It was a rainy morning as Sakura’s flight landed in Seoul. She had contemplated for a long time as to whether she should go to the address or not, since the letter she received was suspicious, but something in her told her she should. As the taxi arrived at the destination, Sakura was a little confused. She looked at the address again, making sure the destination was right and confirmed she arrived in the right location. She thanked the driver before stepping out. Sakura looked at the apartment complex in front of her. She stepped through the front doors and into the lobby, but now she didn’t know what to do. The only way to access the apartments was to enter the access code, or call for a resident to open the door for you, but she didn’t know who to call. There was no registry at the call button either. The letter only had an address written on it. There were no other instructions. 

Did I just get pranked? 

Sakura thought to herself as she found herself in a ridiculous predicament. 

Why did I even follow this stupid piece of paper anyway. What was I even expecting?

Sakura sighed as she began to make her way out of the building, planning on finding a place to stay at for the night. As she was about to walk away, the doors into the apartments opened and a figure walked out. Sakura looked up from searching on her phone and saw a young lady standing in front of her. Her jaw dropped as she recognized who it was.

“No way…” Sakura said as she covered .

“It’s been a while.” The girl replied with a smile.

Sakura was so filled with emotions that she couldn’t say anything. Tears began to well as she continued to stare at her.

“What? Are you so shocked that you’re not going to give me a hug, Kkura-ya?”

Sakura smiled as she rushed to give Hyewon a big hug.

“It’s good to see you too, Kkura. It’s been a while, but I can see that you haven’t changed much.” Hyewon said as she hugged Sakura tighter. 

“Kang-chan!!!”

“Actually, I guess something did actually change.” Hyewon said, breaking the embrace.

“Congratulations, Dr. Miyawaki Sakura.” She added as she extended a hand towards Sakura.

“Stop being so formal.” Sakura replied, extending her hand and shaking Hyewon’s hand.

“I should congratulate you too. Congratulations on becoming a certified registered nurse, Kang-chan.” 

“We’ve worked hard haven’t we?” Hyewon asked with a smile.

“We have.” Sakura replied, returning the smile.

“Well, since you’re here, I guess you received my letter.” Hyewon said, suddenly changing the topic.

“This was YOU?!” Sakura exclaimed as she waved the piece of paper in the air, reminded of why she was there in the first place.

“Mmhmm.”

“Why did you ask me to come here like this? You know you could’ve just called me.” 

“I know, but this way was much more mysterious and kind of fun.”

“No it’s not. It was so suspicious. I almost didn’t come, you know. You’re weird and all, but this was something I definitely didn’t expect from you, Kang-chan.”

“Wow, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. You’re the one who decided to come despite the letter being suspicious. If you didn’t come, I would’ve called you anyway.”

“Ah, whatever. I’m here now either way, so what’s up? Why did you ask me to come to Korea?”

As Sakura looked at Hyewon, the smile that was on her friend slowly disappeared and the atmosphere suddenly turned solemn.

“Have you…” Hyewon paused for a moment, as if she was hesitant about finishing her sentence.

“.... Have you talked to Chaeyeon lately?”

Sakura’s mouth suddenly became dry upon hearing Hyewon’s question. Her eyes moved to the ground, wavering back and forth as she found it hard to tell Hyewon the truth.

“So you haven’t.” Hyewon suddenly said.

Sakura shot her head up and looked at Hyewon in shock.

“You knew?”

“I can tell from your reaction.”

Sakura sighed as she moved her gaze to the ground again.

“We talked a little bit after she returned to Korea, but after about 2 weeks, I suddenly couldn’t contact her. She didn’t reply to my messages or calls. You said you couldn’t get a hold of her at all and I even tried to get in contact with Chaeryeong to see what was up, but I got no reply either. It’s been pretty close to 2 years since we’ve last spoken. I basically got ghosted by her.”

A moment of silence followed as the two girls became slightly awkward.

“I’m sorry Kkura-ya. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you. Do you hate me for that?”

There was another bout of silence, but then Sakura shook her head.

“Why would I? How could I hate you when you didn’t know anything either?”

“..... Then do you hate Chaeyeon?” Hyewon suddenly asked.

Sakura stayed quiet for a moment, her mind going blank at the question.

“I guess I don’t hate her.” Sakura spoke up as she shook her head again.

“There must’ve been a good reason why she did that, right? Or maybe…. I was wrong about her feelings for me….” Sakura trailed off, her confidence wilting along.

“You know that’s not true. She told you herself, right? You really meant a lot to her.” Hyewon interjected.

Sakura smiled bittersweetly, thinking about the night Chaeyeon told her that.

“Maybe you’re right. I just wished there were more answers when it came to us than questions. It feels like I’m just in the dark all the time.”

“Do you want to see Chaeyeon, then?” Hyewon asked after a moment.

“Huh?” Sakura shot her head up from the ground, bewildered.

“Y-you know where she is? She contacted you?”

Hyewon nodded quietly.

“I do know where she is.”

Sakura’s eyes brightened up for a brief moment, but soon turned into weariness.

“Is that a good idea though? It’s been so long since we’ve talked. What would she think if I just appeared in front of her suddenly like this? Wouldn’t it be awkward? What if… what if she’s been avoiding me? Shouldn’t I respect her decision if she is?”

Hyewon stared at her friend as she continued to ramble on about the what ifs and questioning on if she should go see Chaeyeon or not. Hyewon sighed as she walked closer to her friend and grabbed her hand. 

“I think you should go see her.” Hyewon said with a gentle smile.

“You never know what she’s thinking if you don’t ask her, right? Besides, I think she’ll be happy to see you.” Hyewon added.

“You really think so? You really think she’ll agree to see me?” Sakura asked, still unsure.

“Eung.”

Sakura contemplated for a while longer before ultimately agreeing to go.

“Can we stop by a grocery store and flower shop first? Since it’s been a while, I don’t want to go empty handed.”

“Sure.” Hyewon replied with a smile.

The two girls hopped into Hyewon’s car and drove to the grocery store. Sakura quickly went in and bought a package of green Muscat grapes and rice cakes since they were Chaeyeon’s favorites as well as some Kalanchoe flowers. Sakura suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach as she thought about seeing Chaeyeon again. As Hyewon drove, Sakura noticed they were slowly driving away from Seoul. Sakura was a little anxious, but decided to wait and see where they were going, thinking that Chaeyeon must not live in Seoul. After about a 30 minutes into their drive, even more anxiety kicked in. After passing the city limits in Yongin, they were driving in a more rural area. There was more open space, and trees and hills as far as Sakura could see.

“Kang-chan, does Chaeyeon live here?” Sakura asked, confused.

“....” Hyewon remained silent as she continued driving.

“Kang-chan?”

“.....”

“Wait! Where are you taking me?! This doesn’t look like somewhere Chaeyeon should be.” Sakura demanded as something was feeling off. 

Hyewon slowed down as she made a turn into a dirt path. Sakura looked out the window again and briefly saw a sign. Sakura began to hyperventilate as she could not believe what was happening. There was no way she could accept what she saw just now right now.

NO NO NO! Tell me this isn’t true! This has to be a prank. 

Sakura prayed as she closed her eyes and clutched her chest.

Hyewon continued driving further in on the dirt road, stopping a little short at the bottom of a hill. She got out of the car and went to Sakura’s side, opening her door.

“I can’t drive any further. We’ll need to walk from here.” Hyewon said as she extended her hand.

Sakura, still denying what was going on, remained in her seat.

“Kang-chan…” Sakura whimpered.

“Please tell me you guys are just pranking me right now. It’s all a joke right? Like Chaeyeon is just going to jump out from behind somewhere and surprise me and I’ll yell at you guys and we’ll all have a big laugh about it later, right?”

Even though Sakura had a smile on her face, tears were rolling down her cheek. Hyewon shifted her eyes to the side for a moment, unable to look at Sakura as she stood silently in front of her with her hand still extended. Sakura took Hyewon’s silence as a confirmation of her worst fears. Her smile disappeared as she mindlessly pulled her lifeless body out of the car. Her knees felt weak as she took her first step. Hyewon held Sakura as the two slowly walked up a staircase. After a short walk, they arrived at the top of the hill. Hyewon led Sakura towards the middle of the hill and stopped. 

“We’re here.” Hyewon said quietly.

Sakura felt sick. She didn’t want to look, she didn’t want to believe, but there was nothing she could do to convince herself otherwise. As Sakura slowly moved her eyes towards the name on the headstone in front of her, she collapsed to her knees.

“No…” Sakura whimpered as she crawled closer to the headstone.

“This can’t be her. It’s not her, right? It’s just someone who shares the same name, right?”

Hyewon stayed silent, opening up an umbrella above Sakura as the sky began to cry as well.

“Chaeyeon… Chaeyeon…. Chaeyeon!!!” Sakura cried in agony as she ran her fingers across Chaeyeon’s name on the headstone.

“Why?! Why didn’t anyone tell me?! Why didn’t she tell me?!”

“She asked us not to. No matter how bad her condition got, she didn’t want us to let you know. She didn’t want to burden you with this since you were so close to achieving your goal.” Hyewon finally revealed the truth.

Sakura violently shook her head.

“You should’ve! You should’ve told me, despite what she told you! She was my world! My everything!”

“That’s also the reason why I couldn’t tell you. You were Chaeyeon’s everything. She wouldn’t have left in peace if she knew she stopped you from becoming a doctor.”

“If-If I knew, I-I would’ve done something. I-I could’ve saved her. I should’ve seen the signs. I should’ve paid more attention to her. Or maybe I knew, but chose to ignore it....”

Sakura began to ramble on, becoming delirious. Hyewon’s heart ached as she couldn’t take looking at her friend like that anymore. She dropped the umbrella and knelt down, holding Sakura tight in her arms.

“Kkura-ya! You can’t say that! Please don’t say that! Even if you knew, there was nothing you could’ve done. Even the best doctors in the world couldn’t help her!”

“I-I could’ve spent more time with her. I could have loved her more.”

“You did though! I know you loved her. Even more than yourself and she knew that too, so please don’t say these things.”

“Why did this even happen? I tried so hard, because of her. She was the one who got me through to the end, but what was the use? What was even the point of me becoming a doctor if I couldn’t even save the one person I loved most!?”

“Stop! Please stop thinking that way. Please…” Hyewon begged as she shook Sakura to snap her out of her despair. 

“If you thought she agreed to be with you because she wanted you to cure her, you’re very wrong. She didn’t seek you out because she wanted a cure for her illness. She seeked you out because she wanted a cure for her heart. I’ve seen her at her lowest when she found out about her illness. She changed so much. She stopped laughing, smiling, and enjoying her life. It was only after meeting you that I finally saw her genuinely smile again. You made her the happiest she’s ever been.”

“Chaeyeon-ah….” 

•~•

The girls continued to cry until no more tears could fall. It was dark, and they were soaked from the heavy rain. Hyewon pried herself up, helping Sakura to her feet as well. Instead of heading back to her apartment, Hyewon had one more place she needed to take Sakura to. After a little drive, the two arrived at a house in a suburban area. Hyewon helped Sakura to the door as Sakura had no life left in her. Hyewon looked at Sakura, worried at her condition as she r