Hitomi's POV
The tutoring session I offered on Chaewon taking went pretty well. We're already in our 4th session after two weeks.
"Oh, I get it now. It's not even that hard." Chaewon chuckles before closing the notebook in front of her.
"I told you it wasn't that hard." I tell her, fixing my stuff, preparing to leave.
"Well, it only became easy thanks to you. If you didn't help me I would probably be at Yuri's house... still not getting it." She said with a straight face before she ended up laughing.
"Yuri's not that bad. She just needs to... listen more to the teacher." I tell her as she nodded her head.
"Yeah, she probably does." She said, chuckling. She stood up as she also started fixing her things. I stood up after finally fixing my things as I put my bag over my shoulder.
"You ready to leave now?" Chaewon asks me. "Mhm." I answered back. "Oh wait." Chaewon suddenly said. "I forgot the bread."
After saying that, she hurriedly went to the kitchen only to be back with a nicely wrapped bread. "Here." She gave me the bread and also a small smile.
"Thanks, let's go?" I ask. Chaewon nodded her head as we went out her house, going on our way.
I forgot to mention, ever since we continued this tutoring session of ours, Chaewon has been walking me home. Whether if it's just me waiting for the bus or me literally walking home when there is no bus left, Chaewon comes with me. I tried to tell her that I can go home on my own but she insisted on coming with me. She said it's her little way of showing her gratitude to me in return for me teaching her.
It's not that I don't want her coming with me or walking me home, it's just that I've noticed Chaewon hasn't been having enough rest lately. After her walking me home, she still wouldn't go home and rest. She goes somewhere else before heading straight home. I don't know where she goes before then but I want her to rest.
How did I know this? I tried calling her house one time after leaving a book there and her brother answered. I tried to ask for Chaewon but he said she wasn't home yet. I didn't want to intrude in her business so I never asked her about it.
We were now walking towards my house as I didn't wanna take the bus today. Chaewon seemed to be confused at first, but ended up agreeing anyways. I didn't know why I didn't take the bus today. There's just something telling me that I wanted to have Chaewon's presence for today even longer than her just dropping me of the bus. I didn't even now why I wanted this.
Thinking this was the perfect time, I looked at her to finally ask the question that's been in my mind for days. "Chaewon unnie..." I started. "Hmm?" She looked at me. "Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah sure, go ahead." She says. "After our sessions you walk me home right?" She nodded, still continuing to walk. "I noticed that you don't go straight home after that. Where do you go before then?"
Something in my question must have struck her. She looked down as she stopped walking. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude--"
"I go to the hospital before going home." She suddenly said, cutting me off. I furrowed my eyebrows as I didn't know who was she visiting. After a moment, it struck me. She was visiting Minjoo, her friend.
"I've been going there after school since the day she had coma. I didn't want to skip our sessions as I knew I wouldn't be able to understand the lessons if I did. So I decided to go there after. I may not have enough rest, but... it works for me." After saying the last word, she looked up at me. A sad expression was evident in her face.
I raised my left hand up, debating on whether to pat her shoulder to comfort her. But I ended up closing my hand and putting it beside me. Chaewon cleared her throat before saying, "Come on. You're house is just around the block." She continued walking with me trailing behind her.
--
We reached my house after walking for five minutes since the last time we stopped. We were now in front of my house as I am about to open the door. Chaewon was standing behind me waiting for me to enter the house. I didn't know what was it, but there was something inside me telling me not to enter the house just yet.
I turned to look at her as she faced me. "What are you doing? You can go inside now. I'll wait for you."
I pursed my lips before speaking up. "If you wouldn't mind, can I accompany you to the hospital?"
She must've been taken back by my question as she looked at me with wide eyes. "Uhm...sure?"
--
Okay, that took a lot of nerve for me to ask her if I could come. We took the nearest bus for us to go to the hospital. The ride there was silent. None of us dared to talk to each other.
Finally reaching the place, Chaewon lead the way until we reached a room. She stopped for a second before finally deciding to open it.
Entering the room, a familiar figure greeted my sight. It was Minjoo. I knew her because the three of us were in the same class. Chaewon and her are mostly partners whenever there was an activity needed for pairing.
"Hitomi meet Minjoo. Minjoo meet Hitomi." She said, using her hands to introduce us to each other and then she chuckled awkwardly after that.
"Minjoo." I said. I walked beside her bed as I touched her hand. It was cold and it didn't have life and color in it. "Minjoo. Kim Minjoo?" I asked Chaewon.
"Yeah. You remember her now?" There was a hint of light in her face after she asked me that. I think for a good second before answering. "Of course. We share the same class remember?"
"Oh, right." She said, letting out a small laugh before going near Minjoo as she held her hand.
"I miss her." She suddenly said. I noticed the hint of light that I saw earlier was now gone and was now replaced with a sad one.
I didn't know what to say as I think about the last time I remembered Minjoo. "Oh, remember one time when we were dissecting a frog and you and Minjoo were partners?" She looked up at me, thinking for a while as she prompted me to continue.
"I remember Minjoo being sorry to the frog. She didn't want to dissect it as our professor was ready to give you guys a failing grade."
"Oh yeah, I remember that." She finally said, a hint of amusement was laced in her voice. "I ended up doing the dissecting for us both while Minjoo was beside me, tearing up for the frog." She let out a small laugh as I did the same. "The whole class was watching us the whole time, waiting what will happen next." Then and there, she finally laughed. Something about seeing her happy made me feel something inside, like I don't want her to be sad ever again. There was something there, but I chose to ignore it.
"Our precious Minguri, of course she will look out for the frog like that."
--
After half an hour reminiscing Minjoo's moment together, I finally decided to go home. This time, I decided to go home alone. I told Chaewon that she should go home after this for her to have some rest.
"Well, thank you for letting me come. I didn't know I would get to know Minjoo better in your stories. She sounds like a good friend. I can't wait to finally meet her soon." I said before chuckling.
"No worries. It's always good helping someone out to know another one better. I'll make sure to introduce you to her formally someday." She said before putting her head down. "Also, thank you for coming with me today. I didn't know having someone accompany me would be fun. Maybe laughs and memories is better than me thinking of sad thoughts whenever I come here." She scratched her head after finishing, still looking down.
I gave her an apologetic smile before hugging her. She was surprised at first but then ended up relaxing at my hold. She started to hug back a few seconds after.
"Don't ever think of sad thoughts ever again. Minjoo will be fine and I'll be by your side until then." I said, still hugging her. She tightened her hold on me as she buried her face on my neck. "Thank you, Hitomi. Thank you."
At that moment, I felt time stopped. I was taken away from reality as the only thing I could think of is Chaewon's warmth infront of me. I continued to hug her back, not daring to say anything.
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A/N: Happy Softest Ssambbang Day to all!! Sorry for the late update. The concert was pretty good that I didn't get to update sooner 😅
Hope you liked it and if you have any reactions or would want to ask or say something about the book, please do so. A few words of encouragement would be nice too to make me motivated in writing ><
That's all. Hope everyone had watch the concert too :) Till the next update.