--Yun Oh's Point of View--
"YUN OH! You are missing out, buddy." Min Oh greeted me with open arms, this must be a touching moment for them given the fact that everyone looked emotional at the scene I arrived with. "What is going on..?" I inquired.
Not one of them bothered to answer so I watched them all.
Sihyeon was being comforted by Yeonju whose blue hair appeared to be losing its color by now.
Sora and Song were playing that same game from back then although, I heard it is the next level that got released recently.
Hyunjoo spectated while Yua, Sookyung, Min Seo, and Seongmin took a ton of pictures together.
Jihyun danced on the side while Dan and Riyanna sang a duet, on the other hand, Byung Chan took care of the beats.
Sungyeon and Jay Hwang aren't around anymore, the same goes for our favorite school nurse, Jinwoo still never spends time with us, meanwhile, Kim Young's whereabout is still unknown.
Catherine...
I remembered the sole reason as to why I came here, to deliver a message for everyone. And when I say everyone, I only mean Sihyeon, Hyunjoo, Song, Sora, and Yua.
The only people that are aware of what's going on and what will happen to Catherine.
I waited for them to calm down, gathering the only people I needed to follow me after the dismissal.
My driver picked us up from the school gate right as soon as the bell rang.
The sun was beginning to settle down and we had to hurry before the moon arises in its stead.
"What's so urgent?" Sora had no clue as to where we were headed, I'm guessing that Song had no time to fill in the blanks for his girlfriend unlike Yua who seemed to know everything she needed to know.
"I can't even figure out how to tell you guys." my head fell down, losing its strength to be held up.
"I feel as though we made the right choice to be complete today as a group." Sihyeon reached for my shoulder, rubbing it with care as somehow who could tell what my deepest concern was at the moment. "For the last time." she uttered.
Here we are... "Oh. What..." Sora and Yua being the closest as well as best of friends with Catherine, the two of them couldn't handle the sight of her being asleep in bed.
A bed from which she may never leave anymore.
"What is going on?" they asked.
The girls comforted one another while the three of us left were standing at the end of the bed, they snuggled close to Catherine and weeped like there was no tomorrow.
"I never knew that she was seriously ill to the point of death. No one told us..."
Despite all their efforts, she had already been long unconscious.
"For how long has she been like this? In this bed..." I couldn't bare to tell them what truly happened.
Sihyeon looked at me in the eye before asking us all to leave the room, giving her time to do her thing. "What? What are you going to do to her?" we escorted the two girls on our way out, I, of course, had to leave too.
The fire had taken so much of her energy after the performance five months ago, the theatre broke down completely but I did see that it had been rebuilt, and almost completely back to its original state.
Everyone made it out untouched by the fire and unaffected by the disaster, all except for me and Catherine. Whatever caused that fire, it gave me a scar on my back...
A scar that could've taken away the only use I have in life to my family.
On the contrary, Catherine had no physical injuries but the smoke did weaken her.
Neither of our families came to check on us, so we had to be brought to the hospital and she never went out since that day.
Sometimes I really don't understand her.
What happens to her, what goes on in her mind, everything!
And yet, I am the one suffering because I love her and she is the only one I want.
But I can't even have her or be with her in these final moments.
'This story is bullshit!' it is like all the bad things a person can have in life had been passed to her, it is as if she can absorb the misfortune and pain of others, turning it into her own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Quickly, bring her into the room." once we've arrived at the hospital, attention was placed upon us both as if it was scripted.
As if things were meant to happen on purpose, and I do get that part where she is the main character but why?
Why does it feel so different now?
I remember when I first laid my eyes on her, life was normal back then until years went by, and those years became months.
Years that felt so short but these past few months seemed longer.
Something has changed, our reality now feels unreal.
"How is she?" I refused to be treated by the nurses and other doctors around, focusing on Catherine's well-being because I know very well that she has a lot of health issues lately.
In every aspect of life, she shows other people that she is fine when deep inside, she isn't. This isn't just a matter of her trauma and unexpressed feelings but a matter of her physical health.
She has been abusing herself down to the last brink.
"I don't know what to do with her at this point... I feel incredibly worried and guilty for not being able to do anything more!" I bashed my head on the walls, letting my frustration run wild.
"There's nothing we can do now, she's..." I remember what the doctor had told me, rushing inside the room to see her for one last time...
Please be awake, Catherine.
The smile on her face wiped away all the anger and hatred I felt directed to myself.
"What's wrong?" she asked weakly, acting like her situation wasn't so serious.
I couldn't hold back the tears and emotions that creeped in.
"Let's play pretend, hmm?"
She asked me to walk with her the next day, and this place made me recall those days when I still couldn't figure out how to steal her away from Dan.
That time she gave the others a silent treatment after her older sister misunderstood her.
"Look, isn't this that cursed spot they talked about?"
She entered the small shed and rode on the swing so happily like a child. I guess this is a major sign that her time is nearing its end, and she would remain as optimistic as she can try to be.
The swing began to move slowly, and I sensed it.
"Don't you think we'll have a better life one day? In a better world..."
I gently pushed the swing and supported her from behind, quietly listening to her nonstop chatter. She has never been like this before, at least not to anyone but herself.
Yet now, she has revealed a side of her that I never expected.
"Isn't it funny how I'm not going to reach the age of 18?"
We've all been used to having only short conversations with her, I don't ever remember a single time that she spoke to us without having been spoken to or questioned at first.
It is as if she had gotten used to hiding herself.
"Don't I look too healthy to be ill?"
She turned to me, leaning on the side of the swing as I slowly knelt beside her, she tilted her head and shook it lightly.
Letting out a deep sigh before apologizing for being talkative. I assured her that she was free to say the most random thoughts.
"Even until now, I can't embrace the love I receive from you... Nor love you the way you love me."
The truth is... She does love me, she loves Dan, and her sister, friends.
Her family too.
The sole reason she denies it is because of being deprived of love for so long, deprived of affection, and genuine care.
"Love is rather unfamiliar though I'm already familiar with it."
It still seemed as if she was just having an intrapersonal conversation, a conversation that requires no receiver other than the sender itself.
Even when things look normal in the distance, they're actually not from up close.
"You must think I'm weird and spouting nonsense, don't you?"
I shook my head, trying to hide the huge smile on my face when she mentioned the word 'weird'. I mean, when you're in love, judgement is not a thing anymore, you cherish every little thing about them, and you see the good even in the bad.
"I love how complicated we all are. Not everyone sees the beauty in that."
Our minds were like linked, in spite of my silence, she could tell just what I'm thinking, feeling, and what I want her to know.
She already knows it all, like I said, everything feels scripted...
All of this is real yet written to happen.
Sometimes I wonder why our lives are as it is. If someone is writing this then, doesn't that mean..? Could there be a universe out there where the two of us end up together?
A love that isn't forced nor stolen from another, another universe where I don't have to see her suffer.
"I'm honored to love you, to watch you go through all this like the strong and fair maiden you are." before it was too late, words had to be said and feelings expressed.
"Life is filled with its mysteries as well as surprises, you are both of those to me."
"I..." she is losing a whole lot of her strength and will.
"You need not say more, my Queen." I locked eyes with her, with these tears of mine that dried up already, sadness now feels like happiness because acceptance has finally been achieved.
"I see your eyes." she spoke out of breath.
"They're beautiful." in her final moments, the only thing she did was to compliment how I looked.
"Do you want me to tell the others?" she violently refused, urging me to stay with her and keep it all from our friends. "I was nothing but a phase to them, a hurricane that passed and brought a problem." that line...
"Will you find me a mirror?" she asked but unfortunately, I didn't have one on me.
"I'll get you one, how big do you want it to be?" she wiped away my tears and fixed my hair, telling me that it didn't matter as long as she could get a glimpse of her face.
"I wish to see no one else but myself when my last breath goes out."
"Then I will grant your wish and be quick to return." on account of these words, I rushed to find a mirror.
"Thank you, Yun." her voice and those words, it kept me going.