Chapter 9

Ara’s POV

“Bye Ara-ah!”, Hyerin, Hara and Haru said in unison. It was go home time already and the 3 of them walked to each of their houses’ direction. My house was in different direction so I had to walked home by myself.

I waved at them and they started to walk away. I made my step to went home. I tried to get my phone that I placed on my pocket before, but I found that nothing was on my pocket. I tried to search in my other pocket, nothing was there too.

 

“Where did I p-“

“Aish!!”, I yelled annoyingly, knowing that I have to go back to the locker to get my phone. I remember I was placing my books and folders to my bag, and I forgot to get my phone that I left in the locker

 

I ran towards the school building as fast as I can. There were only a few students who were still inside the building.

I walked calmly towards my locker direction as soon as I had reached the second floor, my class’ corridor.

I could hear some students’ talks and yells.

 

 

 

I insert my 3 digits’ pass lock and opened my locker. I grabbed my phone which was the only thing left on my locker.

I closed my locker back and head outside. I unlocked my phone and found that there was a text from Eomma.

 

To: Me

From: Eomma

 

Ara-ah, sorry because you can’t go home right now. I locked the door and now Eomma is still outside because Eomma have to send an order to a customer. Maybe you could stay at the school for a while and it is safer for you. Mianhae, Eomma will pick you up in 45 minutes!   J

 

 

I smiled while I read the text from Eomma.

Eomma must be busy with her new online bakery business.

I looked around to find an empty bench. I sat on an empty bench near the Sakura tree and replied Eomma’s text.

 

I placed my bag beside me and sit comfortably as I replied Eomma’s message.

 

 

To: Eomma

 

It’s ok Eomma! I’ll stay at school and wait for you to pick me up :D

 

I chuckled as I sent the text with an emoji at the end of the sentence.

 

I tried to made myself busy since all of my friends that I know went home already. I opened some games and read some news.

 

“Ahh… I read this news already..”, I said followed by my sigh.

Seems that there was no updated news that is interesting for me.

 

I scrolled down again, and still found the articles that I read this morning.

I frowned, not knowing what to do.

 

I locked my phone and placed it on my lap. I looked at my surroundings, who knows if one of my friend that ‘at least’ I know is still staying at the school.

Besides me, not really far, there were some boys playing basketball. I watched them as they were trying to shoot the ball to the ring. They were cheering happily because they made it.

My lips curved into a smile. Seeing friendship like that made me missed my childhood more. When we can play together without a phone, iPad or anything. A real game.

I sighed.

Not a sad and deep sigh.

I just sigh.

Knowing that the friend that was always right beside me, now is nowhere to be found.

Even a single news from him.

 

It’s been a long time I played basketball with my friends, since most of my friends from my old school is too girly to play basketball. The last time I played basketball was when I was 7 years old.

I used to play basketball with Doyoung if the playground was too crowded and noisy.

I missed those times…..

 

I took my water bottle from my bag and drank the water. Most of them were already stopped playing, seems that they were exhausted already. I continued to play with my phone and opened some social media.

I hummed some songs as I was still playing with my phone. It was only been 5 minutes since I sat on the bench. 40 minutes to go!

 

 

“Taeyong-ah! May I drink your water?!”, I heard someone shouted. I feel like I know the person from his voice.

I turned my head and saw my seatmate Doyoung who was asking Taeyong. He seems really tired. He was so sweaty as he was trying to control his breath. Well, all of his friends were like that too.

“Yes! Sure!”, Taeyong shouted without looking at Doyoung. Taeyong was still continuing the game with the other 3 students that seems like younger than us.

Some of them were lying on the ground, and some of them were sitting on the bench lifelessly.

 

I put on my earphones and played the songs that was on my playlist.

I hummed as I was listening to the songs.

The wind and the air was nice and good enough for me to relax and forget everything for a while.

I rested my head on the bench.

I stared on the birds that were flying, and the beautiful Sakura flower which is only above my head

I closed my eyes, trying to relax myself.

My feet were tapping following the beats of music that I was listening.

I smiled and hummed along.

 

 

The chirps of the birds above me and the songs were making me more relaxed, more, more and more.

 

 

 

I stayed quiet for some good minutes.

Letting myself to forget everything at this moment.

 

 

 

 

“DOYOUNG HYUNG! ARE YOU OKAY?!”, a boy shouted at Doyoung who were coughing non-stop.

I ignored their shouting and yelling. I was still resting my head on the bench, sitting position.

“YAH! DOYOUNG-AH. DON’T JOKE LIKE THIS”, the boy shouted again.

I tried to ignore them, maybe it was just a small problem though….

 

Panics voices interrupt the songs that I was listening to.

I tried to make the volume bigger, but it will just hurt my ears.

 

“What is happening…”, I uttered softly under my breath.

I sat back properly and opened my eyes.

I paused the song that was playing recently.

I tried to made myself focus, and looked at my surroundings.

 

Left, is the Sakura tee.

Up, is the beautiful flowers and some birds.

Right, a bunch of boys with panics voices and some coughs.

Back, the brick wall.

 

 

 

 

I yawned and stretched my body a bit.

 

 

 

 

Wait what.

 

I turned my head at my right quickly.

 

I widened my eyes.

 

I tried to see clearly what was happening.

 

Aishhh…. They blocked my view….

 

I tried to see the person clearly….

 

My eyes widened once again that the person who suffered it was my classmate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doyoung was coughing so bad, and his body was falling to the ground.

He coughed really hard once again and it seems that he spitted something.

 

 

Did he choked again?

No way.

 

 

I squinted my eyes at the object.

 

 

As soon as I realized it

It was

 

 

 

Blood ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn’t just a drop or 2 drops.

The blood came out from his mouth whenever he coughs, and the worst part was he couldn’t stop coughing.

Oh God, he could spit 10 liters of blood if he doesn’t stop.

 

“Cough. Blood. Uh… uh… after doing sports  ??…… water???….. esophagus ? …. . liver? … … ..uhh allergic ….… water ???........   water allergic?...??   allergic …. ??? allergy???.......... Allergy!!”, I grabbed my water bottle and ran as fast as I could see the boys were panicked.

I think I know what was happening.

 

Doyoung just drank a water from Taeyong’s water bottle.

Maybe he was allergic to something.

 

I made my way through their crowdness. I pushed lightly some of them because some of them were too panicked until they didn’t hear my “excuse me”.

 

 

I directly sit on my knees in front of Doyoung as the boys were watching me.

 

“Noona, please save him. You’re our only hope now. Taeil hyung tried to call an ambulance but no one is picking up!”, one of them said to me. I just nodded as I tried to observe Doyoung’s condition.

 

Seems like nobody knows that he has an allergy or something. Well he’s a little bit cold though.

 

 

“Give me clean towel”, I said to them quickly.

One of them ran to the bench where they put their stuffs. He grabbed his towel that was still clean and gave it to me.

Doyoung was sitting on the ground, leaning his head to one of the bench nearby the basketball feld.

“Jaehyun, can you please hold the towel under his mouth”, I asked him as he directly hold the towel under Doyoung’s mouth with no complain.

“Ten, please hold his head”, Ten quickly move beside Doyoung as his right hand were preventing Doyoung’s head from falling to the other side and his left hand were holding Doyoung’s shoulder.

 

Doyoung was coughing blood non-stop, but his body itself already had no energy.

I didn’t even know what’s the exact solution for this kind of thing.

Doyoung should tell his friends later, or else something bad might happen later in the future.

 

 

 

I opened his mouth slowly when he could control his cough and pour some of my water from my water bottle to his mouth.

He took 3 gulps of my water slowly. His breathing was unstable. Really unstable.

I was scared if I directly pour the water into his mouth, he would choke and it was quite dangerous for a person that was suffering an unstable breathing.

 

He tried to manage his breath, he still can’t open his eyes clearly.

I think his visual was blurry, because he didn’t even look at one of his friends, even me who was the one in front of him.

His coughs were getting worse. I didn’t even know if he has asthma or no but….

I AM NOT A DOCTOR FOR GOD SAKE. SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP

 

 

 

A moment later, his uncontrollable cough came back that made my clothes were a bit dirty because of his blood spatting.

 

I waited for some seconds, waiting for him to stopped coughing.

After he didn’t cough for some seconds, I made him drank my water slowly again. But this time he drank more than before.

Mark patted Doyoung’s chest lightly as he tried to calm him down.

Mark was the most panic one.

He was the one who asked Taeil to call an ambulance.

 

 

Seems that he can control himself now, even though his body was still really weak. As well as his breaths and visuals.

 

 

 

 

After all the effort I made to help him, his breaths were stable already. But he was still leaning on the bench unconsciously, trying to see everything clearly.

Of course, he needed some times to calm him down.

 

“Does he have any allergy?”, I asked as I turned my face at them.

The boys that seems like still in junior high school shrugged.

 

I looked at everyone’s eyes one by one, hoping for a helpful answer.

But,

No one said anything for a damn…………….good……………… holy seconds…

 

 

 

“Well……..… he ever told me that he hates lemons and oranges……………………………..…                                                   ………………………..         …………………………………..                 ……………………               …………….

 SH**, HE DRANK MY LEMONADE!”, Taeyong said followed by him panicking.

With a rush, Taeyong grabbed and checked his water bottle and showed its inside to me.

Yes, it was a lemonade.

“Doyoung-ah, I’m sorry I forgot that you hate those fruits. I should have told you before you drank it”, Taeyong apologized to Doyoung who was still trying to manage his breath.

Doyoung was nodding slowly, using the energy that was left on his body. His eyes weren’t really opened yet. Maybe he didn’t know that I’m the one who helped him though.

 

 

*Rring Rring Rring Rring Rring Rring*, my phone that was on my pocket rang.

I grabbed out my phone and saw the caller id. It was Eomma.

 

 

“Uhh… I’m sorry. But I think I need to go now……… Get well soon!”, I said to them and smiled at Doyoung.

 

I waved at them and ran to the bench where I placed my bag before.

I took off my school blazer so Eomma will not be shock because there was a bit of blood spat on it.

I grabbed my bag and ran towards the gate. I can see Eomma who was sitting at the driver seat.

I opened the car’s door and get in. I put on my seatbelt and sit comfily while we were listening to the radio, and Eomma started to drive us home.

 

 

 

 

 

Doyoung’s POV

“Yah! Let’s play before going home again!”, Taeil said as he came to me.

The school was over already and now my friends asked me to play with them while my day was so freaking awkward with Ara as my seatmate. *sighs*

 

“But we already play yesterday”, I said to Taeil with a pleading face. Hoping that I could go home as soon as possible.

“Yah! Don’t give me that face, it doesn’t suit you at all”, he said sarcastically as he slapped my face lightly.

“UGHHH…FINE…….”, I said to him loud enough, while he was jumping and clapping cheerfully like a kid……….

 Aish this kid…....

 

 

Taeil, Me, Taeyong, Mark, Jaehyun and Ten walked towards the basketball court. There were some juniors and students from other classes who arrived before us and some of them were playing already.

“AYYOO!!”, Mark beamed to them happily as he ran to them.

“Hyunggggggg!!”, Minjae one of our junior beamed back at Mark, they brofisted each other.

“Come on!! Let’s play!”, Haejin, Minjae’s friend shouted at us as he flashed a bright smile.

We placed our bags on a bench near the basketball court. There were only few students that were still in the school.

“LEGGO”, Ten said as he pushed Taeyong and Jaehyun to the middle of the basketball court. Mark was talking along with some other students that were already in the middle of the basketball court.

I sat on the bench, acting innocently because I was too lazy for a game and, Taeil forced me to play before……..  *sighing deeply inside*

 

 

 

I sat calmly on the bench, pretending like nothing happened and watched them walked towards the middle of the basketball court.

 

I watched them from the bench that I sat on, Taeil didn’t realized that I didn’t followed them yass MUAHAHAHHA.

I watched the birds that flew on the sky. They were flying to the left and landed on the only Sakura tree on our school.

2 of the birds were going down,

And down,

And down,

And one of them landed on the bench that was placed under the Sakura tree.

 

“sh**”, I hissed softly under my breath. I directly walked joining my friends. I acted like nothing happened.

 

How can I focus playing if Ara was still here..

She can turn her head to her right anytime and caught my figure…

 

WHY…….HER FROM HUNDREDS GIRLS IN THIS SCHOOL

WHY

 

Great, now I’m in my lazy mode, but I have to be manly in front of the girls too…

Maybe it could be also one of my plan so Ara wouldn’t realize me though.

Because I didn’t really like sports when I was a kid.

But ..

Aishhh….

 

 

“I’m joining”, I said to them as I forced a really bright smile. Of course they know that I was too lazy for this!

“OOOOOOOOOO, finally our awesome, charming, smart, handsome and sporty Kim Doyoung is back!!”, Ten beamed at me as he eyed me with his … … …. … ..  … cheerful yet … … .. creepy face… .. ?

“I have nothing to do”, I said to him. He eyed me with his ‘I know it’s not that’ looks.

 

Minjae managed the team. It was 5-5. Me, Mark, Minjae, Hyunwoo and Taeyong were in one team, and the opponent team were Taeil, Ten, Jaehyun, Haejin and Minhyuk.

Changkyun was holding the ball, in front of him were me and Minhyuk. We were focusing ourselves with the ball that he was holding.

“1, 2, 3!”, Changkyun shouted as he threw the ball in the air. He threw the ball pretty high, I was taller than Minhyuk so I hit the ball and it flew towards my team.

Taeyong got the ball and he was dribbling it as he ran towards the opponent’s basket. He played well and no one could steal the ball from him.

But, Haejin ran really fast and successfully grabbed the ball from Taeyong. He ran towards our team’s goal as he was dribbling the ball.

 

I ran as fast as I can after seeing the opponent had the ball. I chased Haejin who was dribbling the ball. I ran passing him and stole the ball back at a glance. I dribbled for some seconds and passed it to Mark who was ready at his position that is near the goal.

“go go go go go, shoot shoot shoot”, I uttered softly as Mark dribbled a little.

He stopped in front of the opponent’s team basket ring.

 

He shoots the ball.

 

Yes......

 

Ugh ....

 

The ball was moving around the ring.

1……..

2……..

3……..

 

 

“WOOHOOOOOOOOOO”, my team beamed including me. We were running along in the basketball court.

Mark was jumping and running cheerfully, celebrating his success.

I was tired and lazy enough to continue the game. Heheh. So I decided to get out of the game and Kihyun was the one who replaced me.

I walked to the bench and smile at my other 2 juniors. I opened my bag to find my water bottle.

I tried to find my water bottle in every corner of the bag, but it was nowhere to be found.

Ahhh…, I forgot to prepare it this morning. Because my clock betrayed me.

Aaish……….

 

 

I saw Taeyong’s water bottle beside his bag.

“Taeyong-ah! May I drink your water?!”, I said to him out loud so that he could hear me. He still continued the game with the others. He was focusing really hard on the game.

“Yes! Sure!”, Taeyong shouted back from afar without looking at me, still trying to grabbed the ball from Ten.

 

I took his water bottle and opened it quickly. Ahh the water bottle is cold that means the water is also cold. Yess.

 

I drank it directly and when I already took a gulp, I just realized it was

lemonade. … … ….

 

I spat out some of the lemonade that was still left on my mouth. 

I closed the water bottle back slowly and put it on the bench.

 

I tried to hold my cough and tried to calm myself so no one will not have to worry about me.

I didn’t want to ruin people’s happy moment okay.

 

 

I patted my chest as I was coughing a little.

 

I prayed to God to made my allergy gone only for this time.

 

I was still coughing hardly and roughly.

 

 

 

 

I can feel the pain and the heat already in my chest.

My stomach was like being mixed with a cola and baking soda.

 

 

I tried to walked away from them and went to the toilet.

 

 

 

When I was making my first step, I really can’t hold it anymore.

 

It was like somebody had tied my gullet….

 

My stomach was exploding inside.

 

My coughs become uncontrollable and…

There was a

 

 

 

 

 

Blood….

 

 

 

 

I coughed blood again…

Aishhhhh……

 

 

 

 

I puffed my cheeks, trying to control my breath…

But it made my coughs worse……

 

My visual started become blurry and, the ground was rotating and moving.

I tried to balance myself but ended up falling and still coughing blood.

 

I fell down a bit far from the bench and the basketball court.

I can’t see anything clearly anymore. Everything was moving including the ground.

 

“DOYOUNG HYUNG! ARE YOU OKAY?!”, I heard a voice were asking me, my eyes were closed as I was still coughing blood. It was Jiyoung, one of my junior.

 

I saw my friends were panicked and gathering near me, one of them were shaking my body and patted my back. But I didn’t know exactly who are they because of the blur vision.

 

“YAH! DOYOUNG-AH. DON’T JOKE LIKE THIS”, Hyunwoo one of my friend was really panicked and tried to check my body temperature by placing his hand on my forehead.

 

It seems that Taeil was trying to call someone, maybe ambulance or something

 

Actually I didn’t need an ambulance.

 

 

I

Just

Need

 

Water

 

SOMEONE PLS UNDERSTAND ME

Ohh God

 

 

 

I had no energy to talk

Why am I so weak at this point? I hate this, it reminds me of my past when I was getting bullied…

 

 

Ahh…..

I didn’t even want to know if I can’t open my eyes or breath anymore after this.

 

Someone please.

A glass of water is enough

 

I can’t even feel my own feet anymore….

I didn’t think this allergic of mine could made my body like this.

I can’t even open my eyes properly..

                                                     

 

Was I dead already?

 

A girl?     In front of me?

 

That face is familiar

 

is that?

Yoon Ara?

 

Someone was holding my head and my shoulders.

Bloods were on my hands,

My clothes,

And a white towel.

 

 

I had no energy to opened my eyes.

 

 

 

Oh God, is she my only life savior.. ….

Why her .. … ..

From all the person I know, in this world. .. …

Is this some kind of a sign .. .. . ?

Why she was always there when I need someone the most . . .?

Why her from all the girls in Seoul . . . ?

Why her from all my friends . . . ?

Why was she everywhere . . . ?

It was enough already to just see her on my dreams.

Don’t make it to reality,

I have no courage to face her anymore.

I-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why are you so irreplaceable?