Autumn Term 2009

After the incident that happened on the day of the festival, Shin Hye was back on her feet, looking as healthy as ever. She never said anything about the incident to Yong Hwa and Yong Hwa had assumed that what she told him regarding the pain that she felt was simply a minor impact due to the accident. Nevertheless, Yong Hwa had often asked if she was feeling fine everytime they meet and had been always careful with every little reaction that Shin Hye gave in case the same thing happened again. But it never did.

Days after days and as the season changes, the students became really busy with their classes. Many exams and tests were coming up in October as the results will determine if the students would need a winter session classes and if yes, they would have to apply for it. For the final year students, autumn term would be their final push for their final year project and dissertation before the viva presentation in February as February marked the end of the academic year. 

Yong Hwa was also busy with his studies as he was in second year that year and his academic achievement would determine the pathway that he would take in third and fourth year. He had less time to see Shin Hye but that was fine with him as the two of them would often walked back home together. Shin Hye on the other hand was doing better in her studies. First year of college was not that hard for her even though she took time to adapt to the teaching system of the college for the first few months. All thanks to the excellent lecturers they have in the college. 

But it was during that hectic months that Shin Hye suddenly changed her behaviour towards Yong Hwa. At first she was absent from classes for about three days somewhere in mid October and Yong Hwa couldn't even reach her on the phone. When she got back at college, Yong Hwa could hardly find a day to walk back home together. It would either be she had gone earlier or she would tell him that she had something to do that required her to stay back at the college and she would even urge him to go back first.

"Shin Hye..." he called her when he saw her and her friends approaching the college entrance. But before he could finished his sentences, Shin Hye interjected.

"Yong Hwa, I am so sorry but I have to meet up with the Drama Club today. We are going to have a post-festival celebration since we haven't done so due to the exams." said Shin Hye. She gave a weak smile to him and then she quickly turned around to walk back into the academic building without giving Yong Hwa the chance to say anything. Yong Hwa knew something was wrong. He had known this even during the exam period but he just kept it to himself as he didn't want to bother both Shin Hye and himself with the minor conflicts that they were having. At least until the exam period is over, he thought. But now, Shin Hye didn't even give him a chance to ask for what happened between them nor did she gave him a chance to say anything. Yong Hwa felt like at a dead end. He didn't know what did he do wrong and he didn't even know if her reaction was meant as a "no" to his confession. 

Yong Hwa was left with no choice but to ask Shin Hye's friend to help him. 

"Im Se Mi, I need a favor from you." Yong Hwa said when he came across her in the college hallway one day.

Im Se Mi was quite surprised by that, knowing that Yong Hwa had never really spoken to her before. "How can I help you?"

"I need your help to bring Shin Hye over to our performance on the Wednesday after class end at 12." he said. "And please don't tell us that we are performing on that day."

"Alright," Se Mi nodded. Though she didn't ask much but she was already wondering why did she have to keep it as a secret. 

So as planned by Se Mi and Yong Hwa, on Wednesday after the class ended, Se Mi quickly went to talk to Shin Hye at her seat. 

"Shin Hye, are you free today?" Se Mi asked.

"Yeah, I am quite free today. Why?" Shin Hye replied while keeping her books in her bag. "Do you want me to accompany you for shopping?"

"No. I feel like chilling out at the Union. I heard that today's performance gonna be fun." Se Mi said in sweet voice trying to persuade Shin Hye to come along with her.

"Really? Hm..." Shin Hye hesitated a moment but Se Mi was fast. She linked her arms to Shin Hye to coax her into coming for the performance.

"Alright. Let's go." Shin Hye agreed at last.

And so the two friends walked to the Union to watch the performance on that day but Shin Hye had the intuition that it would be Yong Hwa's band to perform since their music had become really popular recently but she didn't let her friend know because she didn't want her friend to ask what happened between her and the vocalist of the band.

Meanwhile, Yong Hwa and his bandmates were getting ready on the stage to perform. Yong Hwa saw when Shin Hye and Se Mi entered the Union but he  turned his sight away from her after that. Jong Hyun, on the other hand, felt curious as they were going to perform quite sad songs on that day. He remembered the day that Yong Hwa told them that they were going to perform a new song that Yong Hwa had composed and another song as a cover for another band. 

As Shin Hye sat down at one of the tables in the Union, she saw Yong Hwa on the stage. She was hoping that he didn't see her coming but little did she know Yong Hwa had noticed her already. And then, the music started.

Why are you suddenly trying to leave me?
Even when I ask, you only give me a cold glare.
Why do you suddenly hate me?
Even when I ask, you don’t answer.
Don’t go, don’t go. Can you hear me?
I love you.

The first part of the song hit Shin Hye that he was aware of them drifting apart. She was further startled when Yong Hwa looked at her while singing the next part of the song. 

I don’t know why I don’t know why, look at me when you talk
I don’t know why I don’t know why, why do you leave me if you love me

The stories about my first love that I told so easily,
My clumsy excuses that I gave with no reason
My childish jokes that I cracked with no thought
My annoyed complaints that I spat with no purpose

Did you meet someone new?
Even when I ask, your tears keep pouring out
What did you do wrong to me?
Even when I ask, you just cry with you head down
Don’t go, don’t go. Can you hear me?
I love you.

Instead of enjoying the performance like everyone else in the Union did, she felt only guilt. She thought if she just avoid from seeing him, he would not suspect anything and would eventually forget her easily. But that was not the case with Yong Hwa. Her guilt worsened when she heard the second song that  they covered. Of course she knew the song well. It was Nell's Drifting Apart.

What are we to do?
We’re both in pain,
We’re both drifting apart
What are we to do?

We’re both becoming more and more sad,
We’re both drifting apart
For us, could it be possible that it wasn’t love
But just a deep attachment
For us, it probably wasn’t love but only greed

What are we to do?
We’re both silent,
We’re both drifting apart

For us, could it be possible that it wasn’t love
But just a deep attachment
For us, it probably wasn’t love but only greed
For us, could it be possible that it wasn’t destiny
But just an accident
For us, it probably isn’t eternity but only til here..

[Nell-Drifting Apart]

Shin Hye couldn't stand it anymore. All of a sudden, her tears came falling down her cheeks freely. She did not know what to do and she did not want him to see her crying. She quickly got up from her seat leaving Se Mi puzzled at her action. 

"Shin Hye-ah!" Se Mi cried out but Shin Hye kept walking without turning back. 

Yong Hwa saw her leaving through the entrance door. He quickly put down the guitar he was holding and thanked the audience in a rush. He wanted to go after her. Jong Hyun, Min Hyuk and Jung Shin exchanged their puzzled look with each other, seeing Yong Hwa left the stage in a rush.

"Shin Hye! Wait!" Yong Hwa shouted as he ran after her. Shin Hye who was walking briskly while wiping out her falling tears came to stop. 

"Why are you running away from me? Why are you avoiding me?" Yong Hwa asked as he walked closer to Shin Hye.

Shin Hye didn't turn around to face him. She didn't want him to see her tears. She stayed silent.

"What did I do wrong?" Yong Hwa asked again, "If you don't feel comfortable with the way I treat you then you could have told me back then. You could have let me know and we could just be friends."

"It's not that," Finally words came out from Shin Hye's mouth.

"Then why? I told you we could take things slowly. I didn't know what went wrong that you suddenly avoided me. You left me feeling miserable on my own.  We could have discussed this together and see how we could fix this," Yong Hwa said. He was just less than a feet away from her.

Yong Hwa was lost for words when all Shin Hye said was "I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do to fix this" and she just walked away. Yong Hwa thought that it would be the end of them. He just watched her as she walked away as he knew he could do nothing to force her to tell the reason why. He stood there, alone in the cold weather...alone with a cold heart.

.........................................

A/N: Dear readers, presenting to you the seventh instalment to Separation Anxiety. I couldn't really focus on writing this chapter as I was anxiously waiting for a call. I actually wished to write Chapter 7 beautifully as 7 is my favourite number but I guess I failed at that. Also did you know both Yong Hwa and Shin Hye ranked 7th place as most talented celebrity (if I'm not mistaken as I can't remember well the title, sorry). Oh and no plot for the year 2011. I guess from now onwards, the story will mainly focus on the past events. Thank you for reading this lackadaisical story of mine.