A few days after the breakup, Haeri's sitting alone at lunch when she gets nudged and a familiar face settles in next to her.

"Lina?" Haeri can barely keep the surprise out of her voice. Lately, she and Lina have barely talked much. She isn't even really sure they're friends anymore.

Lina breaks out into her old, familiar smile, and suddenly Haeri feels better. She's missed having Lina to depend on and talk to. Maybe now that she's broken up with Sehun, she'll stop being so selfish.

"Haeri!" Lina exclaims in response, and gives Haeri a big hug. "How have you been lately?"

The conversation continues like this, strangely formal, and Haeri and Lina navigate cautiously around each other, rediscovering their closeness. Inevitably, the conversation turns towards the subject Haeri really doesn't want to talk about.

"So..." Lina begins. "How are you and Sehun doing? I haven't seen you guys around lately. Or not together, at least."

"Ah," Haeri says, awkwardly. "Well, we sort of... broke up... a couple days ago."

"Oh, Haeri," Lina sighs when Haeri's eyes start to water. She reaches out and delivers another hug. "I had heard, but I didn't want to, you know, intrude... I'm so sorry."

"No worries," Haeri laughs, half smiling, half crying. "I don't think we would have been together much longer anyways."

Lina pats her back sympathetically, and Haeri quickly changes the topic. "How about you and Kris?"

Her friend makes a face. "We kind of broke up, too. Just yesterday."

Cue the 'I'm so sorries' and 'oh no's' and big hugs. Their roles have been flipped now, though Haeri can't help but notice that Lina doesn't seem half as upset as one might expect.

When she brings this up tentatively, Lina waves it off. "We weren't getting that serious, anyways, and it was a mutual thing. So it really wasn't that bad." Haeri nods in understanding and wishes her breakup could have been just as clean.

"Anyways," Lina continues, looking at Haeri sincerely, "now that all that mess is over, I'd really like us to be friends again. We've been pretty isolated these past few months, I'd say."

"Yeah," Haeri agrees fervently. "It can be just like old times again."

They smile at each other, and Haeri's heart feels lighter than it's been in a long time.

I wonder, Haeri muses as she heads toward her locker, what happened to those horrible text messages. It's strange, and she's only just realized it, but the messages have come to an abrupt stop.

Hm. Weird.

When she opens her locker, she is surprised by a sweet scent and a small bundle of daisies that sits inside. The note reads,

Be happy and healthy

I am always thinking of you

There is no name, but she knows who it's from. With a sigh, she tucks the flowers carefully into her pocket and closes the locker, taking care to lock it this time. She'll need to start locking her locker every time, now. The flowers are lovely, but that part of her life is over. Haeri nods to herself regretfully upon these thoughts and then heads home.

Sehun remains the way he has always been: determined. He finds ways to sneak her more flowers, or do nice things for her like holding open the door to the classroom. Haeri tries to ignore him as best as she can.

When Lina finds out, she expresses her disapproval outright.

"Haeri," she scolds, shaking her head, "you need to get over him. Break off all connections. There's nothing wrong with missing him a little. But you don't just miss him, do you? You keep all the things he gives you!"

"I know, Lina," Haeri mumbles quietly. She puts her cheeks on her hands and closes her eyes. "It's just so difficult. I don't know why he even still bothers with me."

"Snap out of it, girl," Lina retorts. "It'll be better for you in the long run, you know that."

"Yeah, yeah..."

So life goes on like this, normal and strange and boring and bittersweet, and spring break comes before they know it.

Haeri revels in sleeping in until noon and relaxing, though, really, all the extra time is causing her more problems. Because when she's by herself with a lot of nothing to do, her thoughts always return to one person in particular, and just how much she misses him.