Last Saturday

ch.08

“You look like an elementary schooler.” Minji teases, earning a glare from Hanni.
She was sitting on the couch, scrolling through her phone but getting distracted by her
girlfriend walking back and forth from the kitchen to her guest room. Minji didn’t mind
at first, putting her phone down, watching Hanni in amusement, the girl pulling her trolley where the oxygen tank was placed, pacing around the two rooms. She finally decides to speak up when Hanni hasn't been stopping at all, her movements obviously showing that she was conflicted.
Minji ignores her glare, completely unfazed, “What are you even looking for?” She stands up, walking to stand beside Hanni who was erratically tapping her fingers on the kitchen countertop.
“I’m not looking for anything, I just can’t focus right now and I’m supposed to give that…”
she points at the huge canvas across the room half-painted and unfinished, “and the other two paintings to the owner next week.”
Minji listens, moving from her standing position beside Hanni to give her a back hug,
resting her chin on the shorter girl’s shoulder, which manages to calm her down and lean into Minji's embrace. “And you think walking around like this would help?” Minji replies, Hanni giggling as the taller nuzzles through her hair, deeply inhaling her scent when she reaches the crook of her neck.
“It’s a Saturday, Han.” Minji lifts her face from Hanni's neck.
“Minji, as much as I’d love to, I still have to finish thi-“ Minji ignores her, already leading Hanni and her oxygen tank towards her front door.
“You spent three whole days in that room, you should get some fresh air too. It’s only one day.”
Hanni fails to hold back her smile, letting her girlfriend drag her out of the house.
They’re on the same bench. Hanni thinks there isn’t a day where they haven’t spent a
Saturday sitting here together. This is where they met, where they became close friends, developed feelings, and most importantly, this is where their relationship as lovers began. It sounds hilarious, but Hanni's thankful for the bench’s existence, the huge tree beside it, the black stray cat that used to approach them every single time it passed by (she wonders where he is now). She’s thankful for wanting to sketch the ocean view that brought her to the park that midnight, all of this because she met Kim Minji.
Hanni giggles at the fact how she only suggested that the stranger walk with her out of
complete concern, and now that same woman happens to be her girlfriend. The Hanni from months ago would have not believed her if she was told that her future would become like this so quickly.
“What’s funny?”
Hanni gets startled, Minji sits down next to her, giving her a corn dog she bought from
one of the food stalls.
“What do you mean?” Hanni receives it, enjoying the fried aroma before taking a bite.
“I saw you giggling as I walked back here, you’re cute.” Minji also takes a bite from her own corn dog, “Oh wow this is actually really delicious…”
“I was giggling?” Hanni asks, and Minji nods while happily chewing her food.
As Hanni indulges her corn dog, she suddenly feels that this kind situation has happened between them before, a feeling of déjà vu engulfing her entire brain.
A familiar black animal catches Hanni's sight, and she squeals, Minji almost dropping her corn dog in surprise.
The cat walks toward them, and before Hanni could even pet him, Minji quickly takes
the last bite from her corn dog and carries the animal, gently placing it in between them.
“I thought you were afraid of cats.” Hanni says, and her girlfriend chuckles.
“I’m not, I just thought he had rabies,” She pets his head, the cat purring comfortably, “…and when I found out that what you said about it being rare was true, I guess it changed my whole view on them.”
“But still, you made a point! Like that popular saying, the chances are zero but never-”
Judging from the way Minji just stared at her with an unreadable expression on her face, Hanni knew that nothing was correct from what she just said.
“Idiot!” Minji begins to cackle, pinching Hanni's cheek, “You should say it again!”
“The chances are zero but never l- oh.“ Hanni stills, aggressively shutting her eyes in thought, “The chances are low but never zero !” She emphasizes the words and finally gets it correct, Minji laughing even harder.
Hanni giggles and quickly finishes her corn dog to pet the stray cat as well.
“Do you think he has an owner?” She asks, letting it walk to rest on her lap.
“He doesn’t.”
“How did you know?” Hanni stops petting him to look at her.
“I followed it one day back then, led me to a dumpster with lots of other stray cats. I guess they all live there.” Minji looks back at her.
It’s the way Hanni's eyes widen, lighting up and her mouth slowly falling open. It makes Minji's heart flutter, and also makes her realize the exact idea that her girlfriend has in her mind right now.
“I am not going to keep a stray cat in my home.”
“You live alone , you need a pet!” Hanni giggles, and Minji ends up chuckling after her.
“I never had a pet, nor had any experience taking care of one.”
She feels something touch her leg, Minji glances down and sees the cat now nuzzling
into her.
“He looks happy living like this anyway.”
Hanni nods in agreement. “Yeah, it seems like it.”

—————

“…Pulmonary Edema.” The doctor says, and Minji could only nod in acceptance.
“What? What do you mean?“ Hanni's mother panics.
“She has excess fluid in her lungs.” Minji replies shakily, she and the husband softly
caressing her back to calm her down.
Sometimes she hates having a good amount of knowledge when it comes to medicine. Her older sister is a doctor, and she would often ask Minji to review her when she was still a student, which ended up in Minji herself knowing a lot more medical terms and whatnot than a person who didn’t take a course in that subject should know.
She wonders why. Why Hanni would have such a sickness when she always sees how
energetic she gets. She doubts a heart problem as a cause, crossing it out from her thoughts since Hanni did not look like a person who would get so tired easily.
“Does anyone in your family have a history of heart problems?” The doctor asks like he just knew what she was worrying about.
“I do, well, had …heart problems.” Her father sheepishly mentions, and the doctor seems to have connected all the dots by now.
The same goes to Minji. ‘So it’s the genes…’ she thinks, pressing her lips into a thin
line. She didn’t expect a heart problem to be a leading cause of a lung disorder, but oh well.
The doctor explains further, about what Hanni was going through right now and the possible things she could experience in the next few days. Minji excuses herself quietly, unable to withstand anything right now, not wanting to hear things that could stress her out, she isn’t
ready yet.
She opens the door to Hanni's hospital room, manages to smile back at her, and follows when Hanni gestures to her to lay down next to her.
Hanni looked worse. She got paler, haggard, weak. The way her skin lost its warmth grew evident as each day passed by. A painful cough would always interrupt her whenever she spoke. All this yet her smile would never go away, as if it was duct taped onto her face. She never complained, never showed the way it hurt her when she had to go through tests multiple times, never expressed her worries about how her condition just seemed to keep destroying her, she was too silent.
Hanni begins to speak, “They told you?” Her voice sounded feeble, so fragile that a single
touch to her neck would shatter her entire body.
Minji winces but quickly calms, running her fingers along Hanni's soft locks, “Is that why you asked the doctor to tell you first?” She forces out a chuckle.
“Yeah-“ a cough, “I knew my mom would take it worse than me. I don’t think I can see her cry.” She softly laughs, cuddling her tighter.
A few minutes filled with silence, Hanni speaks again. “He said I would have to go on a ventilator if it gets worse.”
Minji closes her eyes as she attempts to hold back her tears, biting her lip hard to the point where it slightly bled, trying to inflict pain so she could distract herself from the image of seeing Hanni on that darn machine. Hanni seems to notice the lack of response on Minji's side, immediately glancing up to check on her.
Minji quickly returns her expressions to something calmer, but she’s already caught by her girlfriend.
“Don’t cry, please.”
And at that exact moment, one of the many worries hiding in Minji's brain escapes her, in the form of a tear dropping on Hanni's pillow.
“Why?” Minji sniffs, using her index finger to fix Minji's bangs, a habit that never
seemed to be forgotten by her.
Hanni shifts upwards, and despite being clueless to what she’s trying to do, Minji helps
her move up until she feels them resting their foreheads on each other.
“Because I might cry too.” The tiny crack in her voice makes Minji giggle, she found her
adorable.
Hanni ends up in tears too, the both of them crying yet laughing at how ridiculous this situation was.

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