Broken

12

Jeongyeon and Sana had enjoyed spending time with the girls ever since they met them. They found it encouraging that there were girls who found their soulmates earlier than they had and were doing so well already. Nayeon and Momo were a weird combination, both having this carefree and messy image to them, but they worked together so well that nobody would ever question their bond.

Mina, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu were and interesting combination to them. Mina was this goofball wrapped in a gorgeous package, Tzuyu was a sensitive and endearing kid that looked angered with the world simple because she had a hard time completely understanding korean and took a while to think of the words to answer. Chaeyoung looked like those grungy artsy kids, with her disheveled uniform that always seemed to have some ink spilled in it, but was the most level-headed of the entire group (maybe just losing to Jihyo), and seemed to always speak what everyone was thinking.

Jihyo was.... Neither really knew how to define the girl, she wasn't around that much, the others told them she helped the student council, but both always felt complete whenever she was around. It was intriguing to them, and they had many conversations about the topic, but neither had really come up with an explanation. To Sana, Jihyo was the sun that would warm her up whenever their eyes met, but those eyes held a sadness to them that never seemed to fade. For Jeongyeon, Jihyo was a warm fall afternoon, a perfect weather where she could bask in everything it had to offer with no worries.

Sana had made it a mission to herself to find out more about the girl that seemed to offer much more than she ever got. She was friends with the student council president, a strong girl named Jung Eunbi, and asked around a little about Jihyo. Eunji told her Jihyo had shown up and just asked to help with whatever she could, but worked so hard that, after the first three months, there was not much to be done at all. She was happy to hear about the girl's hard work, until Eunbi mentioned Jihyo had been losing a lot of weight and seemed to always be too tired.

Jeongyeon heard from Sana about her findings, so she set out to find more on her own. She found out her sister was Jihyo's homeroom teacher, and decided to ask how the girl was doing. Seungyeon told her Jihyo was one of the most applied students she had ever seen, the girl's file was excellent, and getting into any colleges should be a walk in the park if she kept it up through high school. But Seungyeon also revealed she was worried about the girl's wellbeing. The P.E. teacher had commented Jihyo couldn't participate anymore, something about her knees and her not being well nourished enough to endure.

Seungyeon had also mentioned Jihyo had been looking paler and thinner by the day, and that she had tried to talk to the girl's parents, but was told that it was nothing and she shouldn't waste her time on the girl. Then called the girl in question for a private talk, and was told that it was alright, she didn't want to burden her parents with unimportant things, and apologised to the teacher for the worry. That didn't quite sit well with neither Jeongyeon nor Sana.

They had seen the sadness in Jihyo's eyes more times than they would admit, it would be there whenever they approached the girl, hidden behind a polite smile and a kindness they didn't really believe completely. Both were drawn to the girl by something they couldn't explain, they even befriended her friends, who were really nice as well, but the entire group still felt distant, like there was something they knew but would never be spoken aloud.

Jeongyeon and Sana knew about each other, Jeong was a lovable theatre kid, most of the school thought her to be a rather good actress with a distinct sense of humor. Sana was a biology nerd, she was known to be hanging around the greenhouse most days, or at the biology lab experimenting with whatever she thought was interesting that day. But neither really knew of Jihyo until the stairs accident, nor did they know each other personally.

They found out Jihyo was a nice girl, mostly spent time in the council helping out with paperwork, all the officials had only great things to say about her. Then Jeongyeon discovered her cousin was friends with the girl but refused to really talk about her. Sana decided she wanted to get to know Jihyo no matter the rejection the entire group seemed to have towards her, and so, she dragged Jeongyeon with her.

Sana had some classes with Nayeon, others with Momo and one with both. They were a nice couple, both seemed like walking disasters, but fit each other perfectly. So, she decided to talk more with them, try and get closer to the group little by little, maybe starting with the ones she had more access to. And so she went.

Jeongyeon, on the other hand, had her cousin, who was friends with her target, and had shared P.E. with Mina. Her and Chaeyoung weren't that close, but knew each other well enough to be friendly with each other. Mina was a hard one, though, she looked so composed and unapproachable, especially when she was with her tall girlfriend. Chaeyoung did add to the untouchable atmosphere of the trio, but she was family, so Jeong felt a bit more comfortable around her.

Both girls made some progress, but never with Jihyo herself, they were fairly well received by the girl's friend group, they were all nothing like what they seemed, and nice girls as well. Jihyo showed up every once in a while, but just ate quickly and left for somewhere they could never find. The others seemed to be more than happy whenever that happened, but Jeongyeon and Sana were always frustrated about that.

They got a lot closer over their endeavour, and, at some point, decided to start dating, they were soulmates afterall, and both enjoyed each other a lot. That turned out to leave a permanent bitter taste in their mouths, by the unforeseen turnout. When they told everyone, Jihyo had come for lunch that day, the mystery girl just stopped eating and left, not even having finished her already small meal. On the following days, at least one of the girls would be missing, they also all drew back a little, the wall getting a bit thicker.

Neither really understood, but persisted on their mission to get closer to them all, especially the, now, missing girl. Jeongyeon had tried to ask Chaeyoung about it, as to why they acted like they did, and how was Jihyo doing, why did she disappear, but the little cousin never really answered to any of it, just gave dismissive answers and played it off as Jeongyeon being paranoid or something.

Sana went on to ask Nayeon and Momo, the duo were kind and lighthearted, so she hoped they would put her worries to rest. Hoped was the right word, as the couple would divert the conversation to something else, or never answer at all. Both were, much to contrast the image they had, very sharp and quick witted, so they never really cracked nor spilled anything, to Sana's dismay.

Then summer vacation came up, and their efforts went, pretty much, all down the drain. They never met anyone from the group, Jeongyeon's shifts never coincided with Jihyo's, as she actually took some time off and the girl worked irregular hours, and Chaeyoung was never really home, either at one of her girlfriends, or at the library, sometimes at home, but with her girlfriends, so those times were not good for Jeongyeon to try and talk to the girl.

Sana was even less lucky, as she wasn't really that close to any of the others, and just had Jeongyeon's workplace as a reference, she did try to go and meet Jihyo there, but is was either full, Jihyo had been sent to work somewhere at the back, or wasn't working on the day at all. She gave up by the second week. They talked and decided they would just enjoy their vacation and try again when the next school year began.

They just didn't take into account the day their girl wouldn't be there anymore.