Kim Minjoo died at the age of 21.                                                                  

Yujin would always find herself staring at the city girl whenever she had the chance.  She had only transferred this year and is already the hot topic of their school. Not only because she came from the city but also because she was drop dead gorgeous.

 

Many students wonder why someone from the city like her chose to move in this remote area, including Yujin. Yet no one knows why since she never really talks to anyone. She’s quiet most of the time and no one has ever held a proper conversation with her. She never smiles and prefers to sit out during PE.

 

Rumors went around their small school saying that Minjoo is suffering from an illness but no one really knows. Others just shrugged it off, thinking that city girls are probably like that. Snob. Arrogant.

 

But Yujin was sure she had a reason. She wants to find out why but how is she going to when Minjoo doesn’t even talk to anyone?

 

“Yujin”

 

“Yujin”

 

“Yujin!” Yujin jolted from her seat when she felt a soft smack on her back. She was again lost in her thoughts while staring at Minjoo. 

 

“You’re staring at her again?” The same girl who smacked her asked. She was around the same height as Yujin with an odd purple hair color. 

 

“W-Wonyoung! You need something?” She asks, avoiding Wonyoung’s question. Wonyoung could only roll her eyes at her best friend. It’s obvious to her that Yujin has been crushing on the city girl but she just won’t admit it. Yet.

 

“I tell you what, you better man up and tell her how you feel. Before it’s too late.” Wonyoung looks at her sternly. Yujin frowns and breaks the eye contact with her. Wonyoung waits for Yujin to say something but the latter was silent. She shakes her head hopelessly.

 

“Don’t forget our band practice later.” She gently pats Yujin’s back and receives a nod from her. “I’ll visit the infirmary first.” Their teacher came and both girls sat properly in their seats.

 

Yujin was that wild kid in school. She always loved trying new things every day. When she entered high school, she dyed her hair blue which earned a shock from her friends. A few days after, her friends followed. Wonyoung dying her hair purple, Nako with ash grey, and Yuri with blue highlights. She also tried almost all kinds of sports. Volleyball, Basketball, Football, Track and Field and etc. One of the craziest things she’s done was having a pet snake. (She named it emnet).   

 

A new crazy idea popped onto her mind and told her friends about it. She told them she wants to form a band. It was crazy, mainly because none of them knew how to play a single instrument. But at least they don’t have to worry about anything else since they’re all decent singers. Well, Yuri was kinda above them. That’s how Ohaco (Odd Hair Color) was formed. It was a crazy idea, really. Nevertheless, they still agreed. They follow whatever crazy Yujin has in mind, even agreeing with the clapped band name. She couldn’t be more thankful to have them as friends.  

 

Classes ended and it was time for band practice but Yujin headed to the infirmary first.  She pushed the door only to be surprised at what she saw.

 

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Yujin apologizes over and over again while covering her eyes. Minjoo is still topless and was using her uniform to cover her chest. Yujin was blushing madly and Minjoo looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

 

 “You saw it. Didn’t you.” Yujin’s blush was even worse than before and felt like her heart was going to pop out from her chest.

 

“I-it was an accident! I swear! I didn’t mean to stare at your s…” Yujin stutters and felt embarrassed saying the b word.

 

“My wha—“

 

Minjoo shakes her head.

 

“I wasn’t talking about that.”

 

Confused, Yujin takes a peek at the girl in front of her. Minjoo slowly removes her uniform from her chest. Instead of her half figure, something else caught Yujin’s eye. On Minjoo’s left chest, was a small steel device with a tiny tube attached to her chest.

 

Yujin wasn’t able to say anything. Too shocked at the sight of Minjoo with that small device attached on her.

 

“Are you familiar with koku haku disease?” Minjoo asks as she buttons her uniform.

 

“I might’ve heard of it…” Yujin walks toward the same bed Minjoo was sitting and sat beside her.  

 

“Officially, a weak heart muscle makes the heartbeat irregular. It’s in the same category as cardiomyopathy. It’s a rare disease that only happens to one in a million people. Someone with this illness, the amount of times their heart can beat in their lifetime has already been decided.” Minjoo explains with a stoic expression. Minjoo pulls out her phone from her pocket and opens an app. She handed her phone to Yujin in which she hesitantly accepted.

 

“Make sure to point the camera towards me.” Yujin nods and follows what she’s told. She waits for the app to finish scanning and sees a profile of Minjoo. Below the screen were numbers decreasing as time passes by.

 

209,982,876  beats.

 

“These numbers…” Yujin mutters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The amount of heartbeats I have left…”

 

“I have around 200 million beats left. You might think that’s a lot but… I actually have around 5 years left to live.” She says monotonously as she takes back her phone from Yujin.

 

“My lifespan will shorten the faster my heart beats. That’s why I’m prohibited from doing vigorous exercises.”

 

“So that’s why you skip PE.” Minjoo nods.

 

“Why are you telling me this?”

 

“I thought that if I told you about my condition, you’d choose to keep this a secret rather than telling others about it.” She takes a deep sigh.

 

“Back then in my previous school, I felt really uncomfortable because of the rumors going around me. I couldn’t make my heart calm down. So we moved here.”

 

“You had it rough in the city huh.” Yujin replied.

 

“Truthfully, I want to get along with everyone else. I want to have fun like others too. If things keep on going like this, I would’ve prefer to live my life out to the fullest with every heartbeat I have left. But I’m afraid to do it since it would shorten my lifespan.”

 

Even with that stoic expression of hers, Yujin didn’t fail to notice the sadness in Minjoo’s tone. She stretched her arms up and exhaled.

 

“Well, I think I said too much. Please keep this a secret. Yujin-sshi.” Minjoo said as she stood up from the bed and headed towards the door.Before she could even open the door, Yujin grabs her wrist. When Minjoo turns to look at Yujin, she was so close to her and had a determined look on her face.

 

“Minjoo-sshi! If those are your true feelings then… I’ll… I’ll help you!” Yujin said, still holding on to Minjoo’s  wrist.

 

“What?”

 

“I’ll help you enjoy your life to fullest.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“And make your heart beat like crazy.”

 

 

 

“Ahhh!! I can’t believe I’m finally here!” Minjoo exclaimed as she looks around the huge beach.

 

“Who would’ve thought it would be this big!”

 

“Eh? Is this your first time?” Yujin asks while she was setting up their things on the sand. It took them a good 10 minutes to find a perfect spot. Minjoo gives her a nod.

 

Minjoo wore a black two piece bikini which exposed her milky white skin while Yujin wore a rash guard and a pair of swimming shorts. Yujin looks at the people around them and noticed they were all staring at them, more specifically, they were ogling at Minjoo.

She glares at the nearest guy ogling at Minjoo. The guy ignores Yujin and approaches Minjoo instead.

 

“Hey.”

 

“I haven’t seen you before. Are you new?” The guy asked Minjoo. Minjoo turns her head to look at him, then back at Yujin who’s obviously pretending to be busy by arranging their stuffs. Minjoo gives the guy a nod.

 

“I’m Minkyu. I can show you around the beach if you want. I know every corner of this beach since my family owns it anyway.” He gives her a wink as he brags.   

 

She turns to look at Yujin again who only gave her a smile. “You should go, I’ll watch our stuffs here while you enjoy the beach with him.”

 

“How about later?” Minjoo suggests and Minkyu flashes a triumphant smile.

 

“Sure! Just call me if you need help—“

 

“Fantastic! Watch over our stuffs so Yujin and I can enjoy the beach in peace. Thanks Minkyu!” She doesn’t wait for Minkyu’s reply and drags Yujin to the beach. Minkyu stood at their spot dumbfounded.

 

Minjoo and Yujin were now in the water and Minjoo’s smile just keeps on getting wider. Yujin could feel her heart beating faster than normal. Who knew Kim Minjoo can actually smile?

 

“Why did you reject him?”

 

 “You said you were gonna help me enjoy my life to the fullest.”

 

“I did that’s why I told you to go with him.  He’s the owner’s son, you would’ve enjoyed the beach more if you went with him.” Instead of a reply, Minjoo just splashed her with sea water.

 

“Hey! What was that for?”

 

“If you’re gonna help me enjoy my life then do it with me at least.”

 

 

 

We experienced lots of exciting heart beating moments. We did everything we could think of.

 

“Yujin! Yujin! We’re almost at the top! My heart is literally beating so fast I feel like my life span is shortening!” Minjoo exclaims as she grips on the handle tighter.

 

“Don’t say it lightly with a happy face like that!” Yujin yells back at Minjoo. They’re apparently riding a rollercoaster right now, as per Minjoo’s request the other day. When the ride finally went down, Minjoo screams at the top of her lungs while Yujin closes her eyes shut.

They went to the different rides after that. They tried entering the haunted house and Minjoo didn’t let go of Yujin’s hand no matter what. Meanwhile Yujin feels like her eardrums were about to burst from Minjoo’s endless screaming. Minjoo stopped walking when a stall caught her attention. Yujin turns to look at where Minjoo was looking and sees a stall where you have to shoot the target to win a prize. Minjoo tried hitting the target but kept on missing. The stall was already draining her money that Yujin had to step in and shoot for her. With just one try, Yujin shoots the target and won the grand prize.

 

“You were amazing! Yujin-ah!” Minjoo squeals as she hugs the huge golden retriever plushie.

 

“Why are you so desperate to win that game anyway?” Yujin asks as she spots their next destination.

 

“The dog plushie caught my attention because it looked like you!” She says while holding t