Umji wakes up with a bright smile this morning. She has been waiting for this day for quite some time. SinB and Yuju are still sleeping, so she quietly goes out of their shared room and straight to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. She is the first one to wake up and it is already eight in the morning. Everyone else is still enjoying their sleep and two days off without any practice or schedules. Umji was too excited for today that she can’t sleep anymore. She tied up her hair in a high ponytail and goes to the kitchen.

On the kitchen counter, Umji saw three shopping bags filled with the things she asked Eunha unnie and Handyman Oppa to buy yesterday. Seeing the bags, she just realised that she did not see Eunha in her bed when she waked up. 

“Probably she sleeps with Sowon unnie.” Umji thought to herself.

Umji stares at all the things in the shopping bags and realised they asked for a lot of things but both SinB and her are not good in cooking. Umji knows she is not a good cook but seeing how happy SinB yesterday eating Handyman Oppa’s cooking, she is determined to cook for SinB as well. She can’t cook korean dishes like Handyman Oppa, but she is pretty sure that she could at least cook a western breakfast by herself. She knows how to make scrambled eggs, omelette, grilled some sausages and maybe heat up some canned baked beans. But, she thought a little help couldn’t hurt, so she takes out her phone and starts to search for a western breakfast recipe. 

Upon studying a bit about the recipe, Umji decides to make some western-style pancakes, toast some bread, baked beans, grilled sausages, omelette filled with mushrooms, tomatoes, capsicums and cheese. She also wanted to make some spicy herbs hashbrowns. This is a new one for her, she was browsing through the internet and saw a picture of this hashbrowns and it looks delicious. Plus, it’s easy to make so she decided to try. She can’t possibly make a rose-shaped strawberries, but Umji is confident that she can cuts some fruits and tossed them together to make a fruit salad.

Umji cuts the potatoes to make the hashbrowns, mix in some herbs and spices, then roast it in the oven. Then, she cuts the strawberries, apples and oranges into small pieces. Luckily, Handyman Oppa bought pre-cut pineapples and watermelon as she just write fruits in the list, she didn’t specify what kinds of fruit or if it should be pre-cut or not. Since it has already pre-cut, she just cuts it into bite-size, then she just tossed them together and chill it in the fridge. Then, moving to the sausages, she just put it on the fry pan and sprinkle some oil in the hot pan. 

Once again, she feels like she wanted to hug Handyman Oppa when she saw there are a few containers of pre-mix pancake batter. She didn’t ask the older woman to buy this, but since it’s already laying there, she just grabs one and proceeds to mix it with some milk. Umji tries to open the baked beans can, but its stuck, so she just leave it there and hope someone could help her with it later.

Then, she picks up one tomato, a paprika and some mushrooms for her to cut them into pieces. One thing she learned from watching the cooking shows with Eunha is to prepare the ingredients first before starts cooking. Especially for someone who is a beginner like her, it would make it easier. Umji cracks some eggs in the bowl, put a dash of milk and seasons the mixture before whipped the eggs.

Umji was done frying the sausages and making the pancakes. Now, she is making the omelette. Umji was humming while she cooks since she is cooking with a happy heart for the one she loves, SinB. When she was busy putting the filling in the eggs mixture that is cooking in the pan, suddenly someone hugs her from behind. She can’t see the person’s face but the way her heart races because of the person’s smell and voice whispering in her ears send a shiver down her spine. The person’s warm breath hits her neck, it send a tingle of goosebumps down her neck and making her knees tremble.

”Something smells good. And baby, you smells good too. Why didn’t you wake me up?” SinB’s soft but yet a bit husky voice whispering in her ear makes Umji smiles even broader than before. 

“You look so peaceful and pretty sleeping just now. So, I didn’t wake you up. And I wanted to cook some breakfast for you.” Umji continues making the omelette with SinB’s arms wrapping around her waist and her chin resting on Umji’s shoulder.

”I thought you said you wanted to cook together with me?” SinB asks still hanging on Umji’s body.

“I do. We’ll cook together for lunch, okay? Oh, can you help me with the baked beans, I can’t open the can.” Umji turns her head slightly to face SinB who is still resting her chin on her shoulder and ask for her help.

SinB said okay before she lets go of Umji and opens the said can. Then Umji pointed her finger to the the saucepan she had already placed on the stove, asking her to pour the beans in it so she could heat it up. SinB helps Umji heats up the baked beans and transfers it to a bowl and place it on the table along with the sausages, pancakes and some omelettes. Then SinB hugs Umji from behind again.

”Do you want to know a tip on cooking?” SinB asks Umji who is cooking the third and last omelette. Umji just asks SinB what and continues to put the tomatoes, mushrooms, paprika and cheese in the egg mixture.

”You have to show the one cooking the food your appreciation to them. And the way you do it, is by ...” SinB did not finish what she was saying, rather, she shows to Umji what she wanted to say.

SinB kisses Umji’s neck, just right below her ears with such softness. Even SinB’s warm breath gives her goosebumps, let alone a kiss. This time, Umji’s hand stopped moving, she can’t focus. She takes a deep breath to compose herself and then smiles at SinB, “then, please give me lots of kisses then.”

Umji don’t know what has gotten into her that she could say that. Her face blushes once she realised what she had said. It blushes even more when SinB turns her around and kisses her cheeks and forehead.

“When the chef receives a lot of love, the food they cook will be exceptionally delicious”, said SinB to Umji who is now red as a beetroot. 

The last omelette was slightly over cooked as Umji got distracted by SinB’s kisses. Just as she takes out the hashbrowns from the oven, Yerin and Yuju peek from behind her shoulder. Both of them smiles before they kiss Umji’s cheeks saying their thank you. Everyone is already at the kitchen except for Sowon and Eunha. SinB is helping Umji toasting the bread, while Yuju is taking out the fruit salad and some fruit juice from the fridge, and Yerin helps with arranging the plates.

“Yerin unnie, where is Sowon and Eunha unnie? Are they still sleeping? Can you wake them up please, so we can have breakfast together.” Umji said to Yerin.

”Oh okay. But Eunha is not here. She went back to her parents last night.” Yerin said while leaving the kitchen and three confused girls.

Umji, Yuju and SinB exchange look among themselves upon hearing what Yerin just said. None of them knew about this and just as they about to ask one another why, SinB’s and Umji’s phone vibrate indicating there is a new message. Umji taps on the new message from the CEO who apparently sends the message to all Gfriend’s members. Then she reads it out loud for SinB and Yuju to hear.

”Girls, you can have a break until Monday. Eunha misses her parents, so she went back to her parents yesterday. You are free to do what you want to these three days, but please let the managers know. SinB and Umji, you still have to go to school on Monday. Take good care and have lots of rest.” 

SinB and Yuju cheering their heart out when they learned that they got the weekend and Monday off work. But then they went silent when they think about Eunha.

“Why didn’t Eunha unnie told us about it? How did she go back to her parents?” Yuju asks Yerin who just walk into the kitchen with Sowon.

”Wait, Eunha went back to her parents?” Sowon also asks Yerin a question.

”Eunha just misses her mother’s cooking so much last night. She asked for a day off from the CEO and I guess he decides to give us three days off work. Handyman Oppa drives her to her parents last night after they drop the groceries. Probably she didn’t tell us because it was pretty late last night. I’m sure she wanted to tell us today. We’ll call her later today, okay?” Yerin answers and smiles at everyone while getting ready to eat the scrumptious looking breakfast that Umji has prepared.

”Can we eat now? I’m getting hungrier by the smells of this potatoes and this fluffy omelette.” Yerin asks Umji with her puppy eyes as it seems like no one is showing any intention of eating because they are still shocked with the news about Eunha’s absence.

”Yes, yes. The food is getting cold. Let’s eat.” Umji said with a smile, taking her usual seat, followed by the rest of the girls.

As soon as they begin to eat the delicious food Umji cooked for them, everything goes back to normal. Yerin exclaims with happiness when she tasted the hashbrowns and the fluffy filled omelette. She was humming, so does Yuju. They all thanked Umji and compliment her for her cooking. SinB also does the same.

”Thank you Umji. And unnie, be sure to give her lots of love as a thank you.” 

Immediately after SinB said that, Yerin gets up from her seat and walks towards Umji. She hugs the youngest girl among them from the side and attacks her with lots of kisses. Yuju does the same from the other side as she was sitting next to Umji. Sowon just smile at Umji who cries for help as she was getting smothered by the two unnies.

“Today, Umji and I are going to cook lunch as well, so, give me lots of love too.” SinB said, pouting , looking straight at Yerin.

”You will get yours when you cook lunch this afternoon.” Yerin said and smiles at her before sits back next to SinB and continues eating, ignoring the pouting SinB.

”Fine, then. I guess you only love food.” SinB said to Yerin who just continues eating without saying anything. 

“Umji, here is another cooking tip. When people don’t show their appreciation and don’t give you lots of love, you don’t have to give them the foods you cooked.” SinB stands up from her seat and take her plate as well as Yerin’s before changing her seat to sit next to Umji leaving the older girl dumbfounded by her action.

SinB then feeds Umji and kept Yerin’s plate with some leftover food laying in front of her. Yerin’s eyes blink couple of times, still fazed by what just happened. She was just picking up a piece of the sausage from her plate and put it in when suddenly her whole plate with so much foods left on it disappears. Yerin looks at SinB with her puppy eyes, begging for her to get her plate back, but the younger girl just moves her index finger left and right repeatedly, gesturing ‘no’ to her.

Umji just looks at Yerin apologetically while SinB keeps eating her omelette. SinB purposely avoiding Yerin’s gaze. 

“Don’t you think you are being a bit cruel to Yerin unnie?” Umji whispers in SinB’s ear.

”Let her be.” SinB shakes her head and said adamantly.

Umji then leans closer to SinB and kisses her cheeks, a bit low, near the girl’s lip, purposely  aim for a small part of her lips to brush SinB’s lip. The sudden kiss causes the girl who is just a few months older than her to startle.

”There, I gave you a kiss. Just let Yerin unnie eat her food, SinB. Look at those puppy eyes and cute pout.” Umji tries to convince SinB while fulfilling her desire to kiss SinB since she got her morning kiss on her neck.

”Uhuh. Umji is right. Please, SinB.” Yerin pleads with her words, eyes, and hands that she put together and clasped.

SinB then smiles and turns around to face Umji. She then feeds the girl some of the spicy herbs potatoes from her plate. 

“She kissed me, so I will feed Umji with this delicious food.” SinB smiles with a self-assured smirk at Yerin, knowing it will induce a response from the older girl.

This is not what Yerin has in her mind. She was thinking of a way to say her thank you to SinB in an elaborate sweet and romantic way when she put a piece of sausage in earlier. Little that she expected SinB would get angry immediately and even takes away her plate still filled with her breakfast. And now, SinB is sitting, eating and feeding Umji while leaving Yerin staring at her with a mixed feelings of hunger for SinB’s affection, being fed by her and hunger for the food that is being fed into Umji’s mouth.

Yerin’s mouth waters and luckily, Yuju was there to the rescue. Yuju picks up the hash browns and fed it to Yerin.

”Unnie, you are drooling.” Yuju chuckles as she wipes off the side of Yerin’s mouth while feeding the second oldest girl in her group.

”Thank you, Yuju.” Yerin shoot her infamous bright smile at Yuju and turns to SinB while smirking at her, returning the younger girl’s smirks earlier.

SinB just smile annoyingly at Yerin. She then asks Umji what is she planning to cook for lunch today. Umji just chuckled at the childish exchange between SinB and Yerin, but was glad that SinB’s attention is on her today. 

“We had korean food yesterday. So, I thought how about a western food for lunch today? A full course western lunch. How about it?” Umji asks SinB and the rest of her members. Both Yuju and Yerin smile brightly, nodding their head in excitement.

”What did we ask Eunha unnie and oppa to buy yesterday?” SinB nods her head agreeing to Umji’s suggestion.

”Oppa stocks up our fridge and freezer. We have all kinds of meat, vegetables and fruits. What do you want? Just name it and you got it.” Umji answers with a bright smile as she has already look into their refrigerator and it is literally full like it was never before.

”Sowon unnie, what would you like? Grilled chicken? Fish? Beef?” SinB asks the exceptionally quiet Sowon.

”I don’t mind anything.” SinB and Umji just nod their head, understanding the reason behind Sowon’s lack of enthusiasm could be related to Eunha’s absence.

”I want one grilled chicken.” Yerin happily places her order as if she is in a restaurant.

”No one asks you. And I don’t think Umji and I should cook lunch for someone who doesn’t seems to appreciate the chefs. Oh, for your information our appreciative and loving unnies, Sowon and Yuju, Umji and I am going to cook a full course western style lunch. We are going to have an appetiser, a soup, a main dish of your choice of meat, and a cake for deserts.” SinB presents the lunch menu that she and Umji plans.

Hearing SinB’s and Umji’s plan for lunch makes Yerin’s mouth waters. And the thought of she is not going to get any of them causes Yerin to choked on her own saliva. SinB, Umji and Yuju are busy browsing through the internet to find some simple, low calorie but delicious recipes for their lunch menu while Yerin is busy thinking of a way that could guarantees her the delicious lunch.

Yerin gets up from her seat and walks towards SinB. In a flash, she gives the younger girl a soft, quick peck on her lips and smiles at her to which the shocked SinB responded with a couple rounds of smacks on her shoulder. 

“What??? I want to eat that full course lunch as well. You said to give lots of love to the chefs.” Yerin laughs as she was being smacked by red-faced SinB.

It is true that one of the reason Yerin kisses SinB because she wanted to eat the full course lunch that they are talking about. But, her ulterior motive is she really wanted to taste SinB’s luscious lips ever since the incident at the BBQ restaurant a few nights ago. To hide her real motive, Yerin then goes to Umji with puckered lips wanting to kiss the younger girl too.

”Umji, let me kiss you. I want to eat delicious lunch. Mmmmuaahhh.” Yerin said with her lips puckered and ready to kiss Umji who tries her best to avoid.

”Unnie!!! I’ll cook for you. You don’t have to kiss me. I promise.” Umji said while turning her head away from Yerin’s lips.

But Yerin doesn’t give up that eventually Umji stops fighting her. Umji turns around bravely facing Yerin and her lips. She let out a small sigh, close her eyes, getting ready to be kissed by Yerin. Yerin smiles and she planted a soft, light kiss on the tip of Umji’s nose and forehead, ”thank you Umji. I love you.” The younger girl who is flustered by the kiss on her nose opens her eyes and smiles back at Yerin.

”Next is Sowon unnie” Yerin said while passing Sowon and kisses the top of her head.

“And last one is Yuju. Are you going to sit still or you are going to fight it like Umji did?” Yerin said, grinning at Yuju who follows her from Umji to Sowon and now hopping towards her. Yuju just smiles at Yerin and puckered her lips, asking for a kiss from the older girl. Since Yuju already puckered her lips, Yerin also does the same and give the girl a quick peck.

Yuju’s and Yerin’s tips of the lips touches in a split second, but it sends an electric shock to Yuju’s brain. Even for a split second their lips touches, Yuju is more than happy. Just like Yerin with her ulterior motive with SinB, Yuju has also wanted to kiss Yerin for a long time. And when she saw Yerin was kissing SinB and Umji, she has been plotting a plan to get kissed by Yerin as well if the older girl only decides to kiss SinB and Umji who are going to cook lunch. Luckily, she doesn’t have to say anything, she just puckered her lips and now she is on cloud nine.

”Here, finish your breakfast first before thinking about lunch.” SinB hold out Yerin’s plate and just smiles at Yerin who is dancing happily singing random words about eating lunch.

Yerin sits on SinB’s lap without a word and starts to eat. The younger girl then shakes her head a few times and just let Yerin who is two years older than her sits on her lap and eats like a five years old. SinB wraps her arms around Yerin’s waist and opens asking the older girl to feed her which Yerin gladly obliged. Umji just look at the two with mixed feelings of happy and sad at the same time. She is happy to see that Yerin and SinB are enjoying her cooking but at the same time, she is sad that SinB’s attention is not on her anymore. 

Sowon finishes her food and excuse herself to go back to her room while the other girls are still chatting and giggling. She doesn’t want to worry the girls, so she said she was a bit tired and sleepy. Her eyes meet Yerin’s and she just sends her a faint smile. 

“I guess Eunha unnie really misses her mother’s cooking that she went back home last night. Poor Sowon unnie, she must feel a bit down and lonely without Eunha unnie.” Said Umji as soon as Sowon disappears behind her bedroom door.

”Why did she suddenly misses her mother’s cooking? I think she just called her parents four days ago and she seemed fine then.” Yuju then voiced her concern.

”She’s right. Did Eunha unnie said anything to you unnie?” This time it’s SinB’s turn to ask the question although the last two questions from both Umji and Yuju had not been answered.

”Maybe because we just had oppa’s cooking and that reminded her of her mother? I mean, we haven’t eaten korean dishes for breakfast in a while now. So, maybe that’s why? She didn’t say anything to me last night.” Yerin explains to the girls.

“Ohhh.” All three girls who share the same room as Eunha nod their heads believing the lie that Yerin just told which was fabricated by Handyman Oppa last night. 

“We’ll try and video call Eunha later. Maybe we should show her the food you guys cook too.” Yerin suggests to divert the girls’ attention from trying to figure out why Eunha went back to her parents as they started to discuss about which dish that was most likely to have caused Eunha to think about her mother.

”Uhhh, good idea unnie. SinB, we have to make the food looks really good and beautiful then. Let’s find the recipe that looks delicious and pretty.” Umji excitedly swipes her phone browsing some western food recipes.

Yerin nods her head few times in agreement with Umji’s idea and relieved that the girls’ attention are now on the maknae’s phone. This reminds her that she needs to text Eunha and tell her about the reason Handyman Oppa’s fabricates last night as the older woman told her to. The older woman texted her last night when she just left Eunha’s house and ask her help to inform Eunha about the reason she told the CEO and Eunha’s parents. Yerin gets up from SinB’s lap wanted to go to her room to get her phone.

”Where do you think you are going?” SinB asks while tightening her embrace when Yerin raises to stand.

”Um, just getting my phone in the room.” Yerin turns around facing SinB who pulled her to sit back on her lap.

”Why?” SinB asks without loosening her grip.

”Umm, to help Umji find a recipe...the screen is too small for all four of us to look at.” Yerin nods her head a few times as if she is assuring herself. Yerin is getting better at lying that even she herself amazed at her newly developed skills. 

SinB just stares at Yerin, as if she is not convince by the older girl’s answer. Then she nods her head and say, “we can just use the tablet, the screen is bigger.”

Yerin can’t think of anything to say, just agrees with the younger girl and nods her head. Umji and Yuju both agree and proceed to pick up their dirty dishes to the sink before plop downs on the couch where the said tablet is laying around. After about half an hour of browsing through the internet, looking at beautiful and delicious pictures of food, studying the recipes, SinB and Umji finally decide what they are going to cook. They will make a simple caesar salad, some mushroom soups, spicy herbs grilled chicken and salmon, and carrot cupcakes with cream cheese toppings. 

Yuju sighs for the nth time in the last thirty minutes. For the whole time, Yerin has not let SinB off her embrace. They were cuddling the whole time the four of them discussed about the lunch that Umji and SinB are going to cook. Normally, she will not be feeling this disappointed and jealous, but today, after her lips and Yerin finally touched, she gets a bit sensitive. She was somewhat hopeful that Yerin would pay more attention to her. Her lips are tired to force a smile, so she excuse herself and disappears into her room.

“Why can’t she treats me like she treats her.” Yuju grunts and throws herself on her bed as soon as she shuts the door behind her.

”Didn’t she feels the electric shock when our lips touched?” Yuju keeps grunting and talking to herself while punching her pillow couple of times, letting out her frustration. 

Umji left SinB and Yerin cuddling on the couch and goes to the kitchen. She wanted to clean up the dishes they used for breakfast before starting to prep for lunch. Plus, she was starting to feel a tad annoyed with SinB and Yerin acting lovey-dovey in front of her. Adding up fuel to her anger was a huge pile of dishes in the sink that now needs to be clean by her.

”Hwang Eunbi, come here and help me with the dishes please.” Umji called out SinB who is playing with Yerin in the living room.

”Ai-ai sir!” SinB immediately gets up from the couch and goes to the kitchen sink where Umji is already standing in front of.

”Let me do the cleaning. You should go have a rest.” SinB said, grabbing the sponge Umji was holding.

”No, it’s okay. Let’s do it together.” Umji takes back the sponge from SinB’s hand.

SinB steps back and she hold Umji’s by the side of her arms. She turns the girl around facing the dining table behind her and tries to push her to move to the table. ”You should relax. You did all the cooking this morning. So, go sit and relax.” 

“No. Two pairs of hand doing it will get it done quicker.” Umji turns around facing the sink and starts scrubbing the plates.

”Okay then. You said so.” SinB shrugs her shoulder and then stealthily moves her hand around Umji’s slender waist and starts to cleans the same plate Umji was working on.

Umji was so shocked that the plates slipped out of her hand which luckily was caught by SinB. SinB continues cleaning the plate as if nothing happened and just igore Umji’s stares.

“Stop playing around.” Umji said while still keeping her eyes on the girl who just acted like what she is doing is perfectly normal.

”Two pairs of hand will be quicker. You said so yourself. No slacking off. Or you need some motivation to starts cleaning?” SinB said nonchalantly. Umji still has not move a muscle as she was choked up by what SinB is doing. Mwah, mwah. SinB then kisses Umji’s cheeks causing the girl to blush.

”There you go. That should get you hands moving. You’ll get more once we finished.” SinB just smiles at the now red Umji who slowly turns around facing the sink because she can’t  bear looking at SinB anymore. Her heart pounds so heart that she worries it might jumped out of her chest. 

Unexpectedly, Umji thought SinB might let go of her embrace but she didn’t. She keeps cleaning the dirty dishes like it is a normal way of doing the dishes. Umji thought she might as well enjoy the moment, plus, it’s not too inconvenient for them to do the dishes this way. Even if it is inconvenient, she will just power through it until the end. This is not something she could ask SinB to do with her, it is little to no chance this would ever happen again. So, Umji is enjoying every seconds of this beautiful moment. Then all of the sudden, they heard screaming coming from the bedroom.

”Huh! What is that? SinB, Umji, are you okay?” Yerin who was lazily laying on the couch immediately gets up and look at the two girls upon hearing the screams.

”Not us unnie.” Umji said to Yerin whose eyes widened when she saw SinB is back hugging her.

”Is it Sowon unnie or Yuju unnie? I thought I heard their voices screaming...”SinB who is oblivious to Yerin’s subtle reaction to her and Umji’s position just ask casually.

The view of SinB, the girl she loves embracing another girl is not a foreign sight for Yerin. Still, it kind of hurts to see how lovely the two looks. Yerin immediately shakes off the feeling of jealousy in her, afraid that it might take over her and things she should avoid could happen. 

”I’ll go and take a look on both of them.” Yerin gets up and goes to her bedroom that she shares with Sowon. 

Given the situation right now, Yerin thought the possibility of the screaming belongs to Sowon is higher than Yuju. So, that’s why she decided to go to Sowon first, then Yuju. 

****

“Unnie, are you okay? We heard your screaming just now.” Yerin asks while sitting at the edge of Sowon’s bed.

Sowon who was laying on her bed facing the wall turns around to face Yerin. She was hugging Eunha’s sweater from last night while holding her phone. Sowon is crying. On her phone, the fan made video of her and Eunha, or as known as ‘Wonha’ is playing. The older girl just keeps crying. Yerin just Sowon’s head in silence. There is nothing she could say to make the older girl feels better.

”Yerin, I want to go to Eunha’s parents’. I don’t what to say, but, I need to see her.” Sowon begs Yerin in between her sobs.

Yerin is in dilemma. She knows exactly what Sowon is feeling and she knows why the girl wanted to go and see Eunha. But, at the same time she doesn’t think it’s the right thing to do. At least not at this moment. If Sowon is crying like this while she was the one saying the hurtful words to Eunha, she could imagine that Eunha, the one who got hurt must be in a similar situation, if not, worse.

Plus, Sowon said she doesn’t know what to say, meaning she hasn’t said anything to Eunha, probably she still hasn’t apologise to the girl. At this rate, with Sowon crying, she might have a problem explaining her going to Eunha’s parents’ while crying. The worst could happened is the two might get into a fight in Eunha’s home and Yerin could not imagine how it would play out in front of the girl’s parents.

”She might want to spend time with her parents seeing she missed them so much that she went back to her home last night.” Yerin tries to stop Sowon’s intention of going to see Eunha, but using a more acceptable reason which would not hurt the older girl as much. Once again, she was amazed with herself at how good is she handling the issue right now.

”She didn’t went back to her parents because of that. Right? She is leaving me. I have to stop her.” Sowon looks at Yerin with her puffy eyes.

Yerin is at lost for words. She wanted to say no, but she is not sure if it is 100% true. She saw how bad Eunha looked last night. As much as she doesn’t want it to be true, as high as her hopes are, there is a slight chance that is what Eunha is doing. With all her heart, she prays that it is not the case.

”You should not be thinking something as negative as that. She just misses her mother’s cooking. She will be back in couple of days.” Yerin tries to convince Sowon who just keep staring at her.

”That is just oppa covering up for her. Right? Oppa just made up that story, but Eunha actually left because of me, isn’t it?” 

Yerin is surprise with what Sowon just said. For someone who cannot say anything even a simple sorry to Eunha when she should have, when she was given a chance, she can figures this thing out even the reason Handyman Oppa’s fabricated was a good one. 

“The CEO and oppa told us that she misses her mother’s cooking. I’m sure that’s the reason. I have already told the girls that we should try video call Eunha later after lunch. We would show her the food SinB and Umji cooked. So, how about this, you get some sleep first, then we eat our lunch, the we all video call Eunha. Then, maybe the two of you could talk privately after that. We will try to come out with something you could say to Eunha. First, I’m sorry is must. And we will try and figure out what you should say to her. I will help you. Does that sounds good? You can’t look like this, the girls will get worried and they might ask you why are you crying. We don’t want them to know, right?” Yerin tries to convince Sowon with an offer to help her and ends it with a gentle reminder of the the reason why things got to this point.

Sowon just nods weakly but the tears keep flowing down her eyes. Yerin pat Sowon’s pillow asking the older girl to put her head on the pillow, she takes Sowon’s phone and stop the video then she puts the phone by Sowon’s pillow. She lets Sowon hugs Eunha’s sweater, kisses her forehead and caresses her head softly. Yerin wipes the tears flowing down Sowon’s eyes and asks the older girl to close her eyes before she kisses them. Yerin whispers softly to Sowon’s ears telling her to sleep and that she will wakes her up when lunch is ready.

Yerin goes to Yuju’s room, slowly she opens the door and was shocked when she is welcome by Yuju’s scream. Yerin quickly walks to the bunk bed on the left side of the room, kneels down beside Yuju’s bed and hold the girl’s hand softly.

“Hey, did you get a bad dream?” Yerin asks Yuju who was staring at the top part of her bunk bed, that is the bottom part of Eunha’s bed.

Yuju turns around to face Yerin and suddenly the tears roll down her cheeks upon seeing the older girl’s face. She tries to stop crying but the harder she tried, the more she cried.

”Hey, hey, don’t cry. I’m here. That’s just a bad dream. Don’t worry, I’m here. Yennie is here.” Yerin said while rubbing Yuju’s hand and her head. Yuju didn’t say anything, she moves her head closer to Yerin. 

“Do you want to go back to sleep? I’m here. I’ll hold you to sleep, okay?” Yerin climbs Yuju’s bed, lies down behind her and wraps her arm around Yuju’s body.

Yuju scoots back closer to Yerin’s body and takes the older girl’s right arm and places it under her head. Yerin kisses the back of Yuju’s head and shuuh her to sleep.

”Unnie, do you love me?” Yuju asks Yerin who is back hugging her.

”I do. I love you.” Yerin answers.

”SinB? Do you love her?” Yuju asks another question.

”I do. I love SinB. I love Umji. I love Eunha. I love Sowon unnie. I love all of you girls.”

Yerin kiss the younger girl’s head softly. Yuju didn’t say anything nor move her body. She just lets her tears flow down her cheeks. Since Yuju head rested on Yerin’s forearm, the warm tears hit the older girl’s arm. Yuju knows Yerin could feel the tears slowly flowing on her arm, but the older girl just lay there in silence. Yerin didn’t say anything, she didn’t ask Yuju why or even try to convince her to stop crying. The only thing Yerin does is tighten her grasp of Yuju’s body.

”Why are you playing with my heart. Why do you have to ask her when you know it’s going to hurt you. Please stop, dear heart. Please, stop.” Yuju keeps repeating the same thing in her mind while her tears flowing down her cheeks until she fell asleep, then Yerin does the same.

****

”What should we do first, Chef Umji? Should we rest a bit?” SinB asks Umji after they finish washing the dishes. Umji nods her head and starts to walk towards the couch with SinB clinging on her back like some backpack she is wearing. SinB hugs Umji’s back tightly as if she wanted to be one with the girl.

”SinB-yah, how am I going to sit if you are glued to my back?” Umji asks with her most kind smiles, leaning her head against SinB’s shoulder.

”Easy. Like this.” SinB said as she plops down on the couch without loosening her grips at all, pulling Umji’s body to move along with hers.

”Uhmm. SinB-yah!! stop playing around.” Umji let out a scream as she was shocked by the sudden movement.

”Why? I didn’t do anything. Hahahaha.” SinB laughs and tighten her grips of Umji’s waist as the other girl wiggles trying to escapes from her hug and get off her lap.

Umji then gives up and adjust her position so she could sit comfortably on SinB’s lap. 

“We haven’t done this for quite some time, have we? I actually miss spending time and playing with you.” Umji with her soft voice said to SinB who just responded simply with “uhuh” while clasping her hand with Umji’s.

After fifteen minutes of playing with each other’s hand, blowing into each other’s ears and  face, Umji suggested that they should start cooking. Umji gets up, pull SinB to stand and the two go to the kitchen to start cooking their western full course lunch. 

“We are not going to get anything done if you keep playing with me, SinB. And I am sure that I don’t want to accidentally cut your finger.” Umji said as soon as SinB’s arms wrapped around her waist. SinB just laughs and lets go of the girl, stands next to her and starts prepping the ingredients for their lunch.

Yerin was awaken by the sounds SinB and Umji screaming. She quickly gets up and goes to the kitchen only to see a frying pan in flames and two flustered girls screaming at the pan. Yerin grabs a pot’s lid and cover the flaming pan and turns off the stove. The fire dies out as soon as she put the lid on the pan while the two maknaes are screaming and warning her to be careful because of the fire.

“What happened?” Yerin asks the two girls that seem to have calm down a bit.

”We were making the sauce for the grilled chicken. We added some wine and suddenly there’s fire.” Umji explains.

“Okay, it’s okay now. I put out the fire already. Are you girls okay?” Yerin Umji’s and SinB’s back to reassure them that everything is okay.

After the fire show just now, Yerin decides to stay in the kitchen and help the two girls. The two maknaes don’t let her help with anything, so she just watched them. They start grilling the chicken and frying the salmon steak for Sowon. The mushroom soup is already done, the carrot cupcakes are in the oven, and the sauce is also done. So, Yerin just sits on the couch, watching TV while texting Eunha telling her about what Handyman Oppa asked her to tell the girl. Yerin also asks Eunha if it is okay to video call later as the girls are worried about her, to which Eunha says okay to.

Finally, the carrot cupcakes are done and are being cooled. Umji asks Yerin’s help to put the cream cheese frosting on the cupcakes while she finishes cooking Sowon’s salmon steak and SinB setting the table. 

A pretty, scrumptious looking western full course lunch is filling up the dining table. Each member got a bowl of mushroom soup, a bowl of caesar salad, grilled chicken or salmon with pan fried asparagus accompanied with the sauce that was caught on fire just now and a cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Visually, perfect.

A picture of individual dish is a must. So, Yuju and SinB take pictures from every angle for each dishes. Then, pictures from every angle for the complete course. About five minutes later, everyone take their seats and thank both Umji and SinB for the food. Yerin’s mouth waters while waiting for the two girls taking pictures of the foods, and now the moment she has been waiting has come.

Her lips automatically curled into a big smile as she digs into the mushroom soup. SinB and Umji stare at Yerin eagerly wait for Yerin to take a bite. Yerin takes a bite of the soup. Then her face crooked slightly but she forces a smile to the two maknaes who look at her with pair of sparkling eyes. 

The soups are lumpy, salty and tasted slightly burned; with some unusual big chunks of mushrooms and potatoes, and some small diced mushrooms and potatoes that are usually the size of the vegetables one would find in a mushroom soup. The first spoon barely got through Yerin’s throat, it keeps lingering around inside . She forces the soup down and it got stuck in the middle of . Yerin then sip in some water to help the thick, lumpy soups to go down smoothly. She repeats the same three steps, scoop a mouthful of soup into , force it down and drink water to get the soup down into her stomach until half of the soup is gone. She didn’t say a word and keeps eating in silence, same as the Sowon and Yuju. At least, she managed to eat half bowl of the soup while the other two stop at their second spoon. No one is saying anything as the two maknaes are asking them to try the food that they cooked excitedly with sets of hopeful eyes. 

Then, Yerin moves to the second dish, the caesar salads. The salad looks refreshing with lettuce, croutons, coarsely chopped eggs, dressed in a somewhat yellowish dressing. With her fork and high anticipation, Yerin digs into the salad bowl and put a mouthful of the salad into . The salad leafs are crisp, that is okay. The dressing however, it’s vinegary and salty while the croutons are rock solid like eating a toffee. The first two dish is making the three older girls scared of trying. Both Sowon and Yuju just raise their eyebrows at Yerin signaling her to try the grilled chicken first. Since it is two against one, Yerin has to.

Slowly, Yerin cuts through the chicken fillet while praying that it is fully cooked. Otherwise, there is a risk she might get salmonella as she would just eat the chicken without saying anything. Who could say such a thing when the two girls are looking at her with puppy eyes and a bright smile? Yerin let out a sigh of relieved when the chicken is fully cooked. Some parts are slightly burned but it tasted okay. The problems lie on the mushy overcooked asparagus and the wine - the sauce is actually tasted like a wine. Yerin was wondering just how much wine did the girls pour into the sauce and could they even eat the sauce as they are still underage.

Although it is brown sauce cooked with wine, it is like you are drinking wine instead of dipping the chicken into a sauce as a condiment. Someone might get tipsy because of the sauce even though no one is drinking alcohol, and Yerin would be the top candidate. So, Yerin push the sauce slightly away from her plate and continue to eat the chicken and mushy asparagus. When Sowon and Yuju first tasted the sauce, their eyes widened and Yerin just shakes her head slightly at them. The two follow Yerin’s lead and slowly push the sauce away from their plate.

Finally, Yerin is sure that the cupcakes would be fine as the girls just followed the recipe they found online. The taste should be delicious and she is sure of the cream cheese frosting’s taste as Yerin some of the frosting when she helped them with it earlier. Yerin opens wide and shove about a third of the cupcake into . The cake is a bit dense but it tasted okay. It’s not terrible. So, Yerin finishes the whole cupcake with a little help from few gulps of water.

“Why aren’t you two eating?” Yerin asks SinB and Umji who have been watching her eating without touching their food at all.

”We want to see all of you eat first.” 

Umji and SinB smile at Yerin, Yuju and Sowon who have stopped eating without finishing their food. Then the two start eating the mushroom soups. Both their faces crooked as soon as the soup enters their mouth.

Yerin can see the two girls are having a hard time deciding whether to swallow or spit the soup out. She just look at them without saying anything. Sowon and Yuju are also doing the same thing. The two maknaes finally get the soup down their throats.

“Unnie!!!??” SinB looks at the three older girls with her eyes widened.

”Unnie, why didn’t you say it is salty? And it tasted like the soup is burned. How did all of you eat it?” Umji exclaims in surprise.

The two maknaes put down their spoon and push the bowl away from them. They move to the next dish, the ceasar salad. 

“Well, I said the lettuce is crispy didn’t I?” said Yerin as soon as SinB’s widened eyes are staring at her. 

“Yeah. And the bread, it is as hard as a rock. You forgot to mention that.” SinB exchanged looks with Umji, who is also doubting whether they should try the main dish or not.

”Unnie, should we eat the chicken as well?” Umji asks Yerin and Yuju.

”The chicken is cooked. Nothing is wrong with it. Just slightly burned at the bottom.” said Yuju with a smile and it convinces both Umji and SinB to try the grilled chicken.

“Stop! Don’t.” Just as SinB is about to dip the chicken into the sauce, Yerin yells at her to stop her from doing it.

”Why?” SinB questions the older girl.

”You are not old enough to drink.” Yerin answers simply and tries to reach for the sauce to put it far away from the two underage girls.

”That’s the sauce for the chicken, unnie. We just put a bit of wine, the recipe said so. Would the chicken taste good without the sauce. It’s okay to eat something cooked with alcohol.” SinB insists that she wanted to try the sauce.

”The chicken is good without the sauce. The sauce tasted like wine. We might get into trouble if something happens.” Yerin explains.

”Is it really that bad unnie? I thought I just put a little of wine. Is that why it caught on fire?” Now it’s Umji’s turn to ask the question as she is sure she only adjusted the recipe slightly to which Sowon and Yuju nod their head repeatedly.

****

Eunha checks her face in the mirror, thankfully her eyes and face are no longer swollen. She just had lunch with her family and now waiting for Yerin to video call her. Yerin texted her a few hours ago telling her what Handyman Oppa told the CEO and her parents about last night. The older girl also asked her if it would be okay for her to call since the girls are worried about her to which she said okay. Eunha agreed to video call after lunch as Yerin suggested so her face would not be as swollen as it was this morning.

She cried herself to sleep last night and waked up with a swollen face and her eyes could not fully open. Eunha does not remember when and how did she get into her bedroom, but she did figure Handyman Oppa must have carried her last night and her mother confirmed it. Her mother cooked a lot of delicious foods that the dining table is filled with banchans and main dishes that Eunha loves. She enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with her beloved family. 

After a few minutes of waiting, Yerin’s number pops up on her phone and she answers the call. Everyone is at the living room including Sowon. Umji and Yuju ask Eunha if she is okay, and Eunha smiles cheerfully saying she is okay.

”I just miss my mother. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you girls last night because it was too late. I’m okay.” 

“Unnie, has you eaten your mother’s cooking?” SinB asks.

”Yes, I did. Omma cooked a lot of delicious foods. Omma said she will cook a lot of them and stocks our fridge with it when she drives me back to the dorm this Monday.”

Yerin and SinB cheer as loud as they can upon hearing what Eunha just said.Eunha told them what her mother told her this morning when they were having breakfast and Eunha eats like she hasn’t been eating for few months. It’s not like she hasn’t been eating for that long, she was really hungry because she cried for hours last night and she didn’t eat much during dinner. Probably her mother also feels sad that Eunha misses her cooking that she even cried and ask for a a day off from the CEO. 

“I thought Umji and SinB cooked today. The pictures you posted seems beautiful and delicious. Why are you eating chinese food?” Eunha questions as she saw a delivery guy is delivering some food just now.

”Ohh. You have heard the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ right? In this case, never ever judge a food by its picture. I give you some tips for eating SinB’s and Umji’s cooking- first, prepare a heap of water to get everything down your throat and to wash away the saltiness. And you probably... going to get a little tipsy from eating, so eat with water not wine because you’ll end up like you had some wine either way.” Yerin said while shaking her head and laugh out loud while Yuju agrees with her and SinB glares at her.

”I’m sure it’s not that bad...” Eunha smiles at Umji and SinB.

”Well, we will save some for you if you want, unnie. I’ll put it in the fridge, you can taste it when you come back on Monday.” said SinB jokingly to which everyone is screaming no to and laugh.

”When are you coming back on Monday? SinB and I have school that day.” Umji aks.

”Probably in the late evening...” 

“Ohhh.” Yerin responded to Eunha’s answer before she hands her phone to Yuju for her to hold before leaving the living room and goes to the kitchen.

”I am a bit hungry Eunha. I’ll just grab some food and come back.” Yerin shout as she walks to the kitchen informing Eunha what is she doing.

”Hahahaha. You girls should go and eat the food before it gets cold.” Said Eunha to the rest of the girls who are eyeing Yerin’s every movement.

”We’ll keep texting, okay Eunha? And says our hello to your parents and sister. Enjoy your stay at home. Eat your mother’s cooking as much as you can, and pack some for us.” Yuju said as she handed the phone to SinB.

”Unnie, eat a lot and don’t be sad. When you come back, Umji and I will play with you and we will cook for you if you want to eat something. Don’t leave us like this again. Or if it tasted as terrible like today, we’ll just call oppa and ask her to cook for us. Okay? Promise?” SinB and Umji both lifted their hand and show their little finger to the camera, making Eunha promise to which the older girl says yes and does the same as the two maknaes.

”Unnie, you talk to Sowon unnie, we have to go before Yerin and Yuju unnie eat all the food.” SinB said and Umji nods her head in agreement.

”Uhh. I’m going to the kitchen as well. I promise my mother to help her bake a cake and some cookies. It’s okay. We keep texting. Yerin unnie, leave some food for the girls. Thank you for calling me and again, I’m sorry I caused you girls to worry. See you on Monday. Bye-bye.” Eunha immediately hangs up the phone when all the girls bid their goodbyes to her cheerfully except for Sowon who doesn’t say anything, just wave her hand in devastation.

****

All five girls are focusing on the chinese foods they ordered, they eat in silence. Their eyes are glued to the plate in front of them, their hands are moving up and down without stoping picking up the food from the plate and feed it to their mouth that has been chewing and exclaim in happiness since they started eating. 

”SinB, next time we are cooking, we should try cooking chinese food. This is delicious. I always watch on TV and it is not that difficult. The chef always chopped some vegetables, onion and some meat or seafood, tossed them in the wok and pour some soy sauce and all, then voila, finish.” 

All eyes are on Umji as soon as she finishes her last word. Yerin’s eyes widened as the image of chinese food cuisine’s chef cutting the vegetables with the big knife is playing in her mind. The chef can cut the ingredients so fast and sometimes they don’t even look at the chopping board. It scares the hell out of Yerin. They might be eating part of a finger in a stir fry. The thought of the girls accidentally cut their finger now playing in her mind that Yerin suddenly scream out, ”I’ll be helping you girls next time.”

”Okay unnie. But, you don’t have to be that excited and scream out loud. I bet we can cook as delicious as this one. Right, Umji?” SinB smiles proudly to Umji who nods her head and smiles proudly too.

”Uhuh. We just have to make sure we don’t burned them, we need to ask someone to taste the food for us so it’s not too salty...” said Umji.

”And this time we should not use any alcohol in the food, we don’t want to burn the house down like we almost did earlier. I think I burned parts of my eyebrows” SinB adds to Umji’s note on what should they do the next time they are going to cook.

”Probably you two should practice more often. Cook something simple. And baking, just follow the recipe exactly as it said and try not to over mixed the batter. Maybe we should go to baking class?” Yerin also contributes to the notes and suggested a baking class as she is also interested in baking.

Umji nods excitedly, “yes, yes, let’s go for the baking classes” while SinB just stares at Yerin blankly as a response. It seems like only Umji takes Yerin’s suggestion positively while the rest of Gfriend members are not interested at all in taking up some baking classess even to say they will consider it. 

****