10th☀

The moment I woke up, I felt like I've returned to a dark world, after getting out of another one. I had a dreamless sleep, yet I felt dried tears on my cheek when I woke up this morning. I must've been crying in my sleep, without me being fully aware. 

The entire morning at home, I was nothing but a moving zombie. I promised Hansol not to be like one, or even fall into some kind of depression, and I was trying my hardest right now. 

I'll keep that promise, Hansol. Trust me. 

At school, people went their ways as they usually do. Except for me, of course. I wasn't the same. Not really, at least. I was still Cheon Sarang. I just wasn't as happy as I usually was. 

"Sarang!" a voice shouted from a far distance, sounding like it was nearing with every second. Before I knew it, Mijoo had her arms around me. "I heard what happened! I'm so sorry to hear."

I paused for a quick second before I looked at her. "What do you mean? Heard what happened?"

Wonwoo slowly walked behind Mijoo with his blank face, but he didn't say anything else but "I'm so sorry to hear". What was going on?

Mijoo frowned. "Haven't you heard? Isn't that why you're so sad at the moment?"

Then it clicked. "Oh, that... I'm trying to be better. Hey, at least I came to school, right? That's a big thing. Some people don't even consider showing themselves to friends once their loved ones pass away."

Mijoo tightened her arms around me. "Oh, Sarang! Ahjumma was a nice woman. It's too bad this had to happen. I'm really sorry to hear that. But I'm glad you're handling this really well."

I half-smiled. "Thanks. Come on, let's get to classes. Oh, and Wonwoo? You're having a match today, right?"

Wonwoo nodded. "Yeah, I do. It's after school. Will you be joining Mijoo?"

"Maybe," I answered, unsure. "I'll think about it for now."

Mijoo lightly nudged me. "You should come join. Clear your head a little. I can sense you have a heavy load up there." Mijoo tapped the side of my head. "Come on. Let's all get to class now."

I lightly smiled as I followed after her to the school building and into our classroom. 

Mijoo and I settled in our seats, taking out necessary books for the later periods then I went back to blankly staring around. 

Mijoo nudged me again, just to snap me out of it. "Hey, are you sure you're okay? I know, it's probably the worst timing to ask that question but I have to make sure sometimes."

My fingers began fumbling on my thighs as I breathed in a heavy breath. "Maybe I'm not. But I'm trying to feel better and not become a living zombie. I made a promise to someone."

"Who? Your mom?" Mijoo asked. 

I shook my head. "No, not my mom. Well, actually, yes, but I made a promise to someone else too."

"Oh... then your dad?"

"Not my dad either," I answered.

Mijoo looks at me oddly. "Not your mom, not your dad, then who else could it be? Your cat?"

Mijoo managed to make me smile a bigger and not so forceful smile. "You know very well that I don't own a cat."

Mijoo let out a shrug. "I know that. But seriously though. Who did you make a promise to, if not your mom or dad? Did you meet with your other family members or something?"

I shook my head again. "No, it's a friend. I made a promise with a friend."

"You have other friends?" Mijoo asked. 

I slapped her shoulder. "Yah! Of course I do!"

Mijoo started giggling. "Okay, okay. I was kidding. You didn't have to slap me on the shoulder."

I rolled my eyes at her and continued, "I made a promise with a friend I saw last night at the hospital."

"Are you sure they're real?" Mijoo teased. "I mean, for all you know, you could've been delusional last night and were probably talking to a wall. Or the air."

"No, I'm pretty sure he was real." Hansol was real, wasn't it? Whatever Mijoo was suggesting was just a joke. 

"Wait." Mijoo held a hand in front of my face as she thinks. "Is it Hansol? I know you're friends with Myeong oppa too but I don't think you'd make a promise with him. Hansol's the only other one that makes sense."

At the mention of his name, I felt myself slowly return to my original state. "Oh, you'll never know. It could've been Yejun oppa."

When Mijoo heard his name, her lips pulled up into a smile—probably without her even knowing it. "Yejun oppa? You met him at the hospital? He's the one you made a promise with?"

"Oh, no need to be jealous because it wasn't Yejun," I told her, giggling slightly.

Mijoo stared at me for the first few seconds without saying a word. Then, finally, she placed her hands on my shoulder and gave me a vigorous shake. "Okay, you didn't need to do that!"

In a whisper, I teased her, "I guess someone's fallen hard."

Mijoo let out a slight gasp as she slaps my arm. "No! I have not. There's nothing going on between us, I swear!"

"Mhmm," I hummed back, unconvinced. "Word of advice, Mijoo. If you want to be more believable with your lies, try to not scream and react that way."

Mijoo rolled her eyes. "Whatever. But is it really Hansol who you made a promise with?"

With a smile, I nodded and answered, "Yup. I made a promise with Hansol."

☀

I had decided to watch Wonwoo's match with Mijoo today. The bleachers were mostly filled with girls from our class and other classes. Also from different years, but mostly girls. 

From what I've heard, Hanseong High School—our school—will be competing against another school. I wasn't sure which school because I didn't really hear the name of the school. I could ask Mijoo, but she was just as clueless as I was, at the moment. 

The cheers from the girls started to get louder as the guys from Hanseong High entered the court. Honestly speaking, Wonwoo looked really good in a basketball jersey. Now, if only I could play Mijoo right now. I would channel these thoughts into her. 

Wait, couldn't I do that at this very moment? 

Glancing at Mijoo who was happily cheering with the other girls here on the bleacher, I whispered to her, "Don't you think Wonwoo looks good in his jersey?"

Mijoo looked at me with a smile and nodded. "Yeah, of course! Our friend, Wonwoo, has the best body figure, don't you know?"

Glad to know that. I did my best to hide a grin. But if I had to be honest, Wonwoo came in second for the best body figure. There was another body figure that beat his by a hair. And that was Lee Taeyong, from three classes away from ours. 

But if Mijoo thought that Wonwoo had the best body figure among all the basketball players, that must really mean something. Right?

The screaming got louder and I wasn't sure if I was able to withstand this any longer. I was fine with cheering. But these girls were practically screaming their lungs out. All the mad love. Scary. 

The school that Hanseong High was going to go after finally entered the court. One by one, the boys faced their Hanseong High opponent. In the middle of it all, I caught a sight of someone familiar. My eyes widened almost immediately.

"Hey isn't that..." Mijoo was saying. 

"Yeah," I confirmed her suspicion. "I'm pretty sure it is."

With a blow of a whistle from the referee, the game finally began. I didn't really know what was happening, especially when something called traveling began happening. There were even some fouls and I really didn't understand anything. Other than the fact that once a team shoots the ball into the hoop, they earn themselves a point. 

Mijoo was just as blank as I was. We were quiet the entire game, trying so hard to understand the sport our dear best friend enjoys playing—and is good at playing. 

The other girls? Well, we can say they probably know this game secondhand from watching it so often. When there was a foul that Mijoo and I seemed to miss, the girls made groaning sounds. Everything else they reacted to, Mijoo and I were silent. We didn't understand it that much, yet, we were good friends so we still stuck by just to watch the game. 

I'd have to say though, he was playing really well. And I wasn't talking about Wonwoo here.

By the time the game was over, Hanseong High finally won. 

Wonwoo

Wonwoo sat by the benches next to a big tree with his shoulders hunched. He tried to catch his breath but he was completely exhausted from the game. Though he was happy that Hanseong High won themselves a game against their new competitor—Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies. 

Fatigue started to take over Wonwoo. He closed his eyes as he tried to ease his breathing but exhaustion was wearing him out. At least he did his very best, he thought. He was happy enough that all that hard work won themselves a win.

All of a sudden, Wonwoo felt something cold press against his cheek. His eyes were closed, so he had no idea who was there standing next to him. When he opened his eyes, he noticed that the sun penetrated through the leaves and shone into his eyes. But a figure stepped in and acted as some shield to him so now the sun was blocked out and he managed to get a clearer view of who it was. 

She smiled at him—a smile that Wonwoo loved looking at the most. Without saying a word, she took a seat next to him on the empty bench. She was still wearing her uniform, Wonwoo noticed. Her hair wasn't tied up in her usual high ponytail today. Her dark brown loose curls were down and Wownoo preferred her with her hair down, even if she still looked beautiful with her high ponytail. 

"You won!" she enthusiastically said, bringing the strawberry milk down from his cheek. "You looked like you were about to pass out so I thought you'd feel better if there was something pressed against your cheek. Something cold. It works every time. At least, for me it does."

Wonwoo smiled back in response as he took the drink from her hands. "Thanks for this. I did my best for this, don't you know?"

Mijoo stared at him, unconvinced. "You would have gotten this even if you lost so I don't believe that."

Wonwoo lightly pushed her head away but still smiled. "Hey, but I still tried hard and won, didn't I? Shouldn't you be congratulating me more? I deserve it, you know?"

Mijoo looked at him with a look of disapproval but she was grinning like a little kid. Of course, most of the times she was always joking. She was never that serious. 

"Where's Sarang?" Wonwoo asked, looking around. The students from Hankuk Academy were still lingering around, tired. Some of the girls from Hanseong High—who were also like Hanseong High's basketball team's fan girls—approached a few of the students from Hankuk Academy, shyly talking to them. 

"Sarang? Oh, she's around here somewhere." Mijoo looked around, scanning the area. "I think. I don't remember, but I think she said something about buying a drink from the vending machine nearby?"

"Don't you ever listen to your friend, Mijoo?" Wonwoo teased. 

"I do! But because of this,"—Mijoo held Wonwoo's hand just so she could lift the strawberry milk up higher—"I wasn't really listening."

Wonwoo was flustered at first. The moment she held his hand, his heart started beating— no, racing. He wasn't sure if he could hide his emotions any longer. 

Wonwoo tried to act casual, though. He gave her a smile but he was honestly nervous and was shaking. "I-it's okay. She's probably somewhere around here. I mean, her friend was competing with us a moment ago."

Mijoo nodded. "I know that. She probably went to talk to him."

"Alone?" Wonwoo teased. 

Mijoo grinned back. "I see where you're coming from, Jeon Wonwoo. And that's most likely the case."

Sarang

I was standing in front of the vending machine, squinting my eyes as I tried to think hard on what drink I wanted to buy. Finally, my hand pressed the fizzy apple juice button and in a quick second, the can of fizzy apple juice fell down from the machine. 

I took it out of the machine and smiled happily down at the can. I opened it up and drank it, since I was so thirsty. I may not have spoken in the last few minutes, but the sun was glaring down on us, so I've gotten sweaty and thirsty. 

Suddenly, a figure was standing next to me and they slipped in some money into the vending machine and made their choice. They picked up their can and opened it up, gulping down almost half of the can's contents. 

I eyed his side view and waited to see if he'd recognize me. But he was too into his drink to actually notice my presence. 

Once he was done drinking it, he looked around and finally took notice of my presence. Then, he shuffled a step back, startled. 

"Woah!" he said, putting a hand over his heart. "You scared me, Sarang!"

I laughed. "You were too into your drink that you didn't notice I was here?"

"Well, when I walked over here, I was kind of really dizzy so I wasn't really minding my surroundings," he replied, shrugging. "You school here?"

"Yup," I answered, taking a look around. "What do you think of our school?"

"It's cool. It's big," he answered. 

"What about your school, Hansol?" I asked, curious. 

"My school?" Hansol repeated. "My school's big too. I think it's a little bigger than yours? I don't know, I can't really tell. And since we're talking, how are you keeping that promise?"

I froze, thinking about this morning's events and my living zombie fiasco. I shrugged. "It's doing well, I guess."

"Hmm, you're lying," Hansol said, examining me from head to toe.

"What? How would you even know if I was lying?" I asked him. 

"Because you're not too sure. You're not telling me something, but I don't think there's a need to know because, like you once said, there are things people choose not to tell." Hansol smiled and lifted his can up in the air for a quick second, as if it was his hat and he wanted to tip it. 

"You're right, Hansol. There are things I choose not to tell people," I said before he'd leave. 

Hansol paused in his track and turned around, giving me a smile as he walked closer to me. "I think it's time I told you a story, Sarang."

"A story?" I repeated. 

"Here, let's take a seat over here." Hansol led me over to the nearby marbled bench, nearby the vending machine. "This story is the reason why you caught me crying in the corner of Love + Flour that one day."

"Woah," I found myself saying without even realizing I had voiced that out. 

Hansol nodded, wiping a few sweat that was dripping down from his face. His basketball jersey looked huge on him. But wasn't that how every basketball players looked with their jerseys on? Weren't they supposed to be oversized like that?

Why am I even concerned about that? That made no sense. 

Hansol finally began after letting the silence seep in, "It was my girlfriend. Well, more like ex-girlfriend now."

I stayed silent for a moment. So, it was a love crisis type of story? Why he was crying? It was because of his ex-girlfriend?

"We go to the same school. She was a year older than me," he explained, staring out into the distance like he was watching the memory go by. "She's also half Korean. Her name was Autumn Choi Hyewon."

Hearing his story, I was suddenly reminded of my own. Although, I couldn't compare his story to mine. Each story had to be different. Maybe one or two could come off similar, but to everyone, it's a different story. 

"She has a nice name," I ended up commenting, giving him a smile. But he didn't see. He was still staring off into the far distance. 

"Yeah, she does." Hansol sounded so distant and far off. I've never heard him sound like this. "We dated for more than a year. I don't know if it's because of the stress of a senior but she had been really sensitive lately. That was three months ago. That was when it started. Every little thing bothered her. She cried a lot more. I tried talking to her, but it all led to petty fights and she'd ignore me until the end of the week."

I knew it was still wrong to compare our stories, but it seemed like Hansol had it hard. 

"The fights never stop, you know? Each fight started to become more hurtful than the last. I wasn't sure if I was surviving it. I could only take a number of bullets from her, but not everything," said Hansol, sighing. 

I wasn't sure if it was such a good idea, but my hand found its way to the back of Hansol, lightly patting him to assure him it was okay. 

Hansol took a moment to get back to his normal state before he continued, "Eventually, we met up and had a talk. More like she wanted to have a talk. She did most of the talking and finally concluded that we break up."

"Were you up for it? Did you protest or anything?" I asked him out of curiosity. 

"Who? Me? I wanted to but..." Hansol shook his head. "I couldn't do it. I saw her eye-bags, Sarang. She wasn't looking that well. I wanted to stay with her to make everything seem okay too, to help her, but she didn't want that. She wanted freedom. She said I was some kind of burden to her."

"When you were clearly the one she loved?" Way to rub salt into his wounds, Sarang.

"Yeah..." Hansol let out another sigh. "But if that was what she wanted, I went along with it. I couldn't protest, even if I wanted to. I couldn't stay with her, even if I still loved her. She was suffering. I wanted to help ease her load, even if that meant we had to breakup. That day you saw me crying in the bakery was the day of our breakup. When she finally said those words. When my whole world shattered, as well as my heart."

I wasn't sure what I could've said. That happened probably weeks ago! Anything I say out of comfort right now would be a little too late. I did what I could back then. And it bloomed into a surprising friendship between the both of us. 

"I...  I'm so sorry to hear all of this, Hansol," I said after a while of deciding. I completely gave up trying to think of better words. He's heard most of what I wanted to say that one time—I can't even remember when anymore. "But we all go through breakups, you know?"

"Yeah, like your friend," Hansol said. Then, he quietly added, "And you."

I was surprised he remembered that. "Now that you've mentioned it, I have a question I've been meaning to ask for a while now."

"Really? What question is that?" asked Hansol. 

"So, remember that one time when we were kind of staring at my friend and a guy arguing outside Love + Flour?"

"Yeah?"

"I kind of saw it in your eyes. There was something in there. I wasn't sure what emotion it was but I just wanted to ask, that is, if you don't mind."

Hansol immediately knew what I was talking about. It flicked in his eyes, that realization. Shortly, he finally answered, "Oh, well... I was kind of reminded of how I fought with Hyewon."

"You call her by her Korean name?" I asked all of a sudden. Well, way to change the topics, Sarang. 

Hansol was flustered at first but he laughed it off. "Yeah, I do."

"Oops, sorry. I kind of changed the subject there for a second," I apologized.

"Nothing to be sorry about. The answer was pretty simple, anyway." Hansol smiled. 

"So that's it?" I asked. 

"Yup." 

"I'm going to ask another question."

"Oh, okay."

"Are you over her yet?"

There was complete silence from Hansol after I had dropped the question on him. Maybe I shouldn't have asked him in the first place. Maybe I had just punched him somewhere in the gut with this question. 

"You don't have to answer it if y—"

"I think so," he answered, cutting me off. 

But in his eyes—I could see—that he was lying about it the same way I lied to him about keeping his promise. 

~Author's Notes~ 

Who do you ship Mijoo with more? Yejun or Wonwoo? :)

I actually update this story really often like there's already three drafts after this chapter but I'm trying to take it slow because you guys might not keep up with the fast pace of updates HAHAHA Just like Wonwoo's (correct me if I'm wrong) lines from Fast Pace, "You're going too fast baby."

Hoped you enjoyed! :)