July 4th. The month when the heat comes in full force. The sun is shining brightly and it's warm outside. Children shoot at each other with water pistols while adults watch them. There is joy everywhere, students are free from studying, and their parents are already planning future trips. It's a normal summer day for everyone, but for Minjoon? For Minjoon, this day is cursed.

Minjoon's life became unbearable after the death of his parents. On July 4, 4 years ago, he quarreled with his mother and father. They again insisted that their son go with them to the sea, to get some air, because you can't spend the whole summer pinned to the couch and staring at the phone. Minjoon had heard these words billions of times already, and each time he swallowed his indignation and disagreement, silently nodding to his parents to get off quickly. But something went wrong that day. Maybe it was because of the scorching sun, maybe because he was too lazy to even get out of bed, maybe because his parents only saw him like this, but never noticed how he walked, did housework, helped them. Sometimes it seemed to him that they had always seen only the bad in him, a real disappointment, and it was unfair. He really tried, so why do you always have to say how lazy he is? Constantly point out that he is only on the phone and knows how to sit, and you can just ignore all his actions. All the pain from the parental misunderstanding accumulated in him and finally overflowed the cup. He yelled at them, snapped at them, said things he would never have said, but at that moment he was completely immersed in frustration and a desire to show his parents that they were being unfair to him. They quarreled. Minjoon rushed out of the house and went to firefly. His mother tried to stop him, she followed him, apologized, but Minjoon just threw her hand away and disappeared into the alley.

He would never have done this if he had known that this was the last time he would see his mother alive.

An accidental accident. The truck lost control and crashed into their car, almost crushing them. Minjoon's world turned 180 degrees when he heard those words on the phone.

The consequences were terrible. Firefly's mother took Minjoon into custody because she was his mother's best friend and could not accept that the son of her dead best friend would be sent to an orphanage. She gave him a roof over his head, provided him with food and clothes, and organized the funeral herself. For a month, Minjoon lived in firefly's room while her parents built his own room. His days merged into one endless cycle of rising, crying and sleeping. He did not leave the room, was too weak to eat and wash, Minjoon could lie on the bed for weeks in his clothes without taking a shower at all. Guilt gnawed at him endlessly and inexorably from the inside, the question "what if" settled in his head, and Minjoon himself became a shell of his former self.

Firefly pulled him out of this state. She never refused him, forced Minjoon to eat, drink, walk around the room at least. She kept comforting him and encouraging him, trying to bring back the good old Minjoon she knew. He could snap at her, he could yell at her, he could tell her that he hated her, that she didn't understand him, and then burst into tears into her shoulder, muttering apologies, and she never gave up on him. She just calmly endured his outbursts, and then hugged him, comforting him. She saved him. Slowly but surely, his depression and guilt began to fade into the background, his world became more focused on firefly, on the desire to be like before again, and not a burden to her and her family. And he did it. It took a long time, but by the age of 18, Minjoon had become his old self, although there was an echo of longing and guilt in his eyes.

He learned to live again, firefly gave him a second wind. Only for everything to go wrong again.

It's summer again, on July 4th, and Minjoon is walking home, all happy and proud. He successfully won today's basketball match, and also received praise from his strict coach. Opening the door, taking off his shoes, he went into the living room, with a victorious smile, ready to show off to firefly and her parents, when his whole body froze. Auntie Juhe and Uncle Daeho were both crying while sitting on the couch. Firefly's mother was holding her phone, clutching it tightly as tears streamed from her eyes. Minjoon's mood immediately dropped. The anxiety went through the roof when he asked what happened. The answer hit him like a freight train, and Minjoon stepped back by inertia. It just couldn't be. The words "myocardial hypertrophy" and "a few months left" hit his skull stupidly, he didn't think at all for a minute.

Then, as soon as the words reached his brain, he ran without thinking. Without even putting on shoes, Minjoon was already rushing through the streets in his socks to the main hospital. His heart was pounding with fear and need, his lungs were burning, and tears welled up in his eyes. The automatic doors of the hospital opened and he flew into the reception desk like a mad dog. His hair was sticking out, his eyes were red and huge, and his hands were clutching the table like a lifeline.

"Where.. Where is she..? Where is firefly? Kim firefly, a high school student.. She.. She told me she'd come to you.. Where the hell is she?!"

The receptionist at the counter calmly looked at Minjoon, understanding the boy's concern and entered the data into her computer. After an agonizing 30 seconds, he heard her reply.

"Room 307, on the third floor. You can use the elevator–"

Her words were drowned out when Minjoon was already rushing to the stairs, jumping two steps, trying to get there faster, as if if he didn't make it in 2 minutes, it would be too late.

Shoving aside other patients and nurses, Minjoon went up to the third floor, urgently searching for room 307. As soon as his gaze fell on her, he rushed there. A sad scene opened his blue eyes. Firefly is lying in bed with an IV and other devices, pale but alive. Still alive. Without giving himself time to catch his breath, Minjoon rushed to her bedside and fell to his knees. Even so, he was still huge, his hands clutching at her robe, afraid to touch her skin, afraid to feel how cold it was.

"Firefly! You—! What the hell is a firefly? I really hope this is your stupid joke again. Well, I'm not laughing. Finish the performance, get up.. Please let's go home.. You.. You can't..."

He didn't finish his sentence, instead a sob escaped his throat as he crashed. The tears were flowing, shameless and huge, his body was shaking, his forehead was pressed against your stomach, his eyes were tightly closed, as if it helped to hold back his flow of tears.