I Love You So ✓ Squid Game

004. the end of the world

When Aera finally met up with Sae-byeok at the lemon tree before school, the two of them would begin cycling, the roads were usually quiet, so they had the whole path to themselves, it felt like true freedom.

They continued this up until the age of fifteen. That was when Aera grew distant, she would be hesitant whenever Sae-byeok asked what was wrong, feeling sensitive about the topic, she would change it hastily, making Sae-byeok even more concerned.

The path Sae-byeok grew to stick by, began to rumble.

"I don't get it . . .you've changed." Sae-byeok had blotchy red cheeks, ones that were warm from crying, she swallowed thickly and kept her eyes on Aera. "What happened? Did I do something wrong?"

"I told you, nothing's changed. Nothings happened, nothing is going to happen- Let's just go to school, we're going to be late," kicking at her pedal, Aera gripped her bicycle handles tightly and rode onwards, "let's continue this talk tomorrow," she yelled from the distance, her tone wavering.

But, there was no 'tomorrow.' The talk never happened, because Aera left Seoul to God knows where the very next day, with no notice, no text, no email, no nothing.

For the past few years, Sae-byeok was haunted by the ghostly presence of Aera, no matter how hard she tried to forget about her, she only thought of her more.

What was the point of holding on to the past anyways, it wasn't like Aera remembered her.

"Hey, hey, hey! Open the door, you jerks!" Bang, bang, bang went Mi-nyeo's palm on one of the exit's door- this pulled Sae-byeok away from her pool of thoughts, it stopped her from drowning in them. At the racket, you could hear the players in the room, groan in exasperation.

"Oh! Finally I found you," appearing from behind a wall, Aera felt 067 jolt against her arm when she whispered harshly next to her, thus breaking 067's train of thoughts.

"What do you want," throwing her head back with a well concealed eye roll, the hard glare that 067 held never left her face.

"How did you know I hated fried egg? Thank you for taking it, when I saw it in the tin they gave us I never panicked so much before in my life," trying to make the silence between them lighthearted, Aera chuckled nervously.

"From the way your face turned sour, anyone would've eaten it for you, I was just doing them a favour," fixating her eyes on one of the exits, 067's face stayed emotionless, her arms were crossed tightly as she leant back on the wall, her jaw clenched.

Fiddling with the hem of her jacket, "right . . ." she rubbed at her cheek as an unsteady smile tugged at Aera's lips, "well, why are you up? Other than the fact that Mi-nyeo is keeping everyone up, of course." She asked slowly, not knowing where the conversation was going.

I'm asking you the same thing. Simply shrugging and leaning on her other foot, "I just am," agitation began to course through 067's veins.

Gulping, Aera sighed heavily. Nodding to herself, a little too much, the silence between them was almost unbearable, it made Aera's muscles twitch, if it were a balloon, she would've burst it with a needle in a heartbeat. Small-talk was definitely one of her pet peeves. "If you're wondering why I'm sleeping, I can answer that, I know you're dying to know. Um," clearing her throat, "well Mi-nyeo tore my pillow apart, and I don't have a pillow now. I will get that bitch back though, I will," she wrinkled her nose.