The echoing sound of the beeping machines were hitting the four walls of the small hospital room. Mrs. Choi was lying unconscious on the bed while her granddaughter took a seat by the chair, tightly holding the lady’s hand in between her own as her cheeks were covered with tears, silently crying her pain and discourage.

As for Mir, he was in the hallway, sitting on a chair and running his fingers through his hair, trying to let go of the tension that had him filled up from head to toe.

He could barely believe what happened a couple of hours ago as he replayed the scene inside his head over and over again, trying to comprehend the motive behind it; he knew that it wasn’t an accident and he also knew that Lina was oblivious about it, which made things harder for him. She had to know why her grandmother had a knife stuck to her waist and he couldn’t bear to break the news to her.

Lifting his head up, he could see through the window of the door what was going on and that mere sight was breaking his heart.

Quiet whimpers from her dried lips, Lina couldn’t look away from the serene pale skin painted across her grandmother’s face. She was angry at herself for letting something like this happen, making her blame herself for not having kept a proper eye on her but she also blamed Mir for having her distracted with that argument they had, blaming him for having changed her focus in that moment.

‘So selfish… I hate you so much Bang Cheolyong.’

At that thought, she noticed the slight movement coming from her grandmother, leaving Lina to hold her breath. Faint grunts from the old woman, the young girl squeezed her grandmother’s hand, letting a glint of hope appear in her eyes, waiting for the lady to fully wake up.

Once the eyes fluttered open, a grateful sigh escaped from Lina’s lips, still trembling from the latest events.

“G-grandma? It’s me… Lina…”

The head turning to the side, a small smile appeared at the corner of Mrs. Choi’s lips. “H-hi there.”

A puff of air came out of Lina, dropping her head before lifting it back up as she placed a kiss on her grandmother’s hand, her eyes on the verge of tearing up from happiness.

“Don’t ever scare me like that, hmm? I thought I had lost you…”

“I’m so sorry sweetie; I didn’t think I would be this clumsy in the kitchen~” She tried to let out a light chuckle to ease up the mood, which left the girl to bite her lip to stop herself from crying. “I’m never letting you do anything ever again, okay? You need something, you let me know. I’m not going to lose you too. You’re the only one I have left Grandma… I have nobody else left but you…”

“I’m so sorry sweetheart but you know that one day it will happen-”

“No it won’t. I won’t let it happen. You’re not allowed to go anywhere but to stay with me, okay? I’m not going to lose you.”

As she kept talking, her tears were starting to slowly roll down her cheeks, her hold onto her grandmother’s hand getting tighter with every squeeze she would give. She stared straight into the woman’s eyes with a sense of pleading washing through, which left the old lady to feel guilty at her selfish action. Overhearing the fight that was going on from the open windows of the living room, she couldn’t bare to know that her granddaughter’s life was turning worse by the day, letting the chance for the young one to grow as the prime of her life passes by.

Knowing that she was the main reason of that setback, she wanted to fix it. She wanted to give Lina a better life and thought that being out of the way would be the best thing, which led her to where she was today: stitched up from the waist because of a kitchen knife piercing her skin.

She couldn’t understand why Lina was so stubborn on the idea of moving to the city and creating a life of her own instead of staying stuck here and taking care of an old house and an old lady who’s about to pass anyway; there was no point in staying, but seeing that desperation in her eyes left the grandmother powerless in pushing the girl away.

“I-I’m sorry to have worried you sweetheart.”

One week passed since the incident and now, during nighttime, Lina was sitting at the kitchen table while her grandmother was asleep in the girl’s bedroom. All laid out across the wooden table were endless papers, and in a closer look, they were bills of all kind.

Just like every end of the month, she would sit down and pull out every bill that needed to be paid, organizing herself to see which one needed more attention than the other with how much money she needed to put aside, and now with the hospital bill that just came through, it made things more difficult.

Tearing the lid of the envelope, she took out the piece of paper and scanned its content until a number appeared at the bottom, showing her the amount she had to pay for her grandmother’s care. Since they couldn’t afford health insurance anymore, they couldn’t rely on the system any longer and were stuck paying for whatever service that insurance would usually cover.

She let out a sigh, placing the letter back on the table and pushed her hair out of the way, letting them rest behind her ears. From one corner of the table to the other, she kept glancing where her eyes were falling on one bill to the other, her level of stress and desperation slowly rising as she noticed the constant growing amount that kept coming at her.

‘I can’t afford to pay all of them at once and I can’t cut back any further… What should I do? Damn it.’

Once again, she ran her fingers through her hair, gripping them from around her neck as she rested her forehead against the table, trying to come up with a solution without having to cry out for help.

She felt her necklace touching her chin, which caught her attention as she quickly sat back up straight and took it out to hold it in her hand, letting the golden jewel tingle her palm. Retracing it from the chain to the pendant, her eyes suddenly fell back to the paper that was right behind her hand, leaving her to stare at the hospital bill as she closed in her palm against her chest.

She breathed out, a sense of defeat overcoming her and placed the necklace back on the table, right over the paper and putting it aside before attacking the other letters and as she was examining the amount to pay through the other envelopes, she couldn’t help but glance towards the necklace, her heart squeezing to as she recalled the day she received it after the passing of her parents; it was her mother’s favorite necklace and she remembered how she would always wear it because it was a gift from her father to celebrate their first year as a married couple before she was born.

It held so much sentimental value and it was breaking her that she had to let it go just to pay for a bill she couldn’t even afford with the money she barely had.

‘I’m so sorry mom… Please forgive me…’

The same dreadful week was finally over which also meant that it was time for the boys to go back to their dorms, resuming to their activities.

All except Mir were packing up. The youngest member stepped out of the house for some air and to give himself some time to think on what had happened with Lina. Ever since she had kicked him out at the hospital, he’d been trying to talk to her to win her back but got nowhere as she would always push him even further away, getting angrier each time.

Now that he had to leave, he was ready to give it one last shot, to at least do things right this time, unlike the first time he left her behind. He still wasn’t giving up on the idea about wanting her to come with him but with what had happened, he knew that it was going to be impossible to convince her.

He walked back inside his house, letting the others know that he was going to make a stop before coming back so they could leave. As he was about to step back out, he got held up as the members quickly followed behind him, wanting him to have some company.

“You’re going to see her, aren’t you?”

“Yea…”

“And you’re not afraid she might throw you out like usual?”

“Well, it will be the last time anyways.”

The rest of the walk was quiet, letting Mir to wander inside his own thoughts until he got pulled out when he realized that Lina was standing in front of him, at her door.

“What are you doing here?” The irritated tone in her voice didn’t go unnoticed and it made his heart to squeeze in pain from the annoyed look she was giving him. “I-I just wanted to let you know that hmm… I’m about to leave… My vacation is over and I have to go back.”

“O-oh… Well goodbye then.”

She was about to close the door in his face when he held it with his palm against it, stopping her. “Can we talk for a moment? Please?”

“I have nothing to say to you-”

“But I do.”

She stared at him for a moment noticing the broken gaze he had in his eyes and sighed in defeat as she stepped out, softly closing the door behind her before turning back. She noticed that the rest of his friends were there also, making her sigh once more as she opened back her door to let them in.

She made them settle in the kitchen, quickly giving them some small snacks to eat before giving all her attention to Mir as she dragged him inside her bedroom, shutting the door close.

“What do you want?”

“How are you doing?”

“Don’t use small talk with me. I’m not in the mood.”

“Lina… I just wanted to give you something better…”

“And you think that moving to the city will do? Cheolyong… It’s not just that I’m scared of the city, it’s just… this is my home. I don’t want to leave, I’m fine where I am.”

“But what if its not enough? What if-”

“There’s no what if. I’m not moving.” Though her voice was soft, her words were stern and clear, breaking the boy’s heart even more. “I’m not going to be able to change your mind, am I?”

She shook her head and felt the itch in her nose that usually led to have her eyes wet from tears that were about to come out. She looked down at the floor to avoid any more eye contact with Mir; he stepped closer to her and lifted her head up by her chin, reluctant to give his goodbyes. “I’m sorry for angering you. I’m just worried about you…”

“Don’t be, I’m fine. I promise.”

He softly pressed his lips against her forehead for a kiss making her hold onto him by his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, closing in the space that was left between them. “I’m going to miss you.” He tightened his hold at her words as he felt her her hands through his shirt, trying to keep herself from crying.

“Lina?”

“Hmm?”

Backing her head away from his chest to look up at him, she found herself with his lips on hers as he was kissing her with a sense of desperation coursing through his veins. Just for that moment, she let herself go, her hands tightly gripping his shirt again. From her waist, he took one hand as held her by her neck, deepening the kiss until the need for air became necessary. They slowly pulled away with Lina’s breath shaking out of , her eyes closed with the lingering taste of his lips still dancing over hers.

Once he was a step away from her, a sudden cold air faintly embraced her, making her eyes open back into reality. She blinked her eyes to stop her tears from falling and turned around to walk back to her door, not having the strength to tell him goodbye.

Opening the door and stepping back out to the kitchen with the youngest behind her, she showed a faint smile to the rest of the members as they got up from their seats, greeting her back. “It was nice meeting all of you.”

Leading them back to the main entrance, she noticed the strange stare coming from Mir. “What’s wrong?”

“Your necklace… The gold one you always wore, where is it?”

“O-oh, hmm… I-I lost it…” Touching her neck, she looked away from him knowing that if he looked straight at her, he would catch her lie, something that Seungho noticed. Once she bid goodbye to all of them with Mir being the last one, they all started to walk away, with the leader being the last one to leave. She was about to walk back inside when he stopped her.

“You didn’t lose that necklace, did you?”

She looked back at him, her eyes wide open with slightly open as she tried to form words on the tip of her tongue. “I-I don’t kn-know what you’re talking about.”

“I know when someone is lying.”

“You don’t know me-”

“I don’t need to know you for that, I can see it. You’re not a good liar.”

He didn’t seemed to be looking mad but it didn’t stop her from feeling like she was being judged for hiding something from her friend. “He doesn’t need to know the truth, and please don’t tell him.”

“Tell me what?”

Mir’s voice made her slightly jump as she saw him standing behind Seungho, looking at both of them with a suspicious look across his face.

“What are you two hiding from me?”

A/N: So I guess you guys figured out what happened to the necklace huh ><

I'm giving her a very hard time and I know that... sorry! But I promise things will get better :3 It's almost the end after all~

Lots of love, xo