"I...I...just..." He stammered.

"Put that down!" She trotted over and retrieved the tablet pack from his hand, "Can you at least respect my privacy please?"

"I am sorry...I was just curious...I..."

"That's a really stupid excuse, Yu Jin," Eun Chae angrily scolded him, "Don't be so nosy like that again ever again."

"Eun Chae, I am really sor..."

She grimaced, scurried into her room and closed the door before Yu Jin could even finish his sentence.

Yu Jin could do nothing but helplessly gaze at Eun Chae as she was running away. He had never seen her this hysterically mad. She was normally a really nice and friendly girl. Despite racking his brain to think about it, he could not decipher what was going on? But no matter what the reason behind her outrage was, there was one thing he could be sure of: he had just made a huge mistake.

Her anger showed no sign of softening even until the next morning. She did not have breakfast with him, which they had always been doing since he came to her house. And she did not speak to him anything when she left the house either.

Yu Jin did not know how to appease Eun Chae, he had never been put in such a situation before and thus, even had to call and ask his sister what he should do to soothe his angry friend. Finally, he decided to buy her an astronaut keychain, which he hoped that she would like, and hung it on her room's door, along with a memo saying "I am sorry! I didn't mean to be overly meddlesome and pry into your life. Can you forgive me please?"

That evening, Yu Jin came back home as usual, but he did not see Eun Chae anywhere.

"She should have been home already?" He took out his phone and wrote a message to her to ask her if she was on the way home. But then, he deleted it right away.

Yu Jin quickly made some instant noodles for dinner and came to his room to read a book. But he could not focus as he felt unsettled and kept stopping to open the door and check whether she was home or not. After a while, she finally arrived home. Yu Jin and Eun Chae saw each other, but this time they did not greet one another as how they should be doing. He felt awkward, while she was perhaps still angry.

Yu Jin finished writing his write-up for a scholarship in the US at about nearly one in the morning. Completely exhausted after endless hours locking his face on the screen, all he wanted was just to toss himself on his cushy bed. He was lying restfully in his cosy blanket, hugging his bolster tightly until he heard a knock on his door. Getting up to open the door, he saw Eun Chae standing right in front of him.

"Am I...disturbing your sleep?"

"Ah...no, I haven't slept yet."

"Yu Jin, I..." She clasped her hands and looked down at her feet. Her lips puckered and she remained silent for a few seconds. "I am sorry, I was a little emotional yesterday. I really didn't mean to be mad at you," she grabbed his wrist, "Can we still be friends?"

"Don't feel bad...I am also sorry for being so meddlesome. I won't do that again, I...I promise!" he shyly said.

Yu Jin told her to come into his room and they talked to each other for a while. Having been sure that Eun Chae had retrieved all of her calmness again, he directly asked her a question. It was a question which he was afraid that it might hurt her, but he felt the urgent need to spit it out.

"Hey Eun Chae, I wanna ask you this but...don't get angry, OK?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sick, why do you have to use that medication?"

"Ah, don't mind it. I just have a digestive disorder."

"Stop lying, I am not a fool, Hong Eun Chae," his voice suddenly became serious.

"Wh...what do you mean...by lying," she trembled and gaped at him, forcing out a coy smile.

"I study med, I do know that drug. Eun Chae, please...can you tell me what is happening to you?" he looked at her in a half insistent and half flustered way.

"You sure you wanna listen to it?" She stared at him for a few seconds and said

Yu Jin did not say anything, just profusely nodded his head.

"I have pancreatic cancer, I found out it about more than a year ago and according to what the doctor said, I only have...about one more year to live, or a bit more than that, if I am lucky enough."

Yu Jin was absolutely dumbstruck. His premonition had been fuelled the day before, but listening to her admitting that she was diagnosed with such an incurable illness still felt like needles piercing his chest. He definitely did not know how to respond to that abrupt and shocking answer. Drowned by the shock and confusion, he tried to convince himself that this was only one of her pranks. But Eun Chae did not show any sign of being dishonest at all. In addition, he knew that she was not a person who had such a dark sense of humour.

"You know..." Eun Chae said, her voice slightly wavering. "Sometimes I feel pain here in my belly," she gently placed her hand over her abdomen as if the gesture could shield her from its discomfort. "But I've managed to hide it from everyone, including you. I was doing pretty well, until you saw my medications yesterday. I was frustrated and afraid you'd discover it. That's why I got so mad."

Yu Jin gaped at her, his expression was a mixture of shock and disbelief. His mouth hung open, but words seemed to elude him. The weight of the revelation pressed down on his chest, rendering him speechless. He struggled to comprehend how the vibrant and energetic girl he knew could be battling such a terminal illness. It was inconceivable, as if the world had shifted beneath his feet.

So this was what medical science was doing, and also what he would be doing in the future. As a medical aspirant, he had done meticulous studying on this topic, but he had never experienced firsthand its true ability. The epiphany struck him, and for the first time in his life, he realised that medicine was not only about unpalatable theories or thousand-page textbooks, but also about making tangible changes to people's lives, to enable a dying girl to live her last months in comfort without any easily visible symptoms. This newfound understanding ignited a fierce determination within him, compelling him to redouble his efforts in pursuit of his dream.

"Can you help me keep my secret please? I really don't want it to be spread out."

"I will...But...do you let your family know about your situation? They should be here now with you if they know it, instead of me."

"Family?" She said and then looked at him with a phlegmatic face for a few seconds. "I don't have a family, I grew up in an orphanage," she gave him a bittersweet grin.

"I...I am sorry..."

Yu Jin was stunned for the second time. This girl, sitting next to him, exuded a resilience and strength that surpassed even his own. The fact that she was grappling with cancer was already a staggering revelation, but being aware of her awful childhood added another layer of shock and bewilderment.

"What are you saying sorry for?" She chuckled, "Don't  be so apologetic. I don't like boys who keep saying sorry and sorry all the time, you know?"

"I mean...I didn't want to remind you of that. Hope it doesn't hurt you."

"I am used to it now. And I am way stronger than you think, so don't worry!" She giggled.

Yu Jin did not respond. He just meekly nodded his head.

"Oh, it's two o'clock already. You should sleep now, sorry for making you stay up this late," she abruptly said and sprang to her feet. 

"OK, you should also go to bed now."

She sauntered out of the room.

"Hey Eun Chae," he suddenly called her name and ran after her.

"Huh?" She turned back and quizzically inclined her head.

"Do you...have anything that you really want to do? I mean...before that really happens."

"You mean before I die, right? Yes, I have. I have a lot of them actually," she gave him a big grin. That smile seemed not forced, but really genuine. How could she still express that kind of cheerful smile even when she was about to face her mortality?

"Then I can do them with you, I mean...if you want me to. You should start doing them soon, you don't have much time left anyway."

"I will ask you when I feel needed," she chortled, "By the way, you should also start doing the things you want too, don't procrastinate."

"I am lucky that I have a little more time than you, so don't worry," he meekly smiled and used his hand to fix her tousled hair, "And I am actually doing what I want too."

"I mean...in terms of probability, either of us may die tomorrow, isn't it? That goes the same for both you and me. Every day is worth the same for everyone, and whether that person is healthy or is facing an imminent death doesn't change its value. Using your logic, then both you, and I, and everyone in this world should be doing the things they enjoy no matter who they are, am I right?" She tilted her head.

"Yeah, you're right," Yu Jin nodded his head in agreement. She had a point. Never before had he seen her making such an insightful statement like that one.

That night, Yu Jin could not sleep as Eun Chae's words kept echoing in his head. At first, he felt bad for her, the unfortunate girl who was about to die in a year. But he soon came to a realisation that it was too presumptuous of him to be so. He was too arrogant to think that he would outlive her. It was true that he did not see his death approaching, but that did not grant him sixty or seventy more years to live. There was nothing which could guarantee that he would live longer than her.

******

It was an early April morning. The weather was now remarkably more pleasant than that in the winter months. There were radiant beams of light dancing besides Eun Chae's room windows, just like the delicate patterns, embellishing the ultramarine sky behind. She put on her jacket, opened the window and leisurely enjoyed the cool, invigorating breeze.

Never had she been so fresh and ecstatic. It was not only because the refreshing morning more air had hyped her up, but also because she was about to go outside and watch the cherry blossoms with Yu Jin.

She quickly brushed her teeth and briskly scurried to Yu Jin's room.

"Hey Han Yu Jin, you wake up yet?" She excitedly knocked on the door.

"Just wait a bit," Yu Jin's voice still seemed really tired  and sleepy, "Lemme sleep a little more!"

"No," she opened the door and sprang towards his bed, "Get up, right now!"

Eun Chae pulled his blanket off his face and pinched his cheek.

"Come on, just five more minutes," he turned over to the other side of the bed and covered his face with the blanket again.

"Just get your ass off the bed, will you?" She tugged his bolster out of his hand.

"Hey, give me back my bolster," he grumbled with his face poking out of the blanket.

"You promise to go Hwadamsub with me today, get up now, do you want me to get mad at you?" She gave him a fierce glare.

"OK fine, I'm getting up," he sluggishly sat up with a lethargic yawn, "Just have your breakfast first, I will join you once I am done brushing my teeth"

"Why didn't you do this earlier, hurry up!"

Both of them then had some sandwiches with fried eggs, packed up their stuff and left home for Hwadam botanic garden.

The atmosphere at Hwadam was incredible. Yu Jin had been too busy to care about watching cherry blossoms, so he clearly had never done it before. But having seen the spectacular vantage here first hand, he regretted not doing that sooner. He felt like he was standing in the midst of a pastel canvas, while the air was infused with the pleasant and revitalising scent of cherry blossoms, which he found like the mix of rose, lilac and vanilla.

Eun Chae got extremely excited right at the moment she set her foot on the park's path. She was running around like a cheerful child, stretching her arms out wide to catch the pink petals falling down from the trees.

"Take this!" She threw a cluster of petals towards Yu Jin and then chortled heartily.

"Stop teasing me!" Yu Jin chuckled as he brushed the petals off his jacket. His voice was a mixture of a mild, enduring annoyance and amusement.

"Hey Yu Jin, take a selfie with me," she walked towards Yu Jin and swiftly took a selfie with him when he could not even have any reaction yet.

"You know that I don't like taking pictures, right?" He scowled at her and removed the petals landing on her hair.

"I know, but you may go to the US in May if you get your scholarship, isn't it? I just wanna keep these things as memories," she puffed out her cheeks and looked at him with a cutesy expression.

Thank you very much for making it this far! If you enjoy reading my story and are excited to find out what is going to happen next, don't forget to click the star to vote for me as well as recommend my story to your friends. You votes really motivate me a lot^^