Ara's POV...
My tipsy eyes slightly widens by the sight of Hana suddenly starting to tear up upon hearing me ask about Junghwa. Tears starts to fill her big brown eyes as her plump lips shapes a frown, making me confuse. I'm pretty sure she didn't drink much tonight, so to think that she's drunk crying doesn't really make sense. So why is she crying all of a sudden?
"He left," Hana says as tears slowly continue to run down her eyes.
"Hana, what's wrong?" I ask her as I step closer to her to see her crying face, with a thousand questions still swimming inside my head.
"I broke up with him, not because I wanted to," Hana says as she continues to sob.
I widen my eyes upon hearing her answer. My heart felt shock knowing that the two had broke up, which was the last thing for me to imagine. Just from their gazes, I knew that both Junghwa and Hana had always been madly in love with one another. By that, I found it hard to believe that they actually broke up just now.
"Hana, calm down," I say as I put my hands on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. Slowly, she starts to calm down despite still sobbing. Meanwhile, Zach only stood beside me with a confused look. I'm guessing he is also surprised that Junghwa broke up.
"What happened?" I ask her in a more gentle tone. Looking at her condition, I feel like the girl is at her most fragile state.
"My dad will be transfer back to Seoul next week," Hana says. "I'll be leaving LA."
My heart felt shock as I stare deeply into Hana's brown eyes. She didn't tell me she would be leaving so soon. Maybe that's why she held this party tonight, since possibly, tonight could be our last party with her.
"You're not coming back to LA?" I ask her.
"I don't think so," Hana says. "My dad will be working in Seoul. So I'll continue my studies there."
Hearing that, my heart felt sliced into two pieces. Suddenly, Hana wraps her arms around me as she continues to cry in my arms. Gently, I put my arms around her as I slowly comforts her. In this moment, she continues to sob harder in my embrace, which silently break my heart more. It's only been months since we got the chance to see each other again, and knowing that she's the girl my best friend fell in love with gives me a deeper connection with her. Knowing that we will have to part away makes me feel sad. Other than, it makes me sadder knowing that Junghwa will probably be a sad boy since Hana's departure.
"I'll miss you, Hana. Stay safe," I say in the most sincere feeling. One thing for sure, I will definetly miss my dear cousin.
"You too, Ara. I'll miss you and the others so much," Hana says as she continues to sob in my arms. Slowly, I also felt a tear slide down my eye as the two of us gets lost in this moment.
An hour later...
After an emotional moment between me and Hana, I decided that it was time to go home. All the emotions in one night made us felt exhausted, and the only thing we all needed right now is a good rest. Zach eventually got a bit sober and decided to drove me back home, in which I was glad that he was able to do so. I wouldn't want him to be driving around while drunk. But other than feeling exhausted, deep down an agitated feeling is also running around in my heart, causing my head to keep wondering far. After Hana told me what happened between her and Junghwa, my mind can't stop worrying about him with wonders, especially since he left earlier and I didn't have the chance to see him after his talk with Hana. Was he drunk when he got back home? Did he even got back home? How is he right now?
"We're here. Get some good rest," Zach says as he stops in front of my house. Yet, I didn't answer him and just stayed silent. My mind is still filled with questions regarding Junghwa. Did he arrived home safely? Is he ok?
"Ara, are you ok?" his gentle yet chill voice again tinkles through my ears, this time giving me the urge to return to reality. I turn my head to see that he's staring at me with concern in his eyes.
"I'm fine," I say in a casual manner. I didn't want to make him think too much at this hour. All we need right now is just a good rest for the night.
"Are you worried about Junghwa?" his question shoots right into my chest giving me a bit of a surprised feeling that he could behave like such a mind-reader.
"Yeah," I answer. "How did you know?"
The usually-cheesy boy forms a small smile while staring at me. While staring at him, I've come to realize that he had always notice the littlest things about me. So for him to know that I was thinking of Junghwa just now, turns out to not be such a surprise after all.
"I know a lot of things about you, Alexa Kim," he says in rather playful yet chill manner.
I form small smile at his cute action. Knowing that he is able to make me form a small smile even when my heart is agitated gave me a thankful spark inside. Even when I'm worried or just feeling chaotic, I can always count on him to make me form even a small smile at anytime.
"Then I should learn much more about you, Sung Ho," I say with an affectionate tone, which made Zach's cheeks slowly blushing a rosy shade of pink. I swear he look extremely cute right now, that I wish I could pull out my phone to get a quick picture of him, but well, that would probably ruin the good moment we're having right now. Besides, we need to get back to reality and get some rest.
"By the way, thanks for the ride," I say as I unbuckle my seat-bealts. "I should go to bed."
Hearing this, Zach slowly nods his head with his cheeks still pink. I couldn't help but hold back my smile from getting bigger at his cute action. Damn, I always love it when he blush.
"Ok, goodnight, Ara," he says in a soft tone as I exit the car. I turn around to face him one last time as I stare at him, standing outside of his car.
"Goodnight, Zach," I say before turning around and heading to my front door, can't wait to just get some shut eyes.
2 days later...
Monday...
At school...
"And I don't want to see anyone failing this test," Mr Frank says with his signature high-pitch voice with a touch of fury.
I roll my eyes out of annoyance. Yup, nothing beats more than hearing Mr Frank's good-old naggings and bad talks on a typical Monday morning. This could be the best reminder of the only reason I hate Monday, and that is knowing that we'll be seeing him during first period, which pretty sucks.
As Mr Frank continue with his series of annoying naggings, I notice that Junghwa is no where in class. Weird, since Junghwa has never been late to school before. Despite not really having a deep fond of studying, he is well discipline enough to arrive at school as an early bird. I want to assume that he's probably late, though I already have a feeling that something's probably going on. I haven't talk to him after Hana's party, since I knew he probably needed some healing time during the weekends. I wonder if he is still sad about the break up, that he decided to skip school today.
A few hours later...
At the cafeteria...
"He what?" I ask in a disbelief tone with the tone of my voice being higher than usual.
"So I called him today and he told me that he's not coming to school," Zach says before he takes another bite of his cheese sandwhich.
"Damn it. And he didn't bother to even tell me about that," I say in a slightly dramatic tone. Man, I wouldn't have to worry about him the whole morning if he just told me that he's not going to school today.
"He probably still needs some alone time," Zach says in a chill manner.
"Was it so hard that he didn't even text me that he's skipping school today?" I ask him.
"Woah...why does it matter to you too that much?" Zach asks. "That guy probably just needed some healing time."
Hearing this, Zach's question sealed my lips shut as I realize that I was being dramatic just now over a small matter. He did have a point, that Junghwa is probably still heart broken and won't bother to tell the whole world about his absence at school. Knowing that he's going through a rough time now, I should have been a more understanding friend and not act so dramatic. Damn, I'm both childish and selfish.
To be continue...