Seju woke up from the clacking of utensils; she slowly opened her eyes she saw that the ceiling was unfamiliar. She tried to sit straight but her head was throbbing.
"Ugh… where the hell am I?"
She tried to recall what happened last night, but her hangover was refraining her from thinking straight. She just remembered that she was on the phone with someone then she suddenly passed out.
"Damn…"
"You're awake…"
"AHHHH!"
Seju screamed her lungs out, and fidgeted, until she fell in the bed.
"Ow…"
She heard a soft familiar giggle, when she looked up she saw Rohanne laughing at her with a tray in her hands. She was wearing a sports bra and leggings a towel was hanging on her neck, sweat mixed with water was dripping from her forehead, her hair still slightly wet, adding to her sex appeal. Her curves and toned abs were visible which made Seju blush.
"D-Dr. Baek!"
"Good morning Dr. Park" Rohanne said and smiled at her
Seju was speechless; her eyes were just glued on Rohanne admiring every aspect of the woman in front of her.
"I'll just leave the medicine here on the bedside table"
Rohanne said as she placed the glass of water and medicine on the bedside table, She was about to go out when Seju called for her…
"W-Wait…"
Rohanne looked at her with a teasing smile
"Yes?"
"Last night… W-What happened last night?" Seju asked as she was getting up from the floor.
"Ah… last night?"
===
Last Night
"Hello?" Rohanne answered the phone as soon as she saw that Seju was calling
"You! I hate you!"
"Dr. Park?"
She abruptly straighten her posture when she noticed the slurring in Seju's voice
"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"
"Dr. Park, are you drunk? Where are you?" She was already getting ready to get out, wearing her hoodie and picking up her car keys.
"It's none of your busi—"
Rohanne heard Seju vomit on the other line; she clenched her car keys and went out of her unit.
'She's drunk…'
"Seju… tell me where are you"
She heard a rustling on the other line
"Hello? Are you this person's boyfriend?"
It was a different voice; Rohanne thought that it might be the owner of the place
"Hi yes, I'm her girlfriend, can you tell me where she is?" She absentmindedly said, while waiting for the elevator.
"Ah, We're in…"
The guy on the other line told Rohanne the location.
She immediately drove to that place as soon as she was in her car.
As she stepped out of her car she saw Seju, looking at her phone, on her left hand was a shot glass, a couple of bottle of Soju was in her table.
"Dr. Park…"
Seju perked her head up and looked over her shoulder.
"Yeonhwa?!" She excitedly said, but her excitement faded when she saw a different person.
"Ah... Dr. Baek…"
"Dr. Park… You're drunk…"
"What? No! I'm not!" She confidently denied but it was so obvious with the slurring of her words, she was also beet red from the drunkenness
"Excuse me! Ahjussi! Give me another bottle of Soju and a glass for my friend here!"
"No. You're going home Seju" Rohanne sternly said and carried Seju on her back.
Before going she paid for all the bottles of Soju Seju had ordered and paid them extra for the ruckus the latter had made.
"I'm so sorry for the mess she made"
She was walking towards her car when Seju suddenly spoke behind her.
"Did you know… you're just like someone I know…"
Rohanne kept quiet and just let Seju blabber
"Why is that? You have the same habits, the same smile… that damned smile"
Seju buried her face on Rohanne's neck smelling the latter
"The same smell, but you're so different… She's different, you're different… But you remind me of her so much… Why?"
Rohanne just kept quiet, still not replying to Seju's questions.
"You know, Rohanne…"
Rohanne just listened
"I really hate that person…"
Rohanne felt a pang on her chest, she already knew that Seju hates her but it felts different when she's just there beside Seju.
"She gave so much color in my life, she made me so happy. She made me feel things that I haven't felt before. She made me understand things that people say is wrong. She made me experience things that I haven't experienced before… She changed the life I once used to know…"
She wanted to know, why Seju was angry at her, she wanted to know even if it would break her.
"Then why are you angry?"
"Because she left me…" Seju answered without hesitation; she then laughed maniacally "Yeah she left me… She left without even saying a single word… She wasn't there when I needed her the most. She wasn't there when Seungjae left… I'm so mad at her! She wasn't there when I needed her embrace… She wasn't there when I need her comfort."
"Why? Don't you know where she is?"
She laughed sarcastically
"If I Knew I already flew there just to slap her until her head falls off… But no…"
Rohanne was hurting while listening to the words that came out of Seju's lips. Seju was spilling all of her feelings towards her but she was just there acting as if she wasn't the one Seju was talking about.
Rohanne slowly placed Seju down but the latter just hugged her tight and didn't let go. They just stood there in front of Rohanne's car, Seju hugging her from behind.
"Why? Why didn't she contact me even once? All those years… I waited for a call, a letter… But nothing came… Why is she always on my mind?"
Rohanne was about to release herself from Seju's embrace but the latter hugged her tighter, like her life depended on it.
"Bullshit… after all those years of waiting, I'll just hear from her cousin that she's dead?! What a motherfucking coward! She doesn't have the right to leave! I still have to slap her hard! I still need to beat her up until her guts spill…I still need to say many things to her… I still need to yell at her face… I still need to say that she's a fucking useless best friend…"
Rohanne can feel her hoodie getting wet; she knew that Seju was crying… She just stayed silent and let Seju cry her lungs out…
"I'm sorry…"
"She's so unfair! So fucking unfair! I waited for her… I waited for almost a decade… For her to come back to me… to explain herself… to make me feel better… to embrace her… Fuck her! Fuck It! She's so unfair! So unfair…"
Rohanne just shut her eyes closed feeling guilty…
"Yeah, she's so unfair… I'm so unfair…"
Rohanne whispered
"It's okay if she doesn't want to go back, I just want to know that she's alive… but that motherfucker had the audacity to die… She left me again… without even saying a single fucking word."
Rohanne released herself from Seju's embrace and faced the latter. As soon as she turned around Seju rested her forehead on Rohanne's shoulder.
"I hate her so much… So fucking much, I can strangle her to death…"
Rohanne chuckled bitterly.
"But to be honest… I miss her… I miss her so much… I want to see her... I don't care if she's still cold as Ice… I just want her to come back to me… I miss her…"
Rohanne tried to restrain herself but in the end she can't, she hugged Seju, but the latter have already fallen asleep in Rohanne's embrace.
"I missed you too…"
===
Rohanne smiled bitterly at the memory from last night, but in a split second she gave a teasing smile to Seju
"Nothing much happened..." She said with a smirk, but when she realized that it was dangerous, the smirk on her lips was washed away "Just don't do that again…"
Rohanne said concern visible across her face. Seju just looked at her with a confused face.
"D-Do what?"
"Don't get drunk alone. If you didn't call last night something bad might've had happened to you. Thanks to your drunk calls you got here safely"
Rohanne smiled at Seju with a hint of concern and slight teasing. The latter felt the sincere concern from Rohanne, and that smile… It reminded her of Yeonhwa again… All the things Rohanne showed her, it reminds her of Yeonhwa…
The smile on Rohanne's face faded when she noticed how sad Seju's eyes are...
"Is there something wrong?"
Rohanne asked as she sat beside Seju. The latter just shook her head to get rid of Yeonhwa's image in her head.
'Do I really miss her that much?'
She felt a sting on her chest when she remembered what Jin-Ae told her last night… That Yeonhwa's dead… Tears started to well up in her eyes. As soon as Rohanne noticed it she was quick to comfort Seju.
"Dr. Park? What's wrong?
"N-Nothing… I just remembered something"
"Whatever it is… I'm always here…"
Seju doesn't know what came to her; she suddenly hugged Rohanne, It was as if she was hugging Yeonhwa, like Yeonhwa was with her.
"I know you're hurting right now, but hey, I cooked some pasta. Studies shows that eating can ease a person's pain, hence stress eating."
Seju chuckled; she was glad that Rohanne was trying to lighten up her mood, and trying to cheer her up, and somehow it worked. She broke the embrace and smiled at Rohanne. The latter was shocked at the sudden smile in front of her, making her blush.
"Let's go…"
They both went to the kitchen, and it was luxurious and oddly the place looks familiar to Seju. It's like she already knew the place. It has this odd familiar feeling to her.
They both sat down on a long table which was filled with different types of food that looks scrumptious.
'Does Dr. Baek live with her family? Why is the table so long?'
It was almost as if 6 people can eat at the table.
"You cooked these?" Seju asked as she looked at the delicious looking food in front of her
"Yeah, It's not much but I hope you'll like it" Rohanne said and smiled as she serve some coffee to Seju.
'Not much?'
It was a healthy breakfast; the pasta she made also looks healthy in Seju's eyes. While looking at the food served in front of her she remembered how Yeonhwa would also cook for her whenever they're in Yeonhwa's house. She always served healthy food to Seju too.
"By the way… Dr. Baek… About last night…" Seju said and looked at Rohanne who was busy eating
"Hmm?"
"Can you please keep it a secret? Sejeong would scold me nonstop if she knew"
"Even if you don't mention it, I don't have any plans on telling anyone what happened last night…" Rohanne said and continued eating Seju smiled in relief and started to eat the food Rohanne prepared.
Rohanne abruptly stopped eating and looked at Seju, who was enjoying the food.
"But I'm concerned…"
"Huh?"
"You were crying like a kid last night…"
'She's concerned right? Why do I feel like she's insulting me?'
"A-Ah… about that…"
Rohanne looked at Seju with anticipation, she already knew what happened but she wanted Seju to tell it to her directly.
"Yesterday, I talked to Jin-Ae…"
"Who?"
"The VIP patient's daughter. I heard from her that her cousin died
"I'm sorry… Were… Were you close to her cousin?"
"Yeah… We were best of friends…"
Seju chuckled bitterly
===
September 10, 2007
The time has come, the most important event for Seju and the most burdensome event for Yeonhwa, The School festival.
It was the most awaited event by the students and the most hated event by Yeonhwa because it's giving her and the other officers too much work.
"A class play?" Seju asked as soon as the main event of the school fest is announced
"Yep, every class needs to present a play…"
Their class' class representative was explaining the mechanics of the given event.
"Our class is going to perform on the last day of the event. So we still have more than a week to prepare"
They were all listening to their class rep. when one of their classmates raised their hand
"What about the story of our play?"
"About that… I still don't know what our class is supposed to do because all of the other classes already decided what they want and most of them are the cliché prince and princess plays, something like that"
"So you want a unique play?"
Their class rep nodded, they all thought about what kind of play they should do. Since they don't want to be one of the classes that would do the most cliché play, they need something new.
"What about a horror?" One of the students asked
"Do you think we can do those?" The class rep asked and pointed at their crackhead classmates
"Yeah, we can't possibly do that?"
"Unique huh…?"
Seju was thinking deeply when Yeonhwa suddenly barged in, in their classroom.
"Sorry I was caught up in a meeting"
"It's fine Prez." The Class rep said as he smiles at Yeonhwa. The latter took her seat beside Seju and laid her head on her table.
Seju can hear the low groans by Yeonhwa; she absentmindedly patted the latter's head and continued listening to the Class rep.
"So any suggestions?"
One of their classmates raised his hand.
"If we really want unique why don't we do forbidden love?"
"I already told you, they al—"
"Not that kind of forbidden love… You know what I'm talking about"
Murmurs started to erupt in the class, some are agreeing but some are not, but the majority of the class agrees.
"If you guys want that kind of play who would be the leads?"
They all looked at Seju's direction. But she isn't exactly the person they want to take the lead role. When Yeonhwa felt the class was too quiet she lift her head and saw that her classmates were staring at her with mischievous smiles
'Why are they looking at me like that?'
"Okay raise your hand if you want Prez. To play one of the lead roles!"
Almost all of their classmates raised their hands
"Well, that's one thing settled!"
"Wait… What's happening?" Yeonhwa looked at them with a confused face and then stared at Seju, asking her to explain what happened
Seju can't help but chuckle at Yeonhwa's cluelessness
"They want you to play the lead role in our play" Seju explained.
Yeonhwa's jaw almost hit the floor when she heard that she will be the lead role in their play
"Uh what?!" She abruptly stood up and raised her hands "Class rep. can't someone else do the role?"
Their class rep shook his head and told Yeonhwa that the class already voted for it. In short she doesn't have any choice but to do it.
"So for Yeonhwa's partner? Who would you want to Nominate?"
People suddenly wanted to volunteer, but Seju just looked at the listless Yeonhwa beside her, looking all grumpy because of the additional work that was handed to her
"Guess. I'll just leave some of the paperworks to the others an…"
Seju was just smiling looking at Yeonhwa while the latter was mumbling things that Seju can't understand.
'She's cute when she's like that…'
"Okay it's decided! Sejeong would be Yeonhwa's partner!"
Seju looked at Sejeong and smiled brightly, she walked towards Sejeong and hugged the latter.
"I bid you good luck Jeong!" Seju said as she taps Sejeong's shoulder, she lightly giggle; she looked over her shoulder and gave Yeonhwa a glare.
"Hey Ice cold prez. If you give Jeong a hard time I'll annoy you until you rip-off all your hair! Got it?!"
Yeonhwa just nodded absentmindedly, still thinking about the paperworks that need to be done before the school fest starts.
"Excuse me? Can we borrow Prez. For a sec?" One of the student council officers asked.
"Yeon—"
Yeonhwa abruptly stood up and walked towards the door with haste. After a few seconds of silence they were back to their usual noisy classroom.
"Well it's all settled!"
The class started to work on their play and decide who will write their story, and Seju volunteered to be the script writer.
"Are you sure about this Seju? What if you write a sloppy story?" Sejeong commented
"Excuse me! I write decent ones! Remember the short play last year?!" Seju exclaimed
As Sejeong was recalling the short play they did last year, Seju was also the one who wrote the script and it was a total mess.
"Well if everything goes wrong I'll ask another one to write a back-up!" Sejeong said and gave Seju two thumbs up
Seju just glared at Sejeong but she just let out a sigh and accepted defeat.
"Well I look forward to your script writing, Author-nim!"
That day Seju started and finished writing the script, it just took her a day. And that Day Yeonhwa went home later than usual, she was immersed in her work and she wanted to finish it as soon as she possibly can.
===
"Wow… You really did it…" Sejeong looked surprised while looking at the script Seju made.
"Is that a compliment? Or an…"
"A little bit of both" Sejeong gave her a teasing smile then tapped her shoulders "So who's your inspiration writing this script?" Sejeong asked
Seju thought about it, last night when she was finishing the script all she ever thought about is, how Yeonhwa would act in the script she wrote. And what kind of expressions she would show in order to execute it.
"Actually—"
"You wrote it with Seungjae in your mind?" One of their classmates asked, in a teasing tone.
"No I—"
"Don't deny it Seju, everybody in this class knows that you have a thing for Son Seungjae from the other class…"
All day, that day she was teased by her classmates about Seungjae and the script so she just let them think that way, but in reality she was thinking about Yeonhwa when she was writing that script.
"What are you thinking?" Yeonhwa asked while the two of them were watching Seungjae play basketball.
Seju didn't bat an eye on Yeonhwa and continued watching Seungjae; she was immersed in her own world again, thinking of the scenes she wrote for the scrip of their play.
"Airhead…" Yeonhwa lightly flicked Seju's forehead; it made the latter look at her with a pout on her face
"It hurts…" She looked at Yeonhwa while caressing her forehead.
Yeonhwa sighed and placed her hand on Seju's forehead, the latter just watched her wondering what she was doing.
"Sorry…"
Seju was unexpectedly taken aback by what Yeonhwa just did. She was flustered, Her ears area all read too. She was still looking up at Yeonhwa while the latter was worried.
"Do you have a fever?"
"H-Huh?"
"Your face is all red"
Yeonhwa checked her temperature using her hands but it seems that she isn't satisfied with it, she removed her palm on Seju's forehead; she cupped Seju's face and placed her forehead on Seju's. The latter's blood rushed to her face instantly, she was redder than before.
"It doesn't seem like you have a fever… Why are you so red?" Yeonhwa asked as soon as she pulls away from Seju
"N-n-nothing! I'm not sick!"
"Okay…"
===
September 21, 2007
Today was the day. Their class will present their play last; their whole class prepared so much for it, especially Sejeong and Yeonhwa. They practiced the scenes when they can and have time; Seju is also going to be the stage director for their play so she was watching close on her main actors.
"Yeon, are you ready?"
Seju asked, Yeonhwa just nodded and breathed heavily. She tried to calm herself down before going onstage but the pressure and stress is getting onto her, her hands were cold and a is trembling a bit.
She felt someone held her hands…
Sejeong looked at her with a determined face and nodded, while still holding her trembling hands.
Seju was looking at the two of them feeling a strange feeling in her chest. She just turned around and checked the other things they need before the play starts
As soon as the narration started, the lights on the stage dimmed and the people who were chattering turned quiet. They were anticipating the play.
The play turned out as good as they expected and it was already the last scene; the scene where Yeonhwa would let go of Sejeong and tell her how she feel.
"This would not be the last time…" Yeonhwa said, She was trying to recall her next lines which will be the ending lines but she can't; She looked over the backstage and saw Seju looking at her with worry
'Why do you have to look at me like that?'
Yeonhwa was taking her time looking at Seju, she was composing her next lines, because screw scripts, she has her lines, the words she wants to say to Seju, the feelings she can't convey.
She cupped Sejeong's cheeks and looked at her straight in the eyes; Yeonhwa's eyes were conveying all the emotions she was holding back.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Sejeong was shocked at the lines Yeonhwa threw.
'That's not in the script…'
Yeonhwa hugged Sejeong but the latter just froze in her spot, she was just standing there shocked on what's happening.
"Prez?" Sejeong whispered, but Yeonhwa seems like she was in her own world immersed in the play
"It's not like the world is ending love..."
'That's also not in the script… What's happening?'
Sejeong looked at her classmates but they signaled her to just go with Yeonhwa's flow. It was the last part of their play after all, and after Yeonhwa's line the play will end.
"If you just let me, give me a chance… To love you… Because I know… I know that deep in your heart, there's a little space for me."
Sejeong can't see Yeonhwa's face but she knew that the latter was looking at someone; she knew that those lines… those lines were meant for someone, for somebody else.
"I saw it when I looked in your eyes… In your smile…"
Sejeong can feel all the emotions Yeonhwa was putting in her lines, so she just went with the flow, and hugged Yeonhwa back.
Seju on the other hand, felt like she was going to burst because of the unknown feeling inside her chest; she's feeling irritated but at the same time happy? Does that even makes sense?
She was avoiding Yeonhwa's stares, but she can't help but look at Yeonhwa.
"So please… love me… even if it is to fill the spaces…"
She looked at Yeonhwa's eyes; the latter was staring at her as if she was staring at her soul.
"Love me… Even If I know your heart was never mine… You can take your time… because I'll always have a space for you… I will always have…"
The feelings Yeonhwa can't say directly at Seju, she finally let it out.
And at that the lights were dimmed, the curtains closed and the play was over.
===
"We were…"
"Was her name Yeonhwa?"
Seju chuckled bitterly
'I must've talked while sleeping'
"Yeah, her name was Yeonhwa… Baek Yeonhwa…"
Rohanne just looked at Seju while the latter slowly placed her chopsticks down.
"She was a very special person to me…"