She simpered mockingly as smoke dissipated from her cigarette.

Min's aunt.

The one who abandoned her at a young age, left her to die in the hands of a teenager, and the one who didn't take her death as solemn as I did, not even at the least giving her a proper burial. Frankly, she did give me medicine for Min, and took the time to act as her guardian back in Incheon for postmortem. But, she never cared about Min. I trusted her advice but I never liked her guts.

I scowled at her presence, creating stilted atmosphere, luckily, less people were surrounding our area, excluding BTS and Lani, who watched as quietly behind, making it a perfect opportunity to discuss our differences.

She removed her cigarette from her mouth to speak. "Didn't your parents teach you how to formally greet elders? Or are you going to continue giving me the dirty eye?"

"I'm surprised the guards haven't kicked you out yet." I riposted. "You look like an escaped malefactor. Having a rogue appearance like that, and you'll be falsely sent to jail."

"Whatever, kid." She blew smoke through her nose. "Guess, you don't wanna hear about the postmortem."

My expression stiffened as her gaze traveled to the man beside me.

"You look familiar." She then looked back at me. "Is he your boy toy or somethin'?"

"No." I deadpanned. "The postmortem." I seethed through closed teeth.

"Oh yeah, just told you that so you would shut your sassy mouth. There's no assured result yet," she scratched her eccentric silver hair.

"No assured result!?" I yelled. "It's been two years already! If they didn't perform the examination by now, her corpse will rot before her burial." I woefully paced back and forth, shoving V in the process.

She just simply shrugged as if this meant nothing to her and leaned her back one of the chairs.

"The kid is good as dead, why don't we just leave it that way, kiddo." She rasped, causing me to freeze. My blood boiled as I stomped my way to her.

"What do you think this is!? Just a petty goldfish dying!? She's your niece for goodness sake, and you act as if you don't care!"

"What if I don't. The kid's useless anyway, doing nothing but trouble."

"She was a child! Before leaving her with me and my father, you just threw her away! She's your sister's daughter!" I protested as I made my way to punch her, lucky for her, V was there to restrain me.

"Bah! My sister was a good-for-nothing eldest, entrusting her with our household!" She said, and gave a breathy chuckle, like she was choking on something. "Luckily the disease was passed down to her."

"You monster!" I thrashed around V's grip, but the rest of them held me down.

"Don't act like none of this is your fault!"

"My fault?" I sneered. "When did it become my fault? I took her in when no one else would, I treated her like a sister, I TOOK CARE OF HER, WHEN YOU DIDN'T!"

"DON'T YELL AT ME, CHILD!" The granny finally cracked, her face turning red. "You have no idea the shame and suffering she went through, just to be your friend! She threw away her pride just for you to notice her!"

I felt my heart stop.

"That's irrelevant! That's archaic! I never treated her that way after we became friends." I panted heavily from all the yelling and thrashing from their grip, but they manacled my hands using a rope from God knows where.

"Hate to break it to you kid, but through all the years, her pride that you mercilessly broke still lingered her weak heart. Every time, you were spending time together, the look of pain never left her expressions. It was because of you. You were that heartless to push her around like a doormat. You made a dent to her self-esteem that was permanently damaged, not even your kindness and care can fix it. That's why, she didn't stay strong in her last moments. That's why, she walked into the path of light without hesitation, she isn't willing to fight back the disease, that killed our ancestors for generations. It was because of you!" She pointed her finger accusingly at me. My breathing hitched, my limbs weakened, my blood boiled hotter than lava, my glare fixed at her in disdain.

Somewhere in her words, she was right. But, there's no way she'd be willing to give up. No, that's not right.

Angry tears moistened my eyes as I stood up and ran. Anywhere, just away from her.

"Wait, Sinon!"

"Come back!"

Their voices in desperation for me to come back, but I didn't listen. I ran through the parking lot, and through the bustling streets, blending in with the crowd. I continued to run endlessly to the woods, a mile away from the city. And in almost an hour, I saw it at the distance. Like it was ushering me to come.

My ankles bled, but I paid no attention to burning pain in my feet. I just ran.

I jogged through large roots and rocks, almost slipping in mud, and still, I didn't stop.

I tripped on a protruding root as my body skid amongst mud and rocks. I felt a stinging pain in my cheeks, forehead, and palms, assuming it was severely abraded, and my ankles are sprained. I felt my knees get skinned and bruised, agonizing pain took over my whole body. I eyed the tree a few feet away from me and felt a sense of familiarity. I was near.

I held the most abrasion on my left cheek, warmth stinging it as I limped towards it, tree to tree.

A flush of relief came through once I saw the mango tree that held the swing, indicating that it's near. I peered over the bushes and hobbled towards the swing set slowly, pain striking me every time I move.

I slumped down on the swing, surprised that the rope was still strong after years as it's branch lowered when I sat on it. The branch was flimsy and can break anytime soon, but we made this when we were kids, and it's the lowest branch on the tree. No matter how delicate it is, it will stay strong and hold the both of us together. Or so she said.

My eye caught something shining from the corner of my eye, just a few feet from the bank of the lake. I limped my way to the water, and rummaged through the murky waters, something sharp cutting my finger. I slightly grimaced and lightly traced the sharp thing and found its handle, stuck inside the clay of the lake. I didn't notice that the water was already drenching my chest as I pulled out the muddy sword from the thick clamps of clay, falling backwards to the water.

From what I remember I used this to cut down bushes for our playing area in the woods, and I didn't remember bringing it home. If anything, I just found it lying in the woods. Dad would kill me if he ever found out that I was playing with large knives.

I walked back to the surface then to the swing eyeing the blade in disgust. The blade was dulled and slightly bent, every inch of it's blade was coated with rust and became thin from corroding, the handle was dwelled with barnacles of different sizes. But, at least functional.

I sat up and neared the large oak tree, raising my my blade and gashed it at the trunk.

~•~

Taehyung's POV

We hurriedly split up to search for Sinon, knowing when left alone, we might find her hanged in one of the toilet cubicles. But, unlike them I know where she's going. I didn't utter a single word to them because I want to handle her alone.

In the distance, a blur of green and brown was seen as I hastened my pace. I furrowed through the thick bushes, scratching my arm in the process and then when I neared the lake, I hid behind a tree, hearing her cries and also heard slicing metal. I didn't even look back as dreaded thoughts took over.

I walked behind a bush and saw her colliding the bent sword to the tree, the left side of it has it's bark skinned with long slices in the middle, wooden ships flew around as she sliced the trunk.

"NONE OF THIS IS MY FAULT!" She shouted and lowered the sword and punched the tree with the other hand, blood profusely dripping from her knuckles and fell to the bark.

The sight of her pained and suffering made my heart ache. Never before in my life have I seen her so broken. Her emotions exploding from her heart that's been kept for years, and the only thing I could do is watch.

After, minutes of hearing her painful howls and release of anger, I couldn't take it anymore. I reached for something to use and luckily, my hands fell to the log on my left as I charged at her, holding the log high in front of the tree. With a painful shriek her sword pierced through the the log as I closed my eyes on the impact, only when I opened my eyes, the blade was inches straight to my forehead, if either of us moved, it would be impaled through my head.

I saw her closed eyes flutter open as concealed tears fell, bewilderedly looking at me, then turned to anger.

"V! Stop showing up at the worst times!" She yelled, trying to shake off her blade from the piece of lumber as we tugged on the sword, not even cautious that it could impale me.

The handle slipped off her grasp, still connected to the log, I threw it at the lake as it slowly sunk.

She scowled at me, before faltering to her glum expression, kneeling down on the patch of dirt, crying tearless sobs.

"W...why..?" Real tears rolled down her cheek as she looked at me. "Why do you keep interfering...."

"Because, you're hurting yourself!" I yelled at her worriedly.

She pauses for awhile, muttering something to herself, raising a hand to her chest.

"Physical pain makes me forget the pain in my heart." She said with a shaky breath. Her demeanor is weak, then anger got the best of her and stood, aiming a punch at the tree.

"She said it's partially my fault! How could she just show up and rub the moments I wish I could take back to my face! She's a fool for doing that! INSANELY LUDICROUS!"

She was about to punch the tree, before I grabbed her bleeding fist and exchanged it with mine. My fist collided with the tree with so much force that it shook, a terrible amount of pain surged through my arm as I held it back to my chest in extreme pain.

"AAAARRRGGHHH." I hugged my hand as I rolled on the forest floor. My hand was shaking, blood rolled down my arm as tears escaped my eye.

"TAEHYUNG YOU IDIOT." She chided as she lifted my head and let it rest on her lap, my palm against hers.

"You idiot....." tears fell from her eyes. "Why would you do that?"

"I....I don't know the emotional pain you're going through, but I know that it's painful....I can't stand to see you hurt yourself, so at least know that punch was for you. I'd punch the tree all day if it meant you'll stop hurting yourself..." I said through groans as she remains silent.

"I'll carry you home..." she said hesitantly while motioning me to sit up. My eyebrows furrowed as I shook my head in protest.

"No, you're way more injured than I am," I stood up and crouched down, hinting to give her a piggy back ride.

"No I'm not." She growled as I raised a brow at her, looking at her bleeding ankles. She sighed and walked towards me, feeling her warm body against mine, I tried to calm my racing heart.

I then shambled across the neighborhood to prevent her from falling, hearing my own heartbeat against my chest. It was so loud, I was wondering if she could hear it too.