PART TWO

But before she went back to her classroom to get her things, she brushed past Mrs. Kim who was headed up to the rooftop.

 “Han Gye.” Mrs. Kim called. “What are you still doing here?” She asked, stepping out to the rooftop floor. “I saw Byulyi downstairs already.”

The principal had her back to the entrance of the rooftop. There was silence.

“Han Gye?” Mrs. Kim put a hand on the Principal’s shoulder.

The principal faced her, with tears already forming in her eyes. “Auntie…”

“Omo, what is it? Are you crying?” Mrs. Kim pulled the Principal in for a hug.

The principal held in her tears, she didn't want to be seen crying. “Auntie, Yongsun was here.” The principal's body collapsed to ground. Even though she wanted to act strong, her body doesn't cooperate.

Mrs. Kim, looked down to the principal in disbelief. “Yongsun? My Yongsun? Are you sure? Did you see her, Han Gye?”

The principal shook her head. “I didn’t see her. I found Byulyi sleeping here, so I woke her up. She said that she was with a student she just met here who claimed she was Yongsun and that Yongsun told her to rest because she’s seen her study hard. But Byulyi claims that she must be a fan of hers.”

Mrs. Kim inhaled. “Maybe we have a student enrolled this semester named Yongsun? It couldn’t have been my Yongsun; she’s been dead for nearly 25 years now. You know that, Han Gye.” The principal nodded, then memories started to pour in.

Han Gye's high school days played in her mind and a face popped into her head, her best friend Yongsun's.

She looked over the campus and focused at the sports complex. She used to always cut classes and stay at the garden there. And I would always go there to fetch her because the teachers were looking for her.

Yongsun was their school secretary's daughter. That's right, Mrs. Kim. But she wasn't always called Mrs. Kim. When she had Yongsun, she wasn't married to Yongsun's father because his family disliked Mrs. Kim. But they agreed to let the child bear his last name, Bae. Thus, Yongsun grew up carrying the name Bae Yongsun.

Mrs. Kim married Kim Bin when she was already the school secretary, by that time, Yongsun just turned five. Kim Bin was a kind and loving man, he treated Yongsun as if she was his own. However, opposed the idea of registering Yongsun as his own. He said to keep Yongsun’s name as it is, as Bae Yongsun, to pay respect to her biological Father.

"Bae Yongsun!” Han Gye called. “Your mom is looking for you. Time to go home!" Han Gye shouted as she made her way in the school garden and seeing that was Yongsun just sitting by the entrance. Yongsun didn’t answer her though.

"Yah. Yongsun. Did you not hear me?" Han Gye nudged her friend. "Time to go home. Mrs. Kim told me to look for you."

"Han Gye, can I spend the night at your place instead? I don't want to go home." Yongsun asked. It was their last day of school. Maybe Yongsun was going to miss her bestfriend so she wanted to sleepover?

Han Gye's brows furrowed. "Okay, but did you ask your mom already?” Yongsun stood up, shook her haed and began walking back to the main building. Han Gye trailed after her.

"Yongsun! Where have you been? We're heading home now!" Mrs. Kim exclaimed and grabbed Yongsun's wrist.

Yongsun freed herself. "Can I spend the night at Han Gye's?." She tried to act cute. Mrs. Kim raised an eyebrow at her. "Please, umma?” Mrs. Kim couldn't do anything else but agree.

And that was that.

That was their last day or night together.Yongsun sneaked out in the middle of the night and disappeared, since then she hasn’t been found. Han Gye still blames herself for the disappearance of her bestfriend.

 --

She stood up. “Whether she really did meet our Yongsun or not, I think I should cut Byulyi some slack. I lied to her a while ago when I said she was worse than her sisters." She frowned at the thought. "She's actually doing a lot better than them."

Mrs. Kim chuckled. “I think you should too.”

“But, Auntie, don’t you think Yongsun is…” The principal stopped, unsure if she should still ask. “..Still lingering around here?”

There was silence for a while. “I think, if she is, maybe she’s just looking after Byulyi for you.” Mrs. Kim finally said.

The principal nodded. “Maybe…”

The principal then looked around, “If you are around, Yongsun. I just want to say I’m sorry for how I'm treating my kids. And thank you for looking out for them. Really.” She said, to no one in particular.

The principal felt a hand at her back, and she froze. “We should go now.” It was Mrs. Kim, she forgot that she was with her. “I’ll check our records if we have a student name Yongsun next week to clarify.” Mrs. Kim smiled.

--

It was Monday,

Byulyi went to school earlier than usual to look for Yongsun. She never rode with her mother to school anyway, so leaving the house earlier than usual didn’t bother her mother, so long as she shows up in school.

She waited by the gate and looked at every student coming in the campus. It’s been forty-five minutes since she arrived to school and still, no sign of Yongsun.

“Ughhh, only a few minutes left ‘til first period starts. Where is she?” Byulyi was getting anxious. She looked at her left and then her right, there was no sign of Yongsun. “Don’t tell me she’s skipping school?” Byulyi played with the stones on the ground, kicking them away.

“Who are you waiting for?” Byulyi froze. That voice. “You’re going to be late for class if you keep playing around, you know. And I don’t think a top student would do that.” Byulyi turned around to face the person talking.

“YONGSUN! THERE YOU ARE!” Byulyi exclaimed and hugged the other girl who was grinning at her.

“I forgot to tell you, I’m actually older than you. So you have to call me unnie.” The other girl escaped from Byulyi’s hug.

“Where have you been?! I’ve been waiting for you.” Byulyi pouted.

Yongsun laughed at her and slightly hit her head. “Pabo. There is this thing called the back gate. Some students use that.”

Byulyi facepalmed herself. For a top student, that wasn’t very smart of her. “Oh, right. I didn’t think of that.”

Yongsun sweetly smiled at her. “You were waiting for me, huh? Why? You wanted to see me again? You missed me already?” Then she elbowed Byulyi, laughing as she saw the younger girl get flustered. “She’s such a tease.” Byulyi thought.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go to class.” Yongsun linked their arms together as both of them started to walk towards the building. Byulyi felt her heart beat faster again. “Damn…what is this girl doing to me??” There weren’t any students walking around anymore, it was just the two of them.

Byulyi suddenly remembered why she wanted to see Yongsun again. “I wanted to ask you where you went last Friday. You were gone so suddenly. I woke up and you weren’t there anymore.” Byulyi said, looking at Yongsun.

Yongsun nodded. “Something came up. Sorry, I had to leave you alone there. I did say goodbye, didn’t you hear?” Yongsun also looked at Byulyi. “Was that all you wanted to ask?”

There was something about how Yongsun was looking into her eye