“You look happy today,” Yewon commented as soon as they sat down to eat, at the cafeteria. “You look paler than yesterday, but you seem happy.”

            Eunbi hummed in acknowledgement. She had spent almost two hours on the phone with Jung Yerin and it was so overwhelmingly perfect that even the fact that she woke up at three am to vomit a bunch of petals didn’t linger on her memory as much as it should have had.

            “Did something good happen with Yerin-ssi?”

            At that, Eunbi raised her head from her plate to look at a smug Yewon. The dancer felt her cheeks heat up a little, but managed to quirk an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

            “Ah,” Yewon shrugged, smiling from one ear to another. “You know… who wouldn’t like their crush to take care of them when they are feeling all icky and down?”

            Eunbi’s eyes widened and it must’ve looked hilarious, because the singer actually threw her head back, laughing out loud. “Oh, my God! You should see the look on your face! Geez, Eunbi-yah, did you really think I wouldn’t notice?”

            “S-stop laughing!” Eunbi frowned, cheeks in flames at that point.

            “Oh, baby, I’m sorry, it’s just that—you really can’t hide how disgustingly embarrassed you get when you are with her, you know? Seriously, I don’t even have classes with you and it’s obvious how you look at her… all the freaking time. Maybe I got a little annoyed at first because you didn’t talk to me about it, but I just figured that you were being your usual dense self and let it slide. But, really, after the heart eyes you have for her, you should be thanking me for giving you a push yesterday.”

            Letting out an annoyed huff, Eunbi practically stabbed her bowl of rice with her plastic spoon. “I don’t do heart eyes, Kim Yewon.”

            “Oh, yeah, that you do, Hwang Eunbi,” Yewon mocked her and giggled. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, though! You don’t even need eyes to notice that Jung Yerin is quality girlfriend material… oh, please, don’t look at me like that. I’m not going to steal your crush or anything,” the singer grimaced and Eunbi showed her tongue. “Ew, chewed rice.”

            The dancer was about to retort that when a delicate hand landed on her shoulder. Eunbi jolted and snapped her head upwards to see Jung Yerin with her hair sticking to her forehead, sweat sparkling on her skin, her chest going up and down quickly, and, , how could she look so effortlessly hot?

            “Good afternoon, Eunbi-ssi,” the older girl smiled. “Did you sleep well? You sounded so tired when we hung up.”

            Eunbi fought against the urge of shrinking herself under Yewon’s heavy stare. “Oh, you were talking yesterday?”

            Turning to the singer with a polite smile, Yerin cheerfully nodded. “Yep! We exchanged numbers when I walked her to the bus stop yesterday. Turned out that we talked for two hours before she was feeling too sleepy to continue,” the set of giggles she let out made Eunbi’s mind melt. “I hope you don’t mind, Yewon-ssi.”

            “Oh, not at all! I was just curious because she actually forgot to text me, and I thought she had slept right away.”

            Uh, Eunbi may have noticed some bite on that.

            The hand in her shoulder gave her a light squeeze. “Really? Ah, I’m sorry. I’m probably guilty for that,” the smirk on Yerin’s face and the way Yewon quirked an eyebrow made her sink on her chair. “I’m sorry for hoarding your friend yesterday, Yewon-ssi.”

            The singer made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “Don’t worry, I’m glad she was alright… what did you two talk so much about, anyway?”

            “Ah!” Yerin happily giggled and Eunbi had to fight her own smile at the memory from the previous night. “Eunbi-ssi was telling me why she was a troublemaker. At least why she thought of herself that way.”

            “You told her what happened?” her friend raised both eyebrows. Eunbi slowly nodded, but gave Yewon a look, hoping that the singer would understand that she didn’t tell Yerin everything. Gladly, Yewon understood. She smiled tightly, turning back to Yerin. “I’m happy that you are getting along, then.”

            “Ah, yes. Yes, we are.”

            Eunbi watched, body suddenly paralyzed as both girls stared at each other. She almost let out a lame whimper when Yerin giggled and looked at her. “Anyway! Eunbi-ssi, take care, right? And if you feel bad at today’s class, you can totally tell me… actually! We could be partners today! Today’s dance is a couple dance, if I’m not mistaken! So, I can help you if your stomach gets upset again!”

            “U-uh,” her eyes darted to Yewon, who was pointedly staring at Yerin, and Eunbi slowly nodded. “Okay…”

            “Great! I’ll see you in class, then!” she jumped a little and then looked at Yewon with a small smirk. “Bye, Yewon-ssi, have fun with your vocal training.”

            “I will,” she nodded, and the girls observed Jung Yerin walk away from their table.

            Eunbi only had time to gulp down before Yewon was glaring at her. “W-what?”

            “Look, I’m soaring that you have a crush and all. You totally deserve to be all blushy and cute, but,” Yewon pouted, “bros before hoes, Eunbi-yah.”

            Eunbi’s chin dropped; she had never thought such words would leave Yewon’s mouth. Ever.

            “So, consider this as a warning, Hwang Eunbi,” Yewon pointed her spoon at her. “Don’t ever forget to text me no matter how fun it is with that sunbae, alright? I was really worried yesterday and that just wasn’t fair.”

            Eunbi blinked, feeling the guilt wash over her heart. She nodded and Yewon grunted as she stuffed with rice. “But, um, did you two really talk about that day?” Yewon asked, brow furrowing.

            “We did. I mean, she texted me and we were talking and all I kind of told her I had a bad reputation or something,” Eunbi sighed. “Somehow, I ended up telling her that you wanted me to have friends and etcetera, but she asked me why I didn’t and that’s what really happened.”

            The singer hummed. “So, how much did you tell her?”

            “Not much, I didn’t say names or anything… just said that I punched some dude’s face because I was emotional,” she confessed. “I tried to avoid telling her, to be honest. But she asked me if I wanted her to call and…” Eunbi let her head fall down and Yewon snorted.

            “Damn, I thought you had a crush on her before, but now, it feels so real. I’m emotional,” the singer ran her index under her eyes, drying her nonexistent tears, and Eunbi rolled her eyes at Yewon’s theatrical antics. Yewon smiled and proceeded to softly stab a piece of meat with her chopsticks. “But, seriously. I’m happy for you, Eunbi. Jung Yerin seems like a nice girl and I’m glad you are talking to someone beside me.”

            Eunbi rolled her eyes again. “We just talked twice. It’s not like… anything will come out of it.”

            “Are you blind or just really pessimistic?” Yewon tiredly exhaled. “She clearly wants to be at least your friend, Eunbi. So, don’t sabotage yourself and let the girl get closer. It’ll be good for you.”

            The dancer felt her cheeks heating with that, but she quickly squinted her eyes at Yewon. “Yeah? Then what about you, Kim Yewon? When are you going to grow some balls and talk to Choi Yuna?”

            Yewon gasped and snapped her head around, searching for the girl just mentioned. Eunbi scoffed at her friend’s desperation and praised herself for making the younger react like that.

            “I’ve already told you that it’s not like that! She’s just a talented sunbae who I want to talk to about professional things and I will do so. When the time is appropriate.”

            “Yeah, right,” she said, finding the blush on Yewon’s cheeks adorable.

            The dancer took a deep breath and envied her friend. Yewon had a crush on Choi Yuna, but that was it—at least for now—and, therefore, she didn’t have to swallow down petals and hope nobody was noticing. Eunbi was happy for it too, though. She had no idea how she would manage to deal with her best friend having hanahaki.

            Casting her eyes down, she resumed eating. There was a pain at the back of her neck starting to spread to her head and Eunbi closed her eyes for a short moment. She inhaled shakingly and for the third time that day she felt like she could hear the wheezing of the petals stuck on her insides.

            Well, at least she could still breathe.

            Her eyes darted to the end of the cafeteria and she saw Jung Yerin talking with a girl, sporting a beautiful smile. Ah, yes. She’s so perfect. Even though she could taste the blood on her tongue, Eunbi couldn’t help but think that Yerin is the most wonderful person she had ever set her eyes on.

            Eunbi’s lips curled up.

            The pain was nothing if she could still feel that so called emotion named love.

            They had just started the new choreography when a sharp pain hit Eunbi’s chest.

            Her legs wobbled, and she felt her body lean forwards when she moved on to do the next step. Her mind went blank as the realization hit her; she was about to have another crisis. , I should’ve noticed the signs.

            Eunbi couldn’t even think about how fast this was progressing as she pressed her hand on , feeling the petals come up. She couldn’t afford to throw up now, in front of everyone; she needed to get out of there.

            “Eunbi-ssi…”

            Yerin called for her and Eunbi coughed, pure despair filling her chest. She was going to get caught, everyone would see the petals, they would figure it out and no, no, no.

            The dancer moved towards the door, ignoring her teacher’s voice, and busted out of the practice room, barely walking straight. Eunbi felt tears prick on the corner of her eyes and, praying that her legs wouldn’t give up, she made her away down the empty hall, heading to the restrooms.

            A voice was calling for her, but she couldn’t pay attention to it; Eunbi was too busy entering a stall, closing the door and hunching over the toilet. Her knees hit the cold tiles and she numbly gripped the sides of the toilet seat. Eunbi gagged and a handful of dark petals flowed out of .

            The dancer heaved and opened her eyes, vision not blurry enough to miss the red staining the water. Eunbi sobbed, in pain. What the hell was happening to her? This was not supposed to be so fast; this was not supposed to be like this.

            “Eunbi-yah!” a familiar voice invaded her ears and she held back the urge or throwing up again. She heard Yewon’s feet get closer to her stall and a few loud knocks preceded another call.

            Eunbi wanted to say that she was fine; Eunbi wanted to ask what Yewon was doing there, didn’t she have a presentation? Eunbi wanted to stop hurting. But none of those things were possible as the petals pooled on and she had no choice to turn her head to the toilet again.

            She didn’t remember if she had actually locked the door, but soon the hands gripping her shoulders gave Eunbi an answer. “Y-yah, Eunbi,” was Yewon crying? “What’s wrong, why are you like this—”

            Suddenly, Yewon’s voice halted. Eunbi tried to take a deep breath and closed her blurry eyes, making the tears freely run down her red cheeks. She felt Yewon’s hands squeeze her shoulders and Eunbi knew she was done now.

            Yewon had seen the petals.

            “Eunbi.”

            “D-don’t.”

            Maybe Eunbi would be proud of herself for managing to speak something, but another voice interrupted her cloudy train of thought.

            “Y-Yewon-ssi? Is Eunbi alright? I went to call the nurse, but it seems like no one is in this ing building!”

            Jung Yerin’s voice was enough to set Eunbi down in a spiral of panic. Probably noticing how her eyes widened and let out a broken whimper, Yewon stood up, half-closed the door, putting herself in front of Eunbi’s shaking figure, before Yerin could see Eunbi.

            “She’s not alright,” Yewon said and Eunbi curled against the toilet. “But I can take over now, Yerin-ssi, thank you.”

            “What?” Eunbi almost winced at Yerin’s tone. “Let me see her, maybe I can help—”

            “Maybe you can pack Eunbi’s things? In the classroom? We surely need to leave now, and this would help a lot. Please.”

            There was a moment of silence and Eunbi dreaded that Yerin would insist in seeing her. But the older sighed and agreed. Eunbi heard her sunbae’s feet become distance and felt like she could breathe again.

            “Hey, Eunbi-yah,” Yewon gently touched her right shoulder and lightly pulled her off the toilet. The singer knelt next to her, cupping Eunbi’s face and making her look into her eyes. Eunbi blinked a couple of times, but eventually focused—it seemed like the worst was gone now. Yewon was about to say something, but she closed as if she had changed her mind.

            Yewon reached for the toilet paper and ripped an amount off. She gently wiped the blood and pieces of petals from Eunbi’s chin and mouth, flushing the toilet as soon as she was done. Eunbi made a mental note to buy Yewon that expensive chocolate she loved after everything ended, because, , how Yewon could be such a perfect friend?

            “There. Yerin-ssi will see you looking like , but she won’t see the petals,” the singer murmured. “Do you need help to get up?”         

            Eunbi weakly nodded and Yewon hooked an arm around her waist, standing up right after. Eunbi wobbled a little, but Yewon’s grip was tight and she slowly regained a little of balance. Her mind was slowly clearing up and she took a deep breath.

            “I brought her backpack,” Yerin barged into the bathroom and walked to the stall they were into. The dancer looked as pale as a paper sheet. “Eunbi-ssi!”

            “Hey,” Eunbi grimaced at how bad her voice sounded.

            “Are you okay?” Yerin took a step a back as Yewon practically carried Eunbi out of the stall. “, sorry, that was dumb of me to ask.”

            Eunbi somehow managed to snort. “Don’t worry… I’m feeling,” she coughed, “better.”

            “You sure don’t look like it—”

            “Yerin-ssi,” Yewon cut the older girl while giving her a pointed look. “We can save the questions for later. Thanks for getting her backpack; I’ll get her home now.”

            “What do you mean by that? She shouldn’t be going home—she should be going to a hospital!”

            “Oh, believe me, I’m taking her to a hospital,” Eunbi shrank unconsciously at the hidden meaning behind Yewon’s words. “But it’s better for her to rest now.”

            Eunbi avoided looking into Yerin’s eyes, but she could feel how hesitant the other was. Eunbi listened silently as the two of them discussed that for a little longer and almost sighed in relief when Yerin agreed in letting them go.

            “I’ll pay a taxi for you,” she said finally and Eunbi wanted to refuse that, but Yewon pressed her fingers against her waist in a silent warning.

            “Thanks, we appreciate very much.”

            “Eunbi-ssi,” Yerin turned to her and the younger dancer looked at her. “Text me when you can, ok?”

            She nodded and let the worry in Yerin’s voice fill her heart. Eunbi knew she shouldn’t be doing that, but she did it nonetheless.

            Hwang Eunbi was dying and she herself was the only one at fault.