In the absence of the Mochi girl who usually woke up very early in the morning, Nako was about to lose all form of sanity as she was greeted with a sticky note with a message saying:

Nako, I’ll be leaving with Eunbi-unnie for the next few days. Take care of yourself.

Clearly, it wasn’t the best message to start someone’s day with. Nako was pacing back and forth until she decided to wake the slumbering Sakura from the other room.

“Sakuchan, wake up this is an emergency!” Nako said barging in the room.

“Nako, it’s only 9 am in the morning what do you want other than height?!” Sakura yawned, earning a punch in the gut from the shorter girl.

“Sakuchan! This is no time for jokes! Hiichan is missing! She’s with Eunbi-unnie and they just left for the next few days!” Nako explained the situation, complety waking her drowsy friend.

“EH?! WHAT? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” Sakura exclaimed.

“Yes, sakuchan and we need to know where hiichan is!” Nako shouted. The two Japanese girls were being extremely loud.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE HIICHAN COULD BETRAY ME LIKE THIS!” Sakura clutching her top. “I WANTED TO GO ON A TRIP WITH THE DOCTOR TOO!” Nako couldn’t believe what Sakura was saying, she could only facepalm at the sound of her whines for not being able to go somewhere with her crush.

“YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE! WHAT IF HITOMI DIES?!” Nako shook her friend to reality.

“OH .” Sakura closed with her hands.

“Good lord, Jesus! It’s so early for you to make such noise, you’ll disturb the guests!” Chaeyeon came running in with Chaewon. The two were wearing traditional Hanboks which surprised the two Japanese girls.

“Wait, there are guests?” Sakura asked.

“Yes, there are guests, they just arrived earlier this morning.” Chaeyeon rolled her eyes.

“Wah, yabai, then you guys will be busy now?!” Sakura whined. “Who will I play with now huhuhu”

“UGH SAKUCHAN ITS LIKE YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT HIICHAN!” Nako screamed.

“Calm your , Nako, she won’t die. I saw her sticky notes, she said she just needs to breathe. She’ll be back soon.” Sakura ruffled the worrying girl’s hair.

“Besides, she’s with Eunbi-unnie.” A calm voice emerging from Chaewon who was silently watching the three talk. “She’ll be fine.”

The three immediately fell silent upon noticing the girl, her face had the usual frown she always sported, Sakura noticed that she seldom shows that when she was around Hitomi but she chose to stay quiet about it. Being the person who edits and is behind Hiichan’s videos, it wasn’t that hard to pick that up.

“Chaewon is right. We should calm down, Nako. Hiichan and Eunbi-unnie aren’t dumb to get themselves involved in anything stupid, unlike us.” Sakura smiled.

“Fine.. I’ll just wait until they return.” Nako was hesitant to answer that but she remembered Eunbi’s words that panicking won’t do any help.

“Okay, while you’re waiting for their return Nako, Eunbi-unnie said you should report to the clinic to meet with the new Yuchiri Doctor.” Chaeyeon passed a file case to Nako.

“Anyway, we’ll be a bit busy for a few days, so please feel free to chill around, we’ll play soon.” Chaeyeon and Chaewon bid farewell, leaving Nako and Sakura alone.

“Oh , I forgot about the patients!” Nako rushed to the clinic, forgetting how she was panicking earlier about her first and original patient, Hitomi.

Sakura thought that with Hitomi being gone for a few days would be good, since she’d be away from Minjoo. Nako had always been a worrywart and to see her do something that doesn’t involve her and Hiichan was something relieving from the oldest girl. Sakura had always known that Nako was a genius in her chosen profession that sometimes she thinks the two of them are holding her back. It doesn’t take someone smart to notice that either, she’s glad that with Eunbi, she’s able to get Nako and Hitomi to a better place, something she can’t do. Which is probably why she really likes the older girl, beyond her looks and big heart.

 “Ah. I guess, I’m alone again.” Sakura whispered under her breath.

“This is fine.” Sakura stretched her arms and went straight to her room.

+++

Nako rushed to get ready. With her short legs, she barely made it before 10am to the clinic. To her surprise, it was already open, and an unfamiliar car was parked infront of it. She opened the door and was shocked to see a goddess reading through files with a lollipop in . She had long hair and a serious face, totally indulged in the patient’s files.

“Uhm.” Nako slowly made her way inside the room.

“Hello..” Nako stopped in front of the Doctor’s table. “Dr. Eunbi isn’t here right now, can I do something to help you?” Nako asked.

The girl in question stopped what she was doing and scanned the girl from head to toe. Nako was feeling a little uncomfortable as she felt she was being judged by the girl.

“Ah. You must be nurse Nako. Eunbi told me all about you.” The girl stood up and reached her hand to the shorter girl.

“I’m Dr. Kang. Kang Hyewon. Eunbi’s girlfriend. I used to cover for the village doctor here for quite sometime, but I had some other businesses to take care of.” Hyewon introduced herself. Nako shook her hand and somehow couldn’t believe it. Nako had heard of her name before, probably through her mom, Sasshi, telling her about a young doctor who had a stoic but pretty face. From what Nako could remember, she was an heir to a big medical group, and presented various papers in different places of the world. She could remember her mom being in awe when she presented in Japan.  

“Eunbi and I used to be classmates. She was a brilliant student, I knew she’d do well as a doctor. I liked her a lot. Now, she told me there was a young nurse that would help me while I fill her shoes here, I reckon that’s you?” Hyewon talked to Nako, circling the clinic and looking at her with intense eyes. She looked intimidating and Nako was still speechless at how things were going, she was finally meeting with one of the brightest minds in the medical field. until she stopped in front of the girl, rummaging through her pockets.

“It’s so nice to meet you. She told me how brilliant you are and I can’t wait to work with you.” Hyewon took out a lollipop from her pocket and gave Nako the sincerest smile she could give. Instantly, Nako’s nerves was loosened and she reciprocated the smile.

“It’s nice to meet you, Doctor Kang. I’ll be in your care! I’m so stoked to be able to work with you!” Nako bowed and tried to conceal her excitement.

“So, before we leave for our rounds, can you fill me in on the patients updates here?” Dr. Kang led Nako to the office and discussed what went on for the past months of staying there. Honestly, Nako was really ecstatic to be able to meet a well-known doctor. She was amazed enough to be working with Eunbi but now she was with Hyewon, a genius in the field.

“Yes, Doctor Kang!” Nako smiled as she followed the doctor inside.

After an hour of discussing what went down at the village, someone went inside the clinic. Dr. Kang allowed Nako to entertain the guests as she was unpacking her instruments and items for the job.

“Is anybody inside?” She asked. Nako went to the reception area.

“Ah, Yena, what brings you here?” Nako asked.

“Well.. Minjoo said her head hurts and we were wondering if there’s any aspirin here.” Yena scratched her nose. Nako was internally debating whether she wanted to see Minjoo or not, but she wanted to fix all loose ends for everyone’s piece of mind as well, after remembering her conversation with Yuri.

“Well, we do have them here, but is it alright if Minjoo comes inside as well?” Nako asked, making Yena’s mouth form a shocked expression.

Yena called the two figures waiting outside of the clinic. Yuri greeted Nako with a smile, while Minjoo’s head was down low. Nako allowed Minjoo to have a seat, making Yuri and Yena smile at Nako’s welcoming gesture. Minjoo made her way to the seat, almost tripping on the extension cord wire, making Nako smile at Minjoo’s clumsy side. She hasn’t changed.

“Minjoo-ah. It’s been a long time since I saw you. How have you been?” Nako asked. Minjoo raised her head.

“Nakochan.. You aren’t mad at me?” Minjoo asked, she still had that puppy eyes that could make any cold heart melt.

“Hmmm.” Nako paused at the sudden question.

“I guess you still are.”  Minjoo proceeded to bow her head, making Nako panic.

“No! no- noooooo! I’m not mad at you. I was just confused.. I guess.” Nako kneeled down, making sure she meets Minjoo’s eyes.

“I just remember how much of a mess HIichan was.”

“And seeing her be like that hurt..”

“Honestly, I don’t understand it either.. and seeing you still hurting like this…”

“It hurts me too..”

“So, let me understand… Me and Sakura..”

“But. I’m not mad at you, Minjoo. I could never be mad at you, even if I wanted to. I can’t.” Nako hugged Minjoo in her seat. Deep down, Minjoo was still a precious friend the three of them had and forgiveness was always the choice. She figured they all needed it.

“Really?” Minjoo reciprocated the hug.

“Really.” Nako let go. “It’ll be hard to convince Sakuchan.. but I know it’ll be better soon. Let’s talk about it soon, yeah?” Nako looked at the taller girl.

“Nako.. Thank you.. I’m sorry.” Minjoo apologized.

“It’s fine. First lets get you checked up. Dr. Eunbi left with Hiichan today.”

“Huh? Where’d they go?” Minjoo clearly looking at a disarray at the mention of her name.

“I’m not sure, myself? They said they’d be back in a few days. Anyway, how long are you staying here?” Nako asked while taking her vital stats.

“I took a hiatus, a month or so I guess?”

“That long? How have you been lately?” Nako asked.

“Terrible.”

“Oh. Why?”

“I realized a lot of things.. I mean it’s late that I only realized it now but… Hiichan really is important to me, and even if my career grew exponentialy, not having her in my life has made me sadder than I thought I’d be..”

Hearing those words from Minjoo’s mouth made her remember the first time she heard of Minjoo and the lesson she had taught her.

+++

(Pls play this for added feels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWQ1xOfUNYQ)

Nako usually went back to her home near the hospital and played with Sakura and Nako in the weekends, but as time went by, her visits became less frequent. Due to exams however, she didn’t have much time to go home for almost three months.

“Nakochan!” Sakura took the liberty of fetching Nako from the station.

“Sakuchan!!” Nako waved back. “Nice car! When did you get the license?” Nako was proud of Sakura for actually overcoming her fear of driving.

“You see, since you were gone, I had to go to different places to fix my papers. It was tiring and my driver quit and now I had to do it.” Sakura pouted.

“Wah, Sakuchan, I’m proud of you!” Nako jumped to the passenger’s seat and hugged the older girl. Then she realized the sleeping peach at the back seat.

“Oh, nani? Hiichan’s here! Why is she asleep!” Nako puffed her cheeks.

“Well, she insisted that she’d pick you up even when she couldn’t sleep last night because..” Sakura was looking at Hitomi fondly at the backseat. Nako thought that she was a little excited that she’s coming home after a long break, only for Sakura to break it to her that it was something else.

“Well, I guess, seeing it yourself is better than me explaining it to you.” Sakura took the camera from the sleeping girl’s hands.

“She has a new hobby. Look.” Sakura let Nako navigate through the taken photos from the camera. There she saw a pretty girl who had an angelic smile. She stopped at one photo. A photo captured by someone else, where Hitomi was there. Smiling, her gaze at the pretty girl, and it was enough of a message for Nako to know that the girl she had been taking care of since they were kids.

She never knew that Hitomi’s smile could break her heart.

“Who’s this?” Nako asked.

“Her new hobby.” Sakura laughed. “Kidding aside, she’s Kim Minjoo. Hitomi met her at a nearby park. I got shocked to find out about it but they’ve been hanging out during the time we were busy.” Sakura looked at the rearview mirror.

“She’s pretty, am I right?” Sakura asked.

“Yes she is.” Nako answered. Giving the biggest and fakest smile to Sakura.

Days passed. The three childhood friends enjoyed Nako’s short semestral break. She got to meet Minjoo, Yuri and Yena. She found out that the three girls were in Japan for their parent’s work. Being Koreans in Japan made them close to each other.

It was a day before Nako had to return back to the university. Nako quietly observed them as they played at the park. Hitomi liked going on photowalks, taking random pictures of different subjects, but now that she has Minjoo, it seems like only she mattered. The only piece of art that was worth taking pictures of. She saw how genuinely happy Hitomi was, doing that for Minjoo. And that was enough for Nako to be happy for her best friend.

She looked at Sakura who seemed happy that their circle of friends was growing. She now had a gaming buddy, Yena. The two played on their Nintendo ds, PSP, and playstation nonstop. Nako had a growing affection for her three Korean friends, somehow, each of them complemented one another.

Someone sat beside her. Yuri was eating a piece of bread and offered some to Nako.

“Does it hurt?”

“I try not to be hurt.”

“How can you though? You’re in love with her.” Yuri nonchalantly answered. Nako was shocked that Yuri knows.

“How’d you say that?” Nako asked.

“I just know. Loving your bestfriend ever since.” Yuri mentioned, looking at Yena’s direction, making Nako silent in her seat.

“So, Nakochan, does it hurt?” Yuri asked once again.

“More than I thought it would.” Nako bowed her head down.

“Ah. I didn’t mean to make you cry or what. Hey shh, they might think I’m bullying you or something.” Yuri pulled Nako someplace else. The two quietly munched on bread and Yuri was first to break the silence.

“So, yeah, I’ve been noticing.” Yuri coughed. “You like Hitomi.”

“Yeah. Maybe I do.”

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