CHAPTER 9
She's her 42first of all i would like to thank @querenciadrafts for beta reading this and for supporting my writing journey since day1!! from being campus journalists to fanfiction writers, you have always been by my side and i don’t know how to thank you enough for that. i am grateful for your existence always🤍
the songs for today’s chapter are haunted and 21:29
Lastly, there will be an announcement at the end of the chapter so make sure to read that one!! it’s super important
“Nayeon,” Suzy says, surprised. “What are you doing here?” She drops everything on her hand and puts it on her cheeks. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“I just wanted to bid farewell and say my thanks.” Nayeon furrows her eyebrows. She sees the studio is a mess and it looks like a storm has just passed by. “What’s happening?”
“Listen to me.” Suzy looks her in the eyes. “They’re coming for me, Nayeon. I don’t know how, but I think somebody leaked the information to the government.”
“But–”
“But I made sure you and your friends will still have a way to still cross the borders. When you get there, there will be people waiting for you, you get me?” Suzy leads Nayeon to the sofa, sitting. “Now, there’s this fire exit behind that door.” She nods towards it. “You get your friends and tell them we’ve been compromised. Tell them you have to go. Now.”
“Attention, this is a raid, everyone step out of their house and make sure you have your documents. Please do not resist and do as you are commanded,” the regulator says through the speaker. Suzy and Nayeon share a horrified look.
“Go. Go! Now!”
“But what about you?”
“I’ll be fine, Nayeon. You don’t have to worry about me.” Suzy gives her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, but Nayeon doubts her. “Go!”
Nayeon hurries towards the fire exit, looking back at Suzy one last time. The older girl nods at her with an urge in her eyes. Carefully, she threads through the darkness with tears rolling down her cheeks. She wishes her friends are all right. Up until the moment where her life is at risk, she still thinks about her friends’ safety first.
“Hands up!” A regulator stops her. She stops immediately and looks back, trembling in fear. “What’s your name?”
“Im Nayeon, sir!” Nayeon slowly puts her hand up. She has no idea what to do. She considers running away but that would likely put her to jail.
“Why are you here?” The regulator points at Suzy’s studio. “Do you know Suzy—”
“Nayeon!” Suzy struggles to let go of the regulator guiding her to the car. “No. NO! Let go of her!”
“You’re coming with me.” The regulator puts a handcuff on shaking Nayeon. Nayeon doesn’t do anything because she knows if she does something like defend herself, the outcome will be way worse. So she just accepted her fate.
He pushes Nayeon inside the car.
They walk through two gigantic doors that are covered in bulletproof glass. She enters the building and is immediately assaulted by the foul scent of thousands of unwashed bodies mixed with bleach and cleaner. Since the sickly yellow tint illuminates the sporadic fluorescent lights that buzz on and off, the hallways were never completely dark.
She knows where they are. It’s only been a matter of time. She knows this is where she’ll end up eventually and dreaming of a life beyond borders is foolish of her.
And there it is, a cell waiting for her inside the crypts. Marked with years of water marks from leaking pipes and dead insects to accompany her stay.
“We’ve been waiting for you.” The regulator laughs but with no emotion. Nayeon wonders how that is possible but he still does it.
Inside, she wonders if she’s ever gonna see her parents… or if ever she’s gonna see her friends again.
Sana’s ears ring and there’s a thousand decibels of piercing noise all around her. She tries to open her eyes but the world turns around her so she closes them again. Faintly, she sees a man sitting in front of her and she opens them again, only not to recognize him. There are faint mumbling and lots of heavy footsteps and she wants them to stop.
When the noise finally stops, she flies her eyes open, her head still throbbing. She feels a burning sensation around her wrist, and then a cold circle around it too. She tries to rub her hand around her temples but she’s restrained. That’s when she finally realizes everything.
“Awake, finally?” A cold voice greets her. At first she doesn’t recognize the voice because she only met him a few times. But the authority in his voice made her recognize him. The governor’s in front of her, observing her state if she’s fully awake now.
“What’s happening?” Sana tries to sit up right but she falls on the bed again from doing it so fast. The ringing goes back and she closes her eyes, willing it away. She swallows her saliva, trying to quench the overwhelming thirst she’s experiencing, but is too dry like sandpaper.
“I should be asking you that, Minatozaki.” He hums. “What’s happening?”
“Why are you here?” Sana looks around her room. Outside, there are regulators guarding them. “Why am I here?” The last thing she remembers, she was in jail and the last thing she hears… “Nayeon… Where’s Nayeon? I need to go to Nayeon.” She tries to remove the handcuff around her, but to no avail. “I have to get to her!” She tries and tries again and the governor just watches her.
“Calm down, Minatozaki. We have all day.” The voice says with no emotion. Sana glares at him. There is no time and there is no reason to calm down. She doesn’t care about him being the governor. All she cares about is Nayeon and her friends and…
“Dahyun,” she whispers. “Where’s Dahyun? I need to talk to Dahyun.” She tries to remove the handcuff again, considering breaking her thumb just to slide the handcuffs smoothly and be free to get away from him.
“What does this have to do with my niece?” He asks curiously.
Sana stops abruptly. She mentally curses and tears threaten to fall down her face.
“Police told me they caught you sneaking out past curfew. Care to explain about it?”
“I don’t owe you any explanation.”
“They told me you were asking for me last night. I got you out of there, still don’t owe me anything?”
Sana thinks of an alibi. “I was just hanging around.”
“That’s not what my intel tells me.” The governor says. “You were looking for Dahyun?”
“Where is she?”
“By now, she’s had her procedure and is on her way to the US.”
That one sentence was enough to cause heartbreak.
“And your friend Nayeon is already in the crypts.”
And another.
“What did you do to them?” Sana shouts at him. “You’re a monster!”
“I’m simply following the law.”
Sana still doesn’t believe it. Still, she can’t process what the governor is saying. Sometimes you understand things but you still choose not to believe it because, well, it shouldn’t be like that. It’s brutal. It’s unfair. It’s everything that shouldn’t be happening.
Impossible. Dahyun is still one of them. When she arrives at her house, she will be on the balcony, waiting for Sana. And Sana will greet her with a warm hug from the back, or a soft kiss, or a sweet smile, or a cute story of how her day went. Except there is no warmth, softness, sweetness, or a cute story of how her day went. It was all chaos, and Dahyun was not there waiting for her.
And Nayeon, for sure, when she looks at her window, Nayeon would still be there, humming to herself while reading her book. Right? Nayeon and Dahyun are safe in their homes doing their things, right?
Sana reaches for something under her bed without making it too obvious.
“I know what you are, Minatozaki. And if you know any better, you know that following my orders would be the best thing to do right now. It’s quite simple. I’ll let you have your procedure, and we’ll forget everything about your past. Or I could send you and your friends to the crypts.”
He continues. “I knew something was up with you and Dahyun. I remember her talking about you at a family dinner. That’s why I made sure to get her procedure early. Even her parents thanked me for it.”
Fire starts spreading at the pit of Sana’s stomach and she wants to spew it all out, but doing so would make Dahyun and her friends’ lives at risk. So she stays mum. And by being mum, she feels like she should be doing something more. So instead she says “I can spread a rumor about your son. How he’s been infected by me. How he loves me so much he’d be willing to betray you.”
“That would be a baseless rumor.”
“You know the invalids are everywhere. They can spread the word even if it’s baseless. And a rumor talked enough can be accepted as truth by some people. You wouldn’t want that tarnishing your family’s name especially during the elections, would you, governor?”
“How can you do that when I literally got you by the neck.” He laughs.
“They can bomb the fence. That would be considered a terrorist attack. People would be questioning your authority. You don’t want that.”
Sana sees the governor shaking, trying to keep his calm but fails. Sana continues “If you don’t want that to happen, you will open the fence again tonight at 10pm. You will let my friends cross it. After that I’m all yours. Do whatever you want. Make me get the procedure. Send me to the crypts. Whatever you want. Just don’t hurt my friends.”
“And why would I do that?’
Sana raises a handphone. A burner phone they used whenever they had those silly little missions of sabotaging somebody. She smirks. “You got everything you need?” She says to the phone.
“Yeah,” the person on the other line says then hangs up.
“How dare you.” The governor slaps Sana. He snatches the phone away and throws it across the room, ruining it. He closes his eyes and opens them again to glare at her. He inhales sharply then fixes his collar. Slowly, he sits again in front of Sana. “Fine, as long as you don’t tell anybody about this and you keep the fence out of bounds I’ll do it.”
Sana smiles in victory. “You have yourself a deal. Later at 10pm you will turn off the electricity at the same portion of the fence and then let my friends go. After that, I’m yours.”
The governor just looks at her. Sana adds “And you’re gonna let me see Dahyun.”
“That’s impossible.” The governor laughs. “By now she’s on her way to the US to be with her family, and she won’t be coming back.”
Hurriedly, Sana reaches for a notebook and rips off a page. Tears fall down on the paper and she folds and folds again until there are too many creases on the paper you could barely recognize it as a paper crane. A thousand paper cranes.
She carefully puts it in the box and goes for her bike, pedaling as fast as she can.
“KIM DAHYUN!!” Sana desperately says, willing to stop the girl from entering the car that will take her away to a place Sana can’t follow. “Stop.” She sobs. “Please stop.”
Sana expects Dahyun to be her usual self. Uncured and still in love with her. Can somebody really change overnight? Like be the complete opposite of who they were the day before? Sana doubts so.
If Dahyun forgets her feelings towards Sana, then it would be like the whole world forgets Sana’s existence. Sana can’t imagine ever forgetting what they both have… or had. With the procedure, you forget how to feel like a basic human being, but you don’t forget the memories.
Dahyun closes the door, a little louder than she’s supposed to. She looks at the big bruise and wound on Sana’s forehead, at the bleeding wound on Sana’s knees. “What happened to you?”
For a moment, Sana thinks she detects worry and it’s enough to ease all her pain away. For a moment, Sana’s broken soul feels whole again because although an individual can be complete without another person, Dahyun’s presence tethers her to reality and reminds her of who she really is.
Without her, Sana might as well float away like a dead fish going with the flow of this cruel world, lost and clueless. So there is so much relief when Sana thinks Dahyun still cares about her. “Yes.” She looks at the sky and laughs. “Yes!!”
Yes Dahyun still worries about her, and yes maybe her procedure didn’t push through like what was planned or maybe it didn’t work.
She… this… is more than just a secret. This is the only thing that keeps Sana going. It’s everything to her, and she might as well be cured if the world takes this away from her.
At least, if it was indeed taken, when she’s cured she will have no feelings, no heartbreak… just a heart that once was.
After everything that happened to her last night, it’s not enough to just stare at Dahyun’s beautiful frame. She needs to hug her tightly so that all the wounds inside her would heal.
Slowly, Sana approaches Dahyun, not minding the heavy rain pouring on the two of them. An inch, she’s so close to Dahyun yet suddenly they’re miles apart when Dahyun takes a step back with a shudder, jerking away from contact. The other girl frowns and there’s a tightness in her eyes Sana’s unfamiliar with because she hasn’t seen it on Dahyun before.
Dahyun hugs herself, disgusted by Sana’s action. Sana’s hand’s left alone in the air, barely hanging on to the possibility of Dahyun’s procedure not pushing through.
But her instincts were proven wrong when Dahyun, with growing repugnance in her words, says “What the hell is wrong with you?!” Like she was being assaulted. When Sana looks at Dahyun she sees someone she loves. When Dahyun looks at her, she sees a stranger.
The disgust in her eyes was so intense Sana had to think for a second if she did anything wrong. Slowly, it registers in her and slowly, tears start to form around her eyes. Still, she doesn’t want to believe it. She doesn’t want to believe that the girl she loves so much is right in front of her, but she’s not the same person anymore.
Strong wind blows Dahyun’s hair away, and there it is indeed. A three-pronged scar at the back of Dahyun’s ear, indicating that she is cured. That she had her procedure.
Sana’s eyes widen, her face turns white, opposite to her darkened lips from the cold. She trembles as her hand approaches Dahyun’s silky hair to check for the scar once again.
She wasn’t imagining the scar. It’s there, still red and fresh from the procedure.
It’s so much more painful than the bruise on her forehead— so much more painful than what she experienced last night. Today, Sana has to let go of two things and one of them is her best friend, Nayeon, and the other is Dahyun… the love of her life Dahyun.
“No.” Sana bites back a sob. “What happened? Did they hurt you? Tell me who hurt you, please.” She brushes back Dahyun’s bangs and cups both her cheeks with her shaking hands. “Tell me how to get you back. I’ll do anything. Just please don’t leave me like this.”
“You ruined my life.”
“But I helped you build it,” Sana says desperately in between sobs. “Please don’t say that. I know you don’t mean it.”
Dahyun slaps away Sana’s hands. “Pathetic.” She ruffles her own hair, frustrated, and lets out a sharp sigh. “What the hell do you want, Sana? Do you want me to tell the authorities all about you? How you forced me into something I didn’t want? How you made me betray my family and forced me to keep a secret I didn’t even want to keep?”
Nobody can make Sana as happy as Dahyun does, and nobody can break her as much as she can also. And so, the moment her eyes met Sana’s, they no longer held any gleam of affection. Only an empty stare one may give to an empty love letter.
To be there with her… without her is killing Sana. It’s like they’re operating on different wavelengths, like Dahyun can’t even hear the one Sana’s on. It’s like Sana remembers a version of Dahyun that the other girl can’t. She’s a completely different person and for worse, Sana fears.
“I want you. I want you more than ever Dahyun,” Sana begs.
“Oh please, Sana. You were supposed to only be my friend until you forced me into something I didn’t want in the first place.”
“I was never just your friend,” Sana exclaims, rubbing her palm all over her face. “How can you forget all those feelings? This thing between us was never meant to be, but we defied all the odds. No, we could never share an ice cream by the seaside. We can’t hold hands unless it’s only the two of us. I can’t kiss you unless we’re at the cliff or in your room. We spent most of our time hidden from the whole world, but it didn’t matter because you were mine.” Sana exhales loudly. “You are mine, Dahyun. What we have was brought up in the dark. And now that we’re finally about to step into the light, you stepped further into darkness, so deep I can’t reach you anymore.”
“See this?” Sana removes the cover of the box she’s been carrying the whole time. It reveals a thousand paper cranes carefully crafted and placed in. “They said if you fold a thousand paper cranes, you can make a wish and it’ll come true.” Sana bites back a sob, looking at Dahyun earnestly. “I beg you, come back. I want the Dahyun that I know back. I want her back. Please, I’ll do anything. I’ll fold a million paper cranes if I have to. Just come back.”
Sana sobs. “I will wait for you until my heart becomes as solid as a rock. I will wait for you until the very end, even when the procedure gets the better of me.”
The way it will be, there will be a million unanswered questions, a thousand movies they would never get to see, songs they’d never get to shout the top of their lungs out to, thousands of words she’d never get to interrupt with a kiss, a piece that Sana will never forget to miss. But she’d be all right with that. She’ll endure everything until her wish from a thousand paper cranes comes true. She’ll be all right in the end as long as her wish will come true.
“You’re so gullible.” Dahyun pinches her nose, trying to hold back a laugh. “You’re the most foolish person I know, Sana. A thousand paper cranes, really? Who would believe that?” This time Dahyun doesn’t hold back her laughter anymore, like she was mocking Sana and at the same time insulting her for believing such bull.
One by one, the paper cranes get soak from the rain. Sana miserably closes the distance between the two of them. She reaches for Dahyun’s hands, and the other girl struggles as she puts it around the box. “This is for you, Dahyun.” Sana says firmly.
“I don’t ing want it.” Dahyun pushes Sana away.
Sana stumbles over, her face an inch close to the muddy ground. A thousand paper cranes scatter all over the earth, wet against the rain. Like her heart, it’s all over everywhere, a thousand pieces broken beyond repair.
Instead of helping her up or saying sorry, Dahyun didn’t do anything. She just watched Sana cry and smear mud all over her face as she tries to wipe her tears away. Sana picks up her paper cranes individually and puts it inside the box. Some were too wet and they got torn apart.
Still crying, Sana stands up and sobs with mud all over her, shivering in cold because of the rain as her drenched clothes hug her frame. “Please, Dahyun. I don’t know how to live without you. Please come back.”
At this point Sana doesn’t care about the deal she had with the governor. If ever Dahyun did come back like she wants to, she’ll do everything she can in her power to escape with her and their friends.
But what Sana wants is too impossible. Dahyun looks at her coldly, colder than the freezing rain. “I’m gonna be late for my flight,” she says before turning her back on Sana.
“No, please oh my god no.” Sana runs towards her but slips and twists her ankle. Sana tries to reach Dahyun but her hand only grazes hers. And just like that the love of her life slips away. She grunts as she tries to get back to her feet again.
Sana sees Dahyun closing the car door and hears the engine roar into life. Horror struck all over her face. She steals in a raspy breath as she stands on her injured foot.
The car slowly gathers speed, and Sana chases it down. Every step feels like a knife to her ankle but she can’t just stop because of physical pain. “Dahyun!” Sana leaves her paper cranes behind. She pounds against the window desperately. “Please don’t go. Please stop.”
She tries to chase the car down but as it gathers speed, she's left alone.
Her last memory of Dahyun was her ice cold stares.
Sana drops to the ground crying, her foot aching and her thousand useless paper cranes behind her.
The wish didn’t come true. Her efforts went to waste.
Dahyun’s procedure worked, and she’s on her way to the airport right now. Off to a place where Sana can’t follow.
They say the heart can remember what the mind can’t. But this time, it’s the opposite. The mind can remember what the heart can’t.
Isn’t it more painful when the heart can’t fight for what it really wants? When the mind is poisoned thinking it’s all wrong but in fact it’s all you’ve ever wanted and more? That even in her heart, the only thing they have, they couldn’t keep the both of them?
Sana wonders if Dahyun’s heart can still feel a huge pain or if it still hurts and she’s still sad and she just can’t remember why anymore or if somehow, her heart and mind still remembers that the pain came from her. The only consolation in this is that there’s a chance Dahyun won’t be in pain anymore, that at least she won’t remember the pain from all those bad memories they shared with each other. But that causes more pain to Sana’s heart.
Sana sits there in the rain, knowing the day she fears the most has come. She wishes it ended with Dahyun’s heart remembering everything, but she knows her heart has already forgotten and nothing can stop that from happening. She wishes Dahyun would fall in love again as fast as she forgot, but that’s impossible.
She remembers what Dahyun couldn’t, and the memories she treasures the most have left her as the most miserable person in the world.
One fateful day, you will meet somebody who will treat you with so much adoration you’ll forget what loneliness even means. Your heart will be full of joy to the point that you won’t even know what to do with it, so you share it with other people who’s important to you— your friends. The joy extends from there and it doesn’t stop. Everyday, you will be met by a pair of soft eyes and you will forget how the world treated you, the pain, the frustrations, the anxiety, it will all be gone and replaced with only the opposite. You will learn that even though the world is a menace, there are reasons beyond that and those reasons will be the cause of why you wake up and grind everyday. You will learn how to appreciate even the smallest things and they will bring you sunlight that you never ever want to be deprived of. Yes, you know a lot about pain. Yes, you know too much about suffering. But this, it makes it all worth it and you’d willingly go through everything just to keep this sunlight.
But there will be a day, where the sun won’t shine on you anymore and you’ll realize the world doesn’t revolve around you. The warmth will be replaced with coldness. The sky won’t be bright. And suddenly all the pain and suffering will come back to you.
Sana didn’t know that after a long, long summer, there will be thunderstorms. And Sana didn’t know the sun could be snatched from you just like that. There was before, where everything was dark. There was during, where everything was just sunshines and rainbows. Sana didn’t want the after that comes with it. She doesn’t know how to deal with it because she’s still too absorbed with the ‘during’. It’s too late to realize that life is a cycle. A circular ending. And she doesn’t want to experience another day because she knows that this time, it is without Dahyun. She doesn’t want another day without Dahyun.
Yes, she still has her friends. Which is why she’s gonna do everything to save them. It’s not too late to do so.
Her friends have already been through enough. And it’s time she stops that.
In a dimly-lit room inside of Mina’s mansion, they’re accompanied by the melancholic melody of raindrops tapping against the windowpane. It’s a perfect reflection of the storm brewing within her. Sadness had settled in her heart like a heavy stone, weighing her down, as she grappled with the relentless ache of longingness.
Sana had just told them the news about Nayeon and Dahyun. Sana had always been a dreamer, and her dreams were often her refuge from the harsh realities of life. But lately, those dreams had transformed into vivid scenes of what could have been, and they haunted her in the waking hours. Her longingness was like a relentless tide, pulling her back to a time when everything felt within reach.
She couldn't help but replay the memories of Dahyun in her mind—the way her eyes would crinkle when she smiled, the sound of her laughter that felt like a warm embrace, and the tender moments they had shared under the starry night sky. It was as if those moments were imprinted on her soul, and she couldn't escape their gravitational pull.
But sadness has a way of distorting reality, making everything seem darker and more desolate than it truly was. The room, once filled with warmth and laughter, now felt cold and empty. The world outside, which had once been full of possibilities, has become a gray, monotonous landscape.
Sana knew she had to find a way out of this labyrinth of emotions. She understood that sadness and longingness were inextricably linked, but she couldn't let them consume her. She needed to embrace the pain and the memories, to acknowledge that they were a part of her story, but not the entirety of it.
She looks at her friends one by one. Jeongyeon’s by the window, looking outside. Momo’s discussing something with Jihyo about something Sana couldn’t hear. Tzuyu’s consoling a crying Chaeyoung.
Sana makes sure her friends’ attention isn’t on her. While everyone is busy doing their thing, she pulls Mina where they can’t hear anything. She looks back to her friends and when she’s certain they didn’t notice, she looks back at Mina, still not letting go of her arm.
Mina shoots her a confused look, silently asking what it is that she wants. Sana sighs and runs her fingers through her hair, not knowing where to start or how to do what she’s about to do.
“Just say it, Minatozaki.” Mina says, frustrated.
“I know how to cross the borders.”
“What? How?”
Sana inhales sharply. “Later tonight, they will open the same portion of the fence. And that’ll be your last chance to cross. I’ll make sure you guys make it this time.”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘you guys’? Aren’t you—”
“I can’t, Mina.” Sana says sharply, as sharp as the pain in her chest. “You’d have to go without me.”
Mina laughs and looks at her incredulously. “Are you insane? Do you think I’ll let that happen?” She removes Sana’s hand away from her. “Have you gone completely mad?”
“How many times do I have to repeat myself?” Sana sighs. “I can’t do it, Mina. I just… can’t. The only way to do it is without me.”
“And you’re asking me to do this because you think I couldn’t care less about you?” Mina scoffs. “Yes, I may be a selfish brat but I wouldn’t leave my friends. I won’t, especially not after everything. I’ve already lost two of my friends today. I’m not losing you also.”
“Mina, it’s the only way.” Sana places her hands on Mina’s shoulders and looks her straight in the eye. She tries to suppress her tears but her eyes are red around the rim. “Remember the phone call a while ago? It was the governor. You know all about the deal.”
“What?” Mina asks, breathless.
“I talked to the governor and we had a deal. That phone call you recorded was a way for me to blackmail him and to convince him to let you guys go.”
“But what about you?” At this point, Mina’s tears are already falling down her cheeks before she can realize.
“I’ll be fine, Mina.” Sana wipes Mina’s tears away and smiles sadly. “Like you, I can’t lose anymore friends today. I already lost my oldest friend and the love of my life. If losing myself means saving you guys, then I’d gladly do it.”
Leaving was never easy. The familiar faces, the cozy coffee shops, and the comforting routine were like anchors, tethering her to the past. Saying goodbye meant leaving behind friends who had become family, and the bittersweet realization that some of those relationships might never be the same again.
Her heart aches as she thinks about her friends, who had watched her grow into the person she had become. The thought of leaving them, of not being there for Sunday dinners or late-night chats, brings tears to her eyes. Yet, she knows deep down that they would understand.
“Besides, you can’t make me change my mind. Nothing can. Without Dahyun, I am nothing,” Sana says. “So please, let me do this. We shouldn’t waste Nayeon and Dahyun’s sacrifices.”
“But what you’re asking is too much!”
“Losing everybody would be too much.” Sana chose Mina to do this not because she’s selfish, no she’s not. She chose her because out of everyone, Mina would understand her best, logically. Mina would be the only person who’s able to separate her emotions from logic.
“Momo won’t forgive me. You don’t understand.” Mina purses her lips and shakes her head. “She… she’s special to me, Sana. I can’t lose her. We agreed we’ll start all over again. She won’t forgive me if I let this happen. She won’t. I’ll lose her. I can’t.”
“She’ll understand.” Sana tries to calm Mina. “It’ll take time, yes. But she will eventually. Besides, you’re special to her too. I can see it.”
Mina’s eyes sparkle at the way Sana reassures her that she is also special to Momo.
Sana knew what Mina meant to Momo. She can easily see it by the way the girl looks at Mina and the way Momo lights up whenever Mina’s name was brought up. It doesn’t take a genius to know that Momo sees Mina as more than just her friend even through their bantering.
Sana smiles at the thought that her friends will be free after tonight. She smiles knowing that they will have more friends and more happy memories even though that does not include her anymore.
What will make her heart at ease the most is the thought that they’re saved from whatever cruelty life has to offer after their procedure. Poverty. Torture. The matching. The procedure itself. They’ll be spared once they crossed the borders, and it’s enough for Sana. It’s more than enough.
“I’ll give you these instead.” Sana gives her a box full of thousand paper cranes. “They said if you make a wish on a thousand paper cranes, it’ll come true. Mine didn’t. But maybe yours will.”
“Sana this is too much.” Mina hesitantly accepts the box.
“It’s gonna be okay.” Sana whispers, her cheeks against Mina’s. Tightly, she doesn't let go of the other girl. “Tell everyone I’m sorry it had to be like this.”
“I’m sorry it had to be like this, Sana.” Mina returns the hug just as tight.
They cry a little bit more until they decide it’s time to let each other go.
Looking back, Sana would like to ask herself if she gave up too easily. Was this really the only way for them to live freely? What if they could’ve found another way?
But Sana’s too tired to find another way because that would mean more risks, meaning there’s a possibility of more heartbreaks. Her mind, body, soul, and heart can’t handle more of that. She’s just a human.
Dahyun. Dahyun’s the only person that could mend her. But she’s gone, and she literally pushed Sana away. How could Sana live in a world where she’s not with the love of her life?
Sana made a lot of mistakes in her life. Her mother made sure she’s aware of that. So maybe at least for once she’s doing the right thing.
“Where is Sana?” Momo asks impatiently, looking at her watch.
It’s almost 10pm now and still, Sana hasn’t arrived yet. They have been waiting for her at the cliff a while ago, but they figured they’ll wait at the fence instead since that’s what Sana said. But they have been waiting for hours and still, there is no Sana.
“We should go,” Jihyo says in horror as she sees an armored van approaching the fence.
“But what the about Sana?” Momo pulls a scared Jihyo, ready to throw in a punch to wake her up and make her realize that’s a foolish suggestion.
Before Momo can do it, Mina’s already between them. Momo calms down for a bit when she sees Mina’s eyes b with this unexplainable feeling that makes her piping temper tranquil.
“Do you trust me, Momo?”
She blinks for a second. Mina holds Momo’s shaking fist and puts it down. They share an intimate moment wherein Mina already knows the answer just by Momo’s stares.
A gunshot makes everyone jump and quiver in fear. Mina asks again in a shaky voice. “Do you trust me, Momo?”
Momo stares at her, as if she’s asking a silly question but immediately answers when they hear another gunshot. “Yes,” she says but it’s muffled by Chaeyoung’s scream. “Yes. Yes! I trust you.”
“Will you climb the fence with me knowing that Sana will follow us later?”
“How can I—”
“Momo there’s no time for ing arguments,” Jeongyeon snaps at her. “We have to go. Now!”
“Okay… okay!” Momo pulls everyone together. “Let’s go.”
She really doesn’t want to leave. Momo has this inkling feeling they’re doing the wrong thing and that they should wait for her best friend. But they can’t because they have the ing army, an armored van, and probably regulators on their asses right now.
When they arrive in front of the fence they’re going to climb, everybody pauses for a moment, unsure if it’s really safe to climb. Unsure if they really turned off the power.
Without breathing, Momo tries touching the fence to make sure. She laughs and looks at her hand when she wasn’t electrocuted to death. Relief washes all over her.
“Go, go! We have no time.” Jeongyeon climbs first and helps Chaeyoung and Tzuyu up.
There is a lot of screaming from both parties. And a lot of warning shots. Miraculously, no one’s been shot yet and they want to keep it like that.
Momo climbs up last, still wanting to wait for Sana. “ it,” she says when the van was almost half a kilometer away from them.
There’s still a faint hope in her that Sana would catch up right now with them. For the last time, Momo looks back at the town she lived in, not knowing it’ll be the last time she sees it. The last memory she has of it is a van chasing them and guns everywhere.
“She’s coming, right?” Momo asks Mina as soon as she climbs down from the other side of the fence.
“Of course,” the other says but Momo detects hesitation in her voice.
“What?” Momo shakes the other girl aggressively
“Nothing.”
“Let’s go!” Jihyo pulls both of them luckily just before a bullet hits one of them.
They run into the unknown.
They run as if their lives depend on it because it does.
They run and run until they lose track of days and until they've eaten all their food.
They run without Nayeon, Dahyun, and Sana.
They run like how Mina avoided the question: ‘Will you forgive me if you knew I’m lying right now?’
Because there is no Sana.
By the time they get to safety, there will be no Sana anymore.
Nobody knows how long they have been running. All they know is they run and they run even though they can’t catch their breath anymore, afraid that if they stop, the regulators would instead catch up to them.
They’re running low on water, and they’ve eaten all their food already despite rationing it carefully throughout the days. Everyone’s lungs are burning and their throat feels like the Sahara desert. It’s so dry they could feel it physically around their neck, and their lips feel like it’ll peel off anytime now, but they have to save their water.
Their stomachs growl like a wild animal and from time to time, when they pass by a tree, they would climb to pick fruits, peel off their barks and eat them just to survive.
At night, they huddle around each other for warmth because they’re afraid if they start a fire, the roaming helicopters they try so hard to avoid will find them through smoke.
Last time they counted, it had been five days since they crossed the borders. They lost count after that and it has been days, and they still haven’t found the community Nayeon and Suzy talked about. They’re starting to think the community doesn’t exist at all and that they have been fooled. The trust they have on them is starting to fade. And their friendship is starting to crumble. Last time, Momo almost punched Jeongyeon for drinking too much water. If Jihyo hadn’t intervened, there would’ve been a fight between them.
It’s Chaeyoung who stops first, punching her suffocating lungs to make it work better. “Where is, Sana?” Chae asks. She starts crying and she’s surprised she still has enough water in her body to produce tears. “It’s been days.” She sobs. “I still don’t see her.” She says innocently.
“It’s okay, Chae. Breathe.” Mina walks towards her and caresses her back, urging her to breathe properly. “She’s coming.”
Mina’s still holding on to a box she refuses to tell everybody about.
“You’ve been saying that for ing days, and she’s still not here. What the Myoui?”
“She…” Mina says quietly and looks down.
“She what, Myoui?” Momo asks.
“She’s not coming,” Mina cries. She says it so fast Momo doesn’t have time to process what she says.
“What the did you just say?” Momo looks at her incredulously.
“Don’t make me say it again, Momo.” Mina looks at her, her eyes gleaming with tears.
“What do you mean she’s not coming?” Momo glares. “And what the is this even?” Momo slaps Mina’s wrists, making the box in her hands fall.
On the ground, Sana’s thousand paper cranes scatter as well as the fragments of their broken friendship.
Momo freezes for a second. And then, she presses the heels of her hands on her eyes, wanting to gouge it out. She screams her best friend's name and weeps.
She doesn’t know which of her friends join her cries. All she knows is that there are a lot of tears and more screaming involved. Even Tzuyu, who’s the quietest and most reserved of them, joins her. Even Mina who’s the root cause of it all joins her.
Her trembling body could no longer support herself. It takes all of her energy to walk towards a tree and lean her back on it. If there is any limit to a person’s tears, she doesn’t know. If there are still tears running down her face or if her tear ducts stopped, she doesn’t know. But her heart doesn’t stop aching. For every beat, the pain multiplies.
What is the point of having a heart if it’s too broken to function?
Mina kneels in front of her. “I–I’m sorry Momo.”
Everything goes black. The next thing, her knuckles are red and Mina’s nose is bleeding. Suddenly she’s on top of her, ready to throw in another punch on Mina’s face. She’s gonna kill her. She’s out of her mind and she’s certain she’s gonna kill the person that took her best friend away.
Sana deserved better. She was supposed to be with them as well as Nayeon and Dahyun. It was an easy plan. Meet at the cliff. And before midnight, climb the fence and journey to the wilds where they can all live freely.
But Nayeon for certain is being tortured in the crypts. Dahyun had her procedure and is now on the way to the US. And only God knows where Sana is or whatever the is happening to her right now.
Jihyo tackles her to the ground. Momo tries to get up, but the other girl pushes her. “The are you standing there for, Yoo?” she says as she struggles to keep Momo away from Mina, weighing her down.
It’s only then that Jeongyeon fully realizes what’s happening in front of her eyes. She wipes her tears away and hugs a very angry and violent Momo. “It’s okay, Momo.” Jeongyeon whispers as Momo tries to claw her way out of their clutch. “It’s gonna be okay.” She takes in all of Momo’s punches and scratches.
“It’s not.” Momo finally gives up and falls on Jihyo and Jeongyeon’s arms. For days, they have been running in the wilds lost, hungry, dehydrated, sleepless, and in so much pain she finally reached the limit of her energy. “It’s not okay, Jeongyeon.” She wails. Momo’s snot and saliva drools on Jeongyeon’s dirty shirt and the other girl just lets her.
“Just calm down, Momo. Breathe.” Jihyo her back gently. She might appear like she got her together right now, but Momo knows her better than that. Momo knows that Jihyo is close to breaking down too and that she’s just trying her best not to because somebody has to stay strong and keep them all from falling apart. But it’s useless because everything is crumbling down despite Jihyo’s efforts to act like it isn’t. “We’ll figure this out together. We always do, right?”
Before Nayeon, Mina, Chaeyoung, Dahyun, and Tzuyu came into their lives, they always figured things out together. They’re tight knit like that. When one needs help, the others do not hesitate to do so. Life is a little too harsh to them. And they learned to live life through each other.
Jeongyeon lost their wealth, but their friendship became her treasure. Momo lost her sister to the procedure, but they replaced Hana as her family. Sana lost a father and her mother doesn’t care about her, but she found family in them. Jihyo’s sisters view them as real sisters. And when Jihyo gets tired of acting like an adult, she heals her inner child with them.
And then the other four came along with Nayeon and life became twice as easy.
Nayeon taught them a lot of things about life. Mina never failed to give what they needed. Dahyun added calmness to their chaos. Chaeyoung added a of color to them. And Tzuyu added pureness.
But their friendship, it seems, is ending as fast as it began.
There is no Nayeon to ask for wise advice.
There is no Dahyun to keep peace and harmony amongst each other.
There is no Sana to turn to when they need warmth.
Mina broke Momo’s trust, and Jihyo and Jeongyeon still don’t know how to feel about what she did.
Chaeyoung and Tzuyu still got each other, but at what cost?
Jihyo and Jeongyeon don't let go of Momo in her most vulnerable state. They cry while holding each other, thinking of Nayeon, Sana, and Dahyun.
Chaeyoung and Tzuyu help a weeping Mina back to her feet. Chaeyoung hugs her while Tzuyu presses the hem of her sleeves on Mina’s nose to stop the bleeding. They, too, hold each other while they cry and think of Nayeon, Sana, and Dahyun.
Mina inhales deeply and removes Chaeyoung and Tzuyu’s arms around her. Carefully, she approaches Jihyo and Jeongyeon, tapping their shoulders to ask for Momo. Her trembling hands meet Momo’s cheeks, and Momo doesn’t have the energy to fight her anymore.
“I’m so sorry for breaking your heart like this.” Mina sobs. “But it’s the only way to save everyone, Momo.” She wraps her thinning arms around Momo’s small frame. And she cries more. She tightens her hug because she knows deep inside her that it will be the last time she’ll be able to hug Momo. And she’s slowly accepting the fact that Momo might not forgive her. Ever.
Momo ripping her arms away from her feels like Momo ripping her heart from her chest.
Her eyes, the same set of eyes that made her feel safe, threatens the life out of Mina and Mina feels fear creeping in. It’s filled with so much hatred she almost doesn’t recognize it.
How can a lovely person turn into a villain when they’re hurt?
Maybe distance and time will make them both heal from this. Maybe, one day when they finally leave all this behind, Momo will look at her and her eyes will once again be filled with comfort and it will all be alright.
“I ing hate you until my last breath.” Momo pushes Mina to the ground.
Or not.
Who knew friendship can build your life and ruin your life in most unimaginable ways?
Sana drags her right leg like there’s a stone weighing it down with hunched posture and a drooping head. Her right foot still hurts and she didn’t get any first aid on it when she slipped, trying to catch Dahyun. The floor feels cold against her bare feet and she can feel a thousand pairs of eyes piercing at her like a dagger.
The regulator's hands feel like ice against her burning skin from fever as well as the handcuff around both her hands. Her forehead feels sticky from all of the dried up blood she didn’t have time to clean up. She limps towards the operating table, hoping that miraculously, somebody would come save her from the procedure. Anybody. Her friends. Suzy. Somebody on their side. Anybody.
She stops for a second, looking back at the door where she just came from. Hoping somebody would open it and stop everything. But there was nobody.
The thin hospital gown wasn’t enough to ease the overwhelming cold she’s experiencing. Whether it’s from the air conditioning she wasn’t used to or her fever sending her chills all over her body, she doesn’t know. All she knows is she needs and wants her friends right now to save her. She wishes that somehow, miraculously, Mina got help and they’re on their way to save her right now. Because things aren’t as scary when you have your friends around.
She lied to Mina about not wanting to cross the borders with them. Her mind changed. Somehow, deep inside her, she wishes to wait for Dahyun on the other side, wait for her patiently with her thousand origami paper cranes and a field of thousand flowers she carefully planted and took care of just for her.
But that’s impossible because by now, they would be crossing the borders without her. So she hopes instead that they are safe and the governor didn’t pull anything that would endanger them.
A regulator pushes her, making her stumble over. She welcomes the cold floor like it’s heaven and she doesn’t want to get up even though a couple of men have been trying to get her to stand up. She looks at the gallery and sees the governor shaking his head.
When their eyes meet, the governor shakes a radio, mentally saying to her that he’ll capture her friends if she doesn’t do this. So she stands up immediately, almost falling again, but a regulator catches her and pushes her towards the operating table.
She limps towards the table, whimpering at the sight of it. Tears start to form around her eyes. She wonders if this was what Dahyun felt too and cries. Poor Dahyun. Her poor Dahyunnie must’ve been so scared and she wasn’t even there to save her.
She failed to save Nayeon and Dahyun and she won't be able to forgive herself for that. She will forever resent herself for not being able to do something for Nayeon and Dahyun.
“Lay down,” A regulator pushes her again on the table, making her right foot bump on it. She wails in pain and she couldn’t move for an entire minute. The discoloration on her right ankle doesn’t look good either, turning violet. It must’ve been dislocated by the looks of it.
She sees a doctor preparing a syringe by the anesthesia workstation. The nurse takes her hand with a bit of force and puts on an intravenous injection. Sana’s hands are shaking so it’s a bit hard for the nurse to inject it, but after a couple of minutes, she was able to.
Sharply, she inhales as she feels a cold liquid travel through her insides. She arches her back because of the pain and holds on to the sides of the table to stabilize herself, knuckles turning white. Was it supposed to hurt like this? She doesn’t know, but it feels like a cold needle and lightning bolts traveling through her veins. She screams in pain, not knowing what to do.
And then, another doctor puts on a valve-like structure with three-prongs, almost like a plug, at the back of her left ear like it was a socket. The regulators and the governor just watch her scream again and again, begging for her life. But she wanted this, right? If this is the way to save her friends, she wants this, right? So she tries to calm herself, but the pain doesn’t stop. It feels like it only extends from there and it infinitely multiplies.
She can hear machines beeping both slowly and rapidly. The world starts spinning again.
Suddenly, the speaker booms and Sana doesn’t know if she’s being delirious or not but a familiar tune starts coming out of it. The soothing hum of Nayeon calms her down as well as the soft piano and guitar Dahyun’s playing.
“What’s that?” A regulator asks, alarmed, drawing his gun.
“Stop it. I said stop it!” The doctor shouts at the regulator who immediately nods and obeys.
This is for you.
Sana smirks. It must’ve been Mina. This must’ve been her way of saying her farewell and saying thanks.
Nobody aside from Suzy has heard of the song before and Sana feels so, so privileged to be listening to it by heart.
The song continues playing.
You’re my dream.
Sana laughs when she hears Mina singing the first part of the song. Who knew Mina, the always agitated Mina, had such a soft voice? The regulators look at her, surprised. “You.” A regulator pushes her again. “What do you know about this?”
Sana screams in pain as the regulator squeezes her right foot. “I don’t know anything!” She begs.
“Stop the song while we continue her procedure.” The governor says through the intercom.
The procedure continues as planned, Sana’s slowly losing her consciousness but she fights through it just to hear the song they all wrote. She hears the doctor shouting random orders at the nurse, at the regulators, telling everybody to stop the song but it still continues.
“We can’t find the source of it.” A regulator flies open the door.
“Find it. I don’t care what you do, just find it and stop it.” The governor shouts at him and he scrams away.
Even if it’s a dream, I like it
Tomorrow, I’ll be there
Tomorrow, Sana won’t be there but the memories will stay.
Even if you’re not
That’s okay, I’ll remember you
And her friends will be there to immortalize what they have.
Little by little
Our memories piled up
I will always keep them
As they were
Their memories, fun memories together, will always be remembered with a soft heart even when Sana’s heart turns cold. Even when this would be the last time she would be remembering them with fondness.
With my eyes only
I know it won’t pass onto you
So I’ll give back your heart
One by one
Like a bouquet of flowers, Sana will give back all the hardships and sacrifices they made for her. For understanding. For living life the way Sana couldn’t. For caring. And For loving.
It’s only a small gift
Can you accept me like that?
A small word I had in my mind
It may not be enough to thank them like this, but it’s all what Sana can give and she hopes it’s enough. In the future, who knows, maybe they’ll meet again one day and she will be able to thank them properly for all the memories they shared together.
This won’t be the end. Like her thousand origami paper cranes, she will keep all their memories inside a box and put them away where they’re safe and sound.
You said it’s thanks to me
You said I was everything
The words that hugged me again
For you
It’s thanks to them Sana had a purpose. She had a purpose to save her friends so they would be able to live life freely from the hands of the government, the regulators, and the procedure.
She can feel their hugs and Sana feels warm from all their smiles albeit it’s only a memory. A daydream too strong she can almost feel it like they’re tangible and there to cheer her up and guide her through the procedure.
Sana inhales, ready for whatever the regulators, doctors, and nurses have for her.
I promise, I’ll keep it
So we won’t disappear
Those memories won’t disappear. For something so precious, it’s impossible to be completely gone. As long as Sana’s breathing it won’t be gone.
This is for you.
After all, this is for them.
The song finishes. She remembers the fearful screams they shared when they finished recording it and realizes they feared for absolutely nothing. It was a masterpiece, and Sana can’t wait for them to listen to it.
She’s so grateful she got to listen to it and connect with her friends one last time like this. She silently thanks Mina for this opportunity and wishes them all well.
For the last time, Sana recalls all their smiles one by one as well as their contagious laughs. She can’t help but grin to herself while tears fall down on her face.
“Are you done?” The governor says through the intercom. “Finish what you started, Minatozaki.”
The doctors nod at each other, signaling for them to continue the procedure. Their aura seems intimidating, especially when pissed, but nothing can scare Sana anymore. Not even the grueling procedure and the pain that comes with it.
“Count backwards from ten for me, please.” The doctor approaches the table and inserts something on Sana’s IV.
“Ten,” Sana starts counting.
Memories of happier times flashed before her eyes like faded photographs. She remembered the warmth of a loving embrace, the sound of laughter that once filled her home, and the promise of a future that now seemed impossibly distant. It was the absence of these moments, the emptiness they left behind, that fueled the ache in her soul.The image of her friends starts playing in her mind.
“Nine.”
Nayeon smiles at her, telling her it’s gonna be okay.
“Eight.”
Jeongyeon laughs at her, but not the kind of laugh that she’s teasing. It’s a kind of soft laugh you share with someone you’re affectionate with.
“Seven.”
Momo hugs her tightly and Sana swears she can physically feel it.
“Six.”
Jihyo caresses her cheeks, reminding her that everything’s gonna be alright in the end.
“Five.”
Mina rolls her eyes at her, but gives her an affectionate gummy smile at the end.
“Four.”
Dahyun kisses her forehead and Sana closes her eyes, cherishing every moment of it.
Sana longed for a release from the suffocating grip of sadness, but it clung to her like a shadow, refusing to let go. It was a constant companion, whispering in her ear, reminding her of her pain, and pulling her deeper into its abyss.
She knew that sadness was a part of life, a natural response to loss and disappointment. But in that moment, it felt like an all-consuming force that threatened to swallow her whole. She closed her eyes, willing herself to find a glimmer of hope amidst the darkness, hoping that someday, somehow, the storm would pass, and the sun would shine again. But without Dahyun, there is no sun. She knows it won’t shine again on them.
“Three.”
Chaeyoung’s smiling, showing her drawing of Sana proudly. Sana still had that drawing in her drawer somewhere in her room.
“Two.”
Tzuyu’s giving her flowers, trying to cheer her up.
“One.”
Everything goes dark.
Coldness finds its way through her veins, and before it reaches her heart, she desperately grips her memories of Dahyun— like trying to hold water with her bare hands. The harder she tries holding on to those memories, the more they slip through her fingers.
She doesn’t let go until an iceberg of her past forms underneath her.
I don't want to forget.
Blurred faces smile at her and pull her into a hug. For some reason she feels safe around them.
I can't remember.
Sana gasps, desperate for air. She sees a girl standing shyly in front of her.
I don't want to forget.
The other girl's silence intensifies her loud heartbeat. She looks so familiar, like she's someone important to her.
The distance between them grows and her face starts to clear up at the same time as Sana's memory.
Sana hates herself. How could she forget someone so dearly? How could she forget the love of her life?
In the deepest recesses of her heart, there was a hollow space reserved for someone she had once held dear, but who had slipped through the cracks of her memory. It was as if a cherished chapter of her life had been torn from the book of her existence, leaving behind a void that nothing could fill.
At first, the forgetting had been gradual, like the fading of an old photograph. The details of their shared moments, the sound of their laughter, and the warmth of their presence had grown faint, like distant echoes in a vast, empty canyon. She tried desperately to hold onto the threads of their connection, but they slipped through her fingers, one by one, until there was nothing left but a tattered tapestry of what once was.
She couldn't explain the hows and whys of it all. How could someone so important, so intertwined with the very fabric of her being, simply vanish from her heart? It was a cruel twist of fate, an act of forgetting that felt like a betrayal of the heart.
I don't want to forget.
A tear falls off her cheeks. She reaches for Dahyun and Dahyun reaches out for her.
The pain of not remembering her feelings was a constant ache, a gnawing sensation in the depths of her soul. It was as if a part of her had been amputated, leaving behind a phantom limb that she could still feel, even though it was no longer there.
She longs to recapture those lost memories, to breathe life back into the fading embers of their shared history. But the harder she tries to remember, the more elusive the feelings become, slipping further away like grains of sand in the wind.
An inch.
A centimeter.
A millimeter.
Sana fails to hold her hand.
Dahyun smiles sadly.
“I love you, Sana”
I can't remember.
An iceberg starts to form underneath her
I can't remember.
The coldness slowly rises through her body.
I don't want to forget.
A memory flashes before her.
"I love you, Sana."
An icicle pierces her heart, breaking everything. Breaking her.
“I love you, Sana.”
I hate her.
In the quiet corners of her mind, there exists a labyrinth of forgotten memories and feelings, like dusty books hidden away in a long-neglected library. It was as if time had cast a veil over the past, obscuring the once-vivid moments that had shaped his life. Faces, places, and emotions had all blurred together, and she found herself lost in the fog of forgetfulness.
Some of the feelings and memories she had lost were insignificant, inconsequential fragments of the past. But others were precious, moments of joy, love, and heartache that had defined who she was. It was the pain of forgetting these moments that cut deepest, leaving an ache in her heart that she couldn't quite explain.
Yet, amidst the frustration and sadness that came with forgetting these feelings, there was also a strange sense of liberation. In letting go of the past, she found the freedom to create a new narrative, to paint her life with fresh colors and bold . It was a reminder that, in the end, the act of remembering and forgetting was a delicate dance, a balancing act between holding on and letting go, between the weight of the past and the promise of the future. A future her mother and she had long envisioned with the governor’s son. Not Kim Dahyun.
She hates her.
Thus with her lover’s words, her heart ceases to be.
In another life, they would’ve crossed together.
It’s broad daylight and they just climbed the twenty-foot tall fence like it was nothing.
Jihyo puts both her hands in her pocket and inhales deeply, admiring the view. She looks at Sana and gives her a smile that tells her this is it. This is the freedom they’ve all been wanting for. Jeongyeon steps closer to Sana. And Momo engulfs them in a hug, jumping up and down. Sana lets out a laugh and jumps together.
Dahyun looks at them fondly and joins in. It doesn’t take long for Chaeyoung and Tzuyu to follow and eventually Nayeon. Everyone looks at Mina, waiting, she rolls her eyes first before squeezing and giving in, her gummy smile covered by her friends’ arms. Jihyo ruffles their hair one by one with a huge grin.
“Race ya!” Momo pushes everyone out and starts running.
“Momo, we have to conserve our energy.” Jihyo warns her but still sprints, letting her competitive nature take over.
“Who cares?” Jeongyeon walks backward, looking at everyone. “Nobody can tell us how to live our lives now.” She holds Nayeon’s hand and dash with her.
“We’re free now.” Chaeyoung giggles and pulls Tzuyu, bolting together.
“When will your friends get mature, Minatozaki?” Mina folds her arms.
“The one who loses will harvest fruits until we find the community!” Momo adds.
Dahyun drags Sana to catch up with their friends, afraid of the consequences. Sana almost trips. The other girl grabs her just before she falls. They laugh at each other, not slowing down their pace and almost overtaking Chaeyoung and Tzuyu.
“I hate you, Momo!” Mina runs as fast as she can.
Everyone laughs.
This time, the grass is greener on their side.
The sky is clear and there are no more storms.
The sun is bright as the future that lies ahead of them.
They’re happy.
They’re really happy.
It’s what Sana, the Sana they all know, would have wanted, but when she looks back, everything’s pitch black.
And she has never been more alone.
STOOOOOOP
I can still change this. YOU can still change this. since i have two endings in mind, both happy and sad, help me decide the ending by voting on this poll i created!! the poll will be running for one month. thank u so much for your help
comments and kudos are appreciated
Comments