Come to the General Hospital. I’ll be waiting for you there.

I stared at Silver, who was still enjoying his meal and I found myself lost in my own thoughts, yet again. Why the General Hospital, of all places? I my lower lip, and sighed. So far, the abrupt search made me experience some of the things Clover would tell me in his mails. In a short amount of time I was able to live in his kind of reality, no matter how orchestrated it may seem. It was funny, in a way, because things simply flowed out smoothly. It was as if everything was just a part of a scripted variety show or something similar to that.

Finally gaining my senses, I fished my phone out of my pocket to send Clover a message. The search was over, anyway, and I figured I’d inform him.

I found Silver.
-Thunder

An immediate response followed.

Good.
-Clover

Innumerable questions floated about in my head, but all I could ask him was this:

Why the General Hospital? Are you sick?
-Thunder

Your assumptions never fail to amuse me. I’m still waiting for you here. Take care.
-Clover

I smirked at his response. Truly he was someone equivocate. Still, that didn’t remove the tiny anxiety I felt. What if he was sick, all along? What if that was the reason behind his long hiatuses and monochromatic view on life? I stood up from the swing, gave a last glance at Silver, and stepped out of the park to look for the nearest bus stop which would lead me to my last destination.

<:>

It was already dark when I arrived. Nonetheless, the fading summer season still sent off a balmy ambiance—a pretty comforting one, if I say so myself. I half-walked, half-ran to the main entrance of the hospital when all of a sudden, someone held me by the hand. I gasped, and turned around only to see a woman, smiling at me.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” I replied. “You have the wrong person—”

“Thunder,” she cut in. “Your name’s Thunder, right?”

My eyes widened. “How did you know?”

The woman’s eyes sparkled, and she answered, “Someone named Clover said so. Will you come with me for a moment?”

“Go where?” I asked back in reply, utterly confused. How she gripped me didn’t hurt me, and her voice, together with her scent, reminded me of summer. She was one of the few people would get comfortable with in an instant if given the chance.

The woman only gave me a warm smile, and I was, in a way, captivated. She was older than me, no doubt about it, and the smoothness of her hand against mine was evident. I looked down, and noticed her nails were well taken care of. I assumed she was someone who looked after her body more than I did.

A short while later, we both stopped in front of a salon. I looked at her, and she looked back at me.

“That ‘Cinderella Moment’,” she began. “Are you ready to experience it?”

My eyes widened, and in a flash, everything became clear to me. I could feel the woman leading me into the salon, but my mind was already elsewhere.

Something I want to see before I die? Why would you ask that all of a sudden? There are many things, to be honest. Too many it might take us the whole night. However, I’m too lazy to mention everything, so I’ll resort to mentioning something random: I’d love to see you during your ‘Cinderella Moment’, simply because you rarely tell me things you’d want to experience. It still amuses me, Thunder. What you just said took me by surprise. Slightly. But of course, girls generally have those dreams.

The woman made me sit down on one of the chairs after she made me change into a pink bathrobe, and before she could begin, I took my phone out to send Clover a message.

Are you dying?
- Thunder

Oh, so are you in the salon right now?
- Clover

Clover, are you dying?
- Thunder

I’m dying to meet you.
- Clover

This isn’t funny.
- Thunder

It is for me. You have to stop making such interesting reactions. It never fails to tempt me to tease you, really. I’m still waiting, so take your time.
- Clover

Just who are you?
- Thunder

I’m Clover, just Clover.
- Clover

I figured we would keep on spinning around in circles if the conversation carried on, so I never bothered to reply. I took a liking to the woman, considering she seemed to know what she was doing without even initiating a conversation with me. She kept that warm smile plastered on her face, and her expert hands worked through my plain hair.

“Have you seen Clover?” I blurted out. “In person?”

There was a slight pause, and she answered, “Yes.”

I studied her eyes, and it gave away nothing. At that time, I decided to stop asking, and she carried on with her task. My nails got filed and polished; my hair fell in the right places for once; my skin felt hydrated. The woman led me to a dressing room, and handed me a simple white dress, with a subtle floral pattern in it.

“I’ll go to the hospital looking like this?” I muttered.

“For Clover,” she replied, before exiting the tiny room.

<:>

I felt uncomfortable, walking in a dress and a pair of white sandals to boot. I wasn’t the kind who would stand out and become the center of attraction all of a sudden just because I got dressed up. That scenario mostly happens in family reunions and fanfics—this, however, was reality.

I was already in the hospital’s lobby when I heard a familiar voice calling out my name. I looked back, and saw Sunggyu, already approaching me.

“What are you doing here, all dressed up like that?” he asked.

“I thought you were with your dad,” I pointed out.

“He left already,” he replied. “But Hana, your style is so different I almost didn’t recognize you—and are you actually wearing make-up?”

My face grew hot with his remark, and without saying anything, I decided to go to the nearest help desk when Sunggyu held me back.

“Come with me,” he said.

“But I have to meet someone—”

“Come with me,” he pushed, this time firmer. I looked at him straight in the eye, and realized he knew something I didn’t.

Giving up the urge to fight back, I nodded at him—a signal I would oblige. In silence he led me to one of the elevators. He punched the button which would bring us to the rooftop, and I could only look at him. We were alone, so I decided to take it to my advantage.

“Do you know something that I don’t?” I asked.

He glanced at me, and smiled. “I know many things that you don’t,” he answered.

“You can be very vague sometimes,” I muttered.

“But ambiguity every once in a while is a good thing,” he replied.

I smirked. People entered the tiny space when we were on the third floor, and so we both decided to stop conversing. The elevator finally reached the rooftop, and we took our time getting there. The air was cooler and the city sounds beneath us were nothing but a muffled song. I looked around me, trying to calculate what could possibly happen next when—

“Hana,” Sunggyu began. “I’m Clover.”

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