"someone tell her she could take a rest and we can handle ourselves." namjoon whispered to the others, glancing shortly at hyerin who was silently leading the way, body quite slumped.
"c'mon hyung, its not everyday we get to eat dinner with someone new." jungkook pleaded with eyes, knowing that the elders probably wouldn't say no to him.
all just sighed as jungkook cheered internally, they then made their way to a close barbeque restaurant.
all entering, they found a spot and ordered some food, as they were all waiting for their order, jungkook immediately took this chance to get to know hyerin, "so i heard from jimin you're also a jeon, i'm a jeon as well." he smiled widely.
"i heard of it," she lent out her hand which jungkook immediately took, "its nice to meet someone who's a jeon like me." they smiled each other, a sight that was quite unpleasant to jimin who was seating next to hyerin.
"okay, that's enough." jimin broke off, "food's here." both hyerin and jungkook glanced at jimin which made him look at them with raised eyebrows.
hyerin proceeded to cut off the meat while yoongi started cooking it, both worked on the food while the others waited patiently by eating off the side dishes.
"hyerin, how old are you?" jin asked from across the table, "you look young, about the age of jimin?" he continued.
"i'm a 96' liner." hyerin answered before cutting off the rest of the meat and handing the plate to yoongi.
"she's a year older than me and a year younger than jimin-hyung." jungkook smiled widely, eyes widening after a couple of seconds as he realized the age, "you're a noona?" he looked at hyerin with big doe eyes.
"well, i guess i am." hyerin glanced at jungkook, "but you don't have to call me noona, please." jungkook then nodded, as he went back to eating the side dishes.
"yah, jungkook. stop eating the side dishes, we haven't started eating yet and you're finishing it already." namjoon scolded the younger member, who immediately stopped eating and placed his chopsticks back down on the table.
"sorry." jungkook silently muttered as he stared helplessly as yoongi cooked the meat.
all waited till yoongi was done before they started eating, they then became silent as only their chewing was heard.
"this is really good." taehyung said as he took another bite of meat and continued to close his eyes as he savored the food.
"hyerin, we're sorry for keeping you up quite late." hoseok said.
"nah, its fine." hyerin smiled, "and its not that late anyways."
-
"we can drive you home, you know." jimin said as they all step out of the restaurant, all greeted with the streetlights and slightly dim streets.
"i'll be fine going home by myself, you don't need to drive me home." hyerin shook her head and placed both of her hands in the pockets of her jacket, protecting herself from the cold.
"noona, we can drop you off." jungkook smilingly teased hyerin, "its no trouble at all."
"please don't call me that." hyerin pleaded, she doesn't really like the idea of being called noona by someone who's just a year younger than her, "there's no need for that."
jungkook shrugged as he smiled at hyerin, "i'll just call you that from time to time."
"i should go now, take care." hyerin waved goodbye before walking away not letting jimin and the others to protest at the idea of her going home by herself.
she took a bus home and walked the silent streets, reaching her house, she smiled as she opened the door to be greeted by one of her neighbors, "you're home, jaehyun fell asleep so i carried him upstairs already."
its was minhee, one of their neighbors who takes care of jaehyun when mrs, yoon wasn't free and she had her part-time jobs, "i'm sorry i'm late today, something came up." she apologized to minhee.
"nah, its fine. i don't have anything to do anyways." minhee shrugged off and smiled as she grabbed her things from the couch and made her way to the door.
"let me send you off, yeah?" hyerin was about to take a step forward when she felt a sharp pain in her head, she shut her eyes as she was trying to control the pain and make it go away.
"hyerin-ah, are you alright?" minhee rushed to hyerin, frantically looking at her as she was saying soothing words, trying to ease hyerin's pain, "should i get you something? hey, please tell me something." she was panicking, desperately waiting for hyerin's response.
hyerin was on her knees, hands clutching her hand as she kept on repeating the words 'its hurts, it hurts so bad.' why was it hurting? she mentally asked herself, she had couple of headaches before but it didn't hurt this much.
was something wrong? something was completely wrong.
"do you need to drink any pills? hyerin, please say something." minhee repeated, trying to stay calm as she tried to slowly drag hyerin to the couch, but it was no use as hyerin wouldn't budge from her place, "should i call someone?"
minhee was practically shouting, raising her voice once in a while as panic filled her, not realizing that jaehyun was awoken from his sleep as he heard few yells from downstairs, he then headed down only to witness his cousin suffering.
"noona?" he ran up to hyerin, grabbing her hands with his small ones, "what's wrong with her minhee-noona?" he looked at minhee, waiting for an answer as his eyes were slowly getting filled with tears.
minhee was trying to find the right words, scared that what she might say will frighten the young boy, think about something, she told herself, glancing at jaehyun who was close to bursting into tears.
"she's just not feeling well, jaehyunie." minhee looked at hyerin before looking back at jaehyun who was continuously asking his noona if she was alright.
both minhee and jaehyun didn't have any clue of what was happening to hyerin, all they could do now was wait for a response, see if they could do anything for the suffering girl.
"i should go and bring you to the hospital now, hyerin." minhee brought out her phone, ready to call someone to accompany them to the hospital, she was debating wether to call the hospital or a family member of hers.
"no, don't." hyerin was able to mumbled, she was near to tears, face so pale as she continued to clutch her head, trying to make the pain go, "no hospitals." she continued.
"noona? does it hurt? should i make it go away?" jaehyun was now in tears, holding hyerin's hands so tight, as if he was so afraid to loose his precious cousin.
minhee didn't have any clue what to do know, she was clueless and she was pretty sure jaehyun is as well, she was in tears seeing how much hyerin looks so pale and tired from the pain, what will she do now? she asked.
"i'll go call for someone, yeah? wait here, i'll come back." minhee stood up and immediately headed out to the door, closing it shut and running to her house to ask help from her parents, they would know what to do, she said to herself as she dashed to her house as fast as she can.
back in the house, both cousins were in tears, one crying because of the pain and one crying because of the other one's pain, jaehyun was holding her hands tightly, as he kept on asking what was wrong? why was his cousin hurting so bad?
"noona, what can i do to make it go away?" little jaehyunie asked his cousin, not knowing that he actually can't do something to make it go away, all he can do was stay her by side until it goes away.
hyerin looked up slightly, meeting her cousin's eyes, she smiled through the pain as she wanted to reassure jaehyun, i'm fine, jaehyun. she said through her eyes, wanting jaehyun to get the message but maybe he failed to, as he kept on bawling his eyes.
"pain, please go away." jaehyun stomped his feet, placing his hand on the top of hyerin's head, closing his eyes as he tried to make the pain go away, for hyerin, for his cousin, for his sister.
jaehyun was then reminded of the time hyerin told him he was hero. he could be the hero of his own story and he could help save anyone if he willingly wanted to. hyerin once told him that someday he will meet someone he would want to save and give all his best to.
maybe he did already met that person,
it was hyerin, it was supposed to be her, right?
"noona? why won't it work? i choose you, i want to save you and you can take all my powers, i'll make it go away." jaehyun continued to try, his face now red for all the crying, "please don't die." he whispered as he leaned towards his cousin, burying his face into hyerin's chest.
both waited in silence, hyerin whimpering every second as the pain kept on increasing, jaehyun was quiet, he didn't know what he can do but he was thinking, thinking of something he can do to ease his older cousin's pain.
"i'm here, i brought my parents." minhee burst the door open, her parents following her, all rushed quickly to hyerin's aid and asked her what was wrong.
"mom, dad. she won't answer, she's already in too much pain." minhee was pacing back in forth, glancing at her parents who were now as worried as her.
jaehyun took a step aside, and watched as the adults took care of hyerin, he was silently hoping that they could do something, that they could be the heroes to hyerin, because he couldn't.
it took few hours, two hours to be exact before hyerin completely had calmed down, she was now sweating so hard from what happened, all stayed by her side until she was completely fine, asking once in awhile of what she needed.
"hyerin, are you sure you're alright now?" minhee's mom, mrs. oh, asked hyerin, eyes full of worry and concern, "we can bring you to the hospital, if you want." she placed a hand on hyerin's shoulder.
hyerin shook her head and smiled politely, "there's no need for that, i'm completely fine now." she stood up, trying her best to stable herself, "i'm sorry for the disturbance, let me walk you to the door." she apologized, bowing her head slightly.
"oh dear its fine, please just call us if you need anything." mrs. oh placed both her hands on hyerin's shoulders, and smiled at the younger girl, who willingly smiled back.
the oh family then went home, as hyerin sighed, realizing how bad her headache got a while ago, what kind of headache hurts that bad? she asked herself as she walked to jaehyun who was now slowly drifting to sleep on the couch.
"hey, little guy." she say next to him, placing him on her lap with jaehyun leaning on her chest, "let's take you to bed, yeah?" she carried him upstairs, her head feeling a bit heavy until now, but nevertheless she shrugged it off and placed jaehyun gently on bed.
she sat next to a sleeping jaehyun, her thoughts slowly drifting to what happened earlier, her mind seemed to not forget what happened, it was the first time that something like that occurred to her.
"sleep tight, my hero." she kissed jaehyun's forehead and dozed off next to him, not wanting to leave her cousin's side.