Sunday, 4:05pm

“I didn’t realize how much I missed Nayeon-unnie until today!” Chaeyoung exclaimed.

I nodded as we strolled down the street back to our apartment, walking our bikes beside us.

“I’m glad we got to hang out with Nayeon-unnie,” I said, smiling, “And I’m also glad that we went to the arcade. That was so much fun!”

“Ah, but that was weird how the manager was suddenly there!” Chaeyoung cried in what sounded like a mix of amazement and bewilderment.

“Yeah, I’ve just come to accept that she can pop up anywhere at anytime. Now that includes school,” I said.

“You looked like you had fun with her though,” Chaeyoung said.

“I did,” I mumbled. Then I scratched the back of my head shyly. “She asked if we were friends and I said ‘yeah’...” I muttered, half hoping Chaeyoung didn’t hear it.

“You’re friends with the manager now?” Chaeyoung asked, tilting her head.

“I mean, yeah,” I said, shrugging.

“You’re friends with the girl you claim to hate?” she asked.

I only shrugged.

“Okay wait, I need something answered,” Chaeyoung said, even stopping me by walking in front of me and holding her hand out. “Do you hate her? The new manager?” she asked me, her eyes meeting mine. She wanted an honest answer.

I bit my lip before saying a quiet “No.”

“Then how do you feel about her?”

I tried to look away from her eyes but she put her hand on my chin to keep my face towards her. Her beady eyes begged for a good, honest answer. But I didn’t know the answer myself.

“I don’t know,” I said quietly.

Chaeyoung let out a long and exaggerated groan, indicating that that wasn’t the kind of answer she wanted. “How do you not know?” she asked in a whiny voice.

“I thought I hated her until these past few days,” I said.

“Do you at least like her?” she asked.

“Uh... Um,” I scratched my head, “...I guess?”

“Do you like her a lot?” Chaeyoung asked with a smirk.

I smacked her arm. “It’s not what you think it is, okay?!”

She backed away and raised her hands up in defense. “Okay! Okay! Say what you will but I know you’re in love!”

A light blush came onto my cheeks.

What? No way in hell.

“What makes you think I’m in love?!?” I asked.

“I mean, you looked in love when you first saw her!” Chaeyoung said, her smirk widening.

“I’m not in love with Sana! I’ve never been!”

“Ehhh, say what you will!”

“I’m not in love!” I said as I began running towards her. Chaeyoung uttered a quick “oh ” before turning on her heel and running away from me. We ran like that all the way back to the apartment.

10:27pm

I was sitting on my bed scrolling through social media on my phone when I got a call. It was Sana. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised I was getting a phone call from her; it was only a matter of time after she got my phone number before she would contact me. What did confuse me was that the caller ID read “Sana-chan”—did she really set her name on my phone as that?

I let the phone vibrate a few more times before picking up the call. Before I could even say hi, Sana beat me to it with a loud “Hi Dahyunnie~!!!”

Her voice was so loud that I had to hold my phone away from my ear. After a short while, I slowly placed my phone back to my ear. “Hi,” I said quietly.

“Wait, what’s wrong?” she asked after hearing the tone in my voice.

“No, you were just loud,” I said bluntly.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” she exclaimed.

I chuckled a little.

“Ah! But anyway, what’s up?” she asked.

I shrugged, “Nothing much. You?”

“I’m just thinking about you,” she said.

I swallowed although my mouth had become dry.

“Ah–, sorry! I meant that I kept thinking about how we’re friends now!” she chuckled nervously.

I started to laugh. “You really keep thinking about that?”

“Yeah! I’m just really happy!” she exclaimed. Then she paused before adding, “I guess I did a good job convincing you, huh?”

I lightly sighed, “Yes, I’ll admit to that.”

“Yay!!!” she cheered.

“Ah, but! That doesn’t mean that you can start slacking now, okay?” I clarified.

“Yes, ma’am, of course!” Sana said, “I’ll never take a break as your manager!”

“Eh, is that not a little much?” I asked.

“No!” Then there was a pause. “I mean–yes... That’s a lot of work...” she mumbled.

I started to laugh. It was cute and funny how she acted so ambitious before realizing exactly what she would be getting herself into. And then the realization that I could hear in her voice made the whole thing so much funnier.

I could tell that creating this friendship with Sana was the right choice. As I learned more about who she was, I learned to enjoy her company a lot more. It would have been bittersweet to continuously look at her under such a bad light and never realize her true potential not only as a manager, but as a friend as well.

This was the start of something that would become a substantial part of my life.

“Dahyunnie,” Sana called, causing me to cease my laughter, “I also wanted to thank you for picking out this squirrel for me.”

“Ah, but it’s not that big of a deal,” I said.

“Oh, but of course it is! I bought it using my own tickets but it felt like a gift from you to me. A gift to officially establish our friendship,” Sana said.

I smiled to myself. “That’s good then.”

“This may sound weird since we only just became friends, but... Let’s be friends for as long as possible. And if that’s forever, then let’s do it,” Sana said.

“Okay,” I said without hesitating, “Sounds like a plan.”

“Anyway, I shouldn’t keep you.” Somehow, I could sense her smile from the other end of the line. “Goodnight, Kim Dahyun.”

I returned the smile. “Goodnight, Minatozaki Sana.”

There was a short pause before I took the phone from my ear to end the call.

That night, I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

Tuesday, 4:54pm

As we arrived at baseball practice, Chaeyoung immediately ran to the center of the field to practice her pitching. I was left to take both her stuff and mine back to the dugout. As I entered the dugout, I noticed Sana, who was sitting on the with a clipboard in her hands. She looked up at me and, immediately, a wide smile came onto her face.

“Dahyunnie!” she exclaimed as she stood. She jogged towards me and wrapped her arms around my neck. Had it been only a few days ago when she hugged me like this, I would have been frozen or shocked or embarrassed or whatever, you name it. I noticed that I didn’t react this way. There was no dramatic increase in body temperature or pace of heartbeat. Was I just more comfortable with her now? Or maybe it could be because I felt like I was suffocating under her embrace so I really couldn’t react in such way.

“S-Sana-unnie, please let go,” I uttered.

“Ah, sorry,” she said as she unwrapped her arms around my neck and then took a step back.

“What are you up to?” I asked as I placed all my stuff down and then sat on the bench.

Sana sat down beside me. “Just the paperwork that I have to do as manager.”

“Ah, how much progress have you made in that giant binder?”

“I’ve been working on a few pages a day. Which may not seem like much but if I keep up the pace, I should be done well before your first game.”

“Good. As long as you’re still bala