Yeongmi had really wanted her brother to comfort her.

Instead, she got a harsh reality check that she refused to listen to.

He had called her just after she'd hung up with their parents; they had no doubt complained to him about it.

She had almost been relieved, seeing his name pop up; if she had known how it would go, she'd never have answered.

"Kwan - "

"YeongMi, you're being childish."

".... What?"

"You're going to run away again. That's why none of your problems ever go away!"

"Seungkwan, stop it - "

"You can't just run away every time something bad happens, or something doesn't go your way!"

"Why not? Do you want me to stay and get hurt even more?" She hardly even realized that she had admitted to being hurt; but Seungkwan noticed it.

"YeongMi, you have to be strong and fight! If you get hurt, you have to fight, and understand the whole situation, not just run away and get our parents to let you escape. It's cowardly."

YeongMi's heart clenched, and angry tears collected in her eyes. "Why don't you just go back to your fucking idol life with thousands of fans worshipping you, never saying a bad thing about you and just forget about me again!"

Low blow. Seungkwan stayed silent, finally realizing the depth of YeongMi's despair.

"You have no idea what it's been like for me. 4 years, on my own! And 12 years before that, still miserable. Were you ever happy? I can't remember ever being happy, not then. Not now."

"YeongMi, I know it's hard, but if you just wait a little bit, things will clear up and it won't be so bad - "

"No! I'm done waiting, I'm tired! I'm so tired, Kwan. Do you understand what it's like to be mentally exhausted, emotionally drained?"

"...."

"Probably, with your training. But there is no debut for me to look forward to, to give this suffering meaning. There's no purpose, no validation, no nothing. No one to help me."

"YeongMi - " Seungkwan's heart was breaking, hearing this from his baby sister, who always said she didn't have feelings, who never cried when anybody was looking, who never sounded so weak, so depressed.

"I have no one!" There was a heart-wrenching pause before YeongMi managed to collect herself again, choking down the sobs. Her nose burned, and her eyes were so blurry she dared not move. "I have no one," she whispered, her throat closing up as she allowed the weakness to flood her mind and body.

Seungkwan felt his own eyes tearing up, and he bit his lip harshly, trying to figure out what he could do to ease his baby sister's pain.

But he had no idea what he could possibly do.

"I'm sorry." YeongMi sighed loudly, and Seungkwan could almost hear the resignation slowly filling her mind. "Just let me run away, one more time. I've learned my lesson."

"Oh my god, what happened to you Mi?"

The laugh was probably the most unsettling sound that YeongMi had made all night. "You have no idea, Seungkwan."

But she wouldn't tell a soul.