October 17, 2011

“I took too much food again.” Suzy pouted as she looked at her plate still half filled. “I miss Channie oppa.”

“You’ve been doing that for more than a month already, taking too much food and missing Channie who always finished your food.” Fany scolded.

“Suzy-ah, you should stop trying to be a glutton. You know you can’t handle that much food.” SunYe chimed in.

“I know. They just look so delicious. I had to get all of them.” Suzy reasoned.

“But I really miss Channie oppa’s silliness.” JiEun added. “I miss how he always looked like the thorn among the roses. And how he always asked ‘are you still going to eat that?’ I wish he’d come back soon.”

“I know. I am still not used to being alone in class. One day we were called the three musketeers, and now, I look like a loner in class. We all wish he’d come back soon, but we can’t be selfish. He’s needed there.” Fany replied.

“I still can’t understand why they don’t tell us how Channie-oppa’s been doing.” Suzy whined. “We’re also his friends, why can’t we know his condition? I’m starting to hate Taec oppa.”

“Unni, are you sure oppa hasn’t told you anything? You two don’t keep secrets from each other, right? He should be telling you something.” JiEun asked.

“I swear that he hasn’t told me anything. Everytime I ask him, he would just reply ‘he’s fine, don’t worry about him’. And when I’d whine about how he’s keeping secrets from me, he would just hug me and kiss me and change the subject. Then I’d forget all about it.”

“Don’t you think you’re sharing too much, unni? We don’t need to know about your skinships with oppa.” SunYe complained.

“But why is it that they need to keep things from us?” Suzy asked.

“I think it’s because they don’t trust us and that we would give in to SoHee unni’s pleading eyes and tell her how Channie oppa’s doing.” JiEun replied. “By the way unni, are you going to SoHee unni later?”

“Mmhmm, Taec’s leaving the office early and we would be fetching Kwonnie and GaIn unni later.” Fany replied.

“Can I join? I haven’t seen her in days.” SunYe asked.

“Unni, you just saw her yesterday.” Suzy replied with a pokerface and SunYe responded with a mehrong. “Can JiEun and I join too?”

“You have a recital coming and oppa won’t be allowing you two to slack off your practice.” SunYe answered and the two younger girls pouted.

“Hey, it’s time for the next period, let’s go.” Fany said and the girls immediately followed, grabbing their lunch packs and dropping them in the trash bin. Then, they separated ways.  

After more than four hours of classes, Fany and SunYe met at the campus entrance, waiting for Taec. Minutes later, the black sports car arrived and the two girls got in. They drove to JYPE’s and fetched the other two. They arrived at SoHee’s place just before sunset and Mrs. Ahn welcomed them inside. SoHee was in her room, as usual, and her mom need not to lead them upstairs since they have been visiting almost everyday.

“SoHee-ah, can we come in?” SunYe knocked but there was no response. She knocked again and the door opened a little. The door revealed a restless SoHee walking back to her bed after she opened the door. The five of them went in and found their own space to sit. The girls sat on her bed while Taec sat on the small bench by her window and Kwon took the chair of her study.

“SoHee-ah, here’s the notes to the lessons you missed. We are having an exam on Friday, are you taking it? Or do you want me to get a retest permit for you?” Fany said as she placed a file folder on SoHee’s lap.

SoHee scanned the notes before placing it on her sidetable. “I’ll take it.” She weakly responded.

“Are you sure you can take it? That’s quite a lot and you still have no energy. I don’t think you have the energy to get out of your room. We can talk to the dean and ask for a special take home test.” Taec added with worry as he started tidying the scattered books, papers and pictures on the floor.

“I can handle it oppa.” SoHee replied with a weak smile.

“SoHee-ah, have you been eating? You look so thin now, I can’t even see your mandu cheeks anymore.” GaIn concerned as she brushed the young one’s hair. GaIn then hugged SoHee and patted her back.

“Kids, here’s some cake for you.” SoHee’s mom dropped by her room with a tray filled with six slices of cheesecake. Kwon took the tray from her hands and placed it on SoHee’s study table. “I’ll come back with the tea, just wait for a moment.”

“Eomoni, let me help you with that.” Kwon offered as he followed Mrs. Ahn downstairs to the kitchen.

Ever since Channie left, SoHee never came out of her room. She hasn’t eaten much; there are days that she would refuse to eat. For the past month, she has cried her eyes out to the point that her tears are all dried up. She would sleep late from crying over her memories with Chan. She would wake up in the midnight and cry herself to sleep again. She would wake up at lunch time and spend her afternoon staring outside her window as if she was waiting for something or someone. She would take her bath which lasts for more than an hour and when she comes out, her skin always becomes pruned. She has skipped classes and only went to school on exam dates. She relied on the notes Fany gave her but she wasn’t able to read them all as she’s too weak to study. Her rank in class has dropped a lot. Her mom and her friends suggested that she takes a leave from school with her current condition, but she didn’t want to. Her friends have visited her almost everyday, trying to get some sense back to her, convincing her to live her life back and get out of her room. But she always ignored them and replied “I’ll be okay” with a weak smile.

“Kwon-ah, what do I do with her?” SoHee’s mom asked weakly while pouring hot water from the kettle to the teapot. “I’ve tried talking to her and his dad has been depressed over her. I’ve asked a psychologist but he said that it is normal for someone like her to be depressed and that time would heal her. But it’s been over a month and she’s getting worse. She doesn’t eat much and she always tells me she’s full even though she hasn’t eaten anything.” She continued as she prepared the tray.

“Eomoni...” Kwon started as he went to her side and placed her into a light hug. “SoHee is just having a hard time. Channie is her first love and first loves are hard to forget. It would be easier for her if he cheated on her, but it wasn’t the case. He was faithful and selfless. It made her love him more and it became harder for her to let go.” Kwon paused and sighed. “We have talke about it in our group and we thought that we would let time heal her and that we would always stay by her side to make sure that she doesn’t do anything stupid. Eomoni, you don’t need to worry about her not eating, because she does. We actually put a lot of bread, ramen, cookies in her cabinet and everytime we visit, they’re always gone and what we would find are only empty wrappers. Their not as healthy as your cooking, but at least she eats. She’s trying to be strong in front of us, telling us that she can live without eating, so that we’d be strong for her. She’s eating secret, well not really in secret. I don’t know. Eomoni, your daughter’s just weird.” Kwon continued and joked at the last part to make her mood lighter.

The two finished their conversation and after Mrs. Ahn wiped her tears, they went back to the room with the tea. They found SunYe massaging SoHee’s hands. She was putting lotion on her since her skin was drier than before. GaIn, on the other hand was tying SoHee’s hair into low pigtails while Fany was giving her a pedicure. What surprised Kwon and Mrs. Ahn was that Taec was the one painting her fingernails, and he was actually doing a good job with it. Mrs. Ahn left the room with a smile after seeing her daughter smile for the first time in a while.

Kwon kept staring at Taec with a weird expression and after a few seconds, Taec noticed it. “What?!” Taec asked with his left brow raised.

“Hyung, what exactly are you doing?” Kwon asked still with a weird expression.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m painting her nails pink.”

“And you find nothing wrong with that?” Kwon responded and made Taec mum with embarrassment but still continuing his work.

“Hey, why are you bullying my baby?” Fany interjected.

“Don’t you find a six feet tall muscular man in a suit painting someone’s nails pink?”

“I think it’s cute, yeobo” GaIn added.

“And he does that for me sometimes.” Fany giggled and Taec looked at her with a why-did-you-tell-them-that look. “It’s cute.” Fany replied with a mehrong.

“Aigoo, hyung, you’ve been fully controlled by your girl, huh? Wearing a suit in the office then wearing an apron in the house” Kwon added while Taec shrugged the ‘bullying’

“Yah, stop bullying my hubby!!!” Fany threw a pillow at Kwon.

“Yeobo, stop bullying Taec. You should be more like him. He has that perfect husband feel; protective and loving.” GaIn replied which made Kwon shut his mouth and hug GaIn as she finished t