invisible string | park wonbin

14

Wonbin's POV

I gently stroked her hair, as Yuljin laid on my shoulder. I looked out of the window as the bus went by many buildings.

Just a few weeks ago, she laid on my shoulder and I wasn't allowed to be with her.

Now, she's my girlfriend again.

A small smile crept up on my face. To not look like a psycho, I looked down and smile to hide my face.

Just then, I saw a familiar building and I quickly pressed the stop button. I woke Yuljin up, and we got off the bus.

"Are you sure you're ready?" She nodded, "My doctor told me to slowly conquer my thoughts, and one of it is to face it."

I nodded, "If anytime of the way you feel uncomfortable, we can j-" She nodded, "You've repeated this at least 3 times on the bus. I get it, I'll tell you when I feel uncomfortable." Yuljin chuckled.

She wrapped her arms around my arm, as I walked us to the place.

"This is Bora." I pointed at the urn before us. "She's really pretty." Yuljin said, as she inched closer.

She turned to face me, "What's Bora like?"

"She's really fun and energetic," I chuckled, "We always say that she's like the sunshine of the club, and she's really sociable, and is friends with everyone so we like to say that she's the face of the club."

I handed her a flower, and we paid our respect before heading upstairs.

When we got upstairs, I bit my lips, preventing my tears from falling. "This is Hyunjung." Yuljin noticed, and she side hugged me, "He's also my childhood friend."

"He's also the reason why we got together, and why I even got a guitar in the first place." I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Hyunjung is literally the nicest and kindest person I've ever met."

I chuckled, "He can't even kill a bug. Every time our club room has a bug, he couldn't bear to kill it so he would scoop it onto a paper and bring it out to the field." I looked up at the picture on his urn.

"I really owe him a lot." My voice cracked while saying it, as tears uncontrollably rolled down my face.

We paid our respect, and we went to the last urn.

"Dohyun is the most talented person. The reason why you guys even went for the road trip was because she was about to be enrolled into one of the top music school in the world."

I let out a sigh, "Dohyun may seemed the most unhinged, but she cares a lot for the club. She always face such a stern face, but she has a huge heart."

I grabbed Yuljin's hand, "She was also your best friend." I could feel her grip tightening.

"Are you okay?" Yuljin looked up at me with tears in her eyes, "I think I need to leave." I nodded, and we paid our respect before leaving.

We sat at the bus stop in silence. I placed an arm around Yuljin, "All of them seemed like such nice and talented people, I feel bad that they were taken away so early."

I nodded, "Sometimes life don't work out the way we want it to." I pulled her closer, "But one thing I know is that they lived their lives to the fullest."

"And I'm very sure they would never want you to feel bad about whatever happened, and they would want you to live your life to the fullest as well." She buried her face in my chest.

We stayed like this for a while, until our bus came.

Throughout the bus ride, Yuljin and I remained silent as we just stared out of the window. It was a really heavy feeling returning to see our friends again.

To think that we're now 17 and they'll always be 15.

I pressed the stop button, and I grabbed motioned Yuljin to get off. "If we're 15, why was Jiyeon allowed to drive?"

"Jiyeon was one of the senior that we were closest to in the club. She's also Dohyun's sister." Yuljin pursed her lips, "How is she?"

I shrugged, "We weren't allowed to come see her for a really long time since she wasn't stable."

When we arrived outside Jiyeon's room, I peered in through the little glass window to see her looking out at her phone, looking really chill.

I knocked on the door, and she looked over. "I'll go in first." Yuljin nodded, and I went in.

"How are you?" I asked, as I sat down on the chair by her bed. "I've been well, I got better after getting some help." She took a deep breath.

"I still feel guilty about the whole incident, but I'm learning to cope with it." She smiled.

I nodded, "How's Yuljin? I heard she lost her memory." I nodded, "Recently she got some of it back, but she's also seeing a therapist to help her cope with it."

Jiyeon pursed her lips as she looked out of the window, "I'm sorry Wonbin." She turned back to face me, "I heard you had to disappear from her life because she kept getting reminded of the accident when she saw you."

I sighed, "No one wanted that, so don't blame yourself for it."

"By the way, Yuljin is actually here to see you. Are you okay to see her?" Jiyeon's eyes became teary, "Is she okay to see me?"

I nodded, "That's why she's here." She chuckled.

"I'll let her in." I said, and she nodded.

I helped Yuljin in, and she sat by Jiyeon. "I know you may not remember who am I, but I'm really sorry Yuljin." She held her hands.

Yuljin smiled, "It's not your fault. You drove safely, but it's unfortunate that people drink and drive." Jiyeon smiled back.

Seeing how the situation between them got better, I left the room to let them be alone.

After a while, Yuljin came out of the room and she walked towards me. Before I could react, she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug.

I could feel her tears drenching a part of my sweater.

7 December 2023