Above All Else | •bts•

III

Part 1 of 2

"Ma! Appa! I'm home for lunch!" I walked through the house looking for my parents. I found my mom in our laundry room folding some clothes. I stood at the entrance of the laundry room for a few seconds debating if I should scare her or not.

My mind quickly went from thinking about scaring her to the way her appearance had changed since we got here. The way her natural, dark brown, shoulder length hair carelessly rested over her shoulders as she folded the clothing in her hands. The way her arms became thinner then they had been when we were back in Chicago. Her high cheekbones a lot more visible now too. It was clear that this sudden move was stressful on her as well as everyone else in the house. But if you truly don't keep your eyes on her long enough, you won't notice the drastic changes. My mom turned around while I was still in my daze and she screamed anyways.

"Rosabel! What is wrong with you?! Why would you scare me like that?" She gasped throwing one of my skirts at me.

I shook my head to clear my mind and I laughed at her reaction, "Did you not hear me calling for you and dad? Where is he anyways?"

"He said he was going to take a nap, Cristina is taking a nap too. It's time for her medication though, do you mind making sure she takes it?" she started loading up the laundry machine as I nodded.

"Okay good now get out of my sight before you scare the shit out of me again." I laughed again and walked backwards out the room. She yelled after me, "and quit dying your hair different colors. You look like a bruja! I miss your natural brown!" I chuckled and shook my head.

"No way! I like looking like a witch." I closed the laundry room door and I went in to Cristina's bathroom and opened the cabinet above her sink.

All three shelves were occupied with the medicine and vitamins she was supposed to consume daily. I checked the time on my watch to make sure I was grabbing the right ones. I took one capsule out of three separate bottles and filled up a glass of water and walked out the bathroom. I had to take about two steps before arriving at her bedroom door. Knocking softly, I waited for a response for a little bit until I heard a light "come in" before opening the door and entering.

"Hey, you're home early." Cristina sat up on her bed as I set down the pills and water. I helped her fluff up the pillows and put them behind her back so she would be able to sit up straighter and more comfortably. Sitting down on the side of her bed handing her the cup I started speaking.

"I'm just on my lunch break, mom said you needed to take these," she took her medicine and swallowed them, "what did your doctor say today? How are you feeling? Anything new?"

"He said the usual, take my medicine, take my vitamins, make sure I get enough sleep. The chemo is making me super tired so he doesn't have to worry about me not getting enough sleep. I feel like fucking shit," she giggled as I softly slapped her wrist for swearing, "but feeling like that is just a side effect of dying." She shrugged to herself as I looked at her.

She's always been blunt about what she has to say concerning her illness but it never fails to always catch me off guard.

Her pale skin tone no longer glowing the way it used to, the way I remembered it to be. I softly touched her thinning hair, running my fingers to the ends and rested my hands on her fragile shoulders. I searched her dark colored eyes for something as she looked into mine with a smile weakly grazing her chapped lips. I pulled her in for a hug, careful not to squeeze her too hard or who knows what could unexpectedly happen. I softly exhaled into her shoulder and sighed content with the subtle smell of the lotion she has been using since she was a baby still present on her smooth skin.