--Jay Hwang's Point of View--
I wiped away all the sweat from her forehead with my handkerchief as we moved our belongings, Seokjoon-noona stared for a moment at me before she continued.
Then, she turned to stop and stare at me once more.
"Is there something wrong?" I asked her, feeling thrown away by the frequent stares.
She shook her head and dismissed me with the shooing motion of her hands.
"Come on, you can tell me what the concern is." I snuck up behind her and hugged her so warmly with a gentle squeeze on the shoulders.
"I just noticed that your friends must be going through a tough time right now." she began with the conversation.
It is true. "But growing apart is normal in life, we can choose to stay in contact too." friendships can be kept for a long time but it requires a ton of effort and trust
A great connection and everlasting consistency no matter the distance or time.
"If they wanted to, they would." she finished the topic as soon as possible.
We spent hours and hours till those hours became days after days...
'Now, that was just the transporting and unpacking part of moving in with her to an apartment.' in a different town, which makes it quite challenging to hang out with the others.
"Have you applied to any college universities already?" I stared at the plain white ceiling with the lights flashing me in the eyes like the sun would often blind us when we looked at it even for a second. "It's as if I just met them yesterday..."
"I'm talking to you~" her melancholic voice drove my attention away from the hot ray of light coming from the room lights.
I snapped out of my thoughts and decided to face my computer after setting it up to write my college application and gather the documents I needed for my chosen universities.
"Are you just applying now?" I nodded in silence as I got into taking note of the requirement.
She left the room as the sound of the doorbell rang, this gave me time to focus on the hunt for another parttime job as well.
I have spent years slacking off, and I cannot waste any more time.
'I have to pick up my pace and...'
"You've got a visitor, Jay!" she called for me, at the same time, I clicked send right as I completed the online application I made.
"Jay?" I dashed out of the room with my coat in hand.
"I'm going out with Sungyeon today, do you want to tag along?"
"Leaving all of these to do?" I had a crazy idea and urged my girlfriend to put all these things aside and have fun with us. A big smile on her face formed at the idea.
"I love how you quickly beamed up. Let's go!" she followed me after she pulled a coat from inside of a box. "Oh no..." I commented upon seeing who else was there.
"I thought it was just us?"
Seokjoon and I stared at each other for a moment before we doubtfully entered the van.
"Riyanna decided to come with us..." Sungyeon replied with a small grunt under his breath, he honked the car horn and we drove away from the apartment.
"Where are we even going at this time of the day?" Riyanna and Seokjoon definitely didn't have a clue as to where our destination was.
"Rest assured, that'll be fun!" Yeonju's voice startled me from behind.
"Right... He used to come with us too." I shook my head and hoped for the best.
"We're going to a club??" Seokjoon sat up, uncrossing her legs upon hearing Yeonju whisper in Riyanna's ear. "Oh no..." she was angered by this.
--Honey Lou's Point of View--
She was right... 'I am on my period.' it all clicked to me now, the reason why I had been so emotional and mentally tired was caused by my hormones and the pain I unknowingly felt.
'And I thought I had self-awareness.' or was it self-consciousness?
Either way, this explains a lot. But how do I handle this?
Periods are the worst! "Oh, need any help with that?" I left the bathroom sink and opened the door, only to see my aunt carrying a load of boxes.
"No need, dear. These are empty anyway." her heels echoed in the halls.
But no matter what she said, those boxes weren't really empty.
"So, you've got plans and she wants to take you out?" I summarized his story and asked to confirm if I heard it all correctly, which was incredibly easy to figure out.
He replied with a nod and laid his back on the bed, shouting in frustration.
"There's a thing called priority. If you don't choose her over your plans, it's clearly going to give you both problems." Seongmin and I were inside his room, within the premises of his house. "And me being here isn't really much of a help either." he came to realize that quite late.
"You and I are close anyway, she knows that. She's not the type who easily gets jealous." he clarified. Someone burst inside the room through the door, he was so loud that the house dog started to bark.
"Don't you know how to knock?" the lad rolled his eyes at the arrival of his best friend.
"I've literally been knocking for 10 minutes straight!" he argued while approaching his best friend. "If your plans are not that important and can be done another time then your answer is clear." Sookyung pushed his Seongmin to the side as he sat on the edge of the bed.
"But if it is important..." I rebutted. "It is always better to tell her."
I thought about that a lot... "How are you so good at giving advice when you fail to make your love life work, Honey?" that wasn't necessary at all...
"Thanks?" I smiled with my eyebrows raised, unsure whether or not that was a good thing.
"I'm sorry, it was a bad joke." he suddenly jolted up and begged on his knees in front of me. I simply sat on his desk chair with my usual train of thoughts, most of my close friends these days have been too careful with their words.
"It is as if you guys know something about me that I am not aware of." what else would be the reason for the drastic change? A change that I am not comfortable with, and yet...
"I'm grateful for your efforts." I spoke in a low voice.
My sight slowly became blurry as I felt my body feel heavy. "Honey?" before I knew it...
I...
--Yun Oh's Point of View--
She lost consciousness again. "What did you two do?" I interrogated Sookyung and Seongmin for they were the only ones left with Catherine since yesterday.
"We were just talking about the girl I chose as my model!" Seongmin defended himself.
He threw his hands in the air. "I surrender!" he gave up so easily without putting up a fight.
"Does she have any health issues that could be the cause of her sudden fainting?" Sookyung asked to check, given that no one else knew much about her medical condition.
"That... I don't know." was my simple answer to him, realizing that even I didn't know anything regarding the matter.
Just then, a knock on the door was expected, however, people came barging in without any notice. It was her parents and their aunt Miss Eun, the School Director of our campus.
"It happened again, didn't it?" her stepmother, Miss Ivy, took a seat near the hospital bed without letting any one of us speak about what had happened.
Sookyung and Seongmin felt out of place as the room became filled with people that they hadn't met before. Each of the adults entered as if seeming to expect a grand announcement to introduce them. But no, who in the world would do that in situations like this?
"How rude. Those teenage friends of yours are a bad influence, Yun." Ivy commented, her head resting on both her palms, and she sat beside Catherine on the bed.
I was about to argue that our friends weren't that bad of an influence on either one of us until the doctor stepped into the room with the results in his hand. "I see, you've all received the notice I sent you. Honey is..." he began to talk as quickly as possible.
The doctor also knew that Catherine's guardians were busy people.
The kind of guardians that would only listen to themselves, I doubt that they'd ever understand what Catherine's condition really is. "We're paying you to keep her in good health."
This was the only response from her dad, and without hearing all the details, they dismissed the doctor after hearing him say that she had fainted from sleep deprivation and hunger.
"But sir!" he tried to use his superiority but lost anyway.
I was planning on leaving the room as well, unfortunately, I couldn't leave her with these people. That would have been one of my biggest regrets in life.
"Yun, how are your parents?" they asked. "They're still as successful as you are."
As expected, they liked the answer.
"He is a licensed doctor but he can't even treat this sick girl?" Mr. Soonji looked down on his second daughter, I heard that he and Catherine talked about things a while ago but...
'Parents are unlikely to change.' until something happens to their child. "She'll get better in time, it is Honey who we're talking about right here." even Miss Eun was acting like them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
They left through the door without a word as they passed by me in the corridors. Her aunt, on the other hand, gave me a slight nod that meant as if she personally acknowledged my presence there. 'The engagement thing is only a business thing, after all.'
To her parents, and quite to Catherine herself.
I went back inside room 014 where she was staying. Her bed wasn't properly made so I fixed it for her while she stood near the window for some fresh air.
I looked at her peaceful state but knew clearly that she wasn't truly at peace.
"What did your parents say?" her head was slowly shaking from side to side, it indicated that she was about to burst into tears from the thought of it. I took a step closer to her.
"Don't, I just need to process all the information right now. I can't believe..." her sobs filled the air in the room, it made me feel heartbroken.
'To hear and see her go through all of this.'
I read the results of her full health check-up... "They told me to live authentically." she was already reflecting on her life, the decisions she made, memories she created, experiences that she held onto, and people she couldn't move on from.
"This feels like a prank from death!" she yelled outside the window as if throwing away the painful feelings from within her.
"Just when you think that everything makes sense and life finally going great, it comes falling apart. Like a heavy anvil..." she was lightly hitting her head, trying to pull herself away from the cloud of thoughts weighing her down.
"I need a hug, I badly need someone right now." she called for me, seeking my help, my warmth, and my arms to comfort her aching heart.
"I feel the pain from my failing health and it is as if my world is crumbling from the emotions and thoughts! Do you know what they said to me?? They told me that things would become fine if I get rid of the brain tumor."
"Shhh, let it all out calmly but do not let their words get to you." I could utter nothing else better upon finding out what they had to tell her privately.
'Not another surgery...' please, let it not be another surgery.
'Not this again.' I held her tightly in my arms, unbothered by the tears that my top was absorbing from her beautiful face.
Her denim blue eyes reminded me of almonds, her pink lips looked darker than usual, and her skin exposed the flaws that became the fruit of not being able to sleep at night.
"Why does it feel like I'm being written as someone with all the problems and illnesses in the world?" I laughed at the thought of that because I knew something she didn't...
'I know that this truly is being written by someone or some people...'
"If so, they're just cruel." Catherine and I accepted the truth. But compared to me, she accepted it without knowing everything there is to know.
If only I could tell her...
If only I could change her fate...
But I can't...
"I should start saying goodbye to everyone." no...
"You're hurting me, Catherine."