June 03, 2022

* * *

"Day three." Haneun breaths out as she saw herself in the mirror.

This time, she had lots of time to spare to fix her hair, and dry it properly of course, thanks to Hakyeon nagging her here and there since she came out of the bathroom. And having a few five more minutes on hand, she decides to style her hair in a flash because if she gets late by one minute to get out of their house, she's sure to be late and to get a nagging from Ricky too.

It's a lose-lose at both ends.

After multiple tries, the flower clip kept on falling down her hair. Worse, it tangles her hair. "Mom! Help!" she cries in defeat, sending Hakyeon running to her in panic. 

"What? What happened to my little angel?!" Hakyeon screams in his full vocal range. To his reassurance, Haneun was there, holding her flower clip and a brush and having a rather pissed expression on her face. 

"I can't put this clip on properly. It's annoying." she pouted cutely, making Hakyeon hug her tightly as he squeals.

"Sheesh, why is my baby so cute when annoyed? You're gonna make me want to not let you go by then!" Hakyeon giggled as he snatches the brush off Haneun's hand and gestures her to sit down on the mini-chair she has. Once she has sat down, Hakyeon lovingly brushed her black hair and with careful hands, grabbed a few strands before clipping them with the flower clip Haneun once held. Afterwards, Haneun looked at herself through the mirror and smiled faintly.

"What would I be without you, mom?" Haneun smiled softly as she eyes her mother.

"You'll have tangled hair." Hakyeon joked, earning a hit on his shoulder from an annoyed Haneun. "Kidding, kidding. Look, even if you have tangled hair everyday, you're always fabulous-looking. You're like... an angel! With style and sass!"

"Yeah, yeah." she sighed, shaking her head and walking out her room and grabbing her bag on the couch. Afterwards, she heads towards the front door and puts on her shoes before spinning around to bid her mother good bye. "Will you come home late again, mom?" Haneun asks, sadness in her tone.

"I'll try to get home early, sweetie." Hakyeon smiles brightly as he pats her shoulder lightly. "And if I do come home late, dress up stylish. We're going out later night, alright?"

"... Sure?" Haneun nods as she opens the door and waves a goodbye to him and walks towards school.

* * *

"Haneun!" a rather hyper-active Ricky greets as he ran towards Haneun for a tight "good morning" hug but unluckily, the female easily dodges his action and cooly walked towards the other five males and emotionlessly greets them a "good morning".

"So, was what Changjo told us true?" Niel asks as he grins at the younger female.

"Which?" Haneun blinked.

"That you wanted to have lunch with us." Niel answers, which was answered by a shy nod from the teen. The older giggles softly before ruffling the other's soft hair and smiling sweetly. "We've been dying to hear that invitation from you for years already! We'd love to have one with our little Haneun."

"I'm actually the same height as you are, oppa." Haneun sighed, swatting the male's hands away. "Now, hurry to your own rooms. Classes are about to start." she coldly said, walking away from the group in the next second. 

"I thought she'd warm up on us from now on?" Chunji blinked as he eyed Ricky and Chanjo.

"Yeah. She's still the same Haneun." L.joe frowned as he crossed his arms. "Cold and distant. Unreachable."

"Chill, guys." C.A.P chuckled softly as he watched the young teen walk further and further away. "She's already warm and everything. She just can't physically show it. Her heart's all soft now, I can tell it."

"Agreed." Niel nods. "Her eyes changed. They're soft-looking, not sharp like kitchen knives. They're soft." he smiles brightly as he watched their friend disappear by the distant. "She's not the ice-princess Haneun anymore." he says as he smiles bigger before the bell rings, a sign that classes were about to begin any minute now.

* * *

"Haneun!" Ricky's voice echoed in Haneun's ears as she saw the shorter male walk in a quick pace towards her seat, a bright emotion greeting her. "Let's go!" he cried, offering his hand to the female, which she simply blinks at and tilts her head to. 

"Come on, we're having lunch with the hyungs, remember?" Changjo laughed softly as he tapped her shoulder. Haneun nods and grabs Ricky's hand hesitantly before standing up and walking beside her best friends. A few steps outside the classroom and in the corridors, the trio finally arrived at their destination. Four guys were waiting for them as they reserved a seat for the three. 

"Over here!" C.A.P. called out, waving his hand up in the air which, by any case, made Chunji hit him. "What was that for, Lee Chanhee?!" he cried out in annoyance and anger.

"Stop acting like that. You're a senior amongst us and heck, you act immature." Chunji sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Agreed." L.Joe laughed softly.

"You always agree with Chanhee!" 

"Like you are towards Niel." L.Joe counters, partnered by a naughty wink, which made C.A.P nearly vomit his breakfast. Niel, on the other side, had his eyes fixed on the three coming nearer and nearer.

"Haneun, sit beside me, okay?" Ricky cutely asked, making Haneun sigh and nod.

"Fine, but don't steal my lunch." Haneun answered.

"Of course!" the male giggled and huggled Haneun's arm. The three then grabbed their own seats, Changjo sitting beside C.A.P and just in front of Ricky while Ricky sat beside Haneun, who sat beside Niel. Everyone then brought out their own lunch and began munching and chatting happily about anything and everything under the sun.

While the boys were chit-chatting, Haneun was simply eating her lunch quietly and didn't even bother to look up. Noticing this, Niel taps her back, making her blink and look at the older male. "Ain't talking?" Niel asks her, a rather worried expression placed on his face. Haneun answers with a tilt of a head before swallowing her meal.

"What should I talk about then, oppa?" she asks in an uninterested tone.

"Anything you want to share." Niel smiles sweetly, making all the colors Haneun has get flushed down. Noticing this, C.A.P tilts his head and leans forward.

"Alright, young lady, what's running in your mind right now?" he asks, blinking his eyes as he fixes them at Haneun, vowing not to leave her until she gives an answer. "You look, um..."

"Pale?" Changjo asks.

"Yeah." the eldest nods. "Pale. What's wrong? Come on, you can tell us."

"... Will you promise not to tell anyone then?" Haneun asks, her emotionless face suddenly changing into a terrified and nervous expression, surprising everyone, especially Ricky and Niel.

"Promise." the six nodded, making Haneun take a deep breath.

"Alright." the young teen sighs as she holds back all her emotions and courageously looks up at her friends. "I've got a deadly heart sickness, and I've got only until the end of June to live." 

"Say what?!" Ricky screeched as his jaw fell down. 

"Cha Haneun, what are you saying?" Chunji questioned in panic as he stood up. "What? Does that mean you're dying?!"

"That's crappy talk! Don't say those words again, understood?" a rather furious L.Joe exclaimed as he glared at an expressionless Haneun. "You're lying... right?"

"No." Haneun answers in a millisecond. "I'm stating a fact. A doctor himself said so. Last Monday, I actually collapsed while running errands for Mrs. Choi but I ended up collapsing in the hallway. A teacher nearby brought me to the clinic and a doctor was then the moment I woke up. He adviced me to go to the hospital he works in and resulted to the discovery of a heart disease I've been carrying for years."

"But... that' can't be true! You're still too young to die!" Niel cries.

"I know, but there are millions of kids that die younger than me." Haneun counters. "Just don't tell anyone about my situation. I don't want others except you guys knowing about my condition."

"... Does your mom know about this?" Changjo worriedly asked.

"No. And she musn't know."

"What? Why? She's your mom!" C.A.P scowled.

"My mom that I don't want to hurt because of me myself." Haneun breathed out. "Look, just promise me that no information of my current condition will come out of your mouths, alright? Promise me! If you break that promise, I assure you that my anger for you guys will never die down!" she threatened.

"We promise." C.A.P assured, nodding in a serious manner. "No one's gonna know about this, Cha Haneun." 

"So, what's your plan on spending your remaining days then?" Niel questioned, making Haneun spin her head around to face the older guy beside her. She looks around at first but then, ends up having their eyes fixed at each other. 

"No idea. I want my questions to be answered as soon as possible. I want answers and well, I want to make mom happy. All I gave to her was nothing but coldness and bitterness. I want answers badly." Haneun replied.

"Answers about what?" Changjo blinked.

"About my questions, duh. And I've got to find them out for the remaining twenty-seven days."

"We can help." Niel volunteerd. "Count me in."

"Us too." L.Joe and Chunji smiled and spoke in unison.

"You're my best friend, Haneun. I'm in!" Ricky giggled.

"So am I." Chanjo nods.

"Of course, I won't miss helping out a junior in need." the eldest, C.A.P, smirked. "Just remember that we're here for you, Haneun. Just come run to us when you need anything, alright?"

"I'll bear that in mind, oppa." the female smiled faintly.

* * *

Hours flew just like that, much to Haneun's disappointment. It was like a minute ago, the day was just starting. 

Now?

The sun was already setting, marking that another day was coming to an end. Sighing heavily, she grabs her bag and heads home. She bids farewell to Ricky and Chanjo, who were today's cleaners along with four more classmates. Her legs carried her home slowly, zero emotions felt by that time as she heads back home.

To her surprise, the front door of their house was unlocked, meaning that Hakyeon was home before her. She turns the door and steps inside, finding Hakyeon well dressed. "Oh, welcome home, Haneun!" Hakyeon warmly greets.

"Hi, mom. Should I get dressed?" she asks before putting her bag down on the couch.

"Yup! Get dressed, and make it fancy!"

"Quit telling me what to wear." she pouted, making Hakyeon give out an "aw," sound before squealing, making Haneun roll her eyes and quickly slam the door shut. Hurrying, she removes her uniform, throws them in the laundry baskt and dresses up in skinny jeans and a checkered blouse. Afterwards, she comes out and was dragged by her mom out the house. Confusion striked her when she saw how excited her mom was.

The two found themselves in the middle of the city once again. Numerous people roamed here and there, since well, it wasn't still the end of the day so they might at least make the best out of it, right? Haneun and Hakyeon made their way towards the nearby clothes shop, making Haneun wonder more. 

"What're we here for, mom? Are you here to come shopping for clothes again?" Haneun questioned, raising a brow at her mother.

"Well, we are shopping for clothes, but not for me." Hakyeon giggled.

"What? For whom then? A friend of yours?"

"For my pretty daughter, who else?" 

"... Me? Why? Is there some occassion? Did I win or something? A raise perhaps?" she blinked in confusion, making Hakyeon laugh softly before ruffling her black hair. 

"No, silly girl. I just want to buy you clothes that'll make your beauty and cuteness radiate more. You know, jeans and shorts don't always suit you when you use them often." 

"What? But... you do know that I don't suit any other clothes aside from those. And they're a lot more comfortable than those... those revealing skirts and everything." Haneun defended, crossing her arms and putting up a crumpled face. "I don't like skirts."

"I'm not buying you skirts, alright? Calm down." Hakyeon chuckled as he held his daughter's hand and pulled her in the dress section. Haneun placed a confused face and blinked multiple times. They weren't skirts, obviously, and she knew that they were dresses but she had no idea why they were in that section. "What are you trying to say, mom?" Haneun asked, eyeing her taller mother.

"Well, you said that you only dislike skirts, right?" Hakyeon grinned. "And I'm dying to see you in a dress, so I decided to buy you a few of them for you to wear!"

"... Am I to wear these from now on then?"

"Well, if you look good on them, why not? Now, go pick some of your style and I'll pick those that I think will suit you. Then, you try them on later, okay?"

"... No."

"Yah!" Hakyeon whines, playfully and lightly placing a hand chop on Haneun's neck, making her sigh and smile faintly afterwards.

"I was kidding. Understood." she nodded and began picking a few of her personal liking. They were all dull colors and Hakyeon observed such. "Hey, try picking a few colorful ones, you'll look dead if you keep picking dull ones!" Hakyeon commented, earning a glare from his daughter. "... Alright, do as you please, sweetie!" he nervously laughed before averting his attention back to picking a few dresses.

A few minutes lapped and Haneun was given numerous dresses to try out, which she ended up sorting in the end. Out of twenty and more dresses Hakyeon picked for her, she only brought five along with her in the dressing room, which she tries on. One by one, she showed her mom on how she looked like, add the fact that she had an annoyed and embarrassed expression on her.

One was a rose-pink colored dress, which she commented to make her look like a mutant-flower creature. Hakyeon liked this, much to more of her embarrassment since pink isn't her color to start with.

The cyan-colored one with a darker tint of blue on the ribbon around her waist. There were also violet linings on the sleeves and on the dress's end. She disliked this one too, but a part of her liked so.

One was a joyful color of yellow, and Hakyeon and Haneun both agreed that it burnt their eyes.

The fourth was one of Haneun's liking, a gray one with a color of white on the frills. Hakyeon disliked the dead color of gray while Haneun pouted since that was her first choice.

The last literally made Hakyeon gasp in surprise as he saw his daugther in it. The dress brought the color of lilac with white on a few parts of the dress. Haneun's face was fair and angelic, matching the dress a lot. "I look like an idiot, don't I?" Haneun sighed. 

"... No." Hakyeon smiled, making Haneun look up with soft eyes. She met her mom's lit-up face, his hands clasped together. "You look... different. As if you were a true angel indeed. You look like a real angel fallen from angel." she grinned.

"That's idiotic."

"It's not, honey. Come here." he gestured, making Haneun step forward him. In an instant, Hakyeon's hands were on her shoulder and a reassuring smile was pasted on his face. "You look wonderful this way. I like it, do you?"

"... Seems fine." Haneun softly said, averting her eyes away. 

"Alright. Pick the rest of your choice, but approach me first if you've made a final decision. We'll purchase them." Hakyeon giggled, making Haneun flash a worried look.

"Won't that waste all your earnings? Buying me stuff that I won't really need much? I mean, I have lots of clothes back at home." Haneun frowned, making her mom shake his head.

"It's good to try something different once in a while, right? Something... thrilling. That's how life is. You don't always stick with the typical things, but sometimes, you take a deep breath and dive into something different." 

Haneun thought for a while and nodded before walking back to the dress section and picking a few dresses of her and Hakyeon's choice. She and her mom might be different, but at some aspects, they are one.

06-03-22

To start off, I told my friends about my condition. As expected, they were all shocked. Who wouldn't be, right? Come to think of it too, I've got only twenty-seven days to have all my numerous questions answered. And I bet that I can't have all of them answered within the remaining days.

Anyway, mom and I roamed around Seoul again. This time, we went to stop by at a clothes shop, and much to my surprise, he brought me to the dress section. Embarrassing to say, I've never been in a dress before since, well, I always thought that I don't fit them. Skirts? Nah, they're too revealing. In fact, me wearing our school uniform makes me insecure and disgusted.

I tried lots of dresses today and they felt new. Mom picked a lot so I had to try on a lot. In the end, we bought this one dress that mom states to fit me a lot. It was a lilac dress with a few white linings. It was cute too. I never knew that a dark person like me can fit such bright and lovely clothing like that.

Mom must've seen me emotionless while wearing that dress and that could've given him a few misunderstandings about me towards the dress. Actually, I liked all dresses, except the yellow one. Gross and painful in the eyes. Anyway, I liked them all. 

Maybe mom is right. Sometimes in life, you don't just stick in the normal stuff but you've also got to take a dive in something different. 

And for a girl like me who has only twenty-seven days to live, it's suitable.