Christmas and New Year went by in a blur it was as if it was 2 hours long. It was a hectic week since we were super busy and we had so much scheduled. But we managed to get through it and still enjoy ourselves.

It's now January 3rd and it's Vee's funeral tomorrow. Her parents wanted to wait till after Christmas and new year to have the funeral.

It's late in the evening and the sun has just completely gone down. I'm sitting outside on the back porch. Sitting by myself outside is nice, the peacefulness is calming.

I watch as some snowfalls lightly and shimmers once it hits the ground. I take in the nice smell of the fresh hot chocolate I just whipped up. I take a small sip making sure to blow on it otherwise I'll burn my mouth.

I'm sipping on my delicious drink when I get a text from Caro.

Caro:
"What do you want for
dinner? It's either McDonald's
or Subway."

Zoey:
"I'll have subway. You already
know my order."

Caro:
"Yeah I do, we'll be back soon."

I quickly reply with an okay and I go back to watching the snow and drinking my hot cocoa.

As I'm sitting here and watching until I suddenly get a phone call from someone. I look at the caller ID and its Jungkook. I hit answer and I put it on speakerphone. "Hello?" I say softly.

"Hey... How are you?" He says with his husky voice. He probably just woke up.

"Well you know, just grieving the loss of my best friend," I say bluntly.

"Yeah, I heard... How was new year's? I couldn't call you the other day since we were so busy."

"It was fine I guess. Could've been better. But nevertheless, fine."

"Hmm..." He just hums and stays silent.

"So why did you call?" I say after the long silence.

"Well I-I just wanted to see how you were doing." He says kinda quickly, and laughing awkwardly at the end.

"Hmm, okay... Well I'm doing alright, are you sure that's why you called?"

"Y-yeah, that's why I called you. Anyways I got to go, I'll see you soon. Bye!" And he hangs up.

Did he just say "see you soon"? What is he talking about? And why is he in a hurry?

My questions go unanswered when I get a call from Janette. "Hello?"

"Hey, how are you?" She says.

"Why is everyone asking me that?"

"What?" She says confused.

"Nevermind," I say.

"Okay? But I called to tell you something important." She says with a serious tone.

"And that is?"

"Well you know how you did a cover with Jungkook, and you were seen sitting with them during the GMAS?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Well, you guys have been getting a lot of hate recently. Like a LOT of hate, mostly from the super crazy BTS fans. Other fans are actually super supportive and are taking your side. People are mostly getting angry at you guys since you were so close with the boys. They're saying some nasty stuff but I already filtered the comments from all your videos and I also got in contact with HYBE and they're doing their jobs to take down other things." She says hurriedly.

"Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. So you're saying that people are attacking me because I was with BTS?" I'm having a hard time grasping my head around everything.

"Yeah pretty much. I know you haven't been active on social media since the GMAS so you couldn't see it, but it spread pretty quickly. It's starting to get out of hand to be honest."

"What? When did this start?!"

"Since the 27th, after that, it started to get even worse."

"And why am I only finding out about it now?!"

"Well you haven't been active on social media at all, and I thought it wasn't going to be such a big deal."

"You thought it wasn't going to be a big deal?!" I huff in anger. I'm confused and angry at the same time.

Wait so this must be why Jungkook called earlier. Maybe he was checking to see if I knew about it yet, but that still leaves some questions unanswered.

"But on the bright side, it's not like the fans can get you since most are from Korea. Also, not many people from Alberta even like Kpop so you're pretty safe here. I'm not too sure how bad the situation is in Korea, but in Canada, it's not much of a deal."

"But that doesn't stop the fact that people are attacking us. You know, I'm gonna go see what they're saying right now."

"Umm, I wouldn't do that if I were you! They said some really mean stuff!" Janette says frantically.

"Well, I gotta see it for myself since it's about me and my group!"

I put the call on speaker and I go on YouTube first. I go to look at the cover Jungkook and I did on their channel, but when I look it up it's gone. "What happened to the cover Jungkook and I did on HYBE's channel?"

"They took it down, I also took down the one you and Jungkook did on your channel."

"It was that bad huh?" I say to Janette.

"It's pretty bad, also there are rumours going on about the two of you."

"What kind of rumours? And with Jungkook?" I say concerned.

If this gets really bad then maybe Jungkooks career could be in jeopardy! I could also be tarnished with what's happening!

"Yeah with Jungkook! People are bashing you because they suspect you're dating him, and that you are just using him for clout, and that you are forcing them or paying them. Basically stuff like that."

"Ohh gosh... How am I gonna fix this?" I say heaving a big sigh.

"Well I got some stuff under control and HYBE said they'll take care of the rest."

"Ohh gosh, I didn't think this would happen whatsoever..."

"Neither did I." Janette sighs too.

I just really hope things don't get worse. I'm in a pretty dangerous situation right now. And not only that but I also caused trouble for the boys.

"Well ill call you again later or tomorrow. There nothing much I can do right now anyway."

"Yeah that's true, I also already informed the members about the situation. They pretty much already knew, so for now let's just lay low."

"Okay, take care," I say.

"You too, bye." Janette hangs up.

I lay down on the couch and just think about my next move. What do I do now?

*****

It's the next day, aka the day of Vee's funeral. I'm not too sure how to feel, of course, I'm sad but for some reason, the tears haven't kicked in yet. Maybe later on the tears will start coming out like a waterfall.

I'm standing in my bathroom with my black pants and black t-shirt on. With my pin in hand, I just stare at it, not too sure of what to do with it.

I've never been to a funeral before so I don't really know how things will work. And to make it worse, the first funeral ill go to is my best friend's funeral. This whole funeral thing just confuses me, like what is this pin for?

I'm happy that she will finally be able to rest in peace inside of her coffin, but I'm also sad that she's gone. It's like I've lost my soulmate, now I'm just left alone without my other half.

It still hasn't fully hit me that she's gone. The past weeks I've just been trying to distract myself from thinking of bad things. But now that is her funeral, things are starting to hit me more.

I just continue to stand there for a while, until Caro comes looking for me. "Zoey! Zoey! Where are you? We have to go soon!" I hear her shout as she bursts through my room. I have the bathroom door open so she just walks in and sees me. "What are you doing? Come on we gotta go." She slowly walks to me.

I turn to look at her. "Can you help me put this on?" I hand her the pin and she takes it.

"We have to go soon, Tita is waiting for us." She carefully puts the pin on for me trying not to poke me.

I sigh. "You get the car ready and ill be there in a bit."

Caro gives me a small tight smile before nodding her head and walking away.

I'm left all alone in my bathroom. I sit down on the floor with my back against the counter. Putting my head in my arms, I close my eyes and just think.

Random memories flash through my head, I try to make them go away but I fail terribly.

"Zoey! Come on! We really need to get going!" Caro yells from outside.

"Coming!" I get up off the floor and walk out of the bathroom.

I grab my sling bag on the way out of my room. Running down the steps I see Henry walk to the front door and locking it. I make my way to the garage and I find Caro's car ready to go. As per usual I need to sit in the backseat since Henry is driving and Caro is seated at the passenger's side.

"I'm here," I say as I get into the car.

"You ready to go?" Caro looks back at me. I just nod my head. "Don't worry, I will be by your side."

"Thanks." I give her a small smile.

I take out my earphones from my bag and I start playing some music. I don't want to play any sad music since I don't want to cry, so instead, I play some energetic music.

Henry gets into the car and we start heading to the cemetery which is about a 40-50 minute drive.

I get comfortable for the long drive there. I watch as trees pass by us and the houses zoom past. The sky is clear with only a few clouds in sight. It makes me think that Vee made the weather nice on purpose, she's never liked gloomy weather anyways. The music was helping with my sad mood, but deep down I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry.

We all stay silent for the whole ride not really knowing what to say. It's not like I'm gonna start cracking jokes all of a sudden. We all just stare out the window and drown in our own thoughts.

We eventually make it to the cemetery, and there's already a bunch of people here. Since it's winter, Vee's parents decided to have to burial outdoors (obviously) and the ceremony thing indoors.

We walk into the hall and we see everyone there. There are chairs spread out for people to sit, and her casket is right in front of the chairs.

I'm nervous to go see her, it would be the first time id see her after her death.

I see Vee's parents approach us, and they too are dressed in black. They look awful, as one would after losing a family member. They look tired and pained, but they try to hide their tear-stained face, it's not working.

I give them a small smile before hugging them. "Hi tita, hi tito." I hug them tightly trying not to cry.

"Hi dear, how are you? Are you doing okay?" Tita says as she touches the side of my face.

I hold her hand on my face. "I'm doing okay tita, don't worry about me. How about you guys, how are you?" I look at the two of them.

They both smile softly and say they're doing alright. "Come sit down with the others." Tita Rachel says as she brings me to where the other members were seated.

I sat down beside Ella and she squeezes my hand lightly. "Tita, where's ate Victoria?" (Ate = unnie or older sister in Filipino.)

"She's over there greeting the other people. You can go say hi to get later." Tita says before going to see some other people.

Victoria is Vee's older sister. I've mentioned some stuff about her previously. But the thing is, she hates me now. It's because she blames me for what happened to Vee. Apparently, it's all my fault since I had to have my "stupid birthday" that day.

*Flashback*

When the doctor announced that Vee was in a coma, we all cried our eyes out and collapsed on the ground.

I was sitting here confused about what had just happened. It all went by too quickly that I haven't had time to wrap my head around everything.

As I sit here in shock and confusion, are Vicky comes up to me and starts yelling at me. "You! It's all your fault! It's all your fault! Now my sister is in a don't because if you! If it weren't for your stupid birthday she would've been here!" She pushes me back as she's crying and yelling.

I'm too stunned to even realizes what she was saying. I just let her push me as I try to grasp what she's saying to me. Nurses come and drag her away from me and take her to a different seating area.

Tita Rachel comes up beside me and hugs me. "It's not your fault! It's not your fault- don't listen t-to what she's s-saying. You didn't do anything wrong. You hear me!" She puts her hands on my face and makes me look at her.

I slightly nod and she hugs me tighter while telling me everything is gonna be okay.

We eventually got up and went to go see ate Vicky.

Is it all my fault? Am I the cause of all of this? Did I- did I almost kill my best friend?

*End of flashback*

I see ate Vicky in the other corner of the room talking to the priest that came. Coming from some catholic Filipino families, we have a priest here to do the ceremony.

I look at my members and they all look so glum. Everyone is just spaced out into their thoughts. I look at the other people and they are also looking so blue. Some talking quietly amongst themselves and others just sitting there looking around. The mood in this room is quite unpleasant.

Straight ahead of me is where Vee's coffin lies. She's inside of a white coffin, one of the doors is open for viewing and I can see one of her pictures on top.

A tear falls down my cheek as I look at the photo. It was the photo I took of her. The time where we went to a self-made professional photoshoot date, our last friendship date...

*Flashback*

"Okay, now ill take a solo picture of you," I say to Vee as she gets ready.

"Okay, and make sure it looks nice." She giggles as she sits on the stool.

"When have I ever taken a bad photo of you?" I smirk at her.

"That's true, but that's only cuz you are so talented. Everything you do is perfect."

"Stop lying." I scoff.

"I'm not lying! It's true, your perfect and that's what I love about you!" She smiles widely.

She looks so pretty today, we decided to wear the matching dresses she made for us. They are these white summer dresses that are flowy and pretty. She has her hair in soft curls that cascade down her back. Her makeup is soft and it brings out her best feature, her eyes. She is the prettiest human being that I've ever met.

I smile at her. "Okay now smile widely and turn to the side a bit."

"Okay!" She turns to the side a bit and gives her brightest smile. Also her prettiest.

I snap a few shots and she comes over to look at them. "Wow! You look so pretty even if it's a normal shot!" I say as I gawk at the picture.

"Ahh stop, no I don't look that pretty." She denies.

"No you really do tho, I'm gonna print this one and frame it in my house."

"Then I'll do the same for you." She laughs."

We take a few more pics and that concludes our photoshoot date. Or put last ever friendship date...

*End of flashback*

As I'm looking at the photo, I'm already starting to cry. I ask Caro if she can come with me to go view her body. She agrees and she walks beside me.

She holds my hand tightly and squeezes it. We near the coffin and I look at the writing on the door of the casket. It has the names of family members and relatives. It also had Caro and I name too, and at the bottom, it says "you will be missed by everyone". I start to cry even more as I see this.

I look at the picture and I look at her smile. She looked so happy in that picture and it makes me sad that I'll never be able to see it anymore.

I look down into the coffin and I see her lying there, lifeless but peaceful. I burst into tears as I look at her body. I hug Caro tightly as I cry into her shoulder.

Caro looks at her body too and she starts crying too. It's not easy to see someone you live with just laying there lifeless.

I look back at her body and I just want to bring her back. I want her back so badly. Just to hug her again is all I want. "I'm sorry! I'm soo sorry! I couldn't save you! I'm sorry-" I choke on the lump that's formed in my throat. My knees feel weak and I fall to the ground.

Caro hugs me and tells me that it's okay and that it's not my fault. Ella comes over and helps me up.

I look back at her body and I cry. "Why her- why her?! It could've been me! Why- just why?" I hug Ella's side.

Caro tries to shush me and make me stop saying these negative things. But my mind just won't cooperate. It hurts so much!

Caro takes me outside to get some fresh air. I'm still crying as we stand outside. I lean against the car as I cry. "Hey, look at me. Look at me!" Caro shouts at me. I look at her as I cry. "It's not your fault! You didn't do anything wrong! Stop saying that it should be been you! That's not a good thing to say!" She says as she starts crying more.

"I'm s-sorry-" I get cut off by her again.

"No, don't say you're sorry. I know you're just sad which is why you're saying stuff like that." She hugs me. "But I didn't think Vee wants to hear that kind of stuff come out of your mouth. I don't think she wants you to blame yourself for anything. You understand?!"

I nod my head. "Yeah, I understand. I have to stay strong for her, I need to be strong for everyone."

"No gotta do it for yourself too! Be strong for yourself! Remember your promise?!"

"Yeah, I remember," I say.

"Okay now wipe your tears and let's go back in. We're gonna freeze to death out here." She drags me back inside.

*****

The priest has just finished up and now it's time for the family and friends to say some stuff to her before she goes.

Vee's dad has to go first since he's the father. He walks up to the podium and he holds the mic. I can already see that these trying to hold back his tears.

He clears his throat before talking. "Vivian, my dear Vivian. I have so many things I wanna say to you. You are my daughter, first of all, my youngest. You are my everything, and you know that right?" He sheds a few tears before proceeding. "I don't really know what to say since it's not like I've ever done this before." He looks at everyone in front of him. "My daughter is an amazing person. Very caring, very kind. She loved dancing and singing, maybe even considered it her life. She was also very into helping others and making others happy before herself-" He chokes up and starts crying even more.

He takes a few breaths before continuing. "She always made sure to take care of others before she helped herself. She never failed to make others smile, never failed to put a smile on others' faces." He smiles at the thought of his daughter. "Basically what I'm trying to say, is that she's a good person. She's never done anything wrong. She can't even hurt a fly."

He looks behind him, towards where Vee is lying. "Vee, you are the best thing that has ever happened to us. And I just really hope that you are happy where you are-" Vee's dad starts to choke up again. "I love you so, so much and you know that right? We all love you and I will miss you." He wipes the tears from his cheek. "Until then, my lovely daughter, until then..." He starts crying as he walks back to his seat.

Tita Rachel gets up and walks to the podium. "Hello everyone, I am Vivian's mom which you already know." She looks at Ves's picture. "My daughter, she's also my everything. She's my youngest, my strongest, and will always be my baby." She looks up in an attempt to stop the tears from falling. "My love... Mommy loves you, I love you to the moon and back my baby! I will always have you in my heart! And I hope you rest well, and that you won't feel any pain anymore. I love you!" She says before she starts crying.

It takes a moment before Vee's sister Victoria could get up. She slowly walks to the podium. "Hi, uhm, I'm Ves's sister Victoria. Uhm, Vee is my little sister, my best friend, my soulmate, basically my life..." She looks down at her hands. "Before her life was taken say, she was the jolliest person I have ever met-" She tries to hold back her gears but fails. "She was the most energetic girl ever. She loved playing sports for hours on end without getting tired. And that's one thing I love about her."

She takes a few breaths before continuing. "Vee if you can hear me right now, just know that I'll always be here for you-" Vicky starts to choke up. "Ate Vicky will always be by your side no matter what. I just hope your happy and you can rest in peace." She looks at her coffin. "Ate loves you! I always will!" She bursts out crying.

Her parents have to help her get back to her seat since she was crying so much. Other family members went up to speak.

Then it was my turn. I slowly walk up to the podium. I look at everyone standing there, most are crying and the rest are watching me with tears in their eyes.

"Hello, I am Zoey. The best friend of Vivian. Uhm, Vee was my best friend. Always will be at heart. I can't tell you how much I loved her because not even words can describe it." I have random thoughts that wish through my head. Some I wish I could replay in real life. "We had so many promises that we wanted to keep, many of which we couldn't keep. To this day it is hard for me to accept that she's gone. Every day I just want to wake up from this nightmare, but now it's real and I can't wake up from it."

I look at her photo. "Vee, my bestie, I love you, we love you! You will forever be my crackhead, my dancing partner, my best friend, my soulmate, my sister from another mother, my everything! You know that right? And I will forever be thankful that I had you in my life. So thank you! And I hope you rest well and peacefully!" I cry a little but I try to stop it.

I walk back to my seat and Caro hugs my side. My brain is still failing to grasp all of this. Is this really happening?

The ceremony finishes and now we are getting ready to bury the body. Everyone is standing around her coffin as it's being lowered. We are all crying and saying our goodbyes as we throw flowers into the hole.

I say my final goodbyes as I throw my flower and my pin down. I watch as it falls in as if it's in slow motion. "Goodbye Vee, I'll see you in another life!" I say quietly, hoping she heard it.

I hug Caro as they start putting dirt on top of her coffin. I'm hugging Caro so right I'm not even sure if she can breathe. I can't even watch as they cover the hole up.

"They're done now," Caro says to me quietly.

I look back over and the hole that was once there was now covered up. I can no longer see her coffin. I listen as the priest does his final things before it's over.

I stand there in silence as I look at her gravestone. It reads "Here lies the body of Vivian Joy R. Cortez. A loving daughter, sister, friend, and family. Will be missed by all. 1998 - 20XX." I shed a tear as I read it.

Some people start to leave as they say goodbye to Vee and her family. I just stand they as I latch onto Caro. My brain isn't even registering that people are leaving. I just want to stay here with Vee for as long as I could.

We ended up being the only ones here, everyone else has left. Tita and Tito said their goodbyes to us before leaving as well. Henry already waiting in the car.

I'm standing here with Caro hugging me as we both silently cry. "Let's go?" Caro says softly.

"Just five more minutes, just 5 more," I say.

"Okay, just five more minutes." She strokes her hand through my hair as we stand in silence.

After a good 10 mins or so, Caro asks me again. "Shall we go now?" She looks at my face.

"Yeah, let's go. But can I say my goodbye to Vee first?" I say as I look at her.

She's hesitant at first but then agrees and walks away. I watch as she goes to the parking lot.

I look at Ves's grave. "So they're gone huh? Everyone's left. I really don't want to leave you." I stay silent for a bit. "You'll stay with me, right? You'll watch over me, right? I won't ever leave you, you will forever be with me right here." I point to my heart. "I won't let you go. I promise." I stay silent. "I have to go now. But I'll be back to visit you soon. I'm not sure when but soon. Okay? Okay. Goodbye, my friend... I love you!" I say before walking away.

I feel a tear slide down my cheek as I walk to the car. Caro and Henry are waiting for me. I get inside and we drive off to who knows where.

*****

"Do you want to go home now?" Caro asks me.

I stay looking out the window. "Yeah, let's go home. I'm kinda sleepy, in gonna take a nap when we get there."

"Okay." Is all that Caro says.

I stare out the window into the beautiful sky. The sun is out and shining and people are outside walking around. I'm not really in the mood to care about what others are doing right now, I just really want to sleep.

Last night I already didn't get much sleep, so a nap sounds good right now. I can't sleep in the car since it's not very comfortable. Sleeping in the car has never really been my thing.

We pull up into the driveway and park in the garage. I get out of the car and make my way up to my room after removing my shoes. I take off my clothes and quickly change into some pyjamas before collapsing on my bed and falling asleep. Sleep just completely takes over me.

~~~~~

Authors Note:

So that's all for this chapter...

Did you guys cry? I know I did as I was writing this chapter.

The next few chapters are when the plot really starts and gets real, I hope you guys enjoy reading those chapters.

If you guys like this chapter, then please hit the star and don't forget to comment anything if you want.

I'll see yall in the next chapter, bye for now!