Blue Summer

Chapter 8: A Fateful Affair

Misao had been involved in a small mishap. Now she lay on the bed with her foot hurt. She had slipped her foot off the stairs and twisted it. She was so grumpy and irritated afterwards that it took her entire family to calm her down. Now she sat on the bed with banana chips, watching sad videos.

Youra visited her and found her friend in an utterly chaotic state. She calmly approached her and said, "You don't even have a boyfriend. What after-breakup emotional turmoil are you going through?"

Misao looked at her and rolled her eyes, "Youra, I hate you. How can you make fun of me?"

"Well, I am asking you something. What happened?"

"You could have asked that rather than roasting me like this!"

"My bad, princess."

"Anyways, it's not like you don't know I hurt my foot. Of course, I am sad because of that."

Youra gave her a side eye and sat by her side. Then she placed her hand on Misao's and spoke, "We all know it's not that. It is something else. What is it?"

"It is definitely what I said and nothing else."

"Oh really? And not maybe some argument you might have had in which you said something you regret saying?"

Misao turned to Youra with a wide-eyed expression, "Oppa told you, didn't he?"

Youra clicked her tongue and said, "Yes."

Misao pouted, "What will I do now? I can't go to him, and he won't come to me."

"Yeah, sure. He will not come running through the door when he knows you were hurt."

"He won't, will he?"

"No. For that, he needs to know you are hurt. Who's going to tell him that?"

Misao gave Youra a silly smile.

"I hate when I put myself in trouble for you," Youra responded.

Misao grinned, "Thank You."

Youra got up to leave for Ibuki's house. But she stopped at the door and turned back, "Where does he live again?"

While Misao was trying to reach out to Ibuki, he was busy fixing the dress. He had tried everything he could to fix the damage but couldn't do much. The roses that were embedded in the sleeves were the most blemished. They were the part Ibuki loved the most about the dress. It broke Ibuki's heart to see them damaged like this. The lower half of the dress wasn't damaged, luckily. But that part was the one that was the most difficult to fix. Ibuki had been working on the dress all night, and now he was left with only one day before the dress went under display. He would have to pay a considerable fine if he did not fix it.

Ibuki sat in his room beside the dress near the window as a dim light fell on his dull face.

"Why does this keep happening to me?" he thought. As he pondered on the event, his eyes closed slowly as he fell into a deep slumber.

Mrs Cho came up to check in on her son, only to find him asleep with his head resting against the wall. He looked weak and tired. Mrs Cho went to him, slowly laid him down, and put a pillow under his head. Then, she placed the quilt on him to make him comfortable.

"My dear. You do a lot. A lot, my dear. I wish this would not have happened to you. I know one day you will change your fate and not let your father's death hold you back. Your mother believes in you, my dear."

She left the room to let him sleep and went to the kitchen to continue her work. She ran a bakery and had to do a lot alone, from baking to sometimes delivery. The income was not much but fair. However, given her deteriorating health, her productivity and income had decreased.