Chapter 29.
The Florist.{Edit}
(Back and fro, four years.)
Five boys and one girl walked up a slope.
Towards a familiar area they had began coming every month.
Nothing had changed except for the season. It was a lovely day in May, just as Spring was slowly melting into Summer. They were dressed in their best clothes, holding different bouquet of flowers in their hands, walking to meet one special person. They boys, or more correctly, the men, had different expressions on their face.
A worried one.
A happy one.
A joyful one.
A sorrow one.
And one with no expression at all.
The girl was already holding back her tears even though they had only just reached. They'd stopped in front of a grave and all went down to place their flowers beside the tombstone. And just like before, instead of standing like logs of wood, they sat down on the ground, but not knowing what to say at all. Only the two happy and joyful man were really happy to see the person in front of them. The others, just trying their best to get rid of the pain in their hearts even though they knew it was impossible.
Ever since that accident four years ago, no one really had a good night sleep without feeling sad. So much had happened within that few seconds that very night where it'd all happened. It shouldn't have happened at all.
They came every month to see him, coming everywhere they were, no matter how busy they were. But not everyone came every month to see him. But at least a certain three would always come, no matter how late or tired they were. And only one person would come as and when he felt like as well, more than the others. No matter how busy he was, no matter how unfree he truly was, no matter what important thing was scheduled that day, he would ask his secretary to block out that day every month.
But he'd never stated the reason.
What he was doing and what happens to the company was two different matter that would never be joined together. No one in his company knew what he was doing on the ninth of every month either.
They looked at one another, not knowing where to begin. But then the joyful started talking. Ever since that accident, coming back to see the photo in front of them was their only hope. The only thing he'd believe could save the aching feeling in his heart. He started talking to him like an old who he had hardly seen for a long while. And soon, everyone started talking to him as well, brightly and happily, as if they were forgetting the pain they were experience in their hearts.
Even if it was just for a tiny while.
After a few hours, they stood up to leave. They were running late in their agenda and had one more place to visit. Looking back at the phoot, they saw the face of the boy they had been dreaming to meet just once and prayed from the bottom of their hearts for good things to happen soon. For good and fair things to happen to the person they all loved. And before they walked away, they turned back one more time and bid him goodbye.
It had been four years.
"Annyeong Sungjongie!"
//Ding-ding-ding.
A handsome man stood up from behind the counter and bowed. He said a happy wecome and tilted his head from left to right. The two male customers thought his actions were weird, but they said nothing at all. Walking towards the counter, they quickly asked for what they needed and waited for their bouquets to be given to them.
But after ten minutes and the flowers weren't ready yet, the customers got impatient and looked towards the tall employee who was still picking the flowers. They thought he was being lazy and slow and started getting angry at him. But just as they were about to yell at the Florist, they saw he was only starting to tie the flowers together in a bouquet, and they realized what he was doing was really very weird.
The Florist was feeling his way with the flowers, touching the flowers over and over again to sort of reconfirm the position of the flowers. Then, he took a random piece of colourful wrapping paper and wrapped it up with a ribbon. He was slowly at picking the flowers, but his wrapping was pretty quick. Therefore after two minutes, he held out the flowers for the two customers to collect.
The funny thing however, was that he was holding out the flowers in the exact opposite direct where the customers were. There and there, they finally guessed what was wrong with the Florist. They decided to trick him, and told him the money was already on the counter when they didn't put anything at all. So much for wasting their time, they intend to make him waste his time too.
The Florist who had no idea what was going on, thanked them and started touching the counter top, but was unable to find any money there. They then purposely dropped a small fifty won coin on the floor and told him he had knocked the money onto the floor. The florst said his thanks readily and went on the floor to look for it. But in truth, again, there wasn't any money on the floor too. They had picked up the coin even before the Florist went on his knees to find it.
They snickered at him and walked out of the store. Heartless creatures they were, they didn't realized five extremely angry and pissed off guys standing at the entrance of the store, and saw everything. They were mad, furious almost that the girl could see the steam smoking out of their heads. But she was angry as well. How dare those guys humilate their friend like that. As the two customers left thr store, the oldest out of the five men yelled for them to come back this instant. The youngest two held onto and pulled them back.
The oldest one then held onto both their shirt collars and brought them close to his small eyes. The customers were shocked at first, but at the man's rude actions, they tried getting away but failed.
"What do you think you're doing, trying to rob off a helpless man? You disgust me."
They looked at him with guilt as the disgust in the oldest man's voice was overwhelming. The second oldest then took out both of the customer's wallet and took out the necessary amount of money for the flowers and threw their wallet back to them on the floor. Sadly, the oldest had already caught something in the wallet and smirked before letting the two customers go.
"You worked for the Lee Corp?"
"Y-Yes.."
"Consider yourselves fired then. I don't hire theives and weaklings."
The two of them were extremely shocked to see their CEO standing in front of them. How could they not recognized him? But then they realized the CEO had hardly left his office unless it was time to go back. They quickly took their wallets and flowers and ran away before more trouble could come to them. The middlest man tried to calm them all down and told them the Florist was still on the floor. He hadn't heard anything from the commotion outside and was still trying to look for the money for the flowers.
He kneeled upright and frowned when he couldn't feel anything at all. He then felt a pair of hands pulling him up and pushing the money to his hands. The Florist took a whiff of the cologne from the man beside him and smiled before hugging him.
"Myungsoo you're here! When did you come back? Is everyone else with you?"
If there had been normal customers in the store, they would have thought the Florist's question was weird and redundant. The other people he was talking about was standing right in front of him. But the other guys weren't bothered by that question and started saying hello one by one. Lastly a higer-pitched voice was heard and the Florist rushed foward towards the voice and hugged the person.
"Yvonne is that you too? It's been long!"
He hugged Dongwoo.
The Florist was puzzled at first and asked why Yvonne had grown slightly taller and so much more bulkier. Dongwoo smacked the man on the shoulder and told him he wasn't Yvonne. The girl laughed out loud from the side. Everyone laughed in fact. Their Florist was still the most energetic and happy one even after everything that had happened to him.
It was so unfair for him.
Why?
Because it was just too unfair.
Lee Sungyeol was blind now.
{Flashback - Four Years Ago.}
Sungyeol collasped in Nana's arms after that horrible loud bang.
He had no signs of waking up even though Nana was constantly screaming and shaking him up. That was then she noticed the blood coming out from the back of his head and she immediately screamed for Woohyun. The Doctor was struck numb. In fact, everyone was other than the police. They'd tried recovering the chairman's and Sungyeol's body but was stopped again and thrown out by Sunggyu. He told them to leave and pretended nothing happened. The chairman was no longer the business of the police.
They protested.
But Sunggyu threatened he would tell the Inspector's supervisior where he got all those wonderful information that he could kiss his promotion good bye. The Inspector hissed at Sunggyu, but didn't dare go against the First Leader. Sunggyu's anger was boiling to the brim. Yet he could only take revenge out on the chairman. He threw everything he could find at the police and yelled for them to get lost.
No one stopped him, they were all too shocked at what had happened still.
Sungyeol was shot at the back of his head.
He was bleeding profusely and Nana was still screaming for Woohyun to help them. Woohyun couldn't move even though Nana was screaming at him again. He thought back of how he couldn't save Sungjong, and how he was watching Sungjong's older brother slowly dying in front of him. He couldn't allow that, he couldn't watch Sungyeol leave them.
Not Sungyeol.
Immediately, he called Hoya to help him and L to grab a clean sheet of bedsheet from the bedroom and laid it on the ground. He told Dongwoo to take Nana away and for L call the ambulance before going to check on Sunggyu. Woohyun quickly took something out and injected it into Sungyeol's body, some sort of a serum that could slow Sungyeol's bleeding for now. After that, he took a look at the back of Sungyeol's head.
The bullet was shot into Sungyeol's head and Woohyun took a pair of scissor and slowly cut Sungyeol's hair out of the way to have a clearer look at the wound. Quickly, he cleaned the wound to minimize the dirt and stop the bleeding. Because once the bleeding stops, there was hope.
There was still hope.
In the kitchen, L watched as Sunggyu took the remains of the GreenFire's boss body into the kitchen and brutally hurt him. He was unstoppable. And the chairman proved to be tougher than he looked. He managed to last five minutes of Sunggyu's torturing before finally spitting blood at Sunggyu's face and laugh.
"I wanted to destroy his life by making him miserable. But that wasn't enough, anybody close to him is going to suffer. Because I know his importance to all of you. Sungyeol would be sad if that little was gone, but all of you would be devastated if Sungyeol was gone. Is that genius and smart enough for you !"
He had caused it again. Like for Sungjong, he had caused death and made everyone suffer like before.
"If I can't have him, no one can!"
Sunggyu was about to hit the chairman one more time when someone beat him to it. L had heard everything the chairman said after calling the ambulance. He ran forward and punched the chairman hard. One for Sungjong. One for Sungyeol. For all the harm he had caused to the people who had unconditionally loved and helped him. He was crying because of the man in front of him. He totally hated him. And the chairman laughed one more time before coughing a large amount of blood and finally dying on the kitchen floor.
Sunggyu started calling someone on the phone. And as he was about to put down the phone call and asked about Sungyeol, the ambulance arrived. The both of them rushed out to the living room and saw the paramedics carrying Sungyeol onto the back of the ambulance van, Woohyun and Nana following them in the van as well. Sunggyu heard Woohyun yelling at him to drive the other kids to the hospital and that he would he would meet there.
He ambulance sped off.
Yet the last look on Woohyun's face worried all of them.
They raced and got into the car quickly. Woohyun too the wheel and drove like he never did. The dear in everyone's mind was so real and they were really afraid. Very very afraid.
they reached the hopsital ten minutes later and they were four minutes behind the ambluance. Thankfully, it was the middle of the night when the fight happened and there weren't much traffic on the road. When they reached the hospital, they rushed to the information counter and Sunggyu actually yelled to the receptionist for directions. To where Lee Sungyeol was. The nurse was shocked at first and quickly pointed to the surgery room at the end of the right side of the hospital. The boys ran towards the room and saw Nana outside crying to herself.
She was actually in another room getting herself checked, but she told the doctor she was fine and ran out without another word to find Sungyeol. She had just reached the room a few seconds ago and had begged the nurse to let her in. But they refused. That was an impossible request.
Sunggyu saw her and asked her how was Sungyeol.
The only relief she gave them was that Sungyeol was still alive when they got her.
When asked where Woohyun was, Nana told them he had went with Sungyeol after having a short debate with the doctor on shift. Sunggyu then tried barging into the surgery room, not caring if he was making a scene or whatever. He wanted to be beside Sungyeol. He felt again, that it was his fault that Sungyeol got shot. If only he had allowed the police to take the insame chairman away, this wouldn't have happened.
He was thinking along Nana though.
If she had left Sungyeol killed the chairman, this wouldn't have happened.
And like before, he was too late. Too late to help his brother again. For the first time time in his life, Sunggyu broke down in tears. Dongwoo, Hoya and L watched in shock because they have never seen Sunggyu cry before.
Sunggyu didn't cry when Sungjong died.
He didn't cry when he saw Hanuel killing herself.
He didn't cry when he watched Dongwoo torture himself for more than a year.
He didn't cry when his saviour died from saving him.
He didn't even cry when his parents abandoned him.
Yet he was crying now. Uncontrollably, begging to enter the sugery room. Begging to let him see Sungyeol. He was kneeling on the floor, his head on the door along with his fist and hands.
"Don't worry Sunggyu oppa, Woohyun would make sure Sungyeol was alright. He will be, he has to be. He will be oppa, don't worry. Don't worry."
It sounded like she was convincing herself than Sunggyu. She was shaking badly too but Sunggyu ignored her. Nothing could calm or comfort him unless he saw Sungyeol face to face. L couldn't bear to watch Nana in so much pain. So he did the only thing he knew could help Nana, even if it was for a little bit. He called Yvonne at three in the morning and told her what had happened.
Twenty minutes later, Yvonne arrived in the hospital wearing her night wear. A sweater along with a tank top and pajamas pants. She had rushed out and took a cab down to the hospital. After asking the receptionist where everyone was, she walked quickly towards them only to find how desperated and tense the area outside the surgery room was. She rushed to Nana's side and hugged her, effectively pushing Hoya out of the way.
Yvonne didn't know fully what had happened.
L had only told her Nana was kidnapped and Sungyeol was injured while trying to save her.
She couldn't do much now. All she could do was to be strong for Nana and L, the two she was closer to. Hoya moved to sit beside L and Dongwoo on the ground, their backs against the sugery room wall. Sunggyu was still kneeling outside the surgery room, refusing to move and praying the hardest ever. He hoped Sungjong could hear him, and help them save his only brother.
Three draning hours felt like three weeks honestly.
And it was already six in the morning.
The sun was close to rising, but the faces on the guys' face hadn't changed one bit. They were still worried and scared for their friend and brother. L had cried several times in between the hours and went to hide himself away from the rest. Hoya was just letting out loud sighs that felt annoying after a while. But no one bothered to stop him, the man had to destress in some ways too. Dongwoo was fidgeting as usual, but more than usual too.
Thankfully, after three hours of that, the surgery doors opened and everyone immediately got up and ran towards the doctor. The surgeon and Woohyun were coming out together and talking to one another too. The surgeon asked for the families of the patient to see him in the office. Everyone walked with him except for nana and Yvonne.
They weren't his family.
As much as Nana wanted to know how Sungyeol was, she had to wait.
But Woohyun bent down and held both of the girls' hands and pulled them along with him. He checked Nana's wound first and told her she was the girl Sungyeol loves. Of course she could come along with Yvonne. the smile on Nana's smile widened and she quickly limped towards the surgeon's office. At exactly that moment however, Woohyun wondered if what he had done was the right thing.
Although he didn't specialized in neuropsychology, he knew how the surgeon's works and he quickly walked into the office as well. Everyone was waiting for him and Hoya offered his seat to Nana, who thought, other than the obvious fact that her leg was injured and she needed to sit, she might also faint from whatever news the surgeon was about to deliver them.
The surgeon started explaining Sungyeol's condition the moment Woohyun walked in, he didn't want to prolong the patient's family's pain. It was the first time he had seen a family with five other brothers and two sisters. He was about to ask them if they were truly the patient's family when Sunggyu shot him down and asked him to quickly tell them how Sungyeol was doing. The doctod bit his lips and sighed before explaining with a heavy heart.
"The patient isn't dead-"
Everyone heaved a huge sigh of relief.
Until the doctor continued where he left off.
"-thankfully. And maybe I should begin with that."
Everyone waited.
"The patient was shot at a close range. Juding from the position of the bullet, he was shot from a upwards angle. And because the distance was too close, the bullet was deeper at the back of his head. It was really fortunate the bullet didn't shot through his head. We've tried out best and have retrieved the bullet out along with stopping the bleeding."
The surgeon had his first smile.
"I have to say the patient must have some sort of a guardian angel, because it was very rare to survive with a bullet in his head for so long. However, due to the force of the shot, the bullet hurt the front part of the brain in the cerebrum. I'm sorry to say this. But the patient is blind."
The defending silence in the room was hurting them.
They had no idea silence could feel this painful to their ears.
"However, thankfully, his other senses are perfectly fine. But like I've said. From this day onwards, he won't be able to see anything, anymore."
The doctor left his office after, saying he needed to check on Sungyeol while letting them have a moment to themselves to accept that news. At first, they were all so happy and relieved that Sungyeol was alive. They thanked Sungjong about a million times in their hearts. But when they heard he was blind now, all colours that had finally returned to their faces were now drained. How could Sungyeol be blind?
Sunggyu then asked Woohyun if there was any chance Sungyeol might hurt from this injury. And even though he wished he could change the answer and the lives of his problem, Woohyun had no choice but to shake his head. The part in Sungyeol's cerebrum was badly injried that there wasn't any way for Sungyeol to recover other than surgical. However, he did give them hope that they needed to make sure Sungyeol was awake and recovering before checking again. And only Woohyun heard the surgeon telling them Sungyeol needed to be kept in the hospital for more than a month to check and keep track of his condition.
The surgeon came back a few seconds later to inform them where Sungyeol would be situated at. In the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on the fouth floor and in room 467. He left quickly too, unable to handle the tears that were pouring in his room. Nana was crying badly while Yvonne was sobbing beside her. L's expressionless again from shock. But tears slowly rolled down his handsome face when he heard his best friend turning blind.
Everyone was crying, their tears flowing down furiously. How did such a terrible thing happen to someone so precious and caring as Sungyeol. It was so unfair. Too unfair for Sungyeol and them all. Sunggyu had stopped crying, he wasn't going to cry anymore. In fact, he got up from his seat and walked towards the door, intending to leave the surgeon's room.
Woohyun asked where he was going and Sunggyu easily said he was going to see Sungyeol. He said he needed to be beside Sungyeol if not he would suffocate and go crazy. Woohyun realized a long time ago that Sungyeol was very important to Sunggyu. But it was only there and then did he realized why Sungyeol was the only person who could calm their oldest brother down.
Because Sungyeol was the first brother who was always there for Sunggyu. Being the Second Leader did make them close to one another, in one way or another. Woohyun always thought Sunggyu was just helping the other kids because he wanted to. But Sunggyu would go all out for the two brothers. Now he knew, Sungyeol meant more to Sunggyu than of them because Sungyeol was just like Sunggyu. A broken family, a horrible sad past, and was forced to join a gang not because they wanted to, and they both tried helping everyone they could.
They were so alike.
And Woohyun felt so blind for not noticing it before.
He followed Sunggyu out and led him towards the right way to Sungyeol's ward. Everyone followed suit. There was no point in crying and getting hurt in the surgeon's office. They wanted to see Sungyeol. Only seeing Sungyeol could calm their mind and hearts. When they reached the fourth floor, they were told no one was bale to enter the room as Sungyeol needed absolute quietness and peace to recover.
Nana finally broke down and sank to the floor when she saw Sungyeol inside the ICU, his head all bandaged up and his face paled. It was all her fault she thought. If only she hadn't stopped sungyeol, if only she had pulled Sungyeol away, all these wouldn't have happened. Everyone watched as Nana hurt herself with her mind and cried badly.
She was obviously blaming herself.
If only she hadn't noticed Sungyeol, if only she hadn't wished they were friends, if only she hadn't come close to Sungyeol in the first place, this wouldn't have happened. If only she hadn't spent so much time with him, if only she dind't enjoy herself so much when she was with him, if only she hadn't felt so happy when she was with him, all these wouldn't have happened.
Unknown to herself, she had said everything out. And they realized one big thing.
Nana loved Sungyeol just like how he had loved her. It was horrible to watch, to witness something so precious getting all messed up. They let Nana cry till her tears went dry, and yet then, they still didn't know what to do. But one person did.
Jang Dongwoo sat down beside Nana and took her hands to place over his. She looked up and saw Dongwoo smiling kindly at her.
"Don't cry anymore. Looking at the good side, your care and love for Sungyeol is probably the best news we've heard all day. It's going to be the best news for Sungyeol as well. Don't you know why Sungyeol saved you? Because you meant just as much to him as he is to you. I know I shouldn't say this to you since it isn't from Sungyeol's own lips, but that man laying inside there right now loves you. He loves you unconditionally and probably more."
Dongwoo let Nana cry in his chest.
This little sister of his has so much more to learn.
"I only knew Sungyeol for a short while. But as far as I know, Sungyeol's the kind of guy who'll love someone and one only for the rest of his life. And that someone is you. Don't break his heart by crying outside his ward, he isn't dead and we should be happy for that. And don't break your own soul by torturing yourself like this. If you really love our Sungyeol, which I believe fully you do, you should think of ways to help him instead of sitting here and mourn as if Sungyeol's gone. He's not, always rememeber that. He's alive. And that's the most important thing, isn't it?"
Nana thanked Dongwoo who was gently the top of her head right now. Nana knew Dongwoo was speaking from experience. And she chose not to say anything. That moment was important to her. Because she was determined. More determined than anything she had ever done. She was determined to help Sungyeol get back his eyesight. She was willing to do anything for him to recover.
"I swear. I would get Sungyeol's eyesight back no matter what.
Because I love him so much. I'll do anything, anything for him."
However, just three weeks after Sungyeol woke up.
Nana left him.
She left her best friend.
Left the family she had came to leave.
Leaving nothing behind but a short note that she was leaving the country and a quick apology. It broke Yvonne's heart. The guys' too. And more specifically and especially.
Nana broke Sungyeol's heart.
{Edit} One more chapter for the day later on; hope everyone enjoyed it. xoxo.
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