Chapter 27

3 Years Ago (October 11, 2011)

Yeojin grumbled as she walked home alone. Baekhyun promised to have dinner with her after school at the usual street vendor they hangout at. She even refused her friends' invitation to eat together after her track & field extracurricular class for him. But after hours of waiting, he belatedly called her to cancel the date.

It was bad enough that nobody, not even her family, remembered her birthday. And now, her boyfriend just had to cancel the date. She thought at least he remembered, but it seemed like she thought wrong.

Honestly, she wasn't really sure if they were even actually dating. Ever since they met at the book store, they regularly met to borrow the book and CD. His presence distracted her from the sudden strain in her friendship with Yifan. Few months later, Baekhyun confessed that he likes her. She didn't accept him right away because she wasn't sure of her own feeling. But feeling how he always cheered her up whenever she was down because of Yifan, she started having budding feelings for him. She told Baekhyun she likes him too and just like that, they went out together more often after school. But they never officially called the start of their relationship, and they had been like this for a year. Her parents knew of their feelings for each other and they even liked Baekhyun. However, they never really took the kids' relationship seriously and just saw it as a friendship because they were still in junior high. Thus, frankly speaking, they were still too young to know what love is.

Yeojin too wasn't sure whether she loved Baekhyun or just really really liked him. One thing for sure, she was now very pissed with him for suddenly cancelling the date.

She was still grumbling when she turned at a corner and suddenly stopped in her steps. A group of four guys suddenly appeared and blocked her way. She looked up and around at them and recognized them as the guys who usually lingered around here smoking and laughing at each other. She cursed herself for forgetting that fact.

Her house was just two blocks away, and the street was already pretty dark at this hour with only a few lamp posts lighting up the road. And unfortunately, no one was really around except for these guys.

"Hey, hottie!" One of them smirked.

Yeojin tried to ignore them and was going to walk around them- and possibly ran away from them- but the guys blocked her way again and started surrounding her.

"Where's your dad? And why are you coming home this late?" The guy who spoke earlier spoke again with a feigned concern as they kept on approaching her, causing her to instinctively walked backward.

"I don't know you," she snapped at them. "Now please go away." She curled her hands into fists to stop them from trembling. Her heart was pounding hard against her chest, and though she was sweating, she felt the temperature plunging down sending chills down her spine.

The guys just laughed and cornered her to a wall. Yeojin's back touched the wall, but she glared at them. One of them reached a hand to caress her face, but she slapped it away. They only laughed at it again.

"Ooh. We got a feisty one here, guys!" He chortled.

"What do you want?!" Yeojin gritted her teeth.

"What do I want?" The guy she assumed to be the leader asked with a raised eyebrow. His eyes then scanned her down and back up again.

Yeojin hated feeling self-concious at his gaze as if his eyes were undressing her. His eyes then landed on the necklace hung around her neck.

"Not much." He shrugged. "Just this." He touched the pendant with a finger before the finger slowly slid down her chest. "And maybe a little fun with you," he whispered to her ear while Yeojin slapped his hand away. He chuckled again making her want to throw up. "But I'll make it easy for you. Just give me the necklace." He opened up his palm and the others prod her to just give it.

Yeojin grabbed the pendant of the necklace in a tight grip. "No!" There was no way she would give away the necklace Yifan gave her.

The guy scoffed to the side, a corner of his lips curled up in disgust. "You want to have the fun then?" He leaned his face closer to hers and caressed her cheeks.

The sky suddenly rumbled and they simultaneously looked up. Yeojin was trying to make a run, but one of the guys were fast enough to stop her and pinned her to the wall.

"Not so fast, sweetheart," the leader purred and Yeojin was really feeling nauseous. "Looks like it's going to get wet now," he joked and the other three laughed along. He placed a hand on her waist and the other on her shoulder before sliding it down her arm.

Yeojin shrugged his filthy hand off and glared. "Get your hand off of me!"

"No one's going to help you here, sweetie. So give me the necklace and I'll let you go," he glared at her too now as he hold on to her arms pushing her to on the wall. She only grabbed the pendant again and the guy angrily squished her face in between his thumb and index finger. "Fine. I'll take it the hard- and fun- way then." He forcefully pressed his lips on her.

Yeojin instantly felt dirty. She pushed him with all her might and slapped him across the face. She felt her eyes stinging with tears. He was quick to grab her wrists and leaned closer again. Yeojin squeezed her eyes shut praying in her mind for someone to show up.
 

"Why isn't she home yet?" Yeojin's dad asked Baekhyun who had a phone pressed to one ear.

"Her phone's not active," Baekhyun told her parents and Sunhee who were now getting worried.

A cake with lit candles was on the table. The five-year old Jinho clapped his hand after he blew the candles.

"Jinho," Mrs. Kwon sighed and picked him up. She then set him on her lap.

"Why?" Jinho pouted. "I wanna blow more candles, Mom!"

"I should've walked her home," Baekhyun blamed himself.

"No, it's not your fault." Mr. Kwon patted his back. "We asked you to do this to surprise her."

"Oh no!" Mrs. Kwon gasped when something crossed her mind.

"Auntie, what's wrong?" Sunhee asked her worriedly.

"Honey, the thugs!" She looked at her husband with horror in her eyes.

Mr. Kwon's eyes rounded when realization dawned on him. "I'll go look for her!" He immediately ran for the door.

"I'll go with you." Baekhyun followed behind.
 

"You dare slapped me?!" He scoffed. She squirmed when he kissed her jawline and down her neck before pulling away a little.

Yeojin squeezed her eyes feeling his breath on her skin. The smell of cigarette and alcohol made her dizzy. She tried to free her wrists but his grip was too strong as he kissed and her neck. He pulled away smirking at her who was tearing up. "Please, stop," she sobbed and begged with closed eyes; but instead, she felt his breath getting warmer on her skin again. She squeezed her eyes again, but then the warm breath suddenly disappeared and she heard a groan instead.

"Stay away from my daughter!"

Yeojin found herself wrapped in Baekhyun's embrace when she opened her eyes. She saw her dad standing in front of her, shielding them while the guy who was assaulting her earlier was on the ground wiping a blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his palm. The other three guys ran to him and tried to help him stand up.

"Are you okay?" Baekhyun her head still holding her in his arms and she shook her head to reply.

The guy let out a sarcastic chuckle. "Oh please! Your daughter asked for some fun." He stood up and dusted off his pants. "I've offered to let her go in exchange of her necklace, but she refused to give it. She was the one who asked for it." He smirked and the others nodded with snickers.

"Enough! Now leave or I'll report you to the police!" Her dad bellowed.

Yeojin gripped Baekhyun's shirt in her fist and he hold her tighter.

"Okay," the guy raised his hands in surrender. He was turning around but stopped mid-way and glanced at Yeojin from the corner of his eyes. "I've had a taste of her sweet lips and skin anyway." He smirked after his lips.

Baekhyun felt himself boiling, and he was even ready to punch the guy even though he was smaller in size compared to the guy. But before he could even let go of Yeojin, her dad had thrown a hard punch across the guy's face sending him to the ground once again. He then crouched down and sat on the guy landing his fist on the guy's face continuously while his other hand gripped on the collar of the guy's shirt.

"Dad!" Yeojin gasped.

"Uncle!" Baekhyun tried to stop him too.

"HOW DARE YOU TOUCHED MY DAUGHTER!"

"Dad, sto-" Before she could even finish, the thing she feared most happened. One of the three others punched her dad before the others followed. "No, stop! Please!"

Baekhyun was going to ran and help, but Yeojin pulled him back. Her dad stood up as he was able to regain himself and attacked one of them again.

The sky rumbled and was briefly lit up by the lightning. Thunder clapped splitting the sky that the rain started pouring down.

"Please stop!" Yeojin was already crying as she saw her dad fighting the four guys. Her tears mixed with the droplets of rain.

It all happened so fast. Her dad was able to bring down one man, but when he was going to turn around the leader suddenly took out a knife and stabbed his gut. Surprisingly, Yeojin's dad still stood strong when the knife was retrieved. He made a move to punch the guy again, but the other guy took a pipe from the trash bin nearby and gave a hard blow to his neck from behind.

Yeojin and Baekhyun gasped when her dad fell on his knees and dropped forward to the ground. Surprised, the other guys scrambled away. She suddenly felt her necklace being snatched away by the thug leader, but she didn't even care to protest. She instead ran to her dad. However, knowing how important the necklace was to Yeojin, Baekhyun stopped the guy from running away.

Yeojin turned her dad's body around and cradled his head. "Dad.." Her voice broke as she caressed his face and cupped his cheek. "Dad, please wake up!" Her hand then pressed the stab wound on his stomach. "Dad, please!" She teared up again and a drop of her tear fell on his face. Her dad was giving no response. "Dad!" She shouted with a cry. She heard a groaned and just realized that Baekhyun had been fighting the larger guy. She saw that Baekhyun was trying to take the necklace back and her eyes rounded in horror. "Baekhyun, stop!" But he didn't listen. The knife dropped to the ground but the leader was quick to get it again. "Just let him leave! Stop! Please! Sto-" She saw the same knife that stabbed her dad penetrate through his stomach. "No!"

Baekhyun slowly dropped on his knees when the knife was retrieved and the guy ran away. His hand pressed his stomach while his other hand landed on the ground to propped him. He stayed like that for a few moments.

"Baekhyun!" Yeojin called him.

He turned to looked at her with a pained smile. With much effort, he stood up and walked to where she was before dropping on the ground beside her. He leaned his head on her shoulder and with a groan fished out his phone from the pocket. Panting as he tried to breathe, he handed her the phone. "Call the police, now!"

With rain poring down on them, she dialed 119. Her other hand was still caressing her dad's face as she glanced at Baekhhyun from time to time. She told the police what happened and their location; panic clothed her voice. She then quickly called her mother too.

Yeojin looked down at Baekhyun who was still leaning on her shoulder. "Baekhyun," she softly called him when she had ended the phone call. Seeing his closed eyes, she was terrified to the core. She didn't want to confirm it, but she could feel in her heart that her dad was no longer there; and now, she just wished Baekhyun would survive. "Baek," she called again, choking a sob. "Please don't go."

He slowly opened his eyes and gave her the same pained smile as earlier. He gazed at her lovingly with hooded eyes. "I'm here," he said before wincing at the pain stinging in his stomach.

The rain poured harder and Yeojin suddenly felt an enormous hole of loss forming in her heart. "Dad...," she hiccuped a sob. "Dad is... He's...," she cried even more not being able to finish her sentence.

Baekhyun lifted his head off her shoulder and tried his best to sit up straight. He encircled an arm around her shoulders and felt a drop of tear escaping his eye too. "No. He's alright. He'll be alright."

She buried her face in his chest because as much as she wanted his words to be true, she knew it wasn't.

"Jin," Baekhyun lightly nudged her.

She lifted her head and looked up at him. He lifted his hand that was pressing on his stomach and showed it to her. Yeojin's eyes rounded in surprise when she saw the necklace in his hand tainted with his blood.

"I saved it." He grinned and she wished she could just slap him right now for being so stupid and risking his life for the necklace.

The siren of the ambulance was heard and soon they saw a light of blue and red through the thick curtain of pouring rain.

Baekhyun started feeling a bit dizzy and as if he was going to slip out of consciousness. He turned to Yeojin and saw her crying as the paramedics carried her dad off her lap. Yeojin's mom and Sunhee came running to them too.

"Jin," he softly mumbled, but she heard and turned to look at him. He cupped her cheek with his blood-covered hand. "Sorry for cancelling the date." He pressed his lips on her forehead. When he pulled away, he gave her a small smile before suddenly collapsing forward on her.

The paramedics carried him while Yeojin was shouting his name. She herself was helped to stand up by her mother and Sunhee and was then escorted to the ambulance.
 

Nothing.

Yeojin couldn't feel anything. Every part of her body felt numb. Her ears were blocked of any sound. Her surrounding was muted. Her eyes could only slowly blinked as she saw her mom falling to the ground on her knees after what the doctor told her. Sunhee was also crying as she comforted her mom who was now burying her face in her hands.

She felt her heart stabbed with pain, but her body couldn't even react to it. She just sat there lifeless with soaked clothes. The hole in her heart was too big to be mended.

Her dad was gone.

He was gone without a word of good bye. He was gone after saving her. He was gone because she selfishly held on to this necklace.

She soullessly looked down at the necklace tainted with blood in her hand. She wanted to cry, but she found no more strength to do so. And she found no right to cry either. No. She had no right because she caused all this. If she didn't stubbornly hold on to something that maybe didn't even matter anymore to the giver, her dad would still be alive and Baekhyun wouldn't be wounded either.

She slowly stood up and walked to her mom and Sunhee. She kneeled down and patted her mom. Her mom lifted her head and immediately hugged her.

"Jin..." Sunhee choked a sob and her friend's back.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Her mom pulled away a little from the hug to check on her.

/My heart./ Her mind spoke but she shook her head and was pulled in for the hug again. "I'm sorry, mom," Yeojin apologized in a small voice. Her mom just replied with a sob. "If only I-"

"Hush, baby." Her mom her damp hair. "This isn't your fault."

"But Dad-"

"Hush." Her mom hugged her tighter and cried harder while Yeojin just blankly stared into space feeling broken inside but shedding no tears.

People in black clothes walked in line as they escorted the family to the burial site. Sobs could be heard from the crowd.

Mrs. Kwon couldn't contain the feeling of loss and cried as the coffin was lowered to the dug earth. She hugged the framed picture of her husband close to the chest. Little Jinho was also crying. He didn't understand what was happening, but he cried seeing his mom crying. He didn't understand why his dad wasn't there. He just buried his face on the crook oh his sister's neck and hugged her neck. Yeojin the back of her brother whom she was carrying in her arms.

The Wu's were present. Mrs. Wu was comforting her friend and Mr. Wu was standing behind her with Yifan and Lin beside him. Yifan gazed at Yeojin from the corner of his eyes. He thought Baekhyun would be here to comfort her because he heard he survived; yet, he was no where in sight. Although Yeojin was not shedding a single drop of tear, he knew very well that she was shattering inside.

When his family came to the hospital the other day, he was grumbling at first because he had to cancel his date with Areum. However, when they arrived and he saw Yeojin just silently stared into space, he didn't even think of Areum anymore. Instead, he was thinking of how to comfort Yeojin. Comforting her would have been the easiest thing to do for him if it weren't for the gap in their friendship that had been formed since a year ago. But now, he didn't know how to do it.

The soil was thrown and soon the coffin was covered with a pile of it. The crowd gradually dispersed. Yeojin's mom took Jinho into her arms and they walked away except for Yeojin. She had requested to stay for little while.

She kneeled down and put a hand on the tombstone. "I'm sorry, Dad." She gulped the lump in but was determined not to cry.

The sky rumbled and Yeojin flinched. She looked up at the sky flashing with faint lightning before thunder clapped. She suddenly felt it hard to breathe as light drizzle fell from the sky. She squeezed her eyes tight when she saw a flash of what happened the other night. The light drops of rain suddenly ceased. She heard a sigh and opened her eyes. Upon looking up, she found Yifan holding a black umbrella over them.

He offered her a hand. "Your mom and Jinho is waiting in the car." She just stared at his hand. "Come on," he prod and she took his hand to help her stand up.

Their eyes locked when she had stood up. They didn't have to exchange words to know what went on on each other's minds. Yifan knew that she was putting up a front of being strong to cover her broken heart. Yeojin knew he wanted to say he felt sorry for her loss, but she was grateful he didn't say it and just be there for her. It was weird to her how even though the gap between them wasn't closing off, she could still feel somewhat better with him being there.

"Thanks," she said in a small voice as she looked away and her hand slipped away from his.

They silently walked to the car as the rain poured harder. She flinched every time thunder was sounded. She was now starting to hate and fear rain.

"Are you okay?" Yifan encircled an arm around her shoulders.

She looked up at him with her fear-stricken eyes, but she tried to stay calm and nodded her head. They continued walking, and she silently wished that at least her friendship with him would be mended. Because if it wasn't, then her dad's sacrifice was of no meaning.
 

Days passed, but Yeojin had not heard news from Baekhyun. She tried to look for him at his school, but found no sign of him. She tried his house, but no matter how many times she rang the bell, the door wasn't opened for her. Yeojin wondered if Baekhyun was mad at her or if his parents forbade him to go near her because she put him in danger. She didn't give up though.

Every day after school, she came to his house and waited in front of the door for hours before bidding a goodbye through the close door. She knew the house wasn't empty because his parents' car was parked in the driveway. When it rained on some days, she would still wait in front of his house. Flashes of what happened that night always crossed her mind when it rained. However, she tried to calm herself down by taking deep breaths. It always worked especially when she reminded herself that at least Baekhyun survived.

After a week of tirelessly coming to his house, the door to his house was finally opened for her. She smiled when the door opened, slowly revealing his mother. But soon, her smile disappeared when she saw how his mother looked haggard.

"Auntie?" Yeojin's eyes softened. "Are you okay?"

His mother gave her a pained smile and handed her a small box. "This is your birthday present from him."

Yeojin blinked and looked at the box that was now in her hand. She then looked up again at his mother. "Thank you, Auntie. But... where's Baekhyun? Is he okay? Can I... Can I see him?" A drop of tear suddenly escape his mother's eye and Yeojin's eyes were widened at the sight. "Auntie..." She gently her shoulder.

"Baek... He's..." She slowly raised her gaze to Yeojin who was furrowing her brows in confusion. "Yeojin, he..." She pursed her lips not sure of how to break the news to the girl.

Yet, Yeojin seemed to realized what she was trying to say. Her eyes grew wide and she felt that familiar numbness slowly creeping up her body. She took a step back and shook her head. "But you said..."

"I was worried it would broke you even more because you just lost your dad," his mother explained with a hiccup of sob, lowering her head. "I thought it would be best if you don't know and just forget about him. But you kept on coming here and I just.... I'm sorry." She buried her face on the palms of her hands as she cried.

"You said... he survived." Yeojin felt her chest tightened and heart twisted. Tears were stinging the back of her eyes, but she couldn't even cry. Her lips parted as she tried to take in a deep breath that only hurt her chest even more.

"I'm sorry," Baekhyun's mother sobbed again. She reached a hand to cup the girl's face. "I'm so sorry." Yeojin wanted to stop her for apologizing because she knew she was the one who should be apologizing, but she couldn't find her voice. "He did regain his consciousness in the ambulance for a short while, but he... he lost too much blood. He...," she took a shaky breath before she continued, "He wasn't just stabbed once."

Yeojin could only blink. She thought he was only stabbed once. But when she remembered it again, he did fight the guy for awhile when she was attending to her father.

"I'm sorry, Yeojin dear." His mother hugged her as she cried while the girl still found it hard to accept the fact that she had lost another person.
 

She walked back home lifelessly. It was as if the only parts of her body that were still functioning well were her feet. Her mind was in a state of disarray as her feet took her home. She stopped when she was about to pass the same road where her dad's life was taken. She saw that the thugs weren't there anymore. She slowly continued walking while she opened the small box in her hands. Her feet came to a stop when she saw what was inside the box.

It was the yarn bracelet that symbolized her friendship with Yifan and Lin. The yarn was once hooked to Baekhyun's watch when he was teasing her causing the threads to come out. Feeling guilty, Baekhyun offered to mend it himself.

Yeojin felt her heart was broken all over again when she read his message on a small card inside the box.

Happy birthday, my Yeojin-ie!
I've finally fixed the bracelet. Took me long enough, but I did it! I wish your friendship with him would be mended too.

A drop of tear fell on her cheek, but she soon wiped it and closed the box. When she heard footsteps and saw someone approaching from her peripheral view, her head snapped up and found Yifan already standing in front of her. She blinked at him in surprise.

Yifan was called by a panicked Mrs. Kwon because Yeojin had not come home. Her mother then got a call from Baekhyun's mother telling her that Yeojin had heard everything now. Mrs. Kwon asked Yifan to help find her because she worried the girl would do something stupid. He politely protested at first because he had a postponed date he had to go to. Nonetheless, when he heard of what really happened to Baekhyun, he didn't need to think twice to agree and help find her.

"I've heard," he told Yeojin with a sigh.

Yeojin just blankly stared at him before lowering her head. Yifan took a step closer and enveloped her in his arms. Yeojin didn't even have anymore strength to react. She just stiffly let herself be hugged by him. She wanted to ask him why he kept on coming to comfort her if he didn't want to salvage their friendship. She wanted to ask whether he was just pitying her. But right then, she had no more energy to even say a word.

The clouds turned darker and the sky rumbled.

Yeojin looked up at the sky whilst still being in Yifan's arms. From that point on, she just hated rain and her own birthday.

Yeojin stared at the small black dot on the white canvas. The longer she stared at the dot, the bigger it seemed to be getting.

She chose to go to the gallery Sehun once took her to. She just wanted to be left alone for the day. When other people would be happy to celebrate their birthday, she wished she could just skip it.

She sat on a bench in front of the painting Sehun showed her. She lowered her head momentarily closing her eyes before looking back up at the dot.

I'm perfect? She mentally scoffed remembering Sehun's words about herself. The biggest flaw in my life? That would be me causing the death of two of the people I love. She sighed and her eyes were filled with hurt.

Thinking back to that day, Yeojin just realized that Kris was always there no matter how big the gap was that separated them. He was just there. But Yeojin now wondered whether he would still be there once they would be divorced. Though they weren't in a bad term with each other anymore, she knew their friendship was just different now. Besides, Kris might found someone else later after they divorced. So even if they stayed as good friends, he wouldn't always be there for her. While she? She couldn't even open up her heart to love.

Her sight suddenly turned dark as a pair of hands covered her eyes.

"Stop looking at the dot," someone spoke behind her.

She quickly pulled the hands to uncover her eyes and tilted her head up to find Sehun looking down at her with a smile.

Sehun?

That familiar warmth spread on her chest again at the sight of his smile. And she found herself giving him back a small smile.

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