chapter two
Be Back
chapter two
"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you to school?" Hong Seulyoung, Han Joohee mom, worriedly looked at her pale daughter, preparing for school. It was her first day of the second semester. Five months to go, Joohee will be graduating.
"I'm fine." Joohee managed a smile, despite of her unstable heartbeats. Palpitations are just normal for her because of anemia, but it just got worse since mid-June. She's been paler and been passing out whenever she does any heavy activity.
"Joohee-ah, you can relax. I won't push you to go in the SKY."
Wow. Do I have to be this sick for you to make me loosen up? Joohee just smiled and touched her mother's hands. "Umma, I also want to study in any of the SKY Universities. Gokjongmal. I won't stress out."
"You'll be late. Don't forget to take blood supplements." Ms. Hong gestured her hands to shoo her daughter.
Joohee quickly turned around and hurried to the door before her mom can hear her sobs. Her parents, and so is her sister, had high expectations for her— graduate in Wan Jeon High School; go in SKY or KAIST; be someone who will make Korea a better country; marry well; be rich.
"Parents expect because they want what's the best for us," Soojin would say. And then she'd joke, "Great expectations leads to great disappointment."
God, I miss Soojin.
"Andwae." Joohee whispered, wiping hot, angry tears on her face. I hate her. I hate her for not telling me about what she feels. I'm supposed to be one of her best friends. I was her therapist.
Months ago, her best friend, Jung Soojin, committed suicide without any letters for them or notes. She's been really happy during that week, until her last day. On that day, as she remembers, Soojin looks well, until their friends found out about her mutilated wrist. She just walked out of the room after she got her grades and the next week came, Joohee just learned that her friend died without any letters left.
"Soojin's suicide letter," she heard Sungyeol said on the day the school announced her death. There was suddenly a familiar high-pitched giggle from the speakers before everything became silent. The school secretary's voice was heard next.
"I'm sorry for not looking over the announcement room. Apparently, a student pulled a prank." They never said who it was; but the giggle that was so similar to the ones she used to hear everyday made her intrigued.
"Joohee-ah!" Someone yelled. She wiped the rest of her tears before looking back. It was Sunggyu.
"Hi." He yelled while running towards her.
"Hi." Her voice croaked.
"I heard you were hospitalized this summer. Are you alright now?"
"Yeah. It's nothing serious. Just my anemia." She sighed, Was she the only one who got stressed out during the break? Why does everyone looks normal like nothing happened?
Six days after Soojin's death.
"Do you think Soojin is sick or something?" Junghee suddenly asked out of the blue while they were doing a groupwork. Typical Junghee, who is always concern for her friends.
"Molla. I texted her and she haven't replied." Aeyoung pressed her lips together and fixed her eyes
"Didn't she change her phone last week?" Joohee frowned. She surely saw Soojin texting someone with a white smartphone larger than the one that is studded with plastic gems. "I don't know if she also changed her number."
"You know what?" Aeyoung stood up and start packing her things. Let's go visit Soojin and bring her homework."
Just as Aeyoung suggested, the three of them went to Jung Soojin's apartment, for the first time, with the help of Junghee, who lives nearby. The five-story building was small and is identical to the other buildings they passed by. As they reached the fourth floor, they heard a high-pitched laughter that send icy shivers up Joohee's spine. She heard Soojin laughed like that for a few times but when she told her that it was annoying, Soojin stopped.
"That must be Soojin." Aeyoung looked at the numbers above the doors and found 402. "Aish. This girl haven't texted us and she has the guts to have fun while we're here to help her in her homeworks."
"Soojin-ah!" Junghee knocked while Joohee pressed the buzzer. No one answered. Five minutes after buzzing, no one answered. They pressed the buzzer again and ten minutes later, no one opened for them.
"Are you sure Soojin is here?" Joohee stood up from the floor and pressed her ears on the door as if she might here something.
"It's already late." Aeyoung sighed. She lives on Dohwa-dong, located on the far end of Mapo District.
"Let's just come back tomorrow." Junghee stretched her arms up for Joohee to lift. "Kaja."
As they walk towards the stairs, they ran into a lady from her mid-thirties clad in a black funeral dress. When Joohee was on her fifth step on the stairs, she stopped, recognizing the woman as Soojin's mom that she met once in a parents' meeting. Junghee, who seemed to recognize Soojin's mom also stopped and started to turn back. They all went back and before Soojin's mom could close the door, they reached it and stopped her.
"Eomonim, aren't you Soojin's umma?" Junghee asked.
"I am." The ahjumma nodded. She looked stressed, compared to the youthful mom Joohee saw in the meeting . "Are you her classmates?"
Nodding, Yeonmi , Joohee just remembered the name, opened the door wider and let them in. Without saying anything she disappeared to the kitchen and came back with three glasses of orange juice and a plate of cookies.
"Uhm." Junghee started to speak first. "Soojin. Where is Soojin?"
"Soojin is," Yeonmi paused seeming to find the right words. Her eyes became teary"Your friend Soojin is, is gone."
"Gone?" Joohee frowned. "Where?"
Aeyoung who is the touchiest of them all bursted into tears.
"She is gone," Soojin's mom just said.
"Yah, Han Joohee." A voice called, bringing Joohee out of her reverie. Sunggyu's hand waved in front of her face. "Are you sure you're alright? You look like you're about to faint."
"Huh?" She looked up on his curious and concerned face and nodded. "I'm alright."
"Why did you just stop there?"
Ignoring his question, Joohee reached for her phone when she heard a buzzing sound from her bag. Frowning on the weird message that came, she reread it and dropped her bag when she grasp from whom the text message was from.
"I miss you, Joohee-ah. How are you doing?" — Jung Soojin
She checked the number again, her fingers shaking and heart hammering aloud in her chest. 010-0911-0528. Jung Soojin's old number.
Author's Note: a boring chapter. i just want to show Joohee because she will play a big role in the story
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