Past
Yeji didn't show up that day.
Nor the day after, nor the week after.
Yeji just never showed up.
Rumors had begun to go around the students and even the teachers were in on it.
Yeji had a large presence within the high school population. Someone who was beloved by all students as everyone had a memory or two of Yeji's kindness towards them. Someone all teachers loved despite Yeji not being the smartest of students (although still comfortably above the average), Yeji had a way with the teachers. No she didn't kiss their asses nor did she throw out empty meaningless compliments in an attempt to win their favour. It was nothing like that. Teachers had loved having Yeji as a student because of her passionate and hardworking nature. Yeji truly believed that if someone were to do something, they should put in their all and never half-ass it. It was this spirit that made Yeji such a sweetheart among teachers and almost an inspiration for her fellow classmates. Not to mention, Yeji was captain, THE captain, of the girls basketball team. She was the one that led her team to an all-time high 32 - 3 record last season and although they failed to bring home the championship trophy, captain Hwang was still named Finals MVP for putting her heart on the line.
And to Jisu, Yeji was all that and more.
Though the school felt significantly emptier without Yeji, it could not compare to the emptiness inside Jisu's small heart.
The following days of the promised 7th day that Yeji would return were the most pain Jisu had ever experienced.
Her along with Ryujin, Chaeryeong and Yuna did all they could to try and contact Yeji, starting from asking Hwang Hyunjin, their classmate and also Yeji's cousin to even accepting the absurd charges of an international call as they tried to reach the Hwang Entertainment Company. Calls, messages, emails, faxes, even sending physical letters through mail. Nothing. No response. It started to feel as if Yeji's existence was being questioned. In a world where it's proclaimed that everyone and everything was connected one way or another, Yeji was the exception.
Jisu completely shut out the entire world, only hiding her existence in two places: her own apartment and Yeji's.
Every day without fail, Jisu would make her way whether it be already dawn or dusk to Yeji's apartment, often sleeping over in Yeji's bed instead of her own, just to get the small whiff of Yeji left from the taller girls blankets and pillows, constantly praying that Yeji would one day just randomly show up in her apartment.
She began to miss multiple days to even weeks-worth of classes, and despite the school warning her and presenting her with the possibility of her not graduating this year, Jisu didn't care. The school would try to reach out to Jisu's parents but that didn't bother her. Around the same time that Yeji had left for America, Jisu's parents had called to let her know that they along with her brother, Junsu, were moving to Canada after working in the U.S. for decades. Thus, Jisu knew she could care less if the school were to contact her parents, they were too busy moving their lives to Canada.
It was only through Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna literally begging on their knees in front of Jisu's apartment did she begin to fix her life around, forcing herself to go to school, and to bear the pain long enough before Jisu could drift off into sleep where for a moment she could forget about the pain.
But it could barely be considered fixed ,as to Jisu nothing was fixable without Yeji, and the best Jisu could do was survive walking among the glass that was her shattered life. Every step of the way she was getting glass cuts and pieces stuck onto her feet, making each step further more painful than the last. But at the very least, Jisu was walking forward, slowly and painfully but surely, no longer sitting in one spot desperately collecting the glass shards in an attempt to piece them back together.
The tears never failed to show up though, like a scheduled appointment, always appearing without fail every time darkness had taken over the sky and the moon was the only source of illumination.
The trips to Yeji's apartment never stopped too, yet with each step into that place and each night spent there, Jisu's hopefulness that Yeji would suddenly pop back into her life as if she never left began to fade.
As each minute, hour, day, week and month passed, the love Jisu had for Yeji began to turn into anger and hatred, like a fresh apple that had been left out in the open to rot.
As much as Jisu loved Yeji, a love so pure that the universe paused everything it was doing to witness it, she was only human, and humans are tender, sinful and imperfect beings.
Soon enough, within a little more than a year, what once was a field of love was swept away by a tornado of pain, leaving the ruins of anger and hate, souring the soil enough that love never had a chance to grow back.
Present
Yeji knew this day would come.
Surely not 3 years ago when she left as in that moment Yeji thought she would never see the love of her life again, but with the advent of her return to Korea, Yeji knew she would once again come face-to-face with Jisu.
Each day without fail this exact scenario she was in would play within her head, where after 3 long and agonizing years, she would lock eyes once more with her one and only. And each day Yeji would ask herself how would she react after their gazes met. A simple hi? A wave of the hand? Hey how are you? No matter how much Yeji would think about this day and about what she would do, she could never come up with an acceptable action.
Yeji fully knew this was on her, that she was at fault and that no act would change this fact.
Yet despite that, despite having come up with the conclusion that no reaction would ever be good enough, being put in the actual situation was infinitely beyond what she had ever imagined.
The way her surroundings blurred in that moment, the way her eyes only focused upon Jisu, the way she could feel each and every oxygen molecule entering her nose and every carbon dioxide molecule exiting her mouth, the way she felt each single sweat droplet slowly glide down her face and neck, the way she could feel her blood flow through her body, passing through her rapidly beating heart.
It all felt so... surreal.
What came next was completely beyond the scope of Jisu's control.
Her body began acting on its own without her brain giving them the command. A body gone rogue.
Jisu started slowly making her way to the feline-eyed girl.
Each step of the way, Jisu could feel each gash and cut from the sole of her feet she had so carefully tend to the last 3 years begin to open and bleed once more, each stitch in her heart she had carefully sown back together come undone.
From the outside, it seemed as if Jisu was calm and collected, but within her skull, her brain was triggering every emergency button it could, desperately shooting out signals for Jisu's body to stop moving forward, to turn back and run away.
No matter what science may say, the heart and soul will always prevail over the brain.
If humans were perfect beings, then logic would always come above emotion. But because humans are so perfectly imperfect, so beautifully ugly, the heart is able to speak louder than the mind.
With each step, Jisu got closer and closer to Yeji.
They were now less than a meter apart, their gaze never broken, never cut off.
"...Hi-"
If there was a Guiness world record for hardest and strongest, most painful slap, Jisu might have just won it.
Yeji quickly stumbled back, almost falling on her back if it weren't for her quick reflexes and strong leg muscles to keep her from dropping on her butt.
It took a while for Yeji's vision to return to normal and for the high-pitched noise to stop ringing in her left ear although blood began to drip down from her ear to the left side of her neck once it did.
When Yeji's vision returned to normal, Jisu was no longer in front of her and the last glimpse of Jisu Yeji caught was of her running away, exiting the gymnasium, followed quickly by Chaeryeong, calling out Jisu's name.
Slowly, Yeji began to hear her name being called out by voices that seemed to belong to Ryujin and Yuna.
Before Yeji could respond though, her vision began to once again distort.
The last thing Yeji saw was Ryujin and Yuna running towards her with a panicked look on their faces before Yeji's body gave out as she felt her weight collapse backwards before completely she completely blacked out.
-----
"Unnie! Wait!" Chaeryeong yelled out in a desperate attempt to catch up to Jisu who was storming off with no destination in mind and only one purpose, to get as far away from Yeji as possible.
Salt water droplets began to form within Jisu's eyes, clouding her vision as it slowly trickled down her cheeks and falling off her face onto the school floor.
"JISU UNNIE!!" Chaeryeong screamed, louder than she ever had before, often preferring to use her softest and gentlest tone even in conflict.
It would be an understatement to say that Jisu was shocked to hear Chaeryeong use that tone on her. Even more surprised that Chaeryeong, the kindest most gentle one among the 5 had that voice in her. But it only showed how desperate Chaeryeong was to talk to Jisu.
Jisu began to slow down and within a few steps halted completely, only for her legs to weaken and give out as she slumped to the floor, rain droplets now turning into waterfalls as she painfully tried to control her sobbing and her unsteady breathes of air.
Chaeryeong was finally able to reach Jisu.
Chaeryeong despised seeing her friends upset and the days where Jisu had locked herself up were just as bad for her as it was for Jisu, as if able to somehow share the pain her friends felt as well.
Once again, Chaeryeong was heartbroken to see Jisu on the floor, so vulnerable, so fragile, and so broken.
As much as she wished to explain what was going on to Jisu, she felt it best to end the day as it is, fearing that any more information would be too much to bear for Jisu.
She crouched down and reached out to pull Jisu into her embrace.
Jisu's muffled sobbing into Chaeryeong's knitted long-sleeve was echoed throughout the now empty hallway. It was class time already, while everyone that no longer had classes had already left the area as the two were left alone within each others warm embrace, no words exchanged.
-----
Yeji woke up to find herself no longer on the hardwood floor and instead in the university medical center.
Upon returning to reality, she was greeted by both Ryujin and Yuna, still in their basketball practice outfits absolutely drenched in sweat.
Yeji sluggishly sat up, groaning in the process as both Ryujin and Yuna helped her up.
"Unnie, how are you doing? Where does it hurt?" Ryujin asked, concern etched into her voice.
As Yeji's consciousness returned, so did the pain, moving her hand onto her left cheek only to wince at the slightest touch.
"Does your cheek still hurt? The nurses were able to stop the bleeding coming out of your ear, you'll still hear a little ringing here and there but they said it'll go back to normal within the next few days. Here, drink some water unnie," as Yuna handed Yeji a small paper cup filled with warm water, her face muddled with worry at the sight of Yeji's bruised left cheek, although she was lowkey amazed at what damage someone as small as Jisu could inflict on a tough woman like Yeji.
With the nurses noticing Yeji waking up, they swiftly moved in and applied several ointments onto her left cheek, finishing it off by placing a clean white cotton rectangular pad onto it to prevent the wound from coming into contact with anything. And with that, their little unexpected trip to the medical center came to an end.
-----
Nobody among the 5 were at peace with what went down that afternoon, and even though it was already late and it was only just the first day of class, work was already piling up, yet none of them could put their thoughts to the side.
"Unnie, do you want anything?" Yuna asked.
"Thanks Yuna but I'm good," Yeji responded.
"And what about you babe?" Yuna asked, looking at Ryujin who was slowly making her way to a table, guiding the still wobbly Yeji to a seat.
Yeji couldn't help but smirk at the way Yuna called her blue haired friend. She still couldn't believe that the two were already dating when she came back. What's more is that apparently it was Yuna who initially confessed and it was Yuna again who asked Ryujin out. Knowing how blunt and direct Ryujin was especially when it came to her feelings made Yeji think how happy yet disappointed Ryujin must have been that the blue haired girl wasn't the one to initiate the love between her and the tall girl with bangs.
The three decided to stop by a coffee shop after the medical center. They had too much to talk about that they decided it was worth it to push back school work just for that one evening.
Yuna approached the two, one cold chocolate drink for herself in one hand and watermelon juice for her girlfriend in the other.
"... So, who made the team?" Yeji asked, knowing full well the three didn't come to discuss about the basketball varsity team but it was the only way to break the ice just a little.
"Don't worry unnie, you made it. Both me and Yuna as well. The coach pulled us to the side and told us to let you know, she's considering making you captain as well," Ryujin explained.
"Yokshi! Captain hwang has returned!" Yuna sarcastically exclaimed, a little louder than the other two would have liked in an otherwise quite coffee shop filled with students diligently working on their projects.
Captain Hwang let out a small smile. It would be a lie to say she didn't miss that title and took a lot of pride in leading her team.
"And I'm guessing Ryujin is our starting shooting guard while you're our center? Then who are the other two?" as she gestured to both Ryujin and Yuna respectively.
"Tzuyu unnie and Doyeon unnie. I don't think you've met them before, they're both very tall," says Ryujin as she attempts to eat a watermelon piece that is obviously too big.
Yuna seeing her girlfriends struggle fighting a piece of fruit, lets out a teasing sigh and quickly approaches Ryujin's face with her own, swiftly taking a bite out of the watermelon piece sticking out of Ryujin's mouth, unintentionally and intentionally kissing ryujin in the same act. Ryujin blushed as she quickly swallowed the watermelon while Yeji could only hide her laugh and cringe at the situation with both her hands covering her face, finding it funny that the boldest and bravest of the group was being out-bolded by the group's maknae.
"I know the 2," Yeji answered, attempting to redirect the conversation back on track.
"I think we played them once before back in high school. Isn't Tzuyu the one from Taiwan?"
When it came to basketball, the way Yeji processed the game was like no other. She could remember most if not all of the players she's faced before, quickly assessing each and every one of their strength and weaknesses before using it for or against them.
"And the two are okay with me as captain? Even though I just transferred here while they've been around for longer and would probably know the system better than I do? Also, Tzuyu is a senior, she may not like someone younger leading her."
"Come on unnie, I say a week tops and you'll catch up to our system. You always do," Yuna spoke and Ryujin nodded.
And with that, Yeji began assessing the starting 5 line up for the team, thinking which plays would work best, which positions would allow the most potential to come out of the 5 players. Before she could go deeper into her thoughts however, she was interrupted by Ryujin, awkwardly attempting to break the tension in the air.
"...so, about what happened...what are you gonna do about it?"
Yeji thought to herself if only she could solve this problem the way she solved the sports that she loved.
"I-I don't know," Yeji stuttered.
She knew all too well that she deserved the slap even if it was more painful than she thought it would be.
"I didn't know Jisu unnie had that in her, I mean she looks like she could never even hurt a fly." Yuna commented.
"Well I for one called it. Even just this morning I told Yuna and Chaeryeong. I told you this a few days back too right Yeji unnie?"
"Yeah you did, I mean ... I honestly couldn't think of a better outcome from seeing her, it played out as bad as I thought it would have, maybe a little worse."
"It's gonna take a lot longer than we thought, maybe even longer than me waiting for Ryujin to confess."
"HEY! I was going to you know! If you had just waited another day or two," Ryujin pouted as she continued sipping on her watermelon juice.
While the three continued discussing what Yeji should do moving forward regarding Jisu, Jisu herself was already back in her apartment after being dropped off by Chaeryeong, curled up in her bed, only her head slightly sticking out of her thick blanket, tears still slowly dripping from the corner of her eyes, soaking her goose feather pillow.
She was still in shock at who she saw just a few hours back.
Hwang Yeji, who she thought had disappeared three years ago never to be seen again, was literally standing less than a meter apart from her.
Jisu slowly brought her right hand up to her face, the hand that had slapped Yeji, staring at it blankly yet with eyes full of purpose.
Soft ...
... was all she could muster at the thought of the hand that had slapped Yeji's gentle face, the face she had vowed to always keep happy no matter what.
No.
Realizing her own heart starting to soften at the thought of Yeji, Jisu immediately sat up straight, shaking her head like her life depended on erasing Yeji's existence from her mind, and her heart.
For the last 3 years, each day Lia's hatred for Yeji grew and she was determined to keep it that way, even if her lover had seemingly teleported back into her life without warning.
Choi Jisu.
Never again will you ever have your heart broken by Yeji.
Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.
You hate Yeji, and you will continue to do so for the rest of your life.
Author's Notes:
Hi everyone!
Back with chapter 2. Do let me know you're how you're liking it so far.
Also, I would like to apologize if there are any plot holes. When I publish a chapter, I try my best to proof read as well but considering this is going to be quite a long story, I'm finding it difficult to remember small details from previous chapters.
Also I updated the cover as well! Hope you guys like it!
See you guys soon!