Hayoung paces around the ICU unit, going back and forth between Eunji and Naeun’s ward. Namjoo sits and prays, hoping that both of them wake up soon. Bomi has been staying over at the hospital, doing nothing but sitting quietly at the corner. And Chorong…she’s gone.

Gone like the wind.

These few days after Christmas has been a difficult one to handle. From the shocking phone calls and runs to the hospital, to the tears spilled and embraces between the three, each telling one another that they’ll be fine.

This is not the way they wanted Christmas to end. Not like this.

Hayoung has no way of contacting her sister. The line never picks up. This worries her because she’s the last person Eunji was seen with. No one knows what happened to her, only the doctors say she was run over by the car. There was no CCTV at the bar where the ambulance picked her up and no eyewitnesses

Naeun’s case was different. Thanks to the powerful Son family, the moment they received word of her accident, police were already on the run and caught the culprit—a drunk driver. He will not be walking away so easily with just a simple fine. As for Taemin, he sustained light injuries. Even though he wanted to be by Naeun’s side, his family forced him to stay home and recuperate.

Eunji has it worse on her back and legs—but thankfully nothing too life threatening. But Naeun suffers from head injuries. Doctors predict that there is a high chance of memory loss, but it is uncertain to say when she has yet to wake up—that is, if she does. 

No one goes back to the house for a couple of days. But they should. Christmas is over and classes have resumed. If they keep skipping it, they might have to retake the semester.

Three days before New Year’s Eve, Eunji wakes up. It is in the morning when the rare sunlight seeps through the small window and snow is falling. The first person she sees is Namjoo who immediately runs to get the doctor. When she manages to speak the following day, she asks about Chorong.

But Hayoung and Namjoo give each other a disconcerted look. They both shake their head slowly. The two have talked about this before—whether to lie or tell the truth. Namjoo insists on lying. However, Hayoung believes in honesty. For the first time, the two roommates disagreed on something.

Eventually, Hayoung wins in a round of logic. So, it goes like this.

“She left us without saying anything.” Hayoung explains. “I’ve been trying to contact her but she just won’t pick up her phone. I tried to call her classmates and ask about her, but they don’t know either. I-“

“It’s fine.” Eunji sighs and holds her head. “I’m sorry. Just…just leave me alone.” She looks away, avoiding eye contact with any of them. The crack in her voice is too obvious to their ears.

To respect her space, Namjoo and Hayoung leave her ward.

Knowing that staying around will do nothing much anymore since she is awake, the two decide to finally head back to the house. They go over to Naeun’s ward and try to convince Bomi to come along. But the latter refuses.

“Alright. But we’ll come back tomorrow and bring you some warm food, okay?” Namjoo says as she grips onto Bomi’s shoulder.

“We’ll get you a blanket and pillow as well. You will get a sore neck if you keep sleeping on that chair.” Hayoung says as they leave.

Taking the cab back, the journey is silent.  

Hayoung yawns and rests her head on Namjoo’s shoulder. The roommate looks over and smiles sadly, knowing that she’s trying hard to look strong. Her sister is missing. Two of her housemates are in the hospital. And her favourite season, Christmas will bring nothing but a horrible memory from this point onwards.

The thing is, Namjoo notices that Hayoung has never shed a single tear. It was only her and Bomi when they first heard the news. As the days pass, her roommate never showed a sign of sadness. Not even a small hint on her face. And that worries her.

“Rest well.” Namjoo mumbles as she moves away the little strands of Hayoung’s hair. She leans back and exhales slowly.

In times like these, Namjoo wonders what she can do for her. But then, it hits her that she is not needed—because Hayoung has Chungha.

The house is in a mess.

It was left exactly as it was, on Christmas. The worst of all, Chorong’s stuff are all gone. She came, packed and left to god knows where. This makes Hayoung panic. But she decides not to call her parents on it.

The little sister is trying to process the fact that Chorong probably needs her own space of privacy after whatever that’s happened. Even though she’s mad, even though she wants to yell at her, Hayoung is trying to understand.

xxx

Two days before New Years’ Eve, Eunji gets visits from her circle of friends. Being the social, popular girl who hosts parties throughout the year, it was expected. But the events after Christmas has made the girl very sensitive.

“Can you ing bastards just leave? It’s a whole goddamn market here!”

She feels sorry for yelling at her friends and being a pessimistic, gloomy cloud. It’s not that she doesn’t want them to visit her. She’s thankful. But she doesn’t want them to see her like this. In her worst state.

Suho notices it first and convinces the others to leave. They all wish her and head out. The boy is the last one. “I don’t know what happened and I will not ask you what happened. Time will heal everything, okay? Be strong, Eunji.” He says and gives a soft smile before closing the door.

Ever since Eunji woke up, she doesn’t ask what happened. She doesn’t ask about Naeun’s ward across hers. She doesn’t ask about Bomi who is seen camping there. When the police came to interrogate her about the incident, she simply shrugs it off and tells them to pull of the case. She doesn’t mention anything about Chorong nor, the wicked man who attacked her.

The police respects her wishes and the case is called off.

When the door closes behind, the day is suddenly night. Eunji sighs again and stares soullessly at the ceiling. She is too tired to think about anything else. She does not care less about anything anymore.

All she knows is, this is all a one big nightmare.

A day before New Years’ Eve, there is a new visitor at Naeun’s ward. Bomi wakes up to the glass door opening slightly. She rubs her eyes and mumbles, “You are…?” at the young lady, wrapped in a fur coat.

She smiles and greets Bomi with a bow. “Son Seungwan. I’m Naeun’s cousin. But please call me Wendy.”

Wendy sits next to Bomi as they watch Naeun in silence. The way those ugly tubes are in her face, the way the machine beeps every five seconds and the cold, hanging air of the room. It’s a sight that makes her heart sink.

“I’m guessing my cousin must mean a lot to you.” Wendy says.

Bomi looks at her and a slight nod. Honestly, she hasn’t been getting proper sleep and proper food for the past few days, so it’s understandable that Bomi isn’t exactly in the right condition to talk to someone.

But she’s holding on. Holding on so that when Naeun wakes up, she won’t be alone. So that when Naeun wakes up, she can rest easy with someone she knows and feels comfortable with.

Wendy notices that Bomi isn’t really talking to her and instead, offers out her hand. The girl stares at it for a moment, but eventually takes it. She wraps her fingers warmly. It’s a comforting feeling.

Something Bomi needs in this important time.

“My cousin is strong. She won’t back down so easily. Trust her. Believe in her. Don’t let the negative thoughts corrupt your mind, alright?” Wendy says quietly. “She will wake up.”

xxx

It is New Years’ Eve.

As Hayoung drags her feet up the stairs of the campus, people on the left are excitedly talking about heading downtown to see the fireworks. The people on the right are setting up light decorations at the foyer.

She groans and covers her ears. She doesn’t want to hear any of that. The sunshine girl during Christmas has turned into a murky gray cloud passing through the air.

In classes, her desk partner, Sejun tries to crack some jokes to make her feel better. But Hayoung responds to it coldly. During breaks, Sooyoung and Yerin try to cheer her up by talking about puppies. But it isn’t enough to make Hayoung bright. Eventually, Chungha comes in and suggests to take her out. But that too, isn’t enough to lift her mood.

“There’s a newly opened ice cream shop that’s having a 40% opening discount sale. Wanna go check it out?”

“I’m sorry Chungha. It’s just…I think I just want to be alone for awhile.”

Chungha looks at her with a sad smile. But she nods with understanding and holds onto Hayoung’s hand. “Alright. Take all the time you want. But know that I’ll always be here.” She pecks her cheek and leaves.

Actually, the whole 96-liner group were supposed to head downtown to watch the new year countdown. But Hayoung tells them to go ahead. No one blames her. It’s just a pity that this has to happen to her.

While all of her friends are out partying, Hayoung comes home to an empty house.

There’s something missing.

The presence of Naeun reading in the corner isn’t there. The loud boisterous laughter of Bomi and Eunji isn’t there. The groans of Chorong nagging the two of them to behave like adults isn’t there. And the warm welcome of Namjoo greeting her every time she comes back isn’t there. 

The house is void of their presence. Empty, just like her heart.

She goes into her room and tries to call Chorong again. Nothing. She scrolls through the messages she sent her; none of them are read. Frustrated, she throws her phone onto her bed and crashes into the pillow.

“Where the hell are you unnie?!”

The door creaks open and Hayoung’s eyes find Namjoo. She tries to give her a smile, but it hurts. She gets up and looks at her roommate coming in to sit on the bed.

“I thought you’d be having your club meetings at this hour.”

“Usually, yes, I would attend. But now? With everything that happened? Yeah, probably not. Chorong’s gone. Eunji’s thankfully, awake and recovering. But she’s mad and I don’t blame her. And Naeun, she…hasn’t woken up yet.” Her voice grows quiet.

The room is silent at the last sentence.

Namjoo glances at Hayoung and says, “The new year is coming in about six hours.”  

Hayoung sighs and shrugs. “Well, that’s great.”

“Wanna call pizza and just spend the last day of 2019 by watching a movie?” Namjoo suggests. Hayoung gives her an interested look and nods.

Hayoung and Namjoo’s New Year Eve is spent together in the spacious, empty common area with greasy pizza boxes on the table, cans of beer and a scene of Frozen playing on the screen.

The two brought out their blankets and are cuddled underneath. Hayoung rests her head onto Namjoo’s shoulder. They watch quietly without much conversations. Right now, all they need is just this. Silence, comfort and warmth.

It’s only when they hear the distant sounds of fireworks that they realize the new year has arrived.

Usually, there would be a party to celebrate this. Usually, someone would start dancing and usually, someone would suggest a drinking game. But today, just for today, it’s quiet. It’s just two people in the house, minding their own business.

They can’t be bothered about the new year. Even when their phones are dinging with notifications from all their friends wishing them.

“Happy new year, Hayoung.”

“Wow, that sounds pretty lifeless.” The roommate chuckles and looks at her with a smile much brighter than before.

“Well, we are pretty lifeless right now.”

“That’s true.” Hayoung hums. “Happy new year, Namjoo. Let’s hope this year will be much better than the last.”

“I hope so too.”

To many, new years is joyous occasion.

At this auspicious hour, some folk to the temples and churches to pray. Others are out to party and go crazy with alcohol. The rest choose to spend this precious time with their loved ones.

Eunji spends the new years in the hospital, looking out at the window and observing the fireworks. Bomi spends the new years asleep, head rested on Naeun’s lap as she’s still waiting for her to wake up.

And Chorong.

Chorong spends the news years staring at the night sky, on the rooftop of Solar and Moonbyul’s apartment building.

She’s sipping a can of beer and then, puffing a cigarette— even though she promised herself to never smoke again.

She sees Solar and Moonbyul chilling at the balcony and watching the fireworks. They share a kiss and laugh away. Chorong doesn’t want to bother them. That’s why she has her own little private corner with four cans of beer, potato chips and an ashtray.

Chorong dips the cigarette and unlocks her phone to see all the missed calls and unread messages. She scrolls through the notification panel, there’s her sister, Hayoung, and then, Namjoo and Bomi. She doesn’t open them but she knows what happened.

She knows that Eunji is awake. She knows that Naeun too, got into an accident.

Chorong locks back the phone and sighs. She curls her knees together and wrap her arms around it, resting her head on top. She knows that she can’t run away forever.

There is this thing about a new years’ resolution. Chorong always thought it was kind of dumb. But maybe for once, she will have one.

Eventually, she’s going to have to face all of them again. That includes Eunji too.

--

A/N: this is a fairly short chapter, sorry but this is kinda like the "epilogue" for the first arc of "every second with you". second arc is starting and we'll be seeing how this big incident takes our characters along the new year. thank you for reading, see you in 2020 when the next chapter drops! ^^

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year guys~~