Sanghyo’s POV

I walked into my house after school on Monday, wiping my feet on the mat.

“I’m home!” I noticed a furry white bear sitting on the bench to the left of the entryway. The tag said ‘For unnie’ on it. I smiled. This was from Hee Chan. She wasn’t at school today. I wondered if she was sick…

I cuddled the bear and took it to my room, grabbing a muffin off of the counter on my way. Once I was in my room, I set the fluffy bear on my dresser. Then I noticed a red button on its paw. ‘Talk to Me!’ I pressed the button and Hee Chan’s voice filled my ears…

“Sanghyo… You’re my best friend. You know that, right?” she laughed nervously. I smiled. Leave it to Heechan to do something sweet like this…

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you all of this in person. It would have been too hard. I hope you’ll forgive me. You probably didn’t know this, but Appa has been having problems with his job. We’re runnieng low on money. He already has two jobs… He works so hard. Don’t hate him either. I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’m just going to say it. I have to leave, Sanghyo. Appa can’t support us both. Please understand. I don’t want to leave, but it’s my only choice right now. I’m going to go live with my mother in South Korea. Her name is Min Ha Neul. She’s relatively famous, actually. It’s so wrong that she is so rich when Appa is so poor. I don’t really know what’s going on. Please don’t be mad, unnie. I promise to write every day!” It sounded like she was close to tears. But I knew better. Even if Heechan was beaten half to death, she wouldn’t cry. Nobody had ever seen her cry, as far as I knew.

“I’m going to miss you so much. Saranghaeyo, unnie.” The recording clicked off.

I stared at the fluffy white bear on my dresser for the longest time. Heechan was moving to Korea? I quickly dug up the last memory of her… At the bus stop on Friday after school.

Heechan, you should stay the night at my house tonight.

You know I want to, but I have so much stuff going on this weekend. Mianhe.

No problem. Maybe next weekend, then. …Heechan, are you okay?

Of course! Just… It looks like it’s going to rain.

Oh. See you Monday, then!

She had such a fake smile. How could I not have noticed? How could this happen to me? My best friend moving across the world… And she told me with a TEDDY BEAR? I started getting mad. How could she do this to me? I threw the bear on the floor. It started replaying the message.

“Sanghyo… You’re my best friend. You know that, right?”

“SHUT UP!” I screamed, covering my ears and runnieng out of the room. I couldn’t listen to this again.

I locked myself in the bathroom and hugged my knees. What was I going to do? I started to cry. No. No! I told myself strongly. Crying isn’t going to help. I stood up straight and looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were blotchy and red. I the sink and splashed cold water on my face.

‘Fighting.’ That’s what Heechan would tell me if she was here. I pictured her smile, her genuine one. ‘Fighting, Sanghyo!’ I could do this. Everything was going to be okay. She was going to write. She…

She was moving to South Korea.

How could this happen to me? Stupid Heechan. I slammed my hand on the edge of the sink.

“Ow…”

“Sanghyo, are you alright?” Umma knocked on the door.

“Yeah, I’m fine!” I opened the door and smiled widely.

“Okay. Dinner’s ready.” I followed Umma to the kitchen, nursing my hurt hand and trying not to think of my best friend and the message bear in my bedroom.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you to everyone who subscribes or leaves a comment!