Diamond in the Rough (Seventeen and Bangtan Fanfic)

56: Together, Forever.

-One Week Later-

Mingyu's POV

"Rika?" I peeped through the open door of Rika's room and shuffled in slowly when she looked up, "I totally forgot about this, but when I met your eomma last time, she entrusted me to give this to you if anything happened to her." I handed her a small package wrapped in a brown packaging paper and she accepted it wordlessly.

It had been a week since that incident, and since Rika's eomma passed away. Too much had changed in this time. Han sajang was arrested out of the blue, Pledis entertainment was gone, and the boys and myself from Seventeen had to move into the Bighit dorms because Bang sajangnim was kind enough to give us a place to stay until everything settled down. None of us knew what happened to Han sajang, or his wife, or his daughter. They just disappeared out of the blue the day after Rika's eomma passed away, along with Pledis. In a way, Seventeen disappeared along with them too, but the thirteen of us were still together, still supporting one another. We were still family. 

Rika? Well...I won't doubt for a moment that she's a wildflower. After fainting that day due to over fatigue and emotional shock, she woke up the next morning. Unlike what I had feared, no one had to do the dreaded task of explaining to her that her eomma had passed. However, it was as painful hearing her awake from her slumber, a bitter smile as she said the words, "Eomma's gone now" to herself, as though trying to remind herself of the true reality. Unlike what we all thought, she didn't cry, didn't have the anger or fury against Hyorin who caused her to miss a last visit to her Eomma she could have had. She had neither the tears nor the anger. 

But at the same time, that was the frightening part. She had no tears, no anger. All her emotions were wiped— sadness, anger, and at the same time...joy, life, passion. Everything was wiped. I never once saw or heard her cry since her mother died— and neither did the other boys, or Ae Ri. 

Rika's POV

Mingyu handed me a small brown parcel and I accepted it.

 It was something eomma left for me. I knew now, knew for a week already, that eomma had passed away. I knew it. It wasn't that I didn't accept it either, but these days had been like some daze, some daydream I couldn't drag myself out of. It was sweet, and bitter at the same time. I knew eomma was dead, but somehow in this daydream, I didn't have to face the pain of it. The anger, the tears. I didn't have to face any of it, and I didn't want to. I could hear the words, know the concern, see what Bangtan, Ae Ri, and Seventeen were doing for me, but none of it felt real. 

Nothing felt real, and I didn't want to change it. 

I knew some part of me was in denial. Some part of me didn't want to face the pain and the tears— didn't want to wake up. I knew it, but I was okay with it. I was okay with not facing it. 

I carefully unwrapped the small brown parcel as Mingyu closed the door behind him. Somehow they all knew now to leave me alone now, and that was fine by me. 

Three items fell out of the parcel. One was a photoframe. One, a letter. The last one was encased in another wrapped package, flat and square. 

Lifting the photoframe carefully, I flipped it over to reveal an aged photo of a family of four. Eomma, a young, 3 year old me, that stupid Han of a father, and...another boy who looked the same age as I was in the photograph. Family photo... 

But if this was a family photo...why was there another boy? I didn't have a brother. Certainly. 

Unless this wasn't a family photo?