Querencia

19

She smiled, too proud of herself.

This masterpiece was not the first time she did it, but even after thousands of times, she was still proud of herself.

When she tried baking brownies for the first time, Juyeon and Freya were the judges, they had completely fallen for it ever since. Juyeon kept requesting it afterward and she could not be happier than that.

She would be pleased to bake it and give it to him though there were no special occasions. She would create a reason like she was trying a new recipe and so she wanted him to taste it.

Lies.

Well, she did take advantage of Juyeon in that term. Knowing how Juyeon always believed her and always listened to all her stories, she thought it would not be excessive to lie. After all, she still did a good deed.

Giving him something though she had never revealed the real reason.

And today, upon hearing how the male complimented her brownies the other day, she woke super early just to bake some for him.

"Stupid", she cussed under her breath in the kitchen, suddenly feeling down. "For what you do all of this? It's not like he really will notice you."

Sighing at what seemed too deep, she sat on the stool by the counter where the readied brownies were placed in a small pink box with - a ribbon tied around it to complete its look, was propping on top, Hana found herself contemplating.

She had never felt this way before, what had triggered her?

"Worried?" Eric's voice echoed within the area, snapping her back to reality. Her brother was then taking the seat across from her. "Why are you worried?"

Shrugging, she once again sighed, "It feels wrong to do this but I don't know why. Will something happen today?"

"Please!" Eric yelled, ready to throw hands at his sister. "You and your instincts are scary! Every time you feel this way, something does happen!"

Hana acknowledged it too, she was aware of the thing that was not foreign to her.

And when it crashed over her on the day she was supposed to give Juyeon her brownies, she could not resist worrying.

However, the boy was completely the opposite of his best friend. The smile on his face seemed not to be able to fade away, as long as the girl was standing in front of him.

Heiji.

Calling her name already made him float in the thin air, let alone meet her sparkling eyes.

"Shall we do the task together after classes?" he proposed to the girl who happened to be on the same team as him for the event. "I don't have a practice today."

"I'm fine with it", Heiji grinned, pushing a few strands of her hair to the back of her ears. "But, what about Hana? You two always hang out together right?"

"She will understand. Don't worry", he assured, pocketing his hands.

The laughter that erupted, the shy gazes they shared, it almost seemed like they were in their world, never getting disturbed by all the students that were passing by.

Unbeknownst to them, Hana witnessed it all.

She saw how Juyeon turned shy when Heiji pointed out something about the denim jacket he wore that day. She saw how her crush complimented her rival as if to be polite but knowing Juyeon, he wouldn't say anything unless it was real.

Her heart shattered.

She found herself backing off from the area, grasping the strap of the transparent bag that contained the brownies she baked tight in her hand.

Maybe this was the sign she got this morning was referred to.

As much as she did not want to believe it, it was concreted when the notifications of her campus' portal dinged.

Her mind was blank as she leaned against the wall, staring high at the ceiling. What should she do after reading the posting? How was she supposed to react?

"Hana?"

The owner of the voice was bewildered by the glimpse of the girl in the faculty that was not even hers. In addition, this building was far enough from the one she attended.

Nonetheless, Hana herself did not know how she ended up being here in this faculty she never thought to step her feet into. But, what she did know was, she needed someone to distract her, someone who was not close to her.

"Kevin, I-"

The latter seemed to understand why she was here - struggling to contain her tears that were threatening to fall. He seemed to sense the real feeling she felt right now, because Kevin, he just read the campus portal.

The captain of the basketball team is rumored to be in a relationship with the goddess of campus.

"Do you want to ditch classes?" Kevin proposed, his heart dropped by the sight of her misty eyes. She surely was hurt by the thing that unfolded. "I can take you anywhere you want to be."

That was when a loner tear finally fell from her left eye, Kevin surely had his way of dealing with someone's emotions.

And for the first time in her lifetime, Hana had never expected that she would say this, but she finally did,

"Anywhere without Juyeon."