The voice on the phone had seemed impossible at first. A cruel mistake. A lie.
But with every pounding step echoing down the street as White ran, the words gnawed deeper into him, clawing at his chest.
'It can't be her. It can't be Miss Elsa… please, let it be a mistake…'
Flashbacks flickered through his mind: Elsa smiling warmly as she set a bowl of stew before him, scolding him for being careless with his diet, patting his shoulder like the sister he never had.
'I can't… I can't afford to lose her too.'
By the time he reached the hospital, the world was spinning with dread. A pair of double doors loomed before him, and through the small glass window, he saw her.
Her.
Lying there like a fragile doll beneath sterile white sheets. Unmoving. Machines beeping, wires trailing, nurses moving briskly around her still figure.
"No…" White whispered, the floor wobbling beneath him. "It… it can't be true…"
His knees nearly gave way. Just days ago, she had been alive, vibrant, scolding him to eat more vegetables. And now she was fighting for her life.
"Are you with this lady?"
He turned sharply. A man in a white coat regarded him with eyes that held no comfort.
"She's… she's like my elder sister," White gasped out, breathless from the run. "What happened?"
The doctor's voice was steady, but heavy. "She jumped from the roof of her university building."
White's breath caught. "Jumped…? No… not Miss Elsa. She would never…"
"It isn't confirmed a suicide case," the doctor clarified gently. "But the reason she fell is unclear."
White staggered, clutching the wall. "…Her condition? She'll be alright, won't she?"
Silence.
The doctor's jaw tightened. "…She's in a coma. We can't say anything with certainty. If she doesn't show progress… she may not survive the next three days."
"Three…" White's voice cracked. "Three days…?"
"I'm sorry." His words were final, as cold and sterile as the walls around them. "We're doing what we can. Please… prepare yourself."
And with that, he left White to drown in the hollow corridor.
"…No…"
The tears spilled before he realized they had welled. His chest collapsed in on itself, a sob ripping silently through his throat.
She was his savior. The person who gave him a home when no one else would. His family… his sister.
'Why her? Why now?'
And suddenly, Aisha's words slithered back into his mind.
'Every wish has a price.'
"No…" White muttered. "No! This… this was Bell. This is because of her."
Clenching his trembling fists, he bolted from the hospital, rage and fear burning together inside him.
---
When he pushed open the apartment door, Bell rushed toward him like a beam of innocence, crimson eyes bright.
"Papa! Welcome ho—"
"Don't come near me!!"
His voice exploded all at once.
Bell froze mid-step, her smile shattering, replaced by wide, glistening eyes. "…P-Papa?"
"Don't call me that!" His voice cracked, raked raw by pain. "Because of you… because of you, Miss Elsa is in a coma!! Because of you—she might die!!"
Bell's lip trembled, her tiny hands clutching the hem of her dress. "I-I don't… understand… Papa, why are you angry…?"
"Get out!" White roared, slamming his bedroom door shut and locking it.
The door rattled. Bell's small fists pounded desperately as her voice broke into sobs.
"Papa… please don't shut me out… please… I-Bell doesn't know what Bell did… Please don't leave me alone!"
Her cries tore into him like daggers, but he pressed his palms over his ears, shoving his face into his knees.
'If I hadn't met her… Elsa would be safe. If Bell didn't exist, none of this… none of it would be happening.'
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the knocking stopped. Her voice faded into silence.
But another voice replaced it.
"Are you so sure?"
White jolted. His head snapped up.
Aisha sat casually on his bed, her silver hair spilling like a curtain, her lips curved in that mocking, poisonous smile.
"You really think it was Bell's fault?"
"You…" White choked out, rage bubbling over. He leapt up, swinging to grab her throat, to strangle the truth out of her—
But his hands passed through. Mist. Nothing.
"Tut-tut." She shook her head. "My existence is the same as Bell's. You can't harm what isn't… flesh. Not in this way."
White's knees buckled. He slammed his fist into the wall. "Then why?! Why her?! Why Miss Elsa of all people?!"
"It is not fair for just a small thing like an exam you are taking someone's life," he said bitterly.
"It wasn't her." Aisha's tone was chilling—like a teacher guiding a slow student. "The price of your little exam wish… was already paid, via Shu's accusations and your guilt regarding that."
"…Then…" White's voice faded. "Why… Elsa?"
Aisha leaned close, her whisper cold against his ear.
"Because you forgot your first wish. On the day of your accident. Do you remember? You wished to live. To be happy."
White's gut sank like lead.
"Happiness isn't granted so easily," Aisha purred. "To keep you alive… balance demanded another life."
"No…"
"Yes." Her eyes gleamed like amethyst flames. "Elsa is paying for your life, White. You traded her life for your second chance."
White's body trembled. "So… I'm the reason…"
"Exactly." Her smile widened into something cruel, almost playful. "Bell didn't cause this. You did. It was your wish. Your desire to live rewrote fate."
The world turned upside down. His breath caught. His hands shook violently.
'…If I had just died that day—Elsa would…'
"Would still be alive. Yes." Her words slipped like poison.
White staggered back, clutching his head. The truth crushed him, burying him under its weight.
'This… this is my fault.'
But despair soon morphed into desperate resolve.
He raised his head, voice breaking. "…Then tell me. Is there any way to save her?"
Aisha's lips curled. "Not through me. But…"
Her eyes glinted, flicking toward the door.
"…She can save Elsa. Ask her. Pray. Beg. If your wish is strong enough… maybe it will be granted."
She began to fade again into mist, leaving only her haunting words behind.
"Just remember, White… another price will be demanded. Always."
"…Bell." White whispered.
He slammed open the bedroom door, his heart pounding—
Empty.
Sheets cold.
Bell was gone.
"…Bell!!"
White tore through the apartment, the corridor, down the street, shouting her name, but no answer came.
For the first time, he felt it in his bones—
It was his mistake from the beginning.