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Being her organized self, Chorong made sure that everything was in check before she left the club. It was a routine she had been doing for a long time ever since the ownership of the establishment was turned over to her by her sister.

“I’m good to go,” she said to herself, catching the keys after throwing it in the air.

While humming a happy song on her way home, her phone suddenly rang. On the sidewalk, she froze upon seeing the doctor of her sister appear on the caller ID.

Her instincts already knew it wasn’t a good sign.

-----

“Eunji! Eunji! Eunji!” Loud knocks clamored inside the apartment, waking up the woman who was sleeping inside. “Are you there?!”

“What? What?!” Eunji opened the door. She covered her face because the sun blinded her eyes. “Why are you so loud?!”

“Can you take care of Minah? Just for today?” Bomi pleaded.

“What?!” Eunji scowled. “Why?!”

“My parents are in the province and a friend of mine had an emergency,” she explained in a hurry. “You’re the only one I can ask for help.”

“Hello,” Minah greeted smilingly.

Without saying a word, Eunji eyed the child and the brunette in disbelief. The latter, however, used her puppy-dog eyes to convince the other woman who, in return, was visibly disgusted at her attempt.

“I need to go.” Bomi panicked after taking a glance on her watch. “Only a few minutes left before my schedule starts. I’m sorry.” She ran off. “I’ll fetch her later!”

“Yah. Yah!” Eunji shouted at the top of her lungs, but the brunette was already far off. She had no idea what to do with the child in front of her. “C-come in?” she asked, cocking her head to one side in confusion.

Minah stepped inside before her gaze wondered around the apartment. “Wow. Your house is empty,” the child commented from the lack of furniture inside the house. Even the walls were unpainted and cold to the touch.

“I have the necessities so it’s fine,” Eunji replied in a strict tone. “You can stay here.” She opened the door to Namjoo’s temporary room which was a lot more pleasing to the eyes because of its vibrant curtains and colorful bed cover. “I’m in the next room if you need me.”

“Okay.” Minah obediently entered the room and closed the door.

Eunji clutched her chest and heaved a big sigh of relief afterwards. “What do I do now?” she asked herself.

-----

It was already nighttime when Hayoung and Namjoo returned to the hotel. Their last meeting took a whopping seven hours, and by the end of it, both of them were already physically and mentally tired.

“Finally.” Hayoung loosened her necktie as she plunked onto the mattress.

“By the way, there’s only one bed,” Namjoo pointed out.

That got Hayoung to stand right away. “You’re right. What do we do now?”

The two of them stared at each other with a puzzled look on their faces.

“I can sleep in the living room,” Namjoo said, breaking free from the eye contact.

“No, I’ll sleep there,” Hayoung replied almost immediately. “You need a proper rest.”

Both of them were too tired to argue, causing an eerie silence to ensue. For a moment, they paused and stared at the lone bed.

“H-how about we sleep together?” A streak of redness crossed Hayoung’s cheeks after blurting out her suggestion. “The mattress is big enough for the two of us a-anyway.”

“I-I guess so…” Namjoo said, puckering her lips shyly.

They changed into their pajamas in the rest room before they awkwardly laid on the bed as farthest from each other as possible, cramming their bodies at the edges of the queen-sized mattress.

“Good night, unnie…”

“Good night…”

Namjoo turned off the lamp, and the two of them closed their eyes. Not long after that, they fell asleep as they rested for another busy day.

-----

“And this is the emergency you were talking about? Really? You wanted to meet up at the park for this?” Naeun clutched her stomach, laughing out loud. The eye-smiling woman cowered little by little away from the kid. “For a second there I thought you have a child.” She laughed so hard that tears formed in her eyes.

Eunji groaned. “I told you already, she’s my friend’s daughter!”

Minah pulled the scared woman’s shirt. “Is she your girlfriend?” the child asked, making the two women flush red in surprise.

“W-we’re not in that kind of relationship.” Naeun waved her hands in denial.

“S-she’s right, Minah,” Eunji added right away.

“Too bad,” Minah replied. “You look good together.”

“You’re too young to know about that kind of stuff.” Eunji started fanning herself with her shirt, feeling hot from the sudden gush of heat travelling throughout her body.

“You’re so cute.” Naeun giggled, patting the child on the head. “Your name is Minah, right?”

“Mhmm,” Minah hummed.

“Is lunch good?” Naeun kneeled as she asked the child, earning a nod as a reply.

Watching Naeun with the child filled Eunji with awe. She didn’t understand what she was feeling exactly, but it was a heartwarming sight per se. She brought out her camera and took a candid picture of them.

“What’s that?” Minah asked at the sound of the shutter, pointing at the camera the eye-smiling woman was holding.

“That’s a camera that produces a picture on the spot.” Naeun felt that her explanation confused the child. “Give it to me.” The older woman handed her the film. “Look.”

“Wow!” Minah clapped her hands in excitement as she witnessed the image develop on the film.

“You only use it when you wanna take a picture of something important because one film costs a lot,” Naeun explained. “I wonder why this person here suddenly took a picture.” She pointed her chin at the older woman’s direction.

“Let’s eat. I’m hungry.” Minah pouted.

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