Chapter 2: Girls

~Present Day~

"Wake up kids!" shouted Bomi as she removed the blankets of her three sisters, Naeun, Namjoo and Hayoung who cuddled together on one mattress.

Ever since their parent's death, the sisters had moved out into a smaller apartment and lived in a tiny basement. Money was a huge problem for them but it was enough to put Bomi, Eunji, Naeun and Namjoo in high school.

"I'm not in high school yet so I get to sleep more" smirked Hayoung as she pulled the blanket and had it all to herself.

"How I wish I was still in middle school" sighed Namjoo as she got up and headed straight to the bathroom.

Naeun and Namjoo took turns to brush their teeth, squatting on the tile floor and washing up through a plastic tub of water.

"What are you making?" asked Eunji as she took a look at what her eldest sister was making while packing her bag for school.

"Egg rolls. What time is it now?" asked Chorong. She was now 18-years old and was currently working as a waitress in a barbeque restaurant.

"6.15. The others are brushing their teeth." replied Bomi as she helped Chorong to pack the egg rolls into the four lunch boxes.

"I will be late. Make sure you don't miss the bus and drop Hayoung off at grandma's." said Chorong as she immediately turned off the stove and went straight into her room to change. It was always like that every morning, Chorong had to leave halfway to work without saying goodbye to her sisters. But they understood her, she sacrificed her time to work and provide income for the family.

Soon, Naeun, Namjoo and Hayoung were all dressed and ready to go. The five sisters left their basement home and headed straight to the bus stop. As usual, Eunji carried Hayoung on her back as she went back to sleep.

"Aigoo, all this kid does is eat and sleep all day." sighed Eunji as she continued to walk while struggling to hold her bag.

"Isn't she heavy?" asked Bomi as she helped her other half to hold the bag.

"But these days, she's growing very fast." said Namjoo.

"What do you mean?" asked Naeun

"She grew 2cm again." answered Namjoo.

"Aigoo, this kid is going to grow into a giant." sighed Eunji as they reached the bus stop.

Eventually the bus arrived and the girls crammed in. Morning buses were always tight with students off to school but unlike others, the girl's first stop was their grandmother's house which was on the way. They had to drop off Hayoung at her place before heading to school. This always ended the girls being nearly 1 minute late for their classes.

Although at home, they are caring sisters but school became a total different world.

~X~

"Jung Eunji! Where is your homework?!" said the teacher sternly as she tapped the empty desk.

"ahaha.....forgive me just this once teacher....you know I'm not good at maths" grinned Eunji, hoping the teacher would let her off this time.

While the teacher was distracted, Bomi opened her lunchbox and shoved one eggroll into . She was always hungry.

Meanwhile, at the lower floor of the school were the second-year classes. Naeun was always the diligent yet quiet student who sat at the back, she was the teacher's favourite.

"Naeun, can you lend me your notebook later?" whispered Sohyun, a classmate of hers. Naeun nodded as she turned around and paid attention in class. The boys were swooned with her beauty while the girls were often filled with jealousy.

At the lowest floor of the school was where all the first-years were. Namjoo was already friends with a lot of people especially one cheeky boy called Sungjae. They were like brothers and sisters even though others mistakened them as a couple. He was the only one who knew about her family situation, and her secrets as well.

Finally, the bell rang which signalled lunch time. Bomi however, already finished all the egg rolls during class and left to ask from others. She was a favourite among her classmates, a jokester and made people laugh.

"Hey, can you share some of your food?" pouted Bomi as she stared into her classmate's eyes.

"What, again? Fine, make me laugh."

Bomi smirked as she bent down and made a position. She imitated a gorilla and suddenlyy started to run around the class, screaming weird noises representing a gorilla. Everyone laughed except for her other half, Eunji.

"Aigoo, I told her not to do that....She's gonna get in trouble later." sighed Eunji as she could only cover her eyes in embarassment. It was strange how the two 93-liner twins had totally different personalities. It was then, their sister Naeun came into the room. She would always eat with her sisters, as she often complained that she would have no else otherwise.

Eunji moved her desk to make it comfortable for the three of them to eat. Bomi managed to steal some bread while the two ate the egg rolls that Chorong prepared that morning. On the other hand, Namjoo was eating lunch with Sungjae.

"These days I'm really worried about my sister." said Namjoo as she let out her thoughts with ease.

"Who? The one who works? What was her name again?" asked Sungjae.

"Chorong unnie. Wow, you really have such poor memory" sighed Namjoo sarcastically.

"Whatever. Continue." said Sungjae as he stuffed rice into his mouth. There was clearly a difference between the two lunches. Sungjae had a box full of hot rice, with chicken and vegetabes at the side while Namjoo had simply a plastic container full of egg rolls.

"I feel really sorry & bad for her. She dropped out of high school and went straight to work just so we could go to school."

"I think, if I were in that position, I would do whatever I could to make her happy." said Sungjae as he placed a chicken piece into Namjoo's container.

"True. These days, it hurts my heart to see Chorong-unnie frown. It's even more frustrating whenever I ask her if there's anything wrong and all she replies is that I should focus on school and not her." sighed Namjoo and she stuffed another egg roll into .

~Meanwhile, at a Middle School not far from here~

"Hey, let's all play a game!" said Hayoung with a smile as she gathered her two best friends, Sooyoung and Yerin. The three have been together since young and were always there for each other.

"What kind of game are we playing? I'll make sure that you will lose!" grinned Yerin.

"It's lunchtime, we're supposed to eat not play." said Joy as she opened her lunch box.

"I already finished mine." said Hayoung.

"What? How fast did you eat that?" said Joy as she raised her eyebrow.

"Hehe, class was boring anyway." grinned Hayoung as she let out a peace sign.

"You can share mine. My mum always packs a lot. We can play after we eat." smiled Yerin as she offered her riceballs.

Every morning, Sunny would send her as it was just nearby her home. Hayoung loved her grandmother a lot but she always notices her worrying expression. She knew that it all points to her eldest sister, Chorong. As the youngest, there wasn't much Hayoung could do besides making her sister smile. That was why she wrote her dream on her school assignment as "Letting my sister to do whatever she wants". Teachers all knew about the kind-hearted Hayoung and thus, she was always the teacher's favourite.

~At the same time in a Korean BBQ Restaurant~

"Chorong-ah! There's no one at the cashier!" shouted one of the staff.

"Sorry!" replied Chorong as she immediately rushed to the counter and bowed several times to the customer before paying the bill. Immediately after that, she went to grill meat at the tables. It was normal for her to be yelled at her boss, after all, she was the one who begged to have a job at the restaurant.

"Thank you for coming!" said Chorong with a smile as she bowed and waited for the customers to leave. Lunch was a busy hour but at last, it ended and this gave Chorong time to take a breath. But one second was all she had as she had to clean the tables.

"Chorong-ah." said her boss.

"Yes?" replied Chorong while cleaning the tables.

"You can go home early today."

"Huh?" said Chorong with a confused look. Rather, she found it strange why her boss was being so kind to her.

"At first, I thought some 18-year old would just mess up the work. But actually, you're really good. Sorry for nagging at you all the time, you can go home early today." smiled her boss. This was the first time Chorong has seen him in a good mood and sighed of relief.

"Thank you Boss." said Chorong as she bowed.

"But I've actually never asked you before. Why do you want to work at such a young age?" asked the boss.

"That's because, I have girls to look after." smiled Chorong as she immediately thought of her sisters who would be hungry after school.

"Ah, I see." said her boss as he finally figured out the situation Chorong was in.

~End of Chapter 2~

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I love Apink bond lol, hope you enjoy reading this and see you in the next chapter!