Yerin was trying to do write an essay when her phone rang.

            The dancer looked at the screen and frowned; it wasn’t a number she had registered. This never had happened before, but, after all the things that occurred that day, Yerin felt like it was better to take that call. Maybe Eunbi is calling me from another number.

            “Hello?” Yerin hesitantly said, pressing her mobile on her ear.

            “Oh, thank god you answered. It’s Kim Yewon, sunbae, Eunbi’s friend.”

            “Yewon-ssi?” Yerin’s frown deepened and her heart skipped a beat. Something was wrong.

            “Yeah, that’s me,” the voice of the younger girl sounded a little high-pitched and somewhat scared, but Yerin decided to not comment on it—not yet, at least. “Sorry, it’s pretty late now, isn’t it?”

            “It’s fine,” the dancer looked at the clock on the right corner of her laptop’s screen. It was eight pm. “It’s too early to be asleep, anyway. Sorry, but how did you get my number?”

            “Oh, yeah, uh, sorry about that. I got it from Eunbi’s phone. I hope you don’t mind.”

            Yerin didn’t actually mind, but that was pretty weird. The dancer set her laptop aside and jumped out of bed, starting to feel uneasy. “No, I don’t. Why are you calling me, though? Is something wrong?”

            “Um,” the younger girl seemed hesitant and Yerin’s stomach turned slightly. There’s was definitely something wrong. “Look, I shouldn’t be doing this and Eunbi will probably want to kill me when she finds out, but… I just can’t stand still while she goes through that, and to be honest, if I know her at all, she won’t tell you anything until the last freaking second and—”

            “Yewon-ssi, hey, calm down,” Yerin said, voice a lot more tranquil than she felt. The dancer paced around the room. “What’s going on? What happened to Eunbi?”

            “Eunbi is…” her voice trailed off as another one started talking to her; it sounded like an older person. Yerin couldn’t listen to what the other person was saying, but the urgent tone only made her grow even more anxious. “,” when Yewon’s voice came back, she sounded extremely shaken. “Listen—I, I don’t have any time to explain it to you, but I need you to go to Seoul’s National Hospital right now.”

            “What? Why? Is Eunbi hurt?” Yerin dropped all the calm she had put on her voice as her body moved to open her closet, hands already grabbing some clothes.

            “I-it’s about Eunbi, but I can’t explain now!” Yewon exclaimed, seeming to be in a hurry as well. “J-just meet me there, I promise I’ll explain everything to you. Just, p-please go.”

            “Yeah, of course, I’ll go—”

            At that, the call was cut off and a low whimper escaped Yerin’s lips. She had no idea what was happening, but she hated it. Nonetheless of her mind state, she hurried up and left her house without so much as a warning to her family.

            Yerin got inside a cab and arrived at the hospital as fast as she could and, unsurprisingly, Kim Yewon was already there, standing next to the entrance, looking like she had been waiting for her. The younger girl looked worse than before; her hair was messier, her cheeks were tear streaked, and her hands fidgeted with the hem of what seemed like a pajama shirt.

            “Yewon-ssi!” Yerin yelled as she paid the driver and jumped out of the vehicle. The singer turned to her, the expression on her face being washed by relief.

            “Sunbae,” she whimpered when the dancer got close enough to hear her voice. “Come on, we don't have much time—”

            “Time for what?” Yerin questioned, following Yewon inside. “What the hell is happening?”

            “I-I really shouldn’t be the one to be telling you this, but,” the girl hushed through the people on the waiting room and entered an elevator, finger pressing the third button harder than necessary. “But there is something wrong and there should be more time! No one knows what’s wrong—”

            “Yewon, for ’s sake!” Yerin lost the last string of patience she had, snapping. The poor girl looked at her, shocked, and Yerin tried to take a deep breath. “Just tell me what’s happening!”

            The singer nodded vigorously. “R-right,” they left the elevator and Yewon guided her through a hall. “Eunbi has h-hanahaki.”

            “What.”

            Yerin’s feet halted as they reached a closed, white door. Kim Yewon’s eyes bored into her, wide and scared, tears nearly escaping. The dancer couldn’t feel her arm when the younger girl took a hold on her and shook the limb lightly, yet urgently.

            “She has hanahaki,” Yewon repeated. “A-and it all started like, ing yesterday! But then she started coughing blood t-today and I said—I told her! I told her she had to go to the hospital, but she said she was tired and I didn’t pressure—oh, God, why didn’t I insist?”

            Yerin’s mind was as blank as a paper sheet.

            The dancer watched Yewon ramble, the girl’s mouth moving at an uncontrollable speed, spilling regrets, fears and, more than anything, despair. However, the words didn’t quite reach her; Yerin couldn’t hear nor understand what Yewon was saying.

            She didn’t know if she wanted to, though.

            The grip in her arm turned strong and her eyes widened as she felt the other’s fingertips dug on her skin; Yewon tugged Yerin, fresh tears staining her cheeks. “T-that’s why you need to do something!”

            “Do… something?” Yerin’s voice was foreign to her ears. “W-what do you mean?”

            The sound Yewon made reminded her of a banshee’s wail. “Isn’t it obvious! Eunbi likes you—she loves you! That’s why this’ happening! Just, please, please, do something!”

            Do something? What? Eunbi loved her? Since when? Was she dying because of it?

            “Please!” Yewon screeched, latching on both of her arms. The younger’s nails dug into her skin, but even the sharp pain wasn’t enough to make her move. “Just say something! Just one thing and we can save her! Please, sunbae!”

            Yerin’s heart clenched inside her chest.

            She had heard about hanahaki—hell, she had witnessed her own brother suffer with it. Yerin wasn’t foreign to the flower illness and she sure knew about the procedures to heal it. However, the lack of practical experience made her stomach turn; what should she do now?

            “I…” the expectant look in Yewon’s eyes made her want to disappear.

            What did she feel?

            It is true that she had always watched the younger dancer from afar and, yes, she felt stupid butterflies every time Eunbi presented herself with her stage name and amazed everyone with a completely original routine. It is true that Yerin couldn’t help but smile when she observed Eunbi enter the room, quiet as always, doing her best without showing off and always ready to help whoever needed it. It is true that she was ing thrilled to be talking to the younger girl and that she may had been a little jealous of how easy Eunbi laughed and talked to Kim Yewon. All of it… all of it’s true.

            But, even though that was real, was she in love with Eunbi?

            Her eyes darted to the closed door.

            Yerin knew that there weren’t in-betweens when it came to hanahaki; she had seen it happen to her brother. She saw how the older boy went through the surgery and, even though he kept the ability to love, all the feelings he had for that certain girl disappeared. Nothing but apathy remained.

            No. There was no ing way she was letting that happen.

            “I like her, too.”

            The air around them stilled and, slowly, Yewon’s fingers released her. The dancer felt her heart’s pace quicken; it was as if something had been switched off. She looked to the younger girl who had her eyes glued to the door.

            Did it work? she asked herself, feeling too scared to move. , please, please.

            Yewon reached for the knob and turned it, opening the door. Both girls hesitantly entered the room and Yerin’s eyes fell on an unconscious Eunbi. The dancer was on top of a hospital bed, face partially covered by the oxygen mask.

            She looked pale, lifeless.

            “Eunbi-ssi…” Yerin took a few steps closer to the bed, stopping her tracks just when the tip of her sneakers hit the bed’s metal leg. She observed the rhythmic movement of Eunbi’s chest—up, down, up down—and tried to not think about how sick the dancer looked.

            Some people say that hanahaki is a heart’s disease more than it is a lungs’ one. Yerin never knew what to think about it, though, but she hoped that nonetheless of what it was, that it was cured immediately. She just wanted Eunbi to be okay.

            As if reading her thoughts, Hwang Eunbi opened her eyes.

            Yerin heard Yewon’s gasp behind her, but she paid no mind to it. The older dancer just walked forward, standing right next to Eunbi’s head. “E-Eunbi,” she called softly, the honorific suddenly forgotten. “Hey, can you hear me?”

            The dancer watched closely as Eunbi blinked. She waited a moment and couldn’t help the wide smile from spreading on her face when the younger weakly nodded. “Oh, thank God you are okay, I thought—”

            But just when she had allowed herself to relax, the monitor with Eunbi’s heartbeats showed an increase of pace; abruptly, Eunbi’s back arched, her eyes widened, and opened with the overflow of black petals.

            Yewon let out a horrified scream as she pressed the emergency button.

            And, then, Jung Yerin couldn’t move; her heart sank inside her chest and it felt like there was nothing but emptiness in her mind.

            What was happening?

            It didn’t work.

            “Why did you lie?” Yewon screamed on top her lungs as soon as they found themselves alone inside a small waiting room.

            They had been guided there when a nurse came and urged them out of the room, saying they had to leave in order to give Eunbi the proper treatment. Neither wanted to actually do that, but they had no choice, entering in the cramped room instead. Kim Yewon looked had been in shock for a while, but right after that passed, the singer displayed pure anger. And it looked like Yerin was the one at fault. “Why did you do that! If you had been ing honest she wouldn’t be like that right now!”

            “I didn’t lie!” Yerin retorted, equally screaming. “I don’t want Eunbi’s feelings to disappear! I like her too!”

            “It’s not what it seems!”

            “Ladies!”

            The two girls snapped their heads towards the door as a third voice appeared.

            A good-looking, tall woman wearing a white coat stood by the double door with a frown. Yerin quickly recognized her as one of the doctors and the dancer’s heart quickened at the prospection of receiving news about Eunbi’s state.

            “This is a hospital, not the street. You two keep your nerves down,” her voice was strong, and they couldn’t help the way their shoulders shrank. The doctor sighed. “I’m doctor Ho Hyun Ju,” she said and looked around, “I need to speak to Hwang Eunbi’s relatives.”

            “Ah,” Yewon’s hand flew to her back pocket. The singer got her handphone and looked at something. “They needed to take care of a few things outside, but they should be back in twenty minutes.”

            “Alright, tell them to reach a nurse as soon as they arrive,” doctor Ho Hyun Ju nodded, and her eyes darted to the clipboard she was holding. “I need to check on her. You two behave, for Christ’s sake.”

            Before the doctor could turn her back, Yerin stepped forward. “Can’t you tell us anything?” the dancer felt uncomfortable under the doctor’s intense gaze, but she couldn’t stop now. “Please, just, tell us something, I—will Eunbi be okay? Is she okay right now?”

            Apparently hesitating, the doctor eyed the two girls. She was quiet for a couple of seconds and Yerin really thought she would just turn her back and leave, but, fortunately, the woman spoke again.

            “Hwang Eunbi’s case is... unusual. I can’t say much because I didn’t get to examine her properly yet, but it’s safe to say that we’re dealing with a dangerous variant of hanahaki. I don’t want to give you false hopes, but I don’t want to make you frightened either. So, just stay put while we take care of her,” doctor Ho looked at her clipboard again. “I assure you we’ll do our best. We have a hanahaki specialist coming to take a look on her as well.”

            “Thank you,” the dancer thanked her sincerely.

            Doctor Ho stared at her and she seemed like she would say something else, but, in the end, she just gave them both a short nod and left.

            The girls sat down on the hospital’s uncomfortable chairs. Yewon typed a few things on her phone and Yerin imagined she was contacting Eunbi’s parents. They are really close, she thought, casting her head down to look at her hands.

            This really shouldn’t be happening.

            “You really didn’t lie?” Yewon asked quietly and, feeling too tired to vehemently deny, Yerin just sighed.

            “I didn’t.”

            There was a low hum from Yewon. “I’m… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped like that.”

            “No, it’s alright,” the older girl closed her eyes for a short second. “We are both on our edges here.”

            “Yeah,” the other agreed and Yerin could feel Yewon’s eyes on her. They remained in silence for a couple of seconds, until Yewon gulped down and said with a small voice, “you know, I was quite happy to know that you were Eunbi’s crush.”

            Yerin’s brow furrowed a little and she turned her head to face Yewon. The younger girl looked devastated, but there was the hint of a smile on her lips that surprised Yerin. “Why…?”

            “Because,” Yewon averted her eyes to look at a white wall across them, “I’ve always dreamed of seeing my friends happy. This is, like, my top objective in life. I don’t have many friends, to be honest, and Eunbi is definitely the closest of them all, so you can guess how much I just want to see her happy.”

            She’s really a nice girl, Yerin observed Yewon’s profile and remained in silence, waiting for the girl to continue.

            “Eunbi was never the kind of person to make friends easily; she may be different now, because of everything that happened, but she was always the snarky, sassy kind of girl. Not everyone handles that well,” the singer sighed. “And, after that day…” her voice trailed off and she looked into Yerin’s eyes. “She told you about that day, didn’t she?”

            “You mean when she punched a guy?” Yewon nodded. “I mean, she told me about it, but didn’t go into details. She sounded kind of uncomfortable talking about it, really, so I didn’t pressure or anything. We dropped that topic pretty quickly, though. Eunbi-ssi and I spent a lot of time talking about dance and all.”

            “I see… that’s good,” Yewon smiled lightly. “I’ve already told you a lot—I mean, I told you about the hanahaki and all—so, I won’t tell you anything else about that day. Just… know that somethings are not like they seem, okay?”

            With a slight frown, Yerin tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

            “I just… I mean, just in case you end up hearing stuff, don’t believe it, okay? Rumors are bull,” Yewon got her lower lip between her teeth. “I’m sure that, if you want to know what happened and all, you can talk directly to her and—”

            “Yewon-ssi,” Yerin cut the girl’s sentence with a calm tone. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to listen to them. Besides, I haven’t heard anything bad about her until now, so I doubt something will come up.”

            “I know, it’s just that… every time I think Eunbi’s getting a new friend, they always hear about the rumors and leave and I just…”

            “You worry, I know,” and for the first time that night, Yerin smiled. “But I’m not like the others, so you can rest your mind over that.”

            Yewon was silent for a few seconds; her eyes attentively studying Yerin’s face. The dancer felt something pull on her heart as she realized how much Yewon cared about Eunbi. It somehow felt like before; her heart wanting to be petty and go prove herself better, but, at the same time, it felt good. Eunbi had some real caring for her.

            Yerin didn’t really know how that felt like.

            “Alright,” Yewon finally said. “You… you should stay; maybe the doctor will want to talk to you.”

            The dancer didn’t even hesitate. “Of course,” she grabbed her own cell phone and saw the lost calls. “I’ll just call my parents and explain the situation so that they won’t have a , or something.”

            “Sure,” Yewon looked down to her phone. “Eunbi’s parents are just a few minutes away,” she said. Her voice tone signaling that this was more of a comment than a warning, but Yerin couldn’t help the anxiety that slowly crept on her mind. “They’re nice; kind of quiet, but nice. You don’t have to worry about meeting them.”

            “Is that so?” Yerin did her best to not sound on edge. “That’s good.”

            They fell on a deep silence, the heavy atmosphere not quite unbearable, but bordering it. They were filled with worry, apprehension and that horrifying feeling of impotence.

            Eunbi was there, just a few meters away from them, suffering with something that was nobody’s fault; that no one knew how to fix. Or, at least, for now. Yerin’s eyes bore holes into the closed doors as her mind ran off its rails; what could she do?

            “You know,” she didn’t even realize she was talking out loud until Yewon hummed next to her, “I sincerely like her.”

            “You’ve said it, sunbae.”

            “But how come only Eunbi is suffering?”

            Yerin felt smooth fingers wrap themselves around her wrist and she slowly turned to look at Yewon.

            “Sunbae, this is how things work,” she said softly, with such a soothing tone that Yerin couldn’t help but relax at that. “We can’t do anything about it now… and I think we’ve already lost our nerves enough tonight. Eunbi… Eunbi needs us now; we can’t afford to be wondering about useless stuff.”

            Useless stuff? Yerin blinked a couple of times. “You’re pretty mature, huh?”

            With a sound between a scoff and a snort, the singer nodded. “Eunbi says that too. It’s kind of a bless and a curse, if I’m going to be honest. She also calls me mom sometimes. But, what can I do, really?” Yewon heaved an exaggerated sigh. “That girl only gives me headaches.”

            Yerin’s lips curled up.

            Yes, things were bad, but she wasn’t alone.

            Her eyes travelled back to the closed doors and the pull on her heart became stronger. She never once thought she would find herself in this situation and she absolutely hated it, but, no matter how much her eyes were burning and how much she just wanted to fix everything, she knew she had to be reasonable.

            I need to be strong now.

            And she would do her best.