3 A Lifeless Corpse

The door closed and so did my eyes. I passed out.

3 days later

"APPA!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I sat up with a jolt.

"Y/N! Y/N! Yah look at me!"

"Y/N calm down daughter, look at us."

None of the things anyone was saying to me was being delivered to my brain. I couldn't understand what anybody was saying to me, I only wanted to see appa. Is that too much to ask? Can't they back off? Who the hell is pushing me back down on the bed!? I finally focused.

"Yah! Calm down! You are not well enough to be doing this!" Taehyung oppa came into my view first. He was the one pushing me down onto the bed. But why? I stopped struggling.

"Y/N, listen to me. Do you remember who we are? Y/N look at me!" Taehyung oppa seemed frantic, searching my face for any sign of recognition.

"Y/N how are you feeling my daughter? Do you still feel any pain?" Uncle also seemed distressed. He's usually not the type to look ruffled, but he does now. Why? I suddenly felt a searing pain on my left arm along with a throbbing pain in my head.

"Aish..." I whispered in pain. Taehyung oppa immediately called for the doctor. When the doctor arrived the pain had mostly receded, but there was another pain bubbling up to the surface.

The doctor checked my vitals as I tried to gather myself, it didn't work though. I felt my tears run down my face. The room became silent, even the machines attached to me seemed to quiet down. I noticed why, the doctor unplugged everything from me.

"So you remembered everything?" the doctor asked.

I only nodded my head in response.

"You remember who these people are as well?" She asked as she pointed at Taehyung and Uncle.

"Yes."

"Good. Go ahead and rest then, if you can. Try not to stress yourself out even more. You have to take care of yourself now. Okay?" with that she looked at Uncle and said, "She is fine. Perfectly fine. She recovered better than I had thought she would have been able to, which is great. She's a strong girl."

"Thank you, doctor. When will she be released?" Uncle asked.

"Today or tomorrow if you would like, but that doesn't mean she can go around prancing. She still needs to rest and be in a calm environment with no stress if possible."

"Yes doctor, thank you once again." Uncle walked the doctor to the door and closed it before returning to my bedside.

"A-are you, like, feeling okay...ish?" Tae oppa asked tentatively unsure of himself and the question he had just asked.

I only looked at him, but it was enough, he knew exactly what I wanted. Tae oppa leaned down and lightly encompassed me in his warm arms as softly as possible trying not to hurt me more than I already was.

I whispered into his ear, "What do you think oppa?" He leaned back a little to look at my face, but I only buried my face deeper into the crook of his neck. I liked his smell. Always so refreshingly outdoorsy and calming. He always smells the same, foresty and woodsy, a smell of wildness and nature, all real nothing fake. Just like him. Real and present.

Without me noticing I had started crying again, but neither oppa nor Uncle stopped me. Both of them let me cry my heart out. Uncle even left the room to give me privacy, which I was thankful for.

After crying for about two hours I still didn't let go of him and neither did he. I just needed him by my side. I needed to feel secure, stable and strong and oppa made me feel that way, always, no matter what. I wanted to hold onto oppa for a bit longer before facing reality, but life doesn't follow what one wants and it never will.

"Ahem, ahem."

Uncle had finally returned to see us in the same position he had left us. I suddenly felt embarrassed for no reason. I quickly let go of oppa. I didn't fail to notice his little smile.

"Did I interrupt something you two?" Uncle asked while smiling as he looked from Taehyung oppa to me.

"Yes." "No." We both responded at the same time with me lagging.

"So which is it?" Uncle smirked.

"Uncle! Stop it!" I warned him, which he heeded thankfully.

"Okay, soooo do you feel a little better by any chance?" he asked seriously.

Just hearing that question reminds me of everything that I had lost that night and it angers me so much that I end up seeing red. "Will I ever be fully fine Uncle? After what happened? After that MONSTER decided to kill appa? Do you think everything is fine?" I fired at Uncle unable to hold back my true feelings.

Taehyung oppa grabbed onto my hand, reminding that I wasn't alone. I turned my head up to see him giving me a pressed smile, telling me that it wasn't hard just for me. It was hard for all of us. I lost a great father, Uncle lost an amazing friend and Tae oppa lost an affectionate uncle.

I looked back to Uncle to see him hanging his head low. I felt even worse than I had felt a second ago.

"U-uncle I am so sorr-"

"It was my fault. I shouldn't have let him get ahead of himself like that. I encouraged him to go ahead and do it, it was now or never I had told your father. I had egged him on after seeing how much you were hurting, how much we were all hurting. B-but I promise I never wanted this to happen. I just-I ju-" Uncle broke down crying. Tae oppa quickly went to his dad trying to calm him down and tell him it's okay.

"Uncle," I got out of my bed and headed over to Uncle. "You didn't do anything wrong. If it was anyone's fault then it would be me, for being so blind to everything, for not knowing anything, for not trying to understand anyone's pain. It was my fault."

"Oh Y/N don't blame yourself, it wasn't your fault. You didn't even know anything until that night."

"Uncle, if it's not my fault then it's no one's fault, except that monster who shot dad and the people who were lying in wait for us that night. Is that understood?" I said sternly, trying not to breakdown and cry along with Uncle.

'I can't be a cry baby now. I have to fight back. I have to be strong. I am my appa's girl. I am not weak.'

I forced a little smile through and held onto Uncle's hand as he gathered himself.

"So what do you want to do next? We are in Paju right now, and I was thinking of heading back to our old home in Seoul...So do you want to come with us? We can, like, um, live together...if you want, that is." Uncle's head got lower and lower as he spoke, probably imagining that I won't go with them.

"Uncle, you are not planning on abandoning me right?" I asked Uncle knowing fully well that he would never.

"YAH! Why would I do that!?" Uncle exploded. "You're just like my daughter!"

Taehyung and I exchanged looks of amusement. "So why are you asking me as if I wouldn't want to come with you?"

"Appa, in no way were you thinking that this leach was going to go off on her own right?" Taehyung oppa teased me for which he received two punches: one from me and one from Uncle.

"Oi, Kim Taehyung behave," Uncle warned in an undertone.

"Yes, yes. Gosh so scary! You take her side more than your own son's! What a bond." Tae oppa pouted as he went to sit on the sofa. Uncle and I exchanged a smile as he headed to Taehyung and I went back to my bed.

I used to accuse appa of the same crime. I always felt he would take Taehyung oppa's side more than mine...Now I have no one to accuse of the same thing ever again. I slowly looked down at my hands where I have the only thing left from my dad now. A ring. A ring that unknowingly holds all the answers to my problems, but I didn't know that. Not yet. Not until I make some bigger mistakes in my lifetime.