Bonus Chapter

Tadhana

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Lore, fairytales, and stories were often written as how the chains of events happened or related to the playing characters in its own setting. Usually, the plots will be connected and depicted through the dialogues, actions, and feelings of the characters. In a reader’s perspective, in order to feel the pace of the narration, every word and meaning will have to be absorbed and perceived until the concluded ending. In a creative view, a story could be like a planted seed of a tree. It will blossom and grow, and through time, it could unexpectedly branch out into different directions and possibilities. Usually.

Though a sweet and simple taste was never guaranteed; but to decode the foreword, the brewing of the enchanted hearts was formulated with the following ingredients: a bewitched heart that had bittersweetly fallen into the spell of love, and two imperfect bodies that were interwoven and fated by the faintly burning embers of being together. Safe to say that the same could be said in this story. The spell-locked heart being the rooted seed, and the journey of the bodies as the very growth of the tree and its branches.

The story had flowed just like the mentioned way until it had reached its own ending. The spell and the spell-bounded had been unravelled. The promises had been broken and new ones had come. The uncertainties had been resolved and understood. The bottled feelings had been let out. The kept words had been voiced out. The hesitant hands had intertwined, the longing kisses had connected, and the yearning hearts had synchronised. That the story had complicatedly progressed from the start until its promised ending; therefore, what was there left to tell?

No one and not one thing, except the owners of the spell. Otherworldly, the enkindlers of the fate that will enchant and bridge two hearts of girls.

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The high of the afternoon sun was evident inside the painted room, accentuating the murals in golden sparkles. A pencil stuck between fore and middle fingers; the slightly dusty hardwood felt warm against the artist’s palm. Her thoughts swam in her head as she stared at her lover in numerous and different art . Despite the hot summer season, her heart felt unknowingly cold and her head mindlessly drummed into void. The feeling wasn’t unpleasant, but it did grow and persist steadily inside of her with the passing second of her day, and she did have to cut classes because of it.

It was just that the cold emptiness was there, but at the same time, not really. The void felt familiar and alien for her, like coming from a very distant place and since it was still trying to reach for her, the artist could graze a connection. It wasn’t unpleasant – not completely – but the confusion that she was clearly reacting towards it had begun to bother her internally, and now she found herself unmoving and staring at the previous paintings of her girlfriend. Her, “Mina,” she whispered because unfortunately, in the trapping feeling and situation that she was in, the only movement that she could successfully do was to quietly form her name from her lips.

As she kept her eyes on the artistic presence of her lover, Chaeyoung felt the hair at the back of her neck stood. A sudden tingling sensation rose from her chest and spread through her skin and bones. How long had it been? When they had managed to admit and accept their feelings to one another. Eight months, it had been roughly of that time since she had the courage to surrender and offer her heart to the ballerina, and Mina doing the same in return. Yet, it felt everything happened just yesterday like they had only exchanged tear-streaked kisses and hopes.

Eight months of constant adjusting and understanding for each other, of growing closer together and of building a levelled ground that could share in solace and vulnerability. A lot had changed, she realised as she reminisced the previous raven colour of her girlfriend’s hair. Chaeyoung let out a small smile because currently Mina had angelic blonde hair and it surely added more elegance to her already elegant self. She had also continued doing ballet again. Compared before to the sneaking in to the university’s dance studio, the penguin had been more open with doing ballet. Her girlfriend had started regularly attending classes every Sunday morning where she could both dance and teach ballet to little kids. It was Mina’s current and active hobby, and Chaeyoung had never felt prouder.

Maybe the thought was a bit conceited coming from her, but the cub had embraced the thought that she had been at least a helping factor to the penguin’s steady healing from the haunting past of her ballet. Instead of fear and anxiety, Mina had remembered to smile back again to her craft, her own art, and Chaeyoung had easily fallen deeper in love with her. Yes, also eight months of looking after each other and exchanging of absolute love and tender kisses to one another.

Not only the penguin, but a lot had changed, too. For herself, her friends, and Needy. Chaeyoung was pretty sure that her friends had went to change of hairstyles. Jeongyeon and Jihyo alone – going strong with their own relationship – had just posted something about going into the salon together. Dahyun, Tzuyu, and her, on the other unfortunate hand, had subjected themselves into one of their unnecessary dares to each other to suddenly dye their hair. All while the three of them were drunk out of their minds, so the cub – because of Dahyun – was at the very moment rocking the grey-streaked black hair. Kind of like in Eilish-y way of style. The Taiwanese beauty had dyed the eagle in a questionable dark blue colour, and Chaeyoung did the puppy’s as crimson.

For the married couple, Nayeon only had a proper haircut while Momo did the same with Mina, one day finding each other twinning with blonde. Other than hair styles and colours, another big update was that the couples were going strong. Happily, even the bratty cat. According to her best friend, Needy was going game strong with getting to know the pet next door and had learned to offer socks and broccolis as if courting the dog. Chaeyoung found herself grinning from thinking about her friends. Her body slowly regained its warmth, but as she was pestered for the whole day, the faint coldness had still persistently resurfaced under her skin from here and there. Frowning, she felt again the both familiar and unknown feeling prickling and chilling her. This time, coming from her elbows.

Chaeyoung crossed her arms and reached for her elbows to soothe them. With a heavy sigh, she groaned and then completely gave up with the thought of ever proceeding with distracting herself from it. She plopped her back on the floor despite the dusts and then decided to stare at the ceiling while breathing deeply her disappointment.

To tell the truth, she wanted to see her girlfriend, to be with Mina, because it seemed like that the only logical solution from the heavy coldness in her chest was the penguin; but alas, she couldn’t as it was only the afternoon of the day. Her girlfriend still had a class, and from a graduating med student, she couldn’t let herself to indulge with selfishly demanding her time. Hence, the closest solution was to visit the abandoned house full of her girlfriend’s faces that she had bought and painted more than eight months ago.

That was it! A presence, the familiar and unknown coldness that she was feeling could be described like a presence. She had been frowning for the whole day from the lack of words for it. Thankfully, she was able to have a word before she could pout about it to her girlfriend. All Chaeyoung knew was that it was persistent, dull, and quite bothersome. Hollow even, and absolutely distant. To be more exact, like a, “Ghost,” she breathed out as she slowly closed her eyes with unconscious sadness and pain.

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“Fourteen?” the nurse sighed as she followed the doctor in front of her. The hallway, or the whole place rather, was quiet, soundless even. Typically, the usual of it. “Yeah,” the doctor, named Yoo Jeongyeon, replied as she buried her hands deeper inside the pockets of her lab coat – shoulders hunching over like an immature kid who was refusing to admit the truth. “It came as a surprise for the family and for her,” she informed, letting a sigh of her own. “Her heart complication, you mean?” the nurse with a clipped Im Nayeon on her name tag quipped. “Yes,” Jeongyeon had simply answered with clenching jaw. She could always taste something bitter inside of . She always did, every time she got to think about her patients, especially the young ones. “The kid has a weak heart, but the symptoms were overlooked since she’s sporty,” the doctor further explained, “She thought the changes in her heart rates were simply due to adrenaline and excitement.” “Until she reached her limits and collapsed in the middle of their field,” the nurse finished all knowingly. After all, she was informed about her. “But yeah, still too young for it, Jeong,” she continued with a slight shake of her head in pity.

The said doctor stopped pacing her feet and then whipped herself to face the still in-deep-thought nurse. “Doctor Yoo,” she corrected, slightly glaring at her company. Nayeon placed her hands on her hips before saying, “For heaven’s sake, Jeongyeon,” she then rolled her eyes, “We’ve known each other since high school. “And your point?” the doctor challenged. “That we’re past the formality, even at work,” the nurse quickly shot back, adding, “Besides, we both know why you’re suddenly into acting all so professional is because of that new doctor’s little remark about professionalism.” “Am not,” Jeongyeon gasped, slightly offended and really flustered, “This is not about her,” she stopped then coughed awkwardly, “That, this is not about that remark.” The redness on the doctor’s cheeks had worsened, implying the nurse’s spot on deduction, but that wasn’t enough for Nayeon to not shoot the final blow, so she said as smug as she could, “Just say you’re that into Park Jihyo and go.”

With just quiet mumble and burning face, Jeongyeon replied in defeat, “Shut it.” Nayeon smirked as she watched the other girl turned herself again and then proceeded to walk ahead of her. They walked a little bit more until they stopped in front of a simple door. Jeongyeon’s brows furrowed. Her hand was on the knob, but it wasn't turning yet because apparently the room in front of them was empty. “Did we get the wrong number, Nayeon?” she asked. The nurse looked up for a second before answering her, “No, this is the right one.” Concern and panic were slowly rising in the doctor’s chest as she slowly enunciated, “Well, she’s not he—”

Her words were cut off by a sudden thud and a grinning face pressed on the glass window of the door – causing a slight jumpscare to the both of them. After a good minute of composing themselves, Jeongyeon finally turned the knob and opened door. The grinning face – owned by the patient of the room – smiled wider and brighter than ever as she eagerly waited for the two to settle in. Nayeon quickly walked over her and started assisting her to get back atop of her respective bed. With a still present smile, she let her supposed new nurse to wheel the medical apparatus close to her as she walked her back to her comfortable yet boring bed. “You can’t do that, Chaeyoung-ssi,” the doctor had said to her, rather firm and dry for her floppy ears. “It’s fine,” Chaeyoung replied with a grin and a shrug, “It’s not like I left my trustworthy and newfound best friend here,” she joked as she looked back to her apparatus – all while lightly fumbling the wires connecting to her chest. “I’m just adding some fun in this room, that’s all,” she urged, hugging a soft pillow to herself.

That hit Jeongyeon. The young girl’s words hit her hard that her stern and serious façade crumbled as soon as she heard her. As she looked back again to her, she watched her little grin vanished and turned into a neutral and expressionless line – affected by her own words as well. “You do know your position here, right?” the doctor once again had broken their silence. “Yeah,” the kid nodded, once again smiling, “Don’t worry, doc,” and then added reassuringly. Jeongyeon’s pity and sadness for the young girl were already seeping out of her, so Nayeon took the lead and reminded this rebel and a trickster of a patient. “You can’t afford to cause a strain to your heart,” she stressed to her, crossing her arms on her chest, “Even the slightest.”

“It’s fine,” Chaeyoung sighed lazily before scratching the back of her head sheepishly, “It won’t change anything.” She lifted her head slowly, looking into the pairs of their eyes before forcing the sincerest smile that she could muster, “Because I’m dying in eight months.”

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Albeit the inevitable, Nayeon never – not even once – entered Chaeyoung’s room without being greeted with a smile. Even during her sleep, the nurse was convinced that her patient will be smiling from ear to ear. “You’re always smiling,” she commented as she watched the girl shoved another spoonful of her lunch. As Nayeon described, Chaeyoung had always that appetite of a tiger, so she decided to call her that – a little tiger or a cub – from time to time. “Well, I love smiling to begin with,” the little tiger answered after taking a gulp of water, “And I think smiles are more needed by the people around me,” she added with another dimpled smile. With a swell in her chest, Nayeon smiled back as she approached her. “This is why I admire you, little tiger,” she said, ruffling her cutesy mushroom hairstyle. “Right?” the young girl beamed happily, “So does that mean you’re finally agreeing to bringing me to the rooftop?” The nurse’s smile turned into a frown upon hearing again her request.

True that her patient’s floor was just under the rooftop, but she still wasn’t sure if it will be okay to bring her, and so she answered back with pure honesty. “No, Chaeyoung,” she said, the same answer that she had been telling her, “I don’t even know if I should in the first place, it could be bad for you.” “Unnie,” the cub began to whine, plotting and attempting to win her nurse over, “Come on, I’ve got nothing better to do.” The younger girl was downplaying her words and the nurse was aware, way too aware of the truth that faith had been written for her. Nayeon just wildly shook her head sideways, “You can’t simply play that card on me and call me unnie at the same time,” she argued and pointed at her, “That would not be a fair play, Son Chaeyoung.”

Guilty as she was, Chaeyoung raised both of her hands in the air, right one still holding the pair of chopsticks, “Okay, fine,” she let out and then begged with round puppy eyes, “I just really want to see the sky again.” Nayeon looked back at her, conflicted because she knew – based on one of her shared stories – that the tiger cub was an active track and field member before her current state. She tried to keep it still from answering, but when the patient attempted again, she had completely lost the battle to it. “Please, we don’t have to do it every day. We can visit the rooftop just on Wednesdays,” Chaeyoung cooed cutely with clasped hands, tilted head, and hopeful eyes, “I just really want to walk for a bit again, unnie~”

“Fine,” the nurse breathed out, shoulders falling in defeat just like herself, “But I’ll have to take you with a wheelchair and we’ll take the ascend to the rooftop slow, really slow if we have to, and I’ll have to ask permission from Jeongyeon first.” “Yes!” the cub exclaimed as she fist bumped the air, excited and elated by her long-awaited success, “Thank you, unnie!” she beamed. “This isn’t final yet though,” Nayeon replied, voice stern before putting her hands on her sides, “We still need permission for it.”

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As promised on the next Wednesday, after Chaeyoung had deemed herself as worthy of the rooftop freedom, the nurse had opened a door away from that familiar white room for her. Wheeled with an apparatus, Nayeon slowly crossed the floor with her excited patient. “Just inform me if you started to feel something,” she said, eyes focused straight to the empty and quiet hallway. Chaeyoung nodded before looking up at her and beaming a wide grin.

Faced by the stairs to rooftop, just besides a vacant room, the nurse began to assist the younger girl to her feet and off of the wheelchair. She guided her right hand to the stair railing and the left one to her so called best friend. After folding the wheelchair, Nayeon placed her hand to the kid's lower back and slowly supported her to her descend.

By the time the metal door creaked open, Chaeyoung could no longer contain her smile. The sky was happily bright just how she had imagined during the wait before the day. The wind was blowing perfectly, not too strong nor non-existent, and the sun. Oh, how the girl had missed to be under the presence of the sun. As if forgetting everything, Chaeyoung finally stepped forward, taking a deep breath and basking herself with the gentle light of the afternoon. “Ah,” she sighed contentedly, “This is life.”

Nayeon could only let her heart swelled at the innocent scene of the girl. Even though she was against of visiting the rooftop with her at first, she would admit that she was glad that she could not resist her. The patient looked back at her glowing expression and then politely and excitedly asked, “Can I explore a bit?” The nurse nodded as she was not that heartless to deny Chaeyoung of her request. Nayeon sat to one of the wooden benches of the rooftop, watching every move of her patient and as well as enjoying the lazy atmosphere of the place.

Chaeyoung did everything that she could. She walked with a hand on the railing, feeling the slight dust of the outside world, looked or smiled to the sky, and funnily, entertained herself with the line of ants that she had found. She traced the movement and found out that the line ended to a wooden object. An unattended flower bed. She moved her feet and indulge further with her curiosity. Chaeyoung was basically a prisoner of white tiles and white walls, so when the tips of her fingers touched the soil of the bed, her heart swelled and ached at the same time. She had accepted it, had accepted her faith ever since doctor Jeongyeon had disclosed, along with her crying parents on both of her sides, how long she will live, yet it hurt. The inevitable hurt and she could not do anything to alleviate its painful, hopeless truth, yet she smiled, and she will always smile because it was the only promise she made for herself. For her loved ones, her acceptance will be with smiles.

The visit to the rooftop ended quite sooner than what Chaeyoung liked and expected. Well, it could not be helped as her nurse had told her that her doctor could only permit and allow fourty-five minutes maximum. The descend to the stairs was obviously quiet. The younger girl never uttered a word nor spared a smile as she focused down with her footing. She didn’t want to go back to that white, quiet, and empty room. Pitifully, Nayeon broke the silence. “I hope next week will have a great weather again,” she said, squeezing the patient’s hand hopefully. Chaeyoung stared at her before quietly breaking out with a chuckle. At her situation, her nurse will sure have the best understanding of her. “Yeah,” she smiled brightly with dimpled cheeks, “I hope so.”

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The girls beside her were literally giddy and buzzing from excitement. That day was Chaeyoung’s visiting day, and Nayeon was on duty of accompanying her two friends to her room. When they reached the cub’s door, she didn’t even have the chance to lay a single finger on the knob, for the shorter girl of the two whom she remembered as Dahyun had acted ahead of her, opening the door and bursting inside with a wide bright smile. “Dahyun!” Chaeyoung greeted for the moment her friends had entered her room, bolting up from position because of excitement and closing the sketchbook in her hand. “Tzuyu!” she waved energetically and then gestured to her friends to walk closer to her for a hug. Dahyun and Tzuyu quickly followed through and then sandwiched her in a hug, and Nayeon could only smile back to the purest display of friendship in front her. She could tell that the two were also eager to visit their precious friend just as much as Chaeyoung waited to be visited by them.

The cub wiggled a bit past the tight enveloping hugs until she could peek out to her nurse. “That’s Nurse Im,” she introduced with a cutely messed hair, “Nayeon unnie sure takes good care of me.” As if on cue, the other girls let go of their shorter friend before bowing gratitude for the nurse’s genuine service. “Thank you for taking a good care of our friend,” the taller of the two had said. Now she had faced the girl, Nayeon could finally agree from Chaeyoung’s bragging how her friend, Tzuyu, had this out-of-this-world beauty. Dahyun mimicked her actions and bowed as well, mumbling a simple thank you before sharing what was on her mind, “Can we have some alone time with her?” she asked and smiled politely.

Nayeon was taken aback by the straightforwardness of the girl because her initial impression of her was that she was of the shy type. Guess, she was wrong about that one. After an understanding nod, she obliged, “Okay, I’ll just be back when your time’s up,” she said and then reminded the three, “Call me if some emergency came up.” Dahyun energetically exclaimed a yes before jumping animatedly with a fist raised up above her head. She’s definitely friends with Chaeyoung, the nurse had quietly thought with a chuckle before she excused herself and left the three of friends. The girls bid her with smiles on their faces, but it quickly vanished as soon as the click of a closed door was audibly heard. “Did you two bring what I requested?” Chaeyoung asked, face naturally lighting up from excitement. “Of, course,” Dahyun replied proudly with a puff of her chest, “Simple request for a great person like me, if I may add.”

Tzuyu couldn’t help herself but to roll her eyes playfully to the older girl’s bragging, “So, does this mean that they really allowed you to visit the rooftop?” she asked before slumping down on the foot of her bed. Dahyun proceeded to fish out the secret items from her bag and then handed them to their dearest friend. Chaeyoung took them into her hands, inspected them, and then smiled in satisfaction. “Yeah,” she answered, affectionately eyeing the small packet of flower seeds, “I just hope these little ones will bloom on the rooftop.” “Don’t worry, Chaeng,” the tallest of the three interrupted, reassuring her little worries by calmly tapping her legs in a rhythm, “We can just sneak small pots of grown flowers in our next visits if none of them will bloom,” she pointed and looked up to the ceiling, indicating for the rooftop. “Thanks,” the cub had said, her expression and body softening to the warmth and comfort from her friends, “Really, thank you for everything.” Dahyun was never a fan of lying even with just the slightest of it, but she was also the eldest of them, so naturally, she had to be the strongest one out the three of them. Act strong for them at least, so she had to hide the pang that she felt in her chest when Chaeyoung had said those phrases.

Of course, she knew. She and Tzuyu knew what was bound to happen to their little friend. Afraid to be looked at and treated differently because of her bad news, Chaeyoung had just admitted it over a group phone call and made a promise to them that she will stay the same until the very end. A hard to swallow truth and promise, but she will be that smiling and it-will-always-be-okay friend until her end.

Dahyun swallowed the lump in and shoved the pain in her chest down, and as hard as she could, she blinked back the edging tears in her eyes before finally putting an act of being okay – absolutely okay of everything. “But isn’t this shovel looks familiar to you?” she asked, faking a smile before slumping next to her smaller frame. Her dear friend may act okay and healthy, but the loss of weight ever since she was admitted to the facility was easily visible from her sharp eyes. “Oh, my god, Dubu!” Chaeyoung expressed as she looked at the item with wild eyes and familiarity, “Isn’t this the school gardener’s? JYP’s?” “Indeed, it is,” the older girl said with a smirk before taking the garden shovel and watching it with pure awe. “You sly little,” the cub began to say, “Sure, I asked for these items, but I didn’t mean it for you to steal it from someone.” With a raised brow, Dahyun replied, cunningly, “Oh, but that’s not on me, Chaeng. Tzuyu did that dirty work.” Chaeyoung’s jaw dropped from the revelation of her friends, “Tzuyu?” she asked in disbelief. She was pretty confident that Dahyun had done it and not good, quiet, and well-mannered Tzuyu. “Yeah, well,” the Taiwanese girl began, “We quite spent our allowance dry for this month and we couldn’t get any in the hardware store, so, yeah.”

Tzuyu then shrugged and averted her eyes from the accusing pair. “You can’t just steal this,” Chaeyoung replied, uncomfortable as she felt the changes in her heart rate. She was to add something but her words became much harder to force out, so she just took a pause and a deep breath – calming and regulating her heart rate through rhythmic breathing. Dahyun’s sharp eyes noticed and sensed the sudden shortcoming of her friend, so she quickly mediated, “Hey,” she called out softly, reaching for her back and just in the place of her lungs, “It’s okay, we’ll buy him a new one, we promise you that.” The cub was hesitant for a bit, but she soon found herself letting a small forgiving smile to her friends. To tell the truth, at that moment, Dahyun wasn’t able to stop herself from asking, “Are you okay, Chaeng?” she then frowned worriedly, “You seemed out of breath just now. Should we call Nurse Im?”

The patient just shook her head sideways and said, “No, it’s fine. I’m fine,” she then smiled widely, as if the wider it was, the more convincing it would be. “Don’t worry about me,” she added softly – almost like a whisper. Afterwards, the room went silent and awkward for the three. No matter how much she reassured and denied them from worrying about her and how much she tried to be her same self from before, her friends couldn’t seem to stay at peace. At least, not until the faith of her burden. “How can we not worry about?” the tallest mid-schooler asked, gripping the straps of her bag, “When the slightest actions can be bad for you?”

With teary eyes and gritted teeth, she added, “On top of it all, you’re our best friend so how can we not?” she asked in a disbelieving whisper. The heaviness in her chest became too much, unbearable, and suffocating that she couldn’t keep her tears to herself anymore. It felt unfair for her. She was sad for her friend and she was angry towards her inevitable faith. She wanted to grieve, but it felt that even Chaeyoung wouldn’t allow her. “I’m sorry,” Tzuyu sobbed as she tried to wipe her streaming eyes dry because what if even presenting any form of sadness could be bad for her. “It’s fine, Tzu,” the cub chuckled light-heartedly. “No, it’s not!” Dahyun snapped, stepping in between her friends with heated yet sullen eyes. “I hate seeing you like this, like everything is going to be fine,” she added, pissed and on the verge of crying, “And it feels like you’re not fighting for your life anymore.” She was aware that her voice was starting to raise, but she had to say it, “You’re just accepting everything. You’re just giving up and that’s not the Chaeyoung that I’ve known.”

She had known her literally since forever. They were neighbours, childhood friends, had the same schools attended until they had met Tzuyu, and they joined the track and field club together. Dahyun had witnessed her transformed from that short freshman runner into one of the fattest runners in their whole school. She was always proud of her stubborn small friend and she was always beside her. At that point in that plain room, she was already crying her eyes out and maybe even more than what Tzuyu was doing. “I’d like to live, if I have a say to this,” Chaeyoung replied before shamefully averting her eyes away from them, “But it can’t be helped, Dahyunnie, Tzuyu.” She took a deep breath, sighed, and then shook her head in understanding, “I know, I can’t be helped because I am, I am in the process of dying.” There was a great contrast in their faces – the other two’s tear-streaked cheeks and Chaeyoung’s calm expression. No words came from the three after, and their silence was only filled with sobs and sniffs until the cub had broken it once more, “I’m sorry, you two,” she apologised, still visibly ashamed, “I shouldn’t have made the two of you feel like you couldn’t be sad around me. That’s really selfish of me.” Right, you are,” Dahyun said bravely, brows furrowed directly at her and still crying.

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When Nayeon returned to her patient’s room, she was met by the quietness and three faces cuddled together and sleeping soundly. She gave out a soft sigh before walking forward to the inevitable. A tap then two, she tried to wake up Dahyun then Tzuyu whom cheeks were still streaked by dried up tears. For some reason during that late afternoon, the three girls had exchanged sadness to one another.

Dahyun’s eyebrow knitted together before she opened her eyes with slight displeasure. “I’m sorry,” Nayeon whispered, suddenly not too sure if she should continue waking them up, “But visiting hours are over.” “What,” Tzuyu mumbled as she brought herself to sit upright, “Already?”

“Sad to say, but it’s already almost half past five,” Chaeyoung added as she squirmed herself, too, to sit upright. “I’ll be soon having my dinner and necessary checkups,” she added. Dahyun frowned because she didn’t quite want to end their visit just yet, but she let out a sad and disappointed sigh, “I guess,” she mumbled in defeat. The two visitors began stretching from their spots before hopping off of the patient’s bed. “We’ll visit you again some other time, Chaeng,” Tzuyu had said with determination. Dahyun picked up the forgotten bag that she had brought from the floor and then neatly placed on Chaeyoung’s side. “We’ll bring something yummy the next time we visit,” the eldest girl said before looking to the nurse in the room.

“Thank you for giving us some privacy, Nayeon unnie,” Dahyun added before quickly pulling Chaeyoung into tight and long hug, Tzuyu following her wordlessly. Nayeon nodded and smiled as she watched the two exited her room before finally looking at her patient.

“What?” the little tiger asked, eyes showing guilt in them.

“You made them cry,” Nayeon said.

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The soil crunched the first time Chaeyoung dug the little shovel in the flower bed. Her nurse thankfully permitted her to bring her extra items for her visit to the place. She brought the bag that she asked from her friends and a tumbler of water. “Of course, I will not be able to visit the rooftop for watering,” she said knowing that her nurse was listening to her attentively, “I hope you won’t mind visiting her, Nayeon unnie.” Nayeon knew that what she just said was nothing near conditional. It was a demand from her patient. “Her?” she asked, stalling her answer from her demanding request.

“Yeah, I’m naming her little Chaeng-Chaeng,” the patient added as if it was something so obvious, “I’m not really sure what kind of flower she will be, but I hope that she will bloom into a great one.” The nurse chuckled, aware of what the kid was trying to say, “Sure, I’ll take care of little Chaeng-Chaeng, Chaeyoung,” she said as she handed the water tumbler to her smaller hands. The quiet, stern look that her patient gave sent her into small laughter, “And yes, I will tell every progress that little Chaeng-Chaeng will make.” “Thank you, Nayeon unnie,” Chaeyoung exclaimed happily, “You’re my best nurse.”

Nayeon rolled her eyes before arguing playfully, “I’m your only nurse.” She earned a laughter from the kid, adding, “Hurry it up, your rooftop visit is almost timed.” Chaeyoung paused as she absent-mindedly looked down on the flower bed. She realised how her hands were shaded. Unlike the other visit, today was a lot cloudier. No doubt, water will soon pour down from the sky. “I don’t think I’ll be needing to water her today,” she said, head tipped up and pointed to heavens. She breathed in the afternoon air as she wondered if she’ll be sent there once she had reached her end. Humming, she then added – sprinkling a bit of water from her tumbler, “I’ll just drizzle a bit just to be sure.”

As if fated, a drop fell on Chaeyoung’s forehead, causing her to flinch a bit before smiling. “I am right,” she said before standing up, knowing it was obvious that she will have to take shelter from the heaven’s tears. The rain quickly poured down the moment her nurse had closed the door to the rooftop. The pitter-patter could be heard heavily crashing down outside and soon the walls of the hospital turned colder than it used to. Nayeon held her hand as they descended down the stairs and then proceeded with unfolding the wheelchair that usually aided her through the hallway.

She stood up quietly as she waited for her nurse to signal her into sitting down. Chaeyoung bit her lower lip lightly, the cold and emptiness of the hallway were seeping through her hospital attire and into her teenage bones. With a groan, Nayeon commented, “Something’s stuck on a wheel.” The patient could only nod with a smile as she let her nurse to continue inspecting the unknown item that got stuck. It seemed like a stray of shoelace had managed to loop itself on the right wheel.

Contrast with the coldness of the hallway and the metallic feel of her palm clutched on her apparatus, Chaeyoung felt a warm breeze blew on her neck from a close unknown. As far as her investigation could go, she could only locate the source by panning her head to left and right. Another blow, and bewitchingly Chaeyoung had found herself turning around to the door of the white room before the stairs to the rooftop. Her breath hitched; it wasn’t just a warm breeze, but it was the feeling of life. Unbeknownst to her, the room had been occupied by someone. A girl about her age to be more exact, observed from her stand of view. “There,” Nayeon exclaimed and successfully interrupted her present curiosity. With a shoelace on one hand, the nurse motioned for her to sit to her wheelchair.

“Has this room always been occupied?” she asked, lips pursed and eyes enchantingly wanted to steal another glimpse from the mysterious white room. “Uh, no,” Nayeon shook her head sideways, “I don’t know the details, but she was recently transferred in this floor.” Ready to be pushed in the hallway, Chaeyoung hummed as she sat down on the wheelchair – trying to shrug off her