It was after Christmas. And then another year pulled through. It was eventually 2022. Fasting forward to mid-April, nearly May, Bianca’s school year had been active and happy.
This year went by so fast, she thought, I had never thought that school’s in Korea would still have westernized culture within.
Although, she still missed England. A lot. London was her heart and home. But unfortunately, her father had died and her mother took up a job all of the way in Seoul. So, Bianca had to say goodbye to all of the things that she had close to her dearly and move away.
Meanwhile, Bianca was at home, when Bahiyyih suddenly called her.
“Hello?” Bianca answered.
“Bianca,” said Bahiyyih, “At school, they are having a traditional Korean event. I want so much for you to attend. We can go together!”
“Is it like the Japanese one?”
“It is similar, however, it is more on the Korean side.”
Bianca thought for a moment.
I did see her with Jake that time. But that was also the time of my dream! I shouldn’t have cried so much, either.
“‘Kay, I’ll be there.”
“Cool! I’ll send you the address to rent a hanbok, alright?”
“Is that the traditional dress in the country?”
“Yup! Very pretty designs, those dresses have. See you then!”
“Okay, buh-bye.”
Bianca then met Bahiyyih at the street rental warehouse, where tourists rent a hanbok. Of course, the traditional ones were way more expensive than the others. Bianca was fazed.
Honestly, it would be better if rentals were more expensive than the traditional ones.
But the designs were beautiful and colorful. That was what Bianca loved about them. But sadly, the pink and white one that she was eyeing on was too expensive.
But as her best friend, Bahiyyih found the perfect, and affordable, one. It was in pink and a blue shade that Bianca adored.
She tried it on.
A perfect fit!
*~*~*~*~*~*
While at the festival, Bahiyyih and Bianca, the best friends they were, did most of the shopping and the foodies. But while they were on their way to the decorated bridge, they spotted Jake and Jungwon also dressed traditionally.
Bianca blushed at the seams.
“What’s the matter?” asked Bahiyyih.
“He’s so beautiful!” Bianca mumbled aloud.
Bahiyyih crushed on Jungwon and Bianca crushed on Jake. But Bianca never knew about Bahiyyih’s crush.
“Do you like Jungwon?” asked Bianca.
“Even if I didn’t, he is so adorable!” Bahiyyih squealed.
They then walked away. However, it was nearly impossible to forget about the boys. Everywhere they went, the thought of the boys being there would not go away.
“What should we do?” Bianca asked, “I wasn’t planning on hanging out with anybody else.”
“We could hang out with them, as if we were old friends of theirs.”
But the girls blushed more.
Bahiyyih and Bianca continued celebrating the event at the city park. When they went their separate ways, since they had school tomorrow, Jake caught up with her halfway home.
“Bianca,” he hollered.
Bianca turned around and waited for Jake to advance beside her.
“I thought I saw you with Bahiyyih earlier tonight. Or this afternoon, since it began during sunset.”
“You did?” asked Bianca.
“Mm-hm,” said Jake, “The fact is, I wanted to join you. But of course, you would feel flustered and shy about it. So I thought that I would let you have your day and me and Jungwon would have ours.”
Bianca nodded.
“Well,” she said, “I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
“What do you mean?” asked Jake, “It’s our Spring break. There’s nothing to do at school. Unless it was those extracurricular classes the other school tried to make us do, then I guess that’s one thing.”
“That’s still there?”
“No…but if it was, then I wouldn’t attend anyways.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
I’m not fine, thought Bianca, I thought I could have one chance with Jake. But he had to choose another girl.
Bianca sat alone. She didn’t even recognize Bahiyyih, since she had darkened her hair slightly. She felt as if he did not care about her anymore. She was overcome with anguish.
She then sat alone in the little auditorium. Another guy came for some odd reason.
“Jongseong?” she asked.
“Bianca,” said Jongseong, springfully, “Why are you here by yourself? Jake was out looking for you.”
“Was he really? I guess he was going to explain that I was not good enough for him! Hmph!”
Jongseong sat down next to Bianca and smiled, but it was more like a smirk if you only thought about it the first few times.
“He was actually with his cousin Bahiyyih.”
“It’s always Bahiyyih,” huffed Bianca, “Out of all of the people in his life, why did he pick her to be his emotional support?!”
Jongseong chuckled.
“He doesn’t have any other girlfriend,” he said, “Jake actually has feelings for you. Trust me, he does. He once said he wanted to meet you and Bahiyyih at the Spring Festival before break began. But he said you left straight afterwards.”
“I thought we had school the next day.”
“But we didn’t. He also said he thought you were a little disappointed that he might have made you think you showed up late.”
Bianca frowned.
“What else does he even like about me? In fact, why does he even like me at all?!”
“Well, first off, you are pretty.”
“No, I’m not!” Bianca shouted.
“Oh, yes, you are,” said Jongseong, crossing his arms, “Even with those glasses, you are seemingly very smart.”
Humph!
“But he also thinks that you are so sweet to everyone and you consider yourself first before anyone else. And you don’t care what anyone else thinks.”
“Okay?”
“And one more thing. He likes you for who you are and never wants to change anything. If you do change, then he won’t know who you are anymore.”
Bianca began to weep; Jongseong wrapped his two arms around her.
“I have been so foolish! Why was I blind enough to not see his lovely nature? And why did I ignore this fact from a long time ago?”
“You and Jake knew each other from a long time ago? It’s no wonder he mentions you a lot in the group chat.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
“You mention Bianca a lot in the group chat nowadays and you never seem to stop thinking about either,” said Sunghoon.
“Why would you say that?” asked Jake.
“She just seems so young for you, even though you are only two years apart.” said Yoongi.
“I know…I consider her as my little sister.”
Bianca passed by soon after. Jake ran to follow her. But she looked as if she wasn’t in the mood to talk to people or even to any of her friends.
“Bianca!” Jake called, “Bianca! Wait up!”
Exaggerated, Bianca turned to face the dashing Jake. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
“Bianca,” panted Jake, “I know you are so upset with me right now. But I want you to know that I am not in any other relationship with any other student. You are the only one that I like from here, and I want to stay as close to you as possible before I head off to college.”
But Bianca stood still, struggling to keep her scowl. But everything that Jongseong reminded her crackled her up. She then began to well up with tears.
“Please, Bianca…forgive me…I’ll let you be mad at me for the rest of the day, but can you at least be happy right now, in this very moment between you and me. Please, I beg of you.”
But Bianca broke down crying. She cried uncontrollably. She finally figured that Jake really loved her to bits, when she didn’t notice it happening.
“You really did love me,” she sobbed and gasped, “It really is you from my previous school!”
Jake ran to her and wrapped his arms around her, forming a soft embrace. Bianca sniffled and laid her head on Jake’s chest.
“Bianca,” said Jake, caressing her head gently, “You only ignored me and said that you were busy constantly because you thought that you had no chance to date me. You thought that I was out of your league. Trust me, Bianca, I am just two years older than you.”
“Then Bahiyyih really is your cousin, right?”
“Half cousin. Their father, meaning Huening Kai is her elder brother and Huening Lea is her elder sister, married my mother’s sister, and now, she has been my cousin ever since.”
“I see,” said Bianca, as her voice broke slightly, “So have you been close to each other?”
“Yup. But not so much with her siblings, even though I contact them through the phone. She was the only one that did not want to be an idol.”
Bianca nodded.
One tear fell out of her eye. But Jake was there to wipe it off.
“I don’t mean to make you sad. I wouldn’t dare make Bahiyyih sad either. Besides…she liked Jungwon better than me, so…I guess you too are even.”
“Jake…I am so sorry about the fuss I made. It was not intentional or anything else. But I am sorry about thinking that you were dating and had a girlfriend. And I’m sorry about not noticing you sooner. And, finally, thinking that your own cousin was your girlfriend.”
“It’s okay. Honestly, those things always happened often before I came here, even though Bahiyyih is much younger than me, and very tall for her age.”
“Still…I’m very sorry.”