The three guys and Amber walked down the dimly lit hallway until they reached the end and turned to face the apartment door. Kris fumbled around for his keys, trying to hide the embarrassment he felt. Suho's howling laughter seemed to get louder with each step they took, and it even reached a point where he no longer sounded human as he stepped through the open door. On the contrary, the taller friend beside him just stood there, getting paler by the second. Kris felt sick all over again, and all he wanted to do was crawl back into bed and hide himself beneath his heavy blankets. The embarrassment he felt seemed to escalate even further when Suho grabbed the ruined bag on the floor and burst into a new fit of laughter.

            Amber's toes immediately curled up as she faced her ruined bag. "Oh dear lord, please don't tell me it's that bad," She let out a low groan when Suho zipped up the maroon coloured bag and handed it to her by the strap.

            "Oh, trust me, it is that bad. Kris's puke is everywhere in that bag," Suho explained, grinning at Kris when he sheepishly looked down to the ground. "Not to worry though, a small wash would do the trick." Suho tried to hide the laughter that was building at the pit of his stomach and smiled sweetly at the girl. Amber's head hung low as she let out another groan. At the sound of her distress, Kris looked up and mentally killed himself about fifty times for getting too drunk last night.

            At an attempt to get back at Suho for humiliating him further than necessary, Kris jumped into the conversation, "How would you know, Suho? I doubt you even know how to wash your own clothes. I mean, for god's sake, you come over every week to tell me to wash it for you." Henry nodded in agreement as he remembered the numerous times the younger man came over to ask Kris for help.

            "Hey, D.O. never does it for me, so you're my go-to person," Suho countered defensively. "Besides, you never say no." He flashed Kris one of his winner smiles and turned to Henry, who was staring thoughtfully at the wall behind Amber.

            "If it makes you feel any better, I'll buy you a new bag if you want," Henry said softly, breaking out of his trance. But Amber just looked up at the taller boy and gave him a horrified look—to which Henry responded with, "What? I mean, it's not like it's a Louis Vuitton bag." Amber continued to stare at Henry, but this time, her eyes were filled with curiosity.

            "Henry," she began, holding both his wrists between her small hands. "You've only spent one day with me an—" Amber was cut short by Suho, who was standing across from the two of them.

            "Yeah, but that one day was spent in your bed." The smirking friend winked at Henry once more and continued to ignore Amber's loudening protests—which came to a stop when a tired voice filled with regret butted in.

            "Amber, give me the bag. I'll wash it and even repay you if you're not happy with it afterwards. I'm really sorry," Kris watched Amber's delicate fingers tighten around the handle of the limp bag. The tallest of the four stood there awkwardly, confusion seeping into his eyes.

            "It's okay, I can handle it." Guilt weaved through Kris's system as he noticed her eyes go hard, seeming almost lifeless. Henry gently squeezed her shoulders as a way to try and comfort her, but she just shook him off. Both Kris and Suho shot Henry a questioning look but the young man could only return a small shrug, not knowing what was wrong either.

            Just as the silence was bordering an uncomfortable feeling, Amber decided to relieve them of their curiosity when she noticed three pairs of worried eyes staring back at her. "My mom made me that bag. She had the exact same one." The girl smiled gently, going back to the simpler days of her youth, back to when she had no worries—no hatred. But most importantly, back to when she was free.

            "Hey, I'm sure your mom wouldn't mind," Henry murmured softly as his face appeared through her blurred vision. It was only when Henry touched her wet cheek that she noticed she had been crying. She used the last bit of energy she had to give the boy in front of her a sad smile. Kris began to offer a suggestion but Henry noticed his friend's mouth start to open and shook his head slowly, hoping that the girl in his arms wouldn't notice. Though Amber's vision remained blurry, she caught Kris's movements. Her sad smile turned cold in an instant.

            "She's dead," Amber managed to croak out through her dry lips. Henry's grip around her tightened, and the smaller girl gladly melted into his arms as the room fell silent.

* * *

Kris couldn't think of any other time where he would've been as grateful to have Xiumin call him, yelling at him through the other side of the line.

            "When I see you, you are so ing dead. Do you know how late you are? I don't even know how a person manages to be five ing hours late—even if they were hung over," Kris didn't even bother to try and explain why he got held up, all he could do was take in all the insults the older friend threw at him. He wanted somebody to yell at him, and since Amber couldn't, Xiumin was the perfect example of what he needed.

            Just as Xiumin was nearing the end of his long lecture, he noticed Kris hadn't said a single word besides a hello when he first picked up. Feeling slightly bad for being too harsh, Xiumin bade farewell and told him he'd see him later.

            When the sounds on the other side of the line finally cut off, Kris sighed and pulled his jacket closer to his body. He had noticed he'd been sighing a lot more often in the past few weeks. Looking up at the grey sky, Kris slowed his pace and paid more attention to the icy parts covering most of the sidewalk.

            Kris thought back to when Amber announced that her mother had passed. Why did she feel the need to tell us? But that wasn't the part that bothered him the most. It was the cold stare she had given him afterwards—her piercing gaze just above Henry's shoulder. Why? His train of thought suddenly broke when he heard his phone ring. He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, trying to pull his phone out of his pocket and almost slipped from the ice beneath him in the process if doing so.

            "Xiumin, I'm almost there," Kris started, but failed to finish when the news was delivered to him. His breath got caught in his lungs as his mind completely shut off. Once he found his voice again, he quickly replied with a short, "Yes, thank you. I'm on my way." Dizziness wrapped around his head and threatened to take him under again. Even with that aside, the sick feeling at the pit of his stomach grew with each step he took, because he knew that the person on the other side of the line was not Xiumin—it was a doctor.

* * *

Darkness covered her mind as she fell in and out of consciousness each time. Her mind tried to grasp around the image of the woman standing in front of her, but her body screamed in agony each time she tried to move. She wanted to speak, but the tape slapped across her lips concealed her pleads for help. She was, without a doubt, hopeless.

            The woman towered over the struggling patient at the foot of her bed. A thought flashed through her head, as she wondered how her daughters would feel if they saw this side of her. The dangerous thought quickly fleeted when she saw the struggling figure in the bed fall limp. She paused for a moment and patted her nurses' outfit to neaten the wrinkles that had appeared when she had bent over to add a powder to the bag that flowed into the patient's bloodstream.

            "Oh dear, look at what we have here," the brunette drawled out while gently caressing the older woman's cheek. "I didn't want to do this. I really didn't—well then again, maybe I did. At least your son lives," she said in a sugar coated tone and passed the crying woman a fake smile. "Jinjing, why are you crying? You're the one who started all this." The brunette's stare ran cold and her hand whipped across Jinjing's face, leaving a taunting red mark. She then proceeded to rip the tape off in one swift motion, causing the older woman to wince.

            The pieces fell together, and Jinjing stared back in shock. Fear crawled up her spine as she thought of the one family who wanted her dead. Jinjing's gaze fell upon the brunette once again, this time with disgust plastered all over her face. stung when she spoke, "You're with them, aren't you? Your pathetic family took everything from me—you took him. I loved him," she stopped and took a breath. When the woman overlooking her didn't respond, she broke loose. "I loved him!" The bed shook as she jumped up, trying to grab the nurse's face. The other woman just stared down at her, now in a tangle of tubes and wires. Tears ran down Jinjing's face, because she knew she wouldn't be able to win this fight. Short brown pieces of hair stuck to her wet face, covering the ever present scar trailing from the side of her lip to her ear.

            "You're pathetic. Look at you; do you think I'm afraid of you? Feng should've slashed that glass across your whole face," the towering woman paused and took a moment to run her fingers over the patient's scar. "My name should be no surprise to you—Kim Minhee. Does it ring a bell, Ms. Wu?" The woman in front of her stared back intently, her bold gaze not once faltering. When she didn't respond, Minhee clucked her tongue impatiently. "Does it not bother you that your husband is—sorry, was a murderer? Please, Jinjing, remember that you started this, it was you." Minhee slyly walked towards the side of the bed, her high heels sounding on the ceramic tiles. "By the way, do you ever plan on telling your son the truth?" A wide smile crept upon Minhee's face because she knew she had hit a weak spot in Jinjing when she flinched.

            "What do you want? He's already dead, anyway," Jinjing spat out bitterly, ignoring the comment about her son. Though, the frail body in the hospital bed didn't get a chance to hear her answer because a few moments later, her surroundings became unfocused.

            In the last few seconds before darkness clouded her vision, Jinjing caught the words that escaped Minhee's mouth, "It was you who brought the death of my sister. You ruined my family, so I'm going to destroy yours."

* * *

Kris tried to do everything he could to distract himself from letting his heart jump out of his chest as the elevator reached the designated floor. When the metal doors open, he couldn't help himself from running at full speed down the white hallway, despite the accusing glances bystanders threw at him. Kris's mind was on overdrive as he felt the tears start to well up behind his eyes. No, this can't be happening. Nothing is going to happen to her, I promised her that. I promised her.

            Kris felt the world slowly come to a stop around him when he approached the said room and saw a woman lying limp on the hospital bed. He looked up at the room number to double check if it was the right room. What was happening before his eyes felt surreal to him. He peered through the window beside the door and saw a doctor and a nurse standing at her bedside while checking the tubes and wires connected to her body, noting anything abnormal on their clipboards.

            As reality came crashing back to him, Kris slammed his fist into the door, trying to wrap his hand around the doorknob, which didn't seem to budge no matter how much strength Kris put into twisting it. "Open the damn door!" Kris's voice came out raspy, but loud nonetheless. Other patients and visitors stopped to stare at the tall boy slamming his fists into the hard wood, unable to get the attention of the doctor and nurse beyond the door. Kris continued to bash his fists against the wood, despite the firm grip that had abruptly appeared on his elbows.

            "Sir, please, if you could just wait—" The petite nurse standing beside him stopped in midsentence just as Kris snapped his neck towards her, giving away his bloodshot eyes. The young nurse gasped softly, pity seeping into her own eyes and the grip she had on his arm loosened. Kris yanked his elbow away from her and turned his whole body to face the girl.

            "Wait for what?" Kris raised an eyebrow, venom dripping from his very own words. His eyes seemed to get redder with each sentence. "I have been waiting two goddamn years for my mother to get out of this place. My son of a father—who is now dead, may I add, almost killed her and left her here. He ing left her here. Now I am the one responsible for whatever happens to my mom. She is not going to die," Kris paused to look around the hospital and found every person staring back at him. The young nurse stood there dumbfounded; agape.

            Kris took a deep breath and lowered his voice, "I have waited for the day where my mom could finally step out of that hospital gown. I have waited for the day where she could finally breathe in the morning air. I have waited for the day where my mom could finally be a mom. I have waited every ing day. Those days never came. I am ing done with waiting." The tears silently spilled out, leaving the nurse speechless, almost crying herself.

            Before the nurse could begin to reassure the man standing in front of her—because that's what she was taught to do to a grief stricken family member—the doors to the much anticipated room opened, and a grim looking doctor stepped out.