I woke up to chaos. Someone was shaking me violently and shouting, I jumped up completely startled.

"What's going on?" I asked wiping the sleep from my eyes

"I don't know, Minji called in a panic" Jungkook answered, pulling on a pair of pants in a hurry

"Minji called?" I was still loopy from my sudden wake up.

Namjoon tripping over himself made me slightly more alert as I was able to ask if he was okay, he confirmed that he was.

"Get dressed Princess" Hobi came in with some of my clothes. I flipped the blanket back, I was the only one still in bed, and sat in the edge pulling JK's shirt over my head and slipping on a bra

"We just got her up and she's getting dressed now. Which hospital have they taken her to?" Jimin's voice echoed from the hallway "Okay... okay... yes, all of us... I'll call you"

I tried to hurry up but there was delay between my brain and body and I ended up trying to stick my head through the armhole of my shirt. Hoseok helped me get dressed and Jungkook carried me downstairs where I slipped on my shoes.

We were divided into three cars and rushed to Seoul General. I sat in the back seat of Yoongi's car with him behind the wheel and Hoseok in the passenger seat. Jimin and Namjoon were in the car behind us leaving Jungkook, Taehyung and Jin in the last car of the line. The longer we drove the more conscious I became until I was no longer disoriented.

"Does anyone know what is happening, is my sister okay?"

"She is not injured but she's not okay. Mi-Kyung collapsed and she's unresponsive" Yoongi answered, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles

"She's unresponsive?" a pang of guilt shot through my chest.

I mean, yeah, I hated her, but I didn't want her to die. Despite how I feel about her she's still the mother of my brother and sister. I was too excited last night when I sign that stupid paper, I planned to tell her I didn't mean it and try talking to her again. Fuck! This is not how things were supposed to go

"It's not your fault" Hoseok said

"You don't know that" my eyes glazed over, and sadness entered my heart again. "What if they blame me?"

"They won't" his voice was flat, monotoned. I fished my phone from my jacket pocket and dialed my sister, but it went straight to voicemail

The rest of the ride was silent. I had a thousand questions swirling around my mind but they wouldn't have the answers, so I kept quiet. As soon as our car came to a complete stop I jumped out and ran inside searching for a reception desk.

"I'm looking for Choi Mi-Kyung" I was slightly out of breath and disheveled. The woman behind the counter was surprised but quickly bounced back "She came in by ambulance"

"Okay and what's your relationship to the patient?"

"H-her dau- she's my-my mother" I choked out. She didn't look convinced

"There she is" I heard Jin's voice and a small stampede of footsteps. He came to my side and put his arms around me to keep me calm. "Where is she?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out" The secretary was starstruck, but I didn't have time for that

"Hello! You're supposed to be looking for Choi Mi-kyung"

"Right, right, and you say you're her daughter?" She asked as if hearing me the first time wasn't enough

"Yes" I could feel the shock from my mates, but I ignored it for the time being. Before either of us spoke another word, a hospital security guard approached us with a nurse in tow.

"Hello, I'm Nurse Kwon, you all can follow me" she waved us toward her "Thank you Ba-ni" she politely nodded at the receptionist

We hesitated but followed her anyway after a beat. Yoongi grabbed my hand and weaved our fingers together as we walked with eager steps. The nurse quietly led us through the maze known as Seoul General, everything we passed was a blur. If she had stopped at any point after the first turn to the left and told us to go back the way we came, I'd be lost instantly. Her colorful sneakers squeaked against the linoleum and her scrubs swished against itself.

She paused when we got to a hallway with elevators and pressed the up button. I looked back to see the security guard still with us. Jimin was holding Tae's hand discreetly, he gave me a small smile.

"Your sister told me you were coming and asked if someone could bring you all up" nurse Kwon volunteered without my asking

"Thank you... do you know what happened to her?"

"We're trying to figure that out now. She's going through extensive testing as we speak"

"Okay"

"We're going up to the 7th floor" she told us when open set of doors opened

"You three go with Ma-ri and nurse Kwon, we'll catch the next one" Namjoon pointed to Hobi, Yoongi and Jin so the five of us loaded in one by one. The ride up was quick, didn't even feel like we traveled up six floors

We stepped off just in time to see the second elevator doors opening across the hall. It must have arrived right after ours. Again, the nurse leads the way except this trek is not as long and winding as the first, after only a few minutes I could see my brother pacing and Minji fighting off her sleep in a chair parked in the corner in the waiting room.

"I'll be back as soon as I can with her status" Nurse Kwon promised

"Thank you" Taehyung told her before she left us

"Oppa" I called out running to him, throwing my arms around his body, he was shaking "What happened?" Instead of embracing me back he shrugged me off of him and went to our sister. He was rejecting me.

"Rest noona, you've been up for over 24 hours" he told her in a calm tone, kneeling to face level

"I'm fine," she yawned. "I'll sleep once I know mom is okay."

"Eunnie" I called out

"Ma-ri, when did you get here?" She looked as if she'd aged 10 years in a day, my heart sank seeing her so worn out

"Just now... what happened?" I asked again trying to keep the tears from spilling over the rim of my eyes

"After you all left last night we went to bed, I slept in bed with my mom to comfort her, but it was still a while before she could fall asleep, eventually she did though but not for long. It was just after midnight when she woke up in a panic, screaming and beating on her chest. We tried to calm her down, but she went on like that for several minutes until she calmed on her own and drifted off to sleep"

"So, she's been unresponsive ever since?" Taehyung asked.

"No. She woke up again around 3, I woke up when I heard her hit the floor. Her head hit the floor pretty, but I got her up and helped her back to bed. I went to get her some water and when I came back, she passed out, her heartbeat was faint, and her body was ice cold. We both tried to wake her up, but nothing worked so we called an ambulance and they've been running tests since we arrived. That was about an hour and a half ago, we haven't gotten an update yet" Minji finished with a sigh

Another pang of guilt shot through me; I couldn't help believing this was my fault. Was I too harsh on her? Have I been too stubborn to really listen? What if me signing that stupid paper means they won't try to resuscitate her if she... Jimin pulled me from my thoughts by pulling in for a hug.

"She'll be okay" he whispered

"You don't know that" Minsu commented as he straightened himself. Jimin let me go as I turned to face my brother

"She will, oppa" I tried offering assurance, but he only rolled his eyes and scoffed

"You don't even care so why are you? You want her to die, remember?" He was red with rage and sadness, his hair was a mess, eyes were red and swollen, his lips were dry, and his body language was only allowed distance. "Why are any of you here!"

"Minsu, stop. I know you're worried about mom but that's not a reason to take it out on them" our sister attempted to diffuse the bomb before it detonated

"Oppa, I-I'm sorry... last night I was upset and-and emotional and she pushed it on me" I tried to touch his shoulder be he slapped my hand

"Don't fucking touch me" he sneered. Namjoon, Jungkook, Taehyung went into defense mode, straightening their posture and wearing stone faces.

The security guard also moved into position, subtly placing his body closer to us in case he needed to intervene. Minsu sighed and dragged his hand down his face while taking a step back "Fine then, I'll leave"

"I know you're tired and angry and worried so just have a seat" Jin stopped him by placing his hand flat on my brother's chest

"Move Jin, I can't be here right now" he clenched his jaw and grabbed my mate's wrist and tossed it aside. Jin stood down, allowing my brother to pass by him so I followed and grabbed his arm

"I'm sorry," tears were already streaming down my cheeks, curling under my chin "I'm sorry"

"Let me go, Ma-ri"

"No, look at me" I put my body in front of his "Please, look at me. I'm sorry, okay? I know this is my fault and I'm sorry"

"Damnit Ma-ri move"

"Oppa-"

"I'M NOT YOUR FUCKING OPPA!" his hands grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me LEAVE ME ALONE, LEAVE US ALONE! You got what you wanted; my mother will probably die!" he cried as he screamed in my face "She'll... she'll-she might die"

Namjoon and Yoongi pried his hands from my arms and pulled me away "Minsu I..."

"Just do us a favor and pretend like you never met us" he walked off leaving a crowd of hospital staff stunned along with me

I couldn't stand anymore, my knees gave out, but Yoongi caught me before I fell to the floor. We walked back into the waiting room and sat down, I sat next to my sister and held her hands.

"I'm sorry" I whispered, staring at the floor as I couldn't bring my eyes to look at her "He's right to blame me"

"This isn't your fault Ma-ri, he is upset and speaking out of anger. Let him cool off for a while, it's been a rough 24 hours for us both. He doesn't actually blame you, and neither do I, it's an unfortunate coincidence and you just happened to be the target his blame is aimed at"

"But what if I am? What if what happened to her is my fault? I caused her so much distress" I showed Minji my tear-stained face

"No more than she's caused you. I love my mother dearly, but I do not agree with what she did our family. I know she has serious trauma and I wish she would've handled everything with your mom differently, but she didn't. Unfortunately, her choices and actions, or lack of, made life difficult for you and maybe this is her karma" Minji explained, trying to keep herself from crying anymore

I chewed my bottom lip as I took in her words. Is this what I really wanted for her? To be ripped away from her family, from her children? The only two people left on this earth that love her the way she's always craved. Am I any better than Mi-kyung? I don't feel good knowing she's probably fighting for her life; this doesn't bring me joy or closure. All I feel is sadness and doubt... is this how she felt when my mom died? Did she regret her decisions instantly? Did she wish she could do things differently? Was she scared and lonely? Did dad shut her out like Minsu is doing to me? Did he blame her like Minsu blames me?

While deep diving in my ocean thoughts I failed to notice the arrival of a certain someone. The volume of the voices around me increased and that's when I saw Jin aggressively speaking talking to the man who looked neither intimidated nor scared. Firstly, he looked tired, it was close to 5 in the morning, and secondly, he looked as if he was searching for something or someone. His eyes fell on me and gleamed

"Excuse me Seokjin" he said bypassing my bewildered mate to get to me

"Dr. Moon, what are you doing here?" Minji asked, rising to greet the doctor

"I rushed here as soon as I heard about your mom's arrival, I'm actually glad you're all here, well almost all of you are here. Where is Minsu?"

"He took a walk to cool off"

"He needs to be here for this, can you please get him found and brought back here" Dr. Moon asked the security guard who immediately started speaking into his radio

"Why are you glad all of us are?" Jin asked, coming to stand next to me "And why haven't you returned any of my calls?"

"I'll tell you as soon as their brother is here" the doctor, who now appeared more awake and even excited.

"How do you know who I am?" I asked, nervously shifting on my feet. He opened his mouth to answer but

"I can walk on my own" Minsu fussed as two more guards escorted him into the room holding one arm each. He snatched his limbs from their grasp, nearly bumping into Hoseok. The two men guarded the entry way so that no one else could come in

"He's here, now talk," Jin demanded of the older man.

All ten of us stood round Dr. Moon anticipating what he was about to tell us but nothing, and I mean NOTHING, in this galaxy or any other could have prepared me for the next string of words that come off his lips

"Ma-ri, your mother is alive"

__________________________________________________________________

The time has arrived!