Serendipity ( Kim Taehyung)

Chapter 17

"How am I supposed to tell her that I am not her real sister? How ? How do I tell Haru that I am actually adopted? I am not even related to her? How do I do that?"

Haru swore with every bit of her existence  her heart might have stopped beating for a few seconds. She finds herself blankly staring at the floor as the words sink in slowly.

Areum is not her sister? She is adopted? Areum is not her actual sister?

It feels like time has slowed down as she stands there, head filled with millions of questions. The slow painful thumping of her heavy heart feels too loud till it rings in her ears. The low murmurs of the nurses' voices sound so faint as everything around her swirls into a blurry vision. It feels like she has been sucked into a whirlpool, slowly drowning as she struggles to breathe again. But it feels hard, too hard, when all she can hear is the slow yet painful beating of her loud heart.

Did she hear that right? Did Areum really say that?

Too caught up with her numbing thoughts and the heavy hammering of her heart, Haru accidentally lost grip of the plastic bag she forgot she was carrying. Despite her quick reflex wanting to catch it, she was not fast enough thus the plastic drop to the floor. The loud thud on the floor echoes in the hallway, catching the attention of a few nurses standing not far from her.

"Oh shi—"

"H-Haru?"

Haru's eyes flick up swiftly, finding Areum at the door, her eyes widened in surprise. Areum looks at her, or more like, reading her and when her sister doesn't return the warm smile she offered, that is when it hits her.

Haru has heard everything.

"Haru, what are you—"

"Is it true?", she cuts her off, eyes glassy as tears threaten to fall. "Seo Areum, answer me, is it true?"

Areum flinched at the sudden coldness, gulping slowly as she feels her heart beating fast. As much as she wants to lie and said everything is not, she knows that will never be the best option. But the last thing she wants to do is to hurt her sister. She will never forgive herself if that happens.

"Haru, I can explain--"

"So, it is true", she scoffs harshly. "Y-You—how could you?"

The sudden commotion has attracted the attention of the nurses around them. One of the nurses recognized Haru thus she quickly paged for Dr Kim. It took him not even a second to rush out of his room to see what is happening in front of Haneul's room.

"Haru, please don't—"

Areum steps forwards, wanting to take Haru's hands but she harshly slaps them away. Her teary eyes look at her sister with so much uncertainty, so much anger and disappointment. Her sudden action made Areum flinch, swallowing slowly as she stands there, helpless.

"Haru, please listen to me. I was going to—"

"Adopted???", her voice trembles, threatening to burst any second. "You are adopted? And you were not planning to tell me??"

"I was going to tell you but—"

"When? When were you planning to tell me? When???", she unintentionally raised her voice. "I-I don't want to talk to you—not now"

Areum sighs silently, fidgeting on her feet as she looks at her sister.

"Haru-ssi....", Haneul suddenly appears at the ajar door, her weak body holding on to the door for dear life.