The dinner bell at the orphanage always rang at six, and at six, all the residents of  ‘Open Arms’ were expected down in the dining hall no exceptions, or face punishment if they didn’t.

 

Fourteen year old Park Seong Yeon, stood by the door of the solitary confinement room.

Really it wasn’t fair that Matron Kang kept the weaker residents isolated from everyone else..

 

The girl had managed to swipe two dinner rolls from the kitchen when she was doing laundry, since it was her turn to do it, it was also the perfect opportunity to sneak some bread to her sister, okay, Ha Song wasn’t her blood sister, but they had landed in the orphanage together, (At that time Ha Song was eight, now she was twelve.)

She knocked gently on the door, two short knocks followed by five more knocks, their code for when they wanted to talk to each other. Also code for Matron is out of the zone.

 

The door opened shortly after, and Ha Song stood there, her long hair around her face, a thin shawl around her shoulders. Ha Song looked skinnier, paler, her night dress practically fell off her, revealing the effects her frequent illnesses had on her body.

 

The younger had always been sickly, ever since she arrived, she never got to mix with anyone, anyone but Seong Yeon, who had come across the girl on one of her ‘little adventures’ into the halls she wasn’t supposed to be in,

They became really close, through their love of books, drama and make believe.. The two girls had even created their own fantasy world, where Ha Song was a Princess in a far off country, and Seong Yeon was the bravest and only female knight, who protected the princess from the most evil of dangers.

They’d even wrote the story on stray pages Matron had thrown away, after Seong Yeon had managed to swipe a pencil from the teacher’s cupboard after school one day.

 

“Seong Yeon unnie?” She said softly, putting her head around the door, “You came” She smiled brightly, despite her weak appearance and opened the door, stepping back so the older could enter.

 

The same feeling settled over Seong Yeon as she stepped into the room, the feeling of loneliness crashing over her like a wave.

“Ha Songie, next time I come, I’ll bring something warm for you, like maybe I could sneak the small heater from  our room in here.” She looked around the dim room, “And maybe I can get you a brighter light.”

 

Ha Song shook her head, and closed the door after them, making her way over and pulling a small cord hanging from the ceiling, which made a bulb turn on, sending a shadowy light on everything around her.

 

“I’ve enough unnie, and besides, I don’t want you to get caught.” She turned away from the older girl and coughed into her fist. Seong Yeon frowned, not liking how chesty she sounded, not to mention, it was almost winter now and this room was not a place for a sick person. Especially someone as sick as Ha Song.

 

“Ha Song… you can’t be expected to spend another winter here… last time you almost caught pneumonia.” she sighed, taking Ha Song by the wrist and sitting her on the bed.

“I brought dinner. I know it’s not much, but you need to eat something, it pisses me off that Matron doesn’t let you eat properly, you need to gain your strength back, or you’ll never be out of this damn room!” She exploded.

 

“Hush unnie, I’m okay. Please don’t worry.” She smiled and took one of the rolls gratefully, “Thank you.”

 

She looked away and scratched her head a little embarrassed, “There’s nothing to thank me for, Ha Songie, just eat.”

 

She nodded and took a bite, her eyes closing and she literally gasped in excitement, “This is really good.”

 

She gave a half smile, and positioned herself so she was sitting next to the younger, frail girl and managed to drape her shawl over the both of them, hoping her body heat would help her friend somewhat.

 

“Where were we in our story unnie?” Ha Song asked excitedly, eyes sparkling.

 

This made the older happy, “Oh yeah! Two knights came to the rescue , Knights by the names of JB and Yugyeom, because Seong Yeon wasn’t strong enough to fight the dragon Matron, who was close to ripping Seong Yeon apart with her claws.”

 

Ha Song gasped and covered with her free hand. “Come quickly JB! Save your love!” She exclaimed dramatically.

 

This is what Seong Yeon loved most, when Ha Song got involved in their story, in their imaginary game, that to them was far from imaginary, to them it was real, it was their world.

“Yugyeom needed to save his Princess, who was still locked in Dragon Matron’s cave, where Princess Ha Song had begged the brave Seong Yeon to go, to leave without her, but she wouldn’t.”

 

Ha Song grinned, completely different to the frail girl she had been moments before.

“JB’s heart broke at the sight of his love who was desperately trying to -”

 

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!” In mere seconds, their fantasy world crashed down around them, and instinctively, Seong Yeon stood herself in front of Ha Song, to shield her from the person who’d just entered.

 

Matron Kang stood there… her grey hair dishevelled and her angry and cruel eyes trained on the two occupants of the room. “M - Matron -” Ha Song choked out as she backed up on the bed.

 

The woman stormed towards the sick girl and grabbed her by her hair.

 

“STOP IT!” Seong Yeon yelled, trying to push the woman aside. “LET GO OF HA SONGIE!”

 

Her angry pleas only resulted in Matron turning and backhanding her across the face, where the older girl fell onto the concrete floor. Even then, Seong Yeon wouldn’t stay down, she wouldn’t let anyone hurt her, her little sister figure. No one would touch her.

 

She grabbed Matron’s arm again, in a bid to make her stop the blows she was now giving the weaker girl.

“STOP IT!”

 

Matron Kang stepped away from the shaking girl, and approached Seong Yeon, grabbing her roughly by her arm and dragging her outside the room, taking a large iron key from around her neck and locking the door to Ha Song’s room.

 

“NO!” The older cried, throwing herself at the door, “Ha Songie!”

 

“Unnie!” The younger sobbed.

 

Seong Yeon couldn’t make a response, for she had been dragged down the halls..

“Let go!”

 

---

 

 

Once they were on the floor below, Matron Kang, threw her against the railing of the staircase.

“How dare you go into that room!” She exploded.

 

Seong Yeon glared fiercely, at the woman. “You can’t keep her there! She’s sick! The doctor said -”

 

A sharp smack had Seong Yeon’s head snapping to the side, she held her hand to her cheek her fierce glare never leaving the cold hearted woman.

“HA SONG COULD DIE!”

 

Another slap. Yeon could taste blood in , but still she glared.

“You clearly don’t know the meaning of respect, perhaps, I’d better teach it to you again.”

 

Matron Kang dragged her towards her office.. Seong Yeon knew what was coming, and she would take it, she would take every blow Matron gave her, then she’d find a way to get Ha Song out, maybe they could run away together, she could take care of her, find a delivery job or something. She was fourteen, she was old enough. They could finally be as happy as they were when they created their fantasy world together.

 

It was a childish dream…

 

She should have realised that that was all it was.

 

---

 

After Matron Kang had finished, ‘teaching her a lesson’ Seong Yeon limped out of the room, the woman still had her gripped firmly by her arm, practically frog marching her to her room.

 

“Feel lucky that you can stay in your own room, but you are under lock and key, you will not leave your room except for meal times and classes. Free time is no longer applied to you. You will stay here, you will have no further contact with that wretched girl!”

 

Seong Yeon grit her teeth, her fists clenched at her sides.

“You’re the only wretched one here.”

 

“HOW DARE YOU!” Kang had thrown her against the bed, the girl wheezing, sinking down to the floor.

 

“You disgusting rat. Clearly my punishment wasn't clear to you, in that case, you will be taken off warm meals for a week, kept in here without any contact with others. Maybe then you’ll learn some respect,”

 

She bit back the retort that she wanted to say and just glared, as Matron Kang slammed the door behind herself and locked it.

 

Once her footsteps had retreated down the hall, Seong Yeon lost it. She burst into tears. It was all her fault that Ha Song was punished, she’d suffered because of her mistake. At that moment, Seong Yeon hated herself.

 

“I’m sorry Ha Songie.” She whispered., burying her face into her pillows.

 

After a further twenty minutes, she sat up., a thought had crossed her mind.

 

The window.

 

Of course! She could climb out the window,

It was probably the most foolish plan, considering her room was on the third floor, but Ha Song’s was on the fourth, if she could somehow use the adjoining balcony she could make it up, if she was careful.

 

She her lips and approached the window, opening it wide.

---

 

 

There was one loophole in Matron’s plan, she underestimated Seong Yeon’s climbing skills.

She hurried around the room gathering a few things, like an extra sweater, a blanket, some bandages, and a scarf, shoving them in her backpack and putting the straps on her shoulders.

 

The wind was blowing quite strongly as Seong Yeon approached the window once again, hooking her leg over the side, and grabbing the lattice above. She tested her weight acknowledging it could somewhat support her, before hooking her other leg over, grabbing onto the wood as it shook slightly.

 

She prayed she wouldn’t freak out and began to climb upwards and to the side, where the balcony was, jumping from the lattice to the railing, before grabbing the second lattice, this didn’t have an adjoining balcony, so she would have to rely on her balance in order to make it up to where Ha Song’s room was.

 

The lattice creaked, and Seong Yeon almost lost her nerve, when one of her feet slipped, causing her to have to precariously balance with one foot, while she tried to regain her balance with the other, her fingers almost falling asleep, but she managed to get both feet on the lattice again, before continuing upwards. Just her luck that the rain decided to pour down at that moment, making climbing extremely difficult not to mention dangerous,

 

She was ready to collapse from the exertion when she finally made it up to Ha Song’s window, and reached out one hand, taking it off the lattice so she could knock firmly on the window.

 

That’s when both feet slipped.

 

A small scream escaped her, as she grabbed firmly to the lattice, practically swinging by one arm.

She was lucky that through the rain, she could see Ha Song, throw open the window, her eyes wide and worried.

 

“Unnie! Oh my God!” She reached out a hand, which Seong Yeon was too scared to take, tears blurring her vision, as the sudden fear and realisation of what she was doing, hit her hard. She could fall to her death.

 

“Unnie, take my hand!”

 

“I - I can’t! I’m too scared!” She sobbed, not able to meet her gaze.

 

“Just trust me!”

 

“B - but I’ll fall!” She was so scared she was hyperventilating.

 

“Unnie, you need to calm down! You can’t get worked up, it’s too dangerous, I promise you’ll be okay, just trust me.”

 

The older girl nodded, tears still falling and reached out her hand to take Ha Song’s in her own. Finally managing to gain her balance enough that she could safely climb up the rest of the way.

She crouched on the ground once she had gotten into the sick girl’s room, wrapping her arms around herself and cowering on the floor, trying to get control of her breathing as it triggered her own weakness.

 

“Unnie, have you your inhaler?” The younger asked worriedly, resting her hands on the other’s heaving shoulders,

She coughed and shook her head.

 

“I - I left it in my room.” She wheezed.

 

“Deep breaths, in and out, just like the doctor showed you that one time.” Ha Song chided, wrapping her arms around the older now, as a form of comfort.

 

Seong Yeon nodded, taking deep breaths through her nose, and succeeding in calming down her panic attack.

 

“I - I should be taking care of you, not the other way around.” She sighed, once the episode had passed.

 

“Well, I’d prefer you took care of your condition first, you can’t take care of me, if you neglect yourself, unnie,” She said softly, helping her to her feet.

 

“What on earth were you thinking! You could’ve seriously hurt yourself!” She scolded.

 

“I wasn’t thinking, that’s my problem.” She mumbled, embarrassed she’d been seen so vulnerable right now.

 

“Don’t risk everything like that…”

 

“I’m sorry…”

 

Ha Song shook her head, “Let’s go sit over here.”

 

Seong Yeon nodded,  and took her bag off her back, turning on the light and feeling anger grow in the pit of her stomach when she saw the cuts on Ha Song’s face.

“I - I brought some stuff I thought might help.” She said, trying to keep her anger in check, taking out what she’d brought with her, and laying them on the bed.

 

“It’s way too big, but you can’t just stay in a night dress.” She said, pulling the sweater over Ha Song’s small frame.

 

“Unnie -”

 

“I’m sorry… it’s my fault you got in trouble, I should have been more careful - and uh… I’m still being reckless after all I said… …”

 

“Language unnie. And I’m glad you keep coming to see me, I hate being alone.” She sighed, wrapping her arms around herself. Seong Yeon approached the younger and hugged her tightly, before pulling back with a worried frown.

“You’re burning up.”

 

“I’ll be okay.”

 

“But -”

 

“I’m okay.” But as she said those words, she fell into a coughing fit, making Seong Yeon worry even more, especially when she noted the blood on her hand after.

 

No… No ing way...

 

“Ha Song?!” She took the younger’s hand in her own to exam it.

 

“W  - what’s this?”

 

The girl pulled her hand back and hid it behind her back.

 

“I - it’s nothing.”

 

“Like hell it’s nothing! You’re coughing up blood for ’s sake!”

 

“Unnie, there’s nothing you can do!”

 

“We could get a doctor!”

 

“Matron wouldn’t waste her time, she didn’t even want me here in the first place!”

 

“I could care less what Matron wants! I want you to be taken care of properly!” She cried, bursting into tears all over again.

“I don’t want to lose you. You’re all I have in this place.”

 

Ha Song felt her own tears form and hugged the older girl, “I - I’m sorry.”

 

“What have you to be sorry for?”

 

“For everything, if I wasn’t so weak… Maybe none of this would keep happening,”

 

Seong Yeon stood up shaking her head, “None of this is your fault.” She fixed her gaze on Ha Song’s, “Right now, I want you to rest and let me help you. I - I don’t know how I can possibly be of help, but, I still want to try.”

 

Ha Song nodded, wiping her tears away, then wiping Seong Yeon’s away.

“Okay.”

 

She climbed onto her bed, Seong Yeon tucking her in. It was a good thing that Ha Song had her own bathroom at least.

“I - I’ll just get some water.”

 

She hurried into the bathroom and hurriedly wet a cloth and filled the washing basin before returning back to Ha Song's side.

 

She stayed up all night taking care of her.

 

---

 

A few months later Ha Song’s condition took a turn for the worse, Matron had finally gotten a doctor and Seong Yeon had overheard the diagnosis. Bronchiectasis. Ha Song didn’t have much time.

 

She’d been made take to her bed and needed assistance to do simple tasks like shower or use the bathroom, Seong Yeon snuck in as much as she could after Ha Song left the window key attached to the lattice after her first visit.

---

 

It was Christmas Eve when Seong Yeon went to see her again. She had become so frail, she couldn’t join in their story anymore, so Seong Yeon worked hard to tell it to her every night, expanding the story while Ha Song smiled as she listened.

 

“The brave knight Yugyeom asked her royal highness Ha Song to be his wife and she agreed immediately. She was happy with Yugyeom, and Yugyeom had vowed he’d never let her go. And underneath the moonlight, he kissed her deeply and passionately.”

 

Seong Yeon looked down at Ha Song, who was smiling, a peaceful expression on her face.

“And… what about… Seong Yeon and J… JB?” She wheezed.

 

She was so weak, it brought tears to her eyes.

“Um… J - JB asked the fiery knight Seong Yeon to accompany him to her royal highness’ and his dearest friend's wedding, and as the new bride and groom walked down the palace steps, JB asked Seong Yeon to take his heart for eternity… and… and… ” She trailed off.

 

“W… Will you ever be… married unnie?” Ha Song whispered, her eyes closed.

 

“Not unless it means you get married too, then we’d have a joint marriage.” She was trying her best to hold back her tears.

 

Ha Song took in a shaky breath, “I… I’m cold unnie… can you… can you hug me?”

 

Seong Yeon nodded and held her sister and best friend to her chest.

“I… It would be nice… to get married some… some day… B… but…. I can’t... “

 

“N - no, you will - we - we both will find our Dream Knights and - and get married together.”

She knew Ha Song was starting to leave the world, she wasn’t stupid. Every breath the younger took, was becoming more strained by the second as she tried to force air into her lungs.

 

“I… I’m so sleepy… u…. Unnie… “

 

“N - no d - don’t sleep yet, we haven’t finished the story.” She whimpered.

 

“T… they live… happily ever after r… right?”

 

She was growing heavier in her arms.

 

She was crying now, “Y - yeah, and they have many children -”

 

“Good… “

 

Ha Song gave a final smile, before she went still forever.

 

And that night, Seong Yeon screamed and screamed…

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

“Forever in our Hearts”

Ahn Ha Song

October 15th 1995 - December 24th 2007

Beloved friend and sister

May she Rest In Peace

 

 

 

---

 

It was after that when Seong Yeon broke. Irreparable, lost… and alone… the only light she had in the darkness of her heart was gone, and she’d have to carry on wishing she could have saved her before it was too late.

---

Okay... I legit didn't expect to almost tear up, but I dunno whether it was the heartbreaking scene, or my crappy writing skills xD

Either way, I hope it wasn't too terrible ^^

-BehindtheLense