Meteor

Nine

"Hey Han Bin, are you alright," Hae Rin helped Han Bin up. She could see blood coming out from his nose.

"Hey Han Bin, I'm sor..." Yu Jin rushed over to say sorry to Han Bin, but Hae Rin immediately pushed him away. 

"Just stay away from him, this is only a friendly match, do you have to be so violent?" She yelled at him.

"Calm down Hae Rin, he didn't mean to do that, it was an accident," Eun Chae tried to protect her friend. She stopped Yu Jin from approaching Han Bin and pulled him to the bench.

"Eun Chae, I really didn't mean to..."

"I know," she said under her breath, "But you shouldn't have done such a tackle, it's really dangerous, you know? What if his shoes had metal studs and pricked your arms."

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't need to say sorry, lemme see your arm first", Eun Chae checked and saw a bruise on his right arm. "See, you injured yourself!" She said and ran away to dampen his towel with some cold water and wrapped it around his bruise.

After things had all been settled and the tension seemed to soften, everyone left for home. Hae Rin gave Eun Chae a hug before going back, not forgetting to give Yu Jin a devilish glare. "Darn it, she hates me now," Yu Jin mumbled and scratched his forehead.

Eun Chae and Yu Jin came back home and had some noodles for dinner. Yu Jin felt a bit guilty and awkward because he upset her best friend. But Eun Chae did not appear to mind it at all and she was still very warm-hearted towards him.

"Hey Eun Chae, do you think that Hae Rin will hate me after this?"

"She might, but only for a while. I'm pretty sure she will forget this very soon. You should be worrying about me being mad at you instead," she screwed her face up.

"I'm sorry," he said and pinched her cheek, "I really mean it when I said that."

"Don't be so reckless next time, such tackles can be very dangerous. I don't want you to hurt yourself, understand?"

"OK, I'll take note."

They were peacefully enjoying their food until Eun Chae suddenly had a stomach ache. He clutched her belly and ran into the bathroom to vomit.

"Hey Eun Chae, are you OK?" Yu Jin nervously inquired as soon as he saw her leaving the bathroom.

"Yeah," she nodded her head. But Yu Jin had a bad feeling that there was something wrong with her. It seemed that her health was getting worse.

"If you feel something not alright, then you must tell me, understand?"

"Yeah, I will. But don't worry, I think I'm just having indigestion."

He nodded his head and stared at her. He wished that he could believe what she said, but the fact that she was suffering from a terminal illness kept pinching his heart like tiny needles. The only thing he could do was just to reassure himself that he was just overthinking.

******

Eun Chae had a great passion for astronomy, and she had always been wanting to go stargazing and to watch the meteor shower somewhere outside Seoul. However, she had never had the chance to do that, not even once. This year, or this August to be exact, she would like to do that, not alone, but with Han Yu Jin.