Day 08: December 21st

 

Busan

 

Yujin stood in front of a familiar house in the early morning. She smiled when she saw the sign that read 'Kim' hanging from on the front gate. She walked to the front door and rang the doorbell.

 

After a few seconds, a woman with short hair opened the door.

 

"Good morning." The woman smiled politely. "May I help you?"

 

"Ah, I'm looking for Kim Minju." Yujin asked hesitantly.

 

"Nari-ssi, who is it?" Minju asked as she walked to the front door. A bright smile appeared on her face when she saw Yujin standing here. "Yujin!"

 

"Good morning, Minju."

 

"What are you doing here so early?" Minju asked as she gave Yujin a hug.

 

"I wanted to see Halabeoji and I thought I could go to the supermarket afterwards and help out a bit."

 

Minju shook her head. "You are on vacation! You should relax. Go do some sightseeing with Yena-unnie and Wonyoung."

 

"The two of them are still sleeping. They are planning to go sightseeing around the city later, but I already know the city very well so I don't need to explore more. Besides, I just want to spend some time with you."

 

Minju reached for Yujin's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Yujin..."

 

"Ahem."

 

The two of them snapped out of their trance and turned to the other person standing in the hallway.

 

"Nari-ssi! I'm so sorry! Let me introduce you. Yujin, this is Halabeoji's caretaker, Go Nari. Nari-ssi, this is Ahn Yujin."

 

"Yujin-ssi, it's nice to finally meet you." Nari shook Yujin's hand. "I have heard a lot about you."

 

"It's nice to meet you, too." Yujin smiled warmly. 

 

"So I guess I know why Minju has been so happy all morning." Nari said in a teasing voice.

 

"Nari-ssi!" Minju protested. 

 

Yujin blushed. "Hey, Minju, is Halabeoji up already?"

 

Minju nodded. "Yup, he is up already. Why don't you go and see him while I finish preparing his breakfast with Nari-ssi?"

 

"Okay." Yujin nodded as she excused herself. She walked out of the front entrance and down the familiar hallway. She stopped in front of Minju's grandfather's room and knocked softly.

 

"Please come in."

 

Yujin slid the door open and stepped into the room. She smiled brightly when she saw the man sitting on the bed.

 

"Halabeoji!"

 

"Ah, Yujin!" Chiwon smiled warmly when he saw Yujin. "Minju didn't tell me that you have came back."

 

Yujin walked closer to the bed and sat down in the chair next to it. "I just came back last night."

 

"Are you going to be staying long?"

 

"I'm just back for the Christmas holidays. I have to leave after Christmas since I have some affairs to take care of in Seoul before the year end."

 

"I see." Chiwon nodded. "I'm sure that Minju is very happy to see you."

 

"She is. I'm really happy to her too."

 

"That's good. Minju is always happier when you are around. Every time after you leave, she would cry in her room. She tries to hide it from me but I could tell."

 

"I'm sorry, Halabeoji, for hurting your granddaughter." Yujin looked down at her lap.

 

Chiwon shook his head. "Sometimes, I wonder if I'm the one who is holding Minju back. If it's not for me, Minju would have gone to Seoul with you."

 

"Halabeoji..."

 

"When Minju was younger, she used to talk about what she wanted to be when she grew up all the time. But as she got older, she had stopped. Maybe she realized that she had to take care of the supermarket."

 

Yujin remained silent as she listened to Minju's grandfather talked.

 

"I want my granddaughter to be happy and I know she is happy when she is with you."

 

Yujin was about to answer when Minju appeared in the doorway.

 

"What are the two of you talking about?" 

 

Minju walked closer to the bed and stood behind Yujin.

 

"About you, of course." Chiwon replied with a smile.

 

"Must be good things then." Minju said as she wrapped her arms around Yujin.

 

"Why's that?" Yujin asked as she reached up and held Minju’s hand with her own.

 

"Because I'm perfect so there's nothing bad for you to talk about." 

 

"In your dreams!" Yujin poked Minju's cheeks with her finger.

 

Chiwon chuckled softly at their interaction.

 

"The breakfast is prepared, Halabeoji. Nari-ssi will be bringing it to you in a little while. I'm going to go to the supermarket now. If you need anything, just tell Nari-ssi or give me a call on my cell."

 

"Don't worry so much, Minju. I'll be fine here."

 

Yujin stood up and bowed slightly. "I'm going to go with Minju. I will come back again to see you, Halabeoji.”

 

"I look forward to your next visit, Yujin. We will talk some more then."

 

"Goodbye, Halabeoji."

 

Minju took Yujin's hand and they walked out of Chiwon's room. They went to the kitchen and after saying goodbye to Nari, the two of them left Minju's house. They walked along the street chatting about different things. It was a very cold morning, but Minju did not feel cold at all. Maybe because Yujin was there next to her. It made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. The usual walk from her house to the supermarket seemed shorter with Yujin by her side.

 

They arrived at the supermarket and opened the gate. Yujin helped Minju prepared everything for the opening. The other staffs arrived one by one and they opened the supermarket right on time. Yujin went around the supermarket and helped out the various areas wherever needed. The staffs were very nice people and Yujin really enjoyed working around the supermarket.

Just as she was re-stocking the inventory, she heard someone calling her.

 

"Hey Yujin!"

 

Yujin looked up to see Eunbi walking down the aisle. "Eunbi-unnie!"

 

"Minguri working you already?"

 

Yujin shook her head. "I didn't want to sit around and do nothing, so I offered to help."

 

"Yujinie, I..." Minju was calling out for Yujin when she noticed Eunbi. "Oh, Eunbi-unnie!"

 

"Being a slave driver, Minju?"

 

"No, I'm not! I told Yujinie that she doesn't have to be here, but she resisted. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

 

"I need to get some flour for the restaurant."

 

Minju nodded at Eunbi’s response when she noticed Yuri approaching the group.

 

"Hey Minju, I left the sales report on your desk. Oh hey, Eunbi-unnie."

 

“How’s my favourite dongsaeng?” Eunbi asked as she wrapped an arm around Yuri’s shoulder.

 

“Working hard because my boss is too busy flirting with her girlfriend.” Yuri smirked.

 

“Hey!” Minju protested.

 

"Anyway, I will see you later unnie. I'm going to go to the back room and check on the inventory for the noodles."

 

“Let me help you!” Yujin offered.

 

“Well, I’m going to take you up on that offer.” Yuri grabbed Yujin’s hand and led her towards the back room. “Come on Ahn Yujin!”

 

The two of them walked to the back of the supermarket. Yuri picked up a clipboard from the shelves. 

 

“Yujin, can you please count those boxes over there?”

 

“Sure!”

 

"Thank you!" Yuri smiled before turning back to her clipboard. "So, how has your day been working at the supermarket?"

 

"Everyone here is so wonderful and so friendly."

 

"We are not a major supermarket, but we still manage to compete with the major chains mainly because of Minju. The staff and our customers love her."

 

"I know she puts a lot of effort into running this supermarket. This used to be Halabeoji's baby, but now it's becoming Minju's prized treasure."

 

"Minju wakes up very early in the morning since she is usually the one who opens the store. She will go home just before closing time to relief Nari-ssi. Then she will cook dinner for Halabeoji and put him to bed. By the time, she is done with everything, it's very late. So, she doesn't really get a lot of rest each night."

 

Yujin frowned as Yuri continued.

 

"Even though she is tired, she would come into the supermarket each day full of energy. She is always smiling despite her tiredness. Minju is really an amazing person."

 

"Joyul, has Minju ever complained to you about struggling to balance between managing the supermarket and taking care of Halabeoji?"

 

Yuri shook her head softly. "Minju keeps a lot of things to herself. In front of everybody, she is always smiling. But I'm sure she is just putting up an act because she doesn't want other people to worry about her."

 

"She is quite stubborn when she wants to be."

 

"I tried to talk to her about it. I told her that she doesn't have to face everything by herself. She can share some of the burden with Hii-chan and me, but she keeps saying that she is fine and told us not to worry about her." Yuri sighed.

 

"Minju..." Yujin said in a worried tone.

 

Yuri smiled at Yujin. "I'm okay here. Why don't you go back to the office and see if Minju needs help?"

 

Yujin nodded in agreement. "Thanks, Joyul."

 

Yujin walked out of the back room and in the direction of the office. 

 

"Minju..." Yujin walked into the office to see Minju asleep on the desk, with various documents scattered around her.

 

Yujin stood by the door and watched Minju for a little bit. Then she walked over and picked up Minju's jacket that was lying on the couch. She gently put the jacket over Minju. She gathered the documents that were on the table and put them into a neat pile next to Minju. She walked back to the doorway and looked at Minju's sleeping form for a few minutes before quietly closing the door behind her.

 

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A/N: Thank you so much for all of the comments and subscribes! We are already at day 8, so only a few more parts to go! I hope that you have enjoyed the story so far!