Chapter 3: A Futile Farewell (3).

It was a traffic accident on the highway.

While returning home after the business trip, a large bus crashed into the car Hayeon’s mother was riding in from behind.

A chain-reaction collision caused by the drowsy driving of the large bus driver.

The bus, which had been going over 100 km/h at the time, kept increasing its speed, crushing the four vehicles in front of it, and the first victim was none other than Hayeon’s mother.

“Huu… Hwaaak… Yeonju… Our daughter Yeonju! How could you go before your mother… Aigo… What do we do.”

Seo Yeonju.

An old woman collapsed onto the floor, crying out Hayeon’s mother’s name.

She was probably Hayeon’s maternal grandmother.

The solemn atmosphere of the funeral hall was too gloomy for a child like me, and something felt heavy in my chest.

“Hic… Hic…”

My mom, dressed in a black suit and tightly holding my hand, was also covering her mouth with one hand, forcibly holding back the sobs that kept leaking out.

It felt like I could still hear her mother affectionately calling her “Yeonju-ssi” by my ear.

Just as Hayeon and I had grown close, our parents had become close as well.

They must have already gone out together countless times and shared many stories over drinks.

The image of my mom excitedly heading out whenever Hayeon’s mother called on days off felt distant now.

It was hard to see them as just residents of the same apartment complex.

Perhaps it was only natural for two women who shared a similar pain to become that close.

“…”

For some reason, I couldn’t cry.

Everyone was crying, so I felt like I should cry along with them, but no matter what, the tears showed no sign of coming.

Just the woman smiling brightly in the portrait photo.

The same bright smile she had given me when she praised me in the car on the way to the hospital after I was bitten by the dog.

I simply couldn’t feel the reality that I would never be able to see Auntie Yeonju’s face again.

It felt like next week she would come over to our house again and suggest we go play somewhere else this time.

“…Ah.”

And there was Hayeon, wearing mourning clothes, blankly staring at the portrait photo beside her grandfather.

In her clouded eyes, just like mine, there was no sign of tears about to fall.

Hayeon was simply standing there blankly, as if her soul had left her body.

I couldn’t even begin to guess at her feelings, so I just lowered my head.

.

.

.

.

After the condolences had mostly finished and the day grew late, the atmosphere quieted down.

Since the funeral was held on a holiday, my parents and I stayed at the funeral hall until late.

Perhaps because turning around and leaving this place would feel like the end of our connection with Hayeon’s parents.

No one could bring themselves to suggest going home first.

“Mom. Can I go see Hayeon for a bit?”

I asked my mom, who was half-heartedly eating beside me.

Hayeon seemed to have run out of energy and was sitting blankly in a corner resting for a while.

She was still wearing the mourning clothes.

My mom spoke to me in a sniffling voice.

“…Yeah. Go talk to Hayeon for a bit… It must have been even harder with only adults around.”

I nodded and headed toward the corner where Hayeon was sitting.

In a corner of the funeral hall.

Looking at Hayeon’s shoulders slumped against the wall, my heart ached.

“Hayeon.”

I called her name and approached her side.

Hayeon’s eyes, which had been so clouded that I couldn’t tell where she was looking, turned toward me.

When she recognized my face, I felt a little life return to her eyes.

“…Yul.”

A thin voice soaked with moisture.

An exhausted expression and a weakened state that made even saying my name one syllable at a time look difficult.

I had no idea what I should say to her.

So I stopped trying to speak and simply pulled her into a hug right there.

When Hayeon was held in my arms, she reached her hands behind my back and hugged me tightly.

As if I were the only place left for her to cling to.

“Yul… What am I supposed to do now? Now I… How am I supposed to live?”

“…”

“Dad is gone… and now Mom is gone too… Hic…”

The girl who had looked so dried up until just a moment ago quickly revealed her emotions to me.

As if I had burst the dam that had been on the verge of breaking until now.

The tears that hadn’t fallen a single drop from her eyes.

I could feel them vividly soaking the clothes on my chest.

“It’s okay. Hayeon… It’s okay.”

“I… Hic… There’s no one left now… Hic… I’m alone now… Yul. What am I supposed to do now?”

Like a broken machine.

Hayeon kept repeating questions I couldn’t answer either.

To a girl who had lost her parents at an age when parents were everything, the only thing I could do.

Was simply hold her and pat her back.

“No. You’re not alone. I’m here, and my mom is here too. You’re absolutely not alone. Hayeon. You understand?”

And all I could do was say those completely unconvincing words that she wasn’t alone.

Because every single tearful word from her felt like it was tearing my chest apart.

Because I wanted to see the lively appearance she used to show me.

“…Really?”

Hayeon’s voice reacting to my words seemed to regain a little life.

So I had no choice but to keep saying the words she wanted to hear.

“Of course. Hic… Of course… Sniff… I’ll keep staying by your side.”

“You’ll keep staying with me?… Really keep… with me… Hwaaaaang!”

Looking at Hayeon crying in my arms while calling out for her mom and dad.

I swallowed my tears and patted her back for a long time before thinking to myself.

To this lonely girl who looked like she would collapse if you so much as tapped her.

To her who had nowhere left to lean on.

…I had to become the place she could lean on.

*

In the end, Hayeon’s care was taken over by Seo Yeonju’s younger sister, an aunt named Seo Yeonjeong.

She could have lived with her grandparents, but her aunt also felt sorry for Hayeon.

And more than anything, Hayeon hated the idea of being separated from me so much that she would rather die.

If she followed her grandparents, she wouldn’t be able to attend the same school as me.

Following Hayeon’s stubbornness, her aunt ended up moving near our house.

That way we continued our relationship, or rather, we became even closer than before.

Both my mom and I never let go of the attention we poured on Hayeon.

We continued our relationship as if nothing had happened.

We still went out to play on the weekends, and Hayeon would drop by our house whenever she felt bored.

Just like now, right after school.

“Ah, that stings… You damn… Be a little gentler with the ointment.”

“That’s why I told you not to fight like that. Just stay still for a second.”

After becoming a middle schooler, Hayeon’s appearance shone even more.

Even with her face hidden behind glasses, countless confessions kept coming her way.

But unlike her appearance, after losing her mother, her once lively self had died out a lot.

Except when she was in front of me, she was always quiet and showed little emotion.

She had been quiet before, but it felt like her words had decreased even more.

“But why do you never go home and keep doing this in my room every day.”

“…Just because.”

Since she started living with her aunt, the frequency of Hayeon coming over to my room had increased a lot.

Even now she was up on my bed applying ointment to my face.

Anyway, seeing her cut her words short like that, it seemed she didn’t really want to talk about it.

Even without her saying it, I could roughly guess.

“Is it still a little uncomfortable?”

“…Yeah. My aunt just tells me not to worry about it. But I…”

No matter how much she tried to act as a substitute for her parents, to Hayeon she wasn’t a parent.

Perhaps because she felt like she was burdening her aunt, she seemed even more uncomfortable.

So naturally the frequency of her coming over to our house had no choice but to increase.

At Hayeon’s expression growing gloomy, I quickly changed the subject.

“That’s why I said you don’t have to apply it?… Ow… It hurts… It hurts!”

“That’s why. You could have just ignored it and moved on. You get hurt like this because you fight. I told you to go to the nurse’s office but you didn’t even go.”

Like training a disobedient dog.

Hayeon pointed her index finger at my face and calmed me down.

I had gotten into a big fight with a boy in the same class at school, so there wasn’t a single place on my body that was fine.

“…Aren’t you even angry? That bastard is mocking you for not having parents.”

“Well, it’s true. I don’t even want to fight over something like that.”

“Ah, you frustrating guy. Because you’re like that, I have no choice but to fight. You idiot.”

One of the boys in the class who had confessed to Hayeon and been rejected.

I didn’t know if it was resentment or revenge.

But when the guy who had coincidentally learned about her family situation started mocking her for not having parents, I couldn’t stand it.

Rather, the way Hayeon showed such a cold attitude frustrated me.

Because I knew how much the wound inside her must be rotting and festering.

“Done. Now I just need to put on a bandage.”

Hayeon removed the finger that had been applying the ointment and smiled slightly.

That smile contrasted with her usual expressionless face and made me look at her without realizing it.

Hayeon took a bandage out of the first-aid kit and spoke as if declaring it to me.

“…Don’t fight anymore for my sake.”

“Then am I just supposed to watch that?”

“Yeah. Just watch instead. If you ignore it, they’ll eventually leave me alone anyway.”

How could she be so indifferent.

I had heard that girls mature mentally faster, but I just couldn’t understand it with my own head.

When I shook my head back and forth, Hayeon let out a deep sigh and continued.

“Yul.”

“…What?”

“No matter how angry or annoyed I get. I hate it more when you get hurt from fighting.”

Her cheek was slightly flushed as she lightly brushed her hair behind her ear.

I knew that was what she did when she was embarrassed.

“…So don’t fight. No matter what happens, don’t get hurt and don’t be in pain. Got it?”

At that sincere voice, all I could do was nod my head.

It made me realize how much she cherished me as a friend.

…So until then, I didn’t know that she didn’t see me as just a friend.