BOSS | NCT

o52

*

The pieces of this game had been played against me perfectly like a master plan.

Giving away my trust, it's something I didn't know whom and where to put anymore. Not even my family. Or the man closest to me.

"Help me, Jeena," urged Mother. "Help me get out."

Both of my arms were frozen at each side.

"Mother, if you're lying to me-"

"I am not lying to you," she looked at me seriously.

"Mother, please, just tell me the antidote. Tell me the cure-"

"There is no antidote!" she snapped out. "At least, I don't have it. I don't know anything about the virus, its cause, or its cure. Believe me, Jeena. I beg you to believe me. Even just for this once..."

"I-I don't know anymore..."

"Jeena, if I really know the antidote then do you think I will hide it from my one and only daughter?"

"I wouldn't know! You caged me when I was small. Father always acted like a murderer-"

"Your Father may have failed to give you the love and guidance that you deserve. But I do, sweetheart. I always love you..."

Teetering, I will myself to be as stale as possible.

"If you choose to make me stay here, then I understand. This is the punishment that I deserve and already foreseen in the past." Then she raised her gaze to catch my eyes. "But just for this moment," she breathed "I hope you'll let me be near you."

A pause.

"You're," she blinked. "You're infected, aren't you darling?"

I nodded.

Tears were visible on the corners of her eyes. She clawed her blanket with her pale fingers before she looked at me once more.

"I should've been a better mother to you. I am so, so sorry that I failed you, child."

"So afterall," I winced "There is no antidote?"

She waved her head.

She really waved her head.

That gesture made my heart shatter into pieces.

I've thought about my friends, the bosses. My family. The Orphans. Ten. Taeil. Everyone. Everyone that I'n going to leave behind.

Including the mystery. The mystery of who the president son is. I began questioning the purpose of my life. Here I am, dying in less than a day without even an insight of the cause of the plague or the solution to it.

I know nothing.

My life is frankly just the first chapter of a book; and perhaps there is somebody out there who is gonna continue it. Somebody who is going to discover everything about this mess.

I bit my lower lip. I bit it maybe a little too hard, for I can feel my lips swollen. My mom beckoned me to come closer. Hopeless and terrified, I welcomed myself to her arms.