Chapter 26

"W-what?" My voice shook as I tried to process Eunbi's frantic words.

"Unnie please! Hurry, oh god I don't know what to do."

My heart was in my stomach and there was a massive lump in my throat preventing me from speaking.

My precious father.

I felt the protective side of me come out again as I thought about how terrified my younger sister must've been. In that moment my own fear coupled with the concern for my mother and sister was practically drowning me.

I swallowed hard, "Y-yeah, send me the address. I-I'll be there soon."

I quickly hung up the phone, and practically let it fall out of my hands onto the cold, hard floor.

I began shaking uncontrollably and I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.

I gripped one of the leather chairs and put my hand on my chest to stop myself from hyperventilating.

Seokjin was right at my side trying to calm me down.

"Baby, what happened? Come on talk to me," he asked worriedly, grabbing my arm and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

I could barely formulate any words because of how the giant lump in my throat was literally blocking out words and air from escaping me.

Seokjin rubbed my back comfortingly trying to help me breathe and get my bearings again.

"M-my d-dad," I stammered, choking back a very loud sob.

Seokjin's expression fell as he clearly understood what that meant.

Without another word, he pulled me in close and wrapped me in a tight hug before swiftly leading me out of the board room.

He briskly walked with me in my arms probably out of the hotel. I couldn't really see but I could almost feel the curious and shocked gazes of my coworkers and other staff of the other CEOs watching the scene in front of them unfold.

There was no denying it was me because my pregnant belly was a dead giveaway to my identity.

But I could honestly care less in that moment. I just wanted to get out of there and get to my dad as soon as possible.

We met Driver Son outside where Seokjin urgently gave him the address of the hospital that Eunbi had sent me.

Seokjin got me in the car quickly and told Driver Son to step on it while still holding me tightly.

I buried my face into his chest, hiccuping as I tried to remain calm.

But I couldn't deny the overwhelming worry and paranoid inside of me as my mind annoyingly drifted to the "what ifs."

I wanted to scream and cry and let every single angry and bitter emotion out, but again I felt myself holding back for the sake of my mother and sister who would both need someone emotionally stable to be with them.

"You promised everything would be alright, right?" I asked Seokjin.

He gulped, giving me a nervous smile.

"Of course I did baby," he murmured.

I nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck, "I trust you Jinnie. I always have and I always will."

Seokjin POV

I'm such a liar.

I'm such a worthless, useless, liar.

My mind drifted back to the conversation I had with Yubin's mother that one day where she seemed just totally hopeless and knew that when something happened that it would be the end.

I knew that, and I still lied to Yubin to protect her from the truth.

Was I protecting her? Or was I ultimately delaying the inevitable?

I was rarely wrong, but after what happened to my parents all those years ago, I was a cynic when it came to death.

Life was a cycle and everyone was destined to live the life they were meant to.

So there was no point in me praying and hoping that everything would be alright. It was good to have hope, but it was also good to know how to be able to take a step back for a moment and give yourself the ability to let go.

It hurts much less when you realize that there are a lot of factors of life you can't prevent.

But from what I could tell, Yubin was wracking her brain trying to find a miracle for the worst possible situations. It hurt my heart so much to see her so desperately trying to cling onto being strong for others. Doing so was preventing her from letting go because she had to believe he'd be fine so her sister and mother could believe it too.

We arrived at the hospital and practically jumped out of the car.

No mask, no glasses, nothing.

In that moment, neither of us cared who saw us desperately running into the hospital together. Who saw us hold each other closely as we tried to support each other.

"UNNIE!" A familiar voice shouted.

We saw a tearful Eunbi tear herself away from Chanhyuk and desperately flung herself into Yubin's arms where she began sobbing.

Yubin held onto Eunbi like her life depended on it. I saw the older sister in her jump out as she tightly squeezed her younger sister.

I noticed that Chanhyuk was standing off worriedly to the side, his eyes glued to Eunbi as if she would break even further at any moment.

I shuffled over to him, watching the girls from a distance to keep an eye on Yubin while simultaneously using him as a shield from the very curious eyes of practically everyone in the hospital.

"Hey, do you have any clue what happened? Eunbi was a bit too hysterical for us to ask," I asked Chanhyuk.

He sighed, his shoulders drooping a little, "We got a call from her mom who was just as frantic as she was. Mom said that she had to call an ambulance after he was unresponsive while he was sleeping. From what she said, he was extremely pale and barely breathing. When we got here, we found out they took him in for some emergency surgery."

I frowned, looking back at Yubin who was bravely trying to console her sister. Probably spewing the lies that I told her to keep her positive.

"Look, it's great that you're here for Yubin, but are you sure you should be out in public with absolutely no disguise on. What if we all get mobbed?" Chanhyuk questioned.

I sighed, "I hear you, but I won't leave her side. I made a promise to her mother and her father that I'd love her wholeheartedly and that I'd be there to pick her up when she fell. I know she won't let herself mourn in an attempt to be there for her mom and sister and she'll break if she does that. I won't let it happen. I can't."

He offered a small smile, "I'm glad it was you who finally made her happy. I've been around her for ten years now and watched her go through each and every awful relationship. She was like my older sister so it was natural of me to worry, but I'm glad she found someone like you."

I flushed slightly at the comment, politely bowing in acceptance at his compliment.

Yubin and Eunbi finally came over to us and clung onto either of us respectively.

Yubin was gripping my arm rather tightly while her eyes were trained worriedly on her sister.

"Crap we've gotta get you a disguise," Yubin muttered under her breath.

I could tell she was trying to distract herself by making sure everyone else was comfortable, but I wasn't having it. She was my greatest priority.

So she tried tugging me along but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into my chest, ignoring the soft gasps of onlookers in the hospital.

I pressed her head into my chest and with one hand stroked her hair gently. The other hand instinctively went to cradle her bump.

Feeling my daughter's presence always calmed me down and I knew it calmed her down too.

"Seokjin—"

"Shh. Just stay here. Please. The three of us need each other. You don't need to pretend like you're fine," I hummed.

She sighed heavily into my chest, her chest rising and falling with each deep breath she took.

"I'm gonna break Jinnie. I'm on the verge of breaking down. But I can't for my mother or my sister. They need me. They always have. And I've always been there," she mumbled.

"Well then I'll be there for you. You need me right now. So let me comfort you," I pleaded.

She relaxed a bit more in my arms, molding into my embrace while I held onto her tightly.

At this point, all I could do was hope for the best. Hope for the best even though I knew that there was no best.

Time Skip

"Are you the Kwon sisters?" A doctor approached us after a few hours of waiting.

The sun had already begun its descent behind the clouds, but we were all waiting anxiously for the moment when we could go be with the girls' mom and find out what happened.

Yubin stepped up for her sister who's throat had gone hoarse from crying for so long.

"Yes. I'm his older daughter Yubin and that's my sister Eunbi," she spoke flatly.

The nurse asked us all to follow them, swiftly leading us through the doors that were once tightly shut.

Honestly, I was rather grateful that the hospital staff weren't saying much because I was there. I was glad that they knew the boundaries that we had that if were passed could result in payout from them. It just made my life easier and I could be there for Yubin with only the worry of ignorant citizens in there with us.

We were lead down a long corridor in which we passed several rooms with people anxiously waiting outside.

After a few seconds we finally caught sight of Yubin and Eunbi's mother's distraught face.

The girls ran into her arms tightly squeezing their dear mother tightly.

My heart broke at the sight of their mother's tear-stained face. How long had she been crying? Had anyone been there to comfort her the same way Chanhyuk and I were there to comfort her daughters?

My heart was aching. It made me think of my own mother. And my poor father. I knew the pain of losing my parents, but those girls had never ever experienced the heartbreak of letting go of the people that raised you.

I joined them at Yubin's side, gently slipping my hand into hers and giving her a reassuring squeeze.

Missus Kwon gave me a small bow of acknowledgment but her eyes were hiding a much more solemn meaning in them. I knew exactly what she was telling me and I hated it.

The five of us crowded around the corridor in silence, anxiously doing whatever we could to pass the time.

I could tell the stress of this whole situation was taking a toll on Yubin especially as she was looking rather exhausted and kept cradling her baby bump for support.

I made her lay her head on my shoulder and shut her eyes so she could get some sleep but that was ruined when a doctor tentatively approached us wearing a grim expression.

My heart clenched at the incoming news.

I knew it.

Why was I such a liar?

I was a terrible boyfriend and guilt was literally eating me inside out.

"Are you the Kwon's?" The doctor asked, momentarily glancing at me.

The girls nodded, their eyes lighting up in the hope that he was going to tell them good news.

He sighed.

That same sigh that all doctors gave. I couldn't imagine having to constantly tell someone that they failed to keep them alive.

I remember after my parents' death I blamed the doctors for a long time. Why couldn't they save them? Were they incompetent at their job?

No.

I was just too angry and hurt and lost to realize that I had directed my frustrations at the wrong person. At the wrong people.

It took Yubin for me to realize that fully.

And now here we were with the roles reversed. And it was eating me alive.

"I'm sorry. We couldn't save him. We tried everything we possibly could, but too much was failing inside of him."

The doctor bowed deeply while the weight of his words hung in the silent atmosphere

It was eerily quiet between the five of us. No one spoke a single word.

"W-what?" Yubin was the first one to speak, her voice cracking as she did making my heart shatter into a million pieces.

"Baby~" I softly hummed, holding her as tight as I could.

"H-he can't. This is a bad dream. This isn't real," Yubin rambled, her breathing becoming very fast and short.

The sight of the blatant denial their pillar had uttered totally broke Eunbi and their mother.

Their loud sobs rung around the hospital as they held each other and cried tears of pain and longing.

"It's not true," Yubin's voice wavered.

Yubin slinked away from me, gently dropping herself to the floor. She clenched her hands into fists, her knuckles turning scarily white from how hard she clenched.

She dropped her head to the ground and that's when she finally broke.

"NOOOO!" She screamed.

She broke down into painful sobs, shaking as the overwhelming emotions flowed out of her.

Remorse filled me as I slowly dropped beside her.

I rubbed her back before firmly picking her up and placing her in my arms.

She tried wiggling free but she was so upset that she barely had any fight left in her to escape.

She only sobbed harder, burying her face into my chest.

I hugged her tightly but she smacked my chest with her fists, though it wasn't hard enough for it to hurt.

"You're a liar! You lied to me! You promised me he'd get to see our little girl and you promised that you were never wrong! How could you lie to me?!" She wailed, letting her anger and frustration out.

I could only sit there and listen while holding her tighter as she let all her pent up emotions out.

A few tears of my own slipped out. It was never easy hearing your loved one say something that was hurtful, even if they didn't intend it. I knew she was hurting so I took it, but this whole situation was weighing heavily on my heart.

"You're a liar!" She kept repeating over and over again.

"I know. I know," I said softly, biting back a loud sob of my own.

"I hate liars. I hate lying. I hate you."

I bit my lip even harder as I took each one of her heart shattering words.

She didn't mean it. She didn't mean it. She didn't mean it.

She was hurt and I needed to let her get that hurt out in anyway possible.

"I hate you, but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to let you go," she cried.

The pain in my heart was suffocating.

But the only words I could formulate were the ones I had been thinking of the whole time. The words that acted as a direct response to my guilt and worry.

"Then don't let me go. Because I'm not letting you go."

_________________________________Are y'all mad at me 🥺 I'm sorry 😭😭😭 I've been very emotionally unstable lately with school so I was ready for a sad chapter.

I'm sorry to those of you who were begging me to save the dad but I had this planned for a long time 😔

I'll be giving out free hugs tomorrow for those of you who need it though so don't worry. I'm like Olaf, I give some pretty good hugs ☺️

Happy (or not so happy) reading 📖