just rumors. | nishimura riki.

chapter twenty.

this chapter may contain graphic details.
please read at your own risk.

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The drive home seemed dreadful than before for Jaebeom. His gut feeling telling him that something was wrong and he sure hoped that feeling was just false.

That when he opens the door, the house is peaceful enough and that he'll hear the yelling from the boys on Arya's phone.

After parking his car and shutting the door, he ran to the house, hoping to see Arya eating or baking something. But when he opened the door, there was nothing. Not one person anywhere.

The house was quiet, too quiet for his liking. Not even Arya's phone was being blasted from how loud the boys were.

"She must just be sleeping, she ate a lot today," Jaebeom murmured before going up the stairs, knocking on her door.

No answer.

He knocked on the door once more.

Still no answer.

Jaebeom's heart began racing bad and he was losing his goddamn mind again. It was the same thing when he found her sprawled on the bed with blood dripping down her arms.

That same gut wrenching feeling eating him alive.

He swung the door open in a panic, finding Arya, but this time on the ground. She was curled up in a ball.

Without a second thought, he called 911.

"No, not again," Jaebeom whimpered, going towards his little sister's limp body with tears streaming down his face. "Wake up, Arya, please?"

"I got a new job, I was supposed to tell you all about today," Jaebeom cried out, kissing the top of her head. He couldn't stop the harsh sobs that erupted from his throat, not even when the paramedics came and took his baby sister away.

Not when the boys met him at the hospital after getting his call, not when his parents and his grandparents came running to the hospital, and not when the doctor confirmed her status.

"She didn't make it," the doctor said, bracing himself for the hard impacts of the patient's family and friends, begging him to do something to save her.

One meekly question almost made his legs give out.

"Was she smiling?" Her mother sobbed, looking at the doctor with pleading eyes. No one has ever asked that question.

No one asks if the person in the room is ever smiling when they pass on. It was a strange request. But in his eyes, he just saw people who wanted nothing more than the patient in there happy.

Looking at everyone that waited for her, it was deemed that he knew, that they knew, this was going to happen but never knew when.

The doctor sighed before opening the door, "Please. See for yourselves, I must attend another patient."

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One by one, with heavy steps and hearts, they walked to Arya's body and placed a flower into the casket. Riki was distraught. He hadn't spoken a word since he went to the hospital with everyone.

He shut his eyes tightly as he put the flower onto her hand. When he walked away, the fresh tears immediately spilled and he covered his mouth to hold in the sobs.

Heeseung was just as much of a mess as he was, if not more. That was his best friend in that goddamn casket. She wasn't supposed to be in there. If she was supposed to be in anything, she was supposed to be in her house and baking something.