Last Saturday

Ch.15

Minji feels like she’s about to faint right now.
She isn’t sure if it’s her nose that’s super sensitive or if it just smells way too strong in here for her liking. She’s even starting to get dizzy.
“ God the scent here is killing me.” Minjii says while scratching her nose.
“First time in a flower shop?” The lady behind the counter asks.
Minji hums, “Wouldn’t call it that. First time in an indoor one, I guess.”
The lady smiles, “I see. Other than our windows being open, maybe we do have to get the ventilation fixed in here!” Minji slightly chuckles at her remark.
When she finishes arranging the bouquet, she immediately hands it to Minji, who
indulges in the scent of tulips to drown out the other strong combinations of flowery scent irritating her nose. She forgets she hasn’t paid yet.
“That’s…62 thousand won.” The lady laughs when Minji snaps out of her trance.
“Right, right, my bad.” She quickly brings out her wallet to pay. 
“Do you mind me asking, who your tulips are for? Or what you’re using them for…?” The seller shyly asks Minji.
“Oh,” she awkwardly coughs, “they’re for my girlfriend. She’s- yeah. My girlfriend.”
Minji hesitantly answers and thanks the seller again. She takes her receipt from her hold but she oddly pulls it back. She tugs it again but the seller’s grip was iron. Minji frown in confusion and manages to catch a glimpse of the printed text and ink writing for a good three seconds before the lady quickly snatches the receipt away from her hand.
“Oh- uh, hold on- I think it was printed wrong! I’m so sorry-” She leaves before Minji could even have the chance to reply.
“Boss, I think our cashier register is broken!” The lady shouts as she goes into the staff room.
When the seller is out of her line of sight, Minji pretends to smell the bouquet again to
quietly giggle.
‘She did not just put her phone number on my receipt.’
The manager is blabbering as he comes out of the staff room along with the lady following behind him, “Why would it be broken? We’ve been using this for years!”
The lady tries to answer him but stutters when she makes direct eye contact with Minji
who was already looking right at her.
“Apologies for the inconvenience ma’am.” He prints the receipt and gives it to her. “I think my employee didn’t get enough sleep today.” He laughs.
“I’m so sorry ma’am!” The lady bows numerous times.
“No no no, it’s totally alright…Yoona.” She slightly squints trying to read the nametag on the lady’s shirt. “I’ll be going off now. Thank you!” Minji exits the store with the
bouquet, then shuffles the receipt in her pocket and enters her car.
She reminds herself to share this hilarious encounter with the others later.

_______

“You will not believe what just happened to me back in the flower store.” Minji enters the hallway already laughing, the others confused and slightly terrified with her unusual behavior.
“What’s up?” jungwon asks.
“The cashier lady tried to hit on me by writing her digits on my receipt. I was talking about how these flowers were for Hanni and she immediately grabbed it away from me.”
jungwon and his parents share a laugh. “That must have been so embarrassing for her.” His father giggles.
minji talks with them for a few more minutes before walking to where she was actually headed in the first place. She enters the private room, expecting quietness and peace. She gets greeted by quietness and peace indeed, but a screeching voice shouts at her a few seconds
after, causing Minji to flinch and to almost drop her 62 thousand won worth of a flower bouquet.
“Hey!”
Minji covers one ear due to her other hand being occupied, “It’s eight in the morning!”
“Oh- sorry about that, I thought you were jungwon. I was eating a pack of doritos and he stole it from me. That bastard knew I couldn’t get out of bed and took complete advantage of it.”
Minji sighs and proceeds to attempt hiding the bouquet behind her. “I got you some-”
“Flowers? Of course. You do this almost everyday. I'm not even dead yet.”
“Hanni- why would you say that ?!” She whines, and Hanni giggles.
“Thank you, Min.” She receives the bouquet after Minji finally presents it to her, gently touching the petals, “Tulips are actually my favorite flowers.” she adds.
In the most monotonous voice, and with an obvious hint of sarcasm, Minji replies,
“Wow. I totally didn’t know that.” She lost count of how many times she already said this to her.
Hanni slaps her arm, “I hate you.”
Minji laughs and asks Hanni to move over so she would have space to sit down next to
her. “Do you mind me sharing an anecdote from the flower shop earlier?”
“Yes.” Hanni deadpans and rolls her eyes, yet her voice screams politeness, filled with what Minji sees as cuteness, like she was sparkling.
“Anyways,” She doesn’t listen and continues to share what occured at the place hours ago.
Hanni laughs. In fact, she laughs so hard she starts coughing too much and Minji can’t help but cackle at her while giving her water to drink. Minji always denies it, but Hanni keeps telling others that the way her girlfriend shares her stories is so hilarious that she could

“It’s a hidden talent!” Hanni exclaims.
Minji chuckles, “Then people won’t take me seriously anymore!”
Hanni gets discharged from the hospital tomorrow. Her girlfriend was even much more excited than her. Minji doesn’t think she’ll ever forget that day.
“This was supposed to be happy, not sentimental!” Haerin reaches out for tissues to wipe her tears.
It’s been three hours since Hanni's surgery started. It’s also been three hours of the trio talking on facetime. They’re still talking when Minji receives a text notification from Hanni's father, “It’s finished. Where are you?”
She quickly excuses herself, leaving their call, and sprints back to the waiting area, the
doctors still talking to the family. Everyone’s expressions were unreadable, making Minji unsure if the surgery went well or not.
“I’m sorry, was kinda far from the room.” She exhales and the doctors simply nod at her.
“Well, the surgery was a success. No complications occurred and it went surprisingly smoothly.”
“Does that mean she’s okay?” Minji asks.
“As mentioned pre-surgery, we’re not a hundred percent sure if she’ll wake up. For now, we’ll need to keep her confined in order to monitor her vitals again.”
“Oh…”
“I advise all of you to get back to the room and have some rest. We’ll be transferring Hanni back there after a few check-ups. Thank you.” The doctors leave after.
Everyone’s just there.
They’re all standing still, the finished event still taking its time to sink into their heads. The emotions are totally mixed up, half of them in relief, while the other half is still wondering if Hanni will ever wake up.
“So if she doesn’t wake…then she’s gone? Just like that?” jungwon's one breath from
crumbling down again. His mother quickly consoles him.
Minji can’t speak. She honestly doesn’t know what to say and to think.
“Let’s all go to the room and wait for Hanni to get transferred there first, alright? What matters is the surgery went well.” The father says, and everyone finally gets in composure.
Hanni looked like how she usually looks. It was harder for Minji to guess if she would wake up or not. Her eyes were obviously closed. She carefully ran her thumb across Hanni's
cheek. The parents were already sleeping, leaving her and jungwon staring at Hanni. The two weren’t drowsy at all, too restless to fall asleep.
On the left side of Hanni's bed, jungwon was sitting on a chair, his arms resting on the space left on the mattress. He transferred his gaze to Minji, whose eyes were still locked on her, but she could feel the weight of his stare.
“Why?”
“You aren’t tired?” He genuinely questions.
She chuckles, “Of what, exactly?”
“This. Everything.” He also chuckles. jungwon takes a deep breath before speaking again,
“In most scenarios, it’s either the lover is exhausted so they’d leave the sick loved one, or the lover would say that they never get tired because they ‘really love the person’ and stay with them until the end. But what if it was both, you know? What if they were so exhausted although they couldn’t bring themselves to leave because they love the person so much?”
“It depends on what kind of exhausted you’re referring to.” Minji answers.
“Well, wouldn’t it be exhaustion from taking care of the person they love?”
“That’s one thing. The other is exhaustion from loving the person.” Minji turns to look at jungwon. He looked astounded.
“I have no idea how I didn’t think of that possibility.” He laughs.
“I’m tired of the situation we’re in, jungwon. I’m not tired of her .” Minji emphasizes,
“We may be exhausted, but it’s worth it. Especially now that Hanni too, desperately wants to survive herself. We’re all working hard to help her. We all want this.”
“That’s true...” He agrees.
“You should get to sleep, I’ll watch her anyway.” Minji laughs as jungwon yawns.
“Thanks, Minji. Thank you for everything.”