09-05-2015

Today was our first day out together; somewhere that is not the café bookstore. We decided to just hang around, tour Seoul a little bit and settled for lunch by the Han River, eating good ol' convenience store ramen.

It's only been a little over a month when we first met and we're already at this stage where we couldn't pass a day without texting each other, mostly greetings like 'Good morning' and 'Sweet dreams' but we're tight. We're inseparable.

"Do you miss Jeonju?"

I snorted, like for real, when she asked me that question.

Of course I miss my hometown, I said.

I might be imagining it but I saw something in her eyes. It's deep. Her eyes were hazy in over a second and I found myself hugging her close as she bawled. I don't know if it was something I said or she missed Jeonju very much and I didn't ask. We might be close but I've always felt there was a wall or an invisible barrier between us. I found myself muttering comforting words into her ears, her back gently like handling a baby.

She stopped a few minutes later - with a runny nose that was also red like a Santa's coat - I cannot believe myself as I found her to be even cuter. I must be so crazy for even thinking about it when there was a serious thing going on. I took a handkerchief from my pocket and began wiping her nose, 'Blow,' I said as I covered her nose with the hankie. She obliged.

If anyone asked, I'd say that I was on a picnic with my little baby sister because she looked exactly like that; fun-sized, cute and youthful. She's like the total opposite of me because everyone thought I'm older than I actually am and I don't have even an ounce of cuteness that Wheein have. She always denied it but no matter what she says, she'll forever be cute in my eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to drop the bomb on you."

"It's fine. Anytime. Just tell this Hwa-saja if you ever need me."

"You're not any lion. You're my lion."

Okay, she did tell me that. I'm her lion. One and only.

I'm not making this up, I swear. I even made her say it again so I could record it.

It has a nice ring to it.

My lion.

Note: I almost forgot. I got distracted by her calling me her lion that I didn't have the chance to tiptoe around her about her sudden outburst. Today's incident was the first time she let her guard down. She's always bubbly, happy and hyper every other time I saw her but today's waterworks tells me that there's something than what meets the eye. One day, maybe I'll ask her.

Hyejin cried as she read her diary entry that night, her sobs muffled by the heavy pounding of the rain drops against her apartment's roof. It's one of the days she would curl up next to her bed, flipping through random pages of her filled-with-memories diaries and reminisce her past with Wheein.

Ever since she met Wheein on that fateful rainy evening, rain had become something special and dear to her because it reminded Hyejin of Wheein, her Wheepup. It used to be her favorite weather but turned for the worse with her sudden disappearance and no matter how long Hyejin waited, no matter where she searched; Hyejin couldn't find the person who meant the world for her.

Hyejin had gone back to Jeonju at the very same day Wheein disappeared but Jeonju was not by all means small and she went to every place she would imagine where she would go but nothing. No Wheein in the park, no Wheein by the swings, no Wheein at the beach, no Wheein anywhere. Jung Wheein just disappeared completely from the Earth's surface.

Hyejin tried the police station but without any valid reason, the police officers cannot give away any information of its residence and even if Hyejin begged, there's no way they would gave in. So she returned empty handed. Eyes blank, her complexion pale and drenched from head to toe.

She woke up the next morning in a hospital and was informed that she passed out at the subway with temperature over 40 degrees and the doctor had to put her on an IV drip. It was revealed that she fainted because of exhaustion and dehydration.

That night, she cried herself to sleep.

Where did you go Wheein-ah?