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she who loved, he who loved
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🌸🌸🌸
An exhausted looking Hana opened the door towards the school rooftop after helping and saving Joo Da with Dan Oh from her bullies. She was tired of going and coming back again on stage and in the shadow for the sole purpose of preventing the kind Joo Da from getting harmed and bullied.
She wasn't complaining, but she was furious at her schoolmates for what they've done to Joo Da, who done nothing wrong to them.
There may be a lot of running around the school, Dan Oh shouting profanties, and stage Hana giving advices. It was a lot work, but it felt nice and uplifting to help someone.
The only thing Hana liked about the writer was giving her the good second female lead, instead of the bad. Her role was not to be the villain in Nam Ju and Joo Da's story, but to be a friend. Not all second leads turned out be the antagonist of the story.
Joo Da might be her rival for Do Hwa, but she would never stoop so low and bully her to have what she wants. Do Hwa doesn't belong to anyone, he can like any girl he wants.
"Hana?"
Hana yelped in surprise as she turned around and saw Nam Ju lying on a bench with a book in his hand.
'That book is a prop, isn't it?'
"Nam Ju?" she asked in confusion before realizing why he was there and rolled her eyes. "Are you here to sleep again?"
Nam Ju chuckled as he got up from the bench and walked towards her, but frowned once he saw her stressed face.
"Are you okay? You look tired." he asked, concerned.
Hana shakes her head lightly. "I'm okay. Don't worry, Nam Ju." she said with a dismissed wave towards him. "Do me a favor and stop being handsome, so girls wouldn't be obsess with you."
Nam Ju stared at her in amusement. "Me being handsome troubling you so much?" he asked in disbelief.
Hana glared at him. "Yah! Oh Nam Ju! When did you become so arrogant?!" she yelled angrily and snatched the book in his hand before hitting his back as hard as she could with it.
Nam Ju's eyes widen. "Yah! Siu Hana! When did you become so violent!?"
"You think you could do whatever you want." Hana scoffed as she took her hair tie around her wrist and tied her long hair up before running after a frightened Nam Ju. "You won't even remember this happened! I don't care if you're the male lead!"
"Yah! What are you talking about?! Stop it, Hana! Or I'll tell, Do Hwa!" Nam Ju threatened and smirked proudly at her, thinking he got the upperhand by mentioning the boy she was in love with.
Hana stopped chasing after him when he blurted out the name of her childhood crush and the love of her life. She glared angrily at Nam Ju, who looked at her in horror.
"Same goes for that guy! All he does is make my heart flutter and then make it hurt! This is all your fault and the writer! Let me vent!"
🌸🌸🌸
Hana and Dan Oh lined up at the cafeteria to get lunch. It was packed today since Jinmichae was there, blessing the female students with his good looks and delicious stir-fried dried squid.
Hana glanced worriedly at her friend who was deep in thought. She looked at the bowl of stir-fried dried squid in front of her before looking at the person giving them out.
"Jinmichae."
"I like dried squid. How about you, Your Highness?"
Jinmichae ignored a past memory as he gave Hana his sweetest smile so far, making the girls behind Hana swoon, before giving her stir-fried dried squid, amount greater than what he normally gave to the other students.
Dan Oh glanced at him with a frown before looking at Hana and sighed softly. "Everything seems so easy when you're so pretty, Hana." she said sadly and looked at the serving of dried squid on her friend's plate. "You must be quite special."
Jinmichae's eyes widen as he looked at Hana, who only chuckled in amusement and smiled apologetically at him.
"Forgive Dan Oh. She has a lot on her mind."
Jinmichae cleared his throat and smiled at Dan Oh. "You seem out of energy." he told her and placed the same amount of stir-fried dried squid he has given Hana. "All right. Eat a lot and cheer up."
Hana gently nudged Dan Oh's side. "Stop mopping! He's right, cheer up and smile!"
Dan Oh frowned at Jinmichae. "Even if you give me a lot, I won't be able to eat if I skip my memory." she said and walked away, leaving a stunned Hana and Jinmichae.
Jinmichae turned to Hana in disbelief. "She---"
Hana leaned and pulled him closer to whisper in his ear. "It's only a matter of time."
The two pulled away and looked at Dan Oh, who stared disgustingly at the pot full of curry in front of her. They turned around and saw Joo Da enjoying her curry before glancing at each other and let out a deep sigh.
"She knows what will happen next." Jinmichae mumbled and shakes his head in disbelief.
Hana glanced at the mop nearby and pouted. "And, I'm not all for it."
🌸🌸🌸
Hana stood beside Dan Oh on the school's skywalk, quietly listening to her friend rant about losing her memories and remember only bits of it, teleporting, and that she was becoming crazy. She held back a laugh, not wanting to look rude when Dan Oh made weird gestures with her hands as she talked.
She promised Jinmichae that she won't tell Dan Oh anything, and continue to keep quiet for her own safety. She smiled sadly at the thought of keeping secrets from the only person who knew the real her and her manhwa character.
She looked around and saw Jinmichae nearby staring up intently at something. She hummed in confusion before following his line of sight and saw a black hole in mid air.
She glanced around, suddenly seeing glitches of past memories, and winched in pain when she heard loud ringing going through her ears.
"I will find you."
"You will not remember, but I will. Just like a plum blossom, I will endure until we see each other again."
She winched in pain when she felt her chest being deeply stabbed.
"I can only love you from afar, Princess Chun Hwa."
"So will I, Prince Do Yun. Maybe we were meant to be, but not in this lifetime."
Jinmichae turned around and Dan Oh staring at the black hole as well. His eyes wandered at Hana beside her and saw she was in pain.
"Hana!"
Dan Oh frowned at the frantic Jinmichae before looking at Hana, who was pale as snow and sweating bullets. Her eyes widen in horror when she saw she was about to collapse.
"Hana!"
Dan Oh and Jinmichae lunged towards Hana to catch her fall, but someone beat them to it. The two turned around and saw it was Do Hwa. His school bag and violin were scattered on the ground as if it was easily thrown away.
Jinmichae stared quietly at him, too stunned to speak or move. In his eyes, he saw another version of Lee Do Hwa.
"I ask you this, not as the third prince, not as your general, and not as your younger brother, but as someone who love her, who wanted to be with her. In my stead, please love her, protect her, and stay by her side. Do everything for her as the man she chose."
Do Hwa, who was near to tears, cradled the unconscious Hana in his arms. "Yah! Siu Hana! Wake up, wake up!"
Dan Oh, who was also close to tears, fell to her knees beside Do Hwa to check on her friend. "Hana! What happened to you? You were just fine a second ago. What happened?"
"Let's get her to the clinic." Do Hwa told Dan Oh with urgency in his voice.
Dan Oh nodded. "I'll call your brother then."
Do Hwa placed his arms under Hana's legs and around her shoulders before lifting her unconscious body up. He looked down at her pale, sweaty face leaning on his chest before running towards the school's clinic, leaving behind a still stunned Jinmichae.
'You and Hana...'
🌸🌸🌸
Not once did Do Hwa leave Hana's side after he brought her to the clinic and transferred her to the hospital. Even when his older brother, Lee Joo Hwa, personally and thoroughly checked on her.
Do Hwa paced around inside Hana's hospital room as his older brother listened to the girl's heartbeat.
Joo Hwa pulled away from Hana with his stethoscope and glanced at his worried younger brother.
"She's perfectly healthy. Her test results were all normal, and nothing seems to be a problem." he assured Do Hwa, who was far from being relieved. "She's fine. She's safe, Do Hwa."
The older Lee chuckled in amusement seeing his younger brother become a worrywart for his childhood best friend. "Do Hwa, she's gonna be fine. You don't have to worry about Hana." he assured him again.
Do Hwa stopped pacing around and faced his older brother, worry still in his eyes. "Are you sure, hyung?" he asked and stared at the peacefully sleeping Hana.
Joo Hwa nodded as he stood in front of him and ruffled his hair. "You're always worried about her." he said and smiled teasingly. "You know, feelings---"
Do Hwa's eyes widen as he faced his brother. Before Joo Hwa could finish what he was about to say, there was a flip of a page.
page flipping...
Class 2-8 and Class 2-7 were merged into one class for home economics class inside the cafeteria. They were all baking cakes for their special someone.
Stage Hana smiled as she placed chocolate covered strawberries on top of her first cake. She looked at her other cake and smiled, satisfied at how her two cakes turned out despite her limited time.
The first cake she baked was strawberry shortcake with chocolate covered strawberries on top. She thought of Joo Da when she baked the cake, knowing that strawberries were her favourite and wanted to give her a welcoming gift.
The second cake she baked was a simple chocolate cake. Chocolate was Do Hwa's favourite, and she wanted to repay him for everything he has done for her so far. He may not remember most of it, but she does.
It took longer for her to finish two small cakes when she could feel three pair of eyes boring behind her back, making it difficult for her to concentrate. At the same time, the owners of those eyes kept coming to her, claiming they need to borrow everything on her table, from her baking tools to her ingredients. She noticed they would glanced at her cakes from time to time, but decided to ignore it.
When she was finally done, she looked at her chocolate cake. There wasn't much design, it was just a simple chocolate cake.
Hana looked at Joo Da, who was busy putting strawberries around her cake. She carefully picked up her first cake and stood in front her.
"Yeo Joo Da, this is for you."
Joo Da's eyes widen in surprise and a happy smile adorned her face. "So pretty!" she exclaimed in awe as Hana handed her the strawberry cake.
"I noticed you loved strawberries, so I made strawberry shortcake. I thought about it as your welcome gift for being new in Seuli High School." Hana explained as Joo Da's smile never left her face.
"Thank you, Hana. Thank you for being my friend." Joo Da said gratefully as she bowed.
The two girls smiled happily at each other when Hana heard the sound of a book closing, ending the stage she was in.
She smiled one last time at Joo Da before returning to her table to find her chocolate cake surrounded by A3.
"Hana baked the cake for me, she made it from scratch."
"You don't even like sweet food, Nam Ju."
"So do you, Kyung. Between the three of us, chocolate is my favourite and Hana knows that. So, this belongs to me."