"No, Jimin, life was never fair," she whispered with love, before taking her last breath.
_____
The past. It always has been the past.
When Park Jimin and Song Jinhee got together, it was because they needed each other to carry on with their new li...
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Kim Chin An, 14, Nine Years Ago
"Okay," Chin pushed the ice cream tub across the worktable towards Jinhee. Then she gave her a 'tell-me-everything-and-I-mean-everything' look while trying to make herself comfortable on the chair. "Spill."
Jinhee's cheeks reddened slightly. Her hair had grown back, short and black with hints of brown. It had already reached her chin, but started falling back out since her chemo resumed. She took the tub, dipping a spoon into the soft, creamy goodness. "What is there to spill? I met a guy, that's it."
Chin flicked a spoon irritably. Sometimes Jinhee was just really useless at girl talk. "I know that. Tell me about him! Who he is, what he looks like, how you met him, how many inches do you think his second head is... The important stuff! Come on, Jinhee. Stop leaving me in suspense."
Jinhee laughed, if slightly hysterical. "His name is Kyungmin, he's 17. I met him in chemo about three weeks ago, bump into him in the cafeteria about two days after we met. We hanged out, we talked. He's on a ward on 3rd floor, he has AML; he'd been admitted since last year. I have no idea and would rather not think about how long Kyungmin's second head is. There, is that enough?"
Chin frowned. Not because Jinhee didn't know how long Kyungmin's other head was (well, partially because of that) but because the word 'AML' came out of Jinhee's mouth. AML, or acute myeloid leukemia, was also a kind of blood cancer, almost but not exactly the same as Jinhee's. There was nothing wrong about Jinhee finding a boyfriend material in the hospital, but finding a leukemia patient boyfriend? Well, that's another matter. She couldn't help but feel disappointed and scared; what if this Kyungmin died and Jinhee stopped fighting? Yes, it was impossible for Kyungmin to die first, since Jinhee's case was far more rare and dangerous, but Jinhee has been fighting for 14 years now and still fighting. This boyfriend of hers had just started fighting, he was still weak. He could be a threat to her, and by threat, Chin meant emotionally.
Chin could almost see a pattern of stories growing, all tragic, sad ending ones, all of it ending with someone or everyone dying. But she shut down that thought at once. She should be happy for Jinhee. Jinhee was making a step, a baby step, but a step nevertheless to being a normal teenage girl.
She gave her smile, a fake one, but still a smile, trying to hide her real feelings. Then she gasped dramatically in realization. "He's a floor above us? My god, I've been so missing out. What does he look like? Please tell me you picked a hot guy."
Jinhee laughed once more. "He's cute, I guess."
"That's it? That's all you're telling me?" Chin sniffed, then aggressively murdered the mint ice cream with her spoon. "Fine, be like that. Just don't expect me to tell you anything when I get my own man. My own hot one, may I add."
Her friend giggled at her. Chin smiled then lowered her tub. "Jinhee."
"Hmm?"
"I'm proud of you," She placed a spoonful of mint ice cream on Jinhee's cookies and cream one. "You may not be a hot guy boyfriend hunter but yeah, I'm proud of you."
