A pint of beer and a cellphone accompanied Ara in the seemingly endless night, in the forlorn chair, in the counter, where the bartender was the only living thing paying her attention. She was impatiently waiting for her phone to ring, a call or a simple text would do. This time, not from Heechul but from Yesung.
It had been a week when the news of Yesung dating a concert director became viral. She last saw him at Handel and Gretel with perplexity etched on his face, only half was exposed, the other half was covered by the newspaper. Had she known that she would never see him again in a week or so, she would have thrown away the newspaper, to see his face. His whole face. You may not be perfect, but you're beyond beautiful. It must be the effect of the alcohol, for she was hearing susurrus. Should I call him? What would I tell him? Seo Ara, think. Think! Then, an image of a handkerchief Yesung handed to her crossed her mind like a memento. She smirked. Seo Ara, your mother always tells you to return borrowed things. She giggled to herself, like a child who successfully escaped from her nanny's eagle-eye.
"What's up?" A female voice stopped her from celebrating her feat. Her head searched where the voice came from to find Suri, already seated next to her.
"Suri ssi?! What brings you here?" Instead of giving her an answer, Suri ordered another pint of beer. Her eyes wanted to say something. Something cold and bitter, so when the bartender served her a beer, she almost finished it in one gulp. "Suri ssi, what's wrong?" Ara asked with concern, she never saw Suri acted this way before. Among them, Suri was always happy, bringing her own sunshine every time.
"Nothing." Suri answered, stirring the glass of beer with her elbows both on the table, stooping over. Ara watched her, baffled by her friend's behavior. "I'm sorry." Suri said
"Sorry for what?" Ara was more confused now. She clearly had no idea what was Suri talking about. Suri took another gulp and finished her beer, she wiped off her lips after with the back of her hand and gave her a smile. A languorous smile that made Ara more worried.
"Five years ago, there was this person that you really liked. You never told your friends about him but one day, you introduced him to your best friends. That person told you he was interested to your friend. You got hurt but you never showed it, instead you helped him to get closed with your friend. Deep inside, you were dying. Though, you never told her, she knew. But still, she dated that person. She was so selfish. Selfish."
"Jang Suri." This was all Ara could utter.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have dated him. I know you like him so much."
"Suri ssi, that was just a childish heartache, believe me its nothing." Ara said, trying to calm her, trying to calm her eyes from spilling tears. Then, Suri hugged her, in quiet sobs, Ara knew something had happened.
"What should I do?" Suri uttered in a low voice, finding a comfort and perhaps, an answer from her friend's embrace, the things happened that morning at the hospital flashed before her.
***
Sungjoon had been watching over Kini throughout the night. He was deprived of sleep as his eyes became deeper and the skin surrounding it got darker. Suri almost forced him to go home and rest. She would be forever grateful to Sungjoon for always been there for Kini. When Sungjoon left, the doctor appeared holding envelopes. He managed to give Suri a smile but a bad news was already engraved on his face. Then his words were enough to put Suri in misery.
According to electrocardiogram testing, she suffered from a typical heart attack. This is a special case, you see your sister is very young. I have studied her medical records and found out she is anemic. We learned that she stopped her medication... you may not believe it but anemia, if not treated would cause myocardial infarction or heart attack. There was an interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, which causes heart cells to die. The heart attack has damaged her heart so greatly that... we're afraid she is suffering from congestive cardiac failure.
Congestive cardiac failure?
Heart Failure. So far, we can manage it with medical treatment. But if it gets worse, we will need a heart transplant.
Had I known this would happen, I wouldn't have left you, I would make sure you take your medication. I'm sorry Kini ssi, I have become remiss. I'm sorry. Omma, Abeoji, I failed you...
Suri looked at her sister, feeling her every breath. She was afraid that it would cease in any moment. Then Kini's forehead creased, Suri's heart almost jumped but quickly fell when Kini murmured the unexpected.
"I love you, Heechul oppa..."
-----------------------------
For the second time, Siwon left for Daejeon again. The photo shoot last week was postponed because of what they called emergency. In fact, the reason was he had lost his best friend for Helen. He did not regret anything, he was really happy for his decision, he believed that everything would be okay in the end. If its not okay, then its not the end. He was looking forward to that.
He arrived at Daejeon, thirty minutes earlier, more excited than the first time, because he would see Helen. Though, since that incident happened, he always visited her to her place, he would never get tired of seeing her. And this, photo shoot gave him an ineffable happiness amid of excitement and freed love. He just wondered why Helen refused to go there with him.
As soon as he arrived at the location, his eyes looked for Helen. But there was no Helen. Instead, he saw Park Shin Hye, who was busily reading the script. Park Shin Hye was not part of the cast. Suddenly, his heartbeat became faster, he had this gut feeling that something was wrong. Then his eyes laid on Director Park and with a sprint, they were face to face.
"Where's Helen?" He nervously asked.
"Oh, didn't she tell you?"
"Tell me what?" Droplets of sweat starting to form on his forehead.
"Her contract expired yesterday and she didn't renew it. She also requested to remove her from the cast."
"Why?"
"She is going to Germany for a vacation-" In split second, Siwon left the location, driving his car again to Seoul. Yoon Gongju, what are you thinking?
