-1.14 The First World

Another person's point of view/flashback.

***

She is staring at the morgue with lifeless eyes. Her eyes are puffy and red. It's seemed that she had been crying this entire time.

Several footsteps are approaching the morgue in a rush. The two boys then stopped. They saw her standing not too far from that place while staring into the horizon. They shouted something to her, but, like a deaf person, she could never hear their voices and their desperate calling. Her heart is dead alongside the corpse that laid listlessly in the morgue.

Something warm is embracing her stiff body, and she finally reacted due to the sudden embrace of the two boys. They are doing group hugging out of nowhere.

"Are you...alright?" One of the boys, with black hair and mesmerizing obsidian eyes, asked her in concern. His friend also staring at her with a worried expression.

She lifted her head and looked at the boys. Tears once again stained her face as her sobbing started resounding in the hallways.

"He's dead." She said in a grievance. "What should I do? He's dead, and he's leaving me alone. He's promised to take care of me, and how could he do that if he's dead?"

Both of the boys are flustered with her sudden wailing. Both of them are gently caressing her backside. They mutter something to soothe out her crying.

"There, there... You are okay. You are okay."

"He left me alone. It's not okay!"

"We are still here. We will never leave you behind, silly girl. We promise." The boy with black hair replied.

"Your promise is invalid." She snapped at him. "You are the type to break your promise right after you're making them."

The boy with black hair ashamedly bowed his head. His friend chuckled when he witnessed how the girl scolded their friend.

"That's true." He said in a meek tone.

The girl glares at him.

"You're much worse than him!" She said.

His head felt itchy for no apparent reason as he accepted her scolding.

"Sorry."

The girl finally stopped her crying spree after an hour.

Seeing her friends still by her sides, a gentle smile forced its way on her face.

"Then, let's renew our promise." She sticks out her pinky finger towards them. "Please keep this one promise. I don't care if you broke the other promises you make with me, but this one promise we make at this time, at this place, and at this moment, please make sure you guys uphold it."

The taller boy, without much hesitation, wrapped his pinky finger around the girl's finger. Then, he glanced at his friend and raised his eyebrows provocatively.

"Fine." The boy with black hair reluctantly agreed. He did the same as his friends and said in a sullen voice. "I also promise."

The girl's laughter is bustling in the air.

"Whoever broke this one promise, I'll smack his face twice."

"Not fair!" The two boys argued in unison voice.

----------------

When she saw her friend's cold and lifeless body is brought out from his car, darkness almost reclaimed her senses. She felt her world was crumbling bit by bit.

Her sight is blurring, and she felt dizzy. Her trembling hands found their way to the bumper of a car. She leaned her body on them as a support to prevent her body from collapsing on the ground.

"Liar. You broke the one promise. You broke your promise again." She uttered her words in despair. She tried to control herself as she didn't want to burst into tears at the murder scene. It's hard, but she can manage. If she cries right now, her eyes will be puffy. And Woon will realize it. She cannot cry in front of Woon. Not now, and not ever.

"Doctor Lee. The forensics can do their job now." Detective Su shouted at her.

She inhaled and exhaled her breathes several times. As she gained a grip over her self-control, she shouted back at the detective in charge a single word of yes.

She puts on her working clothes and mask. At first, her steps are wobbly, but, due time, she finally manages to walk without staggering.

"My team will be coming later. Was it okay for me to check the crime scene first?" She asked Detective Su.

"Of course, Doctor." Detective Su nodded his head.

***

Present time.

Nightmares. It's been such a long time since she got one. The last time she had a nightmare was during the death of his older brother.

She cannot sleep even a wink for almost a week because of the nightmare.

When Ryan heard that, he dragged Jae Woon with him, and with a big bag containing their daily necessities, they appeared in front of her house, demanding a ridiculous sleepover party. She is annoyed with such a suggestion as she needs a peaceful place to sleep. If her friends crashed into her house, how could she fall asleep then?

Ryan ignored her objection and entered her house shamelessly. Woon sent her an apologetic glance before trudging inside uninvited.

That night, she had the same nightmare. It is about her brother's death and his killer. She woke up, sweating profusely and in tears and slight sobbing.

She looks around in panic. Hope to find something to calm her nerve. As she tried to move, she felt warm hands are gripping her tiny hands tightly. The sight her eyes fallen into, unconsciously making her lips twitch into a slight smile. Both of her friends, lying on either side of her bed, holding her hands to their sleep. Their innocent face has a sort of calming magic, and she instantly felt a surge of security from such a tiny gesture.

Da Kyung chuckled as she saw the funny faces her friends made during their periods of sleep. After she tucked a big and warm blanket over the three of them, she finally laid down and closed her eyes in a serene expression.

"Thank you..." She mumbled the words sleepily as she was lulled back to sleep in the comfort of her two protectors, Ryan and Jae Woon.

--------

Da Kyung hugged her enormous teddy bear on her big bed as she reminisced of her good past. She gloomily stared at the television without any interest in watching them.

The television's purpose is to erase the feeling of loneliness in her heart. She is hoping the noise will be able to make her forget her bad experiences, even for a while.

"Ryan, you idiot." She blurted out many curses words towards her dead friend in an attempt to sustain her anger, her grief, and her sadness. "Stupid masochist bastard, jerk, despicable..."

Thud!

Da Kyung is startled as a thudding noise is heard from her balcony. She squinted her eyes, boring a hole on the curtain that restricted her sight from outside view. What is that sound?

She grumbled under her breath as she forced her body to stand and walked to her balcony. The curtain got pulled aggressively. There's nothing out there, and only darkness is greeting her back. What the...

As she turned around, a pink energy ball was staring straight at her with curiosity is evident in its eyes.

"Hello!" The energy ball said in a cheerful voice.

Drop!

The energy ball blinked its innocent eyes in wonder. Da Kyung collapsed on the floor, losing consciousness at her fate meeting with the system.

"Ara, ara..." It said. "She fainted."