hailey has no idea if jieun notices how uncomfortable she gets whenever sheâs voicing her feelings. even though sheâs there, opening up about these awfully traumatic experiences of hers, there is still something on her core that whispers sheâs not supposed to tell this to anyone. that she is supposed to put a smile on her face and shrug it off and pretend sheâs the same girl sheâs always been. hailey always pretends. she pretends sheâs stripped of pessimism and negativeness until this sounds a lot like the truth. the brunette denies the depth of her own character in order to keep her piece of mind and her reputation before others. she prefers to appear stainless than to show her wounds.Â
her muscles are tense when the older female touches her and hailey feels like the mere touch can send her crumbling down. sheâs just as an ash pile, standing until someone touches it. as soon as someoneâs hands are on her, she would fall back to the ground. but she swallows and holds everything in. her head tilts and she offers a thankful smile to jieun, because she grasped just whatâs important about haileyâs speech. once, the guilt was so great she couldnât barely breathe and though everyone mirrored her sunbaeâs words, she never believed them. she was his girlfriend. he was the one she loved and yet she ended up watching him die without much noise. she thinks things are different now, but in the end she always wonders - are they really?
nods are the company to jieunâs words and she looks to the ground, her shoe making strange drawings on the dust. everything she said hit home hard and hailey sighs, putting her hand over her friendâs for a second or two. âiâm sorry. for your friend, i meanâ she bites on her bottom lip, then, looking towards the graves. hailey just nods and starts making a path she knows way too well. the green grass being crushed by her feet is the only sound between them. hailey doesnât say anything else, feeling her stomach clenching uncomfortably like it always did when she visited aiden.Â
she gets to the grave in increasingly slow steps until she stops completely. her hands shake slightly and silent tears roll down her face because it always hits her just how much this is real and definitive. that his body is buried under the ground and sheâll never see him again, or touch him or hear him laugh. because he is dead and he isnât coming back. hailey would rather have broken up with him tragically. she would rather have him as an enemy than a dead lover. all over the marble surface there are dumb stickers of things he liked and a dry chuckle leaves her lips because she knows heâd love it if he could see it. he was so dumb but so, so very lovable.
an unsure glance is spent towards jieun before she takes another step towards the grave. hailey sets the flowers down, crouching down and staying that way, forearms resting on her knees. âheyâ she whispers, hesitantly. she knows he canât answer and she isnât sure he can listen, but thereâs something nice about talking. âi brought you flowers. i didnât know what else to bring, donât complain.â she chuckles. âi... things changed a lot since the last time i was here. did you see that i got into royal? you know, that company i really liked? yeah, iâm a trainee now. iâll bring my first album signed by me when i debut, youâre welcomeâ she sighs then, her breath quickly becoming a sob. hailey wants to say she misses him, but she prefers not to, hiding her face behind the sleeve of her shirt. she gets up quickly, moving away from the grave as if it would make her stop crying immediately. her breath is short, cut by her sobs and she looks to jieun between teary eyes. âsorry for this, unnieâ hailey manages to say before tears take over her again. âi just... i-i really wanted... to see him... i... i really wanted him... to see where i am nowâ and then she covers her face again.Â
she is a pile of ashes and itâs aiden who sends her crumbling down.Â