~ Kim HyunA ~

The next morning, Hyuna awoke with only a minor headache from the night before. Oddly enough, the nerves that she would have felt for going back into the city were not as bad this morning, but still, BoHoJa watches her get ready with worried eyes. She hurries to wash her face at the edge of the river outside of the city. She had even washed her clothes in the water the night before, taking off the remnants of the white flour.

“CL unnie isn’t so bad,” Hyuna tells BoHo as he waits for her to finish washing her face, “She’s actually really nice to me, and I can’t figure out why. Maybe she knows I didn’t mean to steal anything…just like BiRain oppa knew.” Hyuna stops for a moment to think, and then shakes her head as she continues to wash up. BoHoJa whines and looks at her with sorrowful eyes. Hyuna smiles in reassurance, “Maybe she’ll even let me leave earlier, or give me a salary! Then we could buy everything we need without having to actually steal it! Then no one could call me a thief!” Hyuna smiles to herself at the thought. She gingerly rinses her hands, smearing off the dried blood, and then rewraps them in the torn cloth. BoHoJa takes a deep breath and then releases it in a loud sigh, drawing Hyuna’s attention. She rolls her eyes at him and finishes getting ready, clearly annoying the dog with her okay attitude at returning to the town for work. She looks at her reflection in the water. “It looks like I’ve just bathed in a river,” she says quietly to herself.

She gathers her stuff and leaves her bag behind in a tree on the edge of the forest. BoHoJa sits by the tree, not following her into the meadow this time. She stops and turns back to see him watching her go but not joining her side.

“Not coming?” she asks him.

He stares at her for a moment and blinks. Hyuna looks back to the city and then to the rising sun in the sky. It was time for her to go. She sighs as she turns and leaves the wolf behind at the tree line, making her way through the meadow alone. BoHoJa watches her walk away and whines too quietly for her to hear. He inches forward anxiously, but she doesn’t turn to him again. The dog growls before heaving himself off the ground and trotting to her side once again.

Hyuna smiles and pats the dog’s head. At the end of the meadow, she gives her companion a hug before jogging off to the town. BoHoJa sits along the meadow and watches her disappear into the town before he stands and moves forward, inching closer to the city.

Hyuna walks into the small bakery with more confidence than the day before, more aware of what a workday would be like. However, CL doesn’t come out to greet her like she had the day before. The store seems empty except that there are a couple cupcake trays baking in the oven and other supplies strewn about the counter.

“Chaelin?” Hyuna lightly calls as she walks behind the counter and down the back hall. She checks the employee room but it’s empty besides a bag of clothing on the table. She walks out to see the screen door at the end of the hall open to the small back alley of the shop. She peers through the screen but can’t see anything or anyone outside. She opens the door, listening to the creak of the old hinges on the door, and steps down to the street. She looks left and then right, but she doesn’t see anything besides old dumpsters and trash. Hyuna turns to re-enter the store when she spots CL standing on the back steps, white bandana hiding , a gleam in her eye, and a hose in her hand.

“Unnie, what are you-”

Before Hyuna can ask anything more, CL clicks the spray nozzle on the hose and drenches Hyuna in cold water. Hyuna shrieks and tries to use her hands to block the spray, but it’s useless.

CL shuts off the water long enough for Hyuna to take a breath and open her eyes, her heart pounding in her ears but the coolness of the water keeping her body from over-heating.

“Unnie!” Hyuna shrieks, but CL pulls out a shampoo bottle and douses her in soap, all along her hair and her clothes.

Hyuna twists to avoid getting squirted in the eyes and when she turns back Chaelin pounces on her, tackling her to the ground while scrubbing Hyuna’s clothes and hair with her hands.

“Stop fighting it,” CL says from under her bandana as she scrubs the bubbles into the back of Hyuna’s clothes, “This is for your own good. And for mine. No one wants to eat at a bakery that smells bad.”

Hyuna feels a sense of terror but also a feeling of thrill and excitement, almost glee. Chaelin jumps up and grabs the hose and turns it on Hyuna again. Hyuna screams at the chill and twists on the floor, but after a while she gives up and stands with her arms out to the side like Jesus Christ being crucified and lets CL rinse off all the soap. After a few minutes, CL seems satisfied with Hyuna’s smell and turns off the hose. She stares at Hyuna for a moment and then nods.

“I’m suddenly thinking I should have done this after work…”

Hyuna nods, “That would have been better.”

CL shrugs and tosses the hose away. “Your work clothes and a pair of pants and blow dryer are in the employee room for you. And then…we bake!” CL points her finger to the sky in a dramatic gesture and enters the shop.

Hyuna stands for a moment and looks down at her dripping figure, and then her body shakes with laughter that seems to bubble up out of her very core. She laughs uncontrollably, having to sit on the ground and clutch her stomach as her abs begin to hurt and she runs out of breath to exhale. For a reason that is beyond her comprehension, she can’t gain control over her laughter for about five minutes, and when she does, she can feel her eyes dripping tears that blend with the water from the hose. She takes a couple breaths and tries to compose herself before skipping into the employee room to dry off and change.

She rejoins CL, still trying to stifle her giggles. CL smiles at the sight. “Well, someone’s rather cheerful today!”

“I admit you took being bombarded by a hose better than I would have expected.” JunHyung’s voice comes from the counter. He has pulled a chair up to the counter and sits with his arms resting on the top of the table and his chin in his hands. He smiles to Hyuna, making her look down, feeling her cheeks redden again as her heart beats irregularly. The bag of left over chicken feet rests on the countertop in front of JunHyung, but BiRain isn’t in sight.

Seeming to read Hyuna’s puzzled expression as she looks at the bag, JunHyung speaks up, “Hyung is sleeping off his hangover this morning.”

Chaelin smiles as she pulls a fresh batch of cupcakes out of the oven and places a couple cakes in next. “And what about you? Don’t you have work?”

“Of course, noona!” JunHyung stands and replaces the chair to its original position. “I just had to stop by here to drop off a couple of things.” He grabs a brown paper bag from the table that Hyuna hadn’t noticed before and brings it around the counter. Hyuna leans against the wall to let him pass, but he stops in front of her. He doesn’t look at her as he reaches out and takes her hand in his, his warm skin making her hand tingle with his touch, sending small electrical currents directly to her heart. Her eyes widen and she lightly tries to tug her hand away, but he only pulls it closer and holds it with both hands after setting the bag behind her on the shelf. He carefully unwraps the white cloth tied around her palm, still wet from being hosed down and turning brown from sleeping in the forests. He unravels it to reveal the light pink skin along the cuts, healing sure enough but taking their time to do so. He purses his lips and shakes his head before glancing up at her, only his eyes showing from under his light blonde hair. He brings his head up and reaches over her shoulder, leaning closer into her as he does so in order to open the brown paper bag. She can feel he warmth of his chest just inches away from her own, and the smell of cologne mixed with something indescribable fills her nose, causing her to turn her head a bit to the side. She switches to trying to breath silently through instead, not that the smell is bad, but it stirs a strange feeling near her left rib cage. JunHyung pulls back and Hyuna can feel her body relax a bit more, relieved at the distance that he returns between them. He takes off the cap of a white tube and then pulls her hand closer to his face to see. He gently squeezes a clear gel onto the scrapes and then uses his pinky finger to gingerly rub it around. He replaces the tube of gel and takes out a type of tan gauze, leaning in again in order to reach. He carefully wraps the fabric around her hand and then ties it off. He turns his head a bit to the side as he looks at it, seeming to accept his own handiwork. He nods and then lets her hand go, and she slowly lets it sink back to her side. Then he takes up her other hand and repeats the process, complete with reaching over her, causing her to turn her head in the other direction and breathe through . Hyuna catches sight of CL glancing their way as she puts frosting on a couple cupcakes on the end of the counter. Chaelin giggles and shakes her head, and then returns her attention to her decorating.

“There,” JunHyung says quietly after he finishes wrapping the other hand. He holds it in his own, softly running his thumb over her palm a couple times before dropping it. He looks up to her and she catches his eyes, and they hold each other’s gaze for what feels like an eternity. JunHyung’s mouth opens and his eyes seem to widen a bit before he blinks and takes a step back. He blinks again and his lips as he glances to CL. She smiles to him and raises her eyebrows, causing him to look down to his feet and run a hand through the back of his hair. “I’m going to be late for work,” he mumbles as he suddenly swipes the brown paper bag off the shelf and turns for the exit. He marches across the store and then stops midstride. He sighs and hurries back, placing the paper bag on the counter in front of Hyuna without looking to her. He then makes his way out of the store, calling over his shoulder, “See you later, Chaelin noona!”

Hyuna watches him disappear down the street, avoiding running into a couple passing by in front of the shop, before turning to CL. Chaelin has stopped decorating the cupcakes and leans upon both hands on the counter with a smirk on her face as she stares at Hyuna. “Did you two just have a moment?” she smiles.

Hyuna blinks and looks back to the window of the store, mouth open. She shakes her head slightly and wills her body to move away, “Um…no?”

CL chuckles and nods, looking back to the cupcakes but stealing glances as Hyuna tidies up the store.

[ PLAY  in second window]

~ Yong JunHyung ~

JunHyung tries to focus on his work, but he can’t manage to get his mind fully wrapped around the task at hand. He keeps finding himself thinking about Hyuna and about how her hair is so dark, her eyes so big, her figure so slender, and her smile…

She had smiled at me, right? He wonders when he thinks back to the times that he’d seen her smile. She definitely smiled with Rain and me. Did she smile this morning? He looks to the ceiling of the truck as he tries to think back. She smiled when she came out…

“Yah, JunHyung!” a worker waiting at the back of the truck slams his hand on the edge of the car, bringing JunHyung back to reality. “Hurry and hand me the box, what are you doing today?”

“Oh? Right, sorry.” JunHyung shakes his head as he lifts a box off the stack in the truck and drops it down to the waiting worker on the ground so he can carry it back inside of the apartment.

JunHyung sighs as he goes back to get more, but again his mind travels to Hyuna, and how CL had mentioned that the girl wears the same clothes each day and that her hair needed to be washed. She mentioned just passing through… I wonder if she didn’t pack for a long stay. JunHyung nods at his own reasoning and then pauses. But where is she staying, then? She said not too far from where we were last night.

“Yah, Yong JunHyung!” the men’s voices echo from the back of the truck as two more wait for him to get the remaining boxes.

~ ~ ~

At the end of the workday, JunHyung realizes that because of him, the job had taken longer than expected, well past dinnertime. The other workers seem aggravated and ignore him on the ride back to the company building to return the truck, but JunHyung doesn’t care…he only thinks of Hyuna again and her quietness and the secrets that she still holds onto. We’re friends now, right? JunHyung turns his head to the side and strains his eyes as he thinks. Yeah! We went out for drinks…with BiRain. “Aish!” JunHyung slams his fist against the back seat.

“Yah, what’s your problem?” a big man sitting in front of him turns around with his fist raised and his lips curving up in annoyance.

“Oh…sorry.” JunHyung turns his face back to the street. He sighs and rolls his eyes as he watches the buildings pass by. He sits forward when he recognizes the street that they’re on. “Excuse me, ahjussi, could you let me out here?” he asks as he looks out the window.

“Gladly,” the driver remarks as he pulls to a stop.

JunHyung jumps down, and the man who had been sitting next to him quickly reaches over and shuts the door, and the truck speeds down the road. JunHyung looks up to the buildings and quickly jogs down the street. He hits the buzzer for BiRain hyung’s apartment, but there’s no answer. He hits the button repeatedly, holding it longer than necessary on the final ring, but as someone comes out of the apartment, JunHyung takes the opportunity to run inside then. He mounts the stairs to the third floor and walks down the hall to the fifth room. He pounds his fist on the apartment door. He must be back from work by now. JunHyung knocks again, peering through the peephole. Unless…did he stop by Chaelin’s to see the girls? JunHyung backs away as the thought comes to him, and he quickly turns and jogs down the hall. He nears the staircase when he hears a door open and he looks back to see BiRain leaning his head out into the hall from the floor. JunHyung pauses and slowly turns back, being sure that what he sees right now is his hyung on the floor of his own apartment.

“Hyung?” he calls.

BiRain nods exaggeratedly and holds up his hand to wave him back in, a beer bottle tight in his grasp. His eyes travel from JunHyung to the bottle that he holds in the air, and then he starts to pour the alcohol down as he opens his mouth, having the stream miss a bit and running down the front of his shirt before it finds his mouth.

“Hyung!” JunHyung exclaims, appalled as he runs back to his friend’s door.

BiRain slides back into his apartment hallway as JunHyung enters the house. The lights are off in the place, and Rain sits on the floor with his back against the wall in the same clothes he had worn the other day, only now they are wrinkly and drenched in alcohol. He closes his eyes and smacks his lips together and at them to get the alcohol that has spilled over his face as he drops his hand and the bottle to the ground.

“Did something happen?” JunHyung asks as he crouches down to Rain and pries the bottle out of his grasp. He pauses and looks up to the house, sniffing the air. “Is something burning?” he shouts as he jumps up and rushes into the home, tripping over toppled chairs, tables, and papers scattered about the apartment.

He can hear BiRain’s laughter echo from down the hall and then his nonchalant, “Yeah…something happened,” followed by the sound of another beer bottle being thrown across the hall and shattering into the door.

JunHyung sprints to the kitchen to find the oven burner on and a pot overflowing with boiling water, but that’s not where the smell of smoke is coming from. He hurries to put out the flame and grabs a hand towel to toss the burning pot into the sink. He grits his teeth and shakes his hand from the heat as he turns in search of the real source of smoke. Across the living room he spots a small fire by the large window that leads to the balcony. His eyes widen as he turns around the kitchen a few times before grabbing a jar and opening it. He sighs with relief as he springs to the small fire and tosses the flour from the jar onto the fire, immediately extinguishing it. He looks down to see that a lit cigarette had started to catch some photographs on fire.

He turns around with his mouth open in shock to see BiRain lumbering down the hall, with a glazed over look in his eyes. Rain places his hand on the back of a chair and looks down at it. He traces his finger over the fabric before he cracks a smile and takes a step back, and then he kicks the chair over with his foot, stumbling backwards and plopping onto the ground on his rear-end.  His smile twists into a snarl as he brings his hands to his eyes and puts his head between his legs, sobbing uncontrollably and yelling to the floor.

All JunHyung can do is stare at him with a gaping mouth and wide eyes. He looks around the trashed apartment and then back to his hyung. Rain suddenly grabs another empty beer bottle and hurls it towards JunHyung, sending his arms up to protect his face as the bottle explodes against the glass window. JunHyung blinks and slowly puts his hands up to BiRain in a defensive gesture. He carefully walks over and crouches next to Rain, placing his hand on BiRain’s back.

“Rain?” he says his name quietly, more like a question, “It’s okay…it’s going to be okay-”

“No it’s not!” Rain screams, louder and with more anger than JunHyung had seen in anyone else in his entire life as he knew it. “It’s not okay!”
“Okay…okay…” JunHyung tries to calm his friend down.

“No!” Rain shouts again, lifting his chin to the ceiling to open his airways more in order for his yelling to be louder, “I just said it’s not okay!”

JunHyung nods, at a loss for words.

“Ask me why,” Rain’s voice cracks as he says the sentence in a softer voice.

“Um…”
“Ask me why!” he thunders.

“Alright…why, Rain?”

Rain breathes for a moment, his body heaving with each breath as he stares at the floorboards. “Huh,” his mouth twists into a smile again and he shakes his head as he grinds his teeth together, “Because,” his voice breaks, “because she’s still not here.” He throws his hand up to emphasize that someone should be standing in front of him.

JunHyung looks around, confused.

“She’s not here, JunHyung,” he says without looking up, “Where is she? Where did she go?”

“I don’t know.” JunHyung exhales.

“Of course you don’t!” BiRain slams his fist into the floor. “No one does! I sure as hell don’t know!”

JunHyung looks around for something that he can do, for something that he can say.

“Where is she?” Rain asks in a quieter voice, full of despair.

JunHyung sighs and sits back on his heels as he runs a hand through his hair. He looks back over his shoulder to the pile of flour by the window, and the partially burnt photographs littered along the floor. His eyebrows pull together and he rises to walk over to the window, looking over his shoulder as Rain sobs in his hands.

JunHyung bends down and picks up some of the pictures, flipping through them. A woman with light brown hair smiles with her arms around BiRain’s waist in one photo. In another, she’s hugging a tree and laughing at the camera. In yet another, BiRain holds her in his arms as they wrap around her back, lifting her feet off the ground as he kisses her.

“There she is,” BiRain chuckles, now standing next to JunHyung, looking down at the photographs. He picks out one of the woman smiling as she stands on the bridge over the Nam River. “She’s at the river.”

“Who is she?” JunHyung’s careful to ask.

BiRain smiles and sniffs back his tears as he looks at the pictures. He nods and laughs a bit, “She’s my wife.” He bites his lip to the point where it starts to bleed and then releases it in an uncontrollable sob. “That’s my wife,” he cries as he takes another picture from JunHyung.

JunHyung watches his face as he looks at each picture. His eyes seem lost to this world, as if he’s there in the pictures with her. In a different world.

JunHyung sighs. “What happened?” he asks quietly.

“Huh,” BiRain shakes his head, “I don’t know, JunHyung. I don’t know.” He shrugs as he flips through photos, tossing them to the floor after looking at them. “She just…disappeared. It’s been four years, did you know that?” he looks to JunHyung, pain stricken in his eyes. JunHyung stares back and shakes his head. “Yup,” BiRain continues returning to the photographs, “Four years today.” He nods. “No one’s looking anymore. They stopped looking after the first year.” He laughs and then shakes his head, crumpling a picture of them together in his hand. “Hey, did you know?” he drops his hands to his sides as he looks to JunHyung, a slight smile and brighter eyes. “Did you know? She was going to have a baby.” JunHyung’s mouth forms a thin line, and he fights to keep his face straight and to control his own breathing. It feels as if he can feel BiRain’s pain radiating out of him. “Yeah,” Rain continues, tossing the rest of the photos across the floor, “She was going to have my baby. A boy. My son. I know it was a boy, JunHyung, I just know it.” He sniffs back his tears as he crumples to the ground and leans against the window. He shakes his head again as he leans it back against the window and closes his eyes. “But she couldn't…she couldn’t do it. Too much, strain, you know? She lost him. It wasn’t her fault, it just happened.” He opens an eye to make sure that JunHyung is still paying attention and then shuts it again. “It wasn’t her fault, but she said it was. She said she was broken. And then…that week I really almost believed her. Just because we were both broken up about it. I didn’t mean it. But she just wasn’t the same after she lost him.” BiRain takes a ragged breath before continuing. “She went off to the mountainside, just for one of her walks that she likes to take. I usually go with her, but this time…I just…” he shakes his head as tears roll out of his eyes, “I just didn’t go with her and I can’t remember why anymore. And…she never came back.” Again he tries to breathe in, but his air gets caught on the uncontrollable sobs in his throat.

JunHyung exhales and puts his hands on his hips, looking around the apartment. He sighs and walks to the kitchen and pulls out three beers from the fridge. He slumps down next to Rain and places a beer in each of his hands, and then pops the top of his own and pulls it back.

And JunHyung and BiRain sit like that well into the night, not saying anything more…with nothing left to be said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ LC ~

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