"What do you think?" Showing Hwa around their house and lastly Hwa's new bedroom.
"It-it's amazing. I love it. I can't thank you enough." Giving Seoho and Joong a giant hug.
"What's wrong?" Seeing his smile get replaced with a sad expression.
"I don't have anything."
"It's ok. We can buy you new stuff."
"No, I want to get my stuff back from my house." Spinning around to face them.
Joong looked at seoho with uncertainty. "I-I don't think that's a good idea-"
"I need to go!" Hwa grabbed Joong's shoulder a bit too aggressively. Realizing that, he let go. "Please, it's important."
"O-ok. I-I'm not saying you shouldn't go. I-I'm just saying maybe not at the moment." Joong stummered, looking at Seoho for help.
"I'm starving. Should we get some food before we go?" Putting an arm around Hwa. Giving Joong the 'right, hyung?' look.
"Yeah, good idea. Let's have some lunch first." Getting the signal from Seoho. Wrapping his arm around Hwa's other side of his shoulder.
"Wow, that was some good lunch." Joong exclaimed, rubbing his tummy. "Now we can go pick up your stuff. Come on, let's go."
[ Hwa's house ]
"Why are there random people here?" Hwa looked out the window to see a couple planting flowers outside.
"I'm not sure..." Seoho looked confusedly at Hwa and Joong.
"Hello, um who are you?" Hwa asked the lady who stopped seeing the three boys hop out of the car.
"We're the homeowners." The lady smiled, looping an arm around her husband.
"I-I'm sorry? What? Tha-that's impossible!" Hwa started breathing heavily.
"Hwa, take a deep breath. We'll figure this out." Joong held Hwa's hand to try to calm him down.
"Is he ok? Who are you guys and what is going on?" The lady started to freak out too seeing Hwa like that.
"Well, you see. My friend lives here...I mean he lived here just a couple weeks ago with his uncle. Do you know what happened to the original homeowner?"
"Oh I remember. Two weeks ago on Saturday, a man sold us this house. He said it was urgent and moved very quickly."
"Did he bring any boxes with him?"
"I don't really know if he brought every box because over there-" The lady pointed to two big trash cans just at the end of the driveway. "Had 3 giant boxes full of stuff and we were curious as to what it was. The moment we saw clothes and other belongings, we decided to keep it in our garage just in case."
"Oh thank you thank you!" Hwa hugged the lady who stood there surprised. Joong and Seoho exchanged looks, breathing a sigh of relief.
"There it is. You can go through it to see if everything is there." Leading Hwa into the garage.
Immediately Hwa ripped those boxes open like it was christmas day, digging through box 1 then moving to the next, leaving a whole mess on the floor. Again for box 2, he dug through the box like he was digging like a dog trying to find his hidden bone, then he moved onto box 3. It was like Hwa was finding something particular.
A/n: Try guessing what he's trying to find before reading forward.
"What is he doing?" Joong whispered to Seoho who stood next to him witnessing all this. "Hwa? Let's not make a mess at someone else's house." Hwa did not answer, it was like Hwa had blocked anything that was going on around him.
"He's not going to hear you, Joong. Just let him be. He'll calm down when he finds what he needs." Seoho leaned into Joong for support since he was feeling a bit fatigued.
All of a sudden everything fell quiet. No rustling, no cluttering, no sound. Joong and Seoho looked up seeing Hwa's head resting on his knees, his arms clinging to something. "Hwa? You ok?" No response from Hwa.
"Hwa?" Joong spoke louder, walking over to him to make sure his friend is ok. Moving the boxes out of his way to kneel in front of Hwa, figuring out what's going on. "Hwa, what are you holding?"
Hwa looked up with teary eyes, "Bubbles" A black dragon poked out of Hwa's arm, looking at Joong with his goofy smile and big eyes.
"Is this guy's name Bubbles? Can you tell me about Bubbles?" Joong gently asked, tugging Hwa's hair behind his ears.
"Bubbles" His voice shook as a flow of tears slid down Hwa's face, hugging the black dragon even tighter. "Woo gave me Bubbles when we went to the carnival." Even saying his name made Hwa's heart ache. It was like rubbing salt to the wounds, it was that painful even to mention his name. "He said to hug him (Bubbles) whenever I miss him (Woo). I miss him so much, it hurts like hell! What do I do, Joong?!" Hwa fell into Joong's arms, swallowed by sorrow.
The best thing Joong and Seoho could do was to hug Hwa back, rub circles around his back, and try anything to make him feel better. Deep down Joong felt bad for Hwa. Joong knew it's bad even to think about this but he couldn't help it. For Woong, he at least had lost his memory. He didn't have those painful memories to swallow him up. For Woo, he had a loving family for support. For Hwa, he didn't have anyone. His memories were just as fresh as it can ever be. He would wake up in the middle of the night from terrible nightmares, and cry himself back to sleep.
It was like Seoho could read Joong's mind, he leaned into Joong's ear, whispering, "He has us." Showing a bit of a comforting smile.
Woo POV:
Woo sat on his bed, knees to his chest, head resting just on his knees with a black leather jacket draping over his shoulder.
"Woo, your brother and I are going to go grocery shopping, you should come with us. It'll be fun. We could stop for your favorite ice cream." Woo's mom walked into the room with the most joyful smile she could, baring all the pain deep inside just to stay strong for Woo.
"No thanks, mom. I just want to sit here for a while." Woo replied with a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Honey, you've been sitting here the whole day. This isn't good for you." Sitting down, brushing back his hair which now almost covers his eyes. "I know you don't want to talk about it but you have to. Woo, baby, it hurts me as your mother to see you like this. Please talk to me, you can trust me. You know I'll always be here for you."
Woo let out a shaky breath, controlling the sadness on the verge of emerging out of him. Yet no matter how hard he tires, the river of tears flooded out, "I miss him so much. What should I do, mom?" Letting his head fall onto his mother's chest, getting washed with all the pain and sorrow he's been keeping down.
Jun POV:
Jun was sitting at a table in a coffee shop with a friend talking when all of the sudden Jun's phone wouldn't stop ringing with text messages and phone calls.
"You should get that." His friend said
As soon as Jun laid his eyes on his phone, he ran out of the shop with no warning and no further explanation.
Let's just say this day was the darkest for Jun. For the last couple months his sister's health was declining rapidly. And the text he just received, informed him that his sister just had a really bad seizure and was not doing well at all.
He sped through traffic and arrived at the hospital in a short time.
"Where is she?" Catching his breath as he asked the receptionist and at that moment, the doctor appeared.
"She wants to talk to you." Ushering Jun in her room.
"Junny my little brother, come here and hold my hand." Gesturing him to sit next to her.
"Noona you can't leave yet. Please, you're going to be ok." Tears streamed down his cheeks seeing how fragile she was on the hospital bed.
His sister made a small smile, wiping down her brother's tears. "Listen to me Junny. I need to thank you and mom and dad for taking me in and being so caring towards me. And for protecting me since I was a kid. I have always seen you and love you as a brother and I can't thank you enough for taking care of me. Please tell my little brother I've never met that I love him. Please find him for me, Jun. That's my only wish."
"I-I will. I promise I'll find him. I'll tell him all the good and bad things about you and how you're the best sister I have ever had."
"Jun" His sister cut him off before he continued. "I want you to have this." Taking off her pink bracelet with a yellow smiley face charm and putting it onto her brother's hand.
"Don't be like this. You're going to make it. I-I can't have this. This is yours not mine." Trying to give the bracelet back to her. "Please Noona mom and dad will be here tomorrow. Just hold on. Not yet not yet." Jun hugged his sister tight.
"Jun, keep it safe for me. Always wear it and don't take it off. I'm not going to make it. Tell mom and dad I love them so much. Tell my little brother I love him. I love you so much, Jun." Her frail fingers wrapped around her brother who sobbed on her shoulder.
"No no no, you're going to make it. I love you too." As he said that he felt her fingers loosen up around him and her arm thumping down on the bed and the machine beeping angerily. "No no no, Noona! NOONA! Wake up please! Doctor, I need help!!" Jun rushed out the room, screaming.
However it was too late, Jun's sister passed away from cancer a couple weeks after his graduation.