One year later:

I woke up to the annoying rays of the sun. I growled when I remembered I forgotten to close the blinds to my window. My ears had heard the sound of Seoul traffic and the TV in the living room. I looked at my clock and saw that it was ten in the morning.

I felt something move besides me. I looked under my blanket and saw my black, small dog laying with me. He had barked happily and kissed me all over my face. I pushed him off while laughing. “Aigoo, Ginger. I’m up.”

He barked again and jumped off the bed and ran out of my bed room door which was slightly ajar. I stretched my body and hopped of my bed and headed towards the living room. When I got there, I saw Sunny playing around with her cat, Salt, while already dressed up for the day. I sat next to her and leaned my head on her shoulder.

“You’ve been sleeping in lately, Taeyeon. Are you okay?” Sunny asked. The question had rolled off her tongue like any other normal conversations we had. She stopped petting Salt and gave her attention to me.

I nodded shortly before speaking. My throat had still felt dry and I was trying to find my voice that was put to sleep for hours. “I stood up late again.” I managed to say- my voice was husky so no one really could understand it.

“You should really quite that job. You can practically say you’re an underground night time Idol. If you want to sing, just go do it for fun at the karaoke bar.” Sunny said. She nudged me on the arm and I rose my head up.

“I need the money, Sunny. You’ve been paying rent by yourself for a year, I want to help too.” We both knew it was the truth. Ever since resigning my job at the art studio, I’ve been scrounging around for money like it was some sacred jewel.

Sunny had told me I needn’t worry about the rent since she had a well-defined job at her uncle’s entertainment building; her uncle was the founder of SM Entertainment and now she holds a steady job of one of the co-Ceo. Even though she had enough money to basically buy this whole entire apartment building, I still wanted to help her pay- I felt responsible since I was the oldest.

“I told you it was fine. Money isn’t a problem for us. Why don’t you just work with me? Uncle Sooman really likes you.” Sunny said. Salt had jumped out of her lap and jumped on its cat tower. I sighed, already tired of this conversation.

“Of course Money isn’t, especially if you’re a millionaire. Sunny, I don’t want to work for you uncle- I don’t hate him, I really like him too, but it won’t seem right. I’d get higher positions just because I’m really close to you and your uncle. I wouldn’t feel any accomplishments.” I said as I stood up and walked to the fridge. I pulled out the fried rice I cooked for Sunny and I last night, and popped it in the microwave.

Sunny had walked up to the fridge also and pulled out some side dishes of kimchi and pickled radishes. She placed them on the table and sat down in one of the chairs. “I’m not a millionaire- not yet at least. Taeyeon-ah, you really don’t need to worry about the money. I’ll even pay you to forget about rent and owing me money. You need a break from your job.” Sunny’s voice sounded sincere. “I’m going to tell Tiffany again.”

I froze. Fany would get mad at me for overworking myself; heck, she’d even put me on Fany patrol until I followed her requests. I looked at Sunny –with serious eyes- and saw that she really meant that she was going to tell. I sighed and pulled the fried rice out, grabbed two spoons and sat down next to her, handing her a spoon to eat along with me too.

“Fine, but what am I going to do? Without a job I’m not doing anything.” I said, shoving my mouth full of rice.

“Start drawing again, pick up nail art. Get back to all the things you used to do.”

I looked at Sunny. My eyebrows furrowed- not in a good way. I had stopped doing those things a year ago- a year no one wants to bring back up again. I had stopped because everything I did was based off of her. I shoved more fried rice into my mouth before speaking again. “If I get back into it, will you be happy?”

A simple nod was all it took to know my answer.

I sighed.

“Okay, I will.”

I walked into my work place; a late night pub only down the corner of my place. The smell of musky cologne and alcohol had hit my nose, making my back shudder a bit. I walked behind the bar and placed my bag down under the cash register. I looked up and saw that our regulars were slowly coming in at the right time and their drinks coming out one after another.

I looked at my outfit to see is was still wrinkled at the hem of my white button up. I was wearing a bartender suit (that was made for a boy similar my size, but the boy had quite before he could ever step foot in this building), and my hair was tied in a sloppy bun while little baby hairs had stuck out from my head. My makeup was the same as usual- just hiding the things that I didn’t want to see- and my energy was slowly running out. I looked back up to see a good looking boy smiling at me. A boy I got too close too while working here.

“Baekhyun.” I deadpanned. I walked towards the end of the bar to grab some bottles of vodka and gin and walked back next to the cash register.

Byun Baekhyun. He wasn’t as bad as a bad boy he claimed himself to be. Although he acts very tough and tries to hold his liquor, I can see that he only does it to get friends and people to notice him. To me, Baekhyun was just a boy lost in life, trying to find a purpose of his existence; something that I was trying to do too when we first met. Believe it or not, I saw Baekhyun working at an animal shelter last week and it was so strange to see him smile genuinely without some cockiness added to the mix. My trance was broken when I heard him cough and speak up.

“Noona, you were great last night.” He said. It rolled off his tongue so easily it made me cringe. He gave me his ‘charming’ smile and sat down in front of me.