There are Many Flowers in Seoul

Chapter Sixty-Three

The one person Rose could count on to understand her plight was Hitomi. Whenever she had a problem with a guy, her family, or Yuta, Hitomi was always there to listen to her complain until she tired herself out. After all, that's what friends were for. Furious after Yuta had talked down to her like a child, Rose flung open the door and slammed it closed behind her, the handle quivering with the force. Just as she opened her mouth, ready to complain loudly about how unfair her life was, she was hit square in the face by a pillow. It dropped harmlessly to the floor and it took Rose a moment to register that Hitomi had been behind it.

'What was that for?' she asked, bemused by the assault. 'Do you have any idea the kind of night I've had?'

The question earned Rose another pillow to the face. It was swiftly followed by a second to the stomach and a third to the shoulder. After she deflected the fourth, Hitomi switched to flinging the few plush toys she'd brought on the journey with her, including the small bunny Rose had won her in the arcade before they'd left Japan.

'Enough! Enough!' Rose demanded. 'What did I do to you?!'

'What did you do?!' Hitomi shouted back furiously. 'You abandoned me at karaoke! You ran off with Tae-won and left me to spend the night being insulted by Jin-hee! And you still think everything is about you!'

Rose bent down and gathered up the pillows in her arms. A mature girl would have deposited them onto the bed and talked to her friend to find out what was bothering her. Rose had never professed to be so mature and instead hurled the pillows back at Hitomi one by one in rapid succession. 'I just got chewed out by Yuta! He told me that I'm wasting my life! He said I have leave Tae-won, and you're throwing pillows at me and complaining about that bitch like that's somehow worse!'

'What's worse is that you've forgotten that other people have lives and problems,' Hitomi argued. 'You think I'm not hurting because I have to leave Jung-wook soon? You think I'm not annoyed that I have to spend all my time alone watching you take photos with hot models while everyone forgets that I exist? You think I'm not sick of just being Rose Abe's best friend instead of my own person? I want my life back, Rose!'

'You know why we can't, if they find out –'

'About you! Because you hate your life. I get it, I do,' Hitomi said, 'but I didn't hate my life.'

Rose didn't consider herself to be a selfish person. She'd done everything her teachers and parents had told her, hadn't argued with the girls she knew were trying to be her friend only because of her money so that every day would be peaceful, had never broken the law, and was never cruel. The trip to Korea was the first time in her life she'd acted in her own interest. Yet, for some reason, Hitomi was treating her like someone who thought she was at the centre of the universe.

Was it so wrong that she wanted to talk about her problems with her friend?

No

Was it wrong for her to think that those problems were a hundred times worse than any Hitomi might be facing?

Possibly.

The fact of the matter was, Rose hadn't once considered how Hitomi might feel about any of the things they'd said or done since they'd arrived. Both girls had lied about their identities, Rose had abandoned Hitomi whenever she'd wanted to be with Tae-won, and she'd expected her friend to keep her relationship a secret on her behalf. Some might expect a friend to do all these things without question – and Rose knew if their roles were reversed she'd have done the same for Hitomi – but it was natural that a person would feel an immense level of pressure while dealing with their own issues and the weight of another person's secrets.