It was New Year's and Jisoo's mother wanted to start the day on a good note and ordered her two daughters to go to the nearest convenience store to buy ingredients for today's special breakfast, and for later during lunch and dinner too. Her mother really wanted to start the first day of the year spectacularly, with every bit of detail taken into account, even the food they'll eat today. 

This is why Jisoo is dragging her half-awake sister out of the building by the arm, pulling her along as she reads the list her mother gave her over again so the ingredients would be embedded in the back of her head and she'd have them memorize.

They walk along the streets that were littered with multi-colored wrappers and excess from firecrackers, sparklers and the like. It's still early in the morning and it's the New Year's, yet the streets weren't all that quiet. Jisoo had to side-step, still pulling Jennie along, to avoid colliding into a dog-walker walking five dogs. 

Jennie sighs, pulling her arm away from her older sister's grasp. "Can you share your scarf or something? It looks warm and cozy and I'm freezing." she says, sniffing. The conditions and weather in Seoul were much more different compared to the southern parts of the country, which is why her younger sister's nose is beginning to turn red at the tip and edges. "Please?"

"Here," Jisoo unwraps the grey, wool scarf Bona had given her as a Christmas gift, and hands it to Jennie. Six months in Seoul and she's already accustomed to the cold and chill. "Only for now, okay? I'm never letting you borrow that again."

She rolls her eyes, burying her chin underneath all the layers of the scarf. She says nothing about that and together, they cross the street to reach the grocery store. The convenience store nearest to her building that Jisoo knew of didn't even have half of the ingredients her mother asked for, so she tthem walked all the way to the neighborhood beside there's just to buy everything all at once. 

"I don't like pickled herring." Jennie says, her nose scrunching at one particular fish Jisoo was poking with her finger. "And aren't you supposed to eat that like, at midnight on New Year's Eve? Midnight was six hours ago." 

Jisoo disregards the fish and moves on to the next freezer, finding another kind. "What about milkfish?" her eyes inspected the contents, and found one of her mom's favorite. "Ah, sturgeons. This'll do, right?" she looks back at her sister, who, to her dismay, seemed to be dozing off. While standing. In the middle of an aisle. At a grocery store. Typical. 

When Jisoo smacks the underside of her head, she snaps her eyes open and yawns loudly, causing an elderly woman to cast a stern glance their way. Jisoo immediately hushes her. 

"If you want to go back to the apartment and sleep so badly," she said, controlling her annoyance. "Then go fetch butter and milk from the dairy section. It's at the other side of the grocery store. And if you find any red beans, then grab a jar of them. Okay?" 

Jennie grumbles, but she mutters "okay" before turning her back to her sister and walking away. 

Jisoo continues grocery shopping. Somehow, without Jennie, she's more progressive and quick. She grabs this and that as soon as she identifies what it is, and then places it in the cart before moving along. She's so focused at looking around, searching for the ingredients hurriedly, that she forgets to look where she's going and before she knows it, the end of her cart has bumped into something.

"Ow," 

Or rather, someone. 

"I'm so so -" she pauses mid-apology. The wind is momentarily knocked out of her, she grasps tightly onto the bars of the shopping cart. She blinks, he's still there. "Taeyong! Oh gosh, I'm - I'm so sorry!" it takes her a moment or two to utter the words, because she never expected this in the first place. She hasn't seen him since that party, where he played. Something's been bothering her since then, but she never liked to dwell on it much. 

Now that he was here, she's sure she's going to get something out of it. Something that could help settle her. Whether she liked what it was or not. 

"It's fine," he says, dismissing her apology. "I wasn't looking either. You shopping alone?" he eyes her cart. 

She shakes her head. "Um, no. I'm with my sister." she says. Jisoo turns away from him and spontaneously spots a pack of seaweed on the highest shelf, one of the last few remaining items on her mother's given list. It's too far up and she knows even on her tiptoes, her fingers couldn't even touch it. 

"Did you have a good Christmas?" he asks, stepping closer. 

Jisoo nods, turning back to face him. "And you?" Although she can't find it in her to make proper eye contact.

He shrugs. "It was okay." His response was bland buthis smile says otherwise. Exuberant. Genuine. She wonders really how "okay" his holidays had been.

"That - that's good." She shakes those thoughts away and points a crooked finger towards the pack of seaweed sitting idly on the topmost shelf. "Can you please, um, maybe get that for me? I -"

Taeyong was a head taller than Jisoo, but she's never really realized this until now. All he does is face the shelf, extend his arm upwards and grab the pack of seaweed. He doesn't even need to stand on his tiptoes. The shelf must've been over six feet high. 

She feels herself flush when he hands it to her, with a smile. "Th - thank you." First, she was curious about how he spent his holdays. Second, she's becoming a stammering mess. This was not good. 

"You're welcome." he says politely. "By the way, do you live around here?"

She places the pack in the cart, with the rest of the items. "I live in the next neighborhood. Ssamundong, in that apartment building near