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"Yah, Kim Minju!" Yujin called over the loud Seoul afternoon traffic. Her girlfriend, Minju was walking quickly on the sidewalk and didn't turn around at the sound of her name. Yujin didn't blame her - it was pretty loud outside and there were a ton of people on the sidewalk, and it took a lot of effort just to hear her own voice. They were on the way home from School Of Performing Arts Seoul, which they both attended, but were in different years.
Yujin sped up to get closer to Minju, as she turned the corner to her apartment and was about to go in when Yujin called her again. Neither of them lived that far from school, so Yujin didn't really have that much time to catch up to Minju to talk to her.
"Yah KIM MINJU!"Yujin called louder. Minju still didn't turn around and was nearing the turn to her apartment. With still about 50 meters and an intersection left between Minju and her apartment, Yujin sighed loudly and decided to put her long legs to use. She sprinted to catch up to Minju and tugged on the girl's shirtsleeve. Minju finally turned around. "Minju-ssi, why have you been ignoring me lately?" asked Yujin with her puppy eyes to her girlfriend.
It was true. For around the past week at lunch, Minju had been quick to leave the cafeteria and hadn't said a word to Yujin about it. When normally classes were finished, the one who left faster would go to the other's classroom and find them. But for some reason, after every class when Yujin went to Minju's classroom, she wasn't there. And Minju never came for Yujin. Come to think of it, they had barely exchanged a word except for awkward hellos.
Minju lightly tugged her arm out of Yujin's grasp and turned around again. "Yujin, you know I'm not," said Minju in a quiet voice. "But unnie..." Yujin whined thinking of the past week, but stopped when she saw Minju's expression. "Unnie, what's wrong?" asked Yujin, startled. They were still walking slowly, towards the direction of Minju's apartment. "You still love me, right?"
"Yujinnie, of course I do. You... you know I do..." Minju trailed off, her voice getting quieter. To Yujin she looked and sounded a bit insincere, but there must be something else bothering her, right? Yujin couldn't think of anything that she could have done wrong that she hadn't done before. She hadn't deliberately overannoyed Minju and had even bought Minju candy. "Minju-ssi, actually, what's bothering you???" Yujin questioned again, with more persistence. She looked into the older's eyes, who quickly but casually averted her gaze to something else on the street. Yujin couldn't help but notice - what was it? - a tinge of sadness in Minju's eyes. "Minju unnie...?" Yujin prompted.
"Ahhhh, Yujinnie," Minju sighed. "The thing is, I really do like you, and you're such a nice person." Yujin could almost sense what was coming next. They were still walking and they were pretty close to the intersection that would take them back to Minju's apartment. "Yujinnie," Minju continued. "I love you but I think you should find someone better than me. Like you should find someone who looks at you the way Wonyoung does." Yujin's heart was breaking as she heard these words come out of Minju's mouth. By now they were standing frozen just by the edge of the intersection. Silently tears started forming in Yujin's eyes and she blinked them away. She didn't understand why Minju would want this. To her, Minju was the most perfect person on Earth. "Please, Minju unnie..." Yujin whispered. "Yujinnie, I'll always be glad I got to know you." Minju said, her voice cracking, then walked forward slowly to cross the road to go home.
From the back, Yujin could tell that Minju was looking everywhere but the road. She thought that maybe Minju was looking at her phone, but both her hands were at her sides. Then what was Minju looking at? Yujin didn't have a clue, but thought maybe it was probably her apartment. This was a particularly long crosswalk with faded white markings that Minju was crossing slowly, much slower than she usually walked. The cherry blossoms had just begun to bloom and the street was littered with petals. The trees swayed gently in the breeze, gently dusting everything in a thin layer of pink. Yujin watched as a stray flower landed in Minju's hair, and how a white car was traveling unfavorably quickly towards the intersection - and Minju. Minju didn't turn.
At the middle of the intersection, Minju froze. Yujin barreled down the crosswalk and launched herself in front of Minju, shoving her out of the way. Cherry blossoms flew lightly, softly, through the blue sky. The breeze was cool and smelled like the sea. Pastel pink petals floated. The car did not stop. Minju was safe. Yujin was not.
A few moments passed and Minju heard the car drive away. She didn't hear any other sounds aside from the rustling of the flowers on the trees, and she watched the cherry blossoms dance in the wind. "Yujin-ah," Minju started. She didn't say any more and stayed silent, listening for the sound of Yujin's breathing.
"I wish I had never asked you on a date," Minju thought, tears spilling from her eyes while she lay on the road looking up at the sky. "It's all my fault. This all happened because of me. I am so sorry. But Yujin-ah, tell me, why would you sacrifice yourself for someone like me? Someone so wrecked and broken? When the driver was about to hit me, you were in front of me, protecting me from everything but giving up yourself. Yujin-ah, I'm so sorry."
In her dazed state, Minju stood up and walked the short distance to Yujin, who had blood running down from her forehead to her mouth and was dripping onto her chest. She was on her side and her button-down was untucked. The drops of blood blossomed onto her yellow school blazer and her eyes were already closed. They had closed long ago. Minju could still see the path of Yujin's tears and a stray teardrop by her neck.
"Yujin-ah," Minju breathed. Minju's hand went to Yujin's neck to check for a pulse, and for a second Minju was relieved. Then she realized that she felt nothing.
Yujin was gone. She wasn't going to come back.
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word count: 1081 (try to write more next time :)
ALSO really sorry if that wasn't that good 😅 I've never written any FFs before and normally I stick to writing essays. hopefully my writing will get better in the future, be more interesting. Also sorry if that was sad. I just thought maybe itd be an easier plot to start with :))
