Nothing changed, really. Only her perspective of him. In the end, that felt like everything.
It felt so odd knowing what she knew about Baek Kyung now. She knew what it felt like to sit beside him on a bench outside a hospital, to talk to him and be listened to by him, to fall into a silence with him that expected nothing.
They were strangers, after all. Despite having shared one proper conversation between them. Perhaps it was because of this weird connection that it had been so easy to say when she'd said, knowing that they knew nothing about each other and that that would probably be their last interaction.
In the end, Sixteen had felt a little light for having said all she'd said. Actually speaking the words to someone rather than them accumulating at the back of her mind and taking over her thoughts. It was like a kind of emotional discharge.
She thought that maybe it had helped Baek Kyung as well. Even his character didn't seem to have many people he talked to. She knew because she had been observing him lately, particularly in any scenes they happened to share. There he would be rude to Danoh, ignore the growing tension between his two friends, and coldly let girls who looked at him with heart eyes hang around like flies. He was, in short, a jerk.
Outside of the scene, it was like he was an entirely different person. With all the lines fed to them, Sixteen had started to consider the fact that deep down, many of the main characters were probably also very different to how they were forced to act. Baek Kyung, the one in between scenes, wouldn't quite apologise but if he'd hurt Danoh in any way in a scene, then he'd silently make up for it his own way. He had also started glaring a whole lot less at his classmates when he could help it. He still clearly found them annoying and loud but Sixteen was sure that deep down, he didn't mind the boisterousness and play.
At first, life had settled as normal as she had expected. Then Baek Kyung had run into her in the library after a scene and discovered her hiding place. Instead of leaving her be, he'd paused with an unreadable look on his face and asked her about the book she'd been flicking through. Then when she'd sat down in her spot, he'd followed her with a book of his own and sat across from her without a word.
She'd stared at him in confusion until he'd lifted his gaze to her challengingly and she'd timidly given up, just accepting that he'd do what he wanted to.
But then he was finding her again and again at the library, always sitting with her and sharing quiet moments. Soon he was somehow able to find her no matter where she was, whether it was in the library or somewhere in the aftermath of a scene. If he found her or just happened to be there, they'd walk together for lack of anything else to do. His company, for someone whose character seemed so volatile, was oddly nice. Peaceful, almost.
After a while, she stopped being confused and just accepted it, enjoying how nice it was to have someone to seek her out. Eventually, she was looking for him as well.
Sixteen had chalked it up to Baek Kyung not having people to talk like they seemed to be able to. From the beginning, she had sensed in him someone just as lonely as she was. Before, they had still felt lonely together, but it had been nice to be lonely with someone else. Now, Sixteen felt that instead of sharing loneliness, they lessened it in each other. It was funny how you could blink and then you were left to find how things had changed in that instant of distraction.
As things had developed, she was content. Content existing in the scenes and then catching moments with Kyung. Moments where he'd quietly spend time with her under the pretence that it was because he was sick of everyone else, or where he'd been so offended when she'd told him she didn't like reading that he'd immediately sat her down and read her his favourite books, determined to get her to admit he was right. In a way, he had been right. Sixteen found she liked reading a lot better when the words were in his voice, and she didn't have to squint at small writing. Especially in his voice.
Of course, she hadn't realised that others weren't so content.
It took her stepping into the school kitchens to find a snack Kyung had once offhandedly mentioned as being his favourite to find that there were a few more people than she'd realised who were self-aware.
Because there was Thirteen, there was the nicknamed Dried Squid Fairy and lurker of the kitchens, and there was Dohwa and there was Danoh. And between them all was a book, a small one with the title Secret written in large silver characters.
Oh.
"What... are you all doing?" Sixteen asked uncertainly. "Is that- what are you doing with the manhwa?"
Eun Danoh blinked in visible shock while Dohwa choked. The Dried Squid Fairy looked more tired than anything although he did stare at her rather apprehensively.
Thirteen just watched her without a hint of surprise, as placid as ever. Until he did something that was completely new.
"Sixteen," he said simply, and it simultaneously broke her heart and made her immensely happy.
"Thirteen," she breathed, face crumpling. She wanted to run over to him, pull him into a hug and ask him so many questions. The writer had finally given him a voice.
But then Danoh was looking between them, eyes narrowed.
"You're in our class, right? You're number sixteen? I didn't know you knew Haru."
And well. That was really the final piece, wasn't it?
"Haru?"
Sixteen looked down at Thirteen's nametag and found it... no longer blank.
"You... got a name. You're... not Thirteen anymore. Are you?" she asked warily.
Thirteen- Haru stood up, face conflicted.
"I-" but he cut himself off, clearly finding it as weird talking to her as she felt it was with him talking to her. He had a nice voice. That was a relief.
"I'm sorry," was all he said, communicating silently in that way they had been communicating before. Sorry for ignoring you for so long, sorry for not talking, sorry for leaving you alone-
It echoed in her head like a sad song and she wanted to scream because what could she say to that? Her heart ached like she wasn't so fine about it like she'd thought she was, like it had actually hurt a lot more than she'd expected.
"It's fine," she choked out, words painful and burning unbearably on her tongue but she forced them out anyway because it was better than keeping the lie inside and letting silence consume her. "I'm glad you found a name."
Better than Thirteen, the one she'd given when he hadn't had any to offer.
"What are you doing with the manhwa?" she asked before Haru could say anything else.
"I'm going to change the story," Eun Danoh stated confidently and Dohwa nodded along with only a little less confidently. "With Haru's help, we're going to do it."
She looked at Sixteen expectantly, like there was something she was supposed to say to that. What, was she supposed to react excitedly? Encourage her? No change in the story would affect Sixteen much. The same went for Thirteen so she wasn't all too sure what stake he had in this mission.
"Oh," was all she said, and disappointment flickered in the other girl's eyes. Sixteen searched the others' expressions from Thirteen to Dohwa to the Dried Squid Fairy. The Squid Fairy looked anything but ecstatic and instead looked rather as grim as she felt. "I have to go."
Running out of the kitchen, she tried to put as much distance between her and them, her heart aching more than it ever had.
Hearing footsteps behind her, she paused to find Thirteen- Haru behind her. He looked at her with those big sad eyes that had always expressed more than any words would.
This time Haru stepped forward and gently hugged her. Sixteen's arms remained hanging by her side before she realised that she was being ridiculous and hugged her friend back. She really had missed him.
"I don't think this is going to work, Thirteen," she whispered.
"I know," he said sadly. "But I want to try. For her."
Sixteen pulled back and searched his eyes for whatever he wasn't telling her because she somehow felt there had to be something. "What are you hiding?"
Thirteen's eyes flickered down to his left arm and Sixteen instantly picked up the arm to examine before he could hide it. There on his palm was a scar she had seen before but now it looked an angry red like it was fresh or had been infected. Which was odd because she had been sure it was a long-healed scar. That's what it had looked like before, anyway.
"Thirteen," she said warningly. His eyes pleaded with her.
"I promise, I'm keeping an eye on it."
"And it has nothing to do with Eun Danoh?"
He hesitated. "It's fine. It looks worse than it is. Trust me."
Sixteen felt so lost, not knowing what to do with this Thirteen. But that was right, he wasn't Thirteen, was he? This was Haru.
"Okay, Haru," she said slowly and hated the confusion that flickered in his eyes. What did he want from her? He got a new name, had a new goal, and had new friends it seemed. He didn't... need her anymore.
She'd just have to not need him either. She could do that.
"Take care of yourself. If you ever need to talk then you know where to find me. I'll be around," she said and gave him a smile. She could tell that neither of them liked how much of a final goodbye it sounded but there was nothing she could do about that.
Turning on her heel, she walked away, relieved and hurt that this time, no footsteps followed.