Love for you

“Where are you taking me Jong-dae bro?”

Eun-hee looked up at his face as they both walked towards the lush green plain area near the river. Jong-dae just smiled politely and took her hand in his hand before squeezing it as a gesture of ‘have patience’. However, it only added to her confusion.

Jong-dae’s hand was warm and it felt really comforting in the dry cool air slaps that had decided to redden their cheeks and nose with its chill. She put her free hand in her blazer’s pocket and smiled at the eye-catching view in front of her. The lush green grass with each blow of air danced around their ankles and Eun-hee purposely snuggled closer to Jong-dae just to lean her head on his forearm.

Jong-dae smiled warmly looking at the sunrays admiring the beauty of river and Eun-hee inhaled comfortably, trying to get the fresh air run through her lungs. The colors on the smooth surface of water due to sun rays was a breath taking view and when they both sat down near the bank on the grass, it felt so right and nice that Eun-hee realized she needed a break like this eventually.

“It’s beautiful bro,” Eun-hee pulled her hand out of the pocket to admire the soft and cool grass beside her and Jong-dae smiled watching her relax and feeling fresh as if she needed it. Her head on his forearm shifted many times before she got a nice position to settle her head on his shoulder and Jong-dae ruffled her hair lovingly. “Thanks”

“Your relationship with Jong-in,” Jong-dae started in a soft voice and Eun-hee shifted in her place uncomfortably at the sudden arousal of her relationship subject with Jong-in. Jong-dae noticed her fidgeting but he continued anyway. “Is it getting any better?”

“I don’t know,” She sighed slowly, looking at the sunrays shinning over the surface of water making it sparkle and amusing. Jong-dae squeezed her hand gently and she smiled faintly. “Mr. Kim always acts differently. Looks like he’s struggling to be comfortable around me. Sometime it feels like, he’s used to my presence around him at home and sometimes he just push me away as if he despise me. It’s complicated bro”.

She exhaled sharply and Jong-dae settled her in his one arm, hugging her from aside that made Eun-hee settle her one hand on his chest and head at the junction of his shoulder and neck. Jong-dae moved his eyes on the clear surface of water before he sighed and spoke.
“What about you Eun?”

Eun-hee smiled bitterly and Jong-dae felt his heart ache seeing her little sister-in-law struggling to find a little peace of mind out of the relationship she had with Jong-in. He may couldn’t see her bitter smile but he could feel the tremble of her hands in his hand and on his chest. What more he needed to find how complicated the lives of turned out to be since the marriage.

“I’m afraid, bro,” Jong-dae inwardly flinched at her admitting. He somehow had a clue she would say that but he was wishing otherwise. “I’m really scared. I don’t know if he’ll ever accept me. I feel empty without Sehun and if I ever liked Mr. Kim that way, I’m not sure if I’d survive if he rejected me. Whenever I try to get closer to him he pushes me away and whenever he likes, he acts like we never had any fight,” She sighed and Jong-dae grabbed her had on his chest before he squeezed it to comfort her and tell her that ‘it’s okay, he’s there for her’. “Last night when I closed the distance between him and me, his body stiffed for a moment but later his muscles relaxed; and he didn’t even push me away. I don’t want him to know about my past. I’m really scared”.

“It’s alright Eun,” Jong-dae rubbed his hand on her head back and her tensed muscles relaxed under the touch. Jong-dae smiled warmly still looking at the sparkle of water as if the droplets were dancing on the surface. “I know he’ll understand. You need to trust him but first trust yourself. When you both will develop a trustworthy relationship, everything will be clear and fine”.

Eun-hee smiled warmly and snuggled closer in his chest making Jong-dae laugh a little at the reaction. He knew she blushed at this and he literary enjoyed her shyness.

“Bro we’ll be late for practice”.

Eun-hee reminded him and he instantly pulled away causing Eun-hee to chuckle in amusement.
“Let’s go you little shrimp,” Jong-dae ruffled her hair and she pouted like a little child. Jong-dae laughed heartily at this and Eun-hee accompanied him in laughing a little too loud. Both stood up dusting their cargo shorts’ and Jong-dae smiled mischievously at her and Eun-hee raised her brow at him. “let’s race to the car. 500 dollars at the loser”.

Jong-dae ran towards the up side of the small hill where their car was parked without giving Eun-hee a chance to process whatever he said but Eun-hee was sharp enough to catch it right away.

“Bro you cheat”

She stormed at once following suit and Jong-dae laughed while running. Both laughed in rhythm as they ran towards the car and when Eun-hee managed to reach their first Jong-dae showered his fist at her but she dodged without any trouble while laughing whole-heartedly.
******************

“Yifan bro!”

Eun-hee called as both entered the basketball court one after another. The court was almost empty but the lights were on so they assumed the team captain to be there because his amazing passion towards basketball was the reason he always reached their even before the coach.

Eun-hee turned her head to look back at Jong-dae when both didn’t get any answer from inside. Jong-dae shrugged and Eun-hee closed the door behind them and led the way to the inner side of the court.

“Yifan bro,” Eun-hee called again and both looked around the whole auditorium to find any signs of the latter but find none. “Where are you bro, I’m back”

Eun-hee had called in sick for a week because of her injured side but she was feeling too empty without basketball to sit back and do nothing. SO, Jong-dae who had joined this sports and arts school a week ago finally allowed her to do what she wanted. Eun-hee has had introduced him to Yifan a week ago and even he was in the singing department, he continued to visit Yifan and Eun-hee’s friend Zitao before his class. Therefore, he came with Eun-hee today out of habit, to meet his new Chinese friends Yifan and Zitao.

“Yifan hyung,” Jong-dae helped Eun-hee in calling and both shared weird looks when they didn’t get any answer. They exchanges eye gestures to walk towards the locker room and finally they find them there. “Tao, are you in there”.

“We are in here Jong-dae hyung”

Zitao called and both rushed in the locker room when they find Zitao’s voice a little shaky. As they opened the door, they frost at their spots for a moment.

“What happened to you bro?”

Eun-hee rushed towards Yifan and sat on her claws in front of him on the ground, settling her both hands on his knees. Yifan’s thin lips had a bruise and his right arm was bleeding causing his shirt to soak in red. Eun-hee eyes widened in horror when she found his arm injured this badly. Yifan shared a worried look with Zitao but Jong-dae didn’t fail to catch the worried frowns of both.

“What happened Tao, what happened to hyung?”

Jong-dae knew Zitao and Yifan were the people from Eun-hee’s past and it only scared him when he saw them fidgeting at Eun-hee’s presence there.

“Who the heck did this?”

Eun-hee almost screamed when she didn’t get any answer from both of them. Her face turned red and her lips were trembling. Tears started to form in her eyes and Yifan instantly cupped her face in his both hands.

“I’m alright_”

Yifan tried to calm her down but she cut him off with a scream.

“No you are not,” She threw herself in his arms and Yifan hugged him protectively. Jong-dae knew how possessive Yifan was for Eun-hee after Eun-hee. Her family, Sehun and Yifan after Joon myeon were extremely protective for Eun-hee. They caressed and cherished her like a flower or a crystal doll as if one wrong touch and she’d break right away. He swallowed sensing something wrong out of the situation. “Tell me who did this, just tell me hyung”.

“I fell Eun-hee_”

Yifan again tried to calm her down by rubbing soothing circles on her back and with a little lie but she visibly shifted in his arms in protest.

“Don’t lie, just tell me who did this”.

Yifan looked at Zitao with worried eyes when Eun-hee started to cry and her shoulders started to tremble in his long, strong arms. Jong-dae looked at both Zitao and Yifan’s face in confusion. He could sense something real bad and he didn’t want it.

“Eun-hee relax,” Jong-dae bend down a little to place his hand on her head and she sobbed loudly. “Yifan hyung is alright, just give him a chance to speak first”.

“No,” She shouted and pulled away from Yifan but didn’t come out of the circle of his long arms. Her face was full of tears and Jong-dae chest clenched quickly and Yifan flinched at the sight of crying Eun-hee. “I know who did this, I know who_”

She coughed and Yifan looked at Jong-dae. Jong-dae shared a gaze with Zitao but he was unaware of the situation and the person Eun-hee was talking about.

“Eun-hee you_”

Zitao tried to say something but Eun-hee fell into a fits of loud coughs. The trio looked at her in horror.

“Grab my bottle”.

Yifan shouted and Zitao quickly moved his body to find the water bottle from Yifan’s bag. Jong-dae quickly sat down beside Yifan and faced Eun-hee who was coughing non-stop with a red face and wet eyes.

“Here”.

Zitao opened the bottle for her and Jong-dae quickly tried to make her drink some water but her coughing didn’t even stop for a second. Yifan tried to rub her back and Zitao rubbed her hands but she continued coughing with a clenched stomach and hurting throat.

‘Eun-hee, Eun-hee’

The trio panicked but Eun-hee wasn’t going to stop any time soon. She turned into a small ball in Yifan’s arms because of the damn fits of coughing. Her face continued to lower down in Yifan’s chest and the trio couldn’t help but lose their senses at this.

“What do we do, what do we do hyung”.

Jong-dae shouted and Zitao worried expressions turned into annoyed ones as he found themselves helpless at this.

“Eun-hee”.

Yifan grabbed her face and lifted it up to see but as soon as he lifted her face up, a spray of blood colored his shirt at the chest.

Jong-dae shrieked and Zitao fell back on his hands in horror. There was blood all over Eun-hee’s hand, her mouth, her shirt and Yifan’s chest and the blood continued to make its way out without any break because of the intense coughing fist Eun-hee was dealing with. Yifan breath labored at the sight and he looked at both Jong-dae and Zitao with terrified eyes.

“Do something”.

Tao snapped at them and Jong-dae quickly pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and placed it around Eun-hee’s mouth who was still spraying blood out of her mouth with her furious coughing.

“Take her to the hospital quickly”.

Jong-dae cried and Yifan quickly scooped up in his arms like a child. Her face was full of blood. Eyes were filled with tears and it was hard for her to breath because of the coughing that only pained the trio but they didn’t have much time to deal with their pain right now. Yifan didn’t care if his arm was injured or it pained. He just wanted Eun-hee to survive and her pained coughing and blood had scared the hell out of him. Zitao and Jong-dae had tears in their eyes and Yifan was at the edge of crying but he had to be strong for Eun-hee and the duo trailing him out of the court.

They were scared, they were terrified, they heart beats were unsteady out of fear and breathes went wild because of the running and fear. Jong-dae was shaking and Zitao was crying. They had no idea what they would tell Eun-hee family about this situation.

**********************
Jong-in rushed passed all the doors of hospital. His mind had nothing but Eun-hee. Her smiling and laughing face, her cold face, her expressionless face, her hurt face, her sleeping face and without his realization, a small drop of water fell on his cheek.
“Eun-hee”
He ran towards the special department of Sehun’s hospital family area where Eun-hee was in the I.C.U, his eyes kept of welling with tears and his heart ached to the point of bursting as he worn out his legs in the process of running.
He didn’t know it would be this serious. He didn’t know it’ll be a threat to her life. He didn’t do that, he just couldn’t believe he did that.
His eyes shed the droplets that vague his sight but it didn’t stop him from running. He rubbed his eyes brutally and tried to clear his view but his eyes betrayed him. It kept of welling and Jong-in couldn’t help but sob in the middle of the hallway.
“Jong-in”
He heard his name from afar and he ran towards the source of voice senselessly. The door was open when he entered the special area; he quickly rubbed his eyes once again and spotted Jong-dae crying against the wall. Jong-in let out a loud sob and tears fell from his eyes unwillingly as he ran to hug his older brother leaning against the wall and crying like a little child out of worry and pain.
“Eun-hee,” Jong-in stuttered when he tried to speak after finding himself in the secure embrace of his brother. He felt Jong-dae’s shoulder shaking as he was crying on his shoulder. “How’s she_Where_ where is she?”
“They said, they_ can’t save her”
He heard a loud shriek from his right and he instantly broke the hug and looked towards the floor where Joon myeon was crying in someone’s arm he couldn’t recognize.
“Wh- What?”
Jong-in’s lips trembled as he looked around the room and found Sehun leaning against the couch back, without any tear, without any expression, his heart ached at the sight. Eun-hee did the same when she was in extreme pain. Cold and expressionless when hurt overwhelmed and they couldn’t do anything but to turn into a cold stone.
“They can’t save her, there is no hope”.
Yixing was sitting across the left wall with his both legs leaned across his chest as he was crying on his own knees with Chanyeol leaning his head on his shoulder. Chanyeol’s face had no expressions but tears were falling from the wide opened eyes. Minseok with tears in his eyes was sitting near Baekhyun and was rubbing soothing circles on his back. Baekhyun was trembling and sobbing loud while Kyungsoo was as cold as Sehun and Eun-hee could be. There was another guy crying silently across Joon myeon other than the one who was holding Joon myeon in his arms and he seemed really close to Joon myeon but it wasn’t the time to notice something like that.
After hearing the news Joon myeon had just broke, he found his heart breaking into pieces.
‘it couldn’t be true, it couldn’t be’
‘Eun-hee couldn’t do that to him, Eun-hee would never do that’ he was sure, he was certain that Eun-hee wouldn’t let him feel the pain of guilt for the rest of his life. Eun-hee couldn’t let him bear the burden of someone’s death let along his wife.
“This isn’t true,” he snapped at Joon myeon and Joon myeon’s hitches arouse in the unfamiliar one’s chest. Jong-dae put his hand on his shoulder but he slapped it away. “Tell me where is Eun-hee, this is not true. You are lying”.
Jong-in shouted but others couldn’t do anything but sob loudly.
“She touched the flowers”.
Yixing slowly uttered but his voice felt like it came out of a deep pit. Jong-in frost on his spot for a moment before he threw himself on his knees in front of yixing and shook him desperately.
“What kind of allergy is this,” he jerked yixing and yixing cried loudly. “How is she this way. Why there is no hope tell me hyung”.
“It’s a rare allergy,” Yixing slowly began and Jong-in blinked to clear his view. “Inhaling pollens wasn’t a big deal but she can’t touch something with pollen and eat something made of flowers or it’s abstract. Touching pollens means causing her arteries of heart to shrink and_ whole blood vessels of body damaged, it reacts slowly so most of damage is_”.
Jong-in hands fell from its grip to the ground.
“I didn’t know,” Jong-in held his head in his hands and Kyungsoo came near to hug get him in his embrace. “I didn’t know Kyungsoo, I didn’t know”.
He was losing his mind and his tears continuously started to fell on Kyungsoo’s shoulders, absolving in the dark fabric and leaving no trace behind.
“I brought flowers for her”.
As soon as Jong-in admitted while crying, Kyungsoo pushed him away in a heartbeat causing him to fall on the ground on his back. Each pair of eye moved onto him and their crying and sobbing instantly stopped at his words. The brief moment of painful fell between them in which he could see disbelief in Kyungsoo and everyone’s eyes causing his heart to break into smaller pieces than it already was.
“You didn’t do that Jong-in,” Kyungsoo said in horror and disbelief but Jong-in just cried in response. “Tell me you didn’t”.
“I didn’t know!” Jong-in snapped back but before he could sat up Kyungsoo pushed him backward again.
“You knew she had an allergy from flowers,” Kyungsoo shouted on the top of his lungs and it only shocked every breathing figure in the room. “We were there when Sehun was stopping her from going near the flowers”.
Jong-in closed his eyes and a stream of tears flooded from his eyes. Yes, he knew that, he knew but he didn’t know it was this severe. If only he knew, if only he_
He felt a grip on his shirt neck and he instantly opened his eyes. Sehun’s clutched jaws and dark orbs were the first thing he saw because the next thing he knew was, Sehun had lifted him up by the grip on his shirt neck and punched his jaw out of blue. He stumbled but Sehun didn’t let him fall, he was still holding on his shirt neck.
“I warned you,” Sehun roared and Jong-in witnessed tears forming in latter’s eyes. “I warned you not to harm my Eun-hee”.
He punched him again and with a split of second Jong-in was on the floor receiving Sehun’s shower of punches and kicks who could be spotted bent over Jong-in. Most of them shriek in horror but didn’t leave their places, some of them just watched emotionlessly and few of them tried to get Sehun away from Jong-in but they didn’t succeed as Sehun was stronger than his older physically.
“I warned you not to touch my Eun-hee”. Sehun punched his jaw while yelling and Jong-in could feel wet in his voice. He didn’t flinch because he knew he deserved this. He took it as his punishment but when Sehun said ‘my Eun-hee’ he couldn’t help but snap back at him.
“She is mine,” Jong-in yelled despite his bleeding corners of lips and bruised jaws. “She’s my wife. She is my Eun-hee”.
He was about to punch Sehun back but Sehun was faster and he instantly fell back when Sehun showered him with three punches in one fist.
“Then why did you do that,” Sehun kicked him on his knee and Jong-in shrieked in sheer pain. “Why did you ham her in this way that she is now struggling for her life”.
Sehun kicked him again on his thigh and Jong-in’s lips let out a loud scream that cause many of them fidget.
“Tao stop Sehun,” Yixing yelled at someone Jong-in didn’t know. “Stop him right now”.
The guy who was standing beside Kyungsoo earlier now stepped forward to grab Sehun from his arm.
“Sehun stop”
“No hyung,” Sehun shouted back at the guy. “I’m going to kill him”.
Sehun growled at Jong-in but the other guy whom yixing addressed as Tao seemed to be more stronger as he hugged Sehun from his waist and got him out of his sight.
Jong-dae quickly lunged forward to help Jong-in up. Sehun was still staring at him from the corner in Tao’s arms. Jong-in rubbed his blood away from his face but instantly flinched when his hand touched all the sore parts of his face. He limped when he got up but the pain worth it. He was responsible for his own loss and loss of his family.
“I can’t take it Yifan, I can’t take it anymore,” Joon myeon cried in someone’s arms whom Joon myeon was addressing as Yifan and the latter hugged him more tightly. “She saved my life but I can’t save her. I can’t pay back her debt and now my own brother is responsible for this, I can’t take it”.
Jong-in threw his head in Minseok’s chest and Minseok wrapped his arms around him. Jong-in heard Eun-hee’s parents and his trio fathers rushing towards the room and he exhaled sharply. How much more pain he had to endure or cause, he just wanted to shut his eyes and travel back in time to stop himself for buying Eun-hee that bouquet.
The smiling face of Eun-hee flashed into his mind when he closed his eyes and unconsciously his eyes shed the tears he never he’d, for Eun-hee.
*************************

Notes