"JIYONG! RUN! FUCKING run now!"     

"KWON JIYONG!"

"Jiyong...Jiyong don't fucking close your eyes, you hear me! Don't close your eyes!"

"How could you do this to me?! You couldn't even save me after everything I've done for all of you! How could you let me die like this?! HOW COULD YOU?! Why didn't you help me?! Why didn't you help me Hyunseung?!"

"I'm sorry!"

     Hyunseung shot his eyes open, sweating and panting like crazy. He sat up and looked around the room, making sure that he wasn't hallucinating just now. He had another dream, the same as the dreams he's been having for the past seven months.

    "Hyunseung?" Mrs. Jang called out as she knocked on Hyunseung's room. When Hyunseung didn't answer her, his mother slowly opened the door, only to see Hyunseung blankly staring out his window.

     "Hey dear." She greeted as she slowly walked towards her son. Hyunseung doesn't budge as his mother gently placed her hand on his shoulder.

     "How are you feeling?" she asked, but Hyunseung still doesn't answer. The action made Mrs. Jang's heart ache.

     Hyunseung has been like this for the past seven months. After Jiyong's death, he has been unapproachable and silent. At times he would start crying and shouting and would constantly have nightmares.

     He stopped going to school so his mother was forced to homeschool him. After everything, this was Hyunseung's greatest downfall.

     "Hyunseung, look at me." Mrs. Jang told him as she forced her son to look at her. She was surprised to see that there were blood trails on Hyunseung's cheeks.

     "Oh, son..." Mrs. Jang sadly said as she wiped the tears with her hand.

    "It's been seven months Hyunseung, and I know it's painful, but when are you going to move on? Jiyong...he'd feel really sad if he finds out you're acting like this. You're suffering because of something you didn't..."

     "His death will always be our fault." Hyunseung finally answered. 

     Now it's Mrs. Jang's turn to cry. She looked straight to her son's eyes and held his cheek, "But it's not...and you clearly know that. You just don't know whom to blame for his death that's why you're forcing it on yourself. You think it's for Jiyong's sake but it's not."

     And she was right. Hyunseung didn't know who to blame. Was it the King of Hell who planned everything? Was it the Arcs who didn't even warn them? Or was it themselves? The Demons didn't know anything, and they walked right through the King of Hell's trap.

     "When will you learn to understand that whatever you do, it will never make up for his death? All you could do right now is to be strong for Jiyong's sake, but you're not even doing it." Mrs. Jang stated, making Hyunseung put his head down.

    "Did you really think I didn't know that?" Hyunseung suddenly asked back.

     His mother sighed and patted his back. She wiped her own tears away and said, "Alright. I don't want us to end up fighting again. After all...it's your birthday. I called your professor today; he won't be coming to your classes. And if you want I can bring the food here so I could-"

     "No, I'm...I'm going somewhere today," Hyunseung answered as he looked back at his mother.

     Mrs. Jang smiled, like she knew where Hyunseung was heading,  "Okay, then I'll see you later."

AT LEE MINHYUK'S RESIDENCE

     Minhyuk, who was doing pushups on the floor, got distracted when he heard loud knocks coming from his bedroom door. He wanted to ignore it, but the knocking won't stop, so Minhyuk finally stood up, wore his shirt, and opened the door, only to find his mother holding a cake for him.

     "Happy birthday darling!" she shouted happily.

     Minhyuk forces a smile and says, "Thank you, mom."

     Minhyuk's mother frowned after seeing her son's reaction, "You're not happy. I knew it...I shouldn't have done this. I was insensitive and I was-" Minhyuk quickly stops his mother and says, "No! I'm really thankful for this. Thank you, mom. I seriously appreciate it."

     Mrs. Lee finally smiled and showed Minhyuk the cake again, "Then let's eat this downstairs."

     "Oh mom, let's eat it later. I actually need to do something right now." Minhyuk says as he looks at his mother.

     "Now that you mention it, why are you wearing formal clothes? Aren't you going to go to school today?" his mother asks, and Minhyuk shakes his head and answers, "No, I'm visiting someone."

     Mrs. Lee paused for a second. Then she gave out a smile and nodded her head in understanding, "Oh, of course. You go on ahead, I'll contact your professors for you."

     "Thanks, mom."

     Not like Hyunseung, Minhyuk's been trying to busy himself after everything that happened with him and his brothers. He's been attending classes at HAU; not like his brothers who haven't been to the university for seven months now. He's even exercising more just to sweat out the negativity.

     It's been hard for Minhyuk, but he was smart enough to just move on and forget about everything like how his brothers intended to do. Nothing was going to happen if he stayed in the past. He was only going to hurt himself if he did.

     Of course, the first few months were terrible for him, but eventually, he overcomes it all for the sake of Jiyong as well.

     "Then I'll see you later mom," Minhyuk says as he goes out of their house right after he got ready.

     "I should buy flowers first." Minhyuk thought to himself as he went to a flower shop just close by. When Minhyuk arrived at the shop, he bought the whitest rose that there was. He goes to the counter to pay for it, but then...

    "I'm sorry sir but the last bouquet of white roses were bought by that man." The girl (who was blushing intensely), suddenly answered to the man in front of her.

     "Oh it's okay, I'll have a red one instead." The man answered back.

     The moment Minhyuk heard the voice, he quickly turned his head to confirm if he was right. When sees the owner of the voice, he unknowingly lets go of the bouquet he was holding. 

     The man who was supposed to buy white roses as well looked back at Minhyuk with shock. But instead of saying anything, he kneeled and picked up the bouquet Minhyuk just dropped, "Here, don't want that getting ruined right?" he said with a soft voice.

     Minhyuk slowly took the bouquet from the man's hand and tried to say, "H-Hyunseung..."

     Hyunseung gave him a small smile, "How have you been...Minhyuk?"

     Minhyuk was about to say something, but he felt like tears were about to fall. He didn't want to cry actual blood in front of everyone inside the shop. "Y-You should...pay for that first." Minhyuk pointed out, and Hyunseung nodded and did what he was told.

     After that, the two went outside and walked beside each other, but they didn't say a word for a couple of minutes.

     "How are you?" the two suddenly asked in unison.

     "S-Sorry...you answer first," Minhyuk said nervously. He hasn't seen his best friend for the past seven months and he wasn't sure what to say to him.

     "I've been...trying. But you...you look good. You've been working out again?" Hyunseung asked, trying to dodge Minhyuk's question.

     "Yeah, I have."

     Silence.

    "S-so, boys...they haven't been bugging you or anything right?" Minhyuk asked again.

     Hyunseung shakes his head and answers, "No, don't worry, they haven't. Well, that's because I haven't been going out. I've been homeschooling."

     "I guess that's good," Minhyuk says before pausing. Then he suddenly remembered something, "Oh, happy birthday by the way. I almost forgot that we have the same birthday." Minhyuk awkwardly said. Hyunseung scratched the back of his head and said back, "Y-yeah, thank you. Happy birthday to you too."

     "Thanks."

     Then the atmosphere becomes awkward again.

     When Minhyuk couldn't take the tension anymore, he looked at Hyunseung and whispered, "Fuck this."

     Finally, Minhyuk clenched his fist with his free hand and stopped walking, making Hyunseung stop walking as well. Hyunseung turned to look at Minhyuk, but he was shocked to see that Minhyuk was now crying blood.

      "Minhyuk?" Hyunseung asked with a worried voice.

     "I missed you, you fucking idiot. Every...single...day...you guys were the only once in my mind." Minhyuk finally says with his head low so Hyunseung couldn't see his crying face anymore.

     Hyunseung doesn't say anything. Instead, he quickly grabs Minhyuk and gave him the tightest embrace.

     "The same goes to me you fucking idiot," Hyunseung stated.

     Everyone was looking at the two guys weirdly but Minhyuk and Hyunseung didn't bother. They haven't seen each other for seven months, and finally, they're right in front of each other.

     "I missed you so much Minhyuk. Every day I wondered what would happen if I just had the guts to run to you, but I just couldn't. I was so scared to face you Minhyuk...I was so scared." Hyunseung cried, still hugging Minhyuk tightly.

     Minhyuk, who was hugging his best friend back, said, "You don't have to be scared anymore Hyunseung. I'm here. Your Minhyuk is here and I will do everything I can to make sure you won't feel scared again."

     Minhyuk looked at Hyunseung and wiped his blood tears using the cuffs of his sleeves, making it stained with blood. But Minhyuk didn't mind. He kissed Hyunseung's forehead and told him, "Shit...I really fucking missed you."

     Hyunseung finally smiled and wiped Minhyuk's face as well, "Well I fucking missed you to you glutton."

     The two parted from the hug and smiled at each other.

     "I should have done this a few months ago. I wouldn't have been stuck in my room for seven months." Hyunseung joked, making Minhyuk laugh. Then the two continued walking.

    "You know...I've been dreaming about him." Hyunseung suddenly opened up. He thought Minhyuk would be freaked about it, but then Minhyuk took a deep breath and looked at his brother, "Me too actually," Minhyuk answered, surprising Hyunseung on his sudden reveal.

     "R-Really? How?" Hyunseung quickly asks.

     Minhyuk doesn't say anything for a couple of seconds before answering him, "When Jiyong appears on my dreams, he would usually ask me to give it to him. I don't know what he means but he keeps on telling me to "give it to me," but he doesn't even tell me what it is."

     "At least you get asked to give something to him. Jiyong keeps on asking me why I didn't help him. Like he was waiting for me to reach out to him but I just couldn't." Hyunseung stated.

     "Well, that's tough. But isn't it just our inner fears?" Minhyuk asked as he looks at his best friend.

     "Maybe. So, how are our brothers?" Hyunseung asked. He hasn't seen everyone for seven months so he thought that Minhyuk might have been seeing them since he still goes to school. But Minhyuk scratched his head and said, "I don't know actually. Taeil, Suho, and Jackson are still enrolled at HAU but they don't go to any of the classes. I sometimes see them, but they make sure we don't cross paths. We're avoiding each other and I understand that, but I just wished things could go back to the way it was."

     "It will be hard you know, especially when not everyone is trying. But I'm glad to hear that everyone's okay. But Sunggyu...have you heard about him?" Hyunseung asked next.

     "My mom occasionally goes to the other moms just to talk. She talked to Sunggyu's mom before and found out that Sunggyu's been studying abroad, and she doesn't know when Sunggyu would come back. But I heard he doesn't want to come back though." Minhyuk answered, making Hyunseung sad upon hearing the news.

     When Minhyuk saw Hyunseung's reaction, he quickly puts his arm around Hyunseung's shoulder and says, "Hey, don't worry about it. Sunggyu might just need a little time. And besides, he's our leader, he'll be back no matter what happens."

     Hyunseung finally smiled and nodded his head, "I guess you're right."

     The two got inside a cab and eventually arrived at their destination, which was Jiyong's grave. It was their birthday, which means it's Kwon Jiyong's birthday too. They wouldn't mind spending their birthday at a graveyard if it means spending it with their prideful brother.

     "We're here," Minhyuk said as they walked closer to their brother's grave.

     "Yeah, this was the place where I last saw everyone," Hyunseung added. They were about to get closer to the grave when someone suddenly called them out, making the two demons stop.

     "How's it been, brothers?"

- END -