A Fresh Start
Sung Haneul’s point of view.

I suffered for a month with them. I never really expected Tao to actually accept her confession and date her. But it happened, and I am one to blame. They say to have courage in finding your love, but no, I lose to Eunmi for that. I have everything else but never his heart. Eunmi now owns it, leaving absolutely no space for me to be in it.

After that dramatic confession, I went off alone to eat at the school canteen instead of the usual place; the pizzeria. I didn’t want to see them do all sorts of lovey dovey stuffs like feeding each other and giving their partner a pet name. I won’t be able to take it, I don’t want to hurt both of them, I would rather if I am the one, the only one, that is in pain instead of both of my friends. 

The best I can do right now is to give them my blessings and not interfere with their relationship. That day after school, I skipped club activities (which is track and field). My seniors and all called me; my phone kept buzzing from their endless messages and missed phone calls. I locked myself in my room and cried my heart out. That was the first time i skipped club activities.

I do that every other day for a week or whenever I cross-paths with any of them. In the end, i ended skipping a week's worth of training and ended up making it up by coming to school on weekends. Eunmi became inferior with me, Tao almost never notice me. But they say no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. So I approached Eunmi one day after school.

“Ummm, Eunmi, can I have a moment with you?” she ignored me and continued to walk towards her next class. “Eunmi-ah!” I tried to get her attention but to no avail. I sighed in defeat. So I waited for my next opportunity which is after school. As soon as the final bell rang, I immediately headed towards their class.

I hid behind the backdoor of their classroom, they are still having lessons. Apparently, their class always drag on for about five to ten minutes after the final bell rang, leaving plenty of time for me to draft out what I want to talk to Eunmi about. She did came out, as usual, the first one to come out of class. I grabbed her wrist gently and pulled her into the classroom next door. I thought she will comply and follow me without a word, but no, I was stopped by someone I never really expected, Tao, who only gave me a stern look. 

"What the hell are you doing here? Are you going to hurt her like you did the other time? I can't believe you did it." 

"Tao, what are you talking about? I didn't even hurt her! How can you blame me for doing something I did not do!"

"Stop lying Haneul, I know it is you. There is even witnesses. And Eunmi won't dare to tell me her name, she say it is someone I am close to. I hate it when people hurt my friends, especially my girlfriend. And you weren't sitting with us like we usually do, obviously you think we aren't good enough to be your friends."

Eunmi remained silent, she didnt defend me. Instead, she gave me those sympathetic looks others always give to the victim. People started crowding around and began whispering. I was enraged, fuming, this is an insult to me. I could bear it no longer. I shouted at them.

"Yah, Huang Zitao, get your facts right before you find me next time. First of all, I don't hang out with you guys as often because you guys are a freaking couple and I want you two to have more private time instead of me being like the third wheel in your relationship. I can't always be with you guys especially when you two are together. And if you haven't noticed, the days I was at that usual place, you guys were there too. And instead of our usual three-seat table, of all places you guys chose to sit on the couple one, so tell me how can I join you guys? More importantly, I have things to do too. If you haven't notice, I am in another year than you, our workload will of course be different. And secondly, I am, no, I was your best friend, you knew me since kindergarden. Did you think I would or could even do that? I can't even inflict harm on an ant and here you are accusing me of hurting Eunmi? Why would I do that, what would I gain? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! And you, Yoon Eunmi, what a friend you are, when you were down, I was there for you. And this is how you repay me? You know it is not me who harmed you and you dare not defend me, especially after I helped you verbally fight away your bullies? And you won't even be standing here today if I didn't give you a make over years back. Now I think about it, I really shouldn't have done that. As for our friendship, trust was never an issue. Now, it has become the key factor of our long lost friendship. If you two are still going to be like that, I might as well just forget that this friendship we had even existed this long."

And with that, I just walked away to my classroom block. No one is there to stop me. I was angered, fueled by jealousy and the pain of abandonment. How can he blame me? I am innocent! Angry tears sprung to life in my eyes and they made their way down. I wiped them away angrily. I must show no sign of weakness. But what really left me feeling unsettling is that fact that 'she' is the one who hurt her. But without evidence i cannot prove that it is her.

Therefore, it has been bestowed on me by myself to gather information on it.

***

The day flew by quickly, I still have no evidence to prove my point. Tao, stubborn as a mule, did not budge from his previous opinion. And that girlfriend of his did not even say anything about that incident. Betrayed by our friendship, I felt utterly ashamed to tell my parents and even face my friends (who are in a girls school where I transferred from). 

"Are you Haneul?" A young girl came towards me; her hair was parted into two long pigtails and she had huge brown eyes. Her name tag read 'Yuuki Hana Sakichii', she looked like a year 5 student. "Yes? Is something the matter?" I asked her warily. She hesitated for a moment before taking out a piece of crumpled paper before she lean forward and whispered a couple of words to me and skipped her way back to class. Her words shocked me.

"Like you onee-chan, we don't really like Yoon Eunmi too. Thus, we are here to help. We managed to gather information on Yoon Eunmi and we found something a little too peculiar which cannot be overlooked. If you ever need help, ask the year 5 girls for Ahyoung or my name, we will definitely lend you our assistance."

I quickly unfolded the paper and i found a medical condition letter addressed to the school. The content shocked me, I cannot believe she is such a person. That she hid this from all of us. This is just the evidence I need. I have to find Tao to prove my innocence but I might end up hurting the other instead. But that's not important anymore, that liar lied to everyone of us in school.

I could not face Tao in school, gossip will spring back to life again and who knew what Eunmi will do again. So I decided to send him all this in a form of a letter. I thought he will get the letter but I was so wrong. The letter got into the wrong hands and she threatened me to leave this place so as to not ruin this friendship any longer. It is more likely to say that she doesn't want me to stay here any longer so that I can continue to strain their relationship. Despite how much I want to clear this misunderstanding between me and Tao, I think it is best for me to leave. I never want to see that face again, scheming little liar.

I left that place, that school, along with my family to the other side of Korea. In hopes to find a new begining there, meet new people who can make me forget these ungrateful friends of mine. Leaving nothing behind, but a letter to proclaim my innocence to my dearest neighbour (which I sincerely hoped he will manage to get it).

Goodbye Huang Zitao, Yoon Eunmi, may you two find eternal happiness. Goodbye hometown. Goodbye memories. Goodbye to the past. 

Hello to the new future.

***

So this is chapter 2, I hope you guys like it so far. :3 Thanks for reading. :) Please don't be a silent reader okay? I need reviews to improve this story so that both the readers and I will benefit from this. So once again, thanks. :)