María was glad to be outside. The sun felt so good on her face. She turned to Wheein, who was sitting on the bench next to her, and gave her the slightest smile. Hwasa sat on the other side of Wheein, though of course she couldn’t see her.

 

“Thanks for visiting me again, Wheein-ah,” María said. “You really didn’t have to.” 

 

Wheein grabbed María’s hand. 

 

“Are you kidding? I wanted to visit sooner, but they told me it wasn’t a good time. I’ve been waiting every day.” She squeezed María’s hand. “Are you okay?” She looked around before leaning in closely. “Do they treat you well here?” 

 

“I’m fine,” María said. What really counted as fine in a hospital though? “And everyone is nice. I like the new doctor, Dr. Kim, a lot.” 

 

“That’s great!” Wheein said. “You seem better from just a few days ago. Maybe soon you can come home.” 

 

María’s smile faltered. Even if she could leave, what was waiting for her at home? Did she even have a home still? She doubted her father would let her anywhere near their house. 

 

“And by home, I mean my place in Seoul!” Wheein quickly said. “I didn’t get to tell you last time, but I have a small apartment here. It’s not anything amazing, but I like it. It’s nice to be somewhere so busy. I think you’d like it too.” 

 

María tried to imagine herself living in the middle of a major city, but she really couldn’t. She could only remember home and here. 

 

“It sounds nice,” she said. 

 

“You’ll get there,” Hwasa said encouragingly. 

 

María glared at her sister. 

 

“Be hopeful, María-ya. You can still live your life, you know. Go to school, make friends, all of that.” 

 

“And what would I tell them I was up to for the last three years?” She asked Hwasa. “Oh, hi, my name is María and I was locked away for killing my sister for three years but now I’m here! Want to get a drink sometime?” 

 

Hwasa rolled her eyes. 

 

“What are you talking about?” Wheein’s face interrupted María’s view of Hwasa. 

 

“Oh, um…” She didn’t want to tell Wheein she was talking to her sister’s ghost. “I was just thinking out loud. It’d be cool to live with you, but what would I even do? I didn’t even finish high school…” 

 

“Don’t worry about that!” Wheein said. “We’ll figure it all out. I promise.” 

 

Before they could talk about a future María was certain she’d never have any further, Moonbyul appeared with three juice boxes in hand. 

 

“Hello,” she said to Wheein with a bow. “I’m Moonbyul.” 

 

María moved over to make room for Moonbyul on the bench, which was becoming crowded. Wheein looked confused as to why Moonbyul didn’t just sit where there was a bunch of open space, and Hwasa just laughed. 

 

“I can move, you know.” She stayed seated though. 

 

“Too late,” María muttered as Moonbyul squeezed herself next to María on the bench. 

 

The two of them watched as Wheein inched closer to Hwasa. The natural thing to do would have been to slide down and sit where Hwasa was, but for some reason Wheein didn’t. María wondered if she felt her there too. 

 

“Moonbyul-shi is my roommate,” María quickly said as they passed the juice boxes around. 

 

Wheein nodded her head toward Moonbyul. “I’m Wheein, nice to meet you.” 

 

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Moonbyul said. She took a sip of her juice. “María-ya has dreams about you guys as kids.”

 

Wheein’s face lit up. “Really? Like what?” 

 

María blushed and slapped Moonbyul. 

 

“Come on!” Wheein begged. “Tell me? I have dreams about you, too, you know. Like when we were at school, passing notes back and forth about the toilet paper stuck in the back of our maths teacher’s pants.”

 

María couldn’t help but laugh at that. She remembered it so clearly. When he asked why the class was giggling, nobody was brave enough to tell him. She still wondered when and how he found out.

 

“I dream about us playing soccer, you drawing with the chalk around the village… Stuff like that.” 

 

Wheein grinned. “You know I’m an arts major now?” 

 

María couldn’t help but laugh––again. Wheein was magical. 

 

“It fits you perfectly!” 

 

“You should both come to my school soon,” she said. “Some of my art is going in the student gallery at the end of the semester.” 

 

María imagined a world where they went to see Wheein’s art and praised her, taking endless pictures of her next to her art until her demeanor went from shy to proud. 

 

“That sounds great,” Moonbyul said. “Which school do you go to?” 

 

María happily listened to Moonbyul and Wheein talk, learning more about both of them as she did. How Wheein moved to Seoul to find María––she chose this school based on where she thought she had the best chance of finding her friend. Moonbyul was a part-timer at a café, but also a choreographer before Sunmi derailed her life, and she wanted to pick it back up when she got out. 

 

With her friends imagining lives on the outside, it was hard for her not to think about it too. But she couldn’t imagine a single thing. She had never bothered to since Hwasa’s death… What kind of future was there without her? She’d thought her entire future was at this hospital. If Wheein was right, if she could someday leave… What did she want to do? Who did she want to be?

 

“You know, I’m really happy you have each other,” Wheein said to María and Moonbyul. “You seem like good friends, and I hope you will be for a long time.”

 

“Far from here!” Moonbyul said, raising her juice box. 

 

Wheein raised hers “Yes! In a brighter, happier future!” 

 

María kept hers down, unsure of what to add. 

 

“Just raise it. You don’t have to say anything,” Hwasa encouraged her. 

 

María did as her sister said, and was rewarded with smiles from her friends. They clanked them together and drank until they were empty. 

 

María breathed in the sweet air. Spring was blooming around them. And for the first time in years, she felt something like hope blooming within her. It felt wrong, she felt undeserving, but she couldn’t stop the feeling. 

 

“Well, I better get going. Walk me to the gate?” Wheein asked María, reaching for her hand. “It was lovely talking with you, Moonbyul-shi. Please take good care of María-ya.” She bowed. 

 

“I will,” Moonbyul promised. 

 

She watched as María looped her arm through Wheein’s and they walked down the pathway toward the gate. Flowers were in bloom all around them, cherry blossom petals beginning to fall on the walkway.

 

She turned to Hwasa. 

 

“She’s really nice.” 

 

“I love Wheein-ah,” she said. “I’m so glad she found María.” 

 

“Me too,” Moonbyul said. “I better get inside. Are you going to wait for María?”

 

Hwasa shrugged. “I can find her pretty easily,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll walk with you.” 

 

The girls walked back into the hospital and were about to go to Moonbyul and María’s room when they heard a bit of a commotion. 

 

They turned to see a middle-aged woman being wheeled into the hospital by two nurses. One was comforting her as they moved toward the in-take desk. 

 

“You’ll be happy here, dear,” the nurse said. “I’m sorry you had to leave your previous hospital, but we’re far better,” she said with a wink. 

 

Moonbyul was about to head on her way––it was just another patient joining them––but then she saw Hwasa’s face. If a ghost could look pallid, well, she did. 

 

“What?” Moonbyul whispered. 

 

Hwasa was silent, still just staring. 

 

“What?” Moonbyul asked a bit louder. The nurses were too distracted to hear her. 

 

“That’s our mother,” Hwasa said. “María and I… That woman…” She pointed at the lady in the wheelchair. “Is our mother.”