14 February 2014

Room 101 is in a mess.

The floors are covered in leftover cuts of pink and red origami paper, the walls filled with haphazardly hung strings of hearts and drawings, the tape holding them up peeling at the corners, threatening to ruin the four and a half hours worth of effort by the nine of them at any moment.

As Nayeon and Jeongyeon begin to fill the floor instead of the walls with balloons, in what they called “upgraded dodgeball”, Momo and Sana prepare rolls of sushi, large sticks of carrot in each cut out to form orange hearts. The youngest three are doodling more pictures, Chaeyoung visibly elated, while Dahyun grumbles that she’d rather join Nayeon and Jeongyeon, Tzuyu just quietly drawing the at least twentieth dog of the afternoon.

It’s Valentine’s, and even if none of them could even dream of having a relationship outside the hospital, they already had all they loved within these walls.

Jihyo sighs, then smiles at Mina with her “I can’t believe they’re our friends” look in her eyes, and Mina giggles to agree, as they fix the tape precariously holding all the decorations together. As Mina’s eyes form into crescents and her lips curl up as her gums reveal themselves, Jihyo can’t help but smile even wider. It’s only been a month, but Mina seems to have become happier these days. It’s been a week since Mina last cried, and to see the girl slowly let go of her worries made the sun seem a little brighter today.

So in her yellow pocket diary, a gift from Nayeon for her birthday, she draws another tick under her little doodle of a sun, and Jihyo wonders when she began keeping track.

She remembers the day of her birthday celebration, where Mina wouldn’t stop apologising for not knowing it was her birthday and not having a gift while the other seven girls brought in a cake and stacks of presents with pretty bows on top. Jihyo didn’t say it, but as much as she was grateful for all the love from the rest, the occasional bright sunshine that seemed to follow Mina around was her favourite gift yet. As she repeatedly tried to tell Mina it was ok, she couldn’t help but admire the ethereal light