“3. 2. 1! SMILE!”

Hana wanted to rub the flash off her eyes but she couldn’t. Stupid mascara. She had to spend the next minute trying to see cearly while not tripping. Their graduation ceremony had just ended, they were all holding their certificates and Luhan was taking their group photos.

“SOMEONE! Take a picture of me with Sehun and Hana!”

The moment Luhan shouted the request, all eyes turned to Kai who started feeling a weird sense of self-consciousness. Nevertheless, he grabbed the DSLR from Luhan while the others dispersed to take photos with their families.

“Where’s mom?” Sehun asked. The last time he had seen her was when she was handing over the certificates. After that, she simply disappeared.

“She’s probably making sure everything’s proper for tonight,” Hana guessed, “They’ve been preparing for the festival for months.”

“Yeah, but-“

“COULD YOU GUYS STOP TALKING? I’M TRYING TO TAKE A PICTURE HERE.”

“Whoops, sorry,” Luhan muttered, though he didn’t look least apologetic.

Hana, despite smiling brightly toward the camera, still could not see clearly and had no idea how the picture would turn out. Kai took a regular photo but didn’t return Luhan his camera. His reason? He needed to take more photos of them. Doing what? Poses Luhan would rather be caught dead doing.

“Oh, c’mon! Hyung!”

“No.”

“Please?”

“Never.”

Luhan stalked away, and Kai followed him leaving Sehun and Hana standing in the middle of a bunch of photo taking students. Sehun stared at Hana before looking back at their friend cahsing their brother.

“How can they just…”

“Never mind,” Hana smiled. “I can’t believe we did it, though. Can you?”

“Nah,” Sehun replied as he grabbed Hana’s wrist and held up their certificates, “I thought I wouldn’t even pass the mid-terms, to be honest.”

Hana chuckled and shook her head, “I thought I wouldn’t see the ceremony entirely. Two years ago, I thougt wouldn’t even graduate highschool.”

“But look at you now,” Sehun nudged and Hana smiled wider.

“I still can’t believe it.”

“What can’t you believe?”

Hana jumped and spun to find a beaming Baekyun, “You almost scared me.”

“Almost?” Kyungsoo snorted and swung his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder.

“How are you guys so friendly today?” Sehun asked with an arched brow.

Baekhyun scoffed, “What do you mean? We’re always friendly. Aren’t we?”

Kyungsoo nodded and Hana exchanged glances with her brother. It was probably the spirit of graduating that had them being so buddy-buddy with each other. They had all applied to several universities. There were a few in which some of them had applied to together, but only two in which they all did. Hana had been wondedring lately, how would life be if they were all separated? She didn’t want to imagine one without any of them. She had just found friends, she wasn’t ready to let them go so soon.

“Done with family photos?” Baekhyun asked.

“Kai sort of…yeah, he ran off with the camera after hyung. So technically, we’re done.” Sehun replied.

“You guys?” Hana asked and they nodded.

“We still need individual shots,” Kyungsoo said, “Also, I want one with Baekhyun, you, and Lay.”’

“What about me?” Sehun asked but Kyungsoo shrugged.

“Sorry bro, but that’s how we started off before all of you jumped on the bandwagon.”

Baekhyun nodded wholeheartedly, “I am so with him on this one.”

“Did you hit your head somehwhere, Baek?” Hana accidentally blurted but the boy didn’t seem to mind. He just gave her a wide, rectangular, toothy smile. Chanyeol jumped on Baekhyun’s back, followed by Jongdae, followed by Kai whom Sehun assumed, had returned the camera because the red device no longer hung around his neck as he tackled Kyungsoo.

They were all there, euphoric because hell yeah, they graduated highschool. Hana looked down on her white robe and moved it around a bit, she still couldn’t believe she got to wear it. She looked back up at her friends. They all were wearing their robes too with their caps on. Everyone except…

“Lay? Anybody seen him?”

Baekhyun blinked at Hana, “Oh, yeah. We need a photo with that brat. Where is he?”

“I saw him taking photos with his parents,” Kai replied immediately.

“Where?” Kyungsoo asked looking toward his cousin for an answer.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged, “I saw them while I was running after Luhan hyung.”

“Why were you running after Luha-“

“THERE HE IS!” Chanyeol shouted. Hana whipped her head in the direction he was pointing but couldn’t see him or anyone familiar.

“Where?” Jongdae asked. Apparently Hana wasn’t the only one.

“Guys,” Chanyeol exhaled as if he couldn’t believe they couldn’t see him, “Over there!”

“WHERE?!” Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Hana yelled. Chanyeol stared at them.

“Hey, that was creepy.”

“Giant-”

“GUYS!” Someone called and Hana turned to find Kris making his way to them. Hana brightened, he would know where Lay was.

“CONGRA-“

“Where’s Lay?”

Kris faltered at Sehun’s flat out question, “I run all the way here to tell you guys how proud and happy I am and THIS is what I get?” Kris put a hand on his chest, “I’m hurt.”

“Heart’s on the other side,” Suho voiced. Hana turned to find him bro- Baekhyun while holding a camera in his other hand.

“Ain’t you a genius?” Kris mumbled and Suho shrugged, “Common sense, my friend.”

While it was great that everyone (except Lay) was here and they were all having fun, Hana really couldn’t help but look for opportunities to ask about Lay. She didn’t even have the chance to congractulate him, they were pulled by Luhan for a group photo immediately after they were done. The last time she saw him was when he was running to his parents.

“Kris, I was wondering-“

“I’m back, my lovelies.” Luhan shoved himself between Sehun and Hana, the red camera now in his hand and probably unscratched. The moment he arrived, he gave Kai a meaningful glare that, by the look on his face, shot down whatever expectations he was harbouring regarding the doe eyed hyung.

“Where were you?” Jongdae asked and Luhan sighed a little too dramatically.

“I was chased around by this little puppy loving child here,” he said pointing an accusatory finger at Kai who looked down in shame but clearly didn’t feel any because Hana could see him smiling like a lunatic.

“Lol, really?” Chanyeol laughed out loud (literally) and ruffled Kai’s hair.

“He wanted me to do aegyo.”

“NO,” Kris gasped. Luhan nodded sullenly.

“Kris, where’s La-“

“It was horrible,” Luhan continued.

“I can’t see La-“

“I had to run for so long.”

“Lay-“

“It was so tiring, I swear.”

“Your bro-“

“Lucky I play soccer.”

Hana sighed. Clearly she wasn’t getting anywhere, how could she when no one was even listening to her? She stood in silence and she scanned the crowd and inwardly sulked at the fact that she couldn’t see Lay anywhere. But then she wondered, why was she looking for him anyway? It’s not like they were a couple anymore then- no, they were still friends. Friends look for each other during graduation ceremonies.

“Hey, I was wondering if I could grab Hana for a while?” Kris suddenly said and the said girl shot him a look.

“Hana?” Sehun asked, “Yeah, sure.”

Before Hana could tell what was happening, she was led by Kris through a pool of students until she was standing before three people. She recognized Fei immediately, she had been seeing her for so long after all. But it took her a while to register that the person standing next to her was her husband, Lay’s and Kris’s father. And then finally, she realised that the person she had been looking for was right next to her. Hana looked at Lay who was beaming with the certificate in his hand. His dimple dipping more than usual as he smiled and congractulated her.

“You’ve already met our parents,” Lay gestured toward the people and Hana nodded.

“I have. It’s great to see you again,” she said greeting them. Fei, knowing everything, felt as proud of Hana as she did for Lay. Hana’s records showed that she had dropped out briefly and planned on not going to school at all until Junmi had forced her. But now, looking at her smile and talk and, most of all, graduate made her feel a rush of victory.

“Congractulations on graduating little miss,” his father said, “it’s good to see all of you pass this mile stone.”

Hana bowed gratefully, “Thank you, sir.”

She didn’t know what to do next. She honestly also had no idea why Kris had dragged specifically her all the way here. Hana stole glances at Lay, assured he hadn’t noticed because he was busy talking to his dad. Hana almost wanted to ask Kris why she was here until a possibility popped up in her head. She met gazes with Fei who was smiling down at her and maybe she understood. Did her psychiatrist want to see her patient?

Well, ex- patient, sort of.

Hana was proved somewhat right when the lady patted her head affectionately and fixed her bangs, saying how proud she was over and over again.

“Mom,” Lay whined, “You haven’t you’re proud of me yet and I’m your son!”

Fei chuckled, “I’m proud of you.”

“Not fair.”

“Looks like mom’s prouder of Hana than she is of you,” Kris chortled making Lay frown deeper and Hana more confused.

“That’s because she’s special,” their mom said, “Isn’t she?”

Fei had turned to their father who nodded, “Of course she is!”

“Burn, bro. You ain’t special enough.”

“Hey-“

“Lay’s special too, you know!”

She did not just say that. Hana froze and hung open. Lay was staring at her, Kris was staring at her, their parents were staring at her, and Hana wanted nothing more to evaporate.

“I-uh- I mean, he uh- he studied through all the training and and and he had to work extra hard for everything and yea, I mean, that requires special effort. Doesn’t it? Like, look at everything he had to do, not everyone can do it that makes him special given all the stress-“

“We get it,” Kris cut in, “Relax.”

Hana wanted so much to wipe that smirk off his face. Hana had to make herself look at their parents but luckily they weren’t looking at her the same way. But Lay was. Hana wanted to choke herself to the least. Friends don’t go around saying that. Maybe they do, but in their case, they don’t.

“Kris, take a photo of us!” Fei called as she walked closer to Hana and draped her arm over the graduate’s shoulder. Hana was surprised but warmth soon exploded inside her chest, she could feel Fei’s affection toward her. Hana smiled widely next to her psychiatrist as Kris took their photo.

“Hey, I have a part in your treatment too.” Kris pointed and shoved the camera in Lay’s hands, “Take our photo.”

Hana laughed at Lay’s face. His expression was a mix of surprise and confusion as his brother came and stood next to her. Lay’s father patted his shoulder as his son reluctantly took a photo. He watched as Hana leaned her head toward his mother and smiled at the lense, she looked so pretty. Lay wanted to nab the opportunity of taking a photo with her but a bunch of lunatics he called his friends showed up. They demanded solo shots, and Lay, already stuck with the camera, took three each. The only person he was not so annoyed photographing was Hana.

“Give me that, I’ll take yours.” Kai offered and Lay lent him his camera as everyone else huddled up behind him. Three clicks and Kyungsoo dragged Hana and Baekhyun toward Lay.

“PHOTO OF THE ORIGINAL FOUR-O!” Baekhyun shouted and Kyungsoo stared.

“IT’S QUARTET, GENIUS.”

“Tell that to someone who cares.”

“You should know these-“

“STOP! FRICKIN! TALKING!”

“Sorry, Kai.” Lay and Hana apologized in unison and shared a look. Lay broke out into a smile and Hana looked to her feet. She thought she heard Bekhyun say, ‘not this again,’ but before she could ask, Kai called for their attention. He clicked a bunch of photos while Chanyeol and Jongdae gave them a thumbs up with every photo. After almost a dozen photos that Kai insisted they take, Hana thought picture taking was over for now.

How wrong she was.

“Hey wait wait wait!” Kai called and Hana paused; so did Lay. They didn’t notice Kyungsoo and Baekhyun slipping away.

“I think there’s something wrong with the lense. Could you guys please let me take a few trial shots?”

Now, Lay knew very well what was happening. It wouldn’t hurt acting oblivious, would it?

“Yeah, sure.”

Hana looked back and forth between the camera and Lay, “Huh?”

“Photo, Hana. Photo.” Kai said pointing to the camera and Hana grew nervous. Why a photo of only the two of them? It’s not like they were a couple anymore… Still, she shook her head and before she could protest, Lay was already by her side.

“Might as well click one.” He shrugged and Hana didn’t know why she nodded.

They were friends.

-

Sehun and Hana were running around the house. The winter festival, the day they had been preparing so hard for, was on the same day as their graduation. The moment they came home, the two collapsed on their beds for a quick nap before they’d have to panic again. Sehun refused to come out of the bathroom. Hana knew it was a mistake to let him shower first. He was taking ages and based on the time they had left, Hana would barely be ready.

“SEBRAT! YOU BETTER COME OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR I’LL-“

The bathroom door swung open, “Or you’ll what?”

Hana groaned and pushed him aside, locking the door and taking a quick shower. She tried to get out as soon as she could. Drying her hair with a towel, she ran to her room. The pyjamas she was wearing were clinging to her body since she hadn’t dried herself properly but she didn’t have the time.

Blame Sehun.

When Hana had arrived after the graduation ceremony, she had found a large box on her bed. Junmi had bought Hana a dress; it was a light shade of pastel pink. The dress was simple and it ended at her knees. The back was longer than the front by just a few inches. The waist had a silver chain belt around it and the neck was V shaped. Hana was in awe. She had originally planned on wearing the maroon dress Sehun and Luhan had got for her during their unicorn-confrence-turn-date plan.

Looking at the dress again, she couldn’t help but admire it. The fabric was so soft and the quarter sleeves were made of chiffon and she just didn’t want to ruin it. But she had to wear it, so she did. She paired a cardigan with it and opened the other small box she had received that day from Luhan.

A pair of light pastel pink heels. Hana figured they probably shopped together. They were high and with a heel strap to keep it in place. Yes, they were very pretty; and yes, they’ll be hell to walk in.

Hana decided to put the shoes on later. She changed into her dress, her hair slightly dried and stared at the mirror. How was she supposed to fix herself up? The only thing she ever learnt how to do was put eye-liner and marcara. She didn’t even have a lot of make up supplies to begin with. This was an important event. Parents, directors from universities, and the entire student boy was going to be there.

Hana chewed on her bottom lip, shouldn’t she make an effort today? She cursed herself for not shopping for make up before hand. She had settled for applying a layer of BB cream and her usual eye liner when Sehun knocked. Hana saw stared at his reflection.

“You’re done?”

Sehun was wearing a simple white button up shirt and blank jeans. His hair were messed up, but Hana figured that’s what he wanted in the first place. He ran his hand through them and Hana wondered how they still looked flawless.

“You look good,” he commented and she smiled.

“Thanks. You too.”

“You ready?”

Hana glanced back at her reflection, “Almost?”

“What’s with the question mark in your tone?”

“Do I look okay?” she asked with a nervous expression.

Sehun looked her over, “Pretty, but no.”

“No?”

“You’re hair look bad.”

“Okay…”

“And your liner is half way done.”

“That’s because you-“

“And you really need color-“

“I get it!”

 “You need help.”

“I KNOW!” she suddenly wailed. Hana couldn’t understand why Sehun was smirking at her crisis.

“What are you smirking at?” she narrowed her eyes. Her cousin shrugged and stood straighter.

“Remember when I said I’d always have your back?”

“Yeah…?” why was he bringing that up now?

“Well, I’m awesome.”

Hana raised her brow as Sehun pushed the door of her room wider. Hana’s eyes widened as she saw the person standing behind her brother.

“Yuri?”

“She asked if you wanted help,” Sehun beamed, “and I said hell yes.”

Hana wasn’t really paying attention to Sehun anymore, she was staring at the girl with the backpack in her hands. Yuri was wearing a black overcoat with denim jeans and for once, looked vastly different from Hana. Usually it was Yuri wearing bright dresses but this time it was different. Seeing that none of the girls were going to move, Sehun whispered, “She’s all yours,” in Yuri’s ear and left. But not before giving Yuri and encouraging smile.

“Hi?” Yuri said after minutes oh silence.

“Hey…”

“I knew you were participating in the show…with the guys and everything. And…i-um, I kind of figured out participants had to dress up and- so i- I thought you might need a little help. Because- you kow- I- yea…”

Hana had known Yuri for almost all her life, she had seen all her sides and phases. Yuri was hardly ever nervous. Right now, as she stood in front of Hana with crossed legs and bent head, she looked rare…and adorable.

So Hana, not being able to help it, laughed.

“Why are you laughing?” Yuri had asked after she whipped up her head. There was no bite in her tone, just curiousity and obvious self consciousness that made Hana giggle.

‘Is she laughing because of how pathetic I am?’

Hana shook her head, “It’s not what you think.”

Yuri looked around nervously. Hana smiled widely, “You look cute, that’s all. And since when do you stutter in front of me?”

Her friend looked like a fish out of water as she stared at Hana with surprise. When she had called Sehun, she felt scared. She was surprised when she heard how Sehun sounded, it was like nothing ever happened and she was the same annoying friend of Hana’s who bugged him until two years ago. And now, looking at how Hana was behaving, all smiles and friendly, she started thinking that maybe the past two days were a dream and that she was still asleep in her bed. But she wasn’t, Hana’s ringing laughter was very real.

“What?” Yuri blurted.

“What?” Hana asked back.

“Don’t- what are you doing?”

Hana looked back at her table that had her limited cosmetics scattered around, “Getting ready?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I know that you’re asking me an obvious question.”

“You’re not giving me an answer, though.”

“But I did.”

“It wasn’t the one I wanted.”

“What answer did you want then?”

“You know.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Oh, but do I?”

“This- what-,” Yuri dropped her bag and grabbed her temples. Hana smiled mischeviously.

“I’m sorry,” Hana suddenly said, “This happens when you stay around Kai and Baekhyun for too long.”

Yuri snorted, “Yeah, you normally would give straight answers.”

“Well, this is my new normal so…” Hana shrugged with a small smile. Yuri felt regret settle inside her chest. She missed out on so much of Hana’s life and it was all her fault. She had no one to blame but herself. Yuri couldn’t believe she made Hana go through all that just because of a pathetic misunderstanding. How could she ignore Hana for two years? Maybe if she had swallowed her pride and knocked Hana’s door again, or if she had approached Hana in school, things would’ve definitely been different.

“Stop frowning.”

Hana was frowinig when Yuri looked back at her, a visible frown on her face. Hana had an idea what she was thinking.

“You came to doll me up, right?”

Yuri nodded, more confused than reluctant, “Yes?”

“Then hurry up! You want us to be late?”

Hana was holding a portion of her hair while Yuri curled her strands. They didn’t utter a word, the soft sound of music resonating from Hana’s laptop filled the silence. Hana’s eyes were fixed on her hair, not knowing where else to look. Yuri kept her concentration on Hana’s hair. It felt familiar and odd at the same time.

“I like your hair,” Hana said glancing at Yuri in the mirror, “the highlights, they look pretty.”

Yuri had a small smile when she replied, “Thanks. Took me a while to get used to them. The color change was a bit shocking.”

“But they turned out just fine,” Hana smiled widely, “They look really cute. When did you get them?”

“Late last year.”

“Your mom was cool with it?” Hana raised an amused brow.

Yuri chuckled, “No, she almost threw a fit the second she saw my head. Dad calmed her down, though.”

Hana laughed. She could imagine Yuri’s parents, always lively and cheerful. “How are they?”

“Mom and dad? They’re good.” Yuri then added with a bit reluctance, “They ask about you.”

“And what do you say?”

Yuri’s speed of curling had slowed and she took longer to brush her fingers through Hana’s curled strands, “I tell them you’re fine.”

“They don’t know?”

“I never told them,” Yuri shook her head, “I don’t really know why I didn’t. They don’t entirely believe me, anyway. You haven’t come over in two years, we hardly used to go by two days before.”

Hana slowly nodded and focused back on hair. Yuri started curling again, slower and more distracted than before. They sat in silence for a while, songs changing in the background. There was one song in Hana’s playlist that she had forgotten about when she played the music.

“Is that Lay’s voice?” Yuri sounded surprised. Hana nodded, slightly hesitant because she didn’t want anyone else to hear that song. He had sent it to her while he was at camp, one of his voice notes that had somehow taken a turn to him singing the same song he sang for her at the Cocktail Club. It was special and it was personal and no one but Hana could hear it. The clip was still on the message part (Hana didn’t crop it befor she transferred because she found the whole thing cute) when she abruptly got up and changed to another song. Yuri understood, and that uncomfortable feeling that picked at her doubled.

 “How’s Lay?”

Hana looked at her reflection as she sat down, “Him? He’s fine.”

There was something off about Hana’s voice, Yuri didn’t know if she had the authority to point it out. But then again…

“Something doesn’t feel right.”

“What do you mean?” Hana didn’t mean to sound irritated, she really didn’t. But she couldn’t help it.

“I- nothing. Forget I said anything.”

Hana nodded, no smile this time and stared at her free hand, her other arm felt a little numb from holding her hair. They sat in silence again. Hana didn’t bother making small talk. Yuri may not know it, but she had hit the wrong topic. But the thing is, that Yuri did know it, and even if she didn’t, the obvious frown on Hana’s face gave it away.

Hana’s hair were almost done. Yuri slowed down; after hair came makeup, how was she going to do her face in this awkward situation. Yuri was considering her options when she heard a sigh. She may have been mistaken, but Yuri thought she heard Hana mumble something along the lines of, ‘I didn’t want this.’

“Yuri,” Hana called and she stiffened. The last curled strand fell off her fingers as she stared Hana’s head.

“You messed up. Big time. There were times when I needed you the most and you weren’t there. You behaved pathetically by believing a guy than your own best friend, you didn’t check up on me even once, you didn’t visit after you found out my parents died, and you messed up the only relationship I had going.”

Yuri was well aware of all the crap she’s done, but having Hana point it out to her stung more than she thought it might. The last time Hana and Yuri had talked, Hana had been telling her that it was fine until Yuri mentioned Lay. But now Hana was throwing all the darts and they all hit bull’s eye. She hung her head low in shame and to hide her glossy eyes when Hana spoke again.

“You didn’t even say hi to me in the hallways. And let’s not mention all the mean things you’ve said too. I shouldn’t even let you in my room.”

A tear slipped down her cheek.

“Then why is it that I still want to be friends with you?”

Yuri furrowed her brows in confusion and stayed in the same position for several seconds before looking up. Hana was serious, there was no smile on her face. Yuri felt at loss of words, she wasn’t sure if she heard Hana right.

“The point is, I know. I know everything bad that you did, because of you I’ve felt worthless but still, there’s this odd little thing sitting in the corner of my brain that makes me want you to be my friend again. Isn’t that messed up?”

The question was probably rhetorical but Yuri nodded nonetheless.

“I wasn’t going to bring this up. I thought we’d be able to get through with this pretending that nothing really happened but I guess we can’t do that, not in this case. I’m hurt, and offended and annoyed but I still want you to be a part of my life. I- we can’t be the same as before, I’ll tell you this. Maybe a few years later but not now, not while everything’s still fresh. But- ugh, this is so confusing. I don’t know what I’m saying.”

Hana spun in her chair, making Yuri jump backward in surprise, “I know you feel horrible about yourself, but tell yourself it’s in the past and try to let it go.”

Yuri was still staring.

Hana sighed, “Let’s start anew?”

Hana held out her hand, ready to have Yuri shake it. “Hi, I’m Kim Hana. Nice to meet you.”

It was then when Yuri blinked, “Whoa- wait, what?”

“What?”

“You’re going to let it all go? Just like that?” she asked incredulously. Hana thought it over for a moment and nodded.

“Well not just like that, but yeah.”

Yuri’s shock only amplified, “Uh- no? You shouldn’t. I’m a horrible person.”

“You’re a good person who did horrible stuff. Everybody does horrible stuff once in a while, doesn’t make them a bad person. Chanyeol broke Suho’s limited edition Star Wars lightsaber, that didn’t make him a horrible person. Just a really good person who made a horrible mistake.”

Yuri had no idea who Suho was but that didn’t matter right now, “Breaking a lightsaber isn’t that horrible.”

“It was Star Wars,” Hana pointed as if it would make a difference.

“No.”

“And limited edition.”

“Yeah, still no.”

“You’re only saying that because you don’t know Suho.”

“Hana-“

“My point is, I forgive you. And I would appreciate it if you could forget about what happened.”

Yuri stared with agape, “You want me to forget?”

“I want you to forget what happened, not how it made you feel. Just so, you know, the next time you’re about to do something like that again, you’ll think twice.”

Yuri’s head felt heavy, what was Hana doing? Was she really willing to be her friend again? Yuri would be lying if she said she didn’t want that, but she’d also be lying if she said she thought she deserved being her friend again. Hana locked gazes with Yuri, determined to get her point across. Yuri was confused beyond imagination.

“You should be hating me,” she mumbled, “You should be shouting at me to get out of your room. Why are you asking me to be friends with you?”

Hana chewed on her bottom lip before replying, “Because I want it to be over.”

Yuri didn’t quite get it, so Hana explained. “I’m done, with everything. We’ll all be going to universities, we’ll all have different paths. I don’t want to leave highschool with any bitter memories, especially one of losing a friend.”

“I don’t- I can’t believe this.”

“What?”

“I should be the one saying all that; asking you to be my friend again. Why are you doing it?”

Hana shrugged, “I just want to know you’re a part of my life again. Yuri, I don’t know what will happen in the future. We’ve been through a lot, and we’ve been together a great fraction of time, I’m not willing to give that up. Ten years of friendship is worth more to me than two years of misunderstandings.”

“But those two years held the worst events.”

“And the ten years held the best,” Hana reasoned, “Why are you so insistent on not becoming friends?”

“Because I don’t deserve it.”

“Now you just sound like me,” Hana smiled. Yuri tilted her head, “Uh…”

“When I first got together with Lay, I was thoroughly convinced, and still am, that I didn’t deserve him. I remember giving Baekhyun and Kris – he’s Lay’s older brother, by the way– all these reasons why i shouldn’t be with him and both of them kept telling me otherwise. At one point Kris was like, ‘do you want me to have a problem with you?’ Then I realised what I was doing. I believed them and went along with it. It’s a different story how it didn’t end well but,” she shrugged, “doesn’t matter now.”

It did matter, but Yuri didn’t say it out loud. Yuri had noticed from the little reaction a minute ago that Lay was among the touchy topics. Which brought up another question.

“If you don’t mind,” Yuri cautiously started, “I have a question.”

She continued after Hana nodded, “You aren’t as mad at me for the misunderstanding, you even forgave me for not showing up after your parents d-died, but then- I mean-“

“Why did I shout at you when you mentioned the Lay thing?”

Hana asked for her and Yuri nodded. “It’s because I kind of understood why you were staying away from my life when you did everything else. Sure the reason was pathetic but at least it was a reason. What got me angry was that while you avoided me and ignored my existence every step of the way, you randomly decided to meddle in my relationship. I thought you were bent on pretending I don’t exist, I even thought all those warnings you gave me were empty. I was so convinced that you wouldn’t be so stupid, that you would suddenly involve yourself and ruin what I had.”

“But I did.”

“Yeah, you did. I want us to get over all that. The rift is too big, but at least this would a start.”

Yuri stayed quiet for a while, “Will you take me to their-“ She choked, she couldn’t bring herself to say it. But Hana understood and nodded. Her parents wouldn’t want her fighting with Yuri over anything, they knew their friendship. Yuri had her head hung low but the tiny movement of her shoulders gave her away.

Hana approached her and palced a comforting hand on her shoulder, “No hard feelings?”

Yuri’s spoke with a thick voice, “I can’t believe you’re the one saying that.” She looked up, met Hana’s eyes and something hit home. “No hard feelings.”

“Good,” Hana smiled, “Now let’s get ready or we’ll be late.”

-

A/N:

hi.

so...next is probably last...

i've been writing this since almost....two weeks i guess. i really didnt have a lot of time before.

hope you guys like it  T_T