530 Grim reality
On the side of the hospital’s corridor, the apparition of Jun’s soul was watching everything transpiring just like Ai was on her parents’ side. They couldn’t see each other as it was the journey of their own past, but Jun strongly felt Ai’s presence. He knew she was there too.
He wished to see her because he craved nothing but the warmth of her embrace. He desperately needed that warmth because the chilliness of realization left his heart barren and irreparable.
All this time, Jun simply ‘knew’ that his death must have hurt the family.
But it was now he was seeing it with his own eyes just what degree of suffering he had put them through.
Jun trembled hard upon seeing his mighty father bow for the first time. The Liu Jinhai he knew never bowed in front of anyone. It was always the whole world who had its gaze lowered in fear and respect before him.
But what struck him the most was that despite Jinhai and Nana feeling disappointed over Jun’s suicide, it was Jun’s smile and happiness in his last moments that mattered to his parents the most.
More than shedding tears over the loss of their son, they cried in relief that Jun died with an ease in his heart no matter how tiny it was.
Jun tremblingly collapsed near Nana’s wheelchair, a suffocating feeling enveloping his throat.
“Mom…”
But suddenly, his eyes slowly widened as something dawned upon him.
Didn’t Mom…pass away after Jin’s death? Then how is she…
He clearly remembered how Nana had collapsed into unconsciousness after seeing Jin bleed from his chest. With how weak Nana’s condition already was, the doctors had no hope of her living after having to bear the shock of such a tragedy.
He didn’t have the courage to go to the hospital but was desperately waiting outside to hear the news that she was holding on. He just wanted to hear that Nana was okay.
Mom, I will take whatever punishment you have to give me…I will suffer for the rest of my life and repent my sins, but please…please be okay. Please don’t leave us, Mom…
Jun had broken down as he prayed hard for her wellbeing. He waited until a nurse came out who broke the news that Nana was no more.
That was the last straw for Jun who couldn’t bear the brunt of killing his brother and his mother too.
Jun, who saw his mother in a wheelchair now, tried to hold her hand. But he was just an apparition. He couldn’t interfere with what had already happened nor could anybody see or hear him.
“Mom…”
p、A,nd A-n、o、ve,1
Why did that nurse say that Mom was…no more?
Jun saw Nana’s beautiful brown eyes that always brightened up the home, dark and bleak at this moment.
“Jun…Jin…Jun…Jin…” She was mumbling to herself in a daze, staring at the two wards as if hoping that her sons would walk out all healthy and fine. As if the heartbreaking tragedy had never befallen upon them.
“Mom…Mom, please don’t look like that…” Jun wished to hug her, “Look I am here! I am fine, Mom. Jin is also okay, Mom! Y-you don’t have to…grieve our deaths anymore…”
The other members of the Liu family were just as lost as Jinhai and Nana were.
Inside Jun’s ward where he laid in silence on the bed, the twins were beside him, staring at him with soulless eyes.
“The hell Jun. Open your damn eyes already,” Jian ordered in a voice where people usually never had the courage to look him in the eye. “Can’t you fucking see how much Mom and Dad are suffering because of you? Look at how much they are crying because you are playing dead. Stop with the act already. It’s Nian and my job to play pranks, not yours.”
His cold orders were only met with silence. Jian’s black eyes glimmered with rage. “You fucking piece of shit! Do you want me to beat you up!?” He jumped upon Jun and grabbed his collar.
“Jian!” Nian grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back. “Stop it-“
He threw an icy stare towards his twin. “Let go of my shoulders, Nian. I need to teach him a lesson. First he shot at Jin without bothering to listen to anybody and then conveniently crashed his car to escape the punishment like a coward? Who the fuck he thinks he is?”
It got harder for Nian to stop his tears from falling. “No matter what we do…neither Jin is coming back nor…Jun.”
Jian narrowed his eyes. “That’s why I despise you at times, my dear twin. You become too soft. You do punish our brothers when things go out of hand but you end up melting like an icecream. I remember back in the day, you knew that Jun was accompanying Jin during the time we had locked him up and had even cooked food for him, but you hid it from me.”
Nian said nothing.
“But then I also remember that you and I broke Jun’s favorite video game for going against us and I…broke yours for going against me,” he smiled.
Jun, who was watching the twins’ altercation, was left stunned.
Something like this happened?
Nian asked with a wry smile, “What will you break this time if things don’t go your way, Jian? Because the brother you want to punish is already lying dead.”
It was at that moment that Jian didn’t wish to but before he could stop himself, his punch landed on Nian’s face first.
Jun froze.
Nian felt a sharp and painful jab at his jaw. But he felt grateful because at least he got a reason to let his tears escape.
“When I say that I will discipline Jun, then it means I will do so,” Jian warned him, “Don’t get too ahead of yourself Nian. We are twins for sure, but I am still the eldest brother here. You don’t get to break the authority just because it’s a few minutes.”
While the rest of the family grieved over Jun and Jin’s deaths, it was only Jian who stubbornly refused to accept the reality.
But to Jun who was watching the past, the reality became even grimmer as time passed on and he saw Nana pass away…
Not after Jin’s death but his own suicide.