Chapter Text
"Are you sure you don't want to go home?" Kel held Sunny's cheeks playfully as he struggled to keep his eyes open with more effort than usual.
It was the end of lunch period, time to return to class. After his wonderful boyfriend and his angelic friends had shared their lunch with him, Sunny had spent the remaining time napping on Kel's lap. Now, thankfully, he felt slightly more rested. Only slightly...
"Do I really look that bad?" Sunny averted his gaze, trying to dodge the question.
Something about it worked, because Kel let out a soft laugh before planting a tender kiss on his forehead. "You know that's not what I meant. My Sun is always cute." His expression shifted, showing deeper concern. "At least let me walk you home after school. We can go together."
Sunny frowned at him. "You have practice."
"Come on, I'm the star of the team. No one's gonna say anything if I miss one practice," Kel boasted, dramatically sweeping his hair back. Sunny just rolled his eyes in amusement.
Sunny was about to protest when suddenly two arms draped over his shoulders from behind. "Don't worry, Kel. We'll make sure he gets home safe and sound," the twins chimed in simultaneously, their faces neutral but their eyes gleaming with their usual determination.
"You don't have to—"
"We can even stop by the bakery so he can take something home. On the house," Bowen added.
That immediately caught Sunny's attention, his face lighting up at the offer.
"Well, looks like your plan's all set," Kel smiled gracefully, watching his boyfriend's delighted expression.
After classes—which he'd endured awake through sheer willpower and maybe a few nudges from Bowen whenever he dozed off—Sunny could finally go home. Not without stopping by the twins' bakery first, though. He felt a little guilty about making them look after him, but on the other hand... free bread.
"The other day, Michael tried making me breakfast," Bowen said. "He burned the eggs and spilled the juice... but he brought it to me on a tray, with a flower he stole from the garden."
Daphne laughed. "He drew me a dinosaur in my chemistry notebook! Do you know how hard it was to explain to the teacher why there was a T-Rex in the middle of my homework?"
"The worst part is that it was better than any T-Rex I've ever drawn," Bowen added, feigning indignation.
Hearing about the twins' little brother wasn't anything new—it was a common topic in their group. They were all older siblings who loved bragging about their younger siblings, and it usually devolved into a comedic battle over whose little sibling was the best. But right now, Sunny didn't have the energy for it, so he just listened quietly as the twins talked.
"Our baby brother has grown up so much," Daphne sighed. "He's starting to think he's too old to play with us." She made an exaggerated sad face, but her eyes sparkled with affection.
Bowen laughed, giving her a light shove. "I still remember how he used to beg me to carry him on my back all the time when he was little. Time flies!" He rubbed his eyes with his fist, pretending to wipe away dramatic tears.
Sunny managed a weak smile.
"At least he still comes to us when he has nightmares," Daphne murmured, softer this time. "That won't change."
They were right about one thing—time passed too quickly.
Sunny stared at his shoes.
He still remembered the day Mari was born.
His father had placed a hand on his shoulder, solemn, as if entrusting him with a sacred mission. "Starting today, you're the big brother, Sunny. You have to work hard. Be the best. Set a good example for her."
He was only four years old.
He didn't know what he was supposed to do. He didn't know if he could be the best. But he nodded anyway, because it was the first time his father had smiled in weeks.
Now, twelve years later, he still wondered: What the hell did "be the best" even mean?
They soon arrived at the bakery, the aroma hitting Sunny immediately as he carefully browsed the shelves, deciding which treat would win over his appetite.
"Relax, dude. The bread isn't going anywhere," Bowen called out, laughing from behind the counter. Their parents, seeing they'd arrived early, had put them to work—not that the twins minded. Everyone knew they loved working in the family bakery.
Sunny didn't let the comment stop his meticulous search, eventually settling on two donuts—one chocolate, one strawberry jam. He walked up to the twins to have them wrapped.
"I thought you didn't like jam donuts," Daphne said, raising an eyebrow.
"It's for Mari. I'll pay for the extra one," Sunny replied, pulling out his wallet.
"Don't worry about it. We told you—the house is treating. Consider it an apology for not being able to walk you all the way home," Daphne said with a wink.
Sunny smiled before saying goodbye to the twins and heading home as fast as he could. He couldn't wait to get some sleep. His parents weren't home, so no one would stop him.
The moment he stepped inside, Mari hugged him. Sunny could only smile at the gesture, gently patting her head.
"I brought you a present," he said playfully, watching as Mari immediately perked up.
Sunny pulled the jam donut out of the bag and handed it to her.
"You stopped by the bakery!" Mari's eyes sparkled before she took a big bite.
"Do you like it?" Sunny tilted his head with a smile.
"Mhm!" Mari nodded enthusiastically, her mouth still full before swallowing. "Thanks, Sunny!"
"It's nothing," he said, smiling before glancing at Mari's backpack thrown on the couch. He sighed. "Mari, did you finish your homework?"
Mari froze, avoiding his gaze.
"Mari?" Sunny raised an eyebrow at his little sister, finally prompting her to speak.
"I was practicing piano. I almost mastered the entire first part perfectly," she said, her eyes filled with determination.
"What about the recital and school?"
"School comes first," she replied, pouting.
"Then go do your homework. After that, you can practice or rest. You know, it's been a while since we watched a movie together," Sunny suggested, hiding the fact that he had zero energy to practice.
"I'll go do my homework. Then we can practice together," Mari said, smiling before grabbing her backpack and heading to her room.
Sunny could only frown tiredly. At least he could rest while Mari did her homework. Then he sighed, remembering he still had to copy the notes from the class he'd slept through. That just made him sigh even more exhaustedly.
He headed to the kitchen to put his donut away for later. Fine, he'd do the class notes first, then take a nap. He set the bag on the table when he noticed a stain on the white tablecloth—the stain from that morning when he'd spilled coffee. His mother had told him to clean it before they got home.
Sunny lowered his head, closing his eyes in frustration.
Damn it...
The fading sunlight filtered through the living room curtains, casting a golden glow over the notes spread across the table. Sunny rubbed his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time, trying to focus on the letters that danced in front of him. The tablecloth, now washed and hanging near the window, dripped softly, the sound of water droplets hitting the floor like a tired metronome.
His head drooped forward.
Once.
He jerked upright.
Twice.
This time, his cheek met the cold surface of the table.
Three...
...
...
...
The sound of a sharp thud and a muffled whimper pierced through Sunny’s door like a knife. His body moved before his mind could catch up, his legs carrying him on pure instinct as his heart pounded against his ribs. Every step up the stairs echoed dully in his ears, as if the house itself was screaming at him for his failure.
When he threw the door open violently, the world vanished in an instant.
Mari lay on the floor, her small body trembling, curled around her right knee. Tears had traced shiny paths down her pale cheeks, and her hands—those pianist hands their parents treasured like relics—clutched at the swollen joint with desperate strength.
"Mari!" Sunny’s voice shattered like glass as he dropped to his knees beside her. His own hands shook as he wrapped them around her fragile shoulders, feeling her whole body shudder with every suppressed sob. "What happened?"
The answer came between ragged gasps. "I-I got up too fast... and my knee... it gave out." Mari swallowed hard, her glassy eyes searching his as if he were her only anchor in the pain. "I-It hurts... it hurts so much, Sunny."
Sunny’s heart twisted.
With careful movements, trying not to scare her further, he slid one arm under her knees and the other around her back. "Come on, I’ll take you to bed," he murmured, but as he lifted her, a choked scream escaped Mari’s lips. The sound tore through his chest like a bullet.
The bed accepted Mari’s trembling body gently. Sunny noticed how her fingers clung to his shirt, leaving wrinkles in the fabric like marks of her fear. "Don’t move," he ordered, his voice trying to stay firm but cracking at the edges. "I’ll be right back."
The kitchen became a labyrinth of failures. Drawers screeched as he yanked them open, revealing everything except what he needed—spoons, tea bags, toothpicks... Where were the painkillers? His hands trembled as he rummaged through jars, as if his own fingers were conspiring against him. They had to be here. His mother always kept them here.
Nothing.
He knocked over a pack of cookies without thinking; the crumbs scattered across the floor like sand from an hourglass running out. Mari was still crying in the bedroom.
Nothing.
NOTHING.
Then, like lightning through the fog in his mind, he remembered—the prescription. He’d folded it carefully that morning and tucked it into his backpack, "so he wouldn’t lose it." But now, that backpack was lying in the living room, next to the unfinished class notes, the unchecked homework.
He froze, his lungs tightening. How could he have forgotten? It wasn’t just exhaustion... it was failure. A knot of frustration rose in his throat, but there was no time to drown in it. Mari needed him.
With mechanical movements, he grabbed an ice pack from the freezer. The cold burned his fingertips, but he barely registered it.
"Easy, Mari," he whispered when he returned, though his voice sounded foreign, as if someone else were speaking for him.
Mari’s eyes were closed, her cheeks shiny with tears. When he adjusted her leg carefully, she stifled a whimper, biting her lip to keep from crying out louder. It tore him in two.
"I’ll get your medicine," he said, though his mind was already mapping out the path—the backpack, the prescription, the pharmacy before it closed...
"It’s okay," Mari murmured, but her voice was small, fragile. Yet there was hope in it, a quiet trust in him.
Sunny left the room and, for a second, leaned against the wall, pressing his forehead to the cold plaster. Breathe. Just breathe.
But the clock was still ticking.
The air burned his lungs, but Sunny didn’t let that stop him. He ran as if hell itself were chasing him, the crumpled prescription clenched in his fist, the edges digging into his sweaty palm. The sky was already painted orange and purple, but all that mattered was getting there in time.
"Wait!"
His voice didn’t sound like his own—it was rough, torn, almost a scream. The cashier, a woman with gray hair pulled into a tight bun, paused just as she was about to lock up. She narrowed her eyes at him as if he were a pesky fly.
Sunny braced himself against the counter, gasping, his shoulders heaving with each short, violent breath. Without another word, he slammed the prescription against the glass, his fingers trembling.
"Please," he begged, "my sister got hurt. She needs this."
The woman sighed, taking the paper with deliberate slowness and examining it with a look of pure annoyance. "Kid, I was about to close—"
"Please!" The shout escaped before he could stop it, louder than he’d intended. "She fell—she can’t even walk. Just... take it from my money, I don’t care. But I need that medicine."
The cashier studied him for another second—his muddy shoes, his wrinkled shirt, his sweat-drenched hair plastered to his forehead—before finally sighing and turning to the medicine shelf.
Every second was torture. Sunny’s fingers drummed against the counter without him realizing, his leg muscles tense as if his body were already preparing to sprint back.
When the woman returned, she tossed the box at him disdainfully. "Next time, don’t leave things to the last minute. There won’t always be someone to save you."
Sunny didn’t even nod. He paid with crumpled bills, snatched the medicine, and bolted before the doorbell finished chiming.
Almost.
Almost.
Almost.
His legs burned, his heart hammered in his ears, but it didn’t matter. Mari needed him.
And this time, he wouldn’t fail.
The way back was a blur. His feet pounded the pavement in a frantic rhythm, the medicine pressed to his chest like a talisman. When he finally shoved the front door open, sweat was dripping down his back, his vision swimming from lack of air.
Mari was still in bed, her leg propped on the pillow, but now her fists were clenched in the sheets, her knuckles white. When she saw him enter, her eyes—still puffy from crying—shone with something that wasn’t relief, but frustration.
"Easy, Mari. This’ll make you feel better." Without wasting time, Sunny opened the medicine and gave it to her. Mari took it without protest.
Sunny took a cream from the bag and gently applied it to Mari’s knee, removing the now-melted ice pack.
Finally, he felt like he could breathe again. He softly stroked Mari’s head and gave her a small smile. "You’ll feel better soon."
Mari nodded, but her gaze remained fixed on her knee with an emotion Sunny couldn’t decipher. Her fists gripped the sheets so tightly they trembled.
Does it still hurt that much?
Sunny felt sick seeing his little sister like this. He left the room to get a glass of water and a fresh ice pack from the kitchen.
When he returned, he held out the water. "Here, Mari. Drink some." But Mari turned her head away, refusing.
His brow furrowed in desperation as he silently placed the ice pack on her knee.
"I’m already better, Sunny..." Mari’s voice made him look back at her. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, her hands still gripping the sheets tightly.
Sunny opened his mouth to speak, but Mari continued before he could. "I-It doesn’t hurt as much now... I can practice."
Sunny went still, processing her words. "What?" was all he managed.
Mari’s brow furrowed. "I can practice piano. I need to practice..."
Sunny’s heart pounded furiously in his ears, a war drum drowning out all reason.
Seriously? After everything that had happened, the only thing she cared about was her damn practice?
"No. Forget it," he snapped, his voice so sharp it surprised even him.
Mari looked up, her eyes—still swollen from crying—widening in disbelief. "I need to practice. This injury already ruined too much for me. I can’t let it ruin this too."
Ruined things?
A bitter laugh rose in Sunny’s throat, but he choked it down. It wasn’t amusement he felt—it was pure rage, boiling like lava in his chest.
What things, Mari? Your games? Your softball matches? Your outings with friends?
They were trivial. Things she could get back in a few months, once her knee healed.
But there she was, talking as if her world had ended.
S
unny wished he could injure himself just to get a break from all this nonsense.
She hadn’t even thanked him.
Even though it was his fault for forgetting the medicine.
She hadn’t even asked how he was.
Even though she’d suffered worse because of his carelessness.
Why did she have to make everything so difficult?
Even though he knew he’d do all this and more for his dear little sister.
Sunny loomed over Mari, his shadow engulfing her completely. Every muscle in his body was tense, his fingers trembling at his sides, his jaw clenched so hard it ached.
Mari stared up at him, her eyes wide like a cornered animal’s.
"You don’t understand how important this is to me?" Her voice cracked, not from tears but from the helpless fury burning inside her. "You never... you never understand anything."
Something in Sunny shattered.
"Can you stop being so selfish for one damn second?!"
His shout echoed through the room, so violent it startled even him. Mari flinched.
His words came out like blades, sharp and searing.
Mari tried to speak, but he didn’t let her.
"You’re lucky I’m not canceling this nonsense. You’re staying here, and I don’t want to hear another word about the piano or any other insignificant thing!"
The silence that followed was thick, charged with electricity.
Mari didn’t respond. She just lowered her head, tears falling straight to the floor as she didn’t even bother wiping them away. Her fists clenched the sheets with all her strength, her brow furrowed.
Sunny took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling like he’d just run a marathon.
Then, without giving her a chance to reply, he turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
He slid down the wall to the floor, covering his face with his hands, desperate for a second of peace.
But it didn’t last long. The sound of the front door opening and footsteps echoing through the first floor reached him, followed by his name being shouted.
Sunny grimaced before sighing and standing up to face his parents.
"What is this mess supposed to be?" His father said frantically, pointing at the kitchen Sunny had torn apart searching for Mari’s medicine.
"We asked you to take care of the house, and this is how you welcome us? Your school stuff scattered everywhere and the kitchen destroyed," His mother put her hands on her hips, clearly angry.
"Don’t think you’re getting out of this. You’re cleaning and organizing all of this right now," His father kept scolding him until Sunny felt too tired to keep listening.
Sunny was exhausted, angry, and fed up.
That night, he couldn’t sleep either...