Minju woke up a bit earlier the next day to prepare something special.

You see, today is her and Yujin’s 5th year anniversary as friends, so she decided to surprise the younger with some breakfast because she knows that Yujin often forgets to take in any food in the morning because she’s busy attending to her roses.

“Gotta keep them healthy so I can give you one every day, you know?” She remembers Yujin telling her the day she found out that she doesn’t eat any breakfast which made her reprimand the younger girl.

She proceeded to cook food for both of them and placed it in cute little food containers. Minju then took a quick shower and dressed up. She headed out of the door with the packed food inside a paper bag in her right hand.

Minju walked down her path while slightly bowing down because if not, the harsh wind will slam onto her face. When she knew that she was approaching near the tree, she smiled and looked up expecting to see Yujin under it.

But Yujin was not there.

Minju found it weird because Yujin was never late and if she ever was, she makes sure to tell Minju ahead of time. Nonetheless, Minju decided to wait for Yujin, even thinking that it was okay to be late for school than go without the younger girl.

5, 10, 30 minutes have passed and Yujin was still nowhere to be found. Minju constantly checked her phone in hopes of any updates coming from the younger girl but sadly, there were none. As she was leaning her back on the enormous trunk of the tree, Minju suddenly felt something drip on the top of her head. She looked up as she brought up her left hand to feel the liquid that dropped on her crown, and not long after, the rain was already pouring down all around her. Minju thanked the big tree for keeping her still somehow dry.

Minju looked at Yujin’s house, “I’ll count to three and if she’s still not here, I’ll go to school by myself.” Minju said inside her mind.

“One,” Minju whispered to herself, silently praying that the younger girl was just terribly late and will pop out of nowhere any minute now.

“Two,” The rain started to get stronger and the tree could no longer protect her from the raging wind and water that was dropping from the dark clouds above. Minju’s eyes started to well up with tears as she became more discouraged.

“Two and a half,” With the little hope inside of her, Minju stared up at the window right above the door of Yujin’s house which was the window from the younger girl’s room. The curtains were all down and the tinted glass slides were also placed almost as if to prevent anyone to see anything from inside the room.

“Two and three-fourths,” After trying so hard to not blink, Minju finally did which made her tears escape from her eyes. Her hold on the paper bag that she was carrying became tighter as she bit her lip and tore her eyes away from Yujin’s window.

“If this is some kind of prank, well, it’s not funny at all. Ahn Yujin, prepare for my wrath and revenge.” Minju thought.

“Three” Minju pursed her lips and tightly buckled the strap of her backpack, preparing to run. Minju hugged the paper bag to near her chest and looked back at Yujin’s window one last time before surging through the heavy downpour to get to school.

---

After arriving at her school all drenched up, Minju decided to go to the bathroom to freshen up her look then went to the benches by the gym to dry up her clothes. She’s already late for her class so might as well make the most out of it.

She took the packed breakfast out of the wet and tattered paper box that she was carrying and carefully examined it. She let out a sigh of relief after seeing that the food was perfectly safe and still looks good.

Minju checked her phone again to see if there was a message from the other girl but again, there was still none. She decided to scroll through her social media and her fingers suddenly moved on their own, typing Yujin’s name on the search bar, and Minju wished that she didn’t do that because she saw that Yujin’s account was deactivated. She opened her other social media apps and tried searching for Yujin’s other accounts but just like the first one, they were all deactivated too.

Minju was getting more pissed but was also surprised at how far Yujin is taking this prank to the point of deactivating all of her accounts when in fact, the younger girl cannot survive an hour of now checking her social media feeds.

The bell rang signaling that the students’ second period’s about to start. As students flocked out of classrooms to move from one room to another, Minju spotted Minjeong, the president of Yujin’s class, leading her classmates to their next class.

Minju approached the class president stood in her way, trying to catch the latter’s attention.

“Hey, Minju. What’s up?” Minjeong, commonly called by their schoolmates as Winter, asked her while eyeing her from head to toe, probably weirded out by Minju’s wet uniform. “Are you okay?”

“Hey, Win. Wha-Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine.” Minju answered as she fixed her blouse, trying to look more presentable. “Uhm, have you seen Yujin?” She asked the other girl.

“Huh? Yujin? Why are you looking for her?” Winter asked her curiously. Yujin’s other classmates have begun eyeing her weirdly as if Minju was asking such an absurd question.

“She isn’t here yet?” Minju asked.