Yuri was brought to her room. Yoona helped lay her on the bed since the back part of the body was still very sore from the aspiration. She had much trouble putting pressure on that area for the first couple of minutes.

   “Did it hurt?” Yuri caught her breath before answering.

   “A little,” she said acting like the strong Yuri she’s always been. Yoona chuckled in relief.

   “Are you sure? You looked like you were in a lot of pain back there.” Yuri nodded and smiled. “I’ll come get you for chemotherapy later on when you feel more or less tried.” The nurse bowed and turned towards Taecyeon who was standing a couple of feet away from the bed. “You’re sister did a good job.” He beamed charm fully and looked at her softly. There was an awkward moment between the two before Yoona abruptly ran outside to return to her duties.

   Taecyeon rapidly focused back on his sister and sat near the bed.

   “Where’s Khun oppa?” she asked with concern.

   “He’s probably cooling off a bit. You nearly scared him to death during that test of yours.” Yuri frowned a bit.

   “Don’t be disappointed. I’m sure that he’ll be fine,” he cheered.

   “That’s not it oppa. It’s just that I feel like such a trouble for both of you. You’re always taking care of me, you always put me before yourselves and I’m always taking up all of your time. I’m so burdensome. Now I know why all the girls at school refuse to be-friend me.” Taecyeon her hair.

   “Don’t think of yourself as a burden Yuri-ah. Think of yourself as a precious piece of jewel that Nichkhun and I don’t ever want to lose. That’s why we care about you so much. And as for those girls, forget about them. They’re just jealous because the Thai prince invested so much to have you.” Yuri managed to smile and felt better by these words.

   “You can be so cheesy sometimes.” She gave his head a smack and laughed. “Thank you oppa. I thank God that I was adopted to be your sister.” He pushed her head teasingly. Her fingers fixed the bit of hair Taecyeon messed up.

   “Oppa, I’m too old for your mockery. Stop treating me like that!”

   “Yuri-ah, you’re never too old for anything, you’re just too young for cancer.” Her expression became gloomy at his words. He saw it immediately. “Come on, don’t feel down. Remember, umma always called you the strong child.” Her head lifted.

   “Really?”

   “Obviously…Listen to this: You stayed strong when our parents died. And, you never lost hope even if your friendship with a best friend was destroyed. Like all those times, you have to stand firm and don’t let the cancer push you down.” He held out a pinky and pointed it at her nose. “Promise me you’ll try your best this time, and that you’ll give it your all no matter what the outcome of your health may be.”

   She grinned and squeezed his pinky between hers. “Ye!” she stated firmly.

   Almost as quick as lightning, someone breezed through the room at the speed of light. Both their eyes lifted and spotted Nichkhun slamming the door behind him. He seemed in an awful mood.

   Taecyeon tapped his sister on the shoulder and stood up to leave their presence. Nichkhun’s eyes met Yuri’s as he approached the bed with furiousness. Yuri shut her eyes in fear. She knew how Nichkhun was when he was angry despite his overly gentle nature.

   She felt his arms creep around her shoulders, surprising the hospital patient excessively. He held her tightly and couldn’t seem to let go. She sat in shock and watched him embrace her tenderly.

   “Oppa! Are you okay? You’re acting really funny.” She said anxiously and mouthed every single word slowly.

   “Aniyo! I’m not! I’m not okay at all!”

   “Why?” He bit his lips.

   “Because you’re not okay!” Yuri’s heart almost melted at his overflowing emotions. Nichkhun released his grip and looked her in the eye. He appeared more serious now. “Why do they have to hurt you like that?”

   “Nichkhun Horvejkul, I’m perfectly fine. They aren’t hurting me. That needle didn’t harm me one bit.” She smiled attractively. “I think that they need more than a harmless needle to put me down.”

   He still was cheerless in mood. “Kwon Yuri, when they poked that hole through your flesh, I felt the sting run through my body as well. When you started shouting, I almost fell numb on the floor.”

   Her guard fell down in despair. It was difficult for her. Why did he have to come back now? Why didn’t he come back at a later date? The thought of him feeling the same pain she was gave her shivers. She would rather him stay in Thailand and never return, then him come back at a time like this.

   “I couldn’t even do anything to help you back there. I felt so helpless and powerless while you were on that bed trying to escape that pain.” He swallowed and kissed her check.  “Mianhe Yuri-ah! I don’t deserve you at all.”

   “Oppa! Stop already! This will all be over soon. There isn’t any reason for you to worry about me. I’m fine! If the Hepititus A turns into a B it’s all going to be your fault. It’s because you worry too much. Once you lose faith, the results will come with it.” She paused. “And if there’s one thing I want you to do for me right now: it’s to stop making me worry about you. Araso?” She took his hand and squeezed it tight. “Be strong for me.”

   Nichkhun managed to beam a bit while pushing her onto the bed lightheartedly.

   Yuri blurted out a shout of pain at his shove and rolled into a ball. Nichkhun’s eyes grew at his accidental doing and began to panic.

   “I’m so sorry Yuri-ah!!! Don’t be hurt. Where did I hurt you?” Her covered face soon unveiled a shade of laughter. She sat up again and continued to giggle.

   “Yah! I told you to stop worrying about me. Didn’t I? You already failed.”

   “That wasn’t funny. I thought that I really hurt you! Don’t you dare pull that off again.” he said finding the prank a bit humorous as well.

   After the chemotherapy finished, a whole night of resting in the hospital, and a few moments of playing with a few other hospitalized children, Yuri was discharged temporarily. Despite her slight weakness in the bones and incapability of completely moving some muscles, they let her go home for a bit. Taecyeon resumed work to assure the hospital bills, while Yuri stayed home with Nichkhun all day.

   No matter how much she insisted on going to school due to the important final term of her program, Nichkhun refused to let her step foot outside. In any case, she could barely make in down the stairs without assistance.

   In order for her to not miss any single spec of information, Nichkhun attended the classes for her and took every single type of notes possible. He wanted to assure her safety and comfort. This was the least he could do to help. Throughout the days, Nichkhun wondered why Yuri had such a weird case of Hepatitis that lasted longer than he’s ever seen. He didn’t have too much knowledge on medical stuff, but he was good enough to know that she had strange symptoms.

   On one Friday afternoon, Nichkhun got home from Yuri’s class with the thick pile of notes in his hands. Taec hadn’t arrived yet which meant Yuri was alone for a long time already. At his entrance, he quickly peeked through her door where she normally slept most of the day. But she wasn’t there. He entered the room and picked up the glass full of water on the night table. Then he noticed something under the bed. It was a thick white sheet rapidly shoved underneath.

   He pulled it out with concern and found a huge stain of red blood when unfolding it. He observed it and sighed. Where could this possibly be from? Was it simply girl stuff? Or was it more? He vaguely thought of Yuri’s words the other day when he promised not to worry about her. He erased the made up images the lingered in his head and jumped back to reality. It would trouble her if she noticed that he worried about something like that.

   Hearing footsteps coming towards the room, he stuffed the sheet back under the bed and pretended that absolutely nothing happened. Yuri appeared past the doorframe and jolted at his presence.

   “Oppa, you’re back early. How was class?”

   “Fine.” He studied her from head to toe and didn’t notice anything unusual besides the new pair of clothing she was wearing in contrast to this morning. “Have you been having trouble today by any chance?”

   “Nothing in particular, I don’t think,” she answered. He took one more glance under the bed with the corner of his eye and marched towards her. Nichkhun laid his lips on her soft check and made his way to the kitchen.

   Yuri, who hid her right hand behind her back, squeezed her fingers covered in fresh blood together. She clenched her teeth and shed a tear. Her saliva still tasted like blood. Like the doctor had warned, coughing out blood meant the leukemia was getting worse.

   How much longer would she be able to hide it at this rate?   

Hey readers!!! I hope that your enjoying it so far. I'm just warning you that this story would probably be around 20 chapters or more. Please comment and let me know if there's anything you want me to change or add to the coming chapters.

For the TaecYoon fans, I'm sorry for not including them as much. Their moments will be coming for sure in the future.

Also let me know whether you want more Minyul or  Khuntoria in this. I'm debating on whether or not I should add more of them or cut it down to the minimum. Thanks so much for the comments and subsciptions. They do help. And to those who are wondering about the end, I have everything planned out already. I just need your comments on how to structure the middle.

from maeanneda123