How long could a person pretend that she isn’t hurt?

How much can she endure for the sake of friendship?

Hasun and Key are once again best of friends.

Normally, everything would have fallen for the same routine. They would have walked to school every day. Key would be forcing her to wake up just to make it in school on time.

Those things don’t happen anymore.

Hasun learned to wake early by herself and walk to school every day alone.

Key moved on and had Jonghyun walk him to school.

She had never seen her friend so happy with someone else. Even she couldn’t do the things that Jonghyun could do to make Key smile like he was the world.

Nothing was the same.

Key still kept saying that he and Hasun are friends. He would claim that Hasun understood that he’s happy with Jonghyun and wanted his boyfriend’s company.

Everywhere Key went, Jonghyun was with him.

The new arrangement didn’t seem to sit well with his friend. She became a fixture.

Easily forgotten.

It had become too much for her.

Her secret want for Key too look at her was eating her inside.

Her unsettled feelings for him had her unable to sleep at night.

Each day was tormenting both physically and emotionally.

She wished that there was a way to get away from this torture.

Hasun did get her wish.

She was given a way out.

Dinner with her parents was unusually quiet. With Key, rarely visiting her house to spend time with her, there was nothing interesting to talk about.

Hasun ate her food obediently.

“Your father received a promotion.”Hasun’s mother was the one to break the awkward atmosphere.

“That’s great!”She forced an excited smile on her lips. “Congratulations dad!”

Her father smiled at her and resumed eating. Hasun’s dad has been eyeing the position in the company for months now. It was the reason for all the extra work he had been doing. Hasun was relieved that all her father’s hard work finally paid off.

“I know” Her mother smiled lightly and looked at her daughter with an unsure expression. “But there’s a catch to your father’s promotion. He’ll be sent to Japan.”

“Oh.”All of a sudden, she had lost an appetite. She put down her chopsticks and looked at her mother, waiting.

“I don’t want our family to be separated.”Her father was the one who spoke and held his daughter’s hand.“You do know what that means.”

Hasun nodded.

Family sticks together no matter what happens. She had lived by that belief all her life. Her parents lived by it.

She finally got her wish.

“Can we not tell Kibum about it?”

Hasun’s mother stopped eating looking at her daughter with worry. “Why dear? He’ll be upset.”

She shook her head and shrugged. Her eyes were trained her finger that was tracing her glass. “I just don’t want him to be sad. He’s been pretty happy lately.”

“Was it because of the unusual boy visiting him these days? Is that why you don’t spend time with each other all the time?”

Hasun nodded her head. There was no use lying.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Hasun. He’s your best friend.”Her father added.

“He’ll understand.”She lied. For sure, Key wouldn’t.

“Kibum? Do you think it’s a good idea to spend all this time with me? Don’t you think your friend deserves some of your time?”Jonghyun said, playing with his boyfriend’s nicely styled hair.

They were in Key’s bedroom, cuddling just after they have finished the last of their school works. They no longer have to study for exams.

Key pouted. “It’fine. She’s strong. She’ll be fine. Trust me. I’ve known her since we were kids. She understands that we can’t always be together.”

Jonghyun sighed and kissed his boy’s temple gently. “There are times that you can be stupid, Key. You have never left my side for weeks now.”

His boyfriend didn’t seem to understand what he was saying. Jonghyun moved and sat up and faced Key to make him listen.

“Any normal person would be affected when someone suddenly drops her like what you did to her. You don’t forget friends like that.”He patted his head.

“No. She’s different. She understands me. I know her.”As usual, Key was persistent on how well he knew Hasun. “Plus, we can spend a lot of time during vacation.”

He didn’t recognize Jonghyun’s gentle warning.

There was only 2 weeks left for the school year and the senior students have spent most of their time with extra-curricular activities. Hasun in particular had secluded herself in the art room, catching every bit of dilemma she had on paper.

Instead of a face, she was sketching of what looked like a forest where a silhouette of a person was standing alone, looking like it was waiting.

“I heard from your friend.”That was the first thing that came out of Jonghyun’s mouth when he visited Hasun in the art room. It had become a habit from him ever since that first encounter to bother Hasun whenever Key was busy with something else.

Hasun had no strength to push him away. She had tried so many times but the fool was stubborn just like his boyfriend.

“Which friend?”She put down her pencil for a moment and rubbed her eyes trying to erase the tiredness she was feeling. Hasun haven’t slept much for two days straight.

“The one from the soccer team, He’s a little weird. The pretty one hates me. She looked like she wanted to rip off my eyeballs while the other one was easy to talk to.”He walked inside and sat on the stool not far from the female batch mate.

“Dongwoo may be weird but he’s a good friend. I can’t say that I didn’t see it coming.” She had to smile at his description of her friends. Victoria was quite protective of her while Dongwoo has a loose mouth. She couldn’t stop the guy from spilling her secret.

“They’re not really happy with your decision leaving without saying anything to Key. He’s your best friend.”He added.

Hearing from someone she barely knew that her friends were really concerned surprised her but what caught her off-guard the most was how the words have become almost unfamiliar to her.

“Best friend…”The words already felt foreign on her lips when she repeated the words. “Strange... It doesn’t sound the same as it was before.”

“Is it because you like him?”His words never failed to amaze the female student. It was always honest and straight to the point when it’s not needed.

“You’re the most unusual guy I have ever met. You have beaten Dongwoo’s weirdness by a mile.”She shook her head and picked up her pencil.”You’re talking to me as if talking about your boyfriend’s best friend falling in love with him like it’s normal.”

Jonghyun flashed a bright smile and chuckled. “What can I say? I’m not really a normal guy. ”

“I can see that.”She rolled her eyes.

Jonghyun paced around the room, looking at painting and sketches displayed.

“Are you really going to hang out here?”

“Why not? I don’t have band practice and I have my ways of entertaining myself.”

“Suit yourself.”

For some reason, even with her best friend’s boyfriend in the room, it never felt comfortable. She could set aside that the guy in the room with her was the one that had caused her pain.

She only felt hurt whenever Key was around. Only when the two were together, she became invisible.

Once in a while, she would look in his direction, who was entertaining himself with the art pieces in the room. At one point, Jonghyun tried to draw and he showed it to her.

It was a total disaster and Hasun laughed heartily. Jonghyun ended up looking embarrassed.

His presence had somehow eased the sadness in her. He was slowly getting into her defenses and it was refreshing.

“It’s not really easy you know.”She started to tell him when the laughter subsided. Her voice echoed in the room. “I had to pretend that these past few weeks didn’t affect me.”

“Why are you telling me these?”Jonghyun asked her while appearing not to be curious about it.

“Isn’t this why you keep disturbing me? Aren’t you curious why I am like the way I am?”She raised a brow and kept sketching.

“Key’s really in love this time.” She paused for a bit and continued with a soft smile. “I’ve seen him like someone before but this was the first time he had forgotten about me.”

When she finished, the male student sighed and frowned. “He’s really blind not to see you suffering like this.”

“He’s blinded by how much he likes you. You really did a number on him.”Hasun joked light-heartedly.

“I wish I could make it better.”

“Sometimes we can’t have all the things we want.”There was a wistful tone in the way she said it.

Some of the days passed like a blur and when she woke up realized that in less than a week, she was leaving the home she knew all her life and the friends she cherished.

It was unreal when she thought about it.

Everything was happening so fast. 

She also changed a lot at such a short time. Hasun no longer depended on Key with school. She was becoming more independent but with that independence, she had become alone.

She missed Key teasing her.

She also missed his endless nagging in the morning and his persistent attitude to wake her up.

Most of all, she missed how her skin tingled whenever he was near.

What was the right thing to do? Hasun doesn’t know.

At that moment, the only thing she knew was that time had become more precious.

In some way, she had accepted that she couldn’t get her friend’s heart, Key. At the present situation, it was clearly impossible.

She didn’t know what will happen in the future but she hoped to restore some of her close relationship with Key. She wanted to be part of his life as much as possible.

That day, Hasun cooked lunch for her best friend. It was a chore that she had told herself hundreds of time that she wouldn’t be caught doing. But she did it for Key.

“Lunch? You made lunch for me?”Key looked at her in disbelief as she handed him the homemade meal.

“If you don’t want it, I could eat it all myself.”She glared at him and made a move to take it away.

“No. I’ll eat it.”Key stopped her and opened his friend’s surprise. It was his first time to receive something from Hasun. All the things he received were all bought.

Her heart almost burst with happiness with the way her friend’s face beamed with joy upon receiving her small surprise. At that time, she had hoped that in some way, they would be able to rekindle their relationship.

But, he was so blind. “Thanks Hasun. I’ll eat it with Jjong.”

Her small happiness was destroyed immediately.

Her heart sank and she had to force herself not to look pained.

For the remaining days, she still tried. She tried catching her friend’s attention. It might have been a shallow thing to want his attention but she wanted it.

Unfortunately with each attempt to grab his attention, there was only one person in his mind. It doesn’t have to take a genius to figure it out.

With every failed attempt, her heart ended up being crushed. Jonghyun was apologetic every time they caught each other’s eyes.

She was done. At some point, she got fed up trying to do everything.

She was going to leave in less than 24 hours. Her time was running out. The time for subtleties was gone.

Hasun decided to use force and dragged Key to a nearby park just a couple of blocks away from their house.

At that time, her friend was talking to Jonghyun on the phone. She barged in his bedroom and took the phone, hiding it in her pocket. When Key tried to take it back, she grabbed his wrist and brought him to the park.

“Why are you rushing for? We can hang out later. Jonghyun’s busy for the week and we can spend as much time as possible. Key pulled himself free from Hasun roughly.

The recoil hurt but Hasun was more hurt by how lightly her best friend had treated her.

“There’s no more later Kibum.”She blurted out.

“What do you mean by that? Is there something you’re not telling me? Tell me now!”

The demanding tone that her friend used on her made her blood boil. She whipped her head, turning in her direction with a look of exasperation.

“God! You have been so blind that all you could see is JONGHYUN JONGHYUN JONGHYUN!!!”She screamed at him. Hasun didn’t think of who could have heard her words. She was too angry to be rational.

She had finally lost control of her emotions.

“You couldn’t even see how miserable I have been these past few weeks!”She started pacing around.

“Tell me Hasun what do you mean by there’s no more tomorrow for us?!”Kibum tried changing the subject. He was cringing at her angry words.

“I’m leaving.”She answered gritting her teeth.

“Leaving? Leaving Seoul?”

She shook her head and bit her lips furiously. This time, she avoided looking at her friend’s eyes.“No. I’m leaving the country. I’m going to Japan with my parents.”

“How? Why didn’t you tell me?! Why did you hide it from me?”He couldn’t believe it. Not even in his dreams that he had thought of his best friend leaving so suddenly. He felt really hurt.

“Tell you?”She scoffed. “Have you seen yourself Kim Kibum? You’ve only paid attention to your boyfriend and no one else!”Hasun closed their distance until a mere inch was left.

“You couldn’t even walk with me to school or wave goodbye.”Her voiced dropped so low that Kibum didn’t miss the pain in it.

That was when he realized how wrong he was.

Jonghyun had told him. He had been warned and yet he didn’t listen.

It felt like all strength was sapped away from his body.

 “Kiss me.”Hasun whispered, her eyes were trailing over her friend’s lips.

The words broke Key out of his misery and looked at her wide-eyed. Their lips were still inches away from each other.

They could even smell each other’s breaths.

Hasun smelled like mint while Key had a hint of tea.

“What? You’re crazy!”He stepped back one step and shook his head, creating more distance between them.

“Just this once. You’re gay so it won’t matter to you.”She stepped closer, making up for the distance her friend was making.

“No Hasun. It’s your first kiss. You shouldn’t do this.”

“It’s just a kiss Kibum. I’m leaving and I want a memory of a kiss… from you.”

Key didn’t know what to think.

Hasun had just uttered the craziest thing she could ever ask of him.

It was almost unthinkable.

“Why me?”Key forced himself to ask.

He waited patiently for her answer. She took a deep breath before telling him the truth.

“Because I love you.” She confessed and pressed her lips with his without warning.

He tried to move away but she held onto him. She wanted it.

She was tired of watching what he couldn’t have. Even if it was only a stolen kiss, it was better than nothing.

Just as she imagined, the feel of his lips on hers was more than she could ask for. She would remember this moment and forget about him.

Kibum couldn’t process what was happening. They were arguing and then they were kissing.

The kiss only lasted for a moment but it sent a rush for both teenagers.

It was Hasun who broke the kiss with a smile. She bit her lips and tasted bitter tea.

Another awkward silence filled the air before one of them had the courage to speak.

 “So this is goodbye.”Key sounded breathless.

She nodded her head. Her eyes were cast downward and then upward, avoiding Key’s eyes.

“Yes.”She let out a heavy breath and forced herself to look cheerful.

“Goodbye Kibum.” A sad smile painted her lips. She turned around and left without looking back.

A real goodbye.

It was a goodbye that ended their friendship.

“Are you just going to leave like this?”Victoria was in tears.

Her eyes hurt from all the crying she had been doing ever since Dongwoo and Victoria rushed to see her before her family boarded the flight to Japan.

“I just don’t want any more drama. We had that these past few months.”She shrugged, smiling thinly.

Dongwoo crying was also a scene to behold. In all those years that they’ve been friends, she had never seen her foolish friend to cry this much.

“I have no one to share my stolen food.” He cried and brought Hasun to his arms.

She chuckled and patted his head like a pet. “There. There. You’ll meet someone who you could share it with.”

“It’s not the same.”He weakly reasoned out.

He was right. It won’t be the same.

She wrapped her arms around him and tried to commit to memory the warmth of his hug. “It’s time for me to leave Dongwoo.”

He cried harder. Hasun looked at Victoria. “I’m sorry for not being a good friend to you guys.”

The pretty friend shook her head as she wiped her tears. “Don’t say that.”

Before Kibum knew that her family left, they were gone that morning.

It was like she didn’t even exist.

Hasun didn’t call Kibum.

She didn’t send him e-mails.

He tried contacting her. He sent messages every day of what had happened to him for each day and would always ask how she was.

She didn’t answer any of them.

Key tried asking Dongwoo and Victoria who didn’t say a thing. They were tight-lipped when it comes to Hasun. Whenever he tried adding their friend to the topic, they would beg him not to ask anymore.

He sent them for a year.

In his last letter, he told her that he was tired of hoping she would answer. He wished her well in her life.

When he gave up, his friend cried. That was when she sent a message.

In that mail, there was nothing in it except for one thing.

A period.

Does it feel llike it was rushed?

Tell me what you think...

Thanks for reading^^