HERSHE || BBANGSAZ ||

39. Special

"Mom, I'm not sure if I still like him the same way I did before, okay? May I remind you it was over ten years ago."

"I know. But admit it. To some extent, you're still fond of him, right?"

Hanni stared at her mom for a long before she breathed out. She knows her mom is right. There's this part in her, no matter how little, that is still attracted to Jake. And she doesn't know if it will continue to shrink or—who knows—grow, eventually.

"Just try going out with him for like a month and see if anything would spark between you two. If it doesn't then you tell him. I believe it's enough time for him to rethink his feelings too, right?"

"Mom--"

"A month won't hurt you, darling. The least I could hope is for you to become good friends if this really won't work out. If after a month you'd realize that he's not the right guy, then I'd stop bugging you."

Hanni knows that there's no way she could win this argument. "You promise?"

The woman nodded. "Just for a month."

—

Hanni is staring blankly at the ceiling, reflecting on what she and her mom talked about earlier.

She is supposed to be happy because this is what she wanted before—to get Jake's attention. And the fact that her mom has two thumbs up for him should be good news.

Instead, she's in a dilemma.

No matter how much she tried to convince herself she's morally better off with Jake, she can't set aside the fact she's still feeling something for Minji too.

The problem is she's not sure how serious her feelings are for Minji. It's too underrated to call it a crush but is it that serious to call it love? How would she know if it really is love? And what would she do if it really is love? She can already imagine her mom objecting to it.

Hanni turned to her side and curled up. Sleep won't come to her yet. She was hoping Minji would call her just to confirm if she's arrived or what. She feels so lost right now all she wanted is to hear Minji's voice.

She glanced at her phone to check the time: 12:07 am

She buried her face in the pillow and sighed.

"Please let me see you tomorrow, Minji. Please."

—

Minji let out a sigh of relief after finally setting foot on the ground.

"Phew! Home sweet home!"

If she had known how much of an encumbrance that storm would be, she would not have gone to Indonesia. It was torture missing Hanni for a week, and what's making it worse is she can't even make a call because the electricity was out for days because of the wide damage the storm caused.

But her agony is over. She's finally home.

Her enthusiasm is building up on the thought that Hanni missed her too. She couldn't believe it herself at first, but after their trip from Haeundae, everything seemed to have changed between them. They grew closer, in a more special way than friends could be. She knows it's too early to assume anything but she can't help raising her hopes up.

That's the reason she wanted to have that talk with Hanni, to clear things out. Maybe it's about time to confess to the woman.

Having plans to call Hanni, Minji checked the time on her phone: 12:07 am

"Oh. I guess she's already sleeping."

She puffed her cheeks and blew air out. She pulled her bag straps over her shoulders as she walked towards the exit. There's an excitement that's quickly building up inside on the thought that it'll be just a few hours from now before she goes to work.