Cafe {KITTYZ}

Chapter 12

Ever since that day when Haerin had witnessed Hanni in that state, nothing much actually changed. Hanni was still avoiding the group, but they both were on friendly terms again. Of course Minji was quite concerned but Haerin assured the other one that the girl just needed time alone, to which Minji reluctantly believed her. It was weird for Hanni to just disappear without another word, usually there was some kind of reasoning or warning, but not this time around. But she knew the pair had grown closer these days so she should just trust Haerin.

Haerin hadn't told Hyein what happened that night but she just vaguely said they were on good terms. Hyein, despite not being very academically inclined had a good intuition and could tell her sister was hiding something but decided that there must be a good reason for the vagueness in the statement. Danielle wasn't too affected considering she barely knew Hanni, but she still looked sort of worried at the mention of the girl's absence, while Eunchae and Leeseo seemed aloof to the entire situation. But then again, they were aloof to everything or at least appeared so.

Haerin and Hyein were at the cafe again studying, the soft buzzing of the machine and the quiet chattering of the customers flowing through their ears as they did their homework, this time keeping an eye on the time. Every once in a while, Haerin would sneak a glance at Hanni, who seemed out of it most of the time. She had this dazed look in her eyes and kept staring at something in her hand which Haerin didn't get to see. Eventually the girl disappeared into the back room once the flow of customers slowed to a halt. 

It was 8 pm and Haerin got up to get ready to go home. Hyein looked around confusedly at the seemingly empty cafe. She turned to the counter and her stomach dropped in worry.

"How long has Hanni Unnie been gone?" Hyein questioned.

"An hour?" Haerin said, more of a question than a definite answer. 

"That's sort of concerning," Hyein muttered, as she packed her books.

"Should I go check on her?" Haerin enquired worriedly.

"Maybe," Hyein nodded. Haerin went to the counter and jumped over it and landed behind swiftly. When she was younger she liked to jump over the fences to get to the park, it was thrilling to her. Her parents strongly disapproved of her actions but, the park was public anyway, so it's not like it was illegal.

Haerin navigated her way through to the back. She came face to face with a door that had a piece of paper stuck to it that read 'employees only' in sloppy red writing. It honestly looked like a 5 year old had written it or a doctor. Haerin knocked softly on the white door. No answer. She pressed her ear to the door and listened in for any noise. She couldn't hear anything, the room was eerily silent. This sent shivers down her spine as a feeling of dread creeped up on her.

"What's up?" Hyein asked, walking up to her sister, who just turned to her with a worried look.

"I have a bad feeling," Haerin informed, her voice wavering. Hyein frowned as she reached for the silver door knob and tugged on it. It didn't budge. She twisted it roughly and it didn't budge again. It was locked. Hyein sighed in despair as she finally realised the gravity of this situation. She had an idea of what could've happened but she desperately hoped it wasn't true.

Hyein took a deep breath as she stepped back, looking at her older sister with a serious look on her face. Haerin just glanced at her blankly as she switched her gaze from the door to her sister. 

"Kick it," Hyein demanded.

"Are you crazy??" Haerin exclaimed, her mouth open in disbelief. 

"You jump over fences Unnie," Hyein whined.

Haerin ignored the remark and she stepped back with a sigh. She took a deep breath and did a powerful spinning kick and hit the door. It took a few tries but it finally made a hole big enough for them to slip in. Upon dusting herself off, Haerin looked around the room. Her jaw dropped to the ground when she saw Hanni on the floor, an empty medicine bottle in her hand and a little pool of blood beneath her wrist along with a rather nasty cut on it as well as her cheek.

Haerin ran to the limp figure of her friend as she quickly lifted her body off the floor and checked her pulse. It was too weak for comfort and you could barely feel her weak breathing as well. 

"HYEIN CALL THE AMBULANCE!!" Haerin shouted. She picked up the empty bottle and looked at it closely. It was pills for panic attacks and it seems the girl on purposely overdosed on it, and her slashed wrist and face was just the cherry on top to complete the theory.

"H...Hae..rin," Hanni weakly muttered as she opened her eyes and managed to lift her head up, looking at Haerin with her distant eyes and blurry vision. Her voice was slurred as well, probably from the overload of the medicine.

"Hold on Han, the ambulance is coming soon," Haerin said soothingly.

"Read...your...letter," Hanni smiled, before her eyes fluttered closed again. Haerin panicked even more at this as she completely disregarded the girl's words. She shook Hanni's limp and fragile body as she repeatedly called her name, begging for her to open her eyes again. She could no longer feel the pulse that provided her with little to no comfort and she had to put so much effort and strain her ears to be able to hear the girl's breathing. Haerin felt tears fall down her face as she hugged Hanni closer, hoping that everything was going to be ok.

"Don't die on me Hanni Unnie," she whispered as medical professionals busted the door open and rushed into the room, putting Hanni on the stretcher as they took her away. By now, Hanni was ghostly pale and her lips were actually starting to turn blue. They had to perform CPR to get her blood circulating again before loading her on the ambulance. Hyein and Haerin had never ran so fast towards home in their lives as they filled their parents in on what was happening and they quickly made their way to the hospital.

Haerin had the letters that she found on the table in the employee break room stuffed in her bag. She didn't really want to read them but perhaps it would help her be more understanding of Hanni's situtaion.