Friends

As mentioned earlier, Haru was more or less invisible in school, but that did not mean that she was blind or deaf to what happened in school. Haru knew exactly who the young man sitting across Dr. Lu was. Of course she considered the possibility of his popularity becoming a threat to her peaceful high school life, if someone from school was to see them together outside school. After a lot of calculations, thinking and reconsideration Haru concluded that the likelihood that someone from school would be in this hospital on a Saturday to be minimal, which resulting in agreeing to give the young man a tour of the hospital. Besides, how was she supposed to say no, when she had just stated that she had free time on her hands?

“Thank you very much Haru” Dr. Lu managed to say before his phone called and Haru waved goodbye to him, while he gestured his nephew to follow her. Luhan was one of the boys in school the majority of the girls daily dreamed about and swooned over. They adored his gentle, and approachable personality, almost as much as they loved his good looks. Stepping out of the office, Haru turned around and found a slightly pale Luhan.

“Are you ok Luhan-ssi? You don’t look too well?” Haru asked worriedly.

“Oh yeah I’m fine. Just a little headache, but it’s my own fault. So nothing to worry about” he half-heartily smiled, looking down at the petite girl, who simply replied with a nod.    

“So what are going to you show me first?” he smiled, trying to sound a little more vigorous for the hospital tour than he actually was. Luhan’s appearance and smile reminded her of his uncle’s, and if his personality and character truly was anything like Dr. Lu, then the rumours going around school would for once be true, Haru thought.

“Uhm I’ve got some muffins to the children hospitalized here, so if it’s fine by you I was thinking that I could show you the children’s ward first?” Haru looked at Luhan, waiting for some kind of sign of agreement.  

“That sounds fine by me. You lead the way.” The thought of screaming children made his headache a little worse than before, but he tried to sound as excited as possible. Haru nodded and began to walk to the elevator, with Luhan following behind her. An awkward silence filled the air in no time, but before it grew more uncomfortable Luhan decided to break the silence.

“So Haru, which grade are you in now?” Luhan asked to ease up the awkwardness.

“Uhm second grade” she answered honestly, as they stepped in the elevator. 

“You should enjoy it. The hard year is the third. I remember my last year in middle school. Is it hard?” Luhan continued, convinced that the petite girl, who was showing him around had not been more than 15 years old. 

“Yes it was” she quickly replied. Relieved by his assumptions of her, she had no intention to correct him. It was now up to her to avoid him in school, because she knew that a simple greeting or a smile in school would complicate her school life more than it was at the moment. It did not surprise her that he did not recognize or had noticed her though, nor did it surprise her that he had taken her for a middle scholar. It had happened so often that she had stopped keeping track of this particular misunderstanding.

“Let me know if you have any homework you need help to solve. I’ll gladly help” Luhan continued, oblivious of the fact that the girl had answered him in past tense. He looked at Haru for some kind of respond. Not knowing what to do she simply nodded.

“Who are you here to visit?” he continued, not wanting to slip back into the awkward silence.

“Uhm I’m here to visit the children’s ward and Aaerin” she answered sincerely and stepped out of the elevator.

“Oh so you volunteer at the hospital?” Luhan had though that she was in the hospital to visit a relative or a friend hospitalized there. So it had surprised him a bit that a middle scholar would volunteer at the hospital.

“Uhm no I wouldn’t call it that. I’m not helping with anything at the hospital. I’m just here to visit them whenever I have the time for it” Her answer turned his puzzledness into confusion. But before he could ask her further, she stopped and turned around.

“Is it fine with you if we make a short stop before going down to the children’s ward?” her question, made Luhan snap out of his own thought and put his confusion aside for a moment.

“Of course” he smiled and followed her into a room, where he saw her walk over to a girl and a little boy lying on the patient bed immersed in a picture book. But as soon as they noticed Haru, both of them immediately sat up, with smiles spread across their lips.

“Unnie! How come you’re here again?” the girl on the bed asked 

“I had some time, so I decided to visit you guys. But if you don’t want me here…” Haru replied and teasingly began to walk away, making the little boy jump out of the bed and run after Haru. Reaching out, he took her hand in his and pulled her down. The little boy proceeded with his small hands to communicate with Haru, what Luhan recognized as signing. In the middle of his conversation with Haru, he was interrupted by a piece of crumbled paper hitting his head, sent from the girl in the bed. They all turned around and looked at the girl.

“Yah Choi Won Hong! You little rascal! Who’re you calling stupid. I was just surprised since unnie also was here yesterday” the girl spoke, as soon as she was sure the little boy looked at her.

“But Hongiee is right unnie, I didn’t mean for you to leave” the girl continued, guilt painted all over her face.

“I was just teasing you. Of course I didn’t take it that way” Haru let out a chuckle, making the girl on the bed lit up in relief. All the while the girls had solved their misunderstanding, Luhan had made contact with the little boy, or rather the little boy had noticed the tall looking boy behind Haru. Luhan had offered him a smile, but only received the boy’s little tongue, which made him let out a little chuckle. Carefully the little boy tucked Haru’s sleeve wanting her attention. The boy had signed something to Haru, and then pointed at Luhan.

“Oh that is Dr. Lu’s nephew. Aaerin, Hongiee why don’t you introduce yourself?” Haru said while signing, making sure that everybody understood her. The boy looked at Luhan for a few minuets, before he began to sign.

“He says; hello and that his name Choi Won Hong” Haru translated. She turned around and looked at Aaerin, waiting for her to start her introduction. The girl’s whole posture and facial expression changed as soon as she noticed Luhan. Her happy facial expression had disappeared and now become unreadable, which reminded Luhan of a certain close friend of his. She had crossed her arms across her chest and shot Luhan a glare of dislike. For a few minuets of silence, it had seemed like she would not introduce herself, but the short eye contact with Haru made her let out a sigh before she spoke up.

“Annyeong-haseyo, Yoon Aaerin is my name” Aaerin said uninterested. Luhan let out a little chuckle by the girl’s sudden change of behaviour.

“So you’re just going to stand there and laugh at me like some kind of dimwit without introducing yourself?” Aaerin continued, lifting one of her eyebrows. Luhan was taken aback by her bluntness and childlike attitude, which made his discreet chuckle turn into a little laughter, making Aaerin a little more frustrated. Before Luhan could say anything, Haru had looked at her younger friend and called her name in a soft, yet warning matter, which made Aaerin shrug, indicating that she did not feel like she had done anything wrong. Haru turned around to apologize for Aaerin’s behaviour, but as she looked at Luhan, it seemed like he had become paler than when they had stood outside Dr. Lu’s office.

“Luhan-ssi, are you sure you ok? You look so pale” Haru asked worried, pushing aside her apology for later. Before he could answer, he was once again interrupted.

“Unnie don’t waste your worries on him. The only thing he is suffering from is a hangover, and that’s his own fault” Aaerin stated monotonously. Maybe she was only 16 years old, but that did not mean that she did not know anything, and she definitely knew what a hangover looked like. In the case of the young man in her room, she would bet her life that he was definitely suffering from on hell of a hangover. Before Haru could turn around and correct Aaerin, Luhan’s laughter caught her attention instead.

“It’s ok Haru. This headache of mine, is really my own fault. I guess it’s my turn to introduce myself…but could you translate for me Haru, I don’t know how to sign” Luhan smiled at Haru.

“Oh don’t worry about that, Hongiee is an expert at lip-reading, right Hongiee?” Haru looked at the little boy, who nodded proudly.

“Ok then. My name is Luhan, and I’m going to be volunteering at the hospital in the weekends for a few weeks, so please don’t be too hard on me” Luhan ended his introduction with a 90-degree bow, as if he was speaking to elders, which made Won-Hong smile, while Aaerin rolled her eyes.

“Crazy people with weird names are everywhere these days aren’t they” Aaerin let her thought slip out in the open. Luhan was a little confused by what she had said, while Haru knew very well whom Aaerin was referring to. Turning around and facing Aaerin, with her back to Luhan Haru began to sign. Both she and Aaerin had picked up and learnt the sign language, when Won-Hong became a part of their life. The little boy, who was born deaf, had seemed to get attached to the two girls, and they to him. So it did not take long before they had begun to learn sign language, in order to communicate with him better.

“Aaerin, I‘m going to leave him here with you. So be nice.” Haru signed looking at her young friend

“What? No unnie, why can’t you just take him with you?” Aaerin signed back in disbelief. 

“Because I’m going to the children’s ward, and I don’t think that’s the place to be in his condition” Haru signed, looking at Aaerin with pleading eyes.

“Fine, but I can’t promise to be nice!” Aaerin signed back after a few seconds of consideration.

“Please help unnie this time Aaerin. I’ll give you a reward if you’re nice” Haru signed. She could see how the young girl reconsidered and calculated her proposal, and it took her a few minuets before replying.

“Fine! But it better be good!” Aaerin signed back, which Haru replied with a thank you. Turning back to Luhan, she saw how the young man was looking curiously at her.

“Luhan-ssi, I’m going to leave you with Aaerin, I’ll quickly distribute the last muffins to the children and then come back and show you the rest of the hospital. Is it fine with you if I show you the children’s ward another time?” Haru asked him. Luhan quickly picked up the girl’s hint and happily welcomed her proposal. Leaving a muffin for Aaerin, Haru took Won-Hong in her hands and went down to the Children’s ward.  It took Haru a little longer to distribute the muffins than expected, and before she knew it she had spent a little more than an hour at the children's ward. Even though Aaerin had promised her that she would be good, she knew her young friend enough to be worried. Haru's definition of good and Aaerin's definition of good were rarely the same, when it came to how to treat new people. Hurriedly, she waved goodbye to the children and went to Aaerin's, which luckily only was down the hall. Stepping into the room she found Aaerin on the bed immersed in "Howl's Moving Castle". With Luhan nowhere to be seen, the worry of what Aaerin might have said or done to him grew. Haru was like an open book, everything she felt showed through her facial expressions and actions, and as Aaerin noticed her friend's worried facial expression, she quickly spoke up.  

"Unnie, before you say something. I didn't chase him away or anything! I was nice, like a promised you. Dr. Lu came in 10 minuets ago and told that guy to follow him. If you don't believe me, then we can go down and ask them!" Aaerin quickly defended herself. Seeing how genuine her friend was, Haru let out a relieved sigh.  

"It's ok Aaerin. I believe you" she smiled at the girl.  

"What is my reward then?" Aaerin asked full of anticipation.  

"I haven't figured it out yet. But I promise it'll be something good" Haru replied softly.  

"It better be! But unnie are you going home now?" Aaerin looked at Haru with hopeful eyes. Looking down at her watch, the time had only shown 3:40 pm.  

"No, not yet. Why?" Haru asked looking up at Aaerin again.

"I was thinking, if you could take me outside for some fresh air? I'm so sick and tired of looking at the same four walls. Please unnie!" Aaerin begged her friend. Seeing how much Aaerin wanted to go outside, and assuming that she probably had spent the whole day inside, Haru nodded in agreement. Making her friend smile. Despite Aaerin's objections, Haru had called one of the nurses to help Aaerin get out of the hospital cloths, into clothes more suitable for outside. Thanking the nurse Haru pushed the wheelchair right beside the bed, and wanted to help her friend down on the chair.  

"It's ok unnie. I can do it by myself" Aaerin said sternly and determined. After a little bit of struggle, Aaerin finally got down on the wheel chair and the two of them went on. The two had planned to visit the park nearby, but were told by the nurses not to go too far away from the hospital, since it was almost time for Aaerin's rehabilitation training. So when they had stepped out of the hospital, they only strolled down the street, where the hospital were and looked at the different street stands. Aaerin was steering and controlling the wheelchair by herself, while Haru was walking beside her. Haru did want to help pushing the wheelchair, so Aaerin did not need to use her energy doing it by herself. But she knew that her friend was determined to do things on her own and did not want any help. Before going back they had stopped by a tteokbokki stand and Haru bought some to cheer up her young friend, who had been a bit disappointed that they were not able to go the park, as they had planned. The tteokbokki did what it was supposed to and as they returned to the hospital Aaerin was in a better mood. As the elevator door was about to close, someone had yelled out for them to hold the elevator. Sensing Haru's small hand the elevator doors jerked open and made it possible for the person to enter it.  

"Thank you very much...Haru!" The girl exclaimed as she recognized the petite girl. 

"Oh annyeong-haseyo Mari-ssi" Haru bowed as soon as she recognized her temporary classmate.  

"You don't have to be so formal! We're the same age aren't we? Oh annyeong Aaerin, you're here too?" Mari continued, as she saw Aaerin, not letting Haru answer her question. 

"What? Where else am I supposed to be?" Aaerin replied Mari monotonously with a raised eyebrow.  

"Wow just as sarcastic, as the last time we met huh" which was more a statement than it was a question. Mari let out a loud chuckle at the end of her sentence.  

"What's with people today!? Everybody is laughing at me" Aaerin pouted. Making the two older girls look at each other and laugh, which resulted in a very frustrated Aaerin.  

"That's because you're so damn cute! Isn't that right Haru?" Haru nodded in agreement to Mari's statement, making a light pink colour slowly appear on Aaerin's cheeks. 

"I wanted to talk to you in school earlier, and thank you for keeping my condition a secret. But every time I turn around after classes I always find your seat empty, and you're nowhere to be found during the lunch breaks. But anyways I just really want you to know how grateful I am for keeping my secret" Mari sincerely thanked and bowed in appreciation. The first time Haru met Mari was in school three months ago. The kind-looking girl had wandered on the school’s hallways before approaching Haru and politely asking for directions to the principle’s office. Because of her accent, Haru assumed that Mari must had been an exchange student, so instead of telling her the directions, Haru followed her to the office. It did not take long before talk and gossip about the newly enrolled student went through the school’s corridors and classrooms. They had called Mari conceited and arrogant, because she did not answer when they had tried to approach her. They called pretentious, because according to them she had put on a foreign accent even though she was from the countryside. The rumours contradicted Haru’s view of the kind-looking and cheerful girl, who had politely asked Haru for direction earlier that morning, but nevertheless Haru did not think about any further, as she did not expect to see Mari again. So when they had run into each other again at the hospital later that day it had taken them both by surprise. Seeing Mari step out from the audiologist’s office, it didn’t take long before Haru put the puzzles together and figured out what was going on. Haru had that day promised Mari not to tell anyone in school about her partial hearing loss. For the next three months, Mari had often run into Haru and Aaerin the hospital, whenever she had check ups for her hearing. 

“Weren’t you the one, who just said not to be formal?” Aaerin questioned Mari with a lifted eyebrow. Aaerin’s question made Haru snap out of her thoughts and back to reality.

“Oh yeah, that’s right!” Mari remembered and quickly stood up straight.

“It’s nothing, really. We all have something we want to hide right?” Haru smiled, but behind her voice a mellow sadness could be traced, which didn’t went unnoticed by the two girls, who simply nodded in agreement. Reaching the first floor the three girls left the elevator. While Mari went to the audiologist’s office, Haru followed Aaerin to her room to get ready for her rehabilitation training.

Even though the bibimbap had done wonders to ease the group of friends' hangover, they had unfortunately not found the miracle remedy against it. As last night's fun was still ravaging their heads, the group of friends had decided to stop by a convenience store to stock up on snacks and sodas, before going back to Jongin's apartment and spent the rest of the day in front of the television and playstation. Arriving at their destination, Sehun went up to his own apartment to get one of the videogames his friends had demanded him to get, while the others went in Jongin’s apartment. Chanyeol was the first to enter the apartment. Rushing to the bathroom he did not notice the dirty dishes drowning the sink, or the used socks and food crumbs sprinkled on the floor, nor did he notice the videogames and DVDs scattered on the table. Jongin went to the kitchen looking for something to drink and found the milk carton he had forgotten to put back in his fridge earlier. He stuck his nose in the carton opening, but regretted it as soon as the sour smell of the spoiled milk entered his nose. Throwing out the carton, he was about to pour himself a glass of water instead, but noticed that the rest of his group of friends had stopped at the end of his entrance and was only looking at his mess from where they stood, not daring to go any further. The apartment was just as messy as when they had left it this morning, but it was only now that the friends noticed how awfully unclean his apartment not only looked, but also was.

“How can you live in this…this…I don’t even know what to call this” Kyungsoo said. Horrified and repelled by the sight of Jongin’s kitchen and living room he let out a sigh of defeat. As if it was on cue Chanyeol came into the living room.

“Wow what happened here? Did you get robbed?” Chanyeol asked stunned by the view.  

“It doesn’t look that bad” Jongin replied casually and took a sip from his glass of water he had poured to himself. Chanyeol suddenly caught the sight of something pink sticking out from the couch’s pillow. Curious he took the pink fabric between his two fingers and pulled it out.

“I guess she left you something to remember her by” Chanyeol stated, staring at the tiny pink trapped between his two fingers.

“Oh you mean Queue-girl. Nope, her underwear was purple, not pink” nonchalantly said, taking another sip from his glass of water. Realizing what his friends had just said, Chanyeol dropped the tiny pink fabric and went over to wash his hands at the sink.

“This is too much! I can’t do this” Kyungsoo claimed with a disgusted facial expression and left the apartment, with his friends following him leaving Jongin behind.

“Where are you going?” Jongin yelled putting his glass of water on the table and followed them.

“Sehun’s place.” Baekhyun yelled back. Jongin took a glance at his apartment, and he came to the conclusion that he would have to call the cleaning service next morning, before following his friends up to Sehun's place. Sehun had just found the game he was looking for, and as he opened his front door he found his friends standing outside. Before he could say anything, Kyungsoo stepped inside with the bags of snacks in his hands.

"Never in my life have I...I don't even know what to call it" Kyungsoo casually took of his shoes off and proceeded to the kitchen, to prepare the snacks. Confused Sehun had stepped aside and let his horrified-looking friend come inside, only to be followed by the rest of his friends.

"I guess we are going to be at your place instead" Jongin smiled, as he entered. Knowing his friends all too well, Sehun knew that he would only waste his time and energy arguing with them now. So instead of starting a pointless argument he joined Kyungsoo in the kitchen, while the others started the playstation. Hours went by where the friends were glued to the television screen. No one, except Kyungsoo, heard when Sehun had informed them that he was going to do the homework for Monday and left for his room. It was only when it had been Sehun's turn to play, that the rest of the group of friends came to notice his disappearance. Sehun had managed to do half of the homework, when Beakhyun and Chanyeol opened the door to his room.

"You know there's something called 'knocking''" Sehun stated, finishing writing the last word in his notes, before he looked up at his friends.

"Come on. It's your turn" Baekhyun said ignoring his friends flippant statement.

"Your super grades won't slip, just because you for once in you life haven't done your homework" Chanyeol tried to convince his friend to take a break from his studies.

"Just take my turn. I need to finish the homework for Monday" Sehun replied as he took out the next book and opened it. Just like Sehun, Baekhyun and Chanyeol also knew their friend good enough to know that when it came to school, Sehun was not going to give in. Standing outside the closed door to Sehun's room, Baekhyun and Chanyeol had agreed that it was about time for their friend to loosen up a bit and have some fun. Dialling his driver's number Beakhyun had put their plan in motion. Another hour passed and Sehun had finally finished his homework as he heard his door phone. Sehun was on his way to answer it, as the door phone called again followed by Kris' voice.

"Sehun somebody wants to get in!" Kris yelled. Entering his living room he found Chanyeol, Kris, Jongin and Kyungsoo glued to the television screen, each with their own controller trying to kill each other with different combination of button-pushing, while Baekhyun was nowhere to be found.

"Is that so, Sherlock” Sehun sarcastically replied Kris and continued to the door-phone. Answering it, Sehun was surprised to see Baekhyun’s driver with three backpacks and a couple of other white bags on the door-phone display.

"Baekhyun, what is your driver doing here? Have you finally decided to go home?" Sehun sarcastically asked his friend, who had just stepped out from the bathroom, as Sehun buzzed the driver in.

"Is he already here? That was fast! Nope we decided that we were to lazy to go home now, and since Kris is also staying we agreed to turn it into a little sleepover" Baekhyun smiled.

"Oh that's right I totally forgot to tell you that I was staying over. My parents texted yesterday and told me they hadn't finished their work here yet, and said that if I wanted I could stay here till next Sunday" said without looking away from the screen.

"Since when have my apartment turned into a hotel? Have you forgotten that it isn't me who's the heir to Kim Hyeatt Seoul?" Sehun monotonously said, looking at his friends, who did not spare him a glance, since their attention was fully upon the ongoing game.

"Just for the record. I was going to stay over at Jongin's, but I don't have a death wish. I'm not going to take another step into his apartment before he gets it cleaned and disinfected!" Kris quickly defended himself. Sehun was about to answer, but his doorbell interrupted him. Letting out a sigh he opened the door, and found Baekhyun’s driver with more bags with him, than he had before. Seeing the overwhelmed driver in the door opening Sehun took the bag in the driver's mouth and some of those in his right hand. Baekhyun hurriedly went over and took one of the bags Sehun had taken out of his hand.

"This one is a surprise for later. Here take these instead" Baekhyun quickly took the rest of the bags from his driver's right hand. Sehun did not give, what his friend said a second thought and continued to his kitchen with the newly bought snacks and dinner, the driver had brought with him. At the smell of food the other boys let go of their game and surrounded the kitchen island. They quickly set the table and were soon sitting and enjoying their dinner. Chanyeol suddenly stood up and went over to the refrigerator and took out one of the four six-packs, they had ordered the driver to buy.

"What? Haven't you had enough yesterday?" Sehun lazily commented, as he saw the beers. Ignoring his friend, Chanyeol started to open the beers and distribute to each of them.

"Uh, no thanks" Sehun looked at Chanyeol, who handed him the bottle.

"Aw come on Sehun. You've done your homework haven't you? Live a little, loosen up, have a little fun once in a while. Don't be such a party pooper one bottle of beer won't hurt you" Chanyeol tried to convince his friend.

"What is it with people telling me to loosen up and have fun. First her and now you guys. I have plenty of fun!" Sehun frustrated took the bottle and drank from it. It was not a secret that Sehun was not the most energetic or enthusiastic person out of the group. Nevertheless had his friends learnt to love and live with his sarcasm and expressionless persona. So they were a bit more than surprised by Sehun’s little outburst, since they had not been prepared for it, as it was completely out of their friend's character. Suddenly Jongin let out a laugh, which caused some kind of chain reaction and soon the whole table, except from Sehun was laughing.

"So it's because of 5.b your mood has been so foul today" Jongin continued laughing. Just like his friends, Jongin had been surprised by Sehun's outburst, but what surprised him even more was that Mari had had a major part to play in it, because for as long as he had known Sehun, no gi