After crying until she couldn't cry any more, Sa-Na stood up, weakly pulling herself back to the recording room. "Leave her," Suhyeok told them as they went to follow her into the room. "She needs time alone."
"Are you okay, though?" Ms. Park asked him softly. "We know how close you and Sa-Na were with Da-Hyun."
"I'm fine," Suhyeok told her, waving it off as he sat again at the desk, watching as Sa-Na grabbed a bunch of files and threw them at the wall. The cups of pens were next, smashing against the wall and scattering everywhere. Everyone outside the room flinched as more stuff hit the glass.
The same thing happened over and over again; whatever she could find was thrown at the walls and glass. It was like an endless sequel until the door opened, revealing Cheong-San. "Get out," she instantly told him as he stepped further into the room. "I said get out." Her fingers wrapped tighter around the file. "Are you deaf or something?"
Cheong-San stepped closer to the girl as she scowled, raising her hand and throwing the file in his direction. He bent down, dodging the file sent his way. He turned around, looking at the scattered sheets, before turning
back to the girl and stepping closer. She grabbed a ruler from the desk and held it toward him.
"Come closer, and I'll hit you," she warned as he looked down at the small ruler in her hand.
"That wouldn't do anything," he replied quietly as she lunged towards him, dropping the ruler and preparing to just use her hands. He grabbed her hands, stopping her before she could hit him. Her attacks were weak, and if she wasn't so exhausted, she probably could've matched him in a fight. Instead, he just held on to her as she weakly attempted to hit him.
"I'm going to fucking kill you," she told him as she tried to fight against his hold, unable to pull her arms out of his grasp.
"Calm down, Sa-Na. You're wasting your energy," he told her softly as she continued to pull her arm.
"Let go of me. Let go of me." She continued to repeat the words until Cheong-San finally moved, his next actions surprising even himself. He wrapped his arms around her body, and at first the girl tried to fight his hold, mumbling threats to him. He remained unfazed by her threats and kept his arms tightly around her. Finally, she decided it wasn't worth it and slowly wrapped her arms around him. "She's gone. She's really gone."
Everyone knew of the trio's close bond and how they, out of everyone, had known each other the longest. Watching a friend die like that was horrific; he knew what it felt like and wished he didn't. All he could do was gently rub the girls back as she sobbed into his chest.
They were around fifteen, running from shop to shop while Suhyeok followed behind them, carrying all their bags. "This is the last shop, right?" he asked hopefully while the girls looked at each other with matching grins. "For fucks sake."
Hours later, they sat inside a restaurant, eating and laughing, while Suhyeok looked exhausted. "Remind me to never allow you guys to rope me into shopping," he told them, taking a sip of his drink.
"Hey, don't lie, you really enjoyed it," Da-Hyun told him in a joking manner.
"Yeah, our company should be enough to make it enjoyable," Sa-Na teased, throwing a napkin at his face.
"Hey!"
A movie played in the background as the trio ate popcorn and whatever sweets they could find in Suhyeok's house. The two lay on Suhyeok; Sa-Na lay in his lap, while Da-Hyun's head rested on his shoulder. "If we were all animals, what would we be?" Da-Hyun suddenly asked, and Suhyeok turned to give her a weird look.
"You would be a koala." Sa-Na pointed to Suhyeok, causing him to give her an offended look.
"Why a koala?" he asked in disbelief.
"You just seem like a koala," she defended as he scoffed. "Well, you would be an owl." He motioned to Da-Hyun.
while Sa-Na chucked.
"Don't you laugh; you're literally a squirrel as a human." Da-Hyun pointed to Sa-Na, who glared at her friend.
"You bitch!"
It was a cold December evening when Da-Hyun had been dragged to the ice skating rink by Sa-Na. She was going to drag Suhyeok as well, but he claimed to have basketball practice. She knew it was a lie because who has basketball practice in the freezing cold weather? She didn't mind though; it had been a while since she had a girls' day with Da-Hyun.
The two had gone ice skating before, so it wasn't unnatural to them to easily skate on the ice as if they'd done it a million times. Idle chatter was made as they spent hours mindlessly skating, ignoring the sun setting behind them. Nothing mattered at that moment; it was just them against the world. They were blissfully unaware of their future, and their only worries had been the lingering thought of how they could explain to their parents why they returned so late.
Da-Hyun has always loved photography and art. She'd spend hours dragging the two to various places with her camera, begging to take photos. They allowed her to, of course, knowing it made her happy. Somehow they'd ended up by a gorgeous lake, and Da-Hyun smiled in delight.
She began snapping photos instantly, and when she'd finished, she turned to her two friends, motioning for them to stand by the lake. She positioned the camera to take a photo of all three of them, all wearing bright grins as they stared into the camera.
She checked the photo when they were doing it, smiling as she showed the other two the image. She'd printed it, setting it as her phone background.
The rest of the day was spent laughing and joking as they had a small picnic by the lake, admiring the view. Da-Hyun grabbed her sketchbook and pencils and got to work drawing her friends while watching the sunset, tired grins never leaving their faces.
That's how it always was when the trio was together—laughter and happiness like no other. Their lives were simple and normal; they'd spend their weekends together, stealing their parents' alcohol or just going to the shops together. Whatever they did, it was together.
That's how it always was.
How it always should've been