In This Life • Tale Of The Nine Tailed • Lee Rang

Chapter 11

Yeon never left him, he'd fall asleep by his brother's side and wake up with the latter unmoved, in the same state. It became routine for everyone else to come and visit, they talk to Rang and then leave without getting any response from him. It's not really his fault anyway.

The Gumiho also realized that Jia had been strange around him lately, maybe she just wanted to give him space, his vibes weren't really the best or most welcoming. With Taluipa's constant reminder to pay his debt, he would leave reluctantly and hunt down the wanted criminals with no mercy, though the elders were sensitive and didn't mention anything related to his brother and he appreciated it.

"You're sleeping quite a lot.", Yeon said, only to get the mechanical hiss of the ventilator as a reply. It had been two days since the incident and although nothing bad has happened, there was nothing good either. As a Gumiho, he was concerned with how slow Lee Rang was healing, is it because he's a half-fox? Or the severity of the injury? Or something is stopping him from waking up?

Yeon shook off the scary thoughts and looked at his brother again, curling his fingers around the latter's hand, "Wake up. Please."

"Lee Yeon.", Jia called softly from behind, she had just got off work, instead of returning to an empty home, she decided to stop by to see Yeon. SinJoo had expressed his concerns to her about the Gumiho's psychological wellbeing, so she thought it was maybe the time to have a proper talk with him. Recently, she's been informed of a serious matter, something that would affect both herself and Lee Yeon greatly, but she wants to make sure that he's in the right state before telling him.

"Hey", the Gumiho breathed, taking in her scent and warmth as she settled down in the chair next to him

"Anything new?", Jia asked, referring to the motionless figure in the hospital bed.

Yeon shook his head lightly, "Nope"

Jia rubbed small circles on his back, "He's strong, even the doctors said it's a miracle that he survived the first night."

"But Jia what if he doesn't wake up? There's no signs of improvement..."

"He will. And I'm sure it'll get better."

Yeon turned to face her properly, letting out a shaky breath, "I was so scared...that I'd lose him again.", The confession ignited all sorts of emotions again, his vision slowly blurring, "...I can still feel his blood on my hands."

Jia caressed a side of his face, "Lee Yeon, look at me."

Her heart ached at the watery eyes looking back at her, so lost and miserable, "He's still here isn't he? Just give it some time hmm?"

Yeon sniffed and nodded in understanding, "I'm sorry, I-I haven't been spending much time with you...I'm just so worried that something might go wrong if I leave him alone."

Jia forced a comforting smile, "It's okay Yeon, you don't have to apologise for that. He's your one and only brother."

Yeon led her hand into his own, looking down and fiddling with the fingers, "Thank you. For always tolerating me like this."

"What you're doing is not wrong. I'd want to stay by his side too if he was my sibling.", Then she looked at Yeon sincerely, "But I want you to know that it's not your fault. 10 years ago and now."

"What do you mean?"

"You might not realise it yourself but I can see, how hard you're taking this on yourself."

Yeon smiled nervously, not liking where this conversation is going to, "No I'm not"

"It's the guilt. And you're trying hard to distract yourself from the current situation. When you're not here, you're out there capturing criminals", Jia sighed and collected herself, "Yeon, I just don't want you to overwork yourself."