[walking while looking
at the blue sky]
Hana's POV
I follow Joy to her apartment after she returned from her run. When she came to see me in Taeyeon's office, she looked pretty frazzled and flabbergasted. Once she closes the door to her apartment, she sits me down on the couch with a serious look in her eye. I feel a tense grip on my heart as I wait for her to speak.
"What's up?" I ask. "How were the boys? Were they being a handful again?" Remembering that she went on her run with Johnny and Jaehyun.
"Johnny and Jaehyun actually opted out on going on the run." Joy scoffs. "I had to beg Yeri to come with me which was not a good idea."
"Why? Did something bad happen?" I ask in a concerned voice.
"Almost until..." Joy's voice trails off which makes me grow curious. She suddenly pulls out the polaroid I asked her to try and get on her run. I smile wide and hug Joy to thank her.
"Ahh! You got it!" I exclaim.
"Yeah, I almost died getting it," Joy says and then hands it to me. It's been so long since I've taken pictures of people and documented them into my journal which I lost.
"I'm so sorry you went through the trouble to get me this," I say. I notice Joy's smile soon turn into an uneasy look. "What's wrong?"
"You said your old camp was called District 9 right?" Joy asks me. "The one that was overrun with walkers two years ago?" I nod and furrow my eyebrows in confusion.
"Why are you asking?" I question. Joy rubs her face in frustration.
"I..." She stutters. "I don't think all of District 9 is dead." My eyes grow wide in shock and happiness. My friends! They might not be dead? Joy notices my reaction and bites her lip nervously.
"How do you know? Did you go back to their safe zone?" I question, eager to understand this situation and to know if my friends are alive.
"While on my run with Yeri, we came across three people who helped us fight off zombies that almost killed me and Yeri. They told us they were from District 9." I feel my hands and feet get lighter when I hear this as my face begins to glow for the first time in a while.
"So you're saying that my friends are out there still?" I ask. "I knew it." I smile. "They're too tough to die so quickly."
"I thought they were all dead." Joy says. "That's what SM said. He even said he did a sweep to find any survivors." I feel like something really sketchy is going on here.
"He said it but does that mean he actually said the truth?" I question and Joy looks over at me with uneasy eyes. I start to feel a rush of happiness as I think about my friends being alive. "The people you saw. What did they look like?" I ask eagerly.
"There were two boys about the same age as you and one girl. One of the guys had a sharp chin while the other had squirrel cheeks." I feel my heart jump.
"No way." I say, feeling my eyes water in joy.
"Hana, you're crying." Joy points out and smiles a little, realizing I am so relieved to hear that my friends are still out there. Does this mean... Hyunjin could still be alive?
"Joy, you have to help me," I sniffle and look at my friend with big eyes.
"You want to see them again, don't you?" Joy asks me and I nod frantically.
"I have to see them for myself," I say and feel a tear roll down my cheek.
"You know how high security is here. It would be impossible for you to leave," Joy says and I shrug.
"What do I have to lose?"
Hyunjin's POV
"There's my little Lucy," Yeji walks through the door and sees her daughter sleeping on the bed in Jae's office. I meet eyes with my sister and see how glad she is to see Lucy. Yeji's smile soon fades when she looks at me though.
"How was the run?" I try to change the subject. Yeji shrugs and closes the door behind her.
"Same old finds but we did find a megaphone that Jisung tried to use to amplify his already loud personality," Yeji remarks, and I smirk, shaking my head by just imagining Jisung doing that.
"I should probably get going," I say and stand up from the chair beside the bed Lucy is asleep on. Yeji stops me from opening the door once she opens her mouth again.
"She has your smile," Yeji suddenly says and I freeze. I don't look back and stand still. "How was she today?" I clear my throat, still having my back face my sister.
"She was fine," I say coldly, not wanting to talk about Lucy anymore. I open the door and leave Jae's office.
I step out of the building and start walking towards my apartment. I feel a weird sensation in my stomach as I think back to what happened back there with me and Yeji. After Hana left, everything changed. Yeji and I grew apart and I distanced myself from Lucy. I knew that if I was around her, it would just remind me of Hana even more and make me feel more defeated and depressed. I get anxious whenever I am around Lucy or talk about her.
Today was different though. It was just me and her in that emergency room. I never spent quality time with Lucy since Hana left. It would always be Lucy and Yeji seeing me or Young K and Lucy coming to visit. Today, it was just me and Lucy. Being with my daughter made me feel a little more like myself again. I felt happy.
I look up at the sky and notice the cascading colors of the sunset. I smile softly but then something in the sky catches my eye. I stop walking and try to examine the object in the sky better. It's a pink balloon. It's very small from where I am standing. My eyes grow wide and I tilt my head curiously. Suddenly, an arm wraps around my shoulder, almost making me flip the person onto the ground out of reflex.
"It's just me!" Jeongin raises his arms innocently. I hold my heart and sigh. I look back up at the sky and see the balloon slowly drifting with the wind, high above us.
"Sorry. You scared me for a second," I say.
"What are you looking at?" Jeongin asks and then looks up at the sky with me.
"Do you see that balloon?" I ask and point with my fingers for Jeongin to see for himself.
"Aw, how cute. Who lost their balloon?" Jeongin asks sweetly.
"I don't know." I shrug. "It's a pretty odd sight to see though, nowadays," I say and gaze at the pink balloon floating in the wind.
"I think there's something tied to the string." Jeongin comments and I squint to get a closer look but the balloon is too high.
"Attention District 9 residents! You have 15 minutes until curfew! Please finish kissing your boyfriend, walking your pet goldfish, and eating the grass!" I hear Jisung shouting. Jeongin and I both look in his direction to see him screaming through a megaphone while Changbin walks beside him.
"Changbin!" I yell for him after getting an idea.
"And Jisung!" Jisung whines and runs over to us.
"I heard a superhero's name being called," Changbin poses and I scoff, rolling my eyes.
"Let me borrow your crossbow," I say, seeing that he is still wearing it on his back. He eyes me.
"Why?" Changbin questions.
Changbin takes off his crossbow and I grab one of the arrows from his quiver. I prep the arrow onto the crossbow and then aim up at the balloon, closing one of my eyes to accurately shoot it. I pull back the arrow as far as I can and release it. It begins flying.
"Are you crazy?" Jisung asks. "What if that hits someone?" I don't respond and watch the arrow hit the balloon, making it pop. The thing attached to the string starts plummeting down.
"What was that?" Changbin asks.
"Let's see," I say and run to find the popped, pink balloon.
Jeongin finds it blocks away from where we were. It is now dark and everyone is at home since it's past curfew. It's a rolled-up piece of paper. Jeongin unrolls it and sees that it is a letter.
"Woah, new way to send letters, that's so smart," Jeongin says but then his voice trails off and he brings the letter closer to his face.
"What does it say?" Changbin asks.
"I know this handwriting," Jeongin says. "It says, 'You have to have hope. I'll find you. I'm alive.'"
"That's sweet." Changbin smiles. Something clicks in my head when I hear that.
*flashback*
I scrunch up my face when I notice Hana is so flustered by almost calling herself my girlfriend. She's so cute. Suddenly, she kisses my cheek and takes a deep breath, looking away from me. My face turns red and I start rubbing my face out of disgust.
"What was that for?" I ask.
"Why are you rubbing your face?" Hana argues. "Rub your lips too then since you kissed me," She teases, making me laugh.
"I'm serious Hyunjin. I told you, you can trust me with anything," Hana says.
"Fine," I nod, giving in. "The scent smells like my sister's."
"Do you think she's still alive?" Hana asks and I grow quiet. "You're doubting it," It was like she read my mind and I nod guiltily. Hana sighs and looks up at the sky. "You know, I remember us having this exact same talk when we first met," I know exactly what she is talking about.
"When I first really opened up to someone," I add on. "When I realized I liked you." Hana smiles at me and giggles a little.
"You have to have hope. I remembered the Hyunjin who was determined to find his sister right after we found that train," Hana recalls. That 'me' feels so far away now.
"That felt like ages ago," I confess.
"Hyunjin, we'll find her," She says in a sincere tone, putting her hand on my shoulder. I gaze at her with love. I never knew I needed her in my life.
"Did I tell you how much I..." I become flustered and pause, realizing those words are very hard to say. Hana smiles at me.
"I love you," She says first and my eyes grow wide in shock.
"How do you understand me so well? There is no one like you, Hana." I say to her with a small smile and kiss her again. "I love you."
*flashback ends*
My eyes grow wide and my eyes begin to water just by thinking of Hana.
"Are you okay?" Jeongin asks me, putting his hand on my shoulder, making me flinch.