!! I had spent the rest of the day trying to rinse the dokkbokki sauce off my tongue. After a few days spent with my brother, the awkward feelings wore off, and I think both of us were relieved nothing terrible had happened. Slowly, but surely, we were getting along just fine. 

 

I looked at his expression and could tell he was really expecting a reaction from me. Teasing him, I pretended to think really hard about it and was about to shake my head, when I jumped up and gave him a thumbs up. 

 

"It was totally awesome,"

 

I reassured him as the dissapointed look in his eyes disappeared. 

 

"Ya, how dare you joke around like that!" he said with mock anger.

 

Eunhyuk stood up and tried to embrace me with his sweaty arms, but I ducked and ran to the other side of the practice room. I stuck my tongue out and skipped behind Donghae who was still practicing parts of the dance in front of the wall length mirror. Too focused to notice what was going on, he ignored me as I edged towards him, ready to use him as a shield from Eunhyuk. Eunhyuk stalked over and faked a reach to my left. I laughed and sprinted right as he caught my wrist and pulled me towards him. 

 

"Ew ew eww no!!" I yelped as he hugged me in a sweaty embrace. 

 

"Ugh so gross, the first hug I get from you is like torture,"I grumbled as we walked back to the bench.

 

He just laughed at me and drank the rest of the already half empty water bottle. I was still shaking my head and trying to rub invisible sweat off my jacket when the door opened and Jung Hoon stuck his head through and motioned for me to come. 

 

"Yes?" I asked," Is everything alright?"

 

"I don't know."

 

His expression didn't look too good, in fact, he looked a bit worried. 

 

"What do you mean? What's wrong?"

 

"I got a voice message from your mother..she said to call her as soon as possible and she sounded like it was an emergency."he told me gently.

 

My mom was type to get a bit uptight sometimes, so I brushed this off. She was probably worried that I hadn't called yet today, and who knows what scenarios she had thought up. I still felt bad for not calling sooner, so I reminded myself,

 

"Gotta call mom when I get back. Gotta call mom."

 

I smiled at Jung Hoon and thanked him. I walked back to Eunhyuk and he asked what was wrong. I explained the gist of it and watched him frown in concern. 

 

"You should call back as soon as possible. Maybe something IS wrong..I'll take you back home right now,"

 

he decided as he stood up and pulled on a jacket. It was sweet of him to worry about me so I went along with it. 

 

As soon as we made it past the dorm doors, he handed me his phone and said firmly,

 

"Call."

 

"Alright alright," I said as I typed in the international number.

 

I walked a bit into the dorm and leaned against the side of the hallway, waiting for someone to pick up on the other side of the line. Ring,ring. Ring,ring. Nobody answered and I raised my eyebrows at my brother. Ring, ring. I lowered the phone just as someone picked up and spoke,

 

"Hello?"

 

"Ah mom? Hey..so you left a message with Jung Hoon.."

 

"Mia? Oh Mia thank god!! I've been so..oh honey.. There's been–" she bursted into sobs.

 

Shocked, I raised my voice and blurted,"Momma? Mom? What's going on?! Momma?"

 

"There's been.. Something's happened honey, I'm so sorry.. But your dad.."

 

"Dad? Is he okay?! Mom please what's happening?!"

 

A hot tear trickled down the side of my face, but I didn't notice. My mother's voice shook and I could hear her taking deep raspy breaths before letting it out. 

 

"Your fathers had a heart attack."

 

I collapsed onto the floor. Panic gripped my heart and I clutched the phone to my ear like it was my lifeline. I felt like the wall I was leaning against was crumbling around me, my ribs were crushing my lungs, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think—

 

"No, no! What..but..he..he's fine right? Right? Tell me everything is fine-"

 

"He's alive, and he just stabilized, we're in the hospital..oh honey, I wish that this would all be a dream."she sighed through her tears,"I think..I think it's for the best if you stay in Korea for now." 

 

"What?! No. I want to–no, I need to– come home! I need to come home and see dad!! I'll get on the next plane, anything, just please bring me home!" I cried.

 

But despite all my arguing, I knew that she wasn't going to budge. 

 

"Things are going to be difficult and stressful here Mia, and it would be better if you stayed with your brother. It's alright, it's alright, everything is going to be fine,"she reassured, but I shook my head violently as if she could see me. 

 

"Mia. Listen to me. Please, listen. Everything is going to be okay over here, and dad will be okay. I promise. Mia, I know it's hard but.. Stay in Korea. I want you to—"

 

I clicked the red "hang up" button and placed the phone on the hardwood floor as I curled up into a ball. I heard his footsteps fall and stop close to me. As he bent down, I swiped the tears off my face and tried to compose myself. I hated crying in front of people, even if he was my family. Turning my face away, I slid the phone in his direction. He ignored it and hesitantly put his arms around my shoulders. Tears threatened to spill but I bit the inside of my cheek and blinked furiously. I didn't move closer to him. Slowly, he pulled me into an embrace and patted my back. That did it. I wrapped my arms around his neck and sobbed even though I could feel him stiffen as my tears dripped onto his sweater. Eunhyuk awkwardly rubbed my back as I cried and a small part of me felt grateful but another part regretted letting someone see me cry and show weakness. 

 

*Eunhyuk POV* 

 

She collapsed in the hallway still gripping my phone with a tight fist. I could tell the strange conversation was over because she no longer spoke in frantic English, but instead curled up in a tight ball. Leaning over, I could tell she was crying by the way her back heaved with her sobs.

 

What do I do?!

 

Should I leave her alone to cry?

 

Or should I comfort her?

 

I didn't have much experience with sad crying girls, but I thought if it were me, I would probably want someone who witnessed me collapsing to show some sign of comfort. I slowly padded over to where she lay on the floor. She shifted away from me and wiped her tears, pretending she was fine, even when her red swollen eyes and starting to run nose obviously contradicted the lie. I didn't know what to do, but I knew I had to do something. Gingerly, I placed my arm around her shoulders and I felt her melt under the touch. As I pulled her closer, she began to cry again and I thought,

 

"Crap. I'm hugging my crying sister. What am I supposed to do?!?!"

 

Maybe being a brother wasn't going to be as easy as I thought.