..........................................
Without any response, Joon just kept staring at the floor with his hands shaking. Meanwhile, Jumi was secretly watching them with her tears flowing like a river. She opened her eyes widely and covered her mouth with her hand in order to prevent her sobbing sound to be heard.............
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt, neither you nor Jumi. I’m sorry for hurting you, Rena! You can put all the blame on me but please conclude everything here. Jumi, she’s hurt enough. I.... I.... I just don’t want to see her being hurt anymore. I can do whatever you want me to as long as you’re not going to hurt Jumi again.”
“JOON!!! STOP IT!”
Joon and Rena suddenly turned to the door as they had heard a girl’s voice. Jumi, who had been standing still by the door with tears flowing all over her face, sobbed and spoke out......
“You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to take all the blame. You don’t have to go down on your knee. You don’t have to beg and you don’t have to tell her not to hurt me anymore. Joon! I can handle it. I can handle everything. You shouldn’t be doing all these things.”
Joon responded......
“I’m just doing what I have to. Don’t tell me not to do it.”
Jumi stared at him with eyes full of pain and yelled.......
“Don’t you know that it’s annoying??? You think I was hurt because of you and her. Actually, I was not! So you should just stop doing these. They are nothing but useless.”
Rena was a bit surprised that Jumi had said something like that out. Joon turned slowly to Jumi and responded with a smile......
“Alright! I’m sorry for being annoying. From now on, I won’t annoy you anymore.”
Joon said and tried to stand back up but he suddenly collapsed and lost conscious. Jumi turned to him and yelled with her eyes wide opened.....
“JOON!!!!!”
She suddenly ran toward him and held him in her arms. Jumi shook him and said with tears flowing.....
“Joon!!! Joon!!! Wake up! Joon!!!”
Eventually, Jumi and Rena ended up at the hospital after trying their best to take Joon there......
“Doctor! How is Joon?”
Jumi immediately ran toward the doctor and asked as soon as he walked out of the patient room. The doctor responded.....
“He’s fine now. He caught a serious cold but he didn’t take a rest. His temperature kept going up and caused him to collapse but he’s ok now. You don’t have to worry anymore.”
Jumi bowed and said.....
“Thank you so much.”
As the doctor had left, Jumi stared at Joon’s unconscious body on the bed through the mirror window with her tears flowing non-stop. Without looking at Jumi, Rena just walked straight into the room but Jumi suddenly grabbed her hand and said.......
“Please don’t mention about me in front of Joon anymore. I will do as you said. I will stay away from him. I will never get close to him again but please do not ever make him hurt or sad. I’m leaving now. Take a good care of him.”
Jumi let Rena hand go and walked away without turning back. She seemed strong from the back but in fact she had been crying until she almost ran out of tears already......
((Even though it’s hard to carry on, I still have to do this. I’m sorry Joon. I’ve never wanted to do it but it just left me no choice. We’ve been walking through the same road for quite long but now we already reach the separate way and it’s also time to say goodbye. Goodbye my endless memory!))
........................................................................
A few days had passed and Joon was fully recovered. He was back to school and realized many things had been changed. Jumi had moved to sit at the back where was far away from him. She had been acting as if they were strangers. She walked pass him, without even taking a glimpse at him. Her eyes and expressions were totally changed. Her smile had faded away by times. Jumi had turned into someone, who was not as cheerful as usual..........
One day of spring, Jumi was walking out of the school campus alone while Joon was following her. She turned around and realized Joon had been walking toward her. She looked around and accidentally saw Haru driving pass there......
“Haru senpai!!!”
Haru suddenly stopped his motorbike and said....
“Oh hey Jumi!”
Without any words, Jumi walked toward Haru and said.....
“Haru senpai! Could you give me a lift?”
Haru smiled and responded......
“Sure! Hop on!”
Jumi took a glimpse at Joon and got on Haru’s motorbike. Haru could feel something strange between Jumi and Joon. He took a look at Joon, who was staring straight at Jumi, and drove away. Joon had been staring at them until he lost sight of them without realizing Rena had been standing and watching him from a corner. 10 minutes later, Jumi ended up sitting on a bench at the park. A while later, Haru walked in with 2 cups of hot chocolate. He handed one to Jumi and took a seat next to her. Jumi accepted it and said....
“Thank you Haru senpai.”
Haru stared at her for a second and said.......
“Jumi! May I ask you something?”
“Sure! Go ahead!”
“Is there anything wrong between you and that flower boy?”
Jumi looked away and pretended to not know who Haru had referred to....
“Flower boy? Who?”
“The one who followed you earlier.”
Jumi replied in a low voice....
“You mean Joon?”
“Yeah!”
Jumi escaped Haru’s eyes and said....
“No. There’s nothing wrong.”
“For real??? Then does that mean you guys ended your friendship?”
Jumi suddenly exclaimed......
“Yeah???”
Haru smiled and responded......
“A girl, who used to take risk in order to stop a guy from fighting, is ignoring him. Doesn’t that mean your friendship ended?”
“No.... It’s not something like that, senpai.”
“Then what’s wrong? Your eyes are telling me that you’re lying.”
Jumi sighed and said....
“What can I hide from you?”
“Hiding and enduring the pain alone is not the best solution. You should just let it out sometimes.”
Jumi looked at the kids, who were playing in the playground, and said......
“There are moments in life when we have to let something go, even it’s important or even it gives us so much meaning to hold on to. And it seems like I’m standing right in that moment. I have to let him go to somewhere he can find the meaning of his life without me.”
Haru stared at her and replied......
“You think he can be happy without you? Taking a look at his expression just now, I seem to know that he’s not fine without you after all.”
Jumi smiled and responded......
“He was not but sooner or later he will. I’m able to let him go even though he’s so important to me. The same for him, one day he will be able to let me go as well.”
Haru stared at Jumi’s smiling face and couldn’t describe how hard she had been through to put that fake smile up on her face.........
............................................................
“Joon senpai! What’s wrong? You’ve been looking distracted recently. Is something bothering you?”
Misa talked to Joon, who was sitting alone on a bench in the school garden. Joon turned to her and responded.....
“Well..... Nothing really. I’ve just been a little bit tired recently.”
“Ah I see. Anyway, why are you alone? Where’s Jumi senpai? I haven’t seen her around for a while.”
Joon smiled and replied........
“She’s kind of busy. Alright! I’ve got to go now. Good bye Misa!”
He said and walked away. Misa stared at him and couldn’t help noticing something strange when Jumi was mentioned.........................
...............................................................
“Hey guys! Culture festival is coming.”
“Yeah yeah! It’s going to be fun.”
“Pretty girls in Yukata Kimono (a kind of Japanese traditional cotume)! Wow!!!”
It looked like everyone was excited about the coming culture festival, except for Joon and Jumi, who were sitting silently in the room full of noise. Time had passed by slowly and it was already time to go home. Jumi put her school supplements in her bag and walked to the door. As she was walking expressionlessly, someone slowly followed her and then came to walk beside her. Jumi was kind of distracted and she couldn’t even tell someone had been walking beside her and staring at her until he spoke out......
“Where’s your spirit, Jumi?”
Jumi suddenly turned astonished. He turned to her left side and exclaimed....
“Kei! You surprised me!”
“I did? It’s not like I surprise you but you were distracted by yourself. Something’s wrong?”
Jumi smiled and responded....
“Nahhh... Nothing.”
“Ahhh... Is that so?”
Kei smiled and replied....
“Anyway, are you coming to culture festival?”
“Um.... Let me think.”
“You have to come, ok?”
Jumi seemed hesitant....
“Well.... Um....”
“I want to see you in Kimono so you have to come.”
Kei said and smiled cutely. Jumi couldn’t help and smiled at Kei’s childish expression. Meanwhile, Joon was watching them from a distance expressionlessly........
......................................
A few days had passed and the culture festival finally came......
“My little girl looks so much like a pretty grown-up woman today.”
Jumi’s mother, who was tying up Jumi’s baby pink Yutaka Kimono, looked at her in the mirror and praised. Jumi, whose hair was tied up as a bun with a diamond butterfly clip, smiled and said.....
“Your Kimono is so pretty. You must be looking very beautiful in it.”
“Not as beautiful as you my dear.”
Suddenly, the door bell was ringed. Jumi turned to her mother and said....
“Maybe Kei’s already arrived. Mum! I’m going now. Take care!”
“Ok... You too dear. Be careful!”
As Jumi opened the door, a tall guy was standing and turning his back at the door. Jumi smiled and said....
“Kei! Let’s go!”
As he turned around and saw Jumi, he suddenly turned stiff and stared at her without a blink. Jumi waved her hand in front of his face and said....
“Kei! Are you ok???”
“Oh??? Yeah, I am. Jumi! You..... look... so pretty today.”
Jumi smiled and responded.....
“Thank you.”
After walking to the festival and enjoying the festival for a while, Kei spoke out.....
“Jumi! The fireworks will be up soon. Let’s go and find a place to sit.”
“Um... Alright.”
As they were looking for a place to sit, they suddenly bumped into Joon, who was walking with Rena, who was hanging on to his arm. The 4 of them suddenly stopped. Joon stared at Jumi who was staring back at him expressionlessly. After seconds, Jumi turned to Kei and said....
“Kei! Let’s go!”
She grabbed Kei’s hand and dragged him out of there. As Jumi was ignoring Joon and walking pass him without caring to take a glimpse at him, he suddenly grabbed her hand and caused her to stop walking. Jumi turned to Joon and said expressionlessly.....
“Let go of my hand!”
Without any responses, Joon just kept on holding her hand. Meanwhile, Rena and Kei were surprisingly staring at them in the same expressions. Jumi sighed and said in a bit heavy tone of voice.....
“I said let go of my hand!!!”
Kei, who couldn’t stand watching the situation, suddenly yelled.....
“Hey! She told you to let go of her hand. Don’t you hear that?”
Without a word, Joon snatched his arm from Rena’s hand and dragged Jumi with him, without caring that Rena and Kei were staring at him and Jumi with their eyes wide opened............
.......................................................
JuLinA
Stay tuned to the 39th episode
Thanks for reading...
I hope you enjoy.... :"3
