Shenanigans

43

That day began like any other normal ones before that. Uneventful and plain. Routined and familiar.

I wish it had ended that way.

Later, I figured that bad days always started like that; peacefully. The sun shined like it always did, and the cold November morning showed no sign of a foul mood.

However, I had no one to blame but myself, until many winters after that, for not seeing it coming.

It was a Saturday. Two weeks before CSAT. Worst day of my life.

Things were normal and on schedule. Everything was going as I planned. Studying was getting stressful but it was on track. Sleep were scarce but that was how it should be. Meal was good and I had never expected less from my mom.

I woke up at 9 after staying up until 4 in the morning. After breakfast, I continued revising on the Chemistry I left off yesterday. Mom asked if I was going anywhere but I told her I would most likely just stayed at home.

Truth was, I wanted to see Hana so bad but I was unable to contact her since yesterday as she didn't pick up her phone. My texts weren't replied, not even read.

She didn't come to school on Thursday which got me worried but when I called her during lunch, she said she wasn't feeling well and that she might not come to school the next day as well. When I said I'm dropping over later to check on her, she adamantly convinced me that she was fine and it was really unnecessary. I thought of dropping by anyway but she insisted that all she wanted was rest and to not be disturbed.

So basically, the last time I had seen her was Wednesday, at school. I was thinking of going to her house on Friday when she didn't answer my calls but she had told me before that Hanbin would take care of her.

So I had hold on to that.

That she was okay. That she was taken care of. That nothing was wrong.

Thinking back, I wonder how it would've turned out if only I had followed my gut and checked on her that Thursday night. What if I had dropped by on Friday to see if she was okay. What if I hadn't wait until Saturday evening to call Hanbin and asked.

"I thought she was staying over at your house this weekend ?"

My breath was knocked out of my lungs when I heard the panic in Hanbin's voice. He was no less surprised than I was. Both of us realised later that something was clearly wrong, and that was how we decided to check on her together .

I didn't even remember driving to her house. My mind was jumbled up with millions of thoughts that were obviously not helping. I had felt it in my gut, that whatever I was going to find at Hana's house wasn't going to be pretty.

Hanbin reached the house a few minutes after I did, since he lived a bit further from the neighbourhood. His troubled face only made me more worried. At that moment, I did not want to face whatever I might have to once I stepped in through that door.

The air was chilly as winter was nearing, making me pulled my coat closer to my body as I got out of the car. My breath came out in puff of white smoke as I exhaled. The sun just finished her shift, already accustoming its schedule in preparation for the long winter night that would visit soon.