Doojoon’s POV

“Mianhae.”  I sighed softly.  “I can’t do this.”  I walked out of the room without further notice.

I simply couldn’t do it.   Not after what happened before.

“Oppa, I’ll come watch you in the talent show!”  She exclaimed.

“Are you sure?”  I asked.  “I won’t be able to pick you up that day though, since I’ve got rehearsal.  Mom's got work too.”

“Then I’ll just go by myself.  I’m 14 oppa.  I think I can go to places by myself.”

“Okay…” I said with a bit of uncertainty.  “But you have to be careful.  You’re my only sister, I can’t lose you.”

“I will!”  She promised me with a bright smile on her face.

That was the last time I’ve seen that smile.  I sat on the concrete steps in front of my house.

Aerin’s POV

“I’m sorry.  Did I say something wrong?”  I was worried I might have somehow made Doojoon upset.

The rest of the group turned away, yet Yoseob’s eyes met mine.

“Doojoon’s little sister died 2 years ago.”  Yoseob slowly explained everything to me.  “Doori wanted to watch Doojoon in the talent show, but he couldn’t pick her up that day, so she wanted to walk to the show.  On the way, Doori was hit by a drunken truck driver.  Doojoon found out about the news the moment he had to go on the stage, but he ran to the hospital right away without even performing, only to discover his sister could not be rescued.  Ever since the incident, Doojoon couldn’t let go of his belief that it was his fault Doori died.  He never entered another show.”

I didn’t know what to say.  I felt responsible for bring up Doojoon’s sad memories of the past.  I didn’t mean to upset him.  Really!  What can I do now?  I finally stood up from my seat.

“Where are you going?”  Yoseob asked.

“Apologizing.”  I ran up the stairs, and didn’t even bother to wait for the guys’ reactions.

After searching in the living room, kitchen, and the back yard, I found Doojoon on the front steps of his house.

“Doojoon-shi?”  My nervous voice broke out.

I didn’t want to disturb him if he didn’t want to see me, and I definitely did not want to upset him again with my words.  I decided to process what I’m going to say before it came out of my mouth.  He did not answer to my call.

“Mianhapnida.”  I sat down beside him underneath the warm sun.  “I didn’t know your sister d-” Before I finished, I felt that it was best if I didn’t mention ‘died’.  “Um… passed away.  I didn’t mean to upset you.”

No reply.

“The talent show- it was simply a suggestion, since I thought you guys can sing so well, you should try out for the talent show.”

Silence.

“I guess you’re feeling bothered.  I’ll leave you alone, but I just wanted to apologize for upsetting you.”  After I said my apologies, I was about to turn around to go back in the house, but Doojoon’s voice stopped me.

“Don’t go.”  He finally spoke.  “It’s okay.  You didn’t mean it.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“Doori really meant a lot to me.  I’ve always been very protective over her, because I felt it was my job to protect my little sister from any kind of harm.  But I guess I wasn’t a very good big brother.  She got hurt, and I couldn’t do anything.”

“It wasn’t your fault.  You never expected it to happen.”  I sat down next to him.

“But if I took time off from my rehearsal, then I could have picked her up from school, and we could have gone to the talent show together.  That way, the incident wouldn’t have happened.”  Doojoon’s voiced seemed like it was about to crack.  His words broke into pieces.

“You can’t go around preventing all the incidents that are going to happen.  If something was meant to happen, no matter how hard you try to prevent it, it WILL eventually happen.”

“But I-” He looked up, just when I cut him off.

“But nothing!”  I was getting irritated that he continued to blame himself.  “Listen, you couldn’t protect Doori for life.  She eventually had to learn how to fly by herself, without using you as her wings.”

I stood in front of Doojoon as he looked me in the eyes.

“You did your best, and that’s all it matters.  Doori wouldn’t want to see you like this right now, taking all the blame for an accident.  She wants you to happy.  Can you at least do that for her?”

Doojoon’s head drooped back down, acting silent for a moment.  “You know, you show some resemblance of my little sister.”  His head bounced back up with a hint of smile on his face.

My cheeks blushed as he got up too and looked down on me.  “When I first saw you, you reminded me a lot of Doori.  That’s why I didn’t want to see you or talk to you as much; because I was scared the memories of her will come flooding back to me.”  Doojoon pulled me in for a tight hug.

“I-” I didn’t know what to say.  The mystery that had been haunting me finally revealed itself.  It wasn’t that Doojoon didn’t like me; it was just because I reminded him of his sister.  I felt relieved.

“You know what?  You’re right.”  He let go of me just to look into my confused eyes.  “BEAST should enter the talent show.  I’m sure they all really want to.”

“YAAAAY!”  A loud cheer along with an avalanche of BEAST boys tumbled down the front steps as the door opened.

“Wait!”  Something suddenly crossed my mind.  “Doojoon-shi graduated from Shinhwa High School though.  Can he still participate in the school talent show?”

The boys thought for a moment, then Junhyung replied answered, “Yeah, he should be able to.  As long as it involves students of Shinhwa, then it’s fine.”

“THAT MEANS WE’RE GOING TO BE IN THE TALENT SHOW?”  Dongwoon’s excitement arose.

“Well, we still have to pass the auditions.”  Reminded Hyunseung.

“It’s okay,” Yoseob assured.  “It can’t be that hard.”

“Let’s do this!”  Doojoon placed his right hand in the middle of our circle, followed by everyone else topping their hands on Doojoon’s.  “BEAST HWAITING!”  Happily, we through our hands up in the air.

“Oh by the way, Aerin?”  The leader turned to me.  “Don’t call me Doojoon-shi anymore.  Just Doojoon will be fine.”  He smiled, ruffling my hair.

It was my first time seeing Doojoon smiling, and I felt a warm aura surrounding him.  I couldn’t help but smile too as the boys pulled me in for a group hug.