.:16:. Moment : Threat
Have You Ever
♫ Cho Sunhyun ♫
I take a glance at Hari again. She is staring at her phone with unfocused eyes, sitting on the chair while Yoseob and Gikwang are outside of our basecamp room.
"Do you want something, Hari?" I approach her with a smile. She looks up at me and shakes her head with forced smile.
"Well, wait a minute, alright?" I hold her hand gently. "After Gikwang and Yoseob return, we're going back home. They need to check on something."
She nods calmly and looks at her phone again but I know there is nothing she does with her phone; she is just trying to distract her attention for something.
"There's a mix of various liquids in the drink Miss Yoon drank. I can't identify what it is precisely for now but most likely it was a combination of lemon and vinegar. Acid irritates the vocal cords," the doctor explained briefly. "It caused her to lose her voice because of irritation to the vocal cords."
We rushed to the nearby hospital after Hari stopped coughing. I was in extreme panic when she couldn't say a word to reply us.
Was it Yoseob's anti fan? Because I was sure I saw Yoseob's name on the bottle before he gave it away to Hari. Looked like Yoseob was the target but Hari drank it instead.
"But she will recover, right?" Gikwang spoke out, trying to keep himself calm. I knew he must be pretty worried as well. Well, it's the girl he loved.
Even though he tried his best not to come too close with Hari nowadays, I could see that he watched over Hari from time to time. Even though he didn't say a word, it's obvious that he still cared for Hari more than an ordinary best friend.
"Yes, it's not that chronic," the doctor read the report of the examination. He looked at Hari with assuring smile, "But it will took a while. Around two weeks, I guess."
"What?!" I blurted out with shock. We had musician camp next week! "Can she take medication or something else? She can't stay like this for two weeks!"
I felt a soft touch on my shoulder. As I turned around, Hari gave me a slight nod, as if she was telling me that it's alright if she couldn't say a word for two weeks.
"I'll give her some medicine to take," the doctor wrote down on the paper. "I hope this will help you to gain your voice back."
It must be really irritating for Hari. Even ordinary people will be pissed off because they can't talk. As for Hari, she can't sing even though she has insisted she will come to the musician camp no matter what happen.
After we returned from the hospital, we went straight to our basecamp, picking our own stuff that we left behind because of the sudden happening. Gikwang and Yoseob excused themselves to somewhere else.
Hari communicates with us by typing down whatever she wants to say with her phone. We try to talk with her as clear as possible, having her only gives us shaking head or a nod.
Hari taps her fingers on her phone to have my attention. I turn and tilt my head, "Yes? Anything, Hari?"
She shows me her phone screen because she has typed a short question on her phone. A question that makes my heart to skip a beat.
"How's Gikwang?"
I realize that I haven't talked to her alone like this for the last three weeks since Renaitre was formed. We gathered together but I never left alone with Hari, the same way Gikwang never left alone with her.
None of us wanted to bring up the topic of what happened between us, the reason we disband Musique.
Hari doesn't know about Yoseob's feeling, does she? I don't want to tell her because I don't want to ruin everything again.
I was really happy when Gikwang told me about Yoseob would join our new group. But when he told me that it was Hari's request, my heart sank immediately.
Does it mean Hari returns Yoseob's feeling? They look pretty close actually after we formed the new group; not as close as Hari and Gikwang previously though.
But I bet Gikwang must envy Yoseob now. Because I really envy Hari too, to have both attention from Yoseob and Gikwang.
I shove the thought and answer Hari's question with a smile, "He's pretty good. Still the arrogant Gikwang."
She chuckles in silence, looking at me with wide smile. How I miss these moments I had with Hari before I knew the hidden secret of Yoseob's feeling.
Why did love make our friendship turn out this way?
Love shouldn't bind us, right?
Hari shows me another message she typed, making me to burst into laughter.
"We should win the award to be the best friends of the most arrogant man ever."
She grins to me and I look at her, noticing that I can't dislike her, let alone hate her. Even though she wins the attention of the one I love and my best friends.
"Yes, we should," I nod with a smile.
Love, please stay away from us for this moment. Let we stay happily like this for now.
♫ Lee Gikwang ♫
"Hey," I approach Hari as she looks up to see me. She blinks but then she smiles sweetly to me. "How's your feeling?"
She only gives me a weak smile and I feel stupid to ask that question to her. How would you feel if you lost your voice and you can't talk now, Lee Gikwang?
"Let's go back, It's almost 6 now," Sunhyun interrupts politely. She walks to Hari and holds her hand, "I'm sorry I can't walk you home. I need to finish something for my project, Hari."
Hari gives her an understanding nod. Sunhyun stands up and looks at me for seconds but then she turns to Yoseob, "You're going to take her home, right?"
Yoseob flinches a little because of the sudden question he didn't expect. He straightens his body that leaned to the wall before and looks at me with confused looks, "Well..."
We exchange looks secretly while Hari stares at Yoseob as well.
"There's this letter sent to me today," Yoseob handed me a blue envelope. "I though it's only a prank letter so I ignored it."
Yoseob dragged me out from the basecamp as soon as we arrived after visiting the hospital. We talked at the corridor of our basecamp room.
I took the envelope from him and read the short letter which was filled with threat.
"Yang Yoseob, don't think you are the best. Don't think you have a chance with Hari.
Hari is our goddess and you are nothing compared to her.
Stay away from Hari.
You'll know what will happen to you if you ignore this warning."
It was typed with word processor so I had no idea who wrote this letter. Was this the reason why the culprit left a bottle of dangerous liquid?
The culprit was aiming for Yoseob because of his close relationship with Hari. The culprit probably did this after watching they performed together at university yard.
But there was another question went through my mind when I read the letter.
Why did the culprit attack Yoseob? Instead of Yoseob, I was the perfect target if the culprit was Hari's fans.
"I need to find out who did this," Yoseob took the letter from me. "Until then I think I need to stay away from Hari."
"What?" I frowned. "It's not like whoever did this is going to harm Hari. It's an accident, Yoseob, you know that."
"I know. But what do you think Hari will do if she find out about this letter? That someone was trying to attack me? That this someone is her fan?"
I held my breath. He was right. Hari would never stand still if she found out about this fact. She would feel guilty and extremely enraged with this fan of her.
"Gikwang, I...," Yoseob clenched his fist, looking at the ground. "Please protect Hari until we find who did this."
I knew his heart must be aching when he asked me to protect Hari. He wanted to protect the one he loved by himself yet he couldn't.
The same way I felt.
As much as I wanted to stay with Hari to be with her, I didn't dare to even touch her now; I was afraid that I would hurt her more if I stayed too close with her.
But I couldn't let her to be alone in this condition. What should I do?
"I must meet an old friend," Yoseob gives out an alibi, which is obviously a lie. "I'm sorry."
Sunhyun turns to me with questioning look. It means that I'm the only one who can accompany Hari to go home. But I'm not sure she will let me to be alone with her.
Just like what I thought, Hari types something on her phone and shows it to Sunhyun. Sunhyun shakes her head quickly, "No, it's not okay, Hari. You can't go home alone!"
There are seconds of silence awkward fill the air.
I sigh and finally, after three weeks, I pat Hari's head gently. She freezes and doesn't look at me but I mutter calmly, "Let's go home."
I'm sorry, Yoseob, I really am.
I take a quick glance at Yoseob and he gives me a smile but I know it is only an awkward smile.
Hari stands up from her seat and looks at me shyly. She immediately looks away when our eyes meet.
I open the door for her and excuse myself, "I'll take her home. See you tomorrow."
Hari bows to Sunhyun and Yoseob, waving her hand to bid them goodbye. She walks pass me, not even bothering to look at me.
I only let a sad smile forms on my lips; no wonder she is still avoiding me.
It still hurts somehow. I know.
I close the door and follow Hari from behind. When both of us have stepped out from the building, she stops and takes out her phone, typing something.
She turns to me and shows her phone. I step closer to read the message.
"Don't walk behind me. You look like a stalker."
I smile and pinch her cheek playfully, "Yah! I'm not your stalker!"
She chuckles silently and smiles. The smile that I have missed all these times. The smile that I always used to see from her.
The smile that makes me realize that I still love her.
Comments