“Well I guess maybe not,” Eunjoo countered her little joke, “Snow White was gentle and actually cared,” she bobbed her head towards the boys a little, “That guy’s heart is just as good as dead.”

Haneul kept blinking in confusion, “But why would he do that? He’s hated me the moment he saw me,” she started explaining, “and I understand it’s because of what I did but his friends seem nicer.”

“He’s probably just some kind of a protective hyung.”

The younger girl looked at her in the eyes.

“Hey, don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to defend him,” Eunjoo immediately stated, “It’s just that if I was in his place, I’d be protective too.”

“I guess,” Haneul sighed, “You’re right.”

“Mh-hmm,” Eunjoo intertwined her fingers, put her shoulders on the table, leaned in and placed her chin on her intertwined fingers, “Now… We really need to get serious.”

Her bright and cheerful aura suddenly turned cold and her smile faded. The sight of this frightened Haneul a little. Was this Eunjoo’s mean ‘alter-ego’ coming back again?

It wasn’t really an actual alter ego, it’s just a side of Eunjoo when she gets really mad or upset. Some may call it her beast mode.

“Haneul… What the hell are you doing?”

She was caught off-guard by her question, but mostly by her tone. Never, as in never, has Eunjoo ever spoken to her in that tone, “Unnie…”

“Seokmin comes to me without his glow, only for me to find out you said you no longer wanted to be friends with him,” Eunjoo began, her tone was more of a scolding tone, “What is this, kindergarten? Haneul, we’re too old for these kinds of stuff.”

“But I just- I did it for a reason, unnie,” Haneul’s eyebrows were furrowed, and her eyes were beginning to water, “I didn’t mean to hurt him, I was only trying to protect him and—”

“From what?” Eunjoo abruptly cut in, “From those bullies in middle school?”

Haneul froze, her breathing slowed, her eyes became dams holding back her tears from streaming down… She was sure she never wanted to be reminded of that part of her life again.

She her lips, “It just happened. I was surprised and I was scared I would spill it,” she looked away, “I never thought I would have to hide things from him again. I thought I left it all behind when I moved away.”

“Yeah but that’s obviously changed,” Eunjoo didn’t sound gentle at all, “Haneul, for two years the guy blamed himself for you leaving without a trace or anything at all, asking if he did something wrong. He was caught off-guard when he saw you too.”

“Exactly, so if he found out about the bullies, what do you think Seok will do to himself, unnie?” Haneul countered, “And for what? Just a friend?”

Eunjoo scoffed, “Haneul, do you really think a guy would go through all that, do all that, like blame himself for everything that goes wrong, if he just sees you as a friend?”

“What else could it be?”

“That boy is head over heels for you, Haneul!” Eunjoo shouted, but it was in a sort of a whisper.

“Th- That’s not possible,” Haneul looked down and began playing with her fingers.

“Listen to me,” Eunjoo called her, “A guy wouldn’t be like that if he had no feelings for you. I mean especially when you left him without a goodbye, not to mention you left a confession letter instead.”

Haneul’s head jolted up and looked straight at the girl sitting in front of her, her eyes widened a little, “The confession letter… I gave him a confession letter…”

“Uh, yeah…” Eunjoo was confused, and could only respond that way to agree with her.

“So he saw that letter?” Haneul’s voice was really low. It was almost inaudible.

“Well, I mean,” Eunjoo shuffled in her seat, “You kinda left it on his desk. Also, it was inside your favourite book, which you left on that desk. I don’t think it’ll be hard for him to miss it.”

Haneul sighed and bowed her head down, “How am I supposed to look at him now?”

The older girl in front of her could only furrow her eyebrows, “What do you mean ‘how’?”

“I left the confession letter because I thought I would never see him again,” Haneul was still bowing down, playing with her fingers.

Eunjoo was caught in shock. She was always piecing things together that she could’ve figured that one out herself, but she didn’t, “Haneul…”

“I know,” she interrupted, finally raising her head and looking at Eunjoo, “It was the most cowardly thing to do.”

Eunjoo looked down. It was her only way to show that she agreed, although she didn’t want to.

They were silent for a while, until Eunjoo spoke again, “You know you have to talk to him about that, right?”

“No… I can’t.”

“Haneul, it’s the right thing to do.”

She didn’t reply.

“You owe him that much.”

Those last words rang in her mind. It was kept playing on repeat as she stared in space.

Eunjoo stood up, and said ‘I’ll just get our coffee’, but Haneul couldn’t hear her.

It was true, though… what Eunjoo said. Actually, she owed him more than that.

In kindergarten, some boys ruined the book ‘The Little Prince’ that was always in the bookshelf next to the door. She was looking at it when those boys grabbed it from her hands and began colouring on the pages. It was Seokmin who grabbed the book from them and returned it to Haneul, but it was already destroyed.

In junior high, Seokmin didn’t buy snacks for a few days using the little allowance his parents used to give him so he could save up to buy something he really wanted. One day, on Haneul’s desk, she found a gift and a little note that had the handwriting of a child that said, ‘You can read about the prince again and again every time you want now!’ but there was no name.

But Haneul already knew who it came from.

In middle school, Haneul wasn’t actually just an outcast. She was a normal high school student who also got boys wanting to court her. But, as everyone knew, she only really looked at one boy. When a few boys wouldn’t leave her alone, Seokmin threw them punches. His first punch, and his first time getting sent to the principal’s office.

This also added to the list of reasons why she was targeted by other girls from that school. ‘You got Seokmin in trouble’, ‘You’re just a bother to him!’ and heaps of other excuses to pick on little Haneul.

But she couldn’t argue. That was also true