Scripts (Purinz)

Script 22: Curtain call

Without a word, they both occupy two seats somewhere inside the auditorium. They were looking at the big and bright stage up front, and for a while, none of them were talking.

After a few seconds, she hears Karina let out a sigh, "So, how have you been doing?"

"Is this a trick question?" Chaewon asks suspiciously.

The taller girl laughs, maybe a little too loudly, "You are so weird, Chae. Why would I even ask you a trick question? I just wanted to know how you were doing... right after... you know."

It seems like Karina was just being a good friend to Chaewon at that moment. Maybe Chaewon got so used to the playful demeanor of the journalism club president that she forgot that Karina's actually a good friend to her.

Maybe they had been so busy with their own little clubs that she forgot how Karina used to always be there for her when she needed someone... when she needed Minju to come back and take her in her arms.

"Right after the..." Karina clears her throat as if trying to continue her sentence but refusing to do so.

"Yeah, I know. I get what you're trying to tell me." Chaewon takes this moment to look around and watch her club members run around the auditorium, holding random objects and props. "It's been rough, maybe... I'm not really sure what I'm feeling about everything at the moment, Rina."

The other girl hums. "I understand."

There was a short pause before Karina continued, "I heard from Minjeong that Yunjin's been doing alright."

That definitely caught Chaewon's attention, but she doesn't show it.

She very subtly showed her interest in the topic that Karina brought up. She looks back up Karina for less than a second long before turning away once more. "That's good to hear."

Karina sighs, "You know, being nonchalant about Yunjin isn't really your thing. It doesn't suit you." she chuckles at the end of her sentence.

"You used to always be so pissed off whenever you hear her name, but now..." Karina turns to look at Chaewon, and Chaewon does the same.

They meet eyes, and Karina continues, "Now you're quiet. Unable to let any reaction out. Not even a negative one. I hear nothing from you."

Chaewon scratches a specific part of her skin on her hand. It wasn't really itchy, but at that moment, it was. "Well... It's not like I can keep getting mad at her forever."

She fiddles with the tips of her fingers, caressing her own skin with her pointer and her thumb. She doesn't know what else to say...

"To be completely honest with you, I'm lost. I don't know what I'm currently feeling, I don't know what to do with what I'm currently feeling... but I know that this whole auditorium is different."

Karina chooses to listen as Chaewon shares her unfiltered thoughts and feelings.

"It's funny how Sieun was just asking me if there was something wrong. Nothing's wrong, it's just... suddenly everything in this auditorium feels so incomplete... like there's something missing."

Chaewon waits for Karina to respond and even asks her to elaborate on what she is saying, but instead, Karina asks her a question that catches her off guard.

"Do you still like Minju?"

It was something that she had never been asked before. Not even old friends have asked her that. So it was new. Chaewon's mind unconsciously knew what to respond with... but she, herself, was stopping her mouth from saying the right words.