"Hana, what happened? What's wrong?" Junghwa asks in a surprised tone. He was beyond surprised when he witness his girlfriend crying in front of him.
Hana couldn't let out an answer as she continues to sob. Tears starts running down her eyes, making Junghwa more panic. Seeing her cry in front of him at her own party was the last thing that could crawl inside his mind at this state.
"I'm so sorry. I should have told you sooner," Hana finally says after she struggled to let out an answer to his question in between tears.
Junghwa stares at Hana with a confuse look. He puts his strong arms on her shoulders as he attempts to make her face him. He widens his eyes with all the confusion spinning inside his head about his crying girlfriend.
"Hana, what do you mean?" Junghwa asks, his hands still on Hana's shoulders.
"I'm leaving Los Angeles," Hana says in between sobs.
As if a lightning just strucked his heart, Junghwa's hands suddenly felt weak as he suddenly loose his grip upon hearing Hana's statement. His eyes are filled with complete shock, with his lips too shocked to let out a single word despite having a thousand surprised thoughts in his head.
"My dad will be transfer back to Seoul for work matters. We'll be returning to Seoul for good," Hana says with tears still running down her eyes.
"Hana....why? When will you be leaving and why didn't you tell me earlier?" Junghwa asks, his voice filled with more emotions. The bursting emotions in his heart starts running around in chaos, hence giving him mixed feelings of disappointment, fury, hurt, and sadness.
"I'll be leaving next week," Hana says in a heavy tone. "I was so happy about our relationship, I was afraid to tell you, Hwang Junghwa."
Hearing Hana's confession, Junghwa felt his heart shattered into a million pieces. Tears starts to fill his eyes as he struggles to hold them back, not wanting to let the girl witness the tears in his eyes run down. He couldn't believe of what's happening at the moment since it felt too dramatic for him, he wanted to believe it's all just a nightmare and he would wake up soon.
"No way," Junghwa says in a stressful tone as he starts to put his hand on his hair in an agitated and stressful movement.
"Kim Hana, tell me you're kidding," Junghwa adds.
"I hope I was, Junghwa," Hana says, more tears starts running down her face. "But it's not a joke."
Junghwa's knees felt weak as his heart starts to beat slower. He felt like he almost lost his breath, still refusing to believe that he and Hana will really have to move on with different paths in two different cities in two different countries.
"Again, I'm so sorry, Junghwa," Hana says. Suddenly, she wraps her arms around Junghwa's body, hence giving him an electric shock from her embrace out of the blue. Slowly, he wraps his arms around her as well, as he watches his girlfriend now crying in his chest, with him still struggling to hold back his tears.
"From the first time we met, I always knew that you would have a place in my heart. You never fail to make me smile and would always fill my days with happiness," Hana says with her arms still wrapped around Junghwa's body tightly.
"Hwang Junghwa, I love you. Always have, and always will." Hana tightens her hug as tears continues to run down from her face, staining Junghwa's navy colored t-shirt.
Little did Hana know, Junghwa's tears had also run down after the chaotic emotions which got harder for him to handle. He hugged her slim figure back tightly, wishing that the moment could stop and that he wouldn't have to let go. They've only known each other for a few months yet it already felt like he had known her for a lifetime, that he decided back then that she would be the love of his life. Living his teenage life as a player, Junghwa had enough of all the random hook-ups and meaningless sweet words. When he met Hana, he knew what he felt for her was different, and that he is willing to learn to be a better version of himself just to make her smile. She was his first love that he also wished to be his last. Yet, he never imagined that they would have to seperate this way, in a moment where both of them are still in love with each other, but they can't fight reality.
"Hana...will you return to Los Angeles?" Junghwa asks. He has the smallest hope in his heart that she would return one day. Maybe for college, or maybe just to see him.
"I don't know, Junghwa," Hana says. "For now, I don't think so."
Hearing this, Junghwa's tiny hope starts to break into pieces. Even the smallest hope he had left had been crushed, making him feel hopeless. He wanted to slap himself in the face for the amount of pain he's struggling to handle, still not being able to accept reality as it is.
"Thank you, Hwang Junghwa. For always making me feel happy," Hana says while slowly pulling her slender body away from Junghwa's embrace. She wanted to look him in the eyes, at least just to know what his eyes are speaking in this moment. When she sees the tears in his dark brown eyes, her heart felt more crushed.
Junghwa is left speechless. He had quickly rubbed his eyes before Hana could even witness the tears that were running, but it was impossible for him to pretend as if he never shed a tear when his eyes speaks differently. Hana knew well that the boy she loved with all her heart had shed some tears, much to his pride of not wanting her to find out. It broke her heart to know that she made the man she loved disappointed, just because she couldn't change anything about what's gonna happen.
"I wish you well, Kim Hana," Junghwa says with a heavy heart as he tries to hide the pain still lingering inside.
"Well, it's late. I should be going home. Stay safe." Junghwa turns around from Hana and slowly walks away, as the tears continue to run down his eyes. Though he is now left with a broken heart, he was grateful for the few months he shared with her. Getting to know her and experiencing a real kind of love made him feel like the luckiest man alive, when he was just a boy who didn't understand his own feelings before. He believed Hana had awaken his heart to feel what true love really was.
Meanwhile....
"I wonder what's taking them so long," Ara says before she drinks her bottle of lychee soju.
"Probably talking, or kissing," Zach says in a tipsy tone while lying his head down on the table. He figured he had drank too much soju tonight and decided to stop.
"I should have guessed," Ara says while rolling her eyes out of annoyance.
"Hey, are you jealous or something?" Zach asks bluntly.
Ara turns her head to see the drunk boy with his eyes close. She almost drop her jaws from his question, but figured he's probably badly drunk that he had to ask such a dumb question. But well, deep inside, she had to admit that she was, and is still jealous at the thought of all the things Junghwa and Hana could do while they are alone.
"Shut up, Zach," Ara says. "Don't play dumb."
"Man, why did I ask you that?" Zach asks with a whiny tone. "It must be the soju effect."
"I told you to not drink so much," Ara says.
"I lost control. What did you expect?" Zach asks.
"Then have some self control," Ara states in a sassy yet bold tone.
Hearing Ara getting her sassy attitude on, Zach couldn't help but let out a chuckle and the cute girl. He realized that she's the only girl who succede in making him chuckle when he's drunk. Usually it's hard for him to even fake a giggle when he's drunk.
"Random fun fact alert," Zach states. "Miss Alexa Kim is the first girl to make me chuckle at a drunk state."
Hearing this, Ara couldn't help but roll her eyes at Zach's cheesy statement while he's drunk. Yet, deep inside she also felt a small pinch of happiness starting to run around her exhausted heart. It's funny when she found herself actually feeling good just from hearing his cheesy statement.
"You're so drunk I doubt I can depend on you to drive," Ara states. "I'll be driving tonight, for the safety of us."
"Since when did you learn how to drive?" Zach asks.
"My dad taught me at some points," Ara says.
Just then, Hana walks back to the garden with her eyes still looking all puffy. In a drunk state, Ara could still notice that Hana looked oddly sad all of a sudden. Other than that, another thing that made her wonder is the fact that Junghwa is no where to be seen.
"Sorry to keep you guys waiting," Hana states.
"Don't worry, it's fine," Ara says. "By the way, where's Junghwa?"
To be continue...