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HANA

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As soon as the driver finished parking the car, Hana immediately dashed out of the car and made a beeline for their front door, to get away from her friend’s questions. She told them that she can’t talk because of the tongue ‘injury’ but she’s just using that as an excuse. She quickly weaved her way through a couple of their staff who were outside doing their respective jobs.

Hana knows that it was a bratty move, forcing her friends to take her side, but she just can’t stand being near Yuri when she’s being that arrogant. She felt like she was not the Yuri that she knows. But what does she really know about Yuri?

“Look at that girl, quickly trying to escape us!” Mona shouted, and she’s pretty sure that Hana heard it. “Girl, you won't always be able to avoid us.” They quickly caught up to Hana who was inside their kitchen. Nia told her how she needs to clean the wound, and then place something cold for the pain to subside. She doesn’t know how the girl got the information, but she trusted her enough to follow her instructions.

While she’s busy taking care of her wound, Mona suddenly asks what they want to eat, since they really haven’t eaten because of the whole match that occurred. They were not supposed to go home yet, since there’s still a lot of other auditions and tryouts that are going to happen, but since Hana wanted to go home they just followed her. Mona was slightly thankful for that since she was not really interested with other clubs that’s open today besides that basketball club.

Jia was now rummaging through their freezer, looking for ice cream. “Seriously? You are looking for ice cream, when I’m injured?”

“Your dramatic should calm down. You’re not bleeding anymore, and I’m not looking for ice cream for myself. This is for you, you actress!” Jia rolled her eyes before handing the ice cream over to Hana. They now went to the living room to wait for the food that Mona ordered. They don’t want to stay at Hana’s room yet, so that no one should be forced to get the food alone. Hana’s parents always told them not to inconvenience any help if there’s something that they themselves can do.

“Spill!” Nia said with her arms crossed as she comfortably lounge at the large couch. “You can’t say that you don’t know each other that much now. After the blatant display of affection that you’ve both shown earlier.”

“There’s— I don’t know what to tell you.” Hana answered with a pout. She can’t think of any way to get out of this situation. She’s cornered. And as much as she would want to tell Yuri and hers story, there’s really nothing to tell.

“The pizza’s coming.” Jia said after looking at Mona’s phone, while the owner checked Kim's residence’s pantry looking for more food. “How’s your tongue?” Jia asked as she plopped herself beside Hana.

“It’s good after I placed ice on it. It still hurts a little but not like before.” Hana responded as she scooped another ice cream, hoping that Nia would just drop the topic. She’s still annoyed because she thought that Yuri was someone who’s respectful and humble. But hearing those words from her made Hana think that Yuri probably changed after all those years. And she never really knew everything about her in the first place.

It was foolish of her to think that she knows Yuri’s behavior.

“You should thank your girlfriend then. It was her who told me what to do.” Nia said as she sipped the juice that was prepared for them. Hana’s head whipped towards Nia, who was looking at her, challenging her. “While you’re busy being a brat, she talked to me and told me what to do so that you won’t be hurting so much. She also explicitly told me to tell your parents, so that they can have it checked.”

Maia who was sitting beside Hana placed her hand on Hana’s knees, “That kind of concern, was not something that you do for someone that you just met. So it’s safe to assume that we’ve already established that being schoolmates is not the first relationship that you have with Kim Yuri. You may not be in a relationship, but we just want to know what’s the real deal with you and her. Is she bad news—”

“No! It’s not like that.” Hana responded in a heartbeat, not even letting Maia finish her question. Anyone who says that they don’t know who Kim Yuri is would be a liar. Everybody knows her. She’s not an exception. She’s bound to know her even without those unexpected interactions, of course, but she’s not curious about her. Even if the girl literally saved her multiple times in the past couple of years, for Hana, even though she definitely brought a lot of comfort to her younger self, she was not Hana’s constant. She was grateful for Yuri, but whenever they are not together, she really doesn't think much about her.

But regardless of what her mind thought about how she never really knew the real Kim Yuri, she was positive that there’s one thing that she’s sure about the girl. She was protective of Hana. And she truly believes that she would not intentionally hurt her.

“Why haven’t you told us about her before? Did she… did she hurt you—”

“Of course not! She’s… she’s not like that.” Hana looked down as she tried to avoid Maia’s questioning eyes, but when she looked up, her eyes were met by Nia’s. Her other friend positioned herself in front of Hana, sitting on the carpeted floor of their living room and held her hand, completely opposite from her demeanor earlier when they arrived. She must’ve thought that Yuri really did hurt Hana. That's why she was now seriously asking for more details about her relationship with Yuri. She was on her ‘mama bear’ mode.

“I swear to God, Hana. If she really did hurt you—”

She guessed that there’s really no point in hiding it anymore. It was ridiculous to even think about doing that.

“Yuri… Yuri’s a childhood friend.”

She heard all of them gasping.

“Childhood friend?” Jia was the first one to recover. “We are your childhood friends, and we never heard of her… so how?”

Even from the beginning, Hana had already decided that her meeting with Yuri was all pure coincidences. That, in the end, their lives were just a series of seemingly intertwined coincidences. She didn’t know that it would come to this.

Hana’s gaze glazed over, as she tried to remember the times that were lost long ago inside the deepest part of her mind and heart.

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“When I’m with you, I feel funny.” Little Hana says as she pouts at Little Yuri.

After taking the toy that Hana dropped, Yuri looks up.

Yuri remembered, thinking how Hana looks so pretty and must be protected at all times. “Like good funny or bad funny?” Yuri asked, her eyebrows wrinkling.

“I’m five! I don’t know what kind of funny.” Little Hana murmured, before taking her teddy bear from Yuri and running away.

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She remembers the first time that they met like it was just yesterday. The five of them became friends during grade school, but she met Yuri years before that, and she didn’t anticipate that it was the beginning of their soon to be frequent interactions.

“I’ll just try to tell you the things that I remember, because we were both so young when it happened.” Even though Hana said that, she remembers every detail of how they first met. “I was… in preschool, when we visited the school that I attended, and then mama told me that I could go to the playground, but when I was halfway there, I was blocked by one of the bullies.”

“There are already bullies in preschool?” Jia looked like she wanted to fight whoever that was.

“Don’t worry about it, it was ages ago. And… and Yuri was there. After the bully pushed me down, I scraped my knee and when I looked up, I saw her and she asked me why I was crying. I was so relieved at that time because I was so scared and I couldn't cry out loud because of the bully. I couldn’t really remember much, except for the fact that when the bully went back she stood her ground, even if the other kid was really larger than the both of us combined.” Hana can’t help but smile at the memory. It was a little hazy but the feeling lingered. The feeling of security that Yuri gave her that time was astonishing.

She looked around and my friends seemed to be absorbing the information that I just dropped.

“That’s it? She saved you from the bully during preschool, and she still remembers that? And why do you need to keep it if it’s only like that?” Maia started to ask too many questions.

“Wait a minute! Wait! Wait!” Nia interrupted, “When did she start calling you ‘baby’? There’s just too many unanswered questions! Spill everything, girl!”

Hana rolled her eyes because of her friend’s impatience. She was about to respond when Jia jumped in, “If you let her finish, then all of your questions will be answered.”

"Most importantly, the pizza's here! Let's go upstairs!" Mona informed them, she then stood up and went to the front door to get the food. Then she started walking towards the stairs, not even waiting for them to respond.

Hana and her friends formed a circle on her room’s floor, with the food and drinks placed in the middle. Mona was busy munching food, while Nia was watching her like a hawk, as if she would run away any minute. “Seriously, Nia. Stop looking at me like I’m going to bolt. This is my house if you failed to notice that. If anything, I could throw you out, but I won’t run away. And as if you’d let yourself be thrown out of here. Enjoy your food, or Mona will finish everything.”

Her friends giggled at what she said as Nia gave me one last glare before finishing her food.

When Hana saw that everyone’s almost done eating, she continued her story. She remembers the second time that they met with the same clarity. They were still in preschool, and she immediately noticed how Yuri looked like some kind of a cool kid. She wore a batman shirt with white sneakers, but the thing that she remembered the most was her hair in a bun. “At one point, I think our class joined together because I don’t remember being classmates with her, but there she is suddenly approaching me inside our classroom. Then out of nowhere, she started calling me ‘baby’, without even asking for my name. I remember her saying that I am a baby that must be protec