There are Many Flowers in Seoul

Chapter Seventy-Eight

As the plane took off from Jeju, Rose leaned her forehead against the window and watched as the black rocks and beaches sank away beneath them. It was a short flight from the island to the mainland and the aircraft was deathly quiet. Hitomi hadn't uttered a word as they'd left the hotel – save to thank Ikuto for offering them his plane – and had resolutely ignored Rose since.

The moment the seatbelt light dulled, Rose was out of her seat and on her knees in front of Hitomi.

'What do I have to do?' she asked desperately. 'I'll kneel until we land. I'll – I don't know – I'll cut off my hair. All of it! 'Tomi, please, how do I make this up to you?'

Hitomi turned her head from the window and looked down at the grovelling teenager. Rose was on the verge of tears and for once, she wasn't feeling sorry for herself. It pained her to see Hitomi suffering so deeply in Jung-wook's absence. Had he been any other boy, Rose would have threatened to beat him up for dumping her friend like last season's fashion, but given the circumstances, it was easy to see why he'd run for the hills.

How many lighting assistants found out that their girlfriend was the heiress to some obscene fortune?

'I'm not angry at you,' Hitomi said quietly.

'Why?' Rose asked. 'Be angry at me! This is all my fault. Shout at me and hit me! 'Tomi, please, anything other than looking this sad.'

She didn't just look sad, she looked... tired. Like the events of the past twenty-four hours had aged her ten years. Hitomi was usually the first to throw in a humourous comment or to tell Rose that she didn't need whichever boy or fake friend she'd just cut out of her life. They would go to the park and eat vending machine ramen, or make fools of themselves in the game center until they felt better and had forgotten the people who'd hurt them.

If they were home, Rose would know exactly what to do.

But not here.

Not in this place that had done nothing but break them.

No, that wasn't fair.

Korea hadn't done anything to the girls. Everything was Rose's own doing and she wanted Hitomi to vent her frustrations on her. It made it worse that no one was laying all of the blame at her feet. They weren't letting her feel nearly as much shame as she ought for her actions.

'Please,' Rose begged, 'tell me that you hate me for doing this to you. You know that if anyone did something like this to me, I'd have to hold you back so that you didn't break their legs. I hurt you,' Rose said, placing her hand against her chest. 'I broke your heart. I ruined your relationship. Tell me that you hate me and that you never want to speak to me again.'

Hitomi reached down to unfasten her seatbelt and lifted her hand. For a moment, Rose thought that she might really hit her and braced herself for impact. Instead, Hitomi dropped down to her knees and wrapped her arms around Rose's neck, whereupon she began to sob into the girl's shoulder. Rose placed her hand on the back of Hitomi's head and the other upon her back, stroking her spine in a bid to soothe her.

'I really liked him,' Hitomi sniffled. 'I knew we had to go, but I thought that we could make it through that. But... but he said that he didn't want to marry into my family and have to live with my parent's expectations.'

'I'm sorry, 'Tomi.'

Hitomi sat back then, angry tears coursing over her cheeks, her expression one of defiance and misery. 'Who says that my parents would have expectations of him, huh? Did he think I was going to university to play around? It's my family business, I don't need a husband to run it all for me!'