the sun was really, really hot that day.

 in fact, it seemed almost as if an egg would fry on the pavement. byulyi had been tempted to test that theory out but, then again, that would be a waste of a perfectly good egg. she huffed as she squinted under the bright rays of the sun and lifted an arm to shield herself from the sun. the little red buggy that she tugged behind her clattered and bumped noisily down the sidewalk, it’s wheels making ‘chugga chugga’ sounds as they jumped over little cracks and pebbles. byulyi cursed herself for bringing the buggy along when she could have just brought her backpack along. but, what if she ran out of space for the books? or worse, she would have to place the eggs in her precious keroro backpack and risk having them shatter in her bag. she shook her head, the buggy was a good idea. she rummaged in the pocket of her denim overalls and fished a grimy piece of paper out from its depths.

 it was a list. a list of ingredients and books she would need. it was her mommy’s idea after all, to bake a cake for her friend yongsun’s birthday. “borrow some books from the library and buy some ingredients on your way home from school, okay?” she had said. byulyi resolved to make the best birthday cake for yongsun. it had to be a cake so amazing that yongsun would love her forever. her small heart swelled as she thought of the girl. yongsun, with her cute dimples and adorable eye smile. yongsun, who shared animal cookies with byulyi when no one else would. byulyi often wondered if this was what love felt like. adults always said love was a beautiful feeling that would make your heart go ‘bump bump’. she wasn’t sure if yongsun made her heart ‘bump’, but she knew that yongsun made her heart do something.

 as she stepped into the cold air of the library, she breathed out a loud sigh of relief. she thought she would’ve baked to a crisp in the sun. she undid her hair scrunchie and shook her hair to release some of the heat that had been caught in her dark locks. she fanned herself and dragged the buggy to a corner of the library. should she attempt to find the books on her own? no, there wasn’t enough time! she had to start baking as soon as possible, after all, perfection takes time. she half galloped, half sprinted towards the customer service counter with the buggy in tow. “sorry ma’am! i just want to know whether you have any books on baking?” she let out a quiet peep, her eyes barely peeking over the counter top. the girl behind the counter stood up and leaned over to look for the source of the sounds. “oh, you’re there. um, sure.” the girl maneuvered herself from behind the counter to byulyi’s side. “you can call me miyoung unnie, no need for all those formalities. and besides, ma’am sounds so old fashioned! i’m not some old lady with five cats!” the girl let out a laugh as she clasped byulyi’s hand and led her to the children’s section of the library.

 “woah.” byulyi was flabbergasted by the sheer amount of books that were in front of her. was it even possible to own so many books? who would read them all? she ran a finger along the spines of all the books as she made her way to the diy section. ‘‘arts and crafts, scrapbooking, gardening, painting, baking!’’ she cried excitedly as she pulled a few books off the shelf. they were all baking books written for children and the instructions seemed simple enough for a nine year old moon byulyi anyways.

she plunked the stack of books down in front of miyoung unnie and beamed proudly. “i’m gonna borrow alllll these!” she said as she gestured grandly to the books. “i see, what are you going to bake?” miyoung unnie asked as she scanned the barcodes on the sides of the books. “i… i’m gonna bake a cake for a pretty girl.” she said determinedly, her eyebrows tightening in determination. miyoung unnie nodded with some kind of respect as she handed the books over to byulyi. “in that case, good luck and i hope you get the girl!” miyoung chuckled as she waved to the blushing girl. byulyi could feel the pinkish glow creep up her cheeks and form two puddles or pinkish red.

  her tongue poked out of in concentration as she unpacked all the ingredients carefully. eggs, flour, butter, milk, sugar and this thing in a fancy bottle called vanilla essence (she needed help from a cashier to find this one). she lay them all out neatly in a line as she stared them down. the recipe seemed daunting now. step one was to pre-heat the oven and grease a baking pan. she turned the dial on the oven a few clicks to the right and waited. the oven hummed to life. she hastily greased the baking pan with a large glob of butter and mixed the butter and sugar in a bowl. before long, she had