𝐔𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐘, 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔

epilogue.

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ [EPILOGUE] ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉

IN WHICH FOUR
YEARS HAVE
PASSED.

✦┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈✧

BIRDS chirp merrily in the trees, slightly making yoon haein's mood better. she walks out from the department of communications, heaving a sigh, running a hand through her long hair, the conversation she had with her professor flashing in her mind.

"miss yoon," says the professor, sighing. he places down haein's research proposal on his desk, pinching the bridge of his nose. "i hope you can reconsider your graduation thesis."

haein frowns. "why, professor lim?"

the professor looks at her. "the hanahaki disease will be a hard topic for anyone to write a paper on. not only that, but many people will not want to talk about it. so please reconsider this, haein. your graduation depends on this."

the girl shakes her head. "i can't do that, professor... please let me go through with this."

the man sighs. "you won't take no for answer, huh? fine, you may write your thesis about the hanahaki disease."

haein bows, standing back up quickly, smiling at her professor. "thank you, professor lim!"

"hm," the girl hums, tapping on her chin with her pointer finger. "i should start as soon as possible with my thesis since i just came back to the college after completing my field work..." she fishes out her phone from her bag, unlocking it and checking her calendar. "i only have this month, april and may to write my thesis." haein sighs, tapping her foot on the pavement of the ground. "i should've just taken up more fieldwork to complete my graduation requirements... oh well, what can i do? i guess i'll have to start asking around starting today.

and that's what yoon haein did. she went around campus, a small notepad and pen in hand, asking everyone she saw if they knew anything about the hanahaki disease. the girl plops down on a nearby bench, groaning and tossing her notepad and pen near her. she looks up at the sky, deadpanning at it. "does no one really not know anything about the disease?"

a girl walks past her, and haein hurriedly grabs her stuff and goes after her. "miss, miss!" she says, finally catching up to her. haein quickly walks in front of the girl, panting slightly. "do you know anything about the hanahaki disease?"

"ask fucking kang taehyun or choi beomgyu," the girl seethes.

haein scribbles down the two names on her notepad, grinning. "choi beomgyu and kang taehyun, i love you!"

another person walks past her, staring at her before chuckling. haein looks at them, a guy, as he stops to talk to her.

"you love kang taehyun?" he asks, his eyebrows raised in an amused manner.

haein stares at him, pulling a face at him. did he not understand that she's joking?

"hate to break it to you, miss," he says, "but kang taehyun probably doesn't love you given the amount of girls he dates at the same time."

as he turns to walk away, haein yells for him to stop.

"stop! wait!" she yells.

the guy stops, glancing back at her. "yes?"

"this kang taehyun... what does he major in?"

the guy laughs. "you don't know about kang taehyun?" he asks, watching as haein shakes her head. he sighs, "kang taehyun majors in surgery. he's always at the department of surgery."

haein quickly scribbles the information down, beaming. she looks back up, yelling a thanks to the guy as he continues to walk away. she hums a small tune to herself as she skips towards the college of medicine. "looks like this is going to be much easier than i thought!"

when haein arrives at the college of medicine, she quickly roams around the area, trying to find the department of surgery. haein stands outside the building, rocking herself back-and-forth on her heels. just then, an influx of students begin to swarm out from the building. haein approaches a boy and girl, ready to ask them if they know where kang taehyun is. before she can ask them, she stops herself from speaking, choosing to listen in on their conversation as they walk past her.

"ah," the girl says, waving a book in her hand. "this! this book, i tell you!"

haein squints, trying to look at the book the girl's holding.

the foolish moth loves the sun.

"ah," the boy groans. "you seriously never stop talking about how wonderful senior beomgyu's book is!"

"oh," haein says. she takes out her notepad, writing down this new set of information about choi beomgyu. "senior, huh? so he used to go to our school, i presume... shall i try to arrange an interview with him?"

haein stumbles a few steps backwards. she frowns, looking up to see that a boy had bumped into her.

"sorry," the boy says, walking away from her.

"wait!" she yells, grabbing his attention. haein runs to the boy and speaks once more to him. "do you know where i can find kang taehyun?"

the boy chuckles. "you're speaking to him."

haein beams. "great! nice to meet you, mr kang."

"mr kang?" taehyun asks, amused. "why are you using formalities with me?"

"sorry," haein says, rubbing the back of her neck. "it's a habit i picked up on from all the fieldwork i did for journalism. now if you don't mind, can i ask you a few questions?"

taehyun hums, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his long coat. "depends," he says. "what is it that you need to ask me?"

"do you know anything about the hanahaki disease? someone told me that you may know quite a bit about it."

haein feels her blood run cold when she notices the hard, cold look that immediately plasters itself on taehyun's face. the corners of his lips curve downwards, forming a scowl.

"what did they say?"

the girl looks away, feeling intimidated by taehyun. "i—well, she told me to ask a kang taehyun after i asked her if she knew anything about the hanaha—"

"stop," taehyun says, "stop saying that word. never talk to me again."

haein stares at taehyun, dumbfounded. she opens and closes her mouth, blinking at his back that gets smaller the farther he walks away. "i... what the hell?"